Chapter 202: Charge!
Martin had joined a vanguard that operated nothing like Night Espresso’s usual formation.
Plume handled the shot-calling himself, tracking every party, ship, and skill moving across the battlefield. For all his eccentric behavior, he commanded the Storm Guild like a seasoned captain. His orders reached every corner of the formation, and after unleashing his Guild Skill, he had become the center of the entire assault.
Martin would have liked to watch the vanguard work for a little longer. Their coordination was impressive, especially with so many players fighting from separate ships while the Sea Dragon Monster thrashed between them, but he was already out of time.
Storm’s Tanks had drawn the creature into the center of their formation, though keeping something that large in one place was another matter. Every sweep of its body sent waves crashing into nearby ships, while the wound left by the guild’s earlier attack kept disappearing behind walls of seawater.
If the monster dove again, their best chance to finish it would disappear with it.
It was time to get moving, or swimming in Martin’s case.
"Angel," Martin called to his longtime partner.
Ao Tenshin turned her round sapphire eyes toward him. Her enormous crystal shell glowed beneath his feet, and soft trails of blue light moved across her skin in rhythm with the surrounding water.
"Use your Dragon Turtle’s Domain to pin down the Sea Dragon Monster," Martin said. "Don’t let it dive, and keep its wound exposed so every ship can see it. Can you do that?"
Angel faced forward and flapped her legs with determination. The movement looked almost silly compared to her massive body, but Martin understood her answer perfectly.
He chuckled and tightened his grip on the edge of her shell. "You can have fun shooting your Dragon Turtle Breath while you hold it in place, but keeping the monster above water is the important part. Don’t lose control."
Angel flapped her legs again, this time with even more enthusiasm.
"Good. Let’s go, then!"
Martin crouched low and braced himself as Ao Tenshin plunged beneath the surface. Water crashed over him, and the glow of her shell pushed back the darkness below.
Her Domain spread through the sea, thickening the water around them as the currents bent toward her will. Before Martin could adjust, Angel accelerated with enough force to nearly tear him from her shell.
He wrapped both arms around the crystal edge while the sea rushed past him. The pressure flattened his clothes against his body, and every shift of Angel’s massive shell threatened to wrench his grip loose. Far above, the ships and spell effects had become warped streaks of light trembling across the surface.
Angel, meanwhile, seemed to be having the time of her life. Her legs drove her forward with increasing enthusiasm, and the current carried her along with none of the sluggishness her size suggested. Within seconds, she was charging beneath the battlefield faster than anything Martin had ever ridden.
The Sea Dragon twisted between the ships above them. Its vast shadow darkened the water, while flashes from countless skills flickered across its scales. Storm’s Tanks remained spread around its head and sides, using coordinated taunts and defensive abilities to keep its attention away from the damaged section of its body.
Even so, the creature sensed something approaching from below.
Its long neck shifted, and one glowing eye angled toward the sea as a deep vibration rolled through the water.
Before it could turn fully, three of Storm’s Tanks attacked almost at once. Chains of wind and lightning wrapped around its head, while another defensive skill burst against its jaw. The Sea Dragon snapped toward them instead, its aggro dragged back into place before it could focus on Angel.
Martin grinned when the Tanks stole its attention so cleanly. Storm’s coordination lived up to Plume’s confidence.
Even if the monster somehow broke through their formation, Angel was no longer the small turtle she had once been. With control of the surrounding water, she would not let it force its way past her without a fight.
Martin released one hand from the shell and drew his baby trident. Beneath the Sea Dragon’s massive silhouette, the weapon looked more ridiculous than ever, but that had never stopped it from being useful.
"I’ll throw the trident forward," he shouted over the rushing water. "Use your Dragon Turtle Breath to launch it near the monster’s face!"
Angel narrowed her sapphire eyes while Martin waited for the water around the Sea Dragon to tighten. Its lower body slowed as the sea grew dense around it, preventing it from sinking any deeper.
Once the monster was trapped, Martin hurled the baby trident ahead of them.
Angel opened her mouth as the weapon spun through the water. Blue light gathered between her jaws before erupting in a concentrated stream. Her Dragon Turtle Breath struck the trident from behind and blasted it upward with enough force to tear through the sea.
The weapon burst through the surface and shot into the air, rising directly in front of the Sea Dragon’s face.
Martin activated his teleport, and the cold pressure of the water vanished beneath the roaring wind and deafening noise of battle. He appeared beside the spinning trident, caught its shaft with both hands, and used the remaining momentum to swing himself downward.
When the monster’s enormous eye focused on him, Martin answered it with a grin.
"HOLD THE LINE!"
He drove the trident into empty air.
The weapon appeared to strike nothing, yet a golden crack spread from its tip. Light poured through the opening and widened into a radiant curtain that stretched across the battlefield.
It passed through the sea without disturbing the ships. Golden light traveled over the waves, through Storm’s formation, and toward the Sea Dragon Monster. The moment it touched Plume’s Guild Skill, both effects locked together, and the entire ocean lit up.
Storm’s wind and lightning became threaded with gold, while every projectile crossing Martin’s curtain surged forward. Cannonballs tore through the air before their smoke trails had time to spread, followed by arrows, spells, and thrown weapons aimed at the exposed wound.
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