Chapter 90: Undead Cannoneer
Roseus stood there drained of energy, with the corpses of four Chained surrounding him.
These corpses came from two different waves of enemies, both of which carried no treasures.
He had killed them in a similar manner to before, using his Frostbite Thrust to do extra damage to the undead creatures.
Luckily, he had managed to finish both fights unscathed, but that was as far as his luck had gone so far.
His goal, which was to earn treasure, wasn’t being accomplished. Because of this, he wondered if he really had any luck in the first place. Not to mention, he felt that the longer he pushed his luck, the more likely he was to summon something truly dangerous.
...
Roseus looked up at the night sky. The sun had set a long time ago, and he knew the importance of sleep. He also needed to return to the tavern in case his crew were there; otherwise, they might get worried.
He placed his father’s hat on his head as he stood on the sand.
"Just one more time, but let’s do things differently."
Rather than going into the ocean, he decided to wait on the shore and see what would climb out of the sea to meet him.
He felt the familiar sense of danger that lasted for a few moments. Then, he noticed something peek out of the orange water in the distance.
"Hmm?"
In the darkness, it was hard to make out exactly what the figure was. All he was certain of was that it wasn’t larger than a human.
It slowly moved through the water, gradually getting closer before stopping again. When it stopped, Roseus was finally able to see what it was.
His heart sank into his stomach, and he instinctively dove to the side.
BOOM!
As he fell onto the sand, he heard a great thud coming from the water, and shortly afterwards, a great impact crashed into the ground beside him.
When he looked towards the area of impact, he saw a miniature black cannonball that had created a small crater and was partially lodged in the ground.
Roseus turned his head back towards the sea. The creature had gotten closer, and he was finally able to tell what it was.
It was an undead man dressed in an all-black suit with a navy-style hat. Around his shoulder was a sack, which seemed to be carrying these miniature cannonballs, and in the man’s two hands was a small handheld cannon.
The man loaded one of the cannonballs into the barrel of the handheld cannon once again and braced himself.
Suddenly, two simultaneous sounds rang out at once. One was the sound of the cannonball firing, and the other was the sound of thunder crashing from the sky, which had become overcast with grey clouds at some point.
...
In a small tavern located in RedSand...
Dawn stood by the window and stared out at the sky above. Moments earlier, she had heard the sound of thunder, which drew her attention.
She could see other residents of the town staring out of their windows, as though they had never seen thunder before.
This made Dawn worry.
A priest of lightning was currently on the island, and she had a feeling that the bolt from before belonged to him.
...
The lightning strike performed by Roseus was done so abruptly that he failed to hit his target. It just barely missed and struck the water right beside it.
At the same time, Roseus used Storm Jump and appeared at the location where the lightning struck.
Using the two skills simultaneously and without much preparation put a great toll on his body, but he had no choice but to act now, as he had appeared right next to the cannon wielder.
The man looked to his side and stared at Roseus with blank black eyes that seemed to carry the abyss.
Then, before Roseus could sink into the water, he grabbed hold of the man’s suit and dragged him down with him.
The two wrestled beneath the water for a moment, both fumbling their weapons.
Fortunately, Roseus was experienced with underwater combat and managed to get a good grip on his blade before the beast was able to load his cannon.
Roseus thrust the blade into the man’s neck once, then twice. The second time, he made sure to drag it sideways whilst it was embedded in the man’s flesh, in hopes of doing as much damage as possible.
He watched as the right half of the man’s neck was torn apart, causing his head to dangle loosely to one side.
Roseus relaxed momentarily, as he believed the attack would have killed the creature.
But then, he heard the sound of cannon fire distorted by the water and felt a great impact on his ribs.
[You have defeated, Cannoneer Guard]
[Greater Soul Absorbed +1]
[The Ocean Beckons You...]
His enemy went limp, signalling that he had won, but Roseus wasn’t focused on that. The undead man had somehow managed to fire his cannon whilst dead!
Roseus’ chest and stomach felt hot, and a great amount of pain surged throughout the entirety of his body, but he knew he couldn’t stay submerged in the water. He risked drowning, or worse, being attacked by a new creature whilst in his weakened state.
He began to swim back up to the surface before suddenly turning back and grabbing hold of the heavy cannon that had been wielded by the creature, as well as the sack of cannonballs, which he wrapped around his neck.
Then, expending all of his energy, he swam to the shore.
Once there, he collapsed onto the sand and lay there on his back, panting for air.
He looked down at his stomach and saw that it was entirely red and swollen. He didn’t think he had broken anything, as it seemed the cannonball wasn’t able to fire at its full capacity whilst submerged beneath the water, but it still hurt like hell.
I’ll have Zaliah redo the ceremony when I see her...
Once he was ready to move again, Roseus pushed himself up to a seated position and winced.
Then, he turned towards the cannon, which he suspected was a treasure.
"At least it somewhat paid off," he grunted.
