Crashing in the interior of the Ether Ship, we are met with flabbergasted dwarves wearing the same exoskeletal armor that enhances their physical strength and defense. Merissa's crew immediately comes into halt knowing that taking down even one dwarf wearing this armor proved difficult.

Fortunately, we didn't strike the engine room because that would drastically lower the chance of our plan succeeding. However, even there are at least a dozen dwarves here with the same armor, it is still difficult to proceed.

The place where we struck seems to be a hall leading to the deck making the fight a little cramped.

"Our only objective is to take control of this ship! Any dwarf you will defeat will should be thrown offboard!"

Merissa commands through SS Iowa's intercom. Since Merissa herself is a non-combatant, she will be staying behind the lines.

The Ether ship we are currently on right now is five times bigger than SS Iowa so the search for the control room will be difficult. We also have the second Ether ship to watch out for. If the dwarves here decided to bring us down together with the ship, we'd be losing a huge initiative.

Merissa has thirty crew currently boarded as SS Iowa and half of them are going to fight while half will maintain operation in SS Iowa. In front of us, there are four dwarves with ether exoskeletal armor.

"Argh, you two go forward! We'll keep them busy!"

One of the crew, demon kin with three horns, said to me and King Arthur. They decided to make the other seven of the group go to the opposite direction leaving them with only eight in their total count.

"Wait, are you saying we should run past them?"

"Well, ya can, aight?"

"We can but...how about you guys? Won't it be faster if we take them down together!? It will be easy for us!"

"We should prioritize taking control. Look, even cap'n got off her high heels."

I turn back and saw Merissa running towards us.

"I thought you weren't coming?"

"Currently, only Ferd and I know how to operate complex controls on the call. The other members in the control room could too, however, it would take longer."

"I see, so you are going to take over this ship and Ferd will take the other one?"

"Yeah, they are just waiting for your signal. We need King Arthur there to break past the ether barrier."

"Got it. Let's go."

The remaining crew engages the dwarves in a clash. The SS Iowa pulls out from its lodging and King Arthur, Merissa, and I dashes our way past the dwarves. Because the three of us are small in height and size, catching us or even trying to hit us became an undoable chore for them.

The three of us runs at full speed and in a half a minute, we've reached the end of the corridor and stumbles upon the hatch...which seems wrong. It was like a huge warehouse filled with the smell of oil and metal and the overhead clearance is well above twenty feet or so.

"Aren't we failing something here?"

"Yeah, you can say that again. And...those..."

At the hatch, we saw dozens and dozens of Ether golems...

"It seems they aren't active, lucky for us."

I chuckled at the predicament that we are in and for the dastardly luck we have. If we are in the hatch, the other team might be on the right track. Even if that was the case, if they meet some dwarves wearing those ether exoskeletal armor, chances are they'd be doomed.

Well, I guess this is the time I should put my trust in Merissa's subordinates. They wouldn't be on her crew if they aren't crafty and sly enough.

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"At least we know how much forces we have at hand. For now, let's turn around and look for a new path."

"That won't do. Do no underestimate ships like this, Gao. I want to be clever about this situation but you have the most roundabout mind here. Anything comes in mind?"

"You are just dumping more work to me, is what you mean."

"Yup."

Don't be so blunt and smug about it!

However, what Merissa is true. A ship with this technology would have surveillance far exceeds our knowledge. They might be sending reinforcement towards where Merissa's crew is.

It won't long until they get to us. I am certain that they are watching us too. In that case, we need decisive action.

"Merissa, if you pilot a giant ship like this, where would you put the control room?"

"For a machine maniac like me, the answer is for a no-brainer. I'd put the control room where I can also see outside, meaning, at the highest point of the ship. Since this isn't a normal ship for striding the waters, I'd say it doesn't have an open deck."

"I see, so we go up, right?"

Merissa, King Arthur, and I all directed our eyes towards the ceiling which seems like made of a thick layer of steel. Not to mention, the huge difference in height that made our head looks like peering towards the endless skies.

"I am going to be honest here, Gao, hat idea is shit. Not only we are going to ruin the aesthetic of this ship it would also be greatly devalued in the market!"

"I am going to agree with you at the aesthetic part but...did I heard the last part right? You are still thinking of gaining profit from this?"

"Cash makes the world go round, dear. I didn't come here losing profits, though this is also a gamble."

"Well, we are just opening a tiny hole, probably fixable by pounding some planks on it."

"Your comparison of woodwork repair and metallurgy is sickening! No dignity!"

"How dare you!?"

"Well, just as you said, it's just a small hole. There's nothing to fret about."

I glance at King Arthur who nodded in return. I created steps of barriers as a foothold to let King Arthur leap his way towards the ceiling. He ascended through the steps in a flash and I created them in an instant.

Not even ten seconds, King Arthur sweeps Caliburn into the ceiling, finely cutting it like a hot knife on butter. A chunk of huge metal which was the former steel ceiling came crashing.

BAM!

The loud piercing sound shook my head as the cutout ceiling collapsed on the floor of the hatch, creating a huge crater.

That's right folks, we bore a hole into the metallic floor and now a strong gust of wind is assaulting the whole place. As the wind flaps our hair, Merissa and I are just stares dumbfounded at King Arthur who landed in front of us with a perfect grade smile.

"Do you understand the meaning of small?"

"I find it more reasonable not to spare a grain of effort but do things efficiently."

"What's done been done."

With a face of someone who lost, Merissa droops her shoulder.

With King Arthur's Caliburn, we proceeded to go upward. Each floor had its roof bisected mercilessly by the legendary sword. I am losing all my confidence in my stock of swords against Caliburn.

Each time King Arthur bore a hole on each floor, I can see Merissa dying internally has her eyes gradually loses its vigor.

At this point, I can only assume the King Arthur is doing this deliberately.

"Ah..."

"Ahhhhh?"

Unsurprisingly, we popped our heads on the control room where five dwarves wearing light clothing appears to be in a panic. When our eyes met, they hanged their jaw in utter shock as we all know, we bore a hole in the ship with thick floors and walls made out of steel.

Around the control room are several monitors surveying the interior and exterior of the ship. They aren't anything mechanical because they are shown as holographic. There are several pieces of equipment I couldn't identify but basically, there are monitors, communication devices, some buttons that operate the ship, and some huge buttons I am guessing for the big guns.

Merissa, with all the frustration built up inside her, glares at the dwarves that look like deers in the headlight and spoke her mind out.

"Alright, bastards! This is an easy question. Either we do this the easy way or the hard way. Choose!"

Where's the question in that!?

King Arthur flashes Caliburn on the dumbstruck dwarves. Judging from their reaction, they already know how Caliburn can easily slice them apart.

"Alright, calm down! We are non-combatants so we will comply with anything you say."

"I see. I hope you guys know how to swim!"

"Eh?"

Merissa maliciously threw them offboard the ship. King Arthur made another hole on the side of the ship and we made the dwarves jump off one by one with a parachute on their backs.

Even if they are our enemy this time I feel slightly bad for them. This just happened to them because Merissa hated them for being a second-generation dwarves.

Enough of that, Merissa quickly checks the system of the ship and how to operate it. Honestly, this is all technical work that I cannot comprehend.

"I am certain that they have already contacted the other ships, judging by the communication log full of reports about our invasion."

"That's also within the expected circumstances."

"The terminal in which this ship should be connected has been limited to the other ship beside us. Since we were delayed, raiding the other ship will be even harder than this one."

"Well, will you operate this ship alone?"

"It has an auto-piloting function. That much is enough for me. There are other technical kinds of stuff needed to be done such as breaching through the operating system and whatnot. Since the communication terminal hasn't been cut off from the other ship, it will be easier to connect the channel there."

"I don't get much of the bits here, but in the end, we need to raid that ship as soon as possible, right?"

"Yeah, they might lock out the system, making it harder to secure ownership of the ship's operating system."

"Yeah, we're on it. Ferd should be waiting too, right?"

"Yeah! Please take care of Ferd. That man, he is an unfathomable genius, way better than me."

It was odd for Merissa to show a concerned to Ferd.

"Ferd is like a son to me."

"What would you do if he thinks otherwise?"

"...Even so, I care for him."

King Arthur and I turned our backs from her and headed straight to the hole the King Arthur made earlier. We gaze at the other ship that we will be raiding. I immediately notice that our ship is increasing in altitude.

No...the other ship is lowering its altitude.

"Impossible... are they going to crash the ship?!"

"It takes determination to make such a decision, I applaud them for it."

"If they manage to crash that ship, we will only be down for a single ship against five. Also..."

"What is it?"

"Why are you holding onto my sleeve? Why are you stepping out on the strong gust of wind like that? Don't tell me..."

"It's the fastest and most efficient way."

"We are going to free fall this?! Seriously?!"

King Arthur smiles.

"We will be fine."

I just died inside a little.

I've done this so many times now but looking back, this stunt is scary as hell. We manage to mess this up, we will be splattering on the ether shield. Even if we somehow break through it, if King Arthur couldn't cut a hole in time of the ship's exterior, we will break a few bones.

"How accurate can you make your barriers?"

"As long as my reflexes can keep up. Mostly reflexes of a normal person so don't ask too much of me."

"Then, how big can you make your barrier?"

"Last time I check, I can make it as large as what Queen Hinoki could do."

"Then I bet you can make it like a slide, from here to there."

"...Oh."

Another brilliant idea ramps up my mind.

Me, of all the people, didn't think of that!

I was so focused on breaking down the concept of the barrier as a scaffolding and thorns that I left out other ideas.

"Alright, we'll make it!"