We wait for a few minutes while the situation calms down. There's zero damage on our side, and only a few Cloud Snakes and a single Kite Dragon killed on their side. The Fay Leviathan only suffered a few minor wounds from the Floater.
Paraaone stops the glow of his white armor and shrinks his wings down again. "That was annoying. Too much teasing for me," he comments and knits his non-existent eyebrows.
"Why didn't those Trinity Cannons fire on the Kite Dragons?" Yunia asks him, and Lina translates.
"They have the range to fire that far, but it isn't worth the mana. Better to just wait for the Wasps or the Horns to deal with them," he responds.
"The Carrier doesn't have anything like the Floater's [Beam]?"
He shakes his head gently. "Nah. It's a defensive ship, and the Trinity Cannons are used for point-defense."
Her eyes narrow, making her expression look severe. "The monster leader definitely has many more monsters than what he has shown so far. Are you sure that the Floater will be enough to deal with them?"
He nods and smiles a bit awkwardly. "Yeah. With just ten Celestial Horns we could easily get you guys to Ozymandias. The only difficult part of this expedition is protecting the Winch from all these monsters."
"I see…" She holds her chin in thought and looks away.
After about half an hour, lunchtime arrives, but we're called to the bridge before we can eat. I take Yunia and Lina with me while the other girls remain on our ship.
The two of them ride Aoi down to the Carrier while I use [Telekinesis] to launch myself over. Jumping or calmly floating down with this spell is quite simple, so actually flying is much more exciting, and the strong winds slightly increase the difficulty.
I fly faster than Aoi and land first, but I almost go splat on the runway. I still don't have a good sense of my speed while flying.
Aoi lands, and the girls dismount from her, then I give her a kiss, and she flies away with a smile.
A soldier takes us to the bridge, and we take a moment to look around to hide the fact that we've already seen it.
The crew silently looks down their scopes, tirelessly scanning the skies for monsters while the comms officers stoically wait for communications. As we enter, I hear an officer turn around and report that Kaatohe has lost the last Cloud Snake inside a huge, cloud-shrouded island.
Kaata, Hihiriwa's gecko wife, is using her summoned bird to relay a message to the Floater. Kaiia, the panda XO, motions for us to sit on three chairs prepared for us in front of Hihiriwa's.
Oritiki sends us a nod and a gentle smile that we return as we pass, then we take our seats and face Hihiriwa.
His gray dragon scales twitch nervously. "Ryders, we've called you here because there's something that we must discuss," Hihiriwa starts, then Kaiia takes his seat.
I nod and signal for them to continue.
Hihiriwa's tone is completely devoid of any mirth. I have a feeling that he's actually seething internally, but hiding it very well. "If we don't deal with that Fay Leviathan and their Kite Dragons, we'll have to endure a lot of harassment. We even suspect that a breeder-type is leading them instead of just a leader-type, which would explain its infuriating tactics. We believe that their plan is to wage an attrition war, and while we're certain that we'll survive, it would be costly. "
He pauses there so that Lina can finish translating.
"That's certainly very worrying," Yunia calmly comments, then leans back and relaxes, showing calmness and confidence.
For you, is what she's implying. They don't react openly to it, but subtle body language like this is important in delicate negotiations.
Kaiia continues, his tone even more tense than Hihiriwa's, "The Floater can keep the Leviathans away, but it's unable to deal a decisive blow against them, so we want you to take a more aggressive role in this fight."
We take a moment to think, and Yunia gives me a subtle look. Her advice before we came here was to keep in mind the relationship we currently have with Hihiriwa. He has displayed a friendly attitude towards us, but he also hasn't given us any real favors like Oritiki has. Our relationship is that of equals, where each and every favor is traded. We're merely guests accompanying them, and we don't need them as much as they need us, so we need a good reason to get ourselves more deeply involved with them.
I gather my courage as I puff up my chest and say, "Our ship is completely vulnerable. We'd receive far too much damage if we were to engage an enemy like a group of Kite Dragons, who could just fire their orbs further than the Carrier's defenses."
Kaiia nods and says, "We have a few spare [Wind Shield]s. We can install one on your ship, and that should allow you to even engage a Leviathan."
Now, that is an interesting proposal.
"What are the specifics of these enchantments?" Yunia asks with a business smile. She has personally inspected the enchantments on Escanso's Shell many times, so she knows her [Wind Shield].
They don't even try to give us cheap ones, going straight for the best, not that Oritiki would allow them to put us at risk. They'll install two crystals: one will create a half-sphere at the front, and the other will form one at the back, protecting us from all directions. They consume a lot of mana to keep them active, so they'll give us ones with increased mana reserves.
Also, our handler will be transferred to the bridge so that we'll have a direct channel with Hihiriwa. We'll have to closely follow his orders, and he'll definitely be putting us at the front line. Even though we're going to be forced to fight, having this defensive enchantment will make us much, much safer in general.
Negotiations are finished quite quickly. They'll begin the installation after lunch while we continue along the Looping Winds.
We return to our ship and enter formation again. While we let the golems pilot, the girls organize lunch. I can't help with cooking since it's more important that at least I remain ready for an attack.
I drop down to our deck and walk to the bow, then look ahead alongside Paraaone.
He glances back towards the girls and comments, "You guys have a lot of ingredients that I've never seen before."
"They come from the lands down below. We've primarily eaten the monsters we've killed along the way, so we still have a lot of supplies left," I calmly tell a lie.
He grunts and returns to observing the way ahead.
The fleet makes a short stop so that we can eat. Paraaone returns to the Carrier for his meal, allowing us to have some private time. Right before we dig in, a Spirit pulse sweeps through the ships. The birds on the bridge suffer a bit, but it's not enough to damage them significantly since it's aimed at monsters and not magical beings in general.
We make some pasta with not-tomato sauce, leafy greens with orc bacon, and some smoked fatty minotaur rump. Not the healthiest meal, so we'll compensate for it at dinner.
"So, aren't you going to say anything about what you did this morning?" Alissa asks with a subtle smirk.
"Uh… I did Hukarere…" I reply absentmindedly.
"Yes…" She nods slowly. "But you also learned to share her with Aihopu."
"Oh, that's interesting," Yunia says and leans forward.
I shrug. "Well, not every woman that I sleep with will be exclusive to me," I say.
Alissa nods and smiles proudly. "It's good progress. Not everyone will want to be like Osaria, and you need to learn how to share Klein," she says.
Hana frowns and pouts. "I didn't see that; I was too busy staying on watch."
"Oh, it was really hot. Maybe Gify can show you those memories," Roxanne says and smirks.
"So you were daydreaming while we were supposed to be on watch?" Ciel asks her with a reproachful look.
"I can do two things at the same time quite easily, just like Wolfy did," Roxanne immediately answers since she was just waiting for the opportunity to make that joke.
Ciel turns her eyes to me, making me feel a little guilty. "You're a bad influence on them," she says and pouts.
Hana's eyes suddenly lose focus, and she shows a ferocious grin. I look at Gify and see that she's staring at Hana while eating her steak. A wave of - excitement starts to seep through Hana's [Bind] -.
"Oi, you little imp! Now we're both getting horny!" I complain to Gify.
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"Gih," she chirps dismissively.
I sigh. "We don't have time for that. Our mealtime is about to end."
"Giih," she chirps, annoyed.
"Hey, I want to have some fun, too. You've had Hukarere all to yourself for all this time, so share her a bit," Hana says, her eyes still out of focus.
"Well, she isn't bi," I reply with a shrug.
Her hand drifts down, and she starts touching herself while eating. "I know, but I want to taste a new woman. I should've met with that - Kai you had a date with."
I smile wryly. "Alright. When we have some time, we'll ask around for someone interested in you."
I extend a tentacle towards her, then I make it crawl under her pants. She jumps in surprise, then smiles at me. "Thanks, Wolfy. That makes it easier to eat," she says with a grin.
I smile smugly and say, "'Easier'? I beg to differ."
-
After lunch, we continue the journey along the Looping Winds. Hana isn't satisfied yet, so she and I spend some time at the back of our ship, my hand clutched over hers, and my - tentacles inside her.
Paraaone doesn't suspect a thing since all he can see is that we're standing next to each other -.
After she's finally satisfied, we cuddle, while armored, and her strong hands give me a brief but relaxing brain massage as a reward, but it doesn't last long since we've spent enough time distracted already.
Ririmu arrives on the bridge to replace Hukarere and awkwardly sits down at his workstation. I assume that he's never entered that room before, but since he's our handler, he got a "promotion" after our negotiations with Hihiriwa.
The fluffy raccoon man summons his bird and sends it to our ship, so I go up to our bridge to receive it.
"Greetings, Ryders, Ririmu reporting for duty," he says in an overly formal tone, then glances at Hihiriwa.
I grin at the bird, then I raise the pitch of my voice and spew out my words in rapid succession, doing my best Nohopu impression, "Pleasure to meet you, Sir Ririmu. It's an honor to be serving at your side, my good sir. Let's follow Marshall Hihiriwa's will and hunt down that vile Leviathan! Huzzah!"
He clenches his jaw and stares at the bird with a stiff expression, trying to keep a straight face, for which Kaata gives him a side glance. After a few seconds of struggling, he wins and manages to hold the laughter back.
Four Chimera engineers fly over to our ship, and Ciel accompanies them down to the hold. Two of them pull out a large light green crystal each, both about as tall as Ciel is, and the other two pull out a bunch of planks.
They put together nests for the [Wind Shield] magic tools and secure them with the planks by actually fusing them with the ship and the crystals, then they set up gold-veined beams from each crystal towards the bridge, adding them to the one that belongs to the [Fly] gem.
Alissa and the golems clear from the bridge so that the engineers have room to install the controls.
"Well, this is quite the old control station," an engineer comments.
"Clunky as fuck. Why do they even make them like this anymore? Fuse these damn levers into a control stick!" Another exclaims.
"We didn't get this ship because it was the latest model," I lie with a wry smile.
"A miracle you got this bathtub so far, too," the third comments.
"Miihini, don't be rude. This is the ship of our esteemed guest. He'll be fighting up front to protect us," a fourth says in a more formal tone.
Miihini, the third engineer, gives me a phony smile and a quick bow. "No offense intended, esteemed guest, I just say it like I see it: you land-dwellers don't make ships as good as ours. You should've taken a look at our transport ships back in town, you would've definitely wanted to buy one if you did."
"Perhaps one day we'll come back to Whakamutu. We'll definitely take a look then," I say with a gentle smile.
"You won't regret it!" Miihini exclaims, then continues to work cheerfully.
The Chimeras finish quickly, then we test the enchantments. The control for each of them is a gem on a stick. We send mana through this gem, and it gets amplified exponentially by the enchantment. There's no upper limit to the amplification, so it's possible to spend too much mana and waste all of its reserves in just a few seconds. It seems that mana circuitry in this world isn't as advanced as Earth's science.
The fourth engineer gives us one last piece of advice, "I advise that you always keep the enchantment active in combat at a consumption rate of one MP per five seconds. That should be enough to deflect most attacks, including the frost orbs from the Kite Dragons. While active, the enchantment can also detect incoming attacks and drain more of its reserves to stop them, so you don't need to predict the power of the enemy's attacks yourself."
"Oo~h… that's some good enchantments they have there," Lina comments, then goes down to the hold to inspect the crystals.
The engineers leave soon after, and we play around with the enchantment.
We learn that we can fire projectiles from the ship while it's active, but their trajectory gets entirely disrupted, so it's basically the same as not being able to aim. Ciel's [Beam] works fine, though.
"Ryders, is everything complete on your end?" Ririmu asks.
"[Wind Shield]s are armed and ready," I respond and give him a thumbs up.
He raises an eyebrow and holds back a smile. "'Armed'…? Uh, anyway, the Marshall requests that you support the Floater and take a forward position while it sweeps the area. Keep your eyes peeled for monsters; we have little choice but to walk into their ambushes."
I breathe in and nod, then the Carrier exits the Looping Winds, allowing us to overtake it, and we fly full speed ahead until we see the Floater.
It engages its propellers and leaves the Looping Winds, quickly sweeping the area, inspecting every cloud and islet. It's so nimble that our ship really seems like a bathtub in comparison to the Floater.
Yunia suddenly turns her gaze to the side and points. "Spirit. I don't know what kind it is, though," she announces.
Ciel comes up behind her, then aligns her glaive with Yunia's arm and fires [Beam].
"Right on, a perfect hit," Yunia gently says and glances back at Ciel with a cheeky smile.
Ciel returns the smile, then holds back a chuckle.
"What is it?" Yunia asks.
"I was expecting you to either kiss me or flirt. I'm just way too used to how Wolfy, Hana, and Roxanne act," Ciel responds and shyly looks away.
"Your aim is as perfect as you are," Yunia immediately says in a serious tone.
Ciel opens her eyes wide and giggles.
Yunia narrows her eyes and looks away. "No, that wasn't good enough… how about…" She turns back to Ciel and stares her in the eyes. "Your aim is as deadly as you are to my heart," she whispers sensually.
Ciel's giggles increase as she blushes.
I blink repeatedly because I don't believe my eyes. "H-hey… she never acted like that with me," I say.
"You were never the sexy or seductive kind of man," Alissa says and squeezes my hand lovingly.
"Then what 'kind' am I?" I ask with a frown.
She smiles gently. "The really cute kind; the kind that you want to hug and protect, but now, you're also a confident charmer."
Yunia takes one Ciel's gloves off and kisses her hand. Now, even Hana starts to get a bit unnerved as her "knightly" aura is being overtaken by Yunia's.
Roxanne's cold staff touches the back of Hana's neck, making her jump. She giggles and says, "You were never much of a 'knight,' my love. A majestic barbarian with a bear's hug, sure, but a 'protective knight'? Nah."
Hana pouts and says, "I'm too smart to be a barbarian, my 'Intelligence' is twelve."
Before Roxanne can retort with an insult, Hana covers her mouth with her hand, making Roxanne chuckle.
I send a suggestion to Lina, and she comes up out of the hold, then stops beside Ciel and makes some puppy eyes, distracting her from Yunia.
The elven princess snorts softly, then walks over to Aoi and snobbishly says to me through her, "See? I can make all of your women mine if I want."
"I dare you to steal Alissa's heart," Aoi replies and narrows her eyes dangerously.
Yunia points her nose up, then looks down at Aoi. "That one isn't a humanoid, she's basically your own golem or something."
"I wholly belong to Wolfy, so, in a way, she's correct," Alissa comments.
Aoi grins at Yunia and says, "Is that so? Or maybe you're just not the great seductress that you thought you were."
"You're just taunting me to get your lesbianism fetish fulfilled," Yunia responds calmly.
"Well, you're the one who started this," Aoi responds with a shrug.
Yunia smirks mischievously. "I just thought it'd be fun to see you sweat a little with jealousy."
Aoi rises to her hind feet, towering over Yunia. Her eyes sharpen, and she glares at her as she says in a serious tone, "Are you sure you want to tease me like that?"
She doesn't answer, just giggling like a lady instead, then she smiles smugly at Aoi, as if she's daring me.
I guess she's in need of a good - pounding.
I summon a spirit elemental to widen our coverage area because it seems that we'll be encountering a few spirit monsters on the way. Gify doesn't say anything, so I know that they're just small fry, which leads me to believe that they're just spies.
Ririmu identifies the new monster for us, it's an Ethereal Snatcher. It's a slime monster that switches between spiritual and physical forms at will. It moves in its spiritual form, which allows it to be unaffected by gravity and just float in any direction it wants. It only switches to its physical form to attack by enveloping its prey with its body, then it turns back into a spirit again, dragging its victim along with it, spiriting them away. Heh.
Yunia and Ciel kill a few of them, then a Crystalline Moth, after which, the spirits suddenly stop appearing. It seems like they've realized that they can't penetrate the defenses of our ship.
The Spirit mages in the other ships of the fleet also go on high alert due to the number of spirit monsters coming our way, so, even without the Spirit pulse, they're managing to flush out any spies trying to infiltrate.
The Moth is a nice addition to my monster collection. Perhaps I could replace Holly with the now-named Monthy depending on the situation. I'm not a bug dude, but its wings have a psychedelic pattern that's pretty nice to look at. It's a much more interesting insect than the annoying and fuzzy little shit who loves entering my room at night and hiding, then suddenly scaring the shit out of me by flapping around and making a lot of noise.
The rest of the day is free of excitement, and soon after the sun falls, we reach another anchor. Ahead of us, there's a faint white mist that gradually becomes thicker farther away. We saw that on the scanner and knew that something like this was coming. It's the "mist" area, the perfect place for an ambush.
- I punish Yunia along with Hana, then I switch to Alissa once I'm done-
She's happy with the progress I've made in decreasing my possessiveness and asks Gify to share the memories of me - with Klein and Osaria. Knowing that I'm - with her while thinking about someone else is seemingly enough to fulfill her NTR fetish.
For her, fulfilling this fetish may be a high priority, but making sure that my harem is healthy and well-cared for is her highest priority.
-
Hihiriwa invites us for a meal, but he says that it must be a quick one this time since the crew is still on alert for more attacks.
Without much time for idle conversation, we mostly just listen to Nohopu retelling his short bout with the Fay Leviathan. It's quite the slippery enemy, but curiously, it doesn't have much in the way of strong magical attacks, so the [Wind Shield]s will be enough to keep it at bay.
Mahi, the captain of the Winch, doesn't seem to be persuaded by Alissa's pimping, so I guess she might be a bust, but not Kaatohe. I let my eyes thirst for a bit over her naked, tight body, and notice that her eyes are also wandering, lingering on my scars, the cute vertical one on my left cheek, specifically. Our eyes meet, and she exhales loudly, giving me a snobbish look, then she turns to Nohopu.
Soon, our meal is over, and we return to our ship.
Jarn continues to mold her face into Yunia's. Her aptitude with [Manipulate Metal] is rapidly increasing; she seems to have a good affinity with this spell, which is expected since she's technically an earth elemental herself.
Aoi conjures a ball of water and holds it up in the air with her "Willpower."
"What are you doing, Aoi?" Roxanne asks.
"I don't know. I just felt like doing it," Aoi responds and shrugs.
"Shouldn't Azurite dragons have some affinity with water?" Hana asks.
Roxanne adjusts her oval glasses in thought. "Hm… see if you can change the temperature of the water with only your will. If that doesn't work, try increasing the power of your [Torrent], or work on [Water Wall]."
"O-kaay…" Aoi responds absentmindedly, deeply focused on her ball of water.
We're not in the mood for any training right now, so we just cheer on the as the [Water Spirit] fights the [Holy Spirit]. The two cute little familiars beat each other senseless, but it feels oddly non-violent without the grunts of pain and sprays of blood that usually come with real combat.
We go to sleep soon after that, but I'm awoken at midnight by Gify, the summons, and an alarm siren. A monster attack is incoming.