They came in the dead of night. Our once beautiful village was reduced to a charred ruin… Not even the cattle were spared. I only survived because I was out in the fields when the Swordshark Pirates raided the village. But my wife…

-Quoted from a survivor of a Swordshark Pirates coastal raid

She felt the wind blast her face from the speed of his strike before her brain registered the move. However, she’d grown used to the rush of battle and took a step back.

It didn’t let her escape the man’s strike, but it gave her room to parry the blow with her right cutlass. There was a scary moment as the force of the blow knocked her towards the edge of the beam.

She managed to stay standing and in a single swift moment, swung at his neck with her left cutlass. His eyes widened as he realised he was overextended and vulnerable.

Skill up!

Dual Wielding 7 > 8

A muffled explosion came from below. A puff of smoke rose into the air and he launched backwards far faster than possible for a human, easily evading her slash.

Looking at his foot, she saw a couple sparks winking out. He had some kind of fire skill, either innate or through the tide. It didn’t matter, but it made her life more difficult.

The longer this battle dragged on, the more of his allies would reach them. Luckily, the beam limited her potential foes to two or three at a time. However, the pirates climbing the second mast would have an easy shot if they had a gun.

Rose wasn’t without skills of her own. Her control was still shaky, but since opening her arcane core she’d grasped the basics of manipulating tidal energy.

Through lessons from Trent, Nasar, and even a brief word of advice from Yasmin, she knew how to cycle the mysterious energy through her body to empower her muscles. Reaching into her core, she pulled on the thin trickle of energy that resided there.

It was far from enough to give her entire body a sufficient boost, but she didn’t need to strengthen all her muscles to beat this guy. He eyed her with caution after her swift killing blow.

Seeing that she wasn’t making the first move, his arms shifted and she saw sparks gathering at his feet. Such an obviously telegraphed attack seemed like a weakness, but she hadn’t seen his limits yet and wouldn’t underestimate him.

The sparks condensed, winking out of existence in an instant. Then a brilliant flame exploded from his heels and he flew.

A single breath passed and the edge of his blade was suddenly an inch from her thigh. Instead of a death blow, he’d decided to change tactics and incapacitate her.

If she wasn’t prepared, his attack might’ve succeeded. Certainly, that ability to shoot fire and move like lightning wasn’t something a normal pirate could handle.

However, Rose wasn’t exactly normal. In fact, her thighs were the exact place she’d decided to infuse with her arcane energy. His blade bit into her skin, but stopped a centimetre in.

His eyes widened in surprise as his body continued forwards, the momentum of his blow transferring to him. Clenching her muscles, she locked his blade in place before he could respond and swung with both blades.

One sliced through his stomach while the other ripped through his shoulder. Blood splattered her and she grimaced as the metallic stench assaulted her senses.

Skill up!

Dual Wielding 8 > 9

Blades 14 > 15

His guts spilled out across the beam, falling to the deck below along with a severed arm. It was a gruesome display; a shower of blood and gore that painted the sail crimson to signal her victory.

The pirate’s face was twisted in shock and horror as the life faded from his eyes and Rose choked down her vomit. Even now, she wasn’t able to fully ignore the impact of her actions.

Panting, she flicked the blood from her blades and kicked his corpse off the beam. She heard shouts of surprise, fear, and rage from the pirates as they saw their captain’s body falling.

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There was no time to rest as she heard a scream from behind and felt the beam shuddering beneath her feet. Turning, she saw her next enemy rushing at her.

He wielded twin cutlasses like her, but his movements were clumsy. She guessed the redheaded guy was the most skilled on board, but that didn’t mean the battle would be easy.

Even a hundred weaklings can kill a powerful foe through the sheer strength of numbers. Rose blocked his first strike and he followed with a second soon after.

This one she parried to the side, before stepping forwards and shoving his first sword. Caught off guard, his foot slipped and he fell onto the beam. The hard wood smacked the spot between his legs and she saw his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

Radiant beams of light scattered across his skin as Sunsplitter sliced through his neck a moment later. He fell from the beam and joined his fallen captain below.

Another two pirates had climbed onto the beam in front of her, replacing the dead one. With every foe she killed more would take their place. Shaking from behind her alerted her to even more enemies on the other side.

She was too vulnerable right now, caught in a pincer between the advancing tides of pirates. The only way out was to cut them down.

Gritting her teeth she started to run towards the side with the least pirates. The first woman hadn’t expected her to be so decisive. She raised her blade to block as Rose swung down, but her blow knocked the weak guard away and she stabbed the woman in the gut before kicking her off the beam.

Skill up!

Dual Wielding 9 > 10

You have earned a new trait!

Ambidextrous: Your brain has adjusted to wielding two weapons at once and the strain of splitting your focus in two is massively reduced. Rather than two separate weapons, dual wielding will feel like wielding just one.

Rose grinned. This trait had come at a perfect moment. With dozens more pirates impeding her advance, she was grateful for the increased fluidity.

Her cutlasses danced as she spun and carved her way through the hapless pirates. A few managed to slice at her, drawing blood as minor wounds gathered all over her body.

Skill up!

Dual Wielding 10 > 12

Blades 15 > 16

However, none dealt a lethal blow. Rose was like the reaper, harvesting lives like wheat with every swing of her blade. Her cutlass whipped through the air with a crack, only to meet empty air.

Another enemy was fast approaching from behind. She’d killed every single pirate who stood in front of her. Instead of turning, she put Sunsplitter back in her inventory and jumped off the beam.

She fell through the air for a few seconds before reaching out to grab the rope ladder. Her fingers burned a little as she caught it and swung upwards.

Plenty of experience scrambling up and down the rigging over the last few months was working in her favour. She slid down the ropes towards the main deck, where corpses were littered.

There were a couple of pirates still there, but they were the dregs of this crew. The cowards who hadn’t even bothered to attack her after she ambushed their ship and killed their captain.

Ignoring them as they would barely help to advance her skills, her eyes darted around the ship. She was looking for the entrance to the underbelly.

There! Her eyes landed on a door that hung ajar and raced towards it. Some of the pirates who’d only just begun climbing were rushing after her but she had left them in the dust with her agile movements.

It took her flinging open a few doors to eventually find the place she was looking for. Her eyes quickly took in the stacks of barrels and piles of cannonballs.

An evil grin appeared on her face. She once more reached into her inventory, but not for Sunsplitter. This time she pulled out the [Salamander’s Flame Gland 31]. This was the highest level treasure she’d earned from slaughtering all those pink lizards.

Squeezing the gland, she sprayed the stored juices all over the barrels. Then, she sprayed it along the ground so there was a trail leading from the door of the room to the barrels.

Rose rushed towards the back of the ship, looking for the captain’s cabin as she continued to leave a trail of the acrid chemical. Kicking open the door she saw a window that went from wall to wall, a desk that looked like it had never been used, and a painting of the guy with a red mohawk. The painting made him seem a lot more handsome than he’d actually been.

She took out Sunsplitter and hurriedly scratched the blades against each other until she saw sparks. Then, she aimed the sparks at the sticky fluid until it burst into flame.

It lit up like wildfire, the flames zooming out of the cabin and along the corridor. In just a few seconds it would reach the room with the gunpowder barrels.

Angry yells came from the corridor along with panicked shouts and the banging of feet. Two pirates burst into the captain’s cabin, eyes burning with hatred.

“You bitch!” yelled one. “How dare you kill the captain and slaughter us like sheep. I’ll take my time with you.”

The other nodded his head and they both ran towards her with their blades raised. Rose could’ve stayed to fight them, eyes narrowing at the foul insults.

However, she knew that would be pointless. None of these stinking pirates would be left alive when the flames reached the end of the trail.

Turning, she burst into a sprint and ran towards the huge window. When she reached it she didn’t stop and threw herself at the glass.

The tinkle of the shattering glass rang out moments before a wave of hot air slammed into her back and a thundering boom drowned out all sound.