We rushed out of the room just as another explosion rang out inside the barracks, finding the earlier Merc and his buddy had already run off somewhere else.

Those two sure can run fast huh?

We randomly picked a direction and started running, not wanting to face that walking tank that’s eviscerating the pirates behind us.

“What do we do now?” I asked, running beside her. “Where else could he be on the ship?”

Amber opened her mouth to answer me but then an explosion behind us interrupted her.

When we turned to look behind while slowing down our pace slightly, we found the door to the barracks had been blown open and a pirate skidded out through the door in a hurry before sprinting towards us.

He even caught up to us and ran past us before turning his head back to frown at us as though he was thinking about something.

That was when he let out a gasp, “You’re fucking Mercs!”

His hand reached for his holster and Amber simply pointed her pistol that was already in her hand and blew his head open.

I… Don’t even know how I should react to that…

Another explosion resounded behind us but this time we did not turn to look and simply continued running until we turned the corner to get out of sight.

Amber then finally spoke up, “Are there any locations where one might make a last stand near here that is not the bridge?”

I tapped on my Codex that brought up a holographic map in front of me, “Umm… Let me see… The rooms that are closest to the bridge are the barracks that we just came from… The Infirmary behind us… The mess hall straight ahead and… Oh.”

She raised an eyebrow at me, “What? What is it?”

“The armoury, one floor down from us. We can get to it via the stairs just up ahead.”

Amber nodded, “Sounds about right. Where else could trash like him make his final stand aside from the place where they store all their weapons? Anyway, even if he isn’t there, I wouldn’t say no to looting their weapons stash.”

That is true.

With that decided, we altered our course a little and headed for the stairs that would lead us to the level below. Once we were there, I took a moment to double check the map before leading us in the direction of the armoury.

That was when I paused and grabbed Amber by the arm, “Hold on… If they are planning a last stand there… Why are we sending ourselves there directly? We would be outgunned and outnumbered! That’s not a good idea!”

Amber tilted her head at me, “Ehhh… I’m sure we can handle them. You’ll just take care of the pirate lord while I deal with the small fries.”

“No, no, no… We don’t even know how many people are there…”

“How is this any different from us storming into the bridge earlier? We were also prepared to charge in there, weren’t we?”

“Yeah, but that was because they weren’t cooped up in a place where they would have access to all the weapons and defences they have on the ship. We can’t go in guns blazing when we’re that outnumbered, you know?”

“Mmm… So what should we do now? Run away and leave it to the other Mercs?”

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I scoffed, “Oh hell no. We just need to find another way to take them out instead of charging in of course! Let’s go and see if we can figure out just how many pirates are waiting over there before we decide on what to do, ok?”

She smirked, “Heh~ That’s fine with me!”

We continued onwards until we reached the reinforced door that led to the armoury.

It was already pretty obvious they were inside because despite the reinforced door, I could hear the sounds of someone shouting and cursing inside and there were also noises of heavy objects being moved around as well.

“How do you want to check this?” Amber asked, gesturing to the door in front of us.

That was the main problem since it looked like there was only one entrance and the door was pretty big… If I were to open it, I’m pretty sure everyone inside the armoury would notice.

Hmm… Is there another way in?

If this was a game… A ventilation shaft maybe?

My gaze drifted upwards and… Bingo.

Honestly, I wasn’t even expecting there to be one but I could see the grate on the ceiling that most probably hid a ventilation shaft above.

I pointed up towards the ceiling and Amber looked up as well, only to frown when she realised what I was pointing to.

“You’ve watched too many movies…”

I shrugged, “Let’s just check it out ok? Give me a boost and I’ll remove the grate.”

She rolled her eyes but complied anyway, squatting down and patting her shoulders to indicate she wanted me to ride on them.

I positioned myself on her shoulders and she stood up easily, allowing me to reach the grate with minimal effort.

“I’m only doing this so that I can feel your thighs on my face by the way,” She admitted, her hand already reaching up to start stroking them.

I decided not to comment on it and focused on trying to pull out the vent cover only to find that it was welded shut.

Also, it’s dusty as fuck.

Ugh, gross…

“Ok, you can let me down now… No way we’re getting in through there.”

“I told you,” She laughed before setting me down.

“Well, how do you want to do this then?” I asked, picking up my shotgun that I had set aside.

Amber then brandished her pistols and grinned, “Just run and gun. Duh.”

“If I remember, the last time you charged into a place full of pirates, you got yourself shot and needed to be rescued.”

“I don’t remember that happening.”

I placed a hand on my hip and gave her a look, “Really?”

“Yeah! All I remember was that I got myself the best lover in the universe from that incident! Best decision of my life!”

I rolled my eyes, “Sure, sure… But I’m not going to just char--”

I was interrupted by an explosion near the stairs where we had just came from, followed by the sound of gunfire and someone screaming.

That was then accompanied by the sounds of footsteps and I realised they were climbing down the stairs towards us.

“Hide!” I whispered, pulling on Amber’s hand to get away from the armoury door.

“Hide? Hide where?!”

I looked for the first door closest to us and tried to open it, breathing out a sigh of relief when it wasn’t locked before I pushed Amber inside and went in after her.

The room turned out to be some kind of empty closet which I wondered what it was used for and why would a room like this be located here.

“We could have taken them…” Amber muttered behind me.

I was about to point out that we could get pincered by the pirates in the armoury as well when I heard the unmistakable sound of a minigun revving up followed by the whine of the minigun shredding through its ammo and eviscerating whoever was unfortunate enough to be the target.

Oh crap… It’s the minigun guy…

I left the door open and peeked around the corner of the doorframe, seeing the large sized man strutting down the corridor casually. There were at least three dead bodies along the way and there was one pirate currently crawling away from him with his legs that had been torn to shreds trailing behind him.

The man caught up to the pirate and stepped on him with a foot, stopping the pirate from crawling any further.

“Wait… Please… I already said… I surrender… No… Wait… Wait! Wait!! Ahhhhhh!!!”

His scream got louder and louder until I realised the minigun guy was pressing his weight on the pirate’s back slowly until a loud snap could be heard as the pirate’s spine was broken into two.

Ugh… I get it now… This guy gets off on seeing other people suffer…

The pirate flopped onto the floor and the minigun guy continued leaning in until another snap could be heard and the pirate’s body was curved into the shape of the letter ‘C’.

I blanched, holding my shotgun tightly and switching the next round to a shield buster round in case that guy decided to check this closet.

Thankfully, another shout came from the armoury and the minigun guy turned his attention to the door.

He then walked up to the door and looked around it before spotting the door controls.

With a casual gait, he tapped on the button, prompting the door to open up with a loud groan.

Then an explosion went off right in front of him and I got to watch him get flung back by the force to crash into the wall behind him.

Oh wow… Now I’m really glad I didn’t open the door…