As we had planned, Emilia charged towards the pirate outpost first.

True to her word, she covered that distance in the blink of an eye, leaving us to run after her. Her Dexterity stat certainly isn't just for show.

Before we could even take three steps, she had already reached the outpost and was already in the midst of cutting down the surprised guard at the entrance.

She rushed past him and leapt towards the second guard before the first one's head could fully separate from his body.

The second guard only had time to let out a surprised squeak before his head was also separated from his body.

Emilia then disappeared into the outpost and continued her slaughter, causing screams and shouts to ring out from within.

By the time we reached the gate, there was already a trail of dead bodies leading into the outpost, all of them cut down before they could even draw their weapons. Did she even need our help?

Just look at her easily fending off six pirates on her own over there.

"Hey!! Leave some for us!!" Odeta yelled indignantly, jumping into the fight.

The pirates didn't even get to turn around before Odeta grabbed two of them by their necks before smashing their heads together.

And when I say smash, I really did mean smash… As in 'their skulls shattered against the other and pieces of flesh and blood flew in every direction' kind of smash.

Odeta didn't even flinch at the visceral sight and merely leapt towards her next victim, smashing an Inugami pirate into the ground where his head literally popped like a crushed watermelon.

I've seen them fight against the goblins earlier but it was a completely different feeling when they're fighting against non-monsters.

I slowed down to a halt as the two of them continued their rampage, deciding that perhaps there's no need for me to jump in there.

There's also the fact that the two of them have yet to completely recover from their bout with the Tunnel Stalker, but that didn't seem to bother them in the slightest.

Were they just letting out their frustrations on these poor pirates because of their fight against that monster?

Well… Alright then… I guess I'll just let them have their fun while I go and search for sweets.

Now… If I was a pirate, where would I store the sweets?

I went towards the largest building in the outpost, assuming that place was either the mess or the leader's quarters, both of them having the best chance of having sweets.

Pushing open the wooden door, I found myself in what looked like a living room that had a meeting room attached to it. I guess this must be the head honcho's quarters.

Now I just need to see if he has a pantry or maybe even a kitchen.

Moving down a corridor with several doors, I reached for the first door on my left but before I could try to push it open, it flung outwards and smacked right into my face.

I cried out more from surprise than pain as I took a few steps back to create distance between myself and the door, wondering if something had caused the door to open on its own.

I looked up and I very quickly realised that the door was most definitely not opened on its own.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Let me guess… Mercenaries here for my head?" The Merman asked, half crawling along the floor to drag his Mer half out of the room casually.

I looked down at the pirate that barely reached my waist, "Are you the leader of this band of pirates?"

"Hmph, aren't you here to claim the bounty on me? Or are you some idiot that got lost?"

I blinked at him, "Umm… I suppose this is the part that I ask you to surrender?"

He let out a bark of laughter, "Ha! I am worth a hundred Creas, you idiot! Do you think I'm going to just hand myself over just because you asked?!"

"Umm… Are you planning to fight me? On land?"

His lips curled up into a smirk and I saw the flash of metal as he slammed his tail on the ground, propelling himself through the air to lunge at me with a sabre.

I managed to react in time and dodge his attack, the Merman sailing through the air to land on the other side of the room.

Ok… I admit I did not expect that… I guess I should have known better than to let down my guard like that… There should be a reason why he's the leader of this group despite everyone else not being one of the Mer race after all.

I wasn't sure if his bounty requires him to be captured alive so I guess I'll just subdue him instead of killing him just to be safe.

Let's see his stats…

[Name: Calder

Title: Boss, Red Sabre Calder, The Crawler

Race: Merman

Stats:

64 Strength

155 Dexterity

65 Endurance

10 Magic

Skills:

Leadership (Tier 2), Drinking (Tier 2), Singing (Tier 1), Martial Skill-(Sword Proficiency (Tier 2), Dagger Proficiency (Tier 1))]

Well… I guess Emilia and Odeta were right about the people being weak… Although this guy does have a bounty so that means he should at least be known by some people around here.

I settled into my own combat stance.

A battle music started with some kind of retro alarm ringing in the background before it built up to a steady beat. Umm… I know he's the leader of this pirate group, but this isn't a gym now, is it? And it's ironic that I'm trying to capture him instead of beating him too…

I didn't have time to think about it anymore as the pirate Merman slapped his tail on the ground again to leap at me, forcing me to lean back to avoid the sabre aimed at my throat.

Instead of landing on the ground this time, he slapped his tail against the wall and catapulted back towards me, his sword aimed at my left leg this time.

I lifted it and used the same leg to kick against his side, the pirate managing to roll in midair to absorb the impact as the blow sent him flying towards the other side of the room.

Once again, he slammed his tail against the ground and instantly rebounded back towards me without pause.

Holy hell, just how strong is that tail of his?! Could all the Mer people do this or is it just him?

I sidestepped his lunge, this time watching him as he flipped around mid air to land on his tail just so that he could jump at me for the fifth time.

I managed to counter him by ducking under his flight path and delivering an uppercut to his chin, sending him crashing into the ceiling and leaving an imprint of his face on the wood.

Anticipating him to fall back down from the ceiling, I took a step back and introduced his chin to my knee.

The sight of him being blown back to smash into the table behind and breaking it into splinters was admittedly quite awesome even if I do say so myself.

He was surprisingly resilient as he still managed to pull himself out of the broken furniture to glare at me, his sabre still held firmly in his hand.

I know I'm holding back to avoid killing him but damn, that must have at least hurt him in some way right?

The pirate picked up a part of the broken table and tossed it at me, clearly intending on using that as cover to either attack me or escape.

Instead of avoiding it, I leapt at the broken table and punched it in the air, smashing through it easily.

It seems like he had intended on the former since I caught him in the middle of trying to jump after the table as well to attack me.

The pirate could only gawk at me as my fist continued in its motion and hit him across his jaw, this time blowing him back to crash into the chairs.

Not giving him a chance to recover, I leapt onto his back and grabbed the back of his head to smash him down onto the ground to try and knock him out.

He growled and I felt something hit my back to throw me forward before I could try to smash his face a second time, sending me rolling away and crashing into the wall.

I looked up to see him pulling back the tail he used to attack me to slap at the ground again, launching himself once more towards me.

Two can play that game you stupid fish!

I spun around and my tail appeared from under my skirt to smash across his face.

The pirate flew to the side like a rocket and flew through the window to my right, crashing into the ground outside the building.

I rushed out after him, ready to capture him once more when I stopped myself.

Umm… Good news… That tail whip of mine seemed to have knocked him out… Bad news… He landed on his head and I can see that his neck is clearly broken…

Whoops… I sure hope the reward was for dead or alive…

Godamnit, the music even changed to the victory theme…