If fighting head-on doesn't work, what are my other options?
Escape into the sea, cultivate the heavenly demon dagger arts for 100 years, then co back and beat the young captain and his entire sect!
If only...
From what I've seen thus far, he can only teleport a distance of exactly 10 ters, no less or no more. So, if I were to find a confined space, his teleportation would be useless, but then again, he wouldn't hold back on his wind slashes, and in a confined space, dodging those would be near impossible.
With my ability to slow ti, I could dodge a few, but that would only work for around 6 seconds until I'm out of mana.
The battle ca to a standstill as the captain continued gathering mana while I surveyed my surroundings with no intention of attacking first.
There was only one peculiarity about the situation.
The two pirates were observing the sea, and the pirate on the crow's nest had yet to join the fight.
With those three in the fight alongside the captain, I would definitely been cornered and thrown into the sea by now, yet the captain still refuses to call for them.
Is he trying to show his power and superiority?
"I don't need your help, you dumb mundane humans. Watch this pirate sect leader solo this guy!"
No... if that were the case, he wouldn't be pausing to gather mana after every encounter. Who would think highly of soone who has to recharge every few seconds?
Then, does the captain care about their survival?
It would make sense, as I could kill those 3 mundane pirates before my eventual death.
As the captain unsheathed his broadsword, indicating that he had enough mana, I examined his face.
Not only 10 minutes ago, I had ruthlessly killed 5 mbers of his crew, yet his facial expression remained devoid of any emotion.
Surely, he would be angry if he cared about his crew. Well, could he be hiding his emotions so as not to seem weak in front of ?
As the captain charged at once again, I formulated and decided on a plan.
The first step: get so distance.
I was at the front of the ship with my back to the sea, and my destination was the pillar of the crow's nest I had used earlier.
Slowing the pace of his charge, the captain swung his broadsword twice in succession, releasing two wind slashes.
One aid at my current location and the other at my right side.
The correct and only way to avoid the slashes would be to sidestep to the left.
This was quite obviously a ploy by the captain to trap once I moved to the left, yet the captain had thodically eliminated any other chances at dodging.
The plan was clearly well thought out.
This trap was impossible to avoid and would undoubtedly lead to the captain cornering . After that, my death was assured as I could not dodge his massive broadsword with the limited space on the ship's edge.
From there, I would either succumb to the sword and die or fall into the sea and drown.
Yet, the captain had failed to take one thing into account.
Sure, he's special for being one of the few people able to utilize space magic to teleport. But then again, I'm the only one in the entire world capable of manipulating ti.
Of course, the captain couldn't have predicted this given a million chances, but then again, one must expect the unexpected.
As the wind slash aid at my right neared , I raised my hand and tapped my eye.
The speed of the captain charging from the left at remained the sa, but the right slash, which was inside the area of affection, slowed to the point where it almost stopped.
As I stepped to the right, the wind slash aid at my previous location whizzed past and disappeared into the dark blue sea.
Maybe the luck gods were real!
I didn't even have to formulate a plan of action; the captain handed it to !
After tapping my eye again, I ran and returned to my previous position.
Within seconds, the captain and right wind slash had reached their destination, but I was nowhere to be found.
As the captain confusedly turned around, he saw standing behind the two pirates with each of my daggers pressed to a neck.
"Make a move, and they die."
Following a short pause, the captain's indifferent expression changed, but no negative emotions were present this ti.
Only a wide smile spanning across his entire face.
My grip on the daggers tensed as the captain took a step forward.
Was I wrong? Did he not care?
What was the reason for not using the mundane pirates to attack ?
Taking another step forward, the captain finally spoke his first words to .
"You must really not know how things work around here."
Suppressing my shock, I calmly maintained my position and responded.
"Get any closer, and they're dead."
Of course, this was an empty threat.
These two guys were the only bargaining chips I had in a gamble for my survival.
Ignoring my instructions and calling my bluff, the captain took another step forward. By now, he was only 7-8 steps away from .
"I hope you're not stupid, kid. Why do you think I've left these two pirates be during the fight?"
Briefly glancing away from the captain and at the two pirates, a feeling of fear overca .
The two pirates remained oblivious in the face of death by my hands. They ignored the cold sensation of my daggers on their necks entirely.
They simply continued staring at the sea...
"w-what's g-going o-on..?"
Taking another step forward, the captain continued.
"I don't know what trick you pulled back there, but wasting that opportunity was stupid."
If I hadn't run towards the pirates and instead ran towards the captain's backside, I would have completely surprised him, allowing to have an uncontested counterattack.
While killing him with that would have been impossible, it would have given a chance to inflict serious damage.
Did I make the wrong decision?
But then, why is he slowly walking towards when he could teleport and fight with imdiately?
Does he need more mana?
This was a ga of poker.
Instead of checking by counter-attacking the captain, I had raised the bet by using the pirates as hostages.
Was it a mistake, maybe?
But I wasn't going to fold now.
It was ti to double down... I'm going all in.
Back on Earth, my friends would constantly joke about going to Vegas and going all in on black, but here I was doing the sa thing.
If it didn't work out?
Jump.
As the captain took another step, I grabbed one of the pirates and pushed him off the ship.
Instead of looking at the pirate's descent into the water, I returned my attention to the captain.
Was he bluffing this entire ti as well?
A subtle change occurred on the captain's face as he turned his head to the right and watched the pirate fall.
A shrieking voice sounded from the right of the ship.
"CAPTAINNN, BUT YOU SAID THA.."
*SPLASH*
Without skipping a beat, I imdiately attempted to take advantage of the situation and said.
"I warned you, didn't I? One more step and the other goes."
"You fool, you really don't know when to give up, do you? Kill him, see if I care."
As those words left the captain's mouth, I could feel the pirate's body quivering under the pressure of my dagger. However, his expression remained neutral.
Lifting his head to face , the captain made direct eye contact and stepped forward.
Well, we both went all in.
Isn't it ti to reveal our cards..?
This whole dream has been strange from the start.
Why would they imprison in the cell instead of killing imdiately?
The pirates on the ship didn't know anything about the details of this expedition.
As an awakened, you can sense whether others are as well, so the captain knew from the start that I was special, yet he left mundane humans to guard .
He knew I would escape; rather, he planned for my escape.
He knew I would massacre the pirates on board.
He wanted them to die.
This ship was never going on an expedition; this ship was going to be a graveyard.
But why? These pirates have no money or material value to offer to the captain.
That begs the question: what value do these pirates hold?
Only one word cos to mind.
Sacrifices
How does that connect to the constant and unusual observation of the Sea?
The Sea
The captain spared so I could do the dirty work by killing the crew, and then he planned to sacrifice along with them.
Sacrifices to the Sea.
This theory was further confird by the captain's peculiar expression after the pirate was dropped into the Sea.
With the captain now only 4 steps away from , I had to make a decision.
"I'm going all in on black."
Tilting my head upwards, I returned the captain's eye contact. A smile appeared as I raised my right dagger and left daggers.
However, I didn't stab them into the pirate; those daggers pierced right into my own hands. Grabbing the pirate's shirt with my blooded hand, I didn't hesitate as I threw him off the ship.
If you can't beat them, join them.
Not skipping a beat, I imdiately infused my daggers with mana and threw both of them right at the captain.
Maybe, if it were one dagger, the captain could dodge it, but with two, he couldn't.
Well, he couldn't without teleportation.
In an instant, the captain teleported 10 ters back.
But by the ti he reappeared, I was already on the ship's opposite side, right next to the bodies of the two drunken pirates I had disposed of earlier.
Grabbing the bodies with both hands, I imdiately hurled the bodies off the side of the ship.
From the opposite side of the ship, a voice echoed.
"Think you can beat at my own ga?"
The location of this voice was the captain, who was currently holding 4 bodies: the bodies of the two pirates in the prison room, the body of the individual pirate, and the body of the pirate on the crow's nest.
Within an instant, those bodies were sent flying off the ship and into the Sea.
Rubbing his hands together, a smile appeared on the captain's face as he continued.
"Well, we're right back to where we started, aren't we?"
"4 corpses to 4 corpses."
"Seems you've figured it out. The 5th must be one of us."
"Why do all of this..?"
"The more corpses sacrificed, the more power Leviathan grants to one. Imagine what I'd get from sacrificing an awakened...haha."
Leviathan...? The water serpent.
A mythical creature?
Why is there an S ranked beast in my E RANKUP DREAM?
Looking at the approaching captain, I didn't even bother to prepare.
My daggers were gone. However, it seed the sacrifices had restored my mana capacity.
That mana wouldn't be nearly enough to let survive, let alone kill the captain.
With a sigh, I turned my back to the captain and calmly said.
"... I fold."
Without waiting for a response, I jumped off the ship.
The goal of the dream couldn't have been to kill the captain; that was simply impossible at my level.
So, then, he has to die, but I can't kill him.
What if I had a little talk with his boss?
As I dipped into the water, an intense cold overwheld , sending shudders down to my exoskeleton.
However, that feeling of coldness was soon replaced.
Replaced by fear.
An indescribable amount of fear.
The re pressure this existence emitted elicited fear.
When the feeling of fear reached , I didn't hesitate as I raised my right hand and tapped my eye.
As I opened my eyes, I looked towards the source of this fear I felt, and not even 10 ters away, I saw a creature.
Its jade-colored body seed to stretch for miles with spikes running down it on top.
Its head was adorned with scales that glistened like gems, and its pointed snout contained twin nostrils that flared as it stared at .
Although I couldn't tell, its eye seed to sparkle with interest as it stared at . It felt like if I made eye contact with the water serpent any longer, the pressure would imdiately kill .
It didn't imdiately kill ... is that a good sign?
I had gone through all that work to sacrifice 4 mundane humans to it, so maybe the Sea Serpent was giving an audience?
Surely, he would rather have as a worshipper than that captain. After all, I'm not just a generational talent; I'm one in a trillion talent at the minimum!
Who else can manipulate ti?
Feeling the mana rapidly draining, I slowly gestured my head toward the ship.
When I turned my head back to the creature, it was no longer there. The water serpent, which seed to span over a hundred miles, had sohow disappeared?
Turning my head back towards the ship, I glanced, but it was no longer there. There was not even a trace left of the ship...
Just as my mana was about to run out and the ti-slowing was about to deactivate, a bright light enveloped , and a screen appeared.
[You have completed your Dream!]
[You have completed a hidden mission inside your Dream!]
[Sea God Believer] --> [Unlocked]
[Calculating Completion Rate [--*--] ] ---> [Error: Value cannot be calculated]
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[A/N: Back to school and academy stuff for a while after this]
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