< < Now Entering > >

< Stage 7 >

< The Floating Sea of Gold >

< 3-day Timer >

Adam awoke to find himself in the grips of a cutscene. Golden light filled his eyes as he ran along a grey-brown wooden deck, adjusting the control lines to change the angle of the mainsail. Around him worked four other people, and though he couldn't really tell what they looked like, one of them was definitely Emelia. A sixth person remained at the helm, apparently controlling the ship's heading in concert with what Adam and the rest were doing.

I don't even know how to control a ship, but this cutscene is making me quite proficient, he mused as he continued rapidly adjusting the jib sail at the bow of the ship.

He wasn't knowledgeable about ships in the slightest, but he could tell that this wasn't an ordinary sailboat, though it had a lot in common with the bulky vessels that pirates were known to have used in ages past. However, it only had two masts and they were shorter than they ought to be, each just consisting of one large sail and topsail. There was also only one jib sail and it was tied to the bowsprit jutting out from the front. Underneath it was a figurehead of a voluptuous woman in a dress and shawl carved from wood, though it was split and cracked from age and wear. At the front were also two small ballistae.

As Adam ran back up the deck towards the helm, he saw two large fins, like those on a whale, stretching out from the side of the ship and flapping lazily through the clouds as their vessel moved forward. Although he couldn't see them, he also heard the buzz of propellers from the back of the ship, down somewhere near the rudder.

We really are sailing through the air, he realised.

It was such a peculiar notion and he hadn't understood it fully until he was actually here, despite seeing the ships in the painting and hearing Emelia's explanation.

He ran up the six steps from the main deck to the raised helm. There were steps on either side of the deck leading up to it, and between them was a small stairwell leading down to a door that was likely the captain's quarters. There was a bigger staircase in the centre of the ship that probably led to the rest of the sleeping areas, as well as the broadside ballistae that Emelia had mentioned.

The Player in front of the wheel let go to look at him and the others as they arrived. Then they all positioned themselves in a circle, just like at the start of Stage Six.

As Adam looked across the other five Players, he had a flashback to the memories he'd seen in the Scale of Remembrance. He knew that two of them were not those who should originally have been here.

Emelia stood almost directly opposite Adam and looked incredibly powerful thanks to the two massive metal gauntlets covering her hands. They were bulky things made of rusted metal and seemed like they'd pack quite the punch. A rosary and flanged mace hung from her right hip, and though it was hard to see because of her gauntlets, he noticed that she still had the Duellist's Glove on her right hand. She also had two First Strike Earrings and the Slothling Spring Boots, but most interestingly was the new armour she wore. She had the Chimaera Helmet and something that looked similar to Adam's Slothling Fur Coat, except slimmer and with a layer of bone-white armour covering her arms and legs, similar to the appearance of the Slothling Dervishes he had summoned in the last Stage. This was clearly the reward from killing the Secret Boss summoned in the ritual chamber of Alepheria's Tower. She didn't have a necklace as far as he could tell, but she still had the Blue Trophy on her belt, alongside the Yellow Trophy, which let her boost both Damage and Speed for 10 seconds respectively. Emelia also had a stone orb floating in front of her, next to her cube.

That's the Hardmode orb!

Its eye was currently green, meaning it was switched off.

I must be right that it only shows up after you've already beaten a Stage, since I don't have one here.

Next to her was a woman with tan-brown skin, holding a large bow, and wearing the Magical Quiver, the Sanctuary Defender's Robes, the Barrage and Duellist's Gloves, and a necklace he'd never seen before. Her black hair was tied behind her head in a ponytail and she had thick eyebrows that curved up in the corners, making her look quite serious. Adam couldn't figure out if she was Middle Eastern or Asian from her appearance.

Between her and Adam stood a muscular and tall European man with red skin and chemical-blonde hair. A large black tattoo of a Viking knot took up the skin on the back of his neck, and he wore the Forlorn Cuirass and had the unmistakeable black eye from the Slothling Ogre Eye Relic. In his hands were a spear and a mirror shield, making it clear he had the Gorgon Slayer evolution of Spear Dancer. This meant he could reflect projectiles and magic, which could be quite strong, but it was strange he had picked the Forlorn Cuirass and Ogre Eye as his Relics, since they both made him slower, counteracting the damage boost that the Spear Dancer gave based on Movement Speed.

He's probably more of a tank, I would guess, since he focused on defensive Relics.

To Adam's left was another woman, making their group an even split of genders. She had purple-dyed hair and looked Asian, possibly Chinese. In her hands were two axes that had saw-toothed edges. Adam didn't recognise the weapons, but thought it was similar to the ones that the Berserker had used in Stage Five, though his weapons had engravings and decorations of wolves, while these just looked like they were meant to inflict as much bleeding as possible. She wore the Flesh Smith's Skin-Robe, Captain's Cape, and the Green Slime Glove, as well as the Choice Ring.

Hopefully I can convince her to let me use that ring.

Emelia mentioned that there's a powerful Legendary Relic in this Stage, he recalled from her briefing in the Tavern. Would be nice to get that.

The last person was maybe Italian or Spanish based on his features, but his skin had a sickly pallor to it, like he was anaemic. He had armour that looked like it was made of hardened blood and wore the Blood Mage Choker, as well as the Blood Fist and Blood Bolt Rings. His weapons were the Blood Mage tattoos, which surprised Adam, since Emelia hadn't mentioned anything about such a Player being in their group.

Quite a grisly theme going on with him…

To make things worse, the guy was staring directly at Adam, his pupils like pinpricks of black and the whites of his eyes stained with large red veins.

I've got a bad feeling about this.

The cutscene let go of them all and Emelia immediately started to speak, only for the anaemic guy to cut her off by pointing at Adam and shouting, "He's a mimic!"

Ah, shit.

"I'm not a mimic," Adam replied calmly, trying to deescalate the situation, but realising it was the exact thing the Hahn mimic had said in the last Stage.

"Liar!" the man screamed, raising his hand at Adam.

Before anyone could react, Emelia smashed her gauntlet through his head, literally turning it into a mist of blood. The girl to Adam's left screamed and hopped over the railing of the helm and down to the main deck.

"Everybody, relax!" Emelia yelled.

The blonde lancer and girl with the bow backed towards the stern, glancing between Adam and Emelia. Although they hadn't raised their weapons, it looked like they were only seconds from attacking them.

"What the fuck is going on??" exclaimed the European guy in a slightly German accent.

The woman next to the guy looked at Adam. "Why are there six people in this group? It's supposed to only be five, right? What if that guy was speaking the truth?? How do you prove you're not a mimic!?"

Fucking hell… This has devolved quickly.

Emelia moved to Adam's side.

"That guy isn't supposed to have the Blood Mage weapon," Emelia whispered. "Normally he has the rapier. I think something changed with him between the sixth and seventh Stage…"

"Are we fighting!?" yelled the woman who'd been the first to run.

"Nobody is fighting!" Adam yelled. Then he summoned his barriers and commanded them to spin around him. "Look! Do you think a mimic could do this? I don't know if you've actually fought a human mimic, but I have! They don't use their weapons, they transform their bodies to fight."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The blonde spear-wielder looked uncertain, as did the archer.

Once the seed of doubt is planted, uprooting it becomes an exercise in futility…

[The timer has begun,] the five remaining cubes announced.

< < Stage Objective > >

< Find the Godstone in the Floating Sea of Gold >

"Come back up here, Ruimin Jiang," Emelia told the girl with the axes.

Her head popped up at the bottom of the steps to the helm. "How do you know my name?"

"I'm a time-traveller," Emelia explained. She turned and pointed at the blonde guy. "You're Leon Schmid." Then she pointed at the archer. "And you're Maalia Lynge."

"And what about him?" Leon asked, aiming his spear at Adam.

"We already know each other," I replied. "But I'm Adam Fischer."

"Did you really have to kill that guy?" Maalia asked, looking at the headless body.

"If I didn't, he would have killed Adam and maybe the rest of us as well," Emelia explained. "Blood Mages are very dangerous. They can use your own blood against you."

Adam had a pretty good idea of why the guy had singled him out.

"He worshipped the Flayed Lady," Adam announced, walking over to the corpse to check the loot.

< < Loot ­— Riccardo D'Alia > >

< Blood Mage Choker (Epic) >

< Blood Fist Ring (Rare) >

< Blood Bolt Ring (Rare) >

< Benevolence of Blood Sigil (Common) >

< Shard of Blood >

Adam immediately pulled out the Sigil and Shard, dropping both on the floor next to Riccardo's body. The Sigil landed with a wet splat since it was still attached to a flap of pale skin.

< < Quest Object > >

< Shard of Blood — The crystallised lifeblood of Fiona Jefferson >

< < Unique Relic > >

< Benevolence of Blood Sigil (Common) — Drains 40% of Riccardo D'Alia's Health to cover him in a layer of reactive armour that is highly resistant to magic >

Shit. It's almost like that Blood Sigil was meant to counteract me.

And it's attuned specifically to Riccardo…

The Tome Keeper did say that his adherents, which would include me, are often 'under siege' by her 'fiends'. Would Riccardo be one of those fiends?

Adam stepped away from the Relics.

"Look," he told them.

Leon and Maalia slowly came over to look, but Ruimin remained at the foot of the stairs, clearly not taking any chances.

"That Sigil is a gift from his Patron," Adam told them. "And the Shard of Blood is something he got from killing another Player."

"How do you know all this?" Maalia asked suspiciously.

"Because my Patron told me. He deals with knowledge and is directly opposed to the Flayed Lady, who has a theme of blood going on," Adam said. "Plus, in my last group, someone worshipping her killed another Player and got a similar Quest Object with his name on it."

Emelia gave him a curious look. He hadn't told her about the stuff with the Flayed Lady and his Patron, but he also hadn't assumed it would end up being so immediately relevant.

I'm doing the same as her, keeping information to myself because I didn't believe it was necessary for her to know…

Still, I'm not sure what I could've done differently here.

No doubt the Flayed Lady whispers into the ears of her adherents, similar to how Nharlla kept telling James that Gladwyn and I were lying.

Emelia pulled the rest of Riccardo's loot out of his body, and then she threw his headless corpse over the side of the airship.

"Alright, we need to get ready," she said. "Split the loot from his body between yourselves, then we need to get to our stations."

Adam took the Sigil, Maalia grabbed the Choker, and Ruimin and Leon both grabbed a ring each.

"Maalia, you are worshipping Messimer, right?" Emelia asked.

The woman nodded.

"Then I need you in the crow's nest as our lookout. Adam, you'll help with the sails alongside Ruimin, and Leon, I need you to man the ballistae."

Everyone, including Adam, looked at her in surprise. She'd taken command so effortlessly.

"Chop, chop!" she then exclaimed, and they all got to their posts.

Maalia hopped down onto the main deck and ran to the foremast, and then she climbed up the ratlines to the crow's nest up past the foresail. The ship didn't have any gaff sails, which was kind of odd, but Adam guessed that the fins on the sides had replaced their purpose.

Wait, how do I know all of this?

It was like the Stage had gifted him the knowledge for how to operate the ship, similar to how picking up weapons made him understand how to use them.

Adam went over to one of the control lines for the mainsail attached to the mast rising from in front of the stairs to the captain's quarters, and Ruimin ran down to the lines for the foresail. As Emelia turned the wheel, she yelled out their heading and they adjusted the sails accordingly, trying to catch the wind as best they could.

Emelia yelled back and forth with Maalia, who was the only one that could really see what lay before them with any clarity.

"There's a ship coming up on our right!" the archer suddenly exclaimed.

Emelia turned to Adam. "There are two smaller anti-personnel ballistae at the bow, but I think you might be able to sink their ship with your barrier attack."

"Are we losing any loot from not boarding it?" he asked.

In her briefing she had told them that most ships could have a chest or two on board, but they only needed to obtain 60% of all available chests to get the Plunderer bonus, and boarding ships was dangerous and inefficient.

"This first ship should only have an Upgrade Chest," she replied. "Just take it out of the air as quickly as you can."

Leon was down below, waiting for orders to fire the ballistae. He should already have loaded bolts onto all four of them, and as Adam ran to the front, switching positions with Ruimin, he saw the head of one of the projectiles poking out through a square hole in the side of the hull, a few metres above where the fins were.

At the bow of the ship were the ballistae Emelia had mentioned, and they looked like machine gun turrets, although they were single-shot mechanisms that needed to be hand-cranked back after every shot. Replacement bolts sprouted from a barrel next to each of them.

The airship, the Creaking Madam as it was called, had limited supplies, though it could in theory sail forever. Adam counted twenty replacement bolts for each of the two front turrets, and if they ran out, they'd have to go to a settlement to buy more or find them on enemy ships or one of the countless islands floating in the sea of clouds.

He stepped up onto the small step at the bow, staring past the bowsprit jutting out from the 'nose' of the ship. Gold-tinged clouds floated above and below them, as well as out in the horizon, making it hard to see much of anything, though he noticed a dark smudge in the distance, as well as the silhouette of faraway islands.

Adam brought out the Navigator's Telescope he'd looted from the end of Stage Six, and once he brought it up to his eye he was able to get a clear look at the airship moving towards them.

It looked somewhat similar to the Creaking Madam in design, although instead of grey-brown wood, it was covered in white-painted planks with black spots wherever the paint had flaked away. Its shape was also sharper than their ship and its sails were smaller, though it had three fins on either side to compensate. The figurehead at the front was an actual skeleton with lanterns in its eyes, and at the back flew a white flag with a golden skull on it. Unlike the two front turrets that their ship had, the enemy had a large ballista placed at the bow instead, and they were aiming it while heading right for them as fast as possible.

At least ten figures filled up the main deck of the enemy ship, and through his telescope he got an uncomfortably-good look at their features. They were humans for sure, but their skin slouched on their bones and their leather and cloth attire was stained and devastated by age. A few of them had their actual bones exposed, and these had golden veins worming through them like some kind of disease.

Gold-cursed Pirates Emelia called them. Checks out.

The airship was more than 300 metres away and he doubted he'd be able to hit it yet.

Emelia yelled out the order for them to adjust the sails, and no sooner had he fixed the control lines for the foresail than they banked left. He didn't understand why she'd given the order, until a huge bolt suddenly passed between their masts, narrowly missing both of their sails.

Holy shit! Those ballistae have an insane range!

Could I actually hit them from here with my barrier?

Their broadside lined up with the enemy ship that was rapidly closing the distance, and before Emelia even yelled the order, Leon fired his first shot.

The bolt soared through the air, skimming the top of a gold-tinged cloud but undershot the ship. A moment later, Leon fired a second bolt, and this one tore a hole through the foresail of the enemy vessel.

"Nice shot!" Adam yelled down to him, though he wondered if the spear-wielder could hear him.

Guess I should give it a try.

It only cost him about 18 Mana to summon a barrier now, which meant that he could summon and fire twelve times before exhausting himself.

Thanks to the increased Manipulation Effect, he was able to triple-fuse his barrier with very little hassle, despite the wandering eye panning around randomly.

Almost the exact moment he'd finished his fusions, an enemy bolt passed right in front of their ship, close enough for it to ruffle his hair with the wind it produced.

I'm mega dead if one of those hits me…

Alright, here goes nothing.

Adam spun up the barrier while shaping it into a spike. Emelia had tried to talk him into doing a cannonball shape, but after a bit of testing in the Player House, he'd realised it was much more difficult to induce the right kind of spin to make a ball fly where he wanted it as opposed to the spike shape he was familiar with.

If this one misses, then I'll try the cannonball though.

With a mental command through Alepheria's Mandate and his own best guess at the angle he needed, Adam shot the barrier at the enemy vessel. The ship was flying almost straight for them, as though aiming to ram their ship and board it.

A loud zipping whine rang out from the barrier as it soared through the air, blowing open a hole in a cloud as it passed through.

Maalia tracked the projectile as it flew at the enemy vessel, her bow ready in her hands, but the distance was still too far for her to meaningfully contribute. Ruimin also stopped what she was doing to watch.

A grin spread across Adam's face as the barrier projectile tore straight through the skeleton figurehead and gutted the inside of the airship, exploding out next to the rudder and probably destroying one of the propellers at the back, though it was impossible to see.

"Hit!" Maalia shouted.

The enemy ship immediately started to tilt and change its heading. Then a bolt from Leon's ballista struck the foremast, collapsing it onto a bunch of the pirates.

Adam shot another spike barrier a few moments later, skimming it along the hull and destroying the entire right side, dislodging the three fins.

The airship completely lost its ability to stay afloat, even though the mainsail and left-side fins were undamaged.

It looks like there's some integrity limit or something required to keep a ship airborne. That's something to keep in mind.

[Small airship defeated,] announced their cubes, while the vessel sank below the clouds, the pirates aboard it falling alongside it.

I wonder what the landing is like.

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