As Alex lies on the ground, he immediately rolls over and pushes himself up, his swimfin no longer of use. He ends the Conjuration early, regaining the full use of his legs. As he stands upright, he feels the backlash from having boosted his stats far beyond their limits once again. With everything now normalized, his muscles are pulsating, and his entire body feels weird.
This hurts... my whole body is sore. Still, I should be able to deal with these followers. Benezia and Jewel took most of them out already.
"Fuck!" Alex curses. "You saw what happened... didn't you? Now that you've seen me embarrass myself, I can't let you live and report my shame! Go to hell, you robed freaks!"
I'm low on Aura... it's nearly all gone, my body hurts like hell. So the best thing is... Magic and Biotics!
Alex decides to keep using his two current weapons, his [Enchanted Runeblade] and Mustrano, who is still conjured.
"Thundara!" he yells, causing his blade to light up with thunderous magic as he unleashes the AoE variant onto the still-shocked pirates.
You have dealt 45 damage to Pirate
You have stunned Pirate
...
You have dealt 41 damage to Pirate
Charging in, Alex mercilessly attacks with Mustrano and his sword—this time not relying on brute force, but on technique. He skillfully parries and dodges the attacks of the remaining Fallen Monk Pirates, moving only as much as necessary, using his upper body to dodge and his weapons to parry the enemy attacks. He delivers a swift, fatal combo: stabbing Mustrano into one pirate's chest, then following up with a clean slash to the neck using his sword.
You have dealt 71 damage to Pirate
You have dealt 52 x 3 = 156 damage to Pirate
You have killed Pirate
Whenever he gets overwhelmed, he uses Throw to push back attackers, hurling them off the ship.
"Overwhelm him!"
"We need to avenge our Captain! Get this fucker!"
"Kill him now!"
A few angry pirates try to coordinate team attacks, but most of them look frightened and begin running away towards the edge of the ship. Some even leap into the sea, desperately swimming toward Water 7. While it's still far off, it's at least visible—giving them at least a slim hope of survival, especially with their tough builds.
"Traitors!"
"We can't do this on our own!"
The few still on deck hesitate, looking toward their fleeing comrades with frustration.
Eventually, a small group regains their nerve and lines up for one final charge.
"Blizzara!" Alex shouts, casting his crimson-blue frost spell, targeting them all.
You have dealt 58 damage to Pirate
You have killed Pirate
...
You have dealt 51 damage to Pirate
You have slowed Pirate
He uses Warp to finish off another, ripping off his arm in the process and killing him instantly.
You have dealt 101 damage to Pirate
You have killed Pirate
Suddenly, Benezia and Jewel appear, leaping onto the ship.
Jewel fires another Hidden Power (Dark) while Benezia follows up with a shockwave, tearing through the pirates, ripping them apart with her Biotics. Their bodies are flung aside, crashing onto the floor or getting hurled into the ocean.
"Good job," Alex says, putting away his weapon. Before he can end the conjuration, Mustrano hisses in his mind.
"Human... your ussse of your new ability issss pathetic. Thissss lookssss like a tail. I will teach you!"
"Shut up!" Alex snaps back, quickly dismissing the conjuration. "Maybe later...."
He's not wrong, though... While I can't walk, I really need to figure out a way to move without ending the Conjuration. It costs way too much Aura to dismiss and re-cast it on the fly. That's an unexpected weakness I'll have to deal with. When I use Sea King's Giant Plate Swimfin, I really need to commit to fighting at sea.
"Man..." Alex complains. "That was too close... way too close... my heart is still beating like crazy."
Is Soulmate's head okay? The fall looked very painful!
My heart! Not my head!
"...Don't mention it again. Ever. I'm fine, I didn't even take any damage!" Alex insists, trying to salvage some of his dignity.
"While your fall looked rather comical, you did a fine job otherwise. It seems your new Conjuration is incredibly potent in water battles. While it has its downsides and can only be used in specific circumstances, it is indeed one of your strongest abilities," Benezia analyzes.
"Yeah... I guess so," Alex says, glancing around.
However, despite scanning the area, he doesn't spot a single chest.
"Let's quickly search the ship," Alex suggests, hoping to find at least something. "In addition to the Sea King, we also obtained a huge bounty and a decent ship! This one looks quite good—it should be worth a fortune!"
"I disagree," Benezia immediately replies, shattering his hopes. "However, it's certainly worth more than the other ships we've obtained so far."
Alex sighs, lowering his gaze, desperate to sit and rest, but forces himself to stay upright as he heads below deck.
"Jewel, I'm tired. You use En and help me look for valuables. That idiot mentioned they were broke, but they might still have things we can use," he says while trudging down the stairs. "Also, I don't trust these idiots."
After nearly an hour of careful rummaging, Alex, Jewel, and Benezia return to the deck—Alex looking thoroughly disappointed.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," he mutters. "What a damn shitty pirate crew. No wonder they were so desperate to steal a damn Sea King. They should've hunted one themselves, these clowns. They died the most pointless death I can imagine."
Soulmate did find something. He found one million Belly!
"As good as nothing," Alex clarifies, walking toward the railing and staring out at the dead Sea King.
Finally, with his legs aching—strained from the temporary stat boosts and still unaccustomed to the movement of his new Conjuration—he attempts to sit down. Instead, his legs buckle beneath him, causing him to fall.
He sighs and drags himself to the edge of the boat, sitting with his feet dangling over the ocean.
To his surprise, Benezia approaches and stares down at his legs.
"Take off your armor and clothes. If you've strained your legs, we need to act fast," she says.
"You know about medicine and first aid?" Alex asks, giving her a curious look.
"Yes. However, with what we currently have available, I'll just recommend using a dose of [Medigel-modified]," she answers.
Agreeing with her, Alex removes his [Sabatons of Pluto], [Cuisses of Pluto], and the simple clothes he is wearing underneath.
He applies a dose of Medigel and begins massaging his legs.
Should Princess Jewel help Soulmate?
"No! You'd just pierce me with your legs. That wouldn't help now, would it?" Alex replies, shaking his head.
As he glances up at Jewel, he tenses when he notices Benezia—without asking—beginning to massage his legs as well. "Definitely strained," she notes. "You used your new ability and stacked multiple effects—boosting your STR and AGI, plus your swimming speed—without having the required PHY to support such a burden. That's probably why your body's in this peculiar state."
"Nothing I can do about that..." Alex argues, secretly enjoying Benezia's massage, acting like it's not a big deal.
"You can train. Though it isn't as efficient as raising your stats, you can still improve your body. If you increase your muscle mass by say 20%, an amount I deem realistic, your stats will become more efficient—up to a certain point at least," Benezia explains.
"Wait, if I become 20% stronger, then it'd be like gaining 20% more STR?!" Alex asks. "Does it really work that way...? I somehow doubt it!"
"Not quite that much, no," Benezia replies. "However, it would certainly help."
"Okay... guess I'll hit the gym a little harder once we're back... though it'd suck only training my legs. I like to skip leg day. Come to think of it, I like to skip every single gym day. I started training once I entered the Realm, but before that... not so much..." Alex recalls.
More like, never.
As they continue chatting, with Alex's legs gradually recovering, he spots Tereza approaching through the sky—behind her, a small fleet of ships slowly makes its way toward them.
"Finally," Alex says. "I already see some pests stealing our loot!"
He points toward the Sea King. Numerous sharks, fish, and other sea creatures—drawn by the blood—are now nibbling away at their prize.
No! This is Princess Jewel's chicken! Unacceptable! Thieves! Peasants! Princess Jewel will not forgive them.
"Just calm down," Alex says. "Let them nibble on it—it's not like we care."
Tereza finally lands next to them, looking confused.
"Why is there a boat here?" she asks, looking around, spotting the corpses and blood surrounding them.
Alex gives her a quick rundown of their encounter, which leaves her surprised. "And you defeated them on your own? Incredible! Good job—you as well, Jewel, Benezia. You took down a pirate with a bounty of over a hundred million Belly!"
"Through superior tactics..." Alex mutters. "In other words... we cheated. It's getting really common. I feel like we always resort to the cheapest tactics. My entire journey through the Realm has consisted of exploiting mechanics and abusing unfair advantages."
"That's just common sense," Benezia says firmly. "Pride is the most worthless thing to have. It's good that you're using your head. That's probably the major reason why you're still alive—and thriving."
Princess Jewel agrees! Peasants fight with their fists, while smart people use their heads!
"I'd better not comment," Alex says, slightly embarrassed. "STR is my highest stat..."
At last, the small fleet of ships arrives, and the same grumpy old man from last time jumps onto their vessel, followed by a dozen of his men.
"You again? You always work me to the bone. You lot are nothing but trouble." He immediately complains, looking thoroughly annoyed.
"And make it dou—" Alex begins, only for him to realize that he's using the same meme's unconsciously.
I need to stop letting Jewel influence me. This is now happening automatically—that's quite a severe case of meme-autism.
Regaining his thoughts, Alex barks back, "Fuck you! Also, tell me your name already. It pisses me off that instead of hot chicks, I'm stuck with an old guy like you who isn't even grateful for my continued business. Lazy asshole—do your job or I'll launch a complaint to Popsicle man."
"Hahahaha," the old man suddenly bursts out laughing. "Popsicle man? That's the weirdest name I've ever heard. Maybe you're not so bad after all. I'm Gerald—you better remember my name!"
No... I get the feeling I'll forget in a day. If I were writing a story, I'd probably have to look up his name constantly. Usually, these characters appear a few times only to be permanently forgotten. Whatever.
"Time for negotiations then, brat!" Gerald yells with enthusiasm.
Alex sighs and lies down, "Please, Benezia... you do it!"
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