Before Allina could even finish her words, the cloaked attackers all impaled their chests with their own daggers, shredding their hearts to pieces and instantly killing themselves.
The Raging River Legion soldiers knew what would come next, so they all raised their shields or dove for cover.
Allina also pushed her Spirit Qi wildly, forming a kind of pseudo-shield around those close to her.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM!!~~~*
Half-a-dozen explosions rang out across the deck, causing the warship to rock unstably.
Flesh, blood, bone, wood, and metal were all sent flying, knocking people over and opening a number of holes in the hull.
There was no flash of flame or burst of light, just pure destructive force that while very loud, was also eerily dark and shadowy.
When the dust finally settled and everyone began poking their heads out from their hiding spots, the scene before them was one of utter devastation.
Although no one seemed to have died from this final attack, dozens were injured, some of them critically, and damage was spread out across the entire ship.
Breathing heavily, Allina stopped releasing her Spirit Qi and began surveying her surroundings, a deep scowl covering her face as she tried to make sense of what had just happened.
Less than 20 minutes ago, she had been calmly enjoying the night air, when on a whim, her Soul Sense brushed against a distant ship. That ship then darted away, leading her to believe they were criminals of some sort.
A short pursuit was then followed by a deadly battle against suicidal soldiers.
All of this could be written off as mere coincidence, but Allina highly doubted that was the case.
There was obviously more going on here than mere smuggling.
Someone was plotting something, something big, and they were willing to let a whole ship full of people die in order to keep it a secret.
Worst of all, there were absolutely no clues left behind to help Allina understand who was responsible or what their objective was.
She failed to find any evidence aboard the enemy ship, which either meant it was dumped overboard earlier or simply burned to ashes, and now every person who was involved had died.
Allina very much wanted to get to the bottom of all this, but she knew now was not the time. Composing herself, she quickly ordered, "Treat the wounded, clean up the deck, and get me a full damage report."
"Yes, Commander!" The nearby soldiers saluted and quickly got to work. They too were feeling unnerved, but their training soon kicked in and they began following orders, trying their best not to think about the eeriness of this whole situation.
Figuring things out was something for their superiors to worry about, they just needed to do their jobs.
With a semblance of order having been restored, Allina walked over to where Sasha, Tina, and Eris were standing and asked, "Are you three alright?"
Holding a bloody cloth to her arm, Sasha nodded, wincing slightly as she did, "We’re fine. Mostly."
"En," Tina nodded, sheathing her sword, "Sister Eris and I didn’t get involved in the fight directly, and we were far enough away when those people... exploded."
Eris, for her part, just lowered her head and clenched her jaw tightly.
Shock and fear were the first things she felt when she saw her mother about to be attacked; and when the fighting started, she wanted nothing more than to rush out and kill the bad guys who tried to hurt her precious family, but her last threads of reason held her back.
Ever since she first learned to run, Eris had been reckless and headstrong, often acting on impulse before considering the possible consequences of her actions.
That all changed when she lost her right arm.
Now, even if she didn’t want to, Eris found herself hesitating, not because she was afraid, but rather because she was worried about whether her stepping forward would help, or simply make things worse for those around her.
She had been relentlessly training for the past month-and-a-half, learning to wield her sword with her left hand, but even so, she could still barely defend herself. As for defeating others, even those in the same Realm as her, that was a mere fantasy.
This new helplessness ate into Eris, making her feel both sad and frustrated.
What really hurt Eris, though, was knowing that even if she held herself back and didn’t get involved, her defencelessness was still causing problems for others.
How did Eris know this?
Because despite Christina drawing her sword right from the start, she hadn’t left Eris’ side.
Christina was a Third Step Sea Establishment Realm Practitioner, and with her top-tier training and recent live-combat experiences, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say she was one of the strongest fighters aboard the ship, yet she had actually refrained from joining the battle.
Now, Christina had many reasons for making this decision.
At a certain point, Chrstina had given up trying to conceal her identity as a princess. She didn’t go around advertising it, but she had stopped dying her iconic silver hair, so many others certainly knew who she was by now.
Her stepping into the fray would likely have been a bigger hinderance than help.
Christina had also matured quite a bit recently and was now able to calmly assess even chaotic situations before taking action. She had seen that while initially flustered, the soldiers of the Raging River Legion quickly gained control over the battle, meaning it wasn’t necessary for her to step in.
Protecting Eris was certainly one reason Christina held herself back, but it definitely wasn’t the only one; however, in Eris’ mind, it was all her fault her brilliant big sister couldn’t go all out.
I hate this, I hate being weak! Eris thought to herself.
It wasn’t the first time she had felt like this, but Eris didn’t know how to talk about it, as admitting she felt this way seemed like it would burden those around her even more.
Just as Eris’ negative thoughts were beginning to spiral, a gentle hand came to rest atop her head and ruffled her hair lightly, "Don’t let it bother you."
Looking up, through her somewhat teary eyes, Eris saw Allina, Sasha, and Tina all looking at her warmly, the black-haired Commander saying with a sigh, "We all feel helpless sometimes, but that just means we have to work harder to not feel that way in the future."
Pursing her lips, Eris sniffed loudly, as if trying to suck her tears back into her eyes, and nodded, "En, I’ll work hard and get stronger. Much, much stronger!"
Tina grabbed her sister’s hand and nodded firmly, "We both will."
As Eris’ mother, Sasha didn’t have to say anything, she just smiled proudly at her daughter and pulled her into a hug.
Having confirmed that the young Disciple of her Lady was alright now, Allina withdrew her hand from Eris’ head and walked over to the bridge where she ordered the ship to head towards the shore.
Allina also signaled to the other ships in the convoy to follow.
The ship they were on had taken serious damage, with its mainmast now looking dangerously close to snapping. Emergency repairs would be necessary before they could get underway again, and that would have to wait for daylight to arrive.
It seemed they were going to be stuck here for a while.
.....
About an hour after the mysterious attack ended, with the convoy now anchored just off-shore, Allina sat around a campfire on the banks of the Lorren together with several other Captains and Commanders from the fleet.
After reviewing the damage report, Allina understood that they wouldn’t be sailing again for at least half-a-day, maybe even longer.
Not wanting to just sit around idly, she decided to pull together her fellow officers, as well as some civilians leaders, to discuss what had just happened to them.
Unfortunately, even after gathering all the best minds around her, Allina’s attempt to unravel tonight’s mystery failed miserably.
There were lots of guesses and speculation, but no hard evidence.
It made her miss having Lucas around, as when it came to solving mysterious puzzles, there were few who could match the young boy’s genius.
After about an hour of this fruitless discussion, Allina realized they weren’t getting anywhere and let out a quiet sigh before ending the meeting.
"Should we offload the people aboard the lead vessel and distribute them to the other ships?" Sasha, who had also joined the meeting after getting her arm properly bandaged, asked as the crowd was dispersing.
Allina considered the proposal briefly but ultimately shook her head, "It would take just as long to transfer everyone off the ship as it will to patch it up."
Having already expected that to be the case, Sasha nodded while poking the dying fire with a stick she had picked up from somewhere, "I thought after leaving the South-West Province, things would become calmer and less complicated..."
Shaking her head, Sasha leaned back and stared up at the stars above, "I guess wherever you go, trouble is never far away."
"That’s the burden we leaders must bear," Allina muttered softly, deeply understanding the exhaustion her conversation partner was feeling.
I guess I’ll just have to take this information to the General. Hopefully she’ll be able to shed some light on what this was all about, Allina thought to herself.
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