Born in Blood



Liam's mind raced for a plan.

The fins and gills were the sharks' weakness. All Liam needed to do was sever them – which could be done without much difficulty, as their hardened exterior only applied to their skin, not fins.

…But the ocean was their domain.

Liam would have to jump off the ship if he wanted to inflict any damage to the sharks, since the needles couldn't cause any significant damage to hardened and watery surfaces.

'Unless…'

Liam's attention lingered briefly on the floorboards of the main deck, then to his group, then back to the bloodthirsty sharks. 

More precisely, their gills.

'...That can work.'

Rin and Nord hesitantly looked at Liam for orders, but found him prying out a piece of floorboard from beneath his feet.

Then, he reeled out his dark chains and tied them to his legs, before tightly anchoring them to the ship.

Liam turned towards Gerald and Nessa with a focused and hardened gaze:

"You two make sure this chain doesn't snap. On the off chance that it does, pull it with your bare hands if you have to."

Liam's domineering tone held no room for negotiation, and the two profusely nodded.

Walking towards the railing above where the sharks were ramming against, Liam spoke over his shoulder, addressing Nord and Rin:

"And you two make sure the other sharks are occupied while I'm down there. Blast them with any and every spell you have in your arsenal. Throw the kitchen sink if you have to!"

Nord's mouth opened to question what he planned to do, but in the next instant, Liam, with rapid steps, jumped off the edge!

With a new pair of blades unsheathed, Liam made sure not to jump straight into the maws of a peak Rank 3 beast bigger than a house. That'd be pretty embarrassing considering how valiant he looked.

He positioned himself to fall towards the backfins of the closest shark. Thankfully, Liam's short figure was too small for it to notice he had perched atop its back.

Gushing foamy waves crashed against Liam's body as he landed on the slippery surface. His gaze turned to one of hardened focus as his hands and feet started to glow.

Instantly, his inscribed blades – strengthened by the first, and second martial art form, along with Lethality Mantle and Cartilage Brace – blurred against the shark's hardened skin.

With each deep slash, parts of the rigid scales would shatter off and reveal the soft interior. 

Darkness would seep into those openings and consume entire chunks of muscle.

Liam didn't hold back on using his third form, Interweaving Sunder, which cut up large patches with X shaped wounds.

The Dozer Shark, now painfully aware of the human attacker, trashed around, uncaring of its own wellbeing.

It smashed its backfins against the water in a desperate attempt to brush Liam away.

It even submerged itself underwater repeatedly and pulled Liam with it, but holding his breath was an easy counter to that.

After a short moment, it returned to the surface and let out a frustrated, low-pitched sound.

'There it is,' Liam thought expectantly.

At that point, the surrounding sharks noticed the commotion and spotted Liam, who instantly started running towards the top fin.

On the left and right, the Dozers prepared to shoot a beam of water at their fellow shark!

Just before they could crush Liam to a pulp, Nord's glaive created a series of quick thrusts and wide slashes in the air.

At the same time, Rin's fists burst with thick flames, which grew twice the size of a basketball – with a low grunt, she hurled them.

Nord's slashes had formed countless cuts on one of the shark's mouths, disrupting his ability, while Rin's fire forced the other one to go underwater to evade the attack.

Meanwhile, Liam had neared the fin – the hardest and most rigid part of the Dozer.

Sliding across the slippery surface at an incredible speed, he held his wakizashi and katana reversely, running his blades across the organ and cleanly severing it off as he flew past.

That seemed to kill the rage within the Dozer and replace it with fear, but Liam wasn't done.

Right before he jumped to the next shark – that re-emerged from the water after evading the fireball – darkness swirled between his fingers to form three needles, which he promptly stuck within each of the Dozer's gills.

Immediately, the needles exploded and clogged its gills with lethal smoke. Viscous blood poured from its insides and stained the water red as it slowly sank.

As Liam did that and moved to the next beast, Rin and Nord backed him up using their long-ranged attacks and spells to repeat the process.

"The controls are fixed!" Jack's relieved voice eventually rang out.

Hearing those words, Liam instantly hauled himself back to the ship. He was at his limit after using so many spells back to back.

Cold sweat mixed with saltwater from the ocean dripped from his drenched body.

'Saved by the bell,' Liam thought, panting heavily.

Meanwhile, the ship started to shake violently. 

The inscriptions glowed on its surface, and the darkwood slowly repaired itself – any trace of the previous damage to its flank was gone.

It wasn't done there. 

Thick tree roots grew from the bottom of the ship and shot at the remaining sharks, wrapping around them and tightening its crushing grip until they—

SPLURG!

…Exploded.

Bloody pieces of fish meat fell all over the main deck like small meteorites, with steaming-hot blood drenching everyone from head to toe.

Liam let his back touch the hard floor. His panting was finally coming to a stop, but his head throbbed with a hurtful ache.

"I'm gonna rest. Let me know when we're near the Korsan lands."

Slowly, he sprung to his feet, feeling five pairs of eyes on his back as he entered the cabin.

"I don't think I'm anywhere close to that guy," Nord said with a low tone as Liam left, respect evident in his voice and vermillion eyes.

Rin and Jack nodded in silent agreement.

Nessa looked dejected, angry at her inaction and weakness, and Gerald was just relieved he lived through the whole ordeal.

Soon enough, the Korsan lands came into view.