21: The sea wind carried a heavy, fishy stench.
The two-masted sailing ship of House Tarth cut through the waves of the Narrow Sea.
Rek’Sai sat on a wooden crate on the deck.
His massive body made the crate creak under the unbearable weight.
He idly tossed a silver stag in one hand, eyes empty, bored out of his mind.
Blackfeather perched at the top of the mast and let out a piercing shriek.
“Ships approaching.” Brienne placed a hand on her sword hilt and strode to the gunwale.
Through the thick fog, a longship with extremely shallow draft burst out of the mist.
A pale skull was painted on its black sail.
“Trash from the Stepstones!” The captain’s face turned ashen.
Both hands clenched the wheel.
“Lower the sails!
Lower the sails now!
Raise the white flag!” The longship closed rapidly.
More than a dozen bare-chested pirates stood on its deck, waving rusty cutlasses and short axes, letting out harsh, strange cries.
“My lord, we have to pay the toll.” The captain scrambled over to Rek’Sai, voice shaking.
“They’re from the Torture Deep.
Pay the money and you live.
If you don’t, they’ll kill everyone.” He pulled out a heavy money pouch.
Rek’Sai swept him with a cold glance.
At the edge of his vision a semi-transparent light screen appeared.
[Quest Activated: Ambush at Sea — Exterminate the Pirates.] [Requirement: Kill every pirate within sight.] [Reward: Skill “Raptor Strike”.] Rek’Sai grinned, showing sharp white canines.
“Pay them?” He stood up.
His 2.4-meter height instantly blocked the sunlight above the captain’s head.
“Y-yes, my lord.” The captain’s legs trembled.
The longship had already closed to less than thirty paces.
The pirate leader—a one-eyed man—stood at the prow, tossing a rusty iron hook in one hand and shouting arrogantly: “Tarth ship!
Throw over everything valuable!
And leave two women behind!” The captain raised the money pouch, about to beg for mercy.
A rough large hand clamped down on his head and shoved him hard backward.
The captain fell flat on his back.
Rek’Sai strode toward the gunwale.
Both hands swept across his waist.
Two fine steel hand axes dropped into his palms.
His chest swelled high.
The breathing method activated in an instant.
Scorching airflow exploded along the lines of his muscles.
Whoosh!
His right arm whipped forward.
The first hand axe became a silver lightning bolt that tore through the sea wind.
Crack!
The longship’s wooden mast exploded with a sharp report, split cleanly in half by the hand axe.
The heavy black sail and broken mast crashed down, knocking three pirates over.
Whoosh!
The second hand axe followed immediately.
The one-eyed leader’s laughter had not yet faded when the axe struck him square in the face.
The enormous kinetic force carried his corpse backward and nailed it hard into the shattered deck.
The pirate ship fell into brief, dead silence.
“Gods…” The captain sat collapsed on the deck, jaw nearly on the planks.
Rek’Sai did not pause.
He stepped back half a pace.
The thick muscles of his thighs locked tight and crushed the deck boards beneath his feet.
Using the reactive force, his 2.4-meter bulk launched into the air like a cannonball leaving the barrel.
A terrifying parabolic arc cut across the sky as he crossed more than ten meters of open sea.
Boom!
Rek’Sai smashed down hard onto the pirate ship’s deck.
The entire hull rocked violently.
Large sections of planking shattered.
Seawater poured in through the cracks.
The pirates finally reacted.
“Kill him!” Seven or eight pirates raised their cutlasses and charged with bloodshot eyes.
“A bunch of trash.” Rek’Sai reached back and drew the Arcanite Reaper.
The ancient gold set into the blade glowed with a dark blood-red light under the sun.
He used no fancy techniques.
Pure violence.
The muscles of both arms swelled to bursting.
The Arcanite Reaper swept horizontally.
The two pirates in front were cut in half at the waist, men and blades together.
Organs mixed with blood sprayed across the deck.
A third pirate’s cutlass struck Rek’Sai’s shoulder.
It did not even break the skin; the blade edge rolled instead.
Rek’Sai reversed his elbow and smashed it into the man’s chest.
The dull crack of shattering sternum was harsh.
The man sprayed blood and flew over the gunwale into the sea.
The probing exchange was over.
The one-sided slaughter began.
Rek’Sai strode forward.
Every swing of the axe carried a bloody wind.
One pirate tried to sneak around behind him.
Rek’Sai did not even look.
He lifted a heavy foot and kicked the man in the knee.
The leg bone snapped.
The pirate screamed and fell.
Rek’Sai followed through and stomped his skull flat.
In less time than it takes to drink half a cup of wine, no pirate remained standing on the deck.
Severed limbs and broken bodies lay scattered everywhere.
The thick smell of blood drew several seagulls.
[Quest Completed.] [Skill Obtained: Raptor Strike] [Raptor Strike: A powerful melee attack that erupts with double destructive force and benefits from weapon bonuses.] Rek’Sai shook the blood from the Arcanite Reaper and hung it back across his back.
He turned and looked at the people on the opposite ship, who were still staring with wide, stunned eyes.
“Come closer.” His voice was not loud, yet it cut through the sea wind.
Brienne recovered first.
She immediately drew her greatsword and roared at the still-shaking crew: “Do what Master said!
Bring the ship alongside!” The two ships quickly came together.
The gangplank was laid.
Rek’Sai stood in the pool of blood, returned the two hand axes to his waist, and pointed at the corpses and scattered gear.
“Rolf, Tick—get over here and work.” The two new attendants scrambled across the gangplank.
Rolf’s face was white.
Tick’s eyes, however, shone.
“Strip everything valuable from their bodies.
Gold dragons, silver stags, even the better boots.
Pack it all.” Rek’Sai gave the order.
Tick immediately pulled out his skinning knife and skillfully slit open the dead men’s pockets.
Rolf forced down his nausea and piled the rusty weapons together.
Brienne walked up beside Rek’Sai and glanced at the carnage covering the deck.
Her eyes remained calm.
“Master, what do we do with this ship?” Rek’Sai rubbed his chin.
The hull had been partially crushed under his weight and the mast was broken.
It could no longer sail.
He turned toward the captain of their own ship.
The captain was leaning over the rail, staring this way with pure reverence.
“You.” Rek’Sai pointed at him.
“Come here.” The captain hurried across the gangplank, head lowered, not daring to look at the corpses.
“My lord, what are your orders?” “These scrap weapons, plus the cables and spare canvas on this broken ship—I’ll sell them to you for thirty gold dragons.” Rek’Sai’s tone was flat.
The captain froze, then jerked his head up.
“My… my lord?
These things are worth five gold dragons at most.
And this ship is already leaking…” Rek’Sai took a step forward and looked down at him.
His massive shadow completely swallowed the captain.
“That pouch you were about to hand over as toll just now—fifty gold dragons at the very least, right?” Rek’Sai raised one thick finger and poked the captain’s chest.
“You were going to give it away anyway.
I’m actually saving you money.” The captain swallowed hard.
He looked at the Arcanite Reaper on Rek’Sai’s back, then at the pirate leader who had been split in half on the deck.
“You’re right, my lord.
I’ve made a huge profit.” He quickly offered the money pouch with both hands.
Rek’Sai weighed the pouch, then tossed it to Tick with satisfaction.
“Pack it away.
The more fat sheep that deliver themselves to my door like this, the better.” The looting was quickly finished.
“Set sail.
Don’t delay me from going to Casterly Rock to make real money.” The captain wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and loudly ordered the sailors to raise the sails.
The next several days of the voyage went surprisingly smoothly.
No more pirates dared approach the sailing ship.
Somehow word had already spread.
Every day Blackfeather flew out on a patrol circuit, ensuring the surrounding waters remained safe.
Pig was kept in the hold, eating until full then sleeping, sleeping until full then eating.
Its bulk seemed to have grown another circle.
Brienne continued practicing the breathing method on the deck every day.
Rek’Sai occasionally pointed out two corrections; more often he used a leather whip to strike the places where her power generation was wrong.
Rolf and Tick’s reverence for Rek’Sai had already sunk deep into their bones.
They prepared roast meat and ale for him in ever-changing ways each day.
Half a month later the sailing ship finally left the Narrow Sea, rounded Massey’s Hook, and entered Blackwater Bay.
The sea wind gradually calmed.
The water took on a deep blue-black color.
On the distant horizon the outline of a vast city slowly appeared.
A red high tower stood especially sharp under the sunlight.
Rek’Sai stood at the prow, facing the sea wind.
Brienne walked up beside him and looked at the distant city, her expression complex.
At that moment Blackfeather dove down from mid-air, landed on Rek’Sai’s shoulder, and let out urgent cries.
Rek’Sai’s brow furrowed slightly.
He closed his eyes.
Mana flowed.
He activated Eagle Eye.
His vision instantly climbed high and shared with Blackfeather.
More than ten nautical miles ahead of the sailing ship, three warships flying the crowned stag banners of House Baratheon were lined up side by side, blocking the channel.
The decks of the warships were packed with fully armed men in golden cloaks.
The rams at the prows flashed with cold, hard light under the sun.
Rek’Sai opened his eyes.
A cold smile curved the corner of his mouth.
“Hope they’re not here to make trouble.”