Coming of Age (6)

On a longboat that belongs to the clan, I was standing there surrounded by a band of undead.

"What's up, guys? Have you ever sailed a ship before?"

"....."

Silence! Complete silence.

Well, at least nod or shake your heads.

They all shook their heads.

That wasn't a response, it was me telling them to do it...

Anyway, time to get serious.

"Let's see... I have 30 Wraithmen heavy infantry with their heavy weapons and armors... Good, sheath them for now and center yourselves on the ropes, your strengths will be needed as sailors. The 70 Bonemen archers, I prefer if you guys spread around the deck and get ready. Hmmm! Good... spread the sail."

I started captaining around the undead until they everything was good to go. I was excited to get to sail by undead for the first time.

Well, as long as I know how to sail a longboat myself then it is fine. Even though filling the ship with a hundred undead made it feel scary but it was still cool.

As the Sail was spread, the longboat started catching a good amount of wind and ran at high speed.

"Hahaha! Damn!"

I was the only living being on the longboat and it was a fantastic feeling to move a vessel like that alone.

That is why many mages saw value in the Necromancy as a magic that can give an access to a big number of minions with a lot of uses.

Anyway, the longboat was moving and I was the one steering it. My aim was the three ships coming to aid the Bloodsail main ship. These three were longboats as large as mine but they can't carry that much men. Undead were lighter than humans so from only one look, I can tell that these three longboats only has thirty men each.

"Hey, Jon! What are you doing?" A voice came from ahead.

I looked up and saw Jull and Alina riding a Flame Atronach Hawk.

I didn't teach them an... Aha! I gave Jullanar a scroll.

"I am taking down the longboats before they all reach the ships!"

Once I said that both looked at each other and nodded, then they jumped down from the Flame Atronach Hawk together.

"Senior, that's too reckless! They longboats definitely have strong Aura Masters on them."

"I agree with her!" Jull said.

"I see... fine, I will not clash directly with them. I have a lot of archers here... by the way."

"Then I will assist you with the Wind." Alina said.

"Thank you."

Alina found a spot behind the sail and made a not violent yet strong wind push the sail.

Jull looked at Alina and smiled, she then looked at me and moved her eyes to Alina. I understood what she meant and also smiled.

Jullanar came closer and spoke to me. "What do you think?" She said.

"What do I think? Not bad. What is more interesting is what do you think!"

"Hehe!" Jullanar laughed and nodded.

It seemed she is getting along very well with Alina. For a moment there, I thought Jull may have murderous intentions towards Alina but she seemed fine.

Still, I need to take care of the situation first.

The longboats were sailing directly to the north and the three ships were rowing to reach the big ships in a hurry. They also were disregarding my longboat for a reason.

Well, with Alina around, I don't need to worry about speed at all.

I was resting for a while after conjuring this number of undead and my Magicka was somewhat not really fully back yet but I chugged on a potion and starting absorbing Magicka from nature rapidly.

Once we got near the first longboat, I looked at Jull who nodded and we threw the hocks at the other ship. If we can entangle it then it is fine.

The Bloodsails didn't think that the small longboat would be this darey and looked at us to open their faces in disbelief from what they saw. Of course it is new around here to sail ships with that number of undead as it would seem.

"Hehe! Shoot!" I commanded the Bonemen to shoot their arrows.

A volley of arrows was launched from my longboat and descended on the Bloodsails with the sound of cutting the air.

The scene turned bloody. Seventy arrows descended on thirty warriors, the chances of survival are slim.

It nearly killed half of the enemies on the other ship. The surprise attack strategy works very well in this kind of situation.

"Bonemen, keep shooting! Wraithmen, pull these ropes!"

Right now, I am taking over the other ship.

I looked at the people who could survive the first attack and they seemed like capable warriors. Some of them started shooting magic too.

Alina, Jullanar, and I retaliated back and battled the enemy mages. Or rather, it was one-sided. Alina's Wind magic is the nemesis to most destruction spells, Jull is a sharpshooter which is the natural enemy to mages, and I am a multitasking psychopath... with Dragon Blood.

Let's just say that only the longboat's captain was a strong opponent. I teleported on his boat to battle him one on one.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Jon Dare, Thane of Winterhold."

"... I know you, the one who killed Styr."

"And more!"

He raised his sword at me and spoke, "I, Gudrud Bloodsail, will avenge all the members of our family that you killed, Thane of Winterhold. Allow me to take your head to the patriarch."

"Haha! You asked me nicely. How can I refuse now?" I drew my Saber and faced him.

He didn't waste any time and slashed at me from above. I took the slash head on and stopped it then used my free hand to punch at his stomach.

He was fast and moved his free hand and slapped my punch away, I used the momentum from my punch and pushed more with my body then struck him with my elbow. It landed and he moved back.

This man was not simple, he is a strong warrior.

We looked at each other in the eye and clashed once again.

His swordsmanship was fast and deadly, every clash with him was like a test. I wasn't using any magic just yet as it would be sad to blast away a strong expert like that and not taking some of his experience in one last battle.

"Jon Dare! Now that I look at you, I see a man I once fought and survived his fury. Tell me the truth, are you the son of the 'King of Ash'?"

"....."

This is bad! I now need to take no chance.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"... So you are the cursed child! This changes a lot of things..."

"Indeed!" I agreed with him and commanded the Wraithmen to come from my ship to here.

"Now tell me, how did you find out?"

"... You look exactly like him, an..."

"I look like him? Well, even though it is vexing, I guess you are right."

He looked at me and held his blade firmly.

"But I can't let you go after this anymore. Here I come..." I slashed with my saber and attacked him.

He unleashed his Aura and came at me with all of his power. I also did the same and released my Maddening Aura and used 'Energize'.

Once we clashed, he pushed me back with all the weight of his body.

"It is true! You will grow up to be a monster son of two monsters."

"Haha! Three, you damn fool!" Nurina is also a monster.

I was being pushed back in the first exchange and managed to reverse the situation in the next.

We were even after all that time, I sensed a strange power growing in the man while fighting him. He wasn't getting tired for some reason.

"Senior, don't prolong the fight with him, he is using the Bloodsail's bloodline ability." Alina shouted.

So that's what it is, he clearly started pushing me back.

His power is strange, it is like he could ignore all the damage he took then become stronger and faster.

I guess that's it then.

He was slashing at me with anger in his eyes and that's what I was waiting for, an opening!

This was the time to use my deadly close combat trump card, the 'Thunder Cookie'.

I punched at his unguarded area to the side of his rips. Thunder booming sounded and Gudrud Bloodsail flew to the side.

I wasn't taking any chances anymore and jumped on him to finish this once and for all. He showed some resistance but his Aura was dimming due to exhaustion, it was the final struggle he put before I behead him.

Aa his head rolled on the ground, I could finally take a breath.

I looked around and saw that my Wraithmen war band has taken care of the rest of the Bloodsail troops already.

It wasn't a bad victory, at least I managed to take down a whole longboat with its crew down and lessen the burden on the main ship.

"Senior!" Alina shouted and pointed somewhere.

I followed what she pointed at and my face crumbled. I was planning on taking out one longboat, why are the other two coming to this direction?

"Jon, your orders?" Jull asked.

"Orders my ass! Abandon ship!" I said as I conjured two Flame Atronach Hawks.