Chp.4: Black Vulture
Rhaegal loved simple things.
Eating was simple. Talking was simple. Catching a prey was simple. Using an avatar was simple. Traveling on a ship was simple. It was all so beautifully simple, and Rhaegal therefore didn't have to worry much about how to accomplish them. Simple things didn't require thinking or worrying or calculating or evaluating or planning. They were all simple cause and effect, nothing more.
The problem was that, put in the least offensive words possible, whoever created the world had to be a total asshole. Because it seemed to have the particular pleasure of making simple things complex by inserting those cursed things known as outcomes into the equation. And so eating was no longer simple, because there wasn't enough food. That's when talking was no longer simple, because the interlocutor didn't want to listen. So hunting a prey was no longer simple, because it could prove to be smarter than expected and above all it was necessary to capture it without attracting the attention of other predators. So using an avatar was no longer simple, because some asshole came to ruin the host body. And so traveling on a boat in peace was no longer simple... because a group of armed imbeciles had had the ingenious idea of blocking the route.
When Rhaegal had climbed onto the deck of the ship he had obviously activated the invisibility rune so as not to be noticed, but he had immediately understood that whoever their opponents were surely knew that there was something very dangerous aboard the vessel. It was barely morning, but the soft light wasn't a problem for a dragon, and so he could clearly see two large ships blocked the passage, almost forming a wall in the middle of the river, and on the opposite side a third ship was arriving to cut off any possibility of their retreat. In the sky there were at least five amphitrites and two wyverns circling above them. Such a deployment of forces couldn't have been a coincidence.
Rhaegal watched the situation carefully, his nerves extremely tense. He had no idea what was going on, but it clearly wasn't something he and his men were prepared for and it certainly wasn't part of Haku's plan. His eyes darted across that corner of the river, looking for any possible weakness in the ships that might give him an advantage, but as he did so one of the wyverns swooped toward the ship. Rhaegal growled fearing that the beast would attack them, but instead the wyvern stopped a few meters from the ship and then flew away. The dragon clearly noticed a black figure jumping from the animal's back and heading towards the ship, and prepared for a possible fight, but Serengal was quicker and threw herself against that person. The two women collided in mid-air and exchanged a few blows, but neither could prevail and they eventually landed on different sides of the ship's deck.
Rhaegal was finally able to see the figure clearly. It was of extremely thin build and had close-cropped dark hair suitable for close-quarters fighting; it wore only a tight black dress and a cloak that wrapped it, also black, suitable for camouflage in the night but that could also be useful in the soft morning light. It held a longsword in its right hand, but Rhaegal could see other weapons hanging from its belt. The face was hidden by a black mask vaguely shaped like the hissing head of a snake. Though it didn't have very clear physical traits, Rhaegal knew from its scent that it was human and that it was female. When she stood on the deck, looking Serengal up and down, she was immediately surrounded by beastmen who aimed their weapons at her, but she didn't react at all and continued to stare at Serengal. Rhaegal frowned at this: such behavior demonstrated that the woman was an expert predator, and that she knew which prey was the most problematic and needed her attention and which ones were less dangerous.
Serengal must have come to her own conclusions, for her face had turned very serious and angry. "Who are you?" she growled.
The woman lowered her sword, as a sign of not wanting a fight, but still she didn't let it go. "I have many names. You can call me Black Vulture"
Both Serengal and Rhaegal stiffened at the name. The one in front of them wasn't a legendary level, but it was still very dangerous. They had heard of it when they still played the part of adventurers in the realm, but they had always assumed that it was a legend. According to the stories, the king of the Jurao Kingdom in addition to having numerous spies also had at his disposal a small group of assassins, called Black Vultures. No one knew their real names and they identified themselves only by the name of their organization. They weren't just assassins: they were the pinnacle of the pinnacle of killing, experts at taking down everything. They were experts at winning their targets' good graces, studying them closely, gaining their trust, and ultimately using their weakness to carry out assassination. They were so skilled that they were said to be able to kill even legendary tiers if given enough time. No one knew where they lived, but it was assumed that most of them lived in different countries waiting to receive orders… but also that someone was still present on national soil.
Before anyone could ask any further questions, Black Vulture raised her sword at a seemingly empty spot on the ship. "I just want that dragon. No one else has to die"
Rhaegal's heart skipped a beat. Had that woman seen through the invisibility rune? No one had done it before her, except the legendary levels! Judging by Serengal's wide eyes, she too was shocked. Rhaegal grit his teeth, but since he was already exposed he decided to reveal himself, appearing on the bridge. "How did you see me?" he asked her.
"This mask is special" was Black Vulture's only response. "Dragon, you have two options in front of you now. Hand yourself over to me peacefully, or fight and be beaten by me and taken away anyway. You don't have to worry about your comrades; I don't care about them"
"I have a name, human!" Rhaegal said. "And don't think you intimidate me. I've faced beings more dangerous than you"
"So choose the second option. Well, I would have been disappointed if you hadn't" Black Vulture responded as she raised her sword again, then she lunged against him with a lightning movement. Her strength had to be at least level mithril, otherwise she could never move so fast. The woman moved directly towards Rhaegal, but midway Serengal stepped between them and their swords clashed. Taking advantage of that brief moment, Rhaegal leapt off the edge of the ship and plunged into the river.
He didn't know how the human had been able to see him even though she was using the invisibility rune, but his brain had already found another way to hide. The river was deep and muddy at this point, and the water turned extremely dark within a couple of meters of the surface. Even Rhaegal's dragon eyes had difficulty seeing in that context, but he could orient himself easily using sounds, smells, sensations, and the movement of water. Even if Black Vulture had possessed disproportionate vision, she would not have been able to see him in the midst of that darkness. Thus, Rhaegal had the opportunity to plan a counterattack.
His move might have seemed cowardly in some fool's view, but for Rhaegal there was no such thing as cowardice or courage, only survival. Staying on the ship in Black Vulture's company would have been too dangerous: even if he, with his strength and his knowledge of runes, could have faced her, he doubted that his opponent had come there without adequate preparation. Indeed, the fact that he had a mask capable of seeing through the rune of invisibility showed that he knew what he was about to fight. He couldn't face her in hand-to-hand combat, or he would almost certainly be defeated. If things got dangerous he would even simply ditch the entire ship and escape using the cover of the water; while he didn't like the idea of abandoning his men and the people they had just saved, he was still a dragon and therefore his survival was always put first.
Indeed, that would have been the smartest course of action. Haku probably would have chosen that path right away, and the same would have been true for many of his sisters. Serengal was probably buying as much time as possible right now hoping that he would take advantage of the opportunity to escape. Still, Rhaegal wanted to at least give it a try. He wasn't willing to abandon everyone, not so quickly at least. He wanted to try to save his men.
He calculated the situation very carefully. Even though he'd been interrupted while doing so, he'd still been able to observe the three ships that had surrounded them, and he'd noticed that they appeared to have hulls constructed of a weaker material. However it was clear that this was a decoy: what idiot would build a ship with a hull of cheap material? Not to mention that the water pressure combined with the ship's motion should have already destroyed it then. It was likely that the cheap material was only in the outer layer, but that there were several inner layers that were stronger or even magically reinforced. Rather than the hull, Rhaegal thought it best to aim for the rear of the ship, which seemed to lack the same defense.
If he managed to break through then he could use some runes to generate an explosion and thus create a huge hole that would sink the ship in minutes. Rhaegal thought the best choice was to aim for the single ship behind them, since it would be easier to sink than the two ahead of them. Once destroyed, it could try to attract the attention of other enemies by fleeing to the opposite side. Maybe he could try to jump out of the water and grab an amphitrite; those animals were good at flying, but in the water it would be he the one who would have the advantage.
With this plan in mind, he swam at full speed towards the chosen ship. As he approached he drew some runes on his body and prepared to feed them with his blood as soon as he came out of the water. As soon as he was close enough he accelerated and took the recourse, preparing to break through the ship's wood with a sharp blow.
But he never reached his target. As he reached the shallower, clearer water, something entered the river beside him with the force of a boulder being thrown into a pool. Rhaegal barely felt the water moving around him and tried to flee back down, but someone grabbed him by the tail and lifted him bodily, throwing him out of the river. Rhaegal was unable to resist and spun in the air for several meters before falling to the river bank and rolling in the mud. When he managed to stop and refocus his vision, he saw Black Vulture emerge from the water and head towards him. "Urgh... how could you see me even underwater...?"
"I didn't see you. I predicted where you were headed" the woman replied.
Rhaegal was confused by that answer. "What?"
"Before this battle, I gathered information about you. I knew your first choice in a fight would be to flee. It's in the nature of young dragons like you" Black Vulture explained. "That's why I imagined that you would have jumped into the water at the first opportunity, as soon as you realized you couldn't win. That's why I revealed to you the power of my mask: I knew that by doing so you would have abandoned your companions, making your capture simpler. After all, I had orders to let everyone else live and kill only when strictly necessary"
Rhaegal grit his teeth. "But how did you know I wouldn't run away completely?"
"Yes, there was a chance. If you had been a normal dragon, I would have expected that that would have been your decision. But you aren't a normal dragon, are you?" Black Vulture continued to explain. "Not only did you decide to put yourself in danger by personally participating in this mission, but you also revealed yourself to Gerard and sought a point of contact with him, unlike your brother. This proved that you, despite being a dragon, have some desire to put you on an equal footing with other races. For this I was sure you would not abandon your comrades. But how would you decide to save them? A heroic sacrifice was out of the question, of course... so I thought you would try to destroy the ships. You would certainly have gone for the easiest and most isolated one, so as to allow your companions to escape. All I had to do was inhibit your friends, get on that ship and check the water. I knew you would not fall for the hull trick, therefore I was able to reduce the surveillance area. At that point I just had to wait for you to come back up to strike and I was able to drag you out of the water without difficulty"
Rhaegal was starting to sweat. He had expected her to be only a very strong expert assassin, but he hadn't expected her to possess such foresight skills. In a way, she reminded him a lot of Haku... and for this he knew well that being able to get out of that situation would have been a matter of luck rather than skill. This time he was in real trouble.