Boom!

  The Supercharged Shot ripped through the gloomy, rain-streaked sky. It crossed the 20 metres separating the two ships in an instant—

  —and hit true.

  Timber cracked and metal screamed. The cannonball punched clean through one of the sloop’s cannons, sending it careening across the deck. Several crew got a swift introduction to Davey Jones as the cannon flattened them.

  Multiple notifications flashed in the corner of Darren’s vision, alerting him to the kills.

  He whooped. Better than he’d hoped!

  Adding to the chaos, the main sail on the sloop collapsed as Wilson cut through a critical rigging.

  Piece of Ship crested another wave and came racing down the back, narrowly missing the pirate ship. Pirates rushed about, trying to get the sail hoisted and the floundering ship back underway.

  Darren saw a huge, swarthy man with dreadlocks and a thick beard striding across the deck, screaming orders as he marched, perfectly balanced despite the storm. Obviously, the pirate captain. He held a flintlock in his right hand and, as Piece of Ship passed, the man raised the flintlock and aimed at Darren.

  The world seemed to slow as Darren stared down the muzzle of the gun.

  A flash.

  Then blinding pain.

  Darren spun like a top and fell face-first onto the deck. Holy turd bucket that packed a punch!

  His health bar strobed red, and he couldn’t move his left arm at all.

  One-armed, he clawed his way across the deck, trying to get behind cover before the pirate could reload. He mentally set his Summoned Swivel Gun to autofire. Each shot didn’t do much damage at this level, but it’d be a distraction.

  Boom!

  That wasn’t his gun…

  The cabin exploded. Splinters slashed at Darren’s back, plunging his health further into the danger zone.

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  Samantha was yelling something. He couldn’t make out what.

  A dozen notifications flashed.

  Status reports.

  He ignored them, trying to think. This was bad. Real bad.

  He managed to crawl around the remains of the cabin to Samantha… who was gone.

  Darren pulled himself upright. Boarding hooks now anchored the two vessels. So Samantha had leapt across the gap and was taking the fight to the pirates.

  Armed only with a cutlass, she showed exactly why she was a Captain. She moved like Death himself through a plague house.

  A casual flick of her cutlass and a low-level pirate fell, clutching his throat.

  She slipped sideways as a pirate swiped at her with a knife, avoiding the blow with ease.

  A wave of her left hand, and his face went blank, and he turned, knife raised, and dove at one of his companions. His blade sank into the surprised man’s stomach.

  Samantha wielded skills and cutlass in perfect harmony, a symphony of destruction.

  She cleared a path to the pirate officer.

  The man howled in rage. He dropped his flintlock and charged her, unarmed. His eyes glowed red—some kind of berserker skill? Darren wondered.

  Samantha executed a flawless push kick, stopping the larger man dead in his tracks.

  Her blade flashed in the storm’s murky green light.

  Once.

  Twice.

  A third time.

  The pirate officer teetered, his once red eyes now glassy.

  There was a moment of serene silence as everyone watched the force of nature that was Samantha.

  Then, with a flurry of panicked movements, the remaining pirates threw their weapons down and raised their hands in surrender.

  Just like that, they’d captured their very own pirate sloop.

  A wave hit the ship side on, picking both vessels up and shunting them sideways. The pirate officer was thrown from the deck as wood groaned. Piece of Ship was still anchored next to the sloop, and the added width stopped them both from being capsized.

  “Stop just standing there!” Samantha bellowed, “Get that sail hoisted and clear the bodies from the deck. If we don’t get this dinghy facing the waves, we’re all dead.”

  As the surrendered crew burst into movement, Darren tried to make his way to the sloop.

  Wind thrummed through rigging, and canvas snapped. Rain hammered every surface. Wilson landed on the deck next to Darren, casting a concerned look over him. “You’re lucky to be alive,” he said, voice pitched above the noise.

  Darren grunted and continued his slow passage off of Piece of Ship. The game had determined they were out of combat, so his health was crawling back up.

  “Get over here!” Samantha yelled at Darren.

  “I’m working on it!”

  “Work faster, we need to cut Piece of Ship loose so we can get out of here.”

  With a valiant and desperate effort, Darren made it to the sloop with Wilson. He hadn’t even hit the deck before several axes fell on the ropes tethering the two vessels.

  Piece of Ship was swept away, and, without a crew to control her, the raging ocean ate her alive. First, it flipped her on the side, and then swallowed her, mast first.

  Darren’s pride took a massive hit as what he felt was a decent quality boat was reduced to driftwood in seconds.

  “Get below deck,” Samantha ordered. “You’re too wounded to be any use to me. I’ll send for you in a few hours. Wilson, use Levitate to help lift that sail back up while they repair the rigging.”

  Darren took one look around, seeing the pirates’ tense expressions. He gave Samantha a terse nod and, clinging to the bulwark, made his way aft to the cramped stairs leading below the raised poop deck.