Freddie's voice was heaven-sent, and Dan felt as if his mind was about to split the more he tried to direct the dark oppressive aura. It felt as if it wasn't the type to give in to other people, which was weird as it was supposed to be part of the Voyager, but even the Voyager seemed to be having some trouble with it.

  "HOLD ON JUST FOR A FEW MORE MOMENTS!" Old Raily shouted as he shot well-aimed shots from time to time.

  Dan noticed something off about Old Raily's shots even under the pain he was in. Whatever the old man hit stopped moving, unlike the others whose shots seemed to be doing minimal damage, it never took the old man more than one hit for the undead creatures to float atop the water.

  Diana raised the intensity of her song right after Old Raily's shout, bringing the pain Dan was feeling down and raising morale. He could see people's hold on their weapons start to strengthen as her voice rose and she seemed to be reaching the main part of her song.

  Even with Diana's help and with the reassurance from Freddie that they only had to hold on for a few more minutes, Dan was still finding it hard to keep going. Knowing that you only had to hold on for a few more moments didn't help much if each second felt as if it was dragging on to eternity. Worse still, the monsters just kept on coming, no matter how many of them he killed, as if they felt no fear at all.

  "STRENGTHEN." Just as he was about to lose it, and all the Voyager kept on sending his way was worry and fear for his well-being, Dan felt another whispered shout and instinctively looked toward its source. What he saw was a glowing red word heading his way. His mind took its sweet time to register what was happening, he even wondered if he was hallucinating at a point.

  Once the floating word hit him and seemed to explode into red dust that seeped into him, he remembered what Natalie had cast at the start of the battle. Being at the receiving end of the full effect of the skill for the first time, Dan felt his headache drop and his control over the dark aura rise. It seems that the skill did exactly what the word said, it strengthened him. Dan didn't have time to thank Natalie, but he'd make sure to do so later on.

  With the help of the buff he got from the neurolinguist, Dan was able to hold on for longer, at least till the announcement he had been waiting to hear finally sounded from the speakers again,

  "We are on them!" Keith said, a maniacal tone to her voice.

  Boom!

  Her voice still hadn't disappeared before they heard a loud boom come from their left, to the starboard of the ship. Dan didn't have much thought in mind to focus on that at the moment, but he felt and heard the loud clang of metal hitting metal right after the boom. Following that was also the shape of the ship they passed at their starboard.

  "We are good," Keith kept them updated, "We got hit but everything seems to be alright. They should have more to worry about very soon. The grey dots are heading towards them."

  The only thing that Dan registered in his weird state was what she said last, that the grey dots were attacking the other ship, he noticed just that too. The seemingly never-ending stream of creatures throwing themselves at the propellers was finally coming to an end, the undead creatures changing course, heading to starboard.

  Dan didn't even notice before he found himself on his knees as he dropped his control over the dark aura. At that moment, and with the gradual disappearance of a target to go after, it became less animated and agitated. He had been kept going through the effects of different support skills and sheer will, once he realised that they were out of danger for the moment he crashed down.

  Dan wasn't the only one, a glance all around showed him how many others were like him sitting, or even lying, on the deck, their chest rising and falling as they breathed hard.

  "The pirates are under attack," Keith's voice sounded again, "The grey dots have them surrounded. They are trying to move but I doubt they are going to go far."

  Her words were like an anchor grounding him in the current moment as he finally was able to bring his thoughts together and started considering their next course of action.

  "Dan here." He held his walkie-talkie as he contacted her, "Lower speed and keep going deeper into the Swarmers' territory. Once they enter your sight, see if they are affected like normal creatures and are keeping their distance. If they are more like the grey dots, put us at full speed and put more distance between us and this place before the ghostly light turns its attention to us again. Over."

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "On it," Keith replied through the speakers.

  As Dan sat there waiting for more updates from her while trying to bring the horrible headache he had under control, he suddenly felt a cold touch on his forehead. Opening his eyes in shock as he almost jumped back up, Dan noticed a light green light flashing for a second before it disappeared.

  "You should be alright now," the familiar cold voice of Fleta was heard soon after.

  It was then that Dan noticed how his headache had gone down to a manageable level. It was just a minor persistent ache, unlike the mind-splitting pain he had before.

  "Thanks," he managed to say. Another thing soon came to mind as he asked hurriedly, "Is everyone else alright? There were no injuries right?"

  "You might be our most pressing injury," Fleta answered with a tone that almost felt like a joke. "Don't worry, everyone is alright. Just exhausted. Overusing skills seems to be just as taxing on the body as normal physical labour is."

  Dan let out a breath of relief at that. He was glad that everyone was alright. He got quite scared once those spikes and water attacks started coming back then. Fortunately, Arnold was able to keep them at bay and disrupt them so they couldn't really do much harm.

  "Cap-Captain," Keith's voice cut into their conversation, it came from the walkie-talkie on his side. Dan's heart dropped as he noticed the clear panic in her voice. "I see the Swarmers. Over."

  "Is everything alright on your side? Did something happen? Over," He hurriedly asked.

  "They don't seem to be reacting to us yet. It's just..." Keith stopped for a few seconds before finally saying with an audible gulping sound, "It is the densest gathering of creatures I've seen so far. There's barely any blue on the screen next to them. Over."

  Dan shared a look with Fleta. He understood why Keith didn't use the speaker for this one. He wouldn't want the others to know about it before he knew how the Swarmers were going to react to them too.

  "Okay," he first brought his nerves under control before replying in a clear voice, "Just keep our current slow cruising speed and see how they react to us. Keep me updated. Over."

  "Understood, over."

  Dan and Fleta found themselves sitting in silence awaiting more news from Keith. Weirdly enough, just a few seconds after, her voice was heard from the speakers,

  "Pirates after us," she said. Her voice didn't have the same nervous quality it had when she told Dan about the Swarmers, "They are still surrounded by the grey dots but they seem to be trying to either run deeper into the Swarmers' territory, or try and use our own trick against us."

  "Everyone get ready," Marcus shouted, "We might still have a fight ahead of us!"

  "OH GOD!" People didn't even have time to grumble when Keith's voice came through the speakers. Seems that the first officer didn't even have time to use the walkie-talkie to talk to Dan, she just shouted it through the speakers, "The Swarmers are moving towards us! There are so many! It's like an unending wave!"

  This time they didn't even need Marcus to say anything, everyone jumped to their feet as they started preparing for the worst. Dan was the same. He started establishing another connection with the Voyager, it might hurt like hell, but he wouldn't let something like this take them down.

  "Wait, it's working!" Keith's voice halted his actions, "They are keeping away from the Voyager! They are heading to the pirate ship."

  With the sound of Keith's almost deranged laughter as a backdrop, everyone stood frozen as her words fully registered in their minds.

  Dan forced himself to stand up as he ran to the railings and looked at the sail ship behind them. He wanted to see what was going to happen next.

  His blood turned cold as something else caught his attention before he could even focus on the ship itself. Avoiding the Voyager on their route to the pirate ship, all around them the waters were churning as what felt like thousands and thousands of creatures locked on the pirates. It wasn't clear what the Swarmers looked like as it was quite dark, but just the sound they made as they cut through the water to their prey made Dan shiver.

  "The Swarmers are attacking the greys too," Keith kept with her updates as she finally brought herself under control, "They are disappearing so fast."

  "Seems that we are safe here," Dan held his walkie-talkie as he said to Keith, "Keep with our plan then. Go deeper into their territory and let's stay here. Over."

  "On it," Keith again answered through the speakers.

  Just as Dan sighed and felt that this night was finally coming to an end, he noticed something. Far away, even beyond where the pirates were when they used them as a distraction from the undead creatures, mist seemed to appear with a ghostly light floating above the water at its centre. The light seemed to watch what was happening for a while before turning around and gradually disappearing into the distance.

  chapter 55 right now!

  Alsooo! One last thing~ if you have a skill or a class you think might sound interesting, you can mention it below~