The air became thick with bloodlust as the knights eyed the ship charging towards them.
Even Leo, who usually acted reserved in front of others, had a wide grin on his face.
"What do you say, will they actually dare to charge us?" Leo asked, eyeing the rapidly approaching ship.
"If they do, we'll cut them down where they stand." one of the knights locked his lips in anticipation.
800 meters...
"WOW~!" Leo exclaimed, "That thing is huge. Do you think we can keep it after we kill them?"
600...
"I think we can sell it for some good money?" a knight asked.
400...
"True, that's even better. Ready!"
200
"Set!"
The ship suddenly started turning sideways.
"They're evading, charge! Don't let them escape!" Leo roared, and the horses kicked off a cloud of dust.
"Charge!" the knights yelled in unison, their eyes bloodshot.
Two clouds of dust, one headed by a 100 meter long ship and the other by 20 horses, raced across the desert.
"They can't outrun Azel warhorses! We're gaining on them!" Leo shouted in excitement.
Magnus cast a curious glance at the ship.
Unlike sea faring ships, the hull was flat underneath, and two smaller hulls were attached to the main hull.
The panicked gazes of the pirates were the next thing he noticed.
'Did these cretins really think they were some hot shit because they robbed a bunch of merchants? They should've expected someone would deal with them sooner or later.'
Panicked shouts soon rang out from the deck, and items were being flung overboard. Barrels, crates, chains, cannonballs... Everything that could be used to widen the distance between the ship and them was thrown.
The first few began to falter, the horses stumbling into the sand due to injuries.
Tyrus horse received a cannonball to the leg, collapsing.
Two others had arrows fell their mounts.
Some riders were hit as well, falling off their horses.
A cannonball split the air, hurtling towards Magnus.
"OUT OF MY WAY!" he swiped furiously at the cannonball.
CLANG!
The sound of metal hitting metal, and the ball slammed into the sand beside him.
'Fuck! God bless this stupid armor!' he thought as the numbness spread through his arm.
The race had been going for a while, and while most of the knights were shaken off, him and Leo were still chasing.
'Just a bit closer!' Magnus thought, before glancing at Leo, disdain visible in his eyes.
'Just you wait-'
Whistle-
An arrow struck Leo's horse in the head, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
Seeing the same archer take aim at his horse, Magnus needed to make a split second decision.
He stood up, desperately trying to keep his balance while the horse was moving.
'One shot at glory!' he thought.
He gathered all his strength into his legs, looking at the ship that was a mere 10 meters ahead of him.
Whistle-
The arrow was loosened from the bow.
'NOW!' the pent up force released like a spring, propelling him towards the ship.
When he was within an arms reach, his blade stabbed into the ships right side, lodging itself firmly into the wood.
Once more, he exerted all his strength - this time in his remaining arm.
"HAAAAA-"
And his body shot forward.
At the height of his jump, he saw the hundreds of men looking at him, their faces twisted in pure terror.
Thud!
Two plated greaves landed firmly in the middle of the deck.
More than a hundred pirates surrounded him, yet the only thing he felt was a sense of excitement welling up inside him.
'Also, this does look like our ships on earth-'
"He is alone! Kill him!" one of them yelled, before charging towards him.
Armed with a cutlass, the man aimed to cut off his remaining arm.
Amused, Magnus swung his right arm, making a clawing gesture.
Crunch-
First, the fingers dug into the flesh. Then the bones were broken. Tendons ripped.
A head was torn off.
Blood spurted like a fountain from the headless body, as it fell to the ground.
There was only silence, as the fear in the men became palpable.
"Entertain me," Magnus reached for the cutlass on the ground, inspecting it for a moment.
"If you can!" he charged into the group of pirates.
A large muscular pirate charged him, wielding a battle axe.
Seeing the axe coming from above, Magnus countered with a kick.
His metal boot dug into the chest, sending the pirate flying as he vomited up blood.
He began swinging the cutlass-
With each of his swings, a body fell to the ground, and soon the floor was soaked with blood and guts.
Magnus, covered from head to toe in crimson, cut down a dozen men in the blink of an eye.
Whistle-
Ting!
He glanced at the archers in the back of the ship, before making his way towards them.
An arrow flew towards his helmet.
He lowered his head slightly, feeling it bounce off his helmet.
'Close. I need a shield-' before he looked towards the pirates surrounding him.
'I have plenty~.' he threw away the cutlass, reaching out towards one of them.
"Help! He--heeeeeek-" his hand clutched firmly around the pirates throat, before charging towards the archers.
Arrow after arrow peppered his meat shield, yet he kept running, only stopping to dodge an occasional melee attack.
As he got closer, the archers got more and more desperate.
They were caged in with a bloodthirsty tiger, with no place to run.
'Finally!' Magnus came within reach of the archers.
Throwing the corpse forwards, he swiped at the nearest archers.
A boy not a day older than 15-
Crunch!
'An enemy, merely an enemy.'
A burly man tried punching him, only for Magnus to grab his hand.
Pulling him down, Magnus planted his knee in the man's face.
Yet before the body hit the ground, he grabbed a knife from it's waist.
Slash! Chop! Slash!
More archers collapsed, a few threw themselves overboard in terror.
Turning to look around, more of them were charging towards him.
He threw the knife towards one of them, embedding it into the pirates skull.
[Level up.]
'There we go! But that's for later-' he thought as he charged into the pirate horde once more.
Only to see a ball of fire to be flying towards him.
His eyes dilated as he got covered in goosebumps.
He threw himself to the left, the floor splintering under his feet.
BOOOOM-
The smell of burnt flesh assaulted his nose, turning around to see the back of the ship covered in flames.
He turned around and glared at the one responsible - a pot bellied pirate, covered in specks of red light.
'A summoner!'
Magnus charged towards him, pushing and killing anyone who came in his way.
The lights on the summoner grew stronger before condensing into yet another ball of fire, only this time much bigger.
'I won't make it-then interrupt!'
He looked around for something to throw, yet the pirates avoided him like a plague.
'Damn it, damn it!' he eyed the captain, when an idea struck him.
He grabbed a severed head from the ground.
With all his might, he hurled it towards the summoner.
The summoner, who had his eyes closed to focus, was hit in the face.
His head was thrown back by the blow and the magical lights that were gathering dispersed.
'Who-' the pirate thought, only to see a severed head flying through the air.
Struggling to open his eyes, Magnus was already upon him.
"Flame armor!" he shouted desperately. A brilliant radiance flowed out of his amulet, creating an fiery red bubble around him.
Magnus blow landed on the armor, pain shooting through his hand as his flesh sizzled.
Seeing Magnus fail to break through, the pirate grinned and started chanting again.
Noticing that, Magnus expression became grim.
'Do you really think I'll let you do that!'
His fist landed once more on the barrier, and the pain in his hand magnified.
The third blow cracked the barrier, the fourth one broke through and hit the pirate.
Grabbing his head, Magnus slammed it into the ground with every ounce of strength he could muster.
Pain like when his arm was cut off shot through his remaining hand, almost causing him to faint.
'My hand- I'm not going to lose my other arm!'
Turning to look at the remaining pirates, he once more charged towards them.
Howls of agony and roars of anger resounded, never to be heard again.
---
[Level up.]
---
Standing in the middle of the deck, ragged gasps escaped Magnus lips.
Every inch of his armor was drenched in blood. Around him more than a hundred bodies were spread on the ship, sheer terror visible in their eyes.
He glanced at his arm, the pain in his hand gone now. 'I won't have to worry about being armless now, thank fuck.'
Stumbling his way to the steering wheel, he noticed the fire had extinguished.
Grabbing the wheel with his one hand, he spun the ship around, heading back towards the knights.
A smirk crept on his face, 'Let's see how you twist this one Leo.'