The First Kill
First, I mentally reviewed my opponent's stats in detail.
...Tyrosh's level was definitely around 24.
And his equipped rune was the Lesser Fishman Archer's Rune.
A Lesser Fishman Archer's Rune was decent when firing a bow, but in a situation like this, it was practically useless.
Although the level gap was severe, I currently had bonus stats active from the Rune of Antagon.
Furthermore, considering his aging body, our actual physical capabilities wouldn't be as vastly different as heaven and earth.
Above all, the fact that I was barely managing to evade Tyrosh's attacks proved it.
'At least our Agility stats are neck and neck...!'
The fact that most sailors focused their growth on Strength to handle manual labor also played to my advantage.
So, if I could just use my comparable agility to land a single blow...
If I could strike one precise spot, I could escape this crisis.
Having finished my rapid calculations, I scooped up a wooden plank rolling around on the floor.
At that moment, the old man's foul-smelling sneer reached my ears.
"Heh... You think you can beat me with a mere wooden plank? How pathetic that this is the best your little brain could come up with after all that thinking."
"..."
"I'm tired of playing along. Now, be a good boy and become a burnt offering to please the Sea God, brat."
Tyrosh closed the distance in an instant, thrusting his cutlass toward my midsection.
Bending my waist to its absolute limit to dodge the blade, I swung the wooden plank with all my might.
Tyrosh easily leaned his upper body back to avoid it, a smirk playing on his lips, but—
"I'm not... finished yet...!"
I planted my foot firmly and swung the plank once more.
A clean upward slash.
It was a strike backed by all the experience I had accumulated in Velheim, but perhaps due to my low Strength, Tyrosh easily evaded this attack as well.
But that was exactly what I had been aiming for.
Crack—!
"..."
In that split second, the lantern struck by the wooden plank shattered, showering Tyrosh in bright yellow flames.
From the very beginning, my target had been the lantern.
Feeding on oil and flesh, the fire spread uncontrollably in an instant.
"Aaaaargh—!!! F-fire—!!!"
"..."
With pupils trembling in terror, I stared at the flailing old man.
So this was how horrific the screams of someone burning alive sounded.
Did I scream like that when I burned to death?
"...I know that pain all too well."
Even as a sliver of sympathy brushed against me, my body was already moving.
I knew that if I missed this opportunity, a second one would never come.
"Die!"
"Gwaaaargh!!! *Gurgle*—?!"
I lunged at Tyrosh and drove a shard of glass deep into his throat.
As I clung to his burning body, the intense heat scorched my skin, and sheer desperation flooded my mind.
With every plunge of the glass shard, his convulsing body clawed at my neck, spewing cursed words.
"Die...! Just die already—!!"
Staring back into the eyes glaring at me through the flames, I stabbed down again and again.
I didn't even have time to feel the pain throbbing from my torn palms.
Fresh blood splattered onto my cheeks, mixing with my tears, and with every lurch of the ship, the pooling red liquid sloshed wildly across the floor.
Then, I realized a new notification had appeared in my field of vision.
You have committed your first kill!
Level Up!
Level Up!
"..."
Murder.
I felt a weight that couldn't be described by simple letters on a screen.
Yet, there was an eerie lightness to the fact that someone's entire life could be summed up in a single line.
But there was no time to celebrate, nor was there time to grieve.
Velheim was not a world where one could survive with a naive mindset.
In this life, I swore that even if I had to trample over others, I would survive no matter what.
Leaving Tyrosh's corpse behind, I grabbed his cutlass and climbed up to the deck.
Up there, a violent storm was raging.
"Furl the sails, everyone!!!"
"I-it's impossible!! The wind is too strong, we can't get them down!!"
"Then slash them with your knives if you have to!! Do you want to watch this ship capsize?! What the hell is the helmsman doing?! Get to the wheel!!"
"First Mate!!! Water is pooling in the hold!!"
"Then go bail it out right now!!! Why are you standing there like an idiot?! If we sink here, we're all dead!!"
"Ah, the Sea God is angry...! We're all going to die..."
Screams echoed all around. Faces contorted in desperate struggles flashed in the brief glares of lightning. Beyond the house-sized waves, the pirate fleet drifted precariously, colliding and tossing violently...
I kept low to avoid being swept away by the gale and scanned the deck, but everyone was fighting the storm so desperately that no one had the luxury to pay attention to me.
The pirates were straining every nerve to escape the raging waves.
But...
"...The storm isn't the real problem."
With eyes filled with dread, I stared out across the pitch-black sea.
Something far more terrifying than a storm was coming.
The reason this tutorial was named the 'Raid' of the Mary Celeste.
The reason this tutorial carried the tag 'Unsurvivable.'
Looking around with trembling eyes, I witnessed a bizarre phenomenon.
A sour, putrid stench began to drift through the rain-swept night sky.
The fish flopping on the deck rotted away in an instant.
The jerky and fruit scattered across the wooden floor decayed before my very eyes.
It was an surreal sight, as if a videotape were being fast-forwarded.
I knew exactly what this meant.
The moment I squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation of the impending horror, massive shapes surged from the middle of the ocean.
⚠️ The ghost ship, Mary Celeste, has appeared!
⚠️ You have encountered a malevolent entity, a Lich! Magic power is drastically reduced!
⚠️ You have faced the despair of the sailors. All stats are significantly decreased.
⚠️ You have witnessed the monsters of the deep! If you survive to tell the tale, you will gain high favor in taverns.
⚠️ You have heard the wail of the Banshee! Luck stat is drastically decreased...
A sailor's worst nightmare was about to unfold right before my eyes.
A massive silhouette rose from the center of the sea.
A colossal brigantine-style ghost ship, looking as though it hadn't been touched by human hands for centuries.
Behind it, grotesque undead leviathans emerged to escort the vessel, while wailing banshees circled through the storm.
Across the waters, ships previously claimed by the Mary Celeste swayed as they rose to the surface.
It was a bizarre and terrifying spectacle that made my head spin just looking at it.
The Mary Celeste.
Back when I was a high-ranking player, I had formed parties to raid it several times, but right now, it was an event I couldn't even dream of tackling.
Just as I was cursing the goddess in my mind, a pirate's frantic voice cut through the air.
"S-skeletons!! Skeletons are climbing up the hull!!"
"T-that's impossible?! The ghost ship is so far away, how are they already here...!"
"The sea..."
"What...?"
"They ran across the sea!! Look over there!"
In the direction the pirate frantically pointed, a horde of skeletons was gliding across the water like water-skiers, sea serpent scales strapped to their feet.
An army of skeletons advanced, filling the sea with overwhelming numbers.
Before long, several of them had already boarded the deck.
"Damn it...! Everyone, prepare for battle!!"
"Fight bravely!! Never surrender the ship to the undead!!"
"I-it's not too late! If we defend this ship, we can live!!"
The pirates on deck drew their swords and clashed with the skeletons.
Metallic clangs rang out, sparks flew, and lanterns flickered dimly in the driving rain.
As I looked around for an escape route, two skeletons approached me.
"Damn it..."
Realizing my retreat was cut off, I drew my sword and faced them.
'Can I win...?'
I calmly assessed the skeletons.
In Velheim, even monsters of the same species had slight variations in combat power.
For skeletons, the power gap between individuals was particularly massive.
After all, a skeleton crudely pieced together from a farmer's bones couldn't compare to the undead remains of a knight.
Judging by their clumsy stances and brittle-looking bones, fortunately, the skeletons before me were not the remains of skilled swordsmen or mercenaries.
Crunch!!!
Deciding they were beatable, I swung my cutlass at the approaching skeleton.
Having swung swords countless times while playing Velheim in the capsule, my strike was quite fluid, but the cutlass only left a minor scratch and pushed the skeleton back.
Clicking my tongue, I struck again, successfully shattering one of its ribs, but the skeleton kept advancing as if nothing had happened.
When it swung its rusty cutlass, I leaned back to dodge.
'Slow.'
Thanks to my natural reflexes, evading the sluggish skeleton's attacks wasn't difficult.
Rather, keeping my balance on the rain-slicked deck was the real challenge.
The immediate problem lay elsewhere.
Clack!!
As the skeleton closed in with its sword, I aimed for an opening and slashed.
But once again, the cutlass slipped off without dealing any real damage.
The rain-soaked bones were incredibly slippery.
It was the same principle medieval armorers used when they curved plate armor and oiled it to make blades slide off.
'Damn it...!'
Slashing a skeleton with a sword was highly inefficient.
At this rate, something would go terribly wrong before I could even finish them off.
I needed another way to fight them.
What about blunt force instead of slashing?
Crack!!
I swung the scabbard in my left hand with all my might, striking its skull. The cackling skeleton was sent flying.
It sprawled on the deck, staring up at me with what looked like bewilderment.
'As expected, blunt force is much more effective against bones...!'
I immediately dumped all the stat points I had gained from killing Tyrosh into Strength.
Next, I slipped the scabbard back over the blade, bit down on the sword belt to pull it tight and secure it, and swung with everything I had.
Striking the joints with the cutlass—now effectively a blunt weapon—sent the skeleton stumbling back.
Clack! Clack! Grrr...
"Good... it's working!"
A cutlass was designed with versatility in mind, meant for cutting ropes or carving wood as much as close-quarters combat.
Its thick, sturdy build meant that with the scabbard on, it could easily double as a makeshift club.
And I was also reaping a sweet benefit from an entirely unexpected source.
The sailors have fallen into panic due to the undead encounter!
Your stats are boosted by the passive skill, Chaos.
To gain a stronger effect, throw your surroundings into greater confusion!
Chaos.
A skill from the Rune of Antagon that temporarily boosted stats whenever I shocked or panicked people.
It was a reflection of the god Antagon's nature as a deadly trickster and clown.
In my memory, it was a practically useless skill, but with so many pirates gathered here, the stat boost was nothing to scoff at.
This was the sole reason a mere Level 3 like me could stand against these skeletons.
Rattle!
"Piss off!!!"
Skeleton defeated.
Level Up!
Added to Disguise List: [Lesser Sailor Skeleton]
The skeleton's skull flew off from the impact of the scabbard, and its body collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut.
It would probably reassemble and attack again soon, but this bought me enough time to figure out an escape.
I fought against the swelling tide of undead while desperately searching for a way out.
'I need to find the escape lifeboat, fast...!'
According to my memory, this ship had a single escape lifeboat.
Relying on a tiny rowboat to brave this storm was suicide, but it was still more realistic than fighting an endless army of undead constantly resurrected by a Lich's mana.
It was the path with the highest probability of survival.
As I was busy smashing skeletons to clear a path—
Crack...!
"..."
An ominous sound suddenly echoed from the weapon in my hand.
Looking down in alarm, I saw a massive crack spreading across the scabbard.
I had been so focused on defeating the enemies that I had overlooked the scabbard's durability.
The sword itself was fine, but a scabbard made of wood reinforced with cheap metal could never withstand such brutal impacts.
A moment later, the scabbard shattered into splinters on the deck. The battered skeletons froze and stared at me.
An awkward silence fell over us, as if time had stopped for this corner of the deck.
"Haha... Hello, everyone...?"
Clack, clack...!
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack!!!!
"Shit!!"
As the enraged skeletons swarmed me, I bolted, frantically searching for a way to survive.
But what the hell was I supposed to do?
Having just transmigrated, all I possessed was my bare body and a worn-out cutlass.
The divine power sealed within the goddess's necklace was so weak that it was questionable if it would even help.
The only thing I could leverage right now was the Rune of Antagon...
'If only it were a combat-oriented rune, I could have done something right away.'
In a single word, the Rune of Antagon was a 'clown.'
Much like Loki in Norse mythology, its concept was to constantly stir up trouble using utility skills like disguise, speech, and gambling, and then defeat enemies using the stats boosted by Chaos.
In other words, for a mere Level 4 like me to survive this chaos, I had to stir up trouble and secure those stat boosts.
Coincidentally, an idea had been brewing in my mind for a moment.
The problem was that the method was a bit—no, extremely—unorthodox.
'Is that really the only way?'
Ah, damn. Even I think this is absolutely insane.
"Ah, screw it."
Let's just do it.
Stab—!
"Argh!"
When I suddenly stabbed the thigh of the pirate standing next to me, even the skeletons stared at me as if I were a complete lunatic.