Desperate Times, Explosive Measures

Crawford let out a shriek as he was blasted high into the air. He had barely managed to survive thanks to his active defensive skills and the protective enchantments on his accessories. However, losing his boat was a devastating blow.

Should I summon a mount? No, let's just teleport. Another attack might come if I linger.

"Teleport to return point!"

Ah!

Crawford's face turned pale. He had been far too relaxed, relying on the other rankers to buy him time. He had forgotten that the Gardu fleet possessed more than enough capability to disrupt magic!

Damn it, first...

Crawford quickly cast health and endurance enhancement spells. They weren't his specialty, but he needed any buff he could get right now. He then downed a potion before doing the only logical thing left to do.

He started swimming.

Splash, splash!

In this situation, swimming was his only hope. Once he managed to escape the magic disruption zone, he could use a teleportation scroll to flee.

"Serves that bastard Crawford right!"

"You do realize the mage who was supposed to provide our magical support just disappeared, right?" Evangeline said, utterly dumbfounded.

She was so flabbergasted that her usual polite tone had completely vanished. In emergencies, people's true colors always came out, and Evangeline was no exception.

"Ah, no. I know that, but he was just so obnoxious..."

"Well, that's true."

"Everyone. The skill ends in ten seconds... Are you all ready?" Smith asked, his face tense. Even he was feeling the pressure of the situation.

Roy turned to Chairman Yoo and spoke firmly. "Sir! You must come with us!"

"Can't I just stay here? It looks safer here..."

"No! We must protect you! We cannot give up on the ten billion—no, we cannot give up on you, Sir!"

"What did you just say?"

"You misheard!"

"That damn Executive Director Kim...!" Chairman Yoo muttered.

Forgetting his own pay-to-win spending, Chairman Yoo looked judgmentally at Executive Director Kim's absurdly expensive rescue attempt.

"Great job, Cain!"

"As expected of Cain!"

"Cain, you're amazing!"

"...I'm starting to find your compliments a bit scary."

Cain was slowly starting to realize that the group's praise wasn't necessarily a good thing. It felt like the final meal given to a lab rat, or the soothing words offered to a cow being led to the slaughterhouse!

"Hey, why are you like that? You did great! You made it out safely!"

"If I had used the skill even a second later, I would've died!"

While Cain grumbled, Tae-hyun was using a skill to peer at the distant horizon.

"...??"

"What's wrong?"

"Cain escaped, so why is it still so chaotic over there?"

Magic explosions were lighting up the sky, and pirate ships were surrounding a single vessel. It looked as if someone else had also infiltrated Gardu's fleet.

"Ah, right. The rescue team."

Only then did Tae-hyun remember the rescue team. Did they also come to rescue the Chairman today?

"Well... this is awkward. My bad."

If the rescue team had heard Tae-hyun, several of them would have clutched the back of their necks in fury. Fortunately, they were all far too busy fighting for their lives.

"The skill ends in ten ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seconds. We break through the encirclement immediately, run to the escape boats, and then everyone drives at full speed to escape!"

"Who's taking the Chairman?"

"Smith, you take him. Smith probably has the most buff and defense skills here."

Alcott subtly dumped the burden on Smith. While Smith was indeed the best at defense here, Alcott also simply didn't want to run away carrying a dead weight like Chairman Yoo. If they succeeded, the reward was the same anyway, so why make things harder for himself?

"Then I will do it," Smith said, smiling brightly as he nodded.

Alcott thought to himself: How is this guy a top-tier ranker? He's so naive...

"Uh... guys?"

"What is it?"

Roy spoke in a trembling voice. "The escape boats are all destroyed..."

"..."

Thanks to Crawford's wild magic casting and the pirates firing magic cannons, the escape boats had been completely wrecked! No matter how sturdily built they were, they couldn't withstand multiple direct hits from heavy artillery.

"What?!" Alcott, who was trying to stay calm, couldn't help but panic.

"M-Mounts. If we summon our mounts..."

"No. Even if we summon mounts, they'll just get shot down. We can't defend properly while mounted!"

Fortunately, Smith still had his wits about him. If it were the small ship they came on, maybe, but trying to escape while blocking incoming attacks on a mount was impossible. The durability of mounts and the difficulty of casting skills while riding were on a completely different level.

"Then what do we do?!"

"...Let's hijack a ship!"

"...?!"

Everyone was shocked by Evangeline's suggestion.

"We can just hijack this ship and run!"

"What kind of crazy talk is... wait, that actually makes sense?" Alcott was tempted. Normally, he would have cursed and asked if she was out of her mind, but in a desperate situation like this, it sounded highly plausible.

"Hold on. How do we sail it? I don't have the Sailing skill."

"I don't have it either."

"Me neither..."

The rankers instinctively turned their heads. They saw the Power Warrior Guild members still face-down on the deck.

"Hey, get up!"

"Eek! Spare us!"

"Sail the ship, you bastards! If you don't, we'll throw you overboard! Sail!"

- Waaaaah!

- The barrier is down! Charge!

Swish! Swish!

Arrows and all kinds of throwing weapons flew toward them. Smith ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and Evangeline gritted their teeth and stepped forward. Holding the line in times like this was the tank's job!

- Summon Intermediate Ancient Bats! Go!

Evangeline summoned a swarm of bats and unleashed them wildly at the nearby pirates. It was more to buy time than to deal actual damage.

"Miss Evangeline! I'll heal you!"

"I'm a Vampire!"

"Ah, right!"

Because the situation was so urgent, even Smith was making rookie mistakes.

While the two bought time, Alcott and Roy threatened the Power Warrior Guild members, forcing them to take the ship's steering wheel.

"Sail! I said sail!"

"Uaaah! I just wanted to stay a prisoner!"

"Shut up and sail, damn it! Argh!"

The Power Warrior Guild members were grating on Alcott's nerves when he was already stressed to death. He hurled curses and urged them on.

Creak—

"They're trying to escape!"

"Catch them! Bring our ship alongside theirs!"

The pirates shouted, realizing what was happening.

At that moment, Choi Min-soo ran forward and threw something.

BOOOOOOM!

"What the?!?!"

"You had a skill like this?!"

"N-No. It's a bomb I got from the blacksmiths last time I visited..."

"...!"

An unexpected contribution from Choi Min-soo. However, the other guild members were not impressed.

"Are you out of your mind, you crazy bastard?!"

"You were carrying that around?! Are you insane?! What if the ship blew up?!"

A torrent of curses immediately rained down on him.

"But it didn't explode!"

"It didn't explode because you got lucky! If it did, we would've all gone down with it! Are you out of your mind?!"

The resentment was incomparable to any scolding they've given him before. Even Alcott and Roy were taken aback and tried to stop them.

"Calm down, you bastards! It didn't blow up!"

"Does that make it okay?!"

"Do you want to die?"

"I'm sorry! I must have temporarily lost my mind!"

As soon as Alcott raised his weapon, Choi Min-soo's anger was instantly managed. Alcott silenced the other guild members and said, "If you have more of those bombs, pull them out! Hurry!"

"No! If one of those goes off wrong, we're all dead!"

"We can't let them use bombs!"

The Power Warrior Guild members desperately protested. They knew exactly what kind of people the Mechanical Engineering Blacksmiths who gave Choi Min-soo the bombs were.