Fate Online: Shadow

"Don't let them get on the ship! We're almost at the Harbor!"

Minerva, the Guild Leader of Flame Rose Guild is busy commanding her members as they fended off the Sea Race invaders that are trying to board their ship, and fighting alongside them is Solitary Tempest providing fire support from the crow's nest of the ship mast.

"Do not save up on your Mana and Health Potions! Healers, keep an eye on our Tanks, don't let their Health Bar fall Red!"

"Leader, watch out!"

Minerva commandeered the battlefield from the helm while providing fire support as a Huntress when a monster successfully managed to breach past the defensive line and came charging towards her.

[Level 10] Deep Sea Murlocs

A member of the Sea Race. They produced as quickly Goblins, making them cannon fodders for the Sea Race.

[Shackleshot!]

She was quick to notice the anomaly and respond to it as she immediately shot a rope-like crowd-control skill with one end that quickly wrapped the monster's neck and the other to a nearby rope of the ship.

S-skree!

"Out of the way!"

Maverick rushed towards his cousin and slammed his shield on the monster, sending it flying overboard.

[You have slain a Deep Sea Murloc and obtained 35 EXP!]

"Are you good?" Maverick asked while watching his cousin down a mana potion.

"Yeah, but damn, this feels like we're raiding a boss. They're coming at us non-stop" Minerva complained as they had been going at it for two hours today, and the only time the attacks ceased was during high noon yesterday when they first set sail.

Now, they still have an hour left before mid-day comes and they should hold on or all of their efforts till now would have been in vain.

"The only good thing is that they're only as strong as goblins or else this would be an entirely different story for us," Maverick said before he went back to his position. On the other hand, Minerva turned her attention towards her boyfriend, Cereal Killer, who was having a blast blasting magic spells towards the water from the foredeck along with some Wizards specializing in Fire Spells.

[Blaze Pillar!]

[Fireball!]

[Inferno!]

These specialized Wizards kept throwing Fire Magic at the water before them as steam even started to appear and the monsters within the vicinity of their attacks started screaming due to the increased temperature.

"God f*cking dammit, Dylan! Stop wasting your mana! Make them count since it's going to be a while before we reach the port!" Minerva angrily ran towards them and reprimanded them for their actions.

Hearing the yell behind him, Cereal Killer gave a quick look back and saw his girlfriend charging towards them and he quickly behaved himself, the other Wizards also heard Minerva and did the same.

An arrow flew past Cereal Killer's cheek and hit a Deep Sea Murloc that managed to climb up during the few seconds that their attacks ceased and was just about to attack him!

The monster fell back down towards the water before it was replaced by another monster trying to climb up.

"Stop playing around Dylan" Minerva walked up behind him and menacingly whispered beside his ear.

"G-got it, babe" He wasn't scared, but her breath certainly tickled him, making him stutter, and the single dogs around them could only look at Cereal Killer in envy for bagging such a nice and beautiful lady, especially since she's also freaking rich!

'Lucky bastard!'

All of them thought, and it seemed the scene they saw seemed to have fueled their emotions as their attacks intensified, like meeting their mortal enemy!

"Die, you bastards!"

"How dare you smelly bastards try to attack us?!"

"Why can't you be a woman throwing herself at me?!"

Almost all of them had started cursing and it made it obvious who the single dogs were, one even threw a comment that almost threw the others off of their concentration when they heard what he said!

The deck is literally in chaos with screams and shouting everywhere!

Skills being set off simultaneously with monsters screeching down the ship!

"Damn!"

"Nine o'clock! A big one is coming! Brace yourselves for impact!"

Moments later, they heard Solitary Tempest yelling from above them before jumping down from the crow's nest as she hastily held onto something!

"S-shit! Brace for impact!"

The players facing that direction finally saw the monster heading towards them seconds later. They didn't see what kind of monster it was, but they saw a large dorsal fin breaking through the waters in their direction!

When she heard them, Minerva ran towards them and leaned on the deck to see what monster was coming.

Less than fifty meters from them, she quickly brought up the [Ship Interface] and hastily upgraded its defenses at the cost of their Guild Funds, and some of her own.

[Your ship has been upgraded to Level 3!]

[Overall stats of the [Ship] has been raised by 30!]

[The Skill <Turtle Defense> has been unlocked]

[Turtle Defense]

A basic ship skill for long voyages. Raises the ship's defense by 10% in the duration of 10 seconds.

Cooldown: 1 minute

"Finally!" Minerva exclaimed in joy while keeping an eye on the monsters charging at them as she wanted to use it right before the sea monsters rams their vessel.

"Ten seconds! Hold on and activate your Defensive Skills!" Minerva yelled as she smacked a Deep Sea Murloc on its head using her bow.

"Here it comes!"

BOOM!

The ship rattled along with a geyser of water splashing in all directions due to the impact, while the monsters still trying to climb the ship were all thrown back down towards the water as the impact also threw them into a stunned state, and right before the attack, the ship shone with a greyish hue signaling the used of its skill.

It wasn't just the monsters, the players on the ship were also suffering from a bout of dizziness and a lot of them even fell down on the deck with some unlucky few that fell overboard, left at the mercy of the monsters in the water.

Solitary Tempest, Minerva, and a couple of players were the only ones spared from it as they were closely watching the monster and jumped right when the monster rammed the ship, though they still slumped down on the deck since the ship was shaking uncontrollably for a few seconds.

"Stand up! It's not over yet!" Minerva yelled as she helped a Healer stand up. Solitary Tempest wasn't also playing around as she resumed her role and started running around the ship, fending off the monsters while the rest of the players were still trying to regain their bearings.

"We're almost at the port! Hang on!" Cereal Killer also pulled himself up and immediately alerted the others when he noticed the shadow of the coastline in the distance.

Meanwhile, Seaside Port, Watchtower.

"Donald, I see a ship in the distance," said the white-haired man while looking at something through a huge telescope mounted at the tower.

"We see ships every day, Joe" The man with blonde hair called Donald just ignored him and continued polishing his dagger.

"Yeah, but this one is being attacked by a flock of monsters I've never seen before" Joe replied, his voice was tinged with nervousness as he suddenly felt uncomfortable when he kept watching those monsters board the ship.

Clang!

Donald stopped as he had just thought of a rumor he heard before. He hastily got up and pushed Joe out of the way and also looked through the telescope.

"Ring the alarm"

His eyes slowly widened in horror and his mustache even trembled as he saw something he never wanted to see in his life!

"What?"

"God freaking dammit! Ring the freaking alarm, Joe! Now!"

Seeing the pure terror on his face, Joe knew it was something serious as he hastily ran downstairs, and what followed was a series of bells ringing in chaotic unison!

The peddlers in the city, the pedestrians walking on the streets, the kids playing around in an empty lot, all of them stopped in their tracks. The people inside their houses slowly walked out of their homes and looked towards the watchtower before their faces slowly warped into panic as the realization finally hit them!

All of them immediately ran back into their homes, and the businesses immediately shut their doors!

The people on the streets immediately ran back to their homes.

A stream of soldiers on horseback left their barracks as they hastily made their way towards the direction of the sea wall.

Joe hurriedly ran back up and immediately asked, "What the hell is happening, Donald?"

Donald stared into the distance before turning his head to his colleague and said, "It's the Sea Race, they're back"

"The what who?" Joe was confused as the name didn't ring a bell.

"It's the damn Sea Race, the ones who ravaged the continent many years ago! Haven't you learned about them in school?!" Donald yelled at him out of frustration.

Joe didn't say anything as he digested the information, and his eyes slowly widened when he finally realized who they were!

"Ohhhh f*ck! I thought they were just legends?!"

Joe had also started panicking while Donald saw in the distance, a couple of riders riding in their direction.

"Get ready, we'll be meeting the City Lord in a while," Donald said as he led Joe out of the tower.

"We're gonna be okay, right?" Joe asked worriedly as he fidgeted around.

"I think so, the Sages are still alive so I think we're gonna be fine. Though we'll have to evacuate this place sooner or later if it turns out that those monsters are really members of the Sea Race" Donald replied that doesn't sound reassuring at all for Joe.