Swords, magic, and martial arts

"Didn't you sleep well last night? You stayed here all night in the wind?" Baron asked, leaning against the ship's railing.

"Yes, we're one person short for the tournament. Where are we going to find someone?" Rhodes said, yawning.

"No rush. It'll be lively when we get to Bayview City. We might run into some acquaintances, and we can team up with them then," Baron replied.

"Then let's pray we run into someone you know there," Rod said listlessly.

Baron looked at the exhausted Rod and said...

"I really don't understand why you don't sleep at night but go to sleep during the day."

"I don't know either. I just had insomnia yesterday. You want to know why someone would ask Quentin like that?"

"Who is Quentin?" Baron asked, puzzled.

"He's the captain of this ship," Rhodes replied.

"I don't like him," Baron said. "Was the fog this thick on the river again last night?"

Rod opened his eyes wide and observed his surroundings. Thick fog surrounded the ship, obscuring the moonlight.

"There wasn't fog like this yesterday," Rod replied, feeling that it didn't seem like fog at all. In his memory, fog always rose in the morning and disappeared when the sun came out at noon, unless it was raining, but these past few days had been sunny.

He generally believes that fog that has not yet dissipated at night is smog. Since there is no industrial pollution in this world and it is summer, there is no smog caused by coal burning. So what is this fog?

The last time he encountered such dense fog was in the forest above the tomb of the sealed dragon people. What's going on this time?

"I'll go ask Quentin; he should know what's going on," Rod said to Baron.

While eating, Rhodes saw Quentin sitting in the crowd, eating and drinking. He's probably almost finished eating and will be going up to the deck soon.

Rhodes returned to the cabin and ran into Quentin, who was holding a flask and had a satisfied expression on his face.

"Why is it foggy so late at night?" Rod asked, puzzled.

"Isn't it normal for such a big river to be foggy?" Quentin said matter-of-factly.

"But the fog seems to be getting thicker, and the visibility is probably only twenty meters. Should we stop?" Rhodes asked again.

"What is visibility?" Quentin asked Rhodes in return.

"Never mind, it's fine. You should go up and take a look yourself," Rod said helplessly.

Filled with doubt, Quentin went up to the deck. He looked around in alarm and shouted...

"Stop the boat immediately! Why didn't you notify me when this happened?"

"It's alright, Captain, my eyesight is good, I can see," said a young crew member who was at the helm.

"Stop right now!" Quentin shouted again.

Seeing Quentin's reaction, the sailors on deck sprang into action, climbing the masts to furl the sails, and one crew member even ran into the cabin to tell the sailors below to stop rowing.

"You guys are really brave. Our boat is going so fast, what if we collide with someone else's boat?" Quentin said loudly, but he didn't seem angry.

"But it's not safe to just stay in the middle of the river like this," said the crew member who had just taken the helm.

"Get down here, let me do it. I'll bring the boat to the side and stop it." Quentin said as he walked towards the wheelhouse. "Go tell those guys down there who've had their fill and are digesting their food not to stop completely, keep rowing until I've stopped."

"Actually, we can turn on more lights now so that other ships will notice us and then avoid us," the crew member suggested.

"That's a good idea," Quentin nodded.

Upon hearing this, the sailors, who had just finished furling the sails, ran back to the cabin to fetch oil lamps and light them.

Baron, arms crossed, watched with interest as Quentin calmly steered the ship.

"Where is Hammer? Why didn't I see him when we were eating earlier?" Rod asked as he walked over.

"He was a bit seasick and threw up all day, but he's feeling better now and is resting in bed," Baron replied.

"And what about Messiah?" Rhodes asked again.

"She's hiding in her room, I don't know what she's doing."

"I think we'd better go down and check on her now. She's alone in her room, and someone might try to break in," Rod said, preparing to go downstairs.

"No need," Baron stopped Rod. "She used some kind of spell on the door and even let me try it. Anyway, it's hard to open that door if I'm empty-handed, unless I smash it down with an axe. But the noise was so loud that we could hear it even from the deck."

Rod felt a little relieved after hearing this, and then said, "Why didn't you drink today? You don't smell of alcohol on you."

Baron shook his head. "I don't feel safe on the ship either. I've had a strange feeling ever since I got on board."

"How does it feel?" Rod asked curiously.

"There might be danger ahead," Baron replied.

Baron had barely finished speaking when Rhodes felt the ship shudder violently, and he nearly fell to the ground.

"Damn it!" Rhodes heard Quentin's voice.

"What happened?" Rhodes looked around and saw that their ship had collided with another ship.

The bow of one ship struck the other side of the Flyer's ship.

"How do you sail this ship?" a sailor shouted at the ship.

The ship was a section higher than the Flyer, and Rhodes and his companions, standing on the deck, couldn't see clearly what was on the ship.

"Excuse me!" someone on the ship shouted back. His voice was a little hoarse, and Rod felt like he was mocking him.

"We're almost at shore, and you just rush in like that, almost wrecking the ship, and all you do is apologize?" the sailor shouted angrily.

"I'm not saying sorry to your ship, I'm saying it to you all, because this is the last time you'll hear my apology," the man replied.

Upon hearing this, Rhodes instantly snapped out of his daze, immediately retrieved his sword from the system, and handed the ink-wash Zen staff to Baron.

I never expected to be so unlucky. I actually encountered river pirates, a sight that many people who make a living on this river would never encounter in their entire lives.

Rod held his sword in his hand, thinking that the real unlucky ones were the river pirates, who had no idea what kind of people they had messed with.

As he was thinking about these things, many unidentified flying objects broke through the sky and attacked.

These things flew very fast, and under the cover of night and fog, Rhode couldn't see what they were at all.

Moreover, these things are very powerful; they leave a hole in the deck when they land on it, and one hit a sailor on the head, smashing his head open.

"Let's hide first." Baron pulled Rod towards the cabin.

Baron waved his ink-wash Zen staff to deflect the objects, which were stones tied with ropes. The person opposite him swung the ropes rapidly and then threw them back.

Due to the weight of the stone and its special throwing method, it was much more powerful than a bow and arrow.

Rhodes felt that even using the White Rainbow Sword Technique, he definitely couldn't stop these things, as they were both fast and powerful.

After running up the stairs leading to the cabin, Baron stopped the crew members who wanted to go up to the deck.

"After they've finished throwing things away, we'll go up and teach those bastards a lesson."

……