Awakening: I Ascend As A Legendary Ranked Necromancer-Chapter 54: Smaller and Bigger

It was Hermit who woke me up. My monster screamed in my head, pulling tight on our connection and sending waves of warning signals through it.

My right hand transformed before I even understood what was happening. I was already swinging as I opened my eyes, and my opponent danced back with a growl, flexing his claws.

I froze, my eyes focusing on the figure in front of me, my mind shifting to alertness. "Dile?"

The commotion was enough to wake the others as well. They blinked into the light Litha created, and she frowned at me as if I were the one who had woken her. "What is going on?"

I narrowed my eyes at the beastman. "What were you doing?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Dile looked sheepish and scratched his head. "I was trying to wake you up, but I don’t know how, so I wanted to do it the beastman way."

He shrugged.

The others looked between me and Dile, scowling. He pretended not to notice.

"And how’s that style?" I asked hesitantly and I instantly had the idea that I don’t want to know.

Dile flexed his claws. They were as long as my fingers and flashed like steel.

I shuddered, grateful Hermit had woken me before Dile managed it himself. "Just call my name next time. So why are you waking us?"

I didn’t have to wait for an answer. Tim saw it first and started shouting, "We are under attack! They’re coming for us!"

They were indeed.

At least forty ships were on our heels, churning the sea like a school of flesh-eating fish. I shivered slightly, unsure whether it was the cold or something else. "Why are they after us?"

Temur cursed under his breath. "It doesn’t matter why they’re after us. We can’t fight that many Awakeners on our own. We have to get the hell out of here. We have a better ship, don’t we, Captain?"

The ghost captain drifted closer and nodded. "We’ll leave them to eat our dust!"

He clapped, and the green warship glowed faintly before lurching forward, surging ahead and widening the distance between us and the smaller ships In instant!

But almost immediately, they were back, speeding toward us like shadows tied to their owners. How were they keeping up? The Captain narrowed his eyes and pushed the ship harder. Once again, we lost them... only for the smaller ships to reappear on our tail moments later.

This went on for most of the night. It felt as if a giant hand were scooping the smaller ships closer each time. Worse, they seemed to grow faster with every pass.

For the eighth time, our ship received a burst of speed. I finally breathed easier when the smaller ships shrank into the distance. I shook my head. "So they’re banding together to take down the bigger ships. We should have expected something like this. It’s smart."

"And dangerous," Cele said, the small fireball above her head lighting her face and casting it in shadows. "We can’t take them on."

Litha frowned, exhaustion plain on her face. All she wanted was sleep. "We can, but it’ll be difficult, and it depends on the Captain."

"You want us to fight them from a distance?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Something like that. This is the sea, there’s a lot of space. We’re faster than them. If the Captain knows his waters, we can come up with something."

Temur turned to the Captain. "Do you know the sea?"

The ghost captain nodded firmly. "Like the back of my hand."

☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆

Kaidos had taken control of the so-called alliance and made himself its unofficial leader. His ship stood at the front, the others forming up around him.

"When is the next boost?" he called into empty air, knowing the spirit was listening. Ever since they began chasing the larger ship, the spirit had been assisting them, warping their ships forward to close the distance.

Once again, the larger ship had left them behind. Without the spirit’s help, they would never catch up. Their vessels shimmered, and suddenly they surged forward, as if the distance itself had been sliced away.

Kaidos’s eyes gleamed with anticipation. Each time the spirit intervened, they drew closer to their target. This time, they should be within attack range.

"Get ready!" His eyes glowed red, mirrored instantly by those aboard his ships, as if they were all linked together by an invisible force.

He grinned. The earlier fight on the beach had earned him several slaves.

But when the ships stopped blurring forward, Kaidos froze. Ahead of him was nothing but rolling blue water. He frowned. "Where’s the big ship?"

He turned, seeing the same confusion mirrored across the other vessels. Why had it vanished?

"What’s going on?" he snarled, glaring up at the sky.

A faint giggle drifted down. Kaidos stiffened, reminded too late that the spirit was no ally, only an instigator acting on its own whims.

He had actually, for a moment forget about something that important! His eyes narrowed. "What are you planning, you little..."

A loud whining sound suddenly sounded.

A bullet-stone screamed through the air and rammed into ships, crushing two ships instantly and flipping a third. Like a crow of doom, a massive green warship appeared from their rear and slammed into the center of the smaller fleet, crushing one vessel beneath its metal hull.

Everything froze for a heartbeat.

Then chaos erupted. Power flared and lit up the night as the Awakeners surged to their feet, unleashing their abilities. The air filled with clashing colors and roaring energy.

A thick shield snapped into existence around the larger ship. Kaidos smirked. "That won’t protect.....!!"

Every attack slammed into the shield with thunderous force. It cracked like shattered glass and collapsed inward, but that was all.

The barrage was spent and nothing got through.

And in the split second between the Awakeners’ pause and the shield’s collapse.....

....the larger ship struck back.

Its Awakeners attacked.