Dragon's Soul Chapter 14: Cornered

The man lunged at Zhang with sword in hand. However, before he could even get close to Zhang a blade suddenly entered through his back and ran straight through his heart. The man dropped his sword and used both hands to hold onto blade that was stabbed into him. Moments later, his legs buckled as he lost his strength and slumped onto the ground.


Behind the man stood Jian Wei with bloodshot eyes and beside him was Yan Li together with a small group of men.


“Quickly follow me!! We are being attacked!”, he yelled at Zhang.


Without questioning him, Zhang woke up Yuying and Ai. The trio then followed Jian Wei out in the hallway.


“Senior what exactly happened?”, Zhang asked.


“Moments ago after the we had laid anchor, a fleet of ships came out of nowhere and encircled us. So far only one ship from that fleet had boarded ours. We must quickly rally as many men on board as we could and rebel them or we all die.”


Upon reaching the deck of the ship one could see a ma.s.s hysteria of fighting was occurring. The sailors on the ship were fighting a desperate battle due to the enemies’ number of combatants.


Yan Li grabbed a man who was running to join the battle.


“What happened why are there so many more enemies!!!”, he yelled.


“Sir four more enemy ships joined in on their raid and have boarded.”, the man said trying not to stutter.


The sailors were outnumbered 1 to 4 and were fighting a losing battle. Not all of the enemies’ fleet had even joined the battle, there were roughly six more enemy ships a short distance away just watching.


“All men fall back!!! Fall back into the lower deck and protect his majesty!!”, Yan Li yelled as he led Jian Wei and the trio back down into the lower deck.


Slowly one by one the sailors gathered to where Yan Li was and began descending into the lower levels of the ship.


“The ship had a total of 500 crewmembers if we can gather half of them down in the lower deck of the ship we might be able to hold out for a while.”, Jian Wei mumbled.


Their group currently consisted of about 50 people in the front was Jian Wei, Yan Li and the trio, behind them was a ma.s.s of what seemed to be battle hardened veterans holding the rear. They were currently headed for the mess hall which was the biggest room on the ship. The plan was to enter and barricade themselves inside.


“Once we reach the mess h.e.l.l we should be a bit safe, if their objective is what I think it is then they wouldn’t dare to burn this ship.”, Jian Wei said as he led the group through the maze like interior of the ship. Zhang, Yuying and Ai had not said a word this entire time and simply followed.


However, there was a lingering question in Zhang’s mind. It seemed that the sailors knew what the invaders wanted and that something most likely was on Jian Wei. The current best situation would be to blend into the crowd and not to stick out and if needed, he would grab Yuying and Ai and jump into the ocean.


Although he couldn’t maintain it for long, Zhang could create a sphere of essence like before and submerge the trio into the sea. The sphere would separate them from the water and allow them to stay under for an extended period of time. Then all they needed to do would be to come back up the ship after everyone had left.


But this plan would only be used as a last mean of survival because if they used it they’d most likely become stranded at sea once more.


Once everyone was inside of the mess hall, chairs, tables and whatever else could be found was stacked up in front of the doors. Then rope was used to bind everything into place.


All of the sailors took up positions around the door with swords and spears raised. Whoever got through the barricade would be met with a wall of blades.


Due to the dire situation they were in, Zhang decided to use the Underworld Heart and reconstruct the doors to become one with the walls. He made it so the change was subtle that no one was able to see it.  He did not want anyone else to know that he was in possession of the Underworld Heart.


The Underworld Heart being one of the 7 treasures made it unwise to let others know that it’s in his possession. Even if it allowed him to escape harm now, there was a chance that some of the sailors would want it for themselves later.


Soon cries could be heard outside of the door. Some stragglers were being viciously slaughtered as they tried to make their way to the mess hall.


Sounds of pleas for mercy and begging was ignored by the invaders and everyone outside were killed and soon silence filled the hallway.


Everyone in the mess hall had their nerves on end as they stood there in silence praying that no one came through those two doors.


Suddenly a loud, BANG!!!, could be heard.


When everyone looked to the direction where the noise had came from, they stared in disbelief. A middle-aged man with a goofy looking grin on his face was scratching his head. He had b.u.mped into the counter and knocked over a bowl. Some of the other sailors wanted to walk over and punch him in the face.


They were as tense as could be and could lose their lives any moment now and for this r.e.t.a.r.d to startle them like that. However, before anyone could go and beat up the man another loud, BANG, could be heard. This time it was from the twin doors that lead into the mess hall.


Soon afterward another BANG and another and another could be heard. After a while they stopped and the room once more fell into silence.


The some of the sailors had a slight smile hanging on their faces. They believed as long as the doors held they’d be safe.


BOOOOOOOM!!!!


One of the walls had blown up and pieces of wood were flying everywhere. Some unlucky souls were impaled by a few sharp pieces of wood.  A few died almost instantly, while another few were laying on the ground rolling about in pain.


One unlucky man had a piece of wood stuck in his eye, while another had a long piece of wood sticking out of his knee much like an arrow. Yes, he had what seemed like an arrow in his knee.


While everyone was still startled a giant man walked in from the hole in the wall. The man was as big as a bear and stood taller than the door. He was walking shirtless so all the folds of fat on his body were hanging loose and squishing around as he walked.  On his bald scalp were two large scars that formed a X.


He held a wooden club which he propped up on his shoulder. This club was studded with many spikes on one end to the point where one wouldn’t be wrong to call it a giant mace.


“Ha ha ha you fools think you can hide in here? Hand over the duke now! And we will spare the rest of you.”, the huge man said with a sneer.


“Duke?”, Zhang thought to himself and then turned to Yuying who looked equally perplexed.


“Who sent you!!!”, Yan Li yelled.


“Hpmh, you think you have the right to question us? At a time like this? Quit yapping and hand over the DUKE!!!!!”, the huge man replied.


“Over our dead bodies!!! Men protect the duke and charge!!!”, Yan Li yelled as he led the charge toward the huge man.


Half of the sailors followed Yan Li’s charge while the rest formed up around Jian Wei.
Yan Li and his men ran quickly towards the huge man and circled him. Spears and swords poked and slashed wildly at the huge man. However, all of this seemed useless against him. He stood there as if he wasn’t injured in the slightest.


“Hahaha puny sc.u.m let a real man show you true strength.” The man laughed as he raised his giant club and swung it horizontally. The club swept the Yan Li and his men off the ground and slammed them into a wall.


Some were unlucky and were impaled by the spikes on the club and some were equally unlucky and had their spines and bones crushed by taking the impact of the club head on. The only lucky ones were those who were hit by the bodies of those in front of them.


What no one noticed was while the man had swung a shadow had weaved its way through the ma.s.s of sailors. And when they did, the shadow was already behind the huge man. This shadow could be made out to be none other than Zhang.


Zhang had made his way through the sailors and behind the man’s back and when he reached his destination, he pulled out a crude looking long dagger. If one looked closely dagger they’d be able to see that it was what looked to be a huge tooth tied between two smooth pieces of wood. This dagger was made from the Voracious Eaters razor sharp tooth.


Zhang drew a vertical slash down the man’s shoulder and then a horizontal one slitting the man’s Achilles tendon. Zhang knew he could not end this with a simple slash to the neck or a stab to the heart so he decided to try to immobilize the man as much as possible.


In fact, if he had gone for the man’s heart his dagger most likely would have been too short or maybe only the tip would touch it’s target. As for the neck, one would have to ask what neck? Layers on top of layers of fat had made the man’s neck indistinguishable from his torso.

“Gahhh you little piece of s.h.i.t. How dare you injure me!!!!”, he bellowed as Zhang jumped back a short distance away.


The man fell into a frenzy and swung his club in an endless barrage towards Zhang. Thankfully Zhang had already immobilized his ability to move on his right leg. This made it so Zhang was for sure more agile and quicker than the man.


“You useless fools what are you doing standing there watching HELP ME!!!!”, The huge man screamed to his men who were standing at the hole in the wall that he had made.


Soon many men with their faces covered by black cloth filled the room with blades drawn.
However, they were ignored as Zhang charged at the man once more this time aiming for his other leg. The man saw Zhang running towards him slammed his club into the ground and swiped to the side.


Zhang jumped into the air and did a somersault then slammed his dagger into the man’s left eye and kicked off the man’s chest and landed on the ground.


After being stabbed in the eye and kicked, the man fell to the ground and covered what used to be his eye and howled in agony.


Taking this chance, Zhang jumped on top of the man’s chest landing on his feet and stabbed into the man’s hand that was currently covering his face pinning his hand into his face. Then stomping the man’s sternum hoping to cave in his chest.


But the man had too much body ma.s.s for this to be done. The man waved his left arm wildly trying to strike Zhang. He knew that if he wallowed in his pain and did nothing he might lose his life.


Not being able to cave in the man’s chest Zhang pulled out his dagger and used it to slice off the man’s right hand that was covering his face.


Then hopped off the huge man’s chest and picked up his ma.s.sive club. While on the island, Zhang had trained his body once more from scratch to get it back on par with his previous body. Although it wasn’t quite there yet his body now possessed a lot of strength. Enough strength to barely lift up the giant club that was about as big as he was.


While Zhang was dragging the club toward the immobilized giant man, it made a sc.r.a.ping noise against the floor of the ship. Once he was in front of the man, he slowly lifted up the club and raised it above his head and slammed it down on top the man’s head.


The giant clubbed smashed the man’s head to a pulp and his brain matter was splattered all over the floor. The entire time, the sailors and their adversaries watched in silence both at awe of Zhang’s power and in fear of it.


After using the club to smash the man’s head Zhang lifted it up once more and began spinning. He was trying to pick up momentum and when it was just right he released the giant club sending it crashing into the group of invaders.


Five of the invaders was stuck under the giant club and when they fell over, they had knocked down many of their comrades that stood by them.


“KILLLL!!!”, Yan Li screamed as he charged toward the stunned enemies.


The sailors rushed toward the invaders and almost systematically killed them. The mess hall was now a b.l.o.o.d.y mess. Blood, guts, and body parts littered the ground. Anyone with a weak stomach would of have emptied their stomachs a few times by now if they saw this sight. Zhang walked up to one of the corpses and began taking its clothes off.


“Brother what the h.e.l.l are you doing?”, Ai asked.


Without answering, he tossed the clothes toward Ai and began doing the same thing to another corpse.


“What are you guys waiting for! Do you want to leave or not?!”, Zhang asked as he began putting on the clothes that he took from the corpse.


As if they understood what he was doing all of the sailors including Jian Wei began taking clothes off the corpses and put them on. Yuying and Ai had headed for the kitchen to change. Because there was no way they’d do it here in a room full of man.


Zhang stood guard in front of the kitchen making sure no wondering eyes or people entered it.


All of the corpses had black clothing with an insignia on the right shoulder with a picture of a shark. After donning the black clothes, the group started slowly heading back in upper deck. Anyone who met them along the way and wasn’t on their side was taken care of in a swift way.

Above, there were many men in black however, they paid no attention to the group coming up from below.


There were currently four ships with planks heading on to the ship they currently were on.


“Sir we searched the raft that was attached to the ship and found some valuable things where do you want me to take them?”, a man asked.


“Put them on my ship in the cargo hold.”, another man said.


“Follow me everyone.”, Zhang whispered.


All the sailors and Jian Wei after seeing Zhang’s performance no longer questioned him. They knew this young man could very well be their only hope of escaping alive. Zhang led the group toward the direction of the raft and eventually onto it.


Once on the raft, he began helping the men in black carried things off the raft. Zhang’s plan was to help them carry things onto one of their ship and then sneak aboard and commandeer the ship.


Everyone from the group picked up a few things and followed Zhang’s example and then headed towards the ship that was going to store the treasures.


They all walked onto the ship unnoticed and after all the men were on board this new ship they began to disperse. They were going to split up into smaller groups and took care of the men in black on the ship they were on.