The shortest raid

The battle on the island continued, it was no different than a small war between men. Neither side seemed to be winning.

The grand pirate ships were even shooting cannonballs at the buildings causing more harm and destruction, even killing or injuring their own.

"Fuck!" Tristan said as he swung his sword, and used the bodies of the pirates to shield himself from attacks. "When are reinforcements arriving?"

"They said at-AH!"

The young recruit was killed by a lightning bolt before he could finish his sentence.

"FUCK!" Tristan could feel it, his end is nearing. He is one of the strongest marines on the island, and he cannot fight back against hundreds of pirates at once.

'Am I gonna die here? Please no. I don't wanna die.'

It seemed like he would die then and there.

But then…

He got surrounded and three pirates stabbed him at the same time, one even casted fireball right at his face and Tristan died a horrible death. His brutal end did come.

Some of the nearby Caribbean men could only watch in horror as one of their highest ranking and therefore one of their strongest was killed. Sadly barely anyone could think about Tristan as any moment they could end up with the same fate if they didn't pay attention to their attackers.

"HAHA!" The pirates laughed a bit at having killed a high ranking Caribbean officer, but they immediately went to kill the next Caribbean officer in front of them.

But then nearly forty pirates died as they all had been shot right in the head. Before anyone could react even more projectiles flew hard and fast and killed another forty pirates, sometimes the same bullet would kill multiple pirates. Not a single bullet even grazed a single Caribbean officer.

Nobody could see where the shots were coming from because they were coming from all sides and they were all silent.

One of the most powerful pirates on the island was beyond scared and it felt as if everything was slowing down. Just then, for a split second, he saw a good looking guy with a deep scar on his cheek. He was running between the Caribbean soldiers and pirates, yet nobody could see him because he was simply too fast for them.

In his hand he carried ammunition but no weapons. He flung the ammunition at them, and every single one was aiming perfectly at their heads. The pirate in question could only watch, and before he knew it he felt something warm in his head, it was his blood that was dripping down from his head. 

He knew what had just happened, he was already dead. It was so fast he didn't even feel it. 

Just then flashbacks of his life appeared before his very life. He had a great life. He lived in a safe place, with the girl of his dreams, three children, and had a great job as captain of a fisher men where they earned more than enough to sustain their families…

Life could not be more perfect for this man. But one day he just got bored of family, wife, kids, home, job, basically he found a normal life boring, and became a pirate to get rid of his boredom. He ran away from everything because he was bored.

In the seven years when he left his normal life behind he was never bored again, so in the end he got what he wanted.

The man died realizing while he was never bored anymore, he was alone, and wasn't loved. Now that he has a second before he ceases to think, the best memories he could recall at that moment were the ones with his normal, boring family.

'I just wanted to have fun, yet why do I think about them now? Why do I feel so… regretful?'

In a few seconds at least half of the pirates had died from projectiles. 

"BACK TO THE SHIPS!" Seeing their men dropping dead like flies, the remaining pirates quickly retreated back to their ships.

All the pirates quickly retreated, some pushed and pulled down others so they could get out of the island faster, never mind how many of their own they killed.

However the Caribbean men weren't just going to let them run away after all the destruction they caused. With all their rage, they all quickly ran after them killing and capturing as many as they could, especially now that the tables had turned. The pirates could not focus on retreating and defending themselves and thus they were just as quickly being killed.

In the beginning the two sides were nearly equal with the pirates slowly gaining momentum and overpowering the Caribbean, but somehow the Caribbean changed the tide of the battle,

In the end three of the pirate ships were captured by the Caribbean, one had been destroyed beyond repair in a heated battle, and the other managed to flee. Of the five hundred pirates that raided the island, sixty fled with injuries, the rest were either captured or dead.

Though the Caribbean side had won, and while many were happy and wanted to celebrate being able to repel them, just as many were remorseful. In the short time the pirates had killed many of their own men and family, and destroyed their homes and possessions.

Since their highest commanding officer was dead there was no one there to resume charge. Usually there would be other commanding officers of the same rank who would take charge, but they were also dead, they were actually the first ones to be targeted. The pirates had actually been given orders to assassinate the highest ranking officers, as when they kill all the high ranking officers there would be no one else to give orders, and then there would be disorder and chaos in the island.

Back at Jericho's house…

Jericho and her mom and sister were hiding in the basement. Jericho sat next to the door on high alert, sensing any signs of anyone outside. She acted like a guard dog and would kill anyone who would take a single step inside her house.

Just then she sensed someone outside, someone strong.

"It's me, Jeri. Open up." Jay said.

The voice didn't come from the other side but from inside her head because the one talking to her was communicating with her using the system's chat function.

She opened the door slightly, saw it was really Jay and hurried him inside. She continued standing outside near the exit.

Jay would sometimes call Jericho "Jeri" as it is more of a nickname her family calls her. She didn't mind it as Jay is now someone close to her and her family.

"Jay!" Katelyn, who was crying, ran up and hugged him as all her worries disappeared.

"What's happening out there, Jay?" Mabel asked.

"Well… in short the pirates are no more."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. 

"Jericho, where's Captain?" Jay asked.

"I don't know. I thought he was with you."

"Weird… I wanna call him but I don't wanna risk distracting him from a serious fight or something." 

"Fair enough. I wonder where he is…"

Meanwhile…

Sky was still on the island. He would sometimes see lone Caribbean officers, sneak up on them, punch them, and transform them into cards so no traces of them could be found.

Sky even broke inside one of the headquarters to find any worthwhile information. He was afraid the Caribbean had issued wanted posters of him or his crew, specifically Jules who is wanted for her information on the nightmare sword.

To his surprise he saw nothing of the sort. Perhaps they had a good reason to not issue a wanted poster, after all it is what he would have done.

"Ooh… I like this." Sky noticed a heavy vault door. He could use his strength, or some skill to break through the vault easily. But he simply teleported inside to avoid using any more effort than he had to.

There was nothing in the vault except rows of stacks of cards neatly piled on top of each other. There were shells, food, weapons, alchemy ingredients, armor, healing items, and even green scrolls. No red scrolls or even red grade weapons could be found as they were their strongest items and could not afford to simply store them away.

{Shells: 403m}

The vault contained 70m shells, a great amount to Sky which he obviously kept for himself.

"Woah… neat." Sky smirked.

The items stored were meant for the people of the island in the event of an emergency. Sky ended up taking everything. Even the useless weapons and items could be sold to the merchant.

Leaving the building undetected, Sky felt ecstatic. He got a lot from this money, and he had captured approximately 50 Caribbean men, and 30 pirates.

He could use these captured men to level up his last cursed skill, hopefully it would be enough to evolve it but he knew it wouldn't be enough. After he is done leveling up the death curse skill, he will focus on leveling the skill he really wanted, ritual sacrifice.

{Quest}

{Pirates remaining: 460/521}

'Guess I'll do just that.'

Using his map he could see the ship leaving the island. With his newfound speed he quickly rushed to the ship by flying towards it at rapid speed.

The quest was still ongoing even after the pirates had fled the island, meaning Sky had to kill or capture them.

The pirate ship had 61 pirates remaining, most of whom were heavily injured and had to rely on themselves to heal. Their healers, or some would call them doctors for their profession, had all died. And in the ship nobody really cared about anyone but themselves.

Their Captain was on the wheel grinding his teeth loud enough for everyone to hear. He is the type of man who would get angry over the slightest inconvenience. His remaining crew were half expecting their captain to kill them and were ready to fight back, but he was so angry he could not comprehend just how terribly his plan went. He thought this was all a dream, as this is the worst thing that has ever happened in his life.

The truth is this pirate crew is brand new. He used his connections to recruit others, specifically small-time pirates to help him raid islands. The island they were about to raid was their second target, their first targeted island was completely destroyed by them as they used their overwhelming numbers, and also the island was not guarded at all and therefore it was a poor island.

They targeted the second island because they knew it was a rich island, with an abundance of resources and shells that they wanted.

"What's that sound?" Someone said as he looked up. Everyone else did the same and looked at the night sky, as the sound of something was getting closer and louder.

Before they could even tell what it was the figure flew down so fast and crashed in the middle of their ship breaking it in half. He carried so much momentum and force that once he crashed into the ship he flung everyone in the air, even creating a giant splash in the ocean. 

The few pirates who could fly quickly activated their flight ability in the air while they saw their crew fall to the ocean.

"HELP! ACK!"

"HELP ME!"

The pirates in the ocean were shocked and didn't know what to think. But they soon noticed their own members were being dragged down to the ocean one by one.

The desperate pirates tried swimming away but they could not run from it. And soon all the pirates in the ocean were gone. The only remnants left was the ship that was broken beyond repair.

The ones flying in the air could only stare in horror. Some were so scared they flew away. But soon they realized they were being picked off one by one by an unknown figure. A shadow would sneak up behind them, punch them, then make them disappear in a second before moving on to the next person.

To no one's surprise only the captain of the pirate fleet remained. He knew it was impossible to flee so he took out his gun to shoot and kill the figure responsible for killing his men and destroying his ship.

But then he found himself completely paralyzed in the air. He could not do anything but breathe and think.

"Sorry about your ship, I just couldn't resist destroying it like that, and it was awesome, don't you agree."

The figure spoke behind him but he couldn't see him. He could feel him place a hand on the back of his neck.

"Ritual sacri… no, I have something better. Summon parasite."

The captain had no idea what nonsense he was uttering, but he became even more scared when he saw a flying, small black monster in front of him. It was a creature never seen before with giant teeth.

"Do your thing." Sky commanded. He was curious as to what his new black grade summon was capable of.

The parasite opened its large mouth revealing its sharp teeth and it bit the captain's face leaving teeth marks. The captain, expecting to die, opened his eyes and saw the monster go away after taking a bite of his face; he barely felt it at all but could feel he was bleeding from the teeth marks.

Sky was expecting the summoner to devour the man and grant him a horrible death, not bite him once and only dealing 10 HP worth of damage.

'There is no way that's all there is to it, right? It's a black grade summoned monster. Identify.'

Sky identified the captain. Ignoring his name and stats and skills, he saw something abnormal.

{Flu: The person carries the flu}

The captain started to feel a horrible headache, a sore throat, and a shortness of breath. He recognized he had the flu but it didn't make sense as he was perfectly healthy not too long ago. Right now he could care less about having the flu and was more worried about dying.

{Parasite information updated}

'Hm?' Sky looked at the information of his summon again.

{Parasite lvl 1: Able to infect others with influenza (flu)}

{Influenza: Highly contagious and will cause great discomfort to the infected. Does not harm the infected in any other way}

"Ohhhh… I see. But is the flu even a parasite?" Sky remembers some of his science classes and was almost certain it wasn't a parasite.

"Was it a parasite? Or a disease? A virus? Eh, don't know, don't care. But if I continue to level up the summon, perhaps I can reveal new things about it? I really don't think this is all it's able to do."

The captain wanted to know what the hell he was talking about, and wanted to escape but wasn't able to.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot about you." Sky grabbed his neck, and in a few seconds he died.

{Received 1,611 strength}

{Quest complete}

"Neat."

Sky flew back to the island feeling satisfied.

…

In less than two hours two Caribbean warships arrived at the island with hundreds of more men ready for battle. To their shock they didn't see a battle but there was clear evidence there was one not too long ago.

Two high ranking officers the same rank as Tristan, three tidal wave badges, jumped down from their ships. One of the men was tall and had the physique of a bodybuilder with a serious look on his face. The other was of similar height, but skinny and long white hair.

Two young officers quickly ran up to them.

"SIRS!" The Caribbean men saluted them.

"At ease. Where is Officer Tristan?" The bulky bodybuilder crossed his hands.

"Well… he's dead, sir. And so are the other two high ranking officers."

"Huh… that's a shame. Who is currently in charge then?"

"No one, sir."

"I see. Give me a detailed report of everything that happened here." The bodybuilder took off his jacket and handed it to another officer.

"Well… we have counted 78 men dead, and 89 are currently missing. Over 100 civilian deaths, and almost 30 are missing, all men, and about 7 million shells in damages. We managed to kill 100 pirates, and capture a little more than 230… sixty managed to escape. The rest are locked up in their cells."

"Wait, how are there almost ninety of our men missing and thirty civilians missing? I can understand a few but that much? Did the pirates who escaped manage to grab some hostages?" 

"I… sir… we don't know either, but it is highly unlikely it was the pirates because… no one saw them take anybody. They all fled for themselves, the majority of them didn't even have a chance to steal our valuables… except… ummm…"

The two high ranking officers looked at each other. A common way to make people 'disappear' is to kill them and turn their corpses into a card and throw them in the ocean never to be seen again. It's a method that most killers and assassins use to get away with murder. Both of them thought perhaps this was one of those cases, but it wouldn't make sense because if the pirates are already raiding the island, what use is there to store bodies in cards?

"Anything else you want to report?"

"Yes… someone stole… everything from the safe…"

"The safe? What safe? That safe? Everything?" The man couldn't believe it.

"Yes, sir. They took everything. No signs of forced entry at all. And the keys haven't been touched."

"What? 

"What do you mean no signs of forced entry?" 

"Sir… it's almost like someone teleported in the vault."

"Teleportation? Hmm… not a bad theory, but it is highly unlikely." He couldn't believe someone stole the island's emergency funds. That money was supposed to go to the families of those who died and the reparations, but how can they pay that now?

"Find the missing people and find the one who stole from the safe. Ask anyone if they saw anything and take someone with you, if someone says anything do report to me asap." 

"Yes sir!" The young Caribbean jogged away.

The body builder took out a cigar from his pocket, lit it with his fingers as a small electric shock came out and lit the tip of the cigar. He let out a sigh as he took a huge puff from his cigar. He looked at the officer behind them.

"Guess you don't want to take charge?"

The skinny officer shook his head as he couldn't be bothered to handle the responsibility of an island that had been raided by pirates.

"Thanks for the generous offer, Floyd, but I really don't want to handle this horrible mess."

"Figures. Just look around, help out, see if you see anything."

"You're the boss." The man shrugged and walked away.

Floyd couldn't help but crush the cigar in his hands out of anger.

'Who the hell would rob the island at this time? If it was a fishmen or mermaid I would understand but… if it's human he's a piece of shit.''