Author’s Note: Didn’t realize I never finished posting Volume 3 of this story. Anyway, gonna do that now, randomly, outta nowhere lol.

Chapter 14

Don’t fuck right before a fight!  You can pull a muscle or just tire yourself out.  In our case, we managed to get a decent amount of sleep in the day, even after our three-hour long sex-session.

As I put on my Lunar Pendant, Mei casually mentioned “Oh hey, doesn’t Silver Moon Island kind of look like your necklace?”

The moment I heard those words, I immediately retorted “Goddamn it!  Don’t say that kinda shit!  That’s definitely a Dungeon flag!  We ain’t got time for no weird adventures… Let’s just climb the stupid mountain, kill some people and survive.  If you see a weird cave with fancy markings all over the place, don’t touch anything and definitely don’t go inside!”

“I don’t really understand why you’re so flustered, but okay?  It’s not like I would intentionally enter the cave of an Immortal or some ancient monster’s lair though.  Well, unless you really want to?” I shouldn’t have even said anything.  She was definitely expecting to go treasure hunting.

After I changed into a black robe, I wore my leather belt with the forty-four holster and ammo-bag on it.  I also had my money pouch dangling from the belt, since I didn’t really have any decent pockets.

Then I picked up the thirty-eight snubnose revolver belt and handed it over to Mei.  Before she could say anything, I sternly told her “Stop being so fucking stubborn.  Take this and use it if you need to… Don’t be arrogant just because you’re at the peak of the Apprentice Stage!  If you have to fight an Adept, be sneaky!  There’s no honor in getting both of us killed or worse!  All you need to do is pull the hammer back and gently touch the trigger… The closer the better, but don’t press it directly against a person’s skin.  It could backfire if something is clogging the muzzle.  Even if they’re an Expert, they probably won’t be able to protect their ‘weak spots’ from a bullet at close range.  I’m not guaranteeing that they’re die from a single bullet, but you’ll get six shots before you need to reload… Make them count.”

“Ugh~, fine~… I’ll use it if there really is an emergency.  Your life is much more valuable than my honor or even my own life… Don’t make me sacrifice myself for you though, okay?  My soul won’t be able to rest in peace if I die before having at least one of your children.” She pouted, putting a thin black robe onto her buxom naked body; obviously foregoing any sort of underwear.  As she grabbed the belt I was handing her, Mei asked “You know the Silver Sword School is only a second-rate Faction, right?”

“Yeah, what’s your point?” I finished ‘equipping’ all my shit and went over to the rear window, in order to pick up my shotgun and rifle cases.  Even though I could totally have just carried the weapons, the containers were enchanted to make them much lighter than normal, plus it was safer that way.  I had no idea how they would hold up if I accidentally dropped them in the mud or the ocean.

When I turned back around, Mei was tightening her belt.  As I headed towards the door, she explained “It’s a second-rate Faction, so at most, they have a handful of Experts, several dozen Adepts, hundreds of Apprentices and a few thousand Novices.  This should be easy and relatively safe… Well, at least for us.  I’m guessing that at least half the crew of the Titanic Fury will probably die during the battle.  It’s possible that the Stingray might get totally destroyed if they’re unlucky.  But unless we meet a bunch of angry Rank-D Beasts, or fall to our deaths, or accidentally encounter an ancient formation array, or-”

“Enough!  Just stop with all the flags for fuck’s sake!” Sure, I may have been a little superstitious before my death, but there was a legitimate chance of jinxes being a real thing in my new world.  I really didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.  Plus, she was definitely just trying to tease me!

Mei giggled as she fastened her cutlass, within its sheath, across her back with a leather strap.  Then the two of us left the room… For the last time… Not really.  We did leave though.

***

“Oh hey, even the sand is silver, huh?” As our giant canoe reached the beach, I couldn’t help but murmur to myself.  We ended up riding the Stingray around the back of the crescent-shaped island, then we went ashore alongside dozens of other small boats.

Meanwhile, I could hear the thunderous roar of cannons bombarding the bay and that central mountain.  Those ‘Lunatics’ were nowhere to be seen though.  However, since they were ‘sneaking’ over to the school, it would have been weird if I could see them easily.

“Hurry up kiddies, we don’t got all night!” The huge beefy old lady shouted, as she unhooked the giant obsidian warhammer from her back.  It kind of reminded me of a double-sided metal mallet, with a bunch of shiny white shark-teeth embedded in the metal.  Her armor was very similar to Liara’s; it was just a black micro-string bikini.  There was absolutely no protection on anything but her pussy and nipples… At least, that’s how it appeared at first.

Obviously the two of them also carried small extra-dimensional pouches on their waists, and Liara had a quiver on her right hip.  Johan was literally three-meters tall, so he looked like a giant even compared to those two brown-skinned muscle-girls.  Since his hair was outrageously bright-orange, he shaved it all off and even painted his skin dark-green, black and brown.  His enormous robe also seemed like jungle camo to me.  The bow that he carried was practically a portable ballista; I mean, it wasn’t a crossbow, but still…

Mei unsheathed her cutlass, but made sure not to charge it with any mana, because it would start glowing obnoxiously.  I didn’t unholster my revolver, since I wouldn’t be able to ‘quietly’ shoot someone anyway.  “Ugh, I should have told Azrael to make me a fucking silencer or two…” 

However, while the five of us were stealthily sprinting across the silver beach, I started hearing sounds of fighting all along the shoreline.  I could hear wails of children and infants, screaming women and roaring men.

Yep, there were dozens of simple fishing villages closer to the forest.  They were spread pretty far apart and not many people lived in them, but they were still there.  Mei whispered “Ignore it Little Levi… Don’t think about it.” 

The Stingray actually began launching a bombardment of its own towards the relatively defenseless settlements and all hell broke loose.  Hundreds of furious Silver Sword Disciples came charging down out of the jungles and were fighting to the death against the invaders.  They were mostly Novices, with a handful of Apprentices here and there.

When we finally left the beach and started trekking through the thick tropical foliage, Liara came closer and told me “Most of the Silver Sword School is made up of former commoners… They probably grew up in those villages.  It might seem fucked up, but well, they shouldn’t have betrayed the Southern Islands.”

I sighed, complaining “What a load of bullshit.  Aside from the strongest Adepts and the few old senile Experts, no one else in the entire Faction had a say in anything.  They would probably be executed or crippled if they disagreed with the Top Brass’ decisions.  Those people… There’s no way that any of them ever had a choice about anything.  Condemning thousands of people to death because of a decision that ten assholes made on their own…”

Granny Arin snickered, “Yeah, it really is disgusting, ain’t it?  But what the hell can any of us do about that kinda stuff?  Just focus on the mission.  Our job is only to kill the Adepts.  No need to dirty our hands with children and weaklings…”