A last-minute scramble

"Wala woo lulu lele lala wao!" (It's them! Those are the evil creatures!)

Bumpelba suddenly cried out in terror.

So the evil creatures he had said enslaved his people back at the Farm were Naga. The Murloc simply hadn't known what to call those powerful creatures.

That made sense.

They were both sea creatures, but their strength was on entirely different levels. Naga loved enslaving Murlocs to work for them.

Lilia didn't understand what Bumpelba was saying, but she could sense the Murloc's unease.

She quickly soothed him. "Be good, baby. Don't be scared..."

Rhode turned his attention back to the distant Naga.

They carried all sorts of weapons, mostly spears and tridents, while a few female Naga at the rear of the group held staves.

Those were probably their spellcasters.

Perhaps they had conjured the storm earlier to cover the main force's advance.

Now they were all swimming toward the merchant ship.

"Musketeers and archers, ready!" This time, Captain Sander gave the order.

They truly were veteran sailors who had spent years at sea. Despite the sudden attack, Rhode immediately heard a succession of crisp, coordinated orders and the sounds of men forming ranks.

Many of them must have been former soldiers.

"Fire!"

Captain Sander gave the order, and musket shots thundered along the ship's rail amid the twang of bowstrings-and the small fireballs Rhode unleashed.

Though these Naga were much sturdier than humans, they were nowhere near the Great Yeti's level. Rhode's small fireballs could hurt them with just a little extra power behind the spell.

Naga kept taking bullets or fireballs and tumbling across the surface of the sea.

Arrows did relatively little damage. Without enough force behind them, they were easily stopped by the thick scales covering the Naga's bodies. Only shots aimed at their heads had much effect.

Yet whether their companions were wounded or killed, some bloodthirsty instinct seemed to drive them onward in a frenzied charge.

They swam incredibly fast, seemingly even faster than ordinary people could run on land.

Soon, most of them reached the ship and slipped beneath its hull.

Clearly, the underside of the ship was the safest place for the Naga, sheltering them from the ranged weapons above.

Rhode had only managed to fire seven or eight fireballs before he ran out of targets.

Then they began their counterattack-breaking through the hull.

"Watch below! Watch out for the Naga attacking the hull!" Captain Sander shouted hysterically.

But he soon realized, in despair, that his sailors had no way to stop those dark shapes deep underwater.

Merchant ships were largely built of wood, and their hulls were no exception.

The Naga clearly knew humanity's weakness. Once they broke through the hull and sank the ship, they would have the home advantage.

They had lived in these waters for far too long. They knew this sea better than any other race, as well as people knew their own backyards.

The storm that had struck so suddenly was already dissipating fast, but that only made the sounds of death beneath the hull clearer to everyone aboard.

Thud! Thud!

The sound of weapons striking the hull reached everyone's ears like the drumbeat of death.

"Fire! Keep firing!" Captain Sander could do nothing but keep issuing that order.

The sailors on deck began firing into the water, but aside from the splashes, their shots had no effect.

The blows against the hull grew more frequent. Unless they acted immediately, everyone aboard would become prey for the Naga.

But what could they do?

Send the sailors into the water to fight the Naga to the death?

There was no point. No one could match the Naga underwater. It would hardly be any different from dying after the ship sank.

"I never thought I'd be eaten by fish on my very first fishing trip at sea," Nat Pagle said miserably.

But Rhode didn't seem to hear him.

He even closed his eyes.

Had the mage given up too?

No.

He was thinking.

When facing so many monsters, a mage's best option was an area-of-effect spell such as Blizzard, Flamestrike, or Arcane Explosion.

But he hadn't learned those yet.

So his only option was still Frost Nova-the freezing ring spell.

However, the version of Frost Nova he had used against the pack of Abominable Snowmen in the cave on Darrow Hill probably wouldn't do much in water this deep.

He had to strengthen Frost Nova.

How?

By trying to connect the spell nodes with more energy circuits, of course, in the hope of producing a more powerful effect.

Something could go wrong, causing the spell to fail and his mana to backlash.

Then his head would burst with a pop.

But he couldn't afford to worry about that now. He was about to die! Even a last-minute scramble was worth a try!

Rhode quickly unfolded Frost Nova's spell model in his mind.

The original Frost Nova had eighteen energy circuits and forty-three spell nodes.

Rhode intended to expand it to more than three times its size.

Normally, Rhode would need to examine all forty-three nodes, check them against the data, and confirm each node's function and effect before performing something akin to copying and pasting. Then he would connect the adjacent models through key nodes, turning them into a new derivative spell.

Each different key node would produce a different spell-in other words, a different design.

Afterward, he would assume a successfully cast spell as the answer, feed the previous node data into those designs, work backward through the calculations, and conduct experiments.

Only then could he arrive at the most effective spell.

But time was short, and Rhode couldn't do that now.

He had only one choice.

Wing it!

He quickly "copied" three original Frost Nova models, then connected one of their key spell nodes on instinct. The energy circuits linked up immediately.

The instant he connected that node, two long, whisker-like links extending from it began to glow faintly.

He fed in mana.

The two node links glowed brighter.

Well, lucky me. My head didn't explode.

Following the same process, he connected another key spell node.

His head hurt a little, but it wasn't too bad.

The spell seemed to have taken shape.

Mana flowed smoothly between the three hastily assembled spell models, as though they had always been a single whole.

"Mage Rhode, what's wrong?" Nat Pagle grew nervous after watching Rhode stand motionless with his eyes closed for so long.

If even the mage had given up fighting, they truly were finished.

Lilia shook Rhode's hand too. "Rhode, why did you fall asleep?"

Bumpelba said, "Woo wala oga kehaluya!" (The evil creatures are going to eat us all!)

Rhode's eyes snapped open.

Then he shouted, "Is everyone ready?"

"Now, it's time to witness a miracle!..."