A desperate situation

Only after lying on the ground for a long time did Dunn feel the pain that had nearly made him pass out begin to subside. A faint tingling itch spread through his body, proving that his Transcendent feat, Supernatural Recovery, was taking effect.

Dunn made a rough estimate. At this rate, it would take at least several minutes before he recovered enough to barely move, and probably over ten minutes to recover completely.

The situation could hardly have been worse.

Listening to the repeated thuds of blows in the distance, Dunn's expression darkened.

Although he had temporarily escaped the other captains' schemes this time, the price he had paid was a little too steep.

He might have been nearly a hundred meters from the battlefield, but for someone of Jaeger's enormous size, that was only a few steps.

Under normal circumstances, if Dunn were this far away, the others could only swallow their grievances and watch helplessly.

After all, at this distance, even if they wanted to divert the danger toward him, Dunn could avoid it in advance.

But Dunn had now lost his ability to move. If the others diverted the danger toward him and lured Jaeger over, he would be completely at their mercy.

As for the possibility that those pirates would refrain from doing such a thing, that was simply impossible. Pirates were not a group of creatures known for their scruples.

Everyone had seen the inexplicable attraction Dunn had held for the tentacles earlier.

If they discovered that Dunn was now too badly injured to move, every pirate except his own subordinates would find a way to lure Jaeger over to him.

Once Jaeger came near Dunn and was drawn to him, the pirates could use the opportunity to get away from Jaeger and catch their breath.

In fact, it would be even better if Dunn retained his inexplicable attraction for Jaeger even as a corpse. Then Dunn could occupy Jaeger for a considerable amount of time. After all, with his Transcendent stamina and physique, even Jaeger would need some effort to crush him completely.

Then everyone could take more time choosing whether to flee or stay and continue wearing Jaeger down.

Thinking of it that way, even Dunn found the idea rather tempting-if only he were not the "bait" himself...

Because of the angle at which he had fallen, Dunn could not see exactly what was happening on the battlefield. He could only hear the monster's roars in the distance, the slapping and pounding of tentacles, and the faint footsteps that came between them.

At this moment, Dunn could only pray that the pirates were too busy dealing with Jaeger to discover his condition until later.

Several minutes slowly passed in the tense atmosphere. Dunn had never felt a few minutes drag on for so very long.

Dunn's prayers seemed to have had some effect. The sounds from the battlefield suddenly began to recede, as though someone had lured Jaeger in another direction.

Dunn immediately strained his ears nervously. Only after confirming that the sounds really were growing more distant did he breathe a sigh of relief.

He tried moving his body.

The swelling was gradually subsiding, and his broken bones were beginning to mend. In just a little longer, he would be able to move again.

"Roar!"

All of a sudden, the roar became clear and loud. Dunn's expression changed drastically. This meant Jaeger was approaching his side.

Damn it, if only it had been a little later...

The sounds drew steadily closer. By now, it was all but certain that Jaeger was indeed coming this way.

As Jaeger's roars came closer and closer, Dunn could faintly hear a jumble of footsteps. They probably belonged to the culprit who had lured Jaeger over.

"Damn it, you bastards! Stop!"

Those were the voices of his two pirate underlings. By now, neither was hiding his status as a professional anymore. After all, under these circumstances, non-professionals had practically no chance of surviving.

Dunn was still somewhat touched that his two pirate underlings could speak up out of loyalty at a time like this.

But the two had only recently become professionals, and theirs were lower-tier classes. Even among those still alive, they remained at the very bottom.

Under these circumstances, they were lucky just to stay alive and could do nothing to help, so no one paid their words any heed.

Soon, Jaeger arrived near Dunn.

Although Dunn could move slightly now, getting up to run or dodge was still impossible, so he had no desire to make those undignified struggles.

When facing the tentacles earlier, Dunn had roughly estimated that they would only fixate on him to the exclusion of everything else once they came within about five meters.

Now he could only gamble that whoever was luring Jaeger over would misjudge that distance and keep Jaeger from noticing him.

His injuries were healing faster and faster. With just a little more time, he would regain some ability to protect himself. Then, even if a tentacle struck him again, he would not die.

Just then, a dark figure leaped over Dunn, followed immediately by a voice tinged with laughter. "Much obliged, Captain Dunn. Farewell, Captain Dunn."

It was Astor! At this point, only this [Assassin] could keep Jaeger chasing him with any degree of ease.

Watching Astor's retreating back, Dunn's eyes flared with chilling killing intent. This was the first time Dunn had wanted to kill someone so badly. The last time he had unleashed killing intent of this magnitude had been because of this body.

Fucking hell, if I survive, I'll kill you immediately!

Just as Dunn was inwardly cursing Astor, the sky suddenly went dark.

Dunn's heart instantly went cold. Jaeger had arrived.

A tentacle lashed straight toward Astor with ferocious speed, fast enough to produce a sonic boom. But as it passed over Dunn's head, it braked abruptly, forcibly coming to a halt.

The densely packed eyes on the tentacle all turned toward Dunn and stared fixedly at him.

The tentacle had now entered the five-meter radius around Dunn.

The tentacle aimed at the spot where Dunn lay, reared high, then smashed down toward him.

At the sight, despair immediately appeared in Dunn's eyes.

In the blink of an eye, the tentacle was right before him. Before it even touched Dunn, the force of its impact drove him deep into the ground.

Dunn could not help coughing up a mouthful of blood. His unhealed injuries grew even worse.

But Dunn had no attention to spare for that now.

Watching the tentacle about to strike him, Dunn could not help murmuring to himself, "Was this... the end...?"

Just as Dunn's life was about to flash before his eyes, the tentacle abruptly stopped. It was only a few centimeters away from him, and the violent impact had even slightly deformed his body.

Then, before Dunn's astonished eyes, the tentacle turned to ash inch by inch and scattered through the air.

Jaeger's energy had run out!