Siren's Kiss

42: Meltdown

Without the sorcerer's magic, the stalkers, though still deadly, began to lose their strength. The cold now affected not only Drake and his companions but also the cannibals. Unable to resist the biting ice, they were forced to wear armor made of thick animal skins or shells.

The stalkers' warriors focused all their strength and attention on the four most formidable members of the group-Drake, Hawk, Purity, and Rowan. These four stood out with their exceptional fighting skills and incredible strength, making an ordinary stalker seem like an ant ready to be crushed. However, even ants can overcome gigantic enemies if they band together. Fortunately for Drake and the others, the stalkers, despite being fierce cannibals on the battlefield, lacked the ability to think strategically. Without the guidance of their sorcerers, the outcome of the battle became clear.

As desperation grew, arrows and darts laced with a toxin that rendered them unconscious before began to shoot them down, forcing them back against the walls they had climbed earlier to reach the base. Throughout the chaos, Ciel clung to Drake's back, as though he had become a part of him.

"Will you just put me down?"

But Drake neither listened nor cared to obey the command at that moment. The battle, sprawling across a dew-laden turf, raged on with Captain Purity "Ladyqueen" yelling "attack" and the others following suit. With wild-hearted abandon, Drake wielded the blade he had snatched from an enemy, leaping and balancing effortlessly with Ciel still clinging to his back.

"Drake!" Ciel exclaimed again. The man truly had no intention of letting him off his back.

"What?" Drake asked, kicking a stalker in the chest with his heavy boots and slashing another across the face.

"I said put me down!" Ciel repeated.

"You're still weak."

"I've got my voice back; I can fight."

"And they'll fix their blow darts on you again. No can do."

"Are you kidding me?!" Ciel was becoming frustrated and wanted to strangle him right there and then, but doing so might jeopardize Drake's fighting and cause them both to fall back into the icy water. "You think your kind is the only one capable of learning from mistakes? It won't happen twice."

That was true. The stalkers' blow darts had proven useless as the pirates, the commander, and the siren successfully evaded the attacks, fully aware of their potency and effects.

"Me love, we are winning fair here," Drake insisted, as he forced one of the warriors against the edge of the roof and kicked him into the icy waters below. "HA! Did you see that, love? Without their master, these soldiers are merely wooden toys—"

Before he could finish, Ciel started hitting him. "Put me down, NOW!"

"Aw...aw! Love—why can't you appreciate how romantic this is? I'm making sacrifices for you!"

"I'm no damsel in distress. Put me down now, or I'll swear..."

"Aye, aye..." Scowling slightly, he set Ciel on solid ground and handed him a sword. But not before headbutting another warrior and sending him into the depths below. Turning back to Ciel, he said, "You stay beside me, okay? Keep your eye on those snipers; they'll be blowing darts and shooting arrows, so sharpen your sight and instincts."

"Aye, aye!" Ciel mimicked his pirate accent and rolled his eyes.

Side by side, they fought off the soldiers advancing from different directions. Ciel seized an opportunity and thrust his sword toward a stalker's chest, but the blow was parried by a heavy gloved hand. Startled, Ciel and Drake looked up to see that this stalker was unlike the others. He was bigger, taller, and more muscular as if a giant had given birth to a cannibalistic being of the Seven Seas.