Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 460 The Hunter Becomes The Hunted

A dozen ships had left the Aranuvian bay a week ago. On them were the most brilliant soldiers that had ever graced their homeland from warriors who've slain keepers on the hell's sea to those who've survived the illusion by the Djinn queen and helped their kingdom gain on their enemies.

Even amongst the exceptional crowd, however, there were many misfits–all gathered in a ship of their own, Choux was among them. Daema, her drake was beside her as well, cooing at the many under-chin scratches from the curious passengers.

"A dragon cub, eh? Keep them away from red bread over there," joked a redhead sorceress clad in scanty red bikini armor. Following her gaze, Choux saw the man she was talking about–a bearded dwarf with a silver hammer. Tipped with a blue flame on the sharper back side of his weapon, the weapon was more intimidating than the dwarf himself.

"Oy, don't go 'round spreading rumors!" Yelled the dwarf, squeezing tight on the hammer's handle. Staring angrily at the redhead with long curly hair, a strange tension built between the two, Choux looked at her drake and motioned it to get away from trouble.

As the drake took a step away from the woman, the dwarf's eyes followed him closely. Glancing at a particularly sensitive region, he made both girls uncomfortable from his leering at the drake's genitals.

"Besides, it's a boy..." He said and that made the group he was with burst up with laughter.

"Ignore, I shouldn't have dragged that weirdo into the conversation," the sorceress whispered to Choux before looking down at the witch hunter sitting on the floor. Offering her a hand, she waited for her to take it, and although at first, Choux didn't want to, when the sorceress refused to move, she decided to just take it and this over with. Helping the witch hunter, the sorceress quickly leaned into Choux's ears and whispered. "We might have some time to...ease up if you'd like. Just you and me–under the deck, licking peaches, hmm?"

Looking away without a word or any visible expression, Choux wore a raging grimace to let the woman know how she felt about the idea without saying it. Pulling herself back with a disgruntled look, the sorceress clicked her tongue and slapped the witch hunter with the back of her hand–but not too hard yet not too easy either.

Not wanting to attract too much attention, Choux didn't utter a word of complaint and simply waited for the woman to walk away from her. For a while, the sorceress stared at the witch, her expression shifting between a lustful glance and utter disgust. The rest of the crew was watching the interaction from a distance, every single one of them curious whether the infamous redhead would get her way again with a that appeared far too young for anything sexual.

"Burn in hell!" Their anticipation came to a disappointing end as the sorceress decided to leave the witch hunter after all.

Following her with her eyes as the woman started walking away, Choux whispered as quietly as possible.

"SHIT!"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND FOCUS YOU DUNCES!"

Hysteria from the crew and the captains' desperate attempts to contain said crew, their voices, their screams and the horrid expressions riding on their faces–these may have been the best of Aranuvia but even the best of the best were susceptible to shock from grim surprises.

'Where are they?'

Being one of the very few who'd still managed to keep their calm, Choux looked around through a periscope, but couldn't find anyone or anything. A thick dark mist had surrounded their ships–it was by no means natural and Choux knew it well.

'I know you're there...'

Bagging the equipment, instead of aimlessly looking around in the ocean dark, she grabbed her rifle, chambered an enchanted bullet and kept it ready to fire in the direction the next arrow started cutting through the mist. Keeping her ears and eyes perked, she took a deep breath with her finger itching to pull the trigger.

'Shoot another arrow I dare you...'

While waiting for that arrow, however, Choux missed something happening down on her ship. Her enemies had prepared for every possibility and that included being spotted, but camouflage wasn't the only thing they'd planned for.

Thus rising from his death the fallen ranger was just about to prove it.