Strongest Necromancer Of Heaven's Gate-Novel

"All hands, prepare to battle!" Captain Jack Spawow shouted as he took over the steering wheel from Eiko and held it steadily.

The ship was too slow to evade the fireballs, but the Pirate Captain had an amused expression on his face as he gave the blazing balls of fire, that were about to descend on his ship, a side-long glance before shifting his gaze back to the ship they were chasing beyond the horizon.

The crew wasn't as composed as their Captain, but they still began loading their cannons, which were on the deck, and prepared for battle.

Lux had already summoned his two Doppelgangers and was about to launch three Dragon Breaths in an attempt to repel the fireballs, but before he could do that, several Wind Blades collided with them, making them explode mid-air.

Millie had flown from the other ship and began to engage the enemy in an Aerial Battle.

As a Ranker who wielded the Wind Element, she was very capable of fighting on all kinds of battlefields.

The Half-Elf breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that the green-haired Dwarf had come to their rescue. Now that their backup had arrived, the opportunity to eliminate their greatest threat had become a reality.

'I was planning to deal with that flying mount later, but since it is already here it's about time to get it out of the picture,' Lux thought. 'Asmodeus, prepare for Operation Dead Bird!'

'Understood, Master,' Asmodeus replied.

—----

Under the Sea, a ship made up of skeletons was wading under the waters.

Asmodeus stood at the steering wheel and looked up above him where bright flashes of light could be seen. Slowly, but surely, the Skeleton Ship rose up from the deep waters.

The Archlich had no intention of taking the Skeleton Ship up to the surface, because that was not part of their plan. He only wanted to get within range, so that they could target the flying mount from under the sea, rendering it immobile.

"Are you ready, Orion?" Asmodeus asked the Jade Golem who was standing in the center of the Skeleton Ship.

"Yes," Orion replied. "We're still out of range, so we need to get a little higher."

Asmodeus nodded as he controlled the Flying Ship to rise a little higher from the depths until Orion gave him the signal that they were now within range.

A chuckle escaped the Archlich's lips as he summoned the Skeleton Gangbangers, whose hollow eyes burned brightly, even under the waters.

'Master, we are in position,' Asmodeus reported. 'We can begin the operation anytime.'

—-----

After hearing Asmodeus' report, Lux narrowed his eyes to look at the battle that was happening in the sky.

There were two Rankers who were riding on the flying bird in the sky, which, in his opinion, was perfect for their operation.

One of the Rankers that was on the Battleship was a Ranker that specialized in Water Magic, who had jumped off the ship and joined the battle, while riding on a Water Dragon.

Right now, he had the geographical advantage, manipulating the surrounding waters around him into an infinite supply of water spears that shot towards the Flying Mount from below, while Millie rained down Wind Blades from above.

The two Rankers from Twilight Rain were hard pressed to resist this combination attack and were forced to be on the defensive.

Malkhalm, the Ranker from Twilight Rain who specialized in Fire Magic cursed as he launched fire balls, and fire spears to repel the Wind Blades, while his companion, Khezmod, who used Earth Magic, summoned a Dome of Rock, that acted as a barrier to shield themselves from the Wind Blades that managed to break through their defensive barrage.

The Flying Mount, on the other hand, fired crystal shards to deflect the water balls, and water spears being fired at it from the sea, while evading those that it couldn't block completely.

They could have resisted the combined attacks of Millie and the Water Mage well, but there was one more problem that they didn't expect to face.

A Third Ranker, who was part of the Adventurer's Group, was a Sniper who specialized in long distance combat.

Even from the deck of the Battleship, his arrows flew straight and true, hitting the flying Mount repeatedly, making the latter cry out in pain.

If not for the fact that the Flying Mount's was a Deimos-Ranked Monster, it would have already been shot dead by the Ranker whose deadly attacks were always aimed at its eyes, heart, and neck.

"No good, we won't hold out long," Khazmod stated. "Let's go back to the ship. I thought they only had one Ranker with them. It seems that they managed to recruit another one on short notice."

"Dammit!" Malkhalm cursed but he understood that they had underestimated their opponents.

He was the one that proposed that they should eliminate their pursuers and sink their ships, so that they would not follow them to their secret Stronghold, while they were massing their pirate fleet, in order to attack the merchant fleet from the Kingdom of Gweliven.

Another reason why he proposed to launch a preemptive strike at their pursuers was because he thought that they only had a Wind Mage by their side.

Now that two additional rankers had joined the battle, they were clearly at a major disadvantage.

"Return to the ship, Hermeas!" Khazmod ordered.

The Giant Bird screeched as it acknowledged its Master's order. It shot the Sniper in the distance with a hateful glare before turning around to return to their ship.

However, just before it could fly away, its body stiffened for a brief second before it took a nosedive towards the sea, which made Khazmod and Malkhalm eyes widen in shock.

"Dumb bird! Go back to the ship!" Maklhalm screamed. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Hermeas! Go up!" Khazmod ordered. "Go up I say!"

Hermes gave a helpless screech because it couldn't control its body. It was about to return to the ship when it found itself being pulled towards the sea, unable to stir itself to fly back up.

"Millie and Sir Ranker! Attack them now!" Lux shouted. "I will take care of the Giant Bird, you deal with the two Rankers!"

Millie and the Water Mage, who went by the name Favian, were surprised at the sudden turn of events, but after hearing Lux's shout, both of them charged at the falling bird, and launched a deadly barrage of Wind Blades and Water Spears without mercy.

Malkhalm's and Khazmod's faces became pale because they didn't know what kind of sorcery the Half-Elf had used to make their flying mount descend towards the sea head-first.

If their Flying Mount was gone, they would be hard pressed to escape the pursuit of the two Rankers, and their chances of getting back to their ship were zero.

For a brief moment, time seemed to have come to a standstill as the Two Rankers from Twilight Rain looked in the direction of the Black Pearl.

There, they saw a red-headed teenager looking at them with a sneer, which made their blood turn cold.

That was the last thing they saw before a loud splash of water erupted in every direction, as the Giant Bird, Hermes, dove into the sea, in pursuit of the opponent that had forced it to duel them under the waters.