Chapter 51

Wild Hunt 9

-:-

2 Days Later

Midnight

Island of Norsca

Volsung City Beach

The day of the raid on the cruise ship Sanctuary has finally come.

He has done what he can to prepare for the mission. The rest was in god’s hands now.

Despite his best efforts, Theo still had a fair bit of work to do before completing the Terminator Armor.

But then again, this was probably for the best.

The Terminator Armor was designed for heavy ground combat, thus he wasn’t too keen in the idea of piloting a heavy piece of equipment unto a cruise ship that may or may not sink depending on the situation.

And besides, he wasn’t entirely sure if the Norscan longboats could take such a weight to transport it.

As such, Theo would have to make due with his standard equipment.

1 FN P-90 with silencer, 4 Beretta 92 pistols with silencer, a lot of silver bullets, a grappling gun, 3 silver frag grenades and 2 HF Blades.

For recon, he had 5 spy drones with gum drone launchers loaded up in the longboat.

Sadly, he couldn’t bring the Kin Slayer with him. It was simply too heavy to be used by anyone with less than a monster’s strength.

He’ll have to make do with what he has.

The group that was joining him in the assault compromised of 4 30 meter longboats with about 50 warriors per ship.

The boat Theo belonged to only had 40 warriors in order to accommodate his tech and their future captives.

Aside from the earlier stated tech, the boat also had a large metal box could fit 10 people within it. This box was light weight due to being made of plasteel and could easily be lifted by 4 Norscan warriors.

It was designed to transport vampires in the middle of the day

With all the equipments loaded, Theo and 190 Norscan warriors gather around Ulkov and Nosferatu for one final briefing.

“Alright whelps, listen up. I’m sure you know this already, but this raid is a bit different from what we normally do. First and foremost, we are not allowed to kill or rape innocent weaklings.” Said Ulkov, which was met with groans of complaint. “Yes yes, I know. No wenches this time around. However, all of you were already paid in advance and you get to keep whatever you want, so you have no right to complain”

“Harbinger, not being allowed to kill our enemies is asking for the impossible.” Asked one of the warriors.

“No no no. I said you are not allowed to kill innocent weaklings. If anyone tries to kill you, for example: Vampires from the Cullet’s, they shouldn’t complain if they end up getting cleaved in half.” Replied Ulkov with a vicious grin.

The warriors roared with enthusiasm in response.

“Good reaction. However, the most important aspect of the raid on Salvation is to capture 2 individuals. Priority goes to Michele Sway. Capture her alive and, if possible, unharmed. The second and less prioritized target is Vander Cullet, the lover of Michele Sway. Capture him alive but you can mess him up as much as you want. He is a vampire after all.” Said Ulkov, with the warriors eagerly nodding in response.

“And what of the Cullet’s mortal defenders?” asked another warrior

“That should be obvious…. Kill them.” Relied Ulkov.

With a loud roar, the Norscan warriors began manning their ships.

Theo was about to go into his assigned transport when Ulkov and Nosferatu beckoned him over.

“A moment of your time young Boss” said Nosferatu

“What’s up?” asked Theo

“That is actually my question to you. Is there anything you like to ask? While the warriors have the same mission as you, it is YOU who will be doing the hunting and capturing. It is paramount that you yourself have no doubts” said Nosferatu

Theo thought for a bit then asked…

“Can I trust these guys? They wont suddenly backstab me for killing the son of the Jarl?” asked Theo

“Rest easy whelp because that will not happened. Antyr challenged you to an honorable duel to the death. He followed every procedure and announced his intent to everyone in the clan as per traditions. His arrogance for thinking that you were easy picking led to his death.” Replied Ulkov in place of Nosferatu.

“*sigh*….I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.” Said Theo as he boarded his ship.

“Good hunting young Boss. For after this, we search for the next one” said Nosferatu.

-:-

2 hours later

Theo had his doubts on the Norscan longboat’s abilities when he first heard them.

A fast moving ship made of wood that was completely undetectable via radar, sonar or even the naked eye?

No one would blame Theo for his skepticisms after hearing such nonsense.

However, it was hard to make fun of the nonsense when said nonsense was happening right in front of him.

The longboats and everything inside it was a hazy mirage when viewed from outside.

More surprisingly, it moved as fast as modern day assault crafts used by the navy despite not having any propulsion system.

The warriors don’t even need to man the oars and row!

The only real way to detect the longboats is via the disturbance they make on the water’s surface. Even if it was invisible, it still existed, thus it has an effect on whatever it was touching.

Despite this minor demerit, the Norscan longboats were as amazing as the rumors suggested.

The 4 longboats were able to approach the cruise ship with relative ease. They positioned in front of the ship in order to avoid the waves made from its wake.

From here on out, it was Theo’s turn to wow the warriors.

With a mental command, the 5 special spy drones took off from the longboat and began hovering around the cruise ship.

The thing that made these spy drones ‘special’ was because on top of the usual stealth technology, they were made from non-reflective see through glass which made them hard to spot visually. You’d have to be actively searching for something in order to not gloss over these spy drones.

Aside from the usual powerful cameras, each spy drone was mounted with a powerful sniper rifle that fired probably one of Theo’s greatest creations: the Gum Drone.

These allowed Theo to extend his view range to any area where a gum drone was present.

As per usual weakness of nanomachine based technology, the gum drone has a very limited battery life of 10 minutes.

He had to make the most of it.

For the first 10 minutes, he made a quick scan of the ship with the drone’s cameras only.

It was your typical cruise ship aimed for the middle class complete with restaurants, shopping centers and swimming pools. There were tons of families playing around the fairly large ship.

Collateral damage was almost certain.

They had to be quick and careful on how to invade the ship

As expected, Theo couldn’t spot their targets from the outside given how some of them were vampires.

However, he did spot the Cullet’s Day Guards, the Druids of Fang.

Based on Nosferatu’s data, the Druids of Fang were similar to Theo’s friend Diego Del Toro and his ability to shapeshift.

Unlike Diego’s Minotaur, the Druids of Fang shaped shifted into gigantic wolves.

Just to be clear, the Druids of Fang were NOT werewolves.

Werewolves were much more powerful and much more terrifying than mere shapeshifters.

While their opponents for today were werewolf wanabes, there were quite a lot of them scattered around the ship. Theo could identify 60+ waking around the exterior of the ship.

In order to see some of the interior, Theo fired the Gum Drone rifles into any window he could find.

He also shot at bags of guests that may or may not enter the ship.

After another 15 minutes, Theo was able to grasp the magnitude of the situation.

10 minutes later, the 4 longboats gathered a bit ways off from the ship where Theo reported to the warriors the situation

“Based on what I could spot, there’s about 80+ wolf shapeshifters, 150+ armed guards, probably around 10 vampires and our target. And this is excluding the security force of the ship itself. And since our task doesn’t allow us to harm innocent weaklings, we’ll have to force the defense force to come to us.” Said Theo as he stood in the middle of a circle of warriors that sat around him.

It was a very weird feeling when a bunch of muscular men were listening with all due seriousness to a guy much smaller and much skinnier than them.

One of the largest of the warriors stood up and asked…

“The Harbinger told us to leave the thinking to you. So, do you have a plan?” asked the warrior.

“Of course. It is a simple plan that I’m sure a bunch of bloodthirsty warriors would enjoy oh so much.”

-:-