Headed by a Snake

High-Captain Lang Hai towered over the pirates, standing at 11 fulms tall. In his hybrid Abyssal Sea Wolf form, his muscles bulged with power, his unblinking fish-eyes were clouded an abyssal black, and his needle-like teeth were as long and wide as swords.

The pirates pockmarked Hai's hard, shimmering scales with spear stabs, crossbow bolts, and bullets... but the wounds closed up as quickly as they opened.

He was a monster.

His tree-trunk sized arm slashed horizontally with long, razor-sharp claws. In the single swipe, he felled 5 men.

"PENTAKILL, F*CKTARDS!!" Hai bellowed.

Rearing his head back, he howled the deep crescendo cry... It was reminiscent of the Abyssal Sea Wolf, but louder-- angrier, "I DEMAND VENGEANCE!! BLOOD!! AND!! THUNDER!!"

He ran through the pirates, the tentacles on his back lashing out, pulverizing men's spines and raking the flesh from their bones.

"Dear gods! Shoot him! Shoot him!!"

"IT!! WON'T!! DIE!!"

"Retreat to the gods-damned fort!! The f*cking Sea Wolves are att--ARRRGHHHH!!"

Lang Hai laughed as he picked up a man and sank his teeth into his torso, cruelly tearing him apart like biting into a hollow-boned quail. He spilled the man's guts onto the ground and spat the man's upper body onto the sands.

"GAHAHAHA!!" Hai cackled with glee, "RUN AWAYYYYY!! I'M REALLY F*CKING STRONNNNNG!!"

...

Tycondrius met up with both Pale and Lone before heading to the impromptu Sea Wolf war camp.

"Blood and thunder, it's Sir Tycon!!" "Ahaha! We showed those bastards, didn't we?" "Welcome back, sir!"

A round of Sea Wolf cheers erupted when Guild Invictus arrived, with compliments showering upon all 3 of them. Tycon acknowledged the men with polite smiles and nods.

Several tents had been repurposed into field infirmaries. Cook tents were erected, serving hot meals. Other Sea Wolves maintained their weapons. A few veteran Wolves wisely took the downtime to nap.

Lone leaned towards Tycon, "Boss... Why are there wounded? I thought the Sea Wolves were immortal?"

Tycon grimaced, "No one is immortal. The Sea Wolves merely heal faster than most... and it seems not everyone has the monstrous regenerative ability of their Captain."

...

A pirate screamed-- crying, sobbing, begging for mercy. The little freckled brunette, Rico, twisted and pulled a pirate's head off of his body. The screaming stopped. She widened her eyes and gasped in surprise. She tried to put it back. When it fell off of the man's shoulders into the sand, she pursed her lips in disappointment.

The battle had finished, with the survivors of the war camp fleeing towards a fortified structure.

Corporal Jacque was reporting to Captain Lang Hai, "At least 19 Marines have been killed... And at least 47 have taken injuries that sea water can't heal, Cap'n."

Hai placed his hand on his chin and nodded, "Between you and me, Corporal, those are actually better numbers than I was expecting."

He turned to face the fortified structure in the distance. The Sea Wolves had slaughtered their way through several hundred men, maybe nearly 1,000. The Spear of Selena and the Thalia Grace had sunk two escaping ships, as well.

...The remaining ships would be added to the Sea Wolf fleet, provided they were victorious in the coming battle. Attacking a fortified structure was tricky, even moreso that the enemy had held their captives hostage.

Hai heard from his men about the rallying cries of Tycon, and the effectiveness of both the young spearman, Pale, and the hammer warrior, Lone Shadowdark. Altogether, Guild Invictus provided substantial help in lowering the Sea Wolf casualty rate.

Baron Tycon was a strange character. With his build and his manner, Hai immediately judged the fool to be weak-willed, highborn trash. Sure, he was good at talking, seeing the way he managed to charm Eilean... Rico loved the guy, too-- but then again, Rico was traitorous scum who would sell out her Captain for a bite of pork jerky.

Hai owed Tycon for helping him get out of trouble when they destroyed that cartography shop in Caractere. Then there was that time when he just happened to have a map to the Saltspray Kings hideout. And there was the undeniable fact that dozens of Marines and sailors witnessed him carrying the Kingdom's flag as a banner, rallying the men-- even using the banner and a short sword to score some sweet kills.

The guy was a living, breathing, badass.

More telling of his character was the fact that Guild Invictus didn't need to put themselves at risk. The Saltspray Map that Tycon had provided was more than enough to fulfill the terms of the contract. Chantal had asked the Baron to help-- she hadn't ordered him to fight alongside the Sea Wolves.

Lang Hai didn't want to admit it, but he had grown a grudging respect for the green-haired nerd... He just hoped it didn't go to the nobleman's head. Every noble Hai had worked with prior had a weird sense of self-entitlement.

Steel and spear, spell and pistol-shot did not differentiate between noble and lowborn.

Eilean stood on her toes and began to wave in the distance, "Cap'n, haer comes Invictus the noo."

As badass as Tycon was, Lang Hai still had to let the guy know who was in charge.

Lang Hai cross his arms and frowned at the approaching group, "Tycon, where the hells were you?"

"Captain," Tycon saluted, fingers flat, palm down, and touching his forefinger to his brow. It was a perfect salute by the Royal Navy's standards.

Lang Hai stared at Tycon held his salute. What the hells?

Eilean poked Hai, "Cap'n, are ye nae gonna salute back?"

Lang Hai suddenly widened his eyes, snapping out of his confusion. He quickly saluted Tycon, allowing the noble to place his arm back at his side, "Ah, yeah. Sorry-- Anyroad, you uh... take any casualties... Sir? Tycon?"

Tycon's facial expression didn't change at all, "No casualties, Captain Lang. Invictus is three for three."

Hai pursed his lips, "What about that... dog-person?"

"Och! I kin answer that, Cap'n," The Sea Witch interjected. "He was still on the ship, when I'd depaerted."

"Tch!" Hai scoffed, "I didn't know Invictus employed cowards!"

"Neither did I," Tycon said solemnly, "I will deal with him, myself-- unless you'd like to save me the trouble and charge him under military law."

Hai was caught off guard again. He bit his upper lip, "N-no, no. That's fine. You can handle it. I have faith in you."

Egh. Instant and willing obedience. Hai got the peculiar feeling that Tycon was a former soldier-- maybe in the Holy Country?

"Anyroad," Hai continued, "Guild Invictus, Corporal Jacque, Lieutenant Eilean, come with me. I want to discuss how we're gonna take the fort and rescue the hostages."