Shadow Dragon: The Fallen Angel Is My Teacher

The earpiece crackled.

Judy's voice came through.

"Drones have located crewmates. They are engaged in combat with ghouls. Guiding you to their location."

"Alright," I said.

Dante grabbed me, and we moved fast.

As he carried me through the forest, I felt a strange mix of relief and tension.

'I don't know if this is Fate's doing or coincidence, but we're lucky the crewmates are here. And if they're here, the inn girl must also be here.'

'I need to meet up with them quickly.'

We reached their location.

The crewmates were fighting in a forest clearing.

Two of them wielded swords.

Judging by their speed and strength, they had physical capabilities of Rank 4 Exorcists.

One crewmate was firing guns while running circles around the battlefield.

His aim was shaky, but he was keeping pressure on the ghouls.

Two more crewmates were behind them.

One was severely injured, bleeding heavily.

The other, less injured, was shielding him.

They were trying to assemble a cannon, but the entire weapon flickered in and out of reality, glitching as if it couldn't maintain its existence.

The ghouls they fought had masks shaped like the faces of the dead crewmates.

It was obvious what had happened.

Most of the crew had been beheaded during the blackout that beheaded Valen, leaving only five survivors.

The heads of deceased turned into masks, and were worn by the ghouls.

The fight was brutal, and pure carnage.

Every strike shattered trees. Every bullet blew chunks out of the ground.

The noise of clashing metal, gunshots, roars, shouts, and the snapping of wood was overwhelming.

"Get off me, ye cursed bag o' bones!" one crewmate yelled as he swung his sword.

"Shoot the bloody mask! Not the chest!" another shouted.

A gunman fired three rounds and cursed. "Why are there ten of ye bastards!? This ain't fair!"

I didn't waste time.

I pulled out my Exorcist ID.

I activated the disguise function.

My real name, Alan Veritus, would not appear.

Instead, the ID would show whatever identity I wanted the crewmates to see.

I drew a quick rune on my neck to amplify my voice and shouted, "Listen here, you little shits! The Nautilus is under attack by enemy pirates! As your commanding officer, every one of you fools needs to follow my orders from now on!"

All heads turned for a second… even the ghouls.

I fired a Positive Energy bullet at the nearest ghoul mask.

It cracked instantly, and the ghoul's body stiffened.

The crewmate fighting it didn't hesitate and slammed his sword through its mask.

The clearing shook as the ghoul collapsed.

The crewmates stared at me with stunned expressions, but they couldn't afford to stop fighting.

A sword user yelled, "Oi! What proof do ye have!?"

Another shouted while blocking a ghoul, "Who the hell are ye supposed to be!? And why's a hairless twig like ye barking orders at us!?"

The gunman rolled behind a tree and fired, shouting, "Who put ye in charge!? Ye don't look like a damn officer!"

Their voices were loud and harsh, cutting through the sounds of battle.

I didn't have any real proof.

My Exorcist ID disguised itself as a commanding officer's badge, and yes, I had information only someone in command should know.

But these people weren't proper soldiers.

They were crewmates.

They were pirates in everything but name.

They were ruffians who argued more than they listened.

Logic didn't matter to them. Polite explanations wouldn't work.

People like this did not obey quiet reasoning.

They followed the loudest voice that sounded confident enough to be true.

I breathed in sharply.

I raised my rune-enhanced voice and shouted over the entire clearing.

"I will blow up your balls, you useless trash! Did your mothers never teach you not to talk back to your superiors!? Or do I need to shove you back into the womb and have them educate you a second time!?"

The nearest crewmate yelled back, "What in the seven seas—!?"

Another pointed his sword at a ghoul and screamed, "Who talks like that!? Is this how officers act where ye work from!?"

One of the gunners barked out a laugh. "He sounds like the old captain!"

The wounded crewmate on the ground muttered, "Gods above… he does sound like him…"

'Alright, it's working,' I thought.

I shouted again, "If you idiots want to survive, then shut your mouths and listen! The Nautilus is under attack from enemy pirates, and half of you have already been beheaded! Do you really have the time to argue!?"

That got them.

The two sword users exchanged quick looks. The gunman paused mid-reload. The injured crewmate tried to sit up.

One of the sword users yelled, "Ye said half of us!?"

"Look at the masks!" I pointed at the ghouls. "Those are your crewmates' faces! Those things wear your heads once they behead you! Everyone in Nautilus is in the same situation!"

A crewmate slashed at a ghoul and shouted, "This is cursed madness!"

"Now follow my commands, you fools!" I shouted.

I started giving orders.

Move left.

Protect the injured.

Focus on the masks.

Don't let them surround you.

It didn't help much.

That was normal.

My stats weren't even at peak Rank 1.

These crewmates were all either peak Rank 3 or Rank 4.

Their movements were too fast, their senses were sharper than mine, and the entire battlefield was shifting every second.

The situation changed faster than I could speak.

It wasn't that I lacked skill.

I was confident in my tactics.

My stats simply weren't enough to keep up with a fight of this scale.

That was expected. It was already absurd that I was still alive inside a domain that "killed" a Rank 5 Exorcist in seconds.

But I had a plan.

As someone who prided himself as a master tactician, I knew what to do in this situation.

I was not giving orders because I intended to defeat the ghouls.

It was for buying time.

A crewmate swung his sword wildly and shouted, "Arggh! I'm gonna kill this fool! This Barakas stole my lunch last week, and he's annoyin' even after death!"

Another yelled, "Cap'n! Give the order! These bastards hit harder than my ex-wife!"

The gunman fired several shots and cursed, "This one's got my twin's face! I ain't dyin' to that arse!"

I scanned the battlefield quickly.

I needed a way to turn the tide.

The ghouls were too many.

They were overwhelming the crew through sheer numbers.

My bullets could crack their masks, but they moved too fast for me to aim.

Predicting their movements was pointless.

The gap in stats was too large.

I pressed my earpiece. "Judy, have you located the Cursed Spirit Exorcists and the inn girl?"

"Negative," Judy answered through static.

'So I can't expect any reinforcements.'

I let out a slow breath.

"Alright. Keep me updated."

I tapped Dante's shoulder. "Carry me to the two crewmates in the back. The injured ones."

Dante grabbed me and sprinted.

His movements were smooth despite the chaos.

Rank 3 stats made him fast enough to weave around falling trees and lunging ghouls.

We reached the back line quickly.

"Alright!" I shouted at the sword users, and one gunman. "Here are three things you need to do, you buffoons! One, protect me! Two, don't let anything touch me! Three, make sure nothing harms me until I say you can rest!"

A sword user shouted, "Can we save the Nautilus if we follow yer orders, cap'n!?"

"Yes!"

He grinned sharply. "Alright, boys! Ye heard the officer! Put yer lives on the line, because our mothership needs it!"

Their morale spiked instantly.

They fought harder, fiercer, no longer thinking about self-preservation.

Limbs were hit.

Clothes tore.

Blood splattered the ground.

But they kept fighting.

The sight was chilling.

I only looked for a second before turning to Dante.

"If a stray attack comes toward me, block it."

Dante nodded once.

I slipped down from his grip and moved toward the two injured crewmates.

One lay on his back, bleeding heavily.

The other stood shakily, bruised but still breathing.

Both stared at me as if unsure whether I was real.

The standing one asked, "Sir, are ye truly an officer? We ain't seen yer face before. Not once in all our voyages."

His voice carried a rough pirate cadence.

"Shut yer traps," I said, and I glared at them. "Why are you not fighting?"

The less injured one swallowed. "W-We're gunner hands, sir. We handle the ship guns."

Gunner hands were the crewmate who handled cannons on the ship. They were not close combatants, and were part of artillery units.

"That's not a reason to rest," I said.

I pulled out herbs and alchemy materials from my pocket.

Then I activated Quickmix Technique, a perk from my Alchemy Class.

The perk allowed me to do alchemy without chants, and runes.

I alchemy ingredients glowed faintly from the perk's activation.

They mixed and transformed into healing salve.

I spread the salve over the gravely injured crewmate's wounds.

His bleeding slowed at once.

He stared at me like I had grown two heads. "An officer bein' kind? Am I dreamin', or did the enemy finally break me mind…?"

"I told you to shut yer trap."

I swung my hand and slapped his bald head.

The sound echoed like a popped balloon.

"Lord of Shadows! What are you doing!? That's a Rank 4 Cursed Spirit. Don't try to anger it," Yuna nearly fainted in the air.

I ignored her.

The injured man held his head. "Sir… ye slapped me…?"

"If you can whine, you can fight. Now get up," I said.

"But my leg—"

"It's attached, isn't it? Move."

He groaned but pushed himself up.