She spoke some more, but it was all for naught. Greg still didn’t talk. He didn’t even turn to her or pay her any attention. He continued to focus on the control deck and was fiddling with some controls, so she looked like she was talking to the wind, not to someone.
This sight, combined with the incoming enemies, pushed her over the edge of anger, so she reached out to grab his shoulder and force him to look at her and address the situation.
But before she could touch him, something flared into life around him. They didn’t see what it was because it was too fast. They only saw the explosion of fire on her outstretched arm.
When everything was over, the lady had lost her arm. Half of her arm had been turned into ashes. The rest of it was burned at the elbow.
This made her clutch her arm and grimace, but she didn’t scream in pain. She wanted to scream in pain, and the feeling was overwhelming, but she kept control of her emotions and quickly distanced herself from him.
This behavior was more productive than standing around shouting in pain. It ensured that her life was no longer in danger from whatever just happened.
It was after she secured some distance between them that she had the leisure to growl at Greg, saying, "You bastard. You crazy bastard. You will get all of us killed. I bet this is why you need so many recruits at once. You got the rest killed."
What she said was insightful. And while she may be right, her words didn’t change anything about their situation. Greg was still not paying attention to them, and he was still moving towards the enemy without a care in the world.
Everyone else was silent as they stood by and took in the events that just transpired. After thinking about what just happened, they couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that they were screwed.
Someone even said so outloud to everyone. They sighed and said, "It seems this is how we are going to die."
No one argued with him. They all agreed with what he said to a certain extent.
The reason they didn’t believe they would do well is threefold. The first one, and perhaps the most important reason, why they are so despondent, is that they are only used to fighting on the ground.
They don’t know how to fight in the air, and they definitely can’t escape from this fight because the enemy airship is faster than they are and because any attempt to leave the dirigible will only lead to them falling to their deaths.
The second reason they believe that they are screwed is that they are outnumbered by their enemies by at least 2 to 1. So even if they are fighting on the land, they will still be screwed.
The final reason is that their dirigible can’t bear to take any damage at all, while they don’t possess the firepower to bring down the enemy airship. So even if Greg were to support them and tell them what to do, they still don’t think they will have a chance to survive a clash with the enemy.
This is what they were thinking when a small lady said with some hope, "Maybe we won’t die."
When everyone turned to her, she explained her point by saying, "I don’t think Greg is willing to die, so he must have a plan. If we stick to him, we should be able to survive."
This brought a ray of light to shine in the doom that had clouded their hearts. But this was dashed as soon as Greg opened his mouth.
Greg had received a fine from the sect for what he did to a fellow soldier. The money was immediately taken from his account, and some of it was sent to the injured lady as compensation for the value of her lost arm. She can spend the money however she wishes or use it to heal her injury.
The money didn’t ease the relationship between them, though. She wasn’t willing to forgive him for what he did to her just yet, so she was still glaring venomously at him.
When Greg heard what the small lady had said about how sticking to him would save their lives, he couldn’t hold back anymore. He opened his mouth wide and began to roar in laughter.
He laughed as if they were not about to face enemies that could take them down with a single cannon shot. He laughed hard despite his subordinates glaring death at him.
After laughing, he looked ahead as he said, "Fools, the bunch of them. First, there was the idiot who said that I shouldn’t let my pride get in the way of victory, as if their lives are important for my victory."
"Now there is this fool who thinks sticking with me will save them. Didn’t she see what just happened to someone who tried to ’stick’ with me?"
Then he sneered and said, "What a bunch of fools. I am always saddled by idiots like this. What bad luck."
He had started to talk again, but no one was happy about it. His words only made them angry and pissed. This quickly reminded them why they wanted him to shut up in the first place.
Just as Greg finished talking, the enemy ship had gotten close enough for communications. Someone on the ship shouted at them, saying, "Are you going to surrender or do you want us to shoot you down?"
No one replied from the dirigible. This silence didn’t deter the enemies, though. In fact, the opposite happened. The silence emboldened the enemies.
The person who spoke earlier laughed and said, "I know you’re there, Greg. I have been waiting here for you. I even brought out the big guns, so you can forget about escaping."
Greg still didn’t reply, so they said, "Why the silence? Don’t you always have something snide to say? What happened to you? Cat got your tongue?"