Donovan traversed through buildings and alleyways on foot, getting closer to the Annihiliths.
He thought about flying to get there quicker, but he'll get spotted rather quickly by the invaders, or rather, Annihiliths.
It would seem that after years of being hunted down by humans with umbrellas have forced this alien species to slightly evolve to become more aware of their surroundings.
Even if Donovan was invisible, the aliens would still be able to sense him. The invisibility ability was more used for not getting spotted by the inhabitants of a planet.
Donovan jumped across walls, climbed stairs, and every time he'd cross a street, he'd just fly to get across. This was because the cars were very fast, and since he's invisible, the cars would not stop for him.
He was heading northwest. Checking the map every twenty or thirty seconds, he was already near his destination.
After exiting out of an alleyway, he found himself in front of the harbor. Giant ships with sails that had a little bit of steampunk or machinery were littered everywhere across the harbor.
Sailors and workers yelling, smoke coming out of the ships, and ships departing.
Donovan checked his holographic map again, which was also invisible to the others except for him, and saw that one ship to his left and right contained Annihiliths. At least, those were where the red dots on the map were.
The ship to his right, which was very big in size, contained five Annihiliths. But the ship to his left contained three Annihiliths.
Damn… How the hell am I supposed to deal with them without anyone noticing the commotion…? Donovan sighed, walking towards the harbor.
In his invisible form, he ran towards the ship on the left. Since it only contained three Annihiliths, he figured he'd be able to deal with them rather quickly. Well, he was hoping he could deal with them quickly without anyone noticing something was wrong.
Still running towards the ship, Donovan suddenly bumped into three people who were drunk, causing him to fall down together with them.
"Ah! What the—?!"
"Ugh…"
"Oof…"
The three drunks were confused, but the alcohol in them made them unable to think clearly. The sailors and workers walking by didn't think much of this. They probably thought they just tripped because of their drunken state.
Meanwhile, Donovan had already gotten back up and was hiding behind some wooden crates.
That hurt… I need to be more careful…
Also, I only just remembered, Annihiliths are sensitive to magic… If I approach that ship while I'm still invisible, they'll be able to sense me…
Disguise… I need a disguise.
Donovan stood up, heading away from the harbor. He was still in his invisible form.
He walked back to the alley he exited, and found an unconscious homeless man in tattered clothes. Then, he brought the unconscious man deeper into the alley where no one could see them.
Bringing his right hand to his left, he "rotated" the bezel of his silver watch counterclockwise, and suddenly, it emitted a thin blue beam of light, sweeping up and down the unconscious homeless man.
After the sweeping scan, Donovan looked at his watch, which contained only a single word:
"Proceed?"
Tapping on the glass case of his watch, his body turned blurry for a moment.
Donovan raised his arms, which were now more hairy and filthy. He was also wearing tattered clothes.
He had chosen the homeless man as his disguise.
Technology sure is amazing… I wonder what else they're capable of… Umbrellas, that is.
Donovan remembered through the original Donovan's memories that this was technology by Umbrellas, where Visitors can disguise as anyone. The disguise didn't affect the body, only putting up some sort of "illusion" over the body. Just like Invisibility, Disguise will not deactivate upon contact with something or someone.
This can only be used during missions. Using it outside missions or for illegal activities, results in jail time.
Hm…. Prison? Is there a prison in Umbrellas?
Also, won't the Annihiliths still sense me? I'm still using magic to disguise myself, after all. Oh, right…
He remembered another detail:
Technology and magic had an obvious difference. Invisibility is an ability of a Visitor's umbrella. Abilities coming from the Visitor themselves or the umbrella counts as magic. As for Disguise, this is technology, meaning that Annihiliths will not, and cannot, sense it.
He looked at his watch again. He saw the words: Umbrella Appearance.
Donovan tapped his watch, going to the "Umbrella Appearance" section, and he saw more words: Tattered, Broken, Old, Guitar, Stick, etc…
Are these… disguises for my umbrella? Huh… How convenient!
He chose "Old" and "Broken," a check appearing beside the two words.
Then, in an instant, his umbrella donned the appearance of an old and broken umbrella.
Together with my appearance as a homeless man, and with this old umbrella, my disguise seems even more believable now!
Donovan exited the alley, his appearance now that of a homeless man. He rushed towards the harbor, going for the ship on the left once again.
He sneakily climbed aboard the ship. The deck was empty, devoid of people. Donovan checked his holographic map once again. The three red dots were surrounding the blue dot.
Are they… below me?
He entered the inside of the ship, the scent of gunpowder, bilge water, tar, salt, and piss invading his nostrils.
F**k! God!
Covering his nose with his left hand, he cautiously advanced forward. Although it was daytime, the inside of the ship was still dark. Donovan couldn't see where he was going.
With a sigh, and because he couldn't take it anymore, he raised his left hand, and gently and quietly tapped his disguised umbrella on the wooden floor.
At that moment, a ball of fire appeared in his raised left hand, and his surroundings were immediately illuminated by the ball of flames.
Barrels, cannons, guns, and all kinds of stuff one would find inside a pirate ship.
…But there were no signs of Annihiliths.
Just as he was about to enter the bilge, he suddenly heard a loud voice behind him, "Hey, who are you?"
He immediately dispelled his Flame Ball ability as soon as he heard the voice from behind him.
Damn it… I hope my voice acting skills are good enough…
Donovan turned around. Then, he said, "Just looking for some rum." But to his surprise, his voice was deep and rough!
Right… Disguise also copies the voice of the target for the disguise, meaning my voice is the homeless man's…
The man who called out to him wore a dirty linen shirt with a black coat. He had a thick beard, and the man was bald.
"Argh! Bloody hell, who let a homeless scallywag into the ship?! Get out of here, before I blow yer brains off!" The man, most likely a pirate, shouted. He continued, "And what's the umbrella for?! There ain't no rain here! You got a brain up there?!"
Donovan lowered his head, and said, "Right, right… Sorry, the rum must've, you know…"
"Off ye go!" As soon as Donovan was past the man, the thick-bearded man suddenly kicked him on the back, causing Donovan to fall and roll towards the ladder leading outside.
He felt his left eye twitch. Calm down, calm down… He's not your target, not your target…
Suddenly, the man kicked him on the back again! "Off ye go, I said!"
And at that moment, the thick-bearded man saw the homeless man turn around in an instant, hitting him with the decrepit umbrella on the head. Darkness filled his vision.
Donovan watched the man fall down, now unconscious.
"Jeez, no need to kick me twice!" Donovan sighed, dragging the man's unconscious body towards a wooden crate of rum. Grabbing one bottle of rum, he put it on the man's right hand. He did all this so the man looked like he was just out cold because of drinking.
He walked towards the entrance to the bilge, a ball of fire appearing in the palm of his left hand again.
Great, I made too much noise…
From the memories of the original Donovan, he remembered he could "send" tiny "drones" from his watch. After a minute of tapping buttons and trying to figure out how to do it, he eventually figured it out. The glass case opened up, and the second hand of his watch suddenly detached itself, flying upwards.
It had "transformed" into a very tiny flying object, or rather, drone.
Huh… Neat.
Donovan closed the glass case, and suddenly, a holographic screen appeared in front of him. It was the controls for the tiny drone, as well as the drone's point of view.
The ball of fire was dispelled by Donovan. Then, he carefully controlled it, the tiny drone heading towards the entrance to the bilge, slipping into the tiny holes.