Many Fiends had already been defeated by Sung-Woon and other players.
But still, Sung-Woon assumed there would be many more Fiends hidden somewhere.
‘Civilization development is now in its beginning stage. More roads are built to connect riversides, cities, and villages, and various species see population growth as the years go by, but the world is still young, not yet past its two hundred years. And there are far more ancient ruins that haven’t been discovered than those that have been.’
But it was still difficult to confirm that a Unique Domain that could control Fiends did exist. There could be a special power that both Jeol Woo-Bi and Sha-Cha had.
‘And above all, Sha-Cha isn’t even on Doltan Island.’
The number of Deep One pirates was by no means small. Although the species had a small population to begin with, most of them were combatants, and while it was noteworthy that most of their resources and manpower came from looting and shipbuilding, they were still comparable to the Elves that lived on the northern coast.
“To make a comparison, dealing with them would be like dealing with Eldar.”
Eldar, who was beside Sung-Woon, was surprised.
“What? Me?”
“Don’t worry about it. I was just talking to myself.”
Sung-Woon ignored Eldar, who was staring at him with a puzzled face because they couldn’t understand the context, and looked down at the sea instead.
The Sea Serpent was getting close to the front of Black Scale’s ship.
Eldar then asked, “Aren’t you going to help?”
“If necessary. But I don’t think I’ll need to.”
“Even though it’s a Sea Serpent? It wouldn’t budge even if it’s hit by a cannon…”
As if to prove Eldar’s point, the cannons placed at the head of the ship were fired. Two shots missed, and one of the cannonballs bounced off the side of a Deep Ones’ ship, while another hit the Sea Serpent right in the middle of its head. However, the Sea Serpent simply shook its head and continued to advance like it was nothing. It had only slowed down for a moment.
Eldar looked at the deck of Black Scale’s ship again.
“Is it that you trust Mazdari?”
“Yes,” Sung-Woon replied. “Because even an apprentice-level Wizard could deal with something like a Fiend.”
Eldar carefully asked, “But isn’t that not the only problem?”
Sung-Woon knew what Eldar was getting at—that Mazdari belonged to the allied navies. It would be naive to believe that Mazdari had boarded Black Scale’s ship simply because the Sea Serpent was dangerous. And above all, it was clear that Mazdari wasn’t a character who only acted in good faith.
“I’ve already dealt with that part.”
Eldar frowned, struggling to understand what Sung-Woon really meant.
***
Rumf, who commanded the cannoneers, shouted at Vasen, “Your Highness! The cannons aren’t having an effect at all!”
Vasen Lak Orazen was not agitated in the slightest. He did feel a little bewildered, but it wasn’t a commander’s job to show such feelings.
“Didn’t we shoot from the maximum distance? Prepare the large cannon! And aim it lower. Make sure the next shot hits it squarely!”
The anxious cannoneers sprang into action, shaking away the unimportant thoughts.
Then Mazdari asked, “Don’t you think the chance of success is low?”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s no guarantee that the monster will just calmly take the cannonballs, and even if it’s hit with a bigger one, it’s not a guarantee that it will get wounded.”
Vasen smirked.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t speak loud enough for others to hear. Under Black Scale’s military law, those who say demoralizing words have to give up their life.”
Mazdari didn’t seem to care.
“I’ll help.”
“Are you going to use magic?”
“Yes, because that’s why I got on this ship.”
Vasen judged that there wasn’t any other alternative than to trust Mazdari for now. There was a chance that Night Sky would be able to help, but according to the doctrines of the religious order of Night Sky, God’s help shouldn’t be sought unless effort had been put in first.
‘If God were going to do everything for us, why would he allow us to move by ourselves? If he were going to do everything, Night Sky would just give us the ability to breathe and move our arms and legs for us.’
Vasen then asked, “What are you going to do?”
“First, I need to be touching that monster’s body. And we would need to tie it up so that it remains unmoving for the time for a cup of tea to be drunk.”
“Is that it?”
“No.” Mazdari shook his head. “I’m going to go around the monster and draw a magic circle on each deck. But this magic circle can’t be damaged, so someone has to protect it. If the enemies don’t know magic, they wouldn’t pay attention to it, but if they do know magic…”
“Alright. What else?”
“Magic requires a period of concentration at the end. I would be defenseless then, so someone needs to protect me as well.” .𝘤𝘰𝑚
Vasen glanced at Mazdari and asked, “Is that it?”
“Is that it? In my opinion, I don’t think the conditions I said are easy to meet.”
“I need a definite answer as to whether or not you can kill that monster.”
Mazdari looked at the monster that was getting close by now.
“It’s possible. If all the conditions are met, that monster will die.”
At those words, Vasen took the flag that his subordinate was holding and sent a signal to the ships on both sides.
Mazdari didn’t know what the signal indicated, but Theone Itimo immediately understood and shouted, “Team Leader! Are you crazy?”
.
Vasen turned to Theone and said, “Not in the least.”
“Then why…? No, we need to slow down first. We’ll crash into it if we keep going at this pace.”
As Theone turned around to order the crew to fold the sails, Vasen grabbed her arm.
“Captain Theone, there’s no need for that…”
“…!”
Riding the violent waves, two military ships had been sticking close to The Humiliation of Pirates. And both sent signals to Vasen with flags.
-Order: Naval Ram. Proceed?
Vasen replied with the flag.
-Proceed.
Theone blankly stared at Vasen.
“W…what?”
“We’re also going to crash into them.”
While listening, Mazdari wrapped a rope around his wrist once before saying with a smile, “You’re crazy.”
Vasen then called out, “Hwae-Sa!”
“First officer, listening!” replied Hwae-Sa.
“Tell everyone to brace for impact!”
Hwae-Sa nodded and shouted as loud as possible to the whole ship, “Brace! For! Impact!”
Vasen grabbed Theone and crouched down as much as possible.
He then called out to Rumf, who was at the front of the ship.
“Rumf!”
“I get it! …All of you, fire!”
Right before the crash, Vasen could clearly see the Sea Serpent charging at the ship with its maw open, as well as the surprised look on the Deep Ones’ faces.
The three ships rammed into the Sea Serpent.
Boom!
There was a loud boom. There was no telling whether it came from the ship bows crashing into the Sea Serpent or the large cannons being fired.
White smoke rose from the large cannons and obscured the sun. Vasen saw something wriggling beyond the smoke.
“Cannoneers, everyone run away!”
Vasen’s command didn’t come late, but the Sea Serpent was too fast. It was delayed for only a moment despite having emerged from the smoke coughing out blood.
The Sea Serpent lowered its head and ate the cannoneer closest to it.
“Oh no… Everyone grab your bow! Avoid the monster and target the pirates first! The monster is stuck between the ships and can’t move properly!”
The Lizardmen soldiers and sailors all moved in a hurry.
“Prince Vasen.”
Vasen turned to see Mazdari standing there with a somewhat haggard look.
“What is it?”
“I finished drawing on this ship.”
Vasen looked at the deck and saw the magic circle that was already drawn.
“That was fast.”
Despite Vasen’s compliment, Mazdari replied bluntly as if he was unsatisfied.
“I need to draw three more in different places. Fortunately, I should be able to draw two of them on your other ships.”
“Seek protection by mentioning my name. Until then, I’ll get on the enemy’s main ship and make a path.”
Mazdari nodded and ran to one of the military ships beside The Humiliation of Pirates.
Vasen ordered soldiers to protect the magic circle and then said to Theone, “I’m sorry.”
While massaging the shoulder that had hit the ship earlier due to the impact of the crash, Theone replied, “About what?”
“I agreed to obey your orders on board.”
“It’s fine. I don’t even care. The ship isn’t playing the role of a ship, but rather a stone on a Go board.”
“Thanks for understanding.”
“Go do what you need to do, before that Garuda complains.”
Vasen stood up.
The rest of Black Scale’s ships kept their distance and opened fire. But that was only to stop the other pirate ships from approaching. Due to the blockage, the other pirate ships weren’t able to get close yet, but the ship that the Sea Serpent had been pulling was so big that the Deep Ones on board were able to jump over the railings to get to their ship.
Vasen killed two Deep Ones with his sword on the way and pointed at the soldiers, ordering them to follow him.
‘Hwae-Sa should be enough to protect this place.’
Vasen passed by the Sea Serpent stuck and rendered immobile between the four ships and climbed onto the next ship.
“Team Leader.”
Hwee Ravina Muel called out to him.
Judging from the blood dripping from her sword, she seemed to have killed a Deep One or two like Vasen had.
“Alchemist? Aren’t you the one that His Majesty values? It’s dangerous here. Return to The Humiliation of Pirates.”
Ravina laughed and replied, “His Majesty would value you more than me. And above all, I came all this way to the far south for this exact moment.”
“…Didn’t His Majesty send you?”
“No,” Ravina replied.
“Then…?”
The conversation was cut short by a sharp ax spinning through the air toward them. However, it was slightly off and ended up landing between Ravina’s and Vasen’s feet.
Vasen looked at the one who threw the ax.
“Ha! You got lucky, Lizard.”
It was the head of Yaboon’s Pirates and the greatest priest of the Deep Light religious order, Yaboon.
Vasen didn’t reply. From what Vasen knew, Yaboon was a mere pirate. There existed a difference in status between them that a conversation was not warranted.
Vasen jumped over the railing and got onto the enemy’s ship. Deep Ones came rushing toward him, but the Lizardmen soldiers and Ravina followed behind him and dealt with them.
After Vasen swung his sword a few times, he thought to himself, ‘He’s not easy.’
Yaboon stepped back, all relaxed.
As a smile appeared on Yaboon’s face, his sharp teeth were revealed.
“Are you trying to buy time?”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because you’ll want to use magic.”
Vasen tsked internally.
‘Does he know about magic?’
Then Yaboon replied, “Wizards are always like that. They make others buy them time with swords and bows, while they take their time drawing circles. Isn’t it unfair?”
“We’re not that close emotionally, so it doesn’t matter to me.”
“Really? Well, it’s unfortunate. Do tell the wizard that it’s already too late.”
“…?”
Yaboon raised his hand, and there was a clink. Vasen turned to see that the chain tying the Sea Serpent had fallen off.
Vasen’s expression turned troubled.
‘Shit, the Sea Serpent will get out of there!’
Then Yaboon suddenly looked over Vasen’s shoulder and said, “W…when did he get on board?”
Vasen turned around. Mazdari was walking up to them from behind the mast.
“Don’t worry, Prince Vasen. It isn’t too late.”
A magic circle emerged on one of Mazdari’s eyes. The spell had begun.
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