Duke Yuma’s party had also installed a magical engine device on Baron Amon’s ship.
“Wooosh—”
The magical engine device amplified the power of the unfurled sails.
The direction was clear. The trade ship of the Resen Kingdom had a problem with the Dusk Pirates. The ship was fiercely heading towards it.
The crew glanced at Yuma with slightly bewildered expressions.
It was true that the pirates were causing serious trouble. However, with three medium-sized vessels at their disposal, usually avoiding confrontation would be the best policy.
A pirate group of the size of Dusk would definitely be prepared for combat when it came to raiding.
“…Your Excellency, are you really okay? The ship has defensive magical artifacts installed, but if it gets hit a few times, it’s going to be destroyed.”
“Don’t worry.”
Yuma replied simply and then looked at Bell.
“We’re going to get close to the Resen Kingdom’s ship. At that time, take care of the pirates who have invaded it.”
Bell tilted her head.
“Not to kill them?”
“If they have a captain and leadership, they will all be killed. The rest you can handle as you wish.”
Yuma didn’t want to force Bell into murder.
But the captain and leadership must be killed, as he declared.
Bell slowly nodded.
“Right, if I’m going to subdue them, they can’t be acting like humans, anyway.”
Bell’s eyes glinted ominously.
Yuma went down to the cabin and approached Cloney.
“God of War appears! God of War appears!”
He tried to ignore Hestia’s voice and continued speaking to Cloney. Upon hearing Yuma, Cloney opened her eyes wide and nodded vigorously.
“Understood, Master Yuma.”
“Good.”
*
“Those guys… are they really planning to ram straight into the Resen Kingdom’s ship?”
Hectos, the captain of the Dusk Pirates, gritted his teeth at his first mate’s mumbling beside him.
“Of all the people, it had to be those Esthes Empire bastards.”
The reason for raiding the Resen Kingdom’s ships was simple.
They were easy pickings.
The vast sea.
And the fact that the Resen Kingdom couldn’t muster any forces to catch them while hiding on those islands.
And the decisive reason – they found out the trading ship was run by a commoner who was made a baron.
There’s a marked difference between someone who was noble from the beginning and a commoner raised to nobility.
Family.
Even if they kill them, there’s no backing for revenge. That’s what made the Dusk act without restraint.
However, the Astes Empire was a different story.
The difference in military might compared to the Resen Kingdom was starkly clear.
If they decided to wipe them out, it could be done.
Therefore, they generally avoided confrontation.
“But since they’ve declared they’ll kill everyone first, there’s no way to avoid this fight.”
Hectos nodded at his first mate’s words.
“Yeah, there’s only one way.”
A chilling light gathered around the sword Hectos held.
It was a bright golden aura blade.
“If we annihilate them all and erase any traces, then it wouldn’t matter if it’s the Astes Empire or whoever.”
He would wipe out the empire forces that approached, seemingly bereft of fear, and erase all traces.
Hectos organized his thoughts.
“First, fire a magical cannon before we get too close to the Resen Kingdom’s ship.”
“Yes! Understood!”
The crew replied loudly to Captain Hectos’s command.
A moment later.
Something burst forth from the left side of Duke Amon’s ship.
It was a massive hook.
Clang─!
The terrifyingly extended hook hooked onto the Resen Kingdom’s deck railing.
Kuwaaaaaang!!!
At that moment, the dusky pirate ship, approximately 800 meters away, unleashed a blue flame from its arcane cannon.
This time, it wasn’t aimed at the sea.
It was a direct shot aimed at the left side of Duke Amon’s ship.
Zheroooooong─!!
A purple mass of magical energy shattered, emitting waves of various colors.
However, the ship sustained zero damage.
Above the vast protective barrier formed by the installed artifacts, another magic was layered on top.
A transparent, dome-shaped shield.
“Well done.”
Next to Duke Yuma, with flowing black hair and golden eyes, stood the mage, Cloney.
Doubting the protective artifacts embedded in the ship, Yuma relayed the cannon’s firing direction to Cloney, who then cast a barrier.
Cloney smiled cheerfully.
“You told me the direction. I had to block it.”
Just after the cannon fired, she had cast her magic in accordance with the direction given.
[Lv.53] Cloney
A 5th-circle mage.
Although her level might seem low, she was a 5th-circle mage capable of taking down a mid-level Sword Expert by herself.
With her innate talent as a genius in magic, Cloney could surpass the typical limits of level and create even more variables.
The 5th-circle is often considered the final destination for mages with relatively less talent.
However, Cloney’s growth would never stop.
‘I’ll easily break into the 6th-circle, the demon’s threshold.’
If Yuma’s level standards were the same as in [Loop Blood], the 6th-circle would range from an astounding 60 to 99 levels, unlike previous level distributions.
The gap between the 5th and 6th circles was enormous.
And so was the gap between the 6th and 7th circles.
The released hook completely narrowed the distance to the Resen Kingdom’s ship.
Thoooom!
Someone suddenly shot up from the deck.
It was Bell.
Swish!
The eyes of the 32 pirates occupying the Resen ship turned towards the sky in unison.
Soaring up, Bell drew her sword towards the blue-haired swordsman.
Sssssss!!
A blue aura of protection flared around Bell’s whole body as she hovered mid-air.
“What are you doing, you losers! Shoot!”
Clickity-clickity-clickity!
One pirate quickly fired an arrow.
Kang!
Swatting away an arrow with her sword, Bell rolled and infiltrated the Resen Kingdom’s trading vessel.
‘I told them to handle it themselves.’
Bell remembered Yuma’s words.
Criteria.
She decided to set aside the standard of incapacitating or killing.
She wouldn’t hold back.
Using that as her baseline.
If the most certain path of the sword appeared before her, she would follow it.
And moving in accordance to that standard,
to the pirates, Bell was like a disaster.
Swish!
The blue-haired swordsman, approaching like a ghost, sliced through the arms of the pirate who had just released his bow.
“Ughhhh!”
Blood and screams swirled across the deck.
When arrows approached, she deflected them with her sword.
Splat!
Even when struck, she was flung back by her blue protective aura.
Kang!
This time, Bell parried with her sword and launched the main horizontal slash technique of the White Night, the Slicing Wind.
The upper bodies of two pirates flew diagonally, swept away by the gale.
“That girl…! Her aura level is at Master class!!”
“Damn, she’s a Sword Master!”
Fear.
A Sword Master always reigned as the dominator of the battlefield. That was the case even out at sea.
“Die, you bastard!”
A swarm of spears.
Bell deftly twisted her body to avoid the trajectory of the spear.
To others, it seemed like a hair’s breadth.
But for Bell, it was simply the most efficient movement she could make.
Swoosh!
The pirate’s head rolled on the ground.
Now, pirates wielding spears and swords charged at her in succession.
She ducked her left shoulder to dodge a spear. Then, she concentrated her power on her left shoulder for a moment.
Crack!
Raising her previously hunched torso, she shattered the spear shaft with her shoulder.
Bell lifted her right foot and brought her sword down upon the knee of the pirate wielding a sword.
“Uuuaagh!”
The bone-crushing pirate’s body began to lean forward.
At that moment, a blade of fierce blue light shone.
The heads of the pirates holding spears and swords rolled away.
A monster.
Bell moved in such a way that the pirates couldn’t help but feel that way.
Once again, a wave of spears rushed at her. Bell turned her body to the right to evade them, grabbing one of the spear shafts and yanking it towards herself.
“Uuuwagh!”
And the body of the pirate holding that spear was pierced by his own comrade’s sword.
The sword aimed at Bell’s heart stabbed a fellow pirate instead.
As the pirate got stabbed by his comrade, a streak of light from a sword pierced through the upper body of the attacking pirate.
Swoosh!
Two more bodies leaned over.
Even if they charged at her two at a time or three at once, they fell.
Bell instinctively read all of her enemies’ movements and moved with animalistic grace.
“Stop! You bitch! Here, there’s a baron from your ally country!”
A desperate cry echoed over the deck.
One pirate had his sword pressed against Baron Hans’s neck.
Bell’s left hand moved quickly. Aimed at the knife holder strapped to her waist.
Evil-
What she grasped in her left hand was a throwing dagger she had taken from the palace.
Her left arm moved like a serpent.
—Thwack!!
The dagger embedded itself in the center of the pirate’s forehead, his body tilting backward.
All 32 of them were rendered incapable of fighting or dead.
The main body of the enemy was not the pirates that had infiltrated the Resen Kingdom.
Three ships.
Enemies were still left.
“Kill them all!!”
“Fire!!”
Thudududududududud──!!
Yuma faced the rain of arrows pouring down like a heavy downpour.
One by one, the arrows were imbued with power from the aura.
There were at least 40 arrows, it seemed.
As he watched that overwhelming spectacle covering the sky, Balmung gripped his sword tightly.
<Bullet Time>
Time began to flow slowly.
This was limited to Yuma, the skill caster.
An ordinary person.
Just a mere mortal, yet as he accumulated achievements, his stats reached a level side by side with those at the entry level of Master class.
Strength, agility.
That was all he needed.
—Ah, I can taste this art with my body again. The thrill is rising.
Here it is. The thrill is rising.
Duke Yuma was someone who had long surpassed the limits of mere parrying.
‘After this battle, I should stash this away in my Spatial Pocket.’
Thinking that, Yuma swung Balmung.
Kaaah! Kaan! Kaan!
Twisting his body, he deflected the arrow’s tip, the parrying point.
Cheeerrng! Cheejeerng!
Perhaps due to the magical power contained in the arrows, each time he parried, waves like a sonic boom erupted.
As the 30 seconds of bullet time came to an end.
[Absolute Counter]
The reverse action began.
Swaaaaah!!!
Kwahwaahh!!
The arrows shot by the pirates flew back with full force.
No, it was a spear of concentrated energy disguised as arrows that struck the pirates directly.
Cheeerrrrk!
Phew-rrrng─!
Not a single corpse was left behind.
Kwahwaahh!
Gore and chunks of flesh splattered all over the deck.
“Ugh… Gwaaaah!”
One pirate fell to his knees, screaming.
They realized they had messed up.
That thought consumed the minds of the pirates.
And in the eyes of Baron Hans and the remaining 20 members of the unarmed crew, Yuma and Bell looked like divine generals worthy of worship.
“Thank you. Thank you.”
Thus, he expressed his gratitude to Bell, who was right in front of him.
The pirate crew, Dust, which had started with a total of 141 members, now had only 57 who could still fight.
Even in the face of despair, Hectos, the captain of Dust, was not yet defeated.
That was the driving force behind Hectos’s current self.
[Lv.135]
Swordmaster, Hectos.
“Tsk.”
Hectos brushed off the flesh of his subordinate who had accidentally been killed by the energy spear.
“I will take on that woman.”
Hectos declared as he stood on the ship’s railing.
“You all, quickly repair the magic cannons and aim at that Astes Empire ship! Target the ship! Sinking it is our only way to survive! And if you can target that bastard over there too, do it.”
There was no pirate who didn’t understand who he meant by that bastard.
It was Yuma.
Due to the incomprehensible attack from earlier, the magic engine on board went haywire. Currently, only 5 out of the 8 magic cannons could operate properly.
Hectos leaped over the railing onto the trade ship of the Resen Kingdom.
And he unleashed a golden sword energy from his sword.
“Let’s have a go. Woman!”
Bell gripped her sword with a blank expression.
The air was thick with tension around the five pirates handling the magic cannons on the three ships.
Just as the captain said.
They figured those guys didn’t give a damn about letting them escape, so the only way to survive now was to sink that Astes ship.
The five pirates in charge of the magic cannons held on tightly, sweat dripping from their hands.
“FIRE ALL CANNONS!”
The pirates assigned to the magic cannons pulled the triggers simultaneously.
Kwahhhhhhh!!
And five shots fired in unison toward Astes’s flagship.
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