Thunderous Oar Barrage
Ptooey! I roughly wiped my face like I was scrubbing it raw.
“Hoo-wook!”
I slicked back my drenched, seaweed-like hair and fixed my gaze across the water, eyes flashing with murderous intent.
Crackle—snap—! Even as golden electric currents surged from my toes to the crown of my head.
“That crazy fucker.”
Just moments ago, I'd hurled a massive oar amplified with lightning straight at them like a bolt of raw power, slamming into the ship and sending a massive shockwave across the surface.
——Boom!
Unlike before, it nullified several magic circles blooming along the railing, and the ship lurched with an even louder crash. But my rage hadn't cooled one bit.
“Seriously…… I almost died there.”
It was because I'd nearly taken a direct hit from that bizarre sword wind shot from the distant ship.
Someone climbed onto the railing, unleashing a slash that cut through the air with a whoosh—sending a shockwave shaped like a shark's fin hurtling toward me. The moment it touched the water, it split the Dead Sea left and right, accelerating in an instant until it was right in front of my nose, faster than sound itself.
I'd almost gotten tagged in that split second of "uh-oh."
If not for the lightning I'd instantly sparked across my body.
Crackle—snap—!Snap-crackle—!
That's right. Right now, on top of Berserk Mode, I'd pulled out every last drop of my lightning attribute power. My body and mind were in full acceleration mode.
Huuuuu——
Thanks to that acceleration.
Ivan Hellenger's—no doubt about it—sword wind had nearly hit when I rapidly channeled lightning into the massive oar and smashed it right back.
'Ha…… almost died……'
The stinging across my body only fueled my anger.
Not just my hands that had flung the oar with enough force to counter the sword wind, but my upper body too—light abrasions and shallow burns everywhere the shockwave had grazed.
Of course.
Sizzle—!
Steam was already rising as it healed, but I had no intention of stopping the assault.
From my toes to the top of my head.
Not just my muscles, but even the electric signals firing between my neurons—zap!—I could feel them vividly.
Everything looked slow-motion.
The acrid smell of ozone stinging my nose, the salty sea air, the high waves spraying droplets left and right in the distance, the special oar's tail crackling fiercely as it cut through, the ship thrashing wildly at the end of that trail, the long red pillar of light stretching above it.
All of it played out like slo-mo.
And there it was again.
Bzzz—crack—!
On the rocking ship's railing.
Someone starting to unleash another beam of light toward me.
'Still going……?!'
It was obviously Ivan Hellenger. Looked like he wasn't done picking a fight.
'Fuck it, then die.'
Thud.
I gripped the remaining special massive oar with both hands.
Crackle—!Snap—!
Invisible energy etched into my palms as I gripped it. Golden currents flowed around them.
Holding it just tight enough not to shatter the oar, I began spinning in place on the raft, meticulously controlling every part of my body.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
The currents swirling around my accelerating body gathered at the rotation's endpoint—my fists—along with that mysterious invisible energy.
Crackle—!Snap—!Snap-crackle—!
Every calculable rotation, squeezing every muscle in my body to its limit.
“Die…… you fucker……!!!”
The moment I launched it.
I could hear it.
——Screeeeeeee!
——Screeeeeeee!
The massive oars rocketing from my hands like missiles, ripping through the air with an absurd sonic boom.
***
Ivan Hellenger had climbed back onto the railing, drawing in sea mana to unleash an even larger sword wind.
The genius magic swordsman from an unparalleled magic sword family, gunning for the youngest Swordmaster title ever…… couldn't believe this situation.
“Young master! Get downnnn!”
“Cast the buffs—!”
“Zig! That's not the priority!”
It wasn't because his adjutant—who'd never disobeyed an order—yanked him off the railing and onto the deck.
Crash-tumble!
No, it was the sound that erupted—one he'd never heard inside this ship since his father handed it to him.
————Boom!
A heaven-shattering roar rocked the massive vessel.
“Wh-what?!”
“Y-Young master!”
“Watch out!”
“Everyone okay?”
“Grab on tight!”
“Another attack incoming!”
Clatter-crash!
The magic swordsmen tumbling everywhere as the ship listed to one side. The elites who'd been lined up behind the railing, casting spells—they were collapsing too. Ivan couldn't process it.
'What? What the hell?! What is this?!'
His legs trembled as he barely stood. Just as he couldn't adapt to the earthquake-like shaking.
“Young master!”
“Adjutant, what the—”
“Down! It's not over!”
“What the hell—!”
“Get downnnn!”
The moment his adjutant body-slammed him and rolled, the second thunderous boom hit.
————Boom!
A brain-rattling shock.
Crack!
The impact was so massive the ship not only rocked but snapped one of the masts at the stern, sending it splashing into the sea.
“Young master, snap out of it!”
“What…… what happened……”
“Emergency!”
“The barrier…… b-barrier……”
“Barriers are down! All deactivated! We need combined magic now! Karina first!”
“No way…… it can't break that fast……”
“It didn't break!”
The adjutant—who'd grasped the situation first—locked eyes with Ivan and bellowed.
“The magic was dispelled!”
“Dis……pel? What……”
“Don't know why! More importantly…… hey! Everyone, reform ranks—gather mana again! Sword-bearers, prep for close combat. Casters with juice left, over here—draw combined magic circles! Now!”
Chaos on the deck.
The adjutant barked interim orders at the fallen magic swordsmen scattered everywhere.
Ivan was muttering in a daze, clearly not grasping reality yet.
'Gonna lose my mind……'
The adjutant felt the same.
Even with his war experience, this was one of those rare-as-hell scenarios you could count on one hand.
Relentless massive attacks.
They weren't piercing the dispel wards, so pure physical force…… that much he could handle, barely.
But.
'What? How the hell did they dispel it?'
Every spot those physical attacks hit, their magic circles were deconstructing. No way to explain that.
'What the fuck are they doing? Monster? Human? No, no way that's……'
Then.
————Boom!
The next strike tilted the ship further, smashing part of the railing and several cabins below. That's when the adjutant glimpsed it.
“Grahhh!”
“Next orders!”
“Five circles assembled here!”
“Ready to start?!”
“Adjutant! Spell type for casting!”
“Don't panic!”
Wood shards flying past his face, and beyond the shattered railing—a distant massive figure. The adjutant remembered.
'………!'
The one puzzle piece that explained this incomprehensible mess.
'……Drakan?'
No one else fit. The War God of the continent. A muscle-bound freak of nature who pulled off inhuman feats like flipping his palm, that legendary old weirdo.
'Why the hell is that mad old bastard here?'
Word was he'd gone into secluded training. No way…… training all the way out on Monster Island in the Dead Sea?
But why here of all places……?
Seemed far-fetched, but in his knowledge, it was the only piece that fit this insane situation.
“Young master!”
“I'll kill him…… kill that fucker……”
“No, young master! We'll all die!”
“What?”
“That crazy monster might be Drakan!”
“……What? No, why would that lunatic……”
Even Ivan, huffing mad, snapped alert at the name. That's when the adjutant repeated it.
“Still, if it's him, we might talk it out. So for now……”
Then.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
A massive mana vortex suddenly whipped up inside the ship. The adjutant yelling mid-sentence to Ivan.
“Which one of you! I said wait!”
“N-Not us!”
“What?!”
The mana whirlwind grew fiercer, whipping hair into the air. Tracing it from below upward, the adjutant froze, mouth agape.
“…………Ah.”
Right.
A fact even he—and Ivan—had blacked out on amid the fierce short skirmish.
Something they'd forgotten.
“……Young master.”
“……Fuck.”
Locking eyes, they looked up.
They saw it.
Flicker.
Karina's eyes opening inside the floating red pillar of light.
A massive area explosion spell.
Explosion magic activating.
Flash————!
A white-hot inferno plummeted from the sky.
……Though the tilting ship had thrown it way off the original coordinates.