Pirates
The portal beyond was quiet. It seemed the coordinates had been set to a secluded forest on Fish Island. Nevertheless, to prevent any unforeseen situations, Bagan formed Magical Room, a 6th-class area defense magic. Transparent barriers materialized around each of them. Unlike basic shields, it nullified all attacks except magical ones, making it the optimal choice for the current situation.
Then he turned to close the portal. After confirming that Sally and Arien had also crossed through, Bagan dispelled the gateway.
"Where is this?" Sally asked, tightly gripping Arien's hand. He had only mentioned wiping out the pirates, after all, without specifying their destination.
"A place called Fish Island, the largest island in the De Marinda sea. That's why it's a perfect hideout for pirates."
Fish Island was also a sea teeming with fish more than any nearby waters, and it had been named after its peculiar shape. The island resembled a fish swimming from west to east.
"Yeah, I can feel it. A great sin."
At Sally's words, Bagan's eyes widened. He tended to underestimate her abilities, his belief that he could handle anything alone only reinforcing that habit. Thanks to his contract with Sally, Bagan had gained the 'sin' trait as well, yet he still had no sense of how to use it. His inability to grasp its feel was separate from Sally being the Spirit King of Condemnation. She placed great meaning on condemnation and selected those who had sinned. In a place like this, that power could serve as a means of detection.
"Where?"
Bagan now trusted Sally. That was why he asked for directions.
"Over there."
She pointed with the hand not holding Arien's. Bagan nodded with a firm expression and moved forward.
As they walked, occasional shafts of light irritated his eyes. Since the coordinates had been set in the grass of Fish Island, the view wasn't open, but reddish sunset light filtered faintly through gaps in the leaves. The sun was setting, painting the sky in blooming reds.
Welcoming the beautiful sunset little by little, they pushed through the grass until a cave whose interior was invisible and ships faintly visible between the trees appeared before them.
"Is it over there?"
Bagan and his companions didn't hastily emerge from the grass. Sentries stood guard at the cave entrance. Their presence only confirmed this was the pirates' hideout, which worked in their favor.
"Just in case, I'll handle them quietly."
At Bagan's words, Sally and Arien nodded.
"Silence."
Bagan first cast a soundproofing spell. It was truly useful whenever something needed to be handled discreetly. Soon he turned his magic on the sentries, who stared blankly ahead, hoping their shift would end quickly.
"Shock."
Even though Silence interfered with the surrounding mana, he couldn't risk high-level magic on idiots who hadn't noticed. So he paralyzed their bodies with the basic elemental spell Shock. There were two sentries, so both received the gift of paralysis.
Though their bodies were paralyzed, the pain wouldn't be lethal. Bagan quickly approached and struck the backs of their necks. Unable to move, the sentries went limp after being hit in vital points. They wouldn't wake for at least several hours.
"Done. Come out now."
Bagan hid the sentries in the grass beside the cave and gestured to Sally and Arien. They carefully emerged at his call and stood beside him.
"Bagan-nim. You're amazing."
"Amazing, my foot."
Arien's eyes sparkled with admiration, but Bagan only ruffled her hair out of fondness.
"It feels good. Please do it again."
Arien liked Bagan's touch. His hands seemed to possess some kind of charm—everyone he had met so far enjoyed having their ears touched or hair stroked.
"Would you do it one more time?"
Taking advantage of a moment when Bagan was lost in thought, she urged him again. Mischief stirred in him.
"This is only for when I praise you. I'll praise you if you do good deeds."
It was the sort of thing only a child would believe. Sally wore an incredulous expression, but Arien's thoughts ran differently.
'Ah, from now on, to be stroked by Bagan-nim, I need to do something praiseworthy.'
Her analysis trait had activated in a strange place. The formula was now firmly established in her mind.
"Understood. Next time I do a good deed, please stroke me for sure."
Arien already smelled like a model child. Though Bagan had spoken in jest, he didn't dwell on how seriously she had taken it.
"Of course."
He answered briefly and stepped into the cave.
The interior wasn't particularly different from any other cave he knew. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, some rising from the floor, but most along the passages had been cut or broken. It was dark, yet the occasional flickering torches provided just enough light to see by.
As he continued deeper, a thought surfaced.
'Why is it so long?'
The cave stretched on endlessly. Even after walking for about ten minutes, there was still no sign of the pirates.
"Is it correct that you feel them inside here?"
He had already asked Sally several times.
"Yeah. I can definitely feel it. It's an indelible scent of sin."
She answered diligently each time, even specifying directions in case the pirates noticed and fled. Nevertheless, Bagan remained puzzled by the cave's endless length and the continued absence of their targets.
Then a sudden thought struck him.
'Could it be an underwater cave?'
The gradual descent and the fact that the island was surrounded by sea on all sides made it plausible. In the game, players couldn't visit directly—it had only been a brief rest stop when sailing, so he had never disembarked. That was why he hadn't known whether caves or pirates existed here. The moment his game knowledge became useless.
"Let's just keep going for now."
Judging from the energy he sensed that no one here surpassed him, Bagan felt confident. At his words, the others nodded and followed. They descended without fear until they finally discovered the source.
Whoosh!
A fire far brighter than any torch illuminated the interior. Moreover, the flames repeatedly struck the cave walls, casting human silhouettes. Since he had maintained Silence until now, no sound reached them, but he imagined the pirates were chattering excitedly.
Without hesitation, Bagan cut off the mana supply to Silence.
"So! Today I shot a dwarf-made ship cannon right at the Kraken's leg!"
"Zillet! Are you telling war stories again today? Leave the sick kids and move the luggage!"
"Hey! Harry! You saw it too! These guys can't move and must be frustrated to death, right? They're waiting for my war stories all day."
Besides this exchange, drinking parties were happening throughout the cavern, multiple conversations overlapping, but the closest voices were the clearest.
"Yeah! You're so great. Sir Zillet, the hero of the reversal! So, won't you help with this a bit? The guys above also need to switch shifts."
It seemed they had been assigned as the next sentries.
"Then do it moderately and come up! The cave is so long that you can't arrive on time unless you walk until your bones ache. I'm going first!"
The pirate called Harry started moving out of the cave first. He soon left their nest—and encountered Bagan and his group.
"What the hell are you!!"
Harry shouted in surprise.
Whoosh!
What Bagan saw next was the cave greatly enveloped in thick slime.
"Ah, Arien?"
Bagan had been flustered because he hadn't expected Harry to come this way, but the following scene left him with his mouth agape.
Drip! Drip!
Her green slime clung to the cave ceiling and slowly fell, drop by drop.
"Bagan-nim. Did I do well? Please praise me."
"Y-yeah."
Arien had swallowed the shouting Harry. He didn't know when she had slipped from Sally's hand, but it had happened at lightning speed. Calming his startled heart, Bagan gently stroked her silver hair, which hadn't fully transformed yet.
"Hehe."
"W-who are you!! What did you do to Harry!"
At that moment, the pirate who had rushed over after hearing Harry's shout raised the alarm for the entire cavern. In these circumstances, they might have to fight every pirate present. Arien, who had been enjoying the head pats, showed signs of transforming again. Bagan stroked from her hair down to the back of her neck, then grabbed her shoulder and gently pushed her back. After entrusting her to Sally, he spoke.
"From here on, I'll handle it."
Sally and Arien couldn't help but nod at Bagan's expression. He wore a loose, unreadable smile. Was he happy? Or angry? It was an ironic situation where his true feelings remained unknown.
"Intruder! This guy did something to Harry!"
"Yeah, I ate him."
To be precise, Arien had eaten him, but it was something Bagan had wanted to say at least once.
"This bastard!"
The pirate immediately drew his sword and charged.
"Kids, close your eyes."
At Bagan's low voice, they shut their eyes.
"Heavy Light!"
Strictly speaking, no such magic existed, but Bagan maximized the existing Light spell using his Release trait. The effect was tremendous. Light, which simply created a lump of light on the palm to float or throw for visibility, combined with the cave's confines and Bagan's Release, produced a flashbang-like effect.
Bagan rushed the pirates whose vision was blinded and whose hands were occupied shielding their eyes, delivering spicy kicks. Iron Skin granted his legs metallic hardness as a bonus.
Bang!
There was no need for swords or high-level magic against someone who charged without understanding the gap in their abilities. Pure physical force was more than enough.
"Next."
Having sensed the pirates' numbers through mana and heard their approaching footsteps, Bagan already knew who would come next.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
He similarly ran to the first pirate to leap forward and fed him a fist.
"They must have been in the middle of a meal."
Thud! Papapak!
Now, to prevent them from eating any longer, he repeatedly drove his fists into their mouths. At Bagan's barrage, the pirate collapsed, covered in blood. Before the fallen pirate and Bagan stood the remaining pirates in a formation where the word "swarm" suited perfectly. Each stood with their preferred weapons, as if convinced they held the advantage. Even without counting, their numbers easily exceeded a hundred. But Bagan didn't back down.
'I'm troubled. Troubled. Lately, I'm really troubled.'
Nothing calmed a troubled mind better than moving his body.
Crack!
In front of Sally and Arien, who watched as if enjoying the show, Bagan stretched thoroughly and prepared himself. Soon he imitated a martial arts stance he had never learned and gestured.
"Come at me."
Those words became the spark that set the pirates' blood boiling.