94
My Villains Chapter 94
24.Boss Phase (4)
The battle unfolding at the harbor was completely different from the one at the castle walls.
"Skares, Keregh!"
"Uhgrrr-!"
The bass-people let out gurgling roars as they swung bone harpoons and rusted swords.
The groupers, swimming in perfect formation, leaped onto the dock in groups of six or seven.
"Push, push, thrust!"
"Don't be afraid of these monsters!"
Those opposing them were tightly grouped around the prince's forces.
"The Lord is with us-!"
Prince Ulkar was drawing his bow and shouting from atop the lighthouse. His long silver hair scattered widely whenever the wind blew.
That beautiful banner sufficiently raised the soldiers' morale while also drawing plenty of attention from the enemies.
However, at the base of the lighthouse, knights in shining armor were guarding alongside the soldiers. Thanks to this, even the fierce groupers couldn't recklessly charge in.
Meanwhile, the harbor waters were in complete chaos.
"Row, row!"
"Faster, faster!"
Pirates riding the favorable wind were rowing frantically as they flooded toward the dock.
On the opposite side, the heavy crossbows positioned on the embankment were firing massive arrows.
Due to the pirates' ships being so fast, most arrows missed, but occasionally they would get lucky hits.
CRASH!
"Damn it! The ship is tilting!"
"Jump off!"
A massive ship, pierced diagonally from deck to bottom, sank into the sea in an instant.
The cheers that erupted from among the soldiers operating the heavy crossbows were short-lived.
"Huargh, Enthurra, Itkem!"
Anglerfish-people with elaborate patterns swam in circles while chanting spells.
SWOOSH!
Suddenly, the waves began gathering to a point and rising up.
"That's insane, what is that!"
"Grab onto something and hold on!"
As a cone-shaped tsunami as tall as a 10-story apartment building came crashing down on the embankment, the cheers turned to chaos.
Against the anglerfish-people's concentrated spell, Master Rimond and the other mages desperately resisted.
Water spirits spread curtains, earth rose to reinforce the embankment, and spider webs spread to hold the soldiers and heavy crossbows in place.
CRASH!
The tsunami's power was overwhelming.
Despite the mages' desperate resistance, more than half of the embankment collapsed. Dozens of soldiers died, and three of the seven heavy crossbows were rendered useless.
The number of landing pirate ships doubled. When the pirates regrouped and pushed forward mixed with the groupers, the battle line greatly wavered.
"Fire!"
"Keep shooting without stopping!"
Around a hundred crossbowmen and archers fired arrows simultaneously. Pirates and groupers fell in droves.
Seizing that gap, a knight in a blue cloak led elite soldiers in sweeping through enemy lines.
Sergeant Gilbert noticed Langbolt's intention and quickly shouted.
"Reform the lines! Push them back-!"
Just as the tide of battle was evening out again, about twenty cavalry arrived on the battlefield.
"...Wow, this is crazy."
I've never seen such chaos before.
"Charge straight in! Full speed!"
When Lord Ankir shouted, the cavalry spurred their horses.
However, the dock was covered in sediment washed down with the tsunami. It was incredibly messy with heavy crossbow fragments, soldier corpses, and pieces of seaweed all mixed together.
Because of this, Lord Ankir and the cavalry couldn't properly build up speed. The slow charge of the small cavalry force didn't create much impact on the battlefield.
"Damn it all! Draw swords!"
While the cavalry who had thrown away their spears dealt with enemies using short weapons, Utequais and I were rushing toward the lighthouse.
"Ellen, how's your magic?"
"...About half recovered. I think I could shoot one fireball."
Was it because she had already depleted her magic once? Fatigue was evident in the voice coming from my arms.
Hmm, this isn't good.
The battlefield viewed from horseback was progressing completely differently from what I had expected.
Master Rimond and the mages were squeezing out their magical power to face off against the enemy shamans, and the four remaining heavy crossbows were continuing their futile shots at the pirate ships.
I had advised to save the mages and heavy crossbows until the final moment... But it seems the battlefield situation was too urgent to avoid using them.
As I made a wide detour behind our soldiers' formation, I could see long silver hair fluttering atop the lighthouse. Despite being mixed among various archers, he stood out particularly due to his armor and hair.
...That guy is really something else. Drawing aggro like that without even wearing a helmet in this chaos.
I quickly climbed up to the lighthouse and faced Prince Ulkar.
"Your Highness!"
"You are... Phoenix?"
"The cavalry from the gate has arrived, and the infantry will be here soon!"
The prince glanced at me once, then asked while continuously drawing his bow, "So the fish-people really did appear. Will the 'worst enemy' you mentioned show up soon too?"
I thought through all the random named enemies that appear in the dock battle. There was no debate about which one was the most troublesome.
"...There's a high probability."
"Can you handle it?"
"We should save the mages and heavy crossbows even now. If not-"
"No. The mages must check the enemy's magic. Otherwise, our forces might break right now."
Prince Ulkar turned his head toward me. Deep eyes that seemed like they might drip navy blue paint turned to me.
"I'll have the heavy crossbows stand by and gather all the knights. I'll stake my life too."
"Uh, what?"
"Then can you handle it?"
Overwhelmed by the prince's gaze, I ended up nodding.
"Yes. It'll be difficult, but I should be able to handle it."
"Excellent. Go prepare."
After finishing my conversation with the prince, I took position in a corner of the lighthouse.
"Ellen. I'll protect you, so recover your magic as much as possible."
"Okay."
After seeing Ellen sit down and close her eyes, I asked Utequais who was standing beside me.
"Wouldn't it be better for you to rest too?"
"Wrong. I, wounded. Sacrifice, heals me."
At those words, my eyes went to the red bone ring he was wearing. It was the ring that had been on the dead shaman's hand when I first met Utequais.
Among his equipment, the most valuable wasn't the fancy ceremonial sword or the terrifying stone hammer.
It was that bone ring. The ring named 'Seal of Cannibalism' was the most powerful item.
"My eyes, toward you. Worst enemy, looking forward to."
"...Right."
Utequais just left those words and put his foot up on the railing.
"Hey, you're not..."
THUMP!
A sudden leap followed by a roar.
"Athar, Marta—!"
Jumping from the lighthouse that was easily 7-8 meters high, he showed no hesitation at all.
Like a red meteor, like a giant eagle, Utequais fell while swinging his stone hammer.
CRASH!
"Kerrrh!"
"Cikerr-"
The berserker who crushed four groupers at once roared and rampaged wildly.
As the long-held stone hammer drew a large circle, fish-people and pirates fell like crushed meat.
"Uwoooo-!"
As if someone had taken an eraser to the middle of the battlefield, a small void formed around Utequais.
After drawing attention with his dramatic entrance, he put down his hammer and drew a thick dagger from his waist.
SQUELCH.
The dagger tore through a dead grouper's chest. A gourd-shaped mass and something like vines were pulled out one after another.
"...That crazy bastard."
Mysterious tattoos and large muscles writhing wildly on his upper body, mouth covered in blood from chewing hearts, ceremonial sword trembling whenever the sea wind blew.
Even without using Berserk, Utequais looked like a berserker.
Moreover, around the time he swallowed the fifth heart, bubbling foam rose from his wounds everywhere. After the foam cleared, the wounds were completely gone.
Pirates frightened by this incomprehensible phenomenon shot arrows from afar. But arrows shot from crude wooden bows just bounced off helplessly against the wind barrier tattoo.
"Huu, huu!"
His red skin grew even hotter, and heat haze rose above his shoulders.
Watching this scene, I recalled the two fixed options that the Seal of Ca-, no, the 'Seal of Predation' had:
'Recover HP and MP by consuming enemy corpses'
And, 'Strengthen random stats by consuming enemy corpses'
"Hatanka'ae! Shika!"
Utequais who finished feeding roared and stomped the ground.
Faster and more powerful hammer strikes swept through the enemies.
Around the time Utequais was roughly erasing enemies, a figure appeared at the entrance of the bay.
Like sliding, the shadow walking on the waves muttered in a bubbling voice.
"Filthy baldies."
The shadow had eight tentacles with suction cups. Instead of hair, its head was also adorned with writhing tentacles.
The monster somewhere between octopus and human, the 'Hogh Priest of the Deep Sea,' had eyes tinged with purple.
"How disgustingly persistent they are, struggling against their fate."
The priest stretched out his wrinkled hand while reciting words filled with hatred.
"But finally, permission has been granted."
With those words, the middle of the sea split.
Swoosh!
A head with sharp fins instead of ears revealed itself.
The sharp teeth attached to the protruding snout, and the abnormally large eyes without eyelids invoked an instinctive revulsion.
And the more terrifying fact was that this grotesque head was as large as a house.
"Go forth, my servant."
This enormous creature didn't swim as it walked through the sea. It was large enough to step on the seafloor with two feet.
Splash, swoosh.
Each step created huge waves. With each wave, the head rose higher and higher.
When the monster revealed its upper body above the water surface, soldiers who witnessed its form, larger than any ordinary sailing ship, screamed.
"Th-there, a monster!"
"It's a sea giant!"
Unlike the panicking soldiers, the army's leadership remained quite calm.
"Artillery, prepare to fire!"
"Archers, move to the fortification!"
"Langbolt, Ankir! This way!"
As the prince, knights, and sergeants issued prepared orders as if they had expected this, the soldiers' confusion quickly subsided.
"Ghrrr."
The sea giant looking down at the frightened soldiers suddenly felt displeasure. Some baldies seemed to be gathering at the dock to confront it.
Perhaps due to their shining metal armor? They looked quite dignified as they dared to show fighting spirit.
The giant roared with anger.
"A-ghrrr!"
The soldiers' faces turned pale at the sharp roar. The sea churned even though it only shouted, seeming particularly energetic today.
The giant stepped onto the dock with satisfaction.
"Ah, aah!"
Suddenly, the soldiers let out shrill cries. As the giant was about to question this unexpected screaming, thunk!
"Kahg?" The sea giant, startled by the sudden pain, looked back.
Grrrr.
A huge monster that looked like a mix between snake and centipede climbed up the giant's body, shaking off water.
Glossy dark red scales, a jaw split into four parts, three pairs of sword-sharp legs.
The monster of horrific form. It repeatedly drove its sharp legs into the sea giant's body.
"Ge, Gergh."
The large eyeball without eyelids was filled with fear and pain. Just as the giant was about to let out a final scream, kuwaooo!
With a thunderous roar, the giant's body was torn to pieces.
The monster, freed from its seal by the blood offered at the altar, was extremely hungry from escaping its rotting dungeon.
The monster's mouth split into four parts. Dense, saw-like teeth were revealed.
With a crunching sound, the monster devoured the giant, then suddenly raised its head to look around.
While the monster satisfied its urgent hunger, most of the humans who had filled the dock were fleeing in all directions.
Then, a familiar scent brushed the monster's nose. Eyes resembling a snake's slowly surveyed the dock.
Finally, the predator's gaze fixed on one man.
The man, Phoenix, was standing on the lighthouse with his mouth agape. When his eyes met with the predator's, no, the Underground Lord's, he quietly muttered.
"...This is driving me crazy, f*ck."