Chapter 264
Chapter 264
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 264
Chapter Title: Chapter 264
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 264
Chapter Title: The Tide Turns
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"Hah... hah..."
Clang!
He dropped the longsword, soaked in blood, onto the floor.
As a knight, letting go of the weapon he held—especially on a floor submerged in seawater like this—was unthinkable.
It was something no warrior could allow.
But right now, he truly lacked even the strength to twitch a finger.
"Ravins, Cheriwon... are you... alive?"
With no strength left to spare, Beskin sheathed his sword and immediately checked on Ravins and Cheriwon.
They were his precious subordinates, comrades who had staked their lives alongside him in battle.
Without their help, defeating the drake with merely the first stage unlocked would have been impossible.
The drake's final technique had been electrifying. Having been directly exposed to it, he couldn't help but worry for their lives.
No responses came.
"Cough... cough! If you're... alive, answer me."
His shout, accompanied by dry coughs, echoed hollowly through the air.
But the one who responded to his call was neither knight.
"Grrr... They're alive. Both of them."
A distinctive werewolf, its silver and black fur matted together, covered in wounds from head to toe, answered while carrying the two knights over his shoulders.
It was Baukalrak, who had fought the first mate, Avery.
"Ah...!!"
Tension drained from him involuntarily, his legs giving way.
Baukalrak's presence here meant they had won as well.
A long-eared elf gently supported the staggering Beskin.
"I believed the three of you could pull it off. You must be exhausted."
It was Ash, equally covered in wounds.
The pair who had captured the Gadic Pirates' first mate, Avery, had originally planned to rush to Beskin's aid immediately.
But witnessing their battle, they changed their minds.
The three knights' combined assault was perfection in itself. Adding their hands would only hinder them, they couldn't shake that thought.
Instead, they shifted to clearing out the surrounding pirates.
The wounds on their bodies came from aiding the others.
"Then let's head back now. Everyone looks like they need urgent treatment."
The Philador Kingdom's support fleet, led belatedly by Youngken and Mark, had arrived and was now fiercely clashing with the Gadic Pirates' crew.
With both captain and first mate defeated, they could consider their mission accomplished.
Besides, they were in no condition to fight further, physically spent as they were.
Pweeeet—!
Ash put his fingers to his lips and let out a long whistle. Wyverns waiting overhead descended swiftly onto the half-sunken ship.
Thud!
No sooner had the wyverns landed than the raiding party members locked in combat nearby began withdrawing one by one.
Having assaulted deep into enemy territory and fought like mad, they too had reached their limits.
The pirates weren't fools either. They had no intention of letting prey that had dared enter the tiger's den slip away.
"Those bastards are running! Catch th— Urk!"
"Where do you think you're looking?!"
Clang!
Despite their thoughts, the pirates had no spare attention for those pulling back. The Philador Kingdom's support forces weren't letting them off easy.
Moreover, they had eyes too. Charging at the monsters who had felled the captain and first mate wasn't easy.
Flap!
Thanks to that, the wyvern knights carrying Beskin and the raiding party made it back to the main fleet smoothly.
Clang-clang-clang!
Shamshir and cutlass. The fast, vicious swords—trademarks of the archipelago natives—clashed fiercely.
"Whoa, whoa. Looks like the Olivia Navy's winning over there? What now, our ugly Grace?"
"Shut your mouth!"
Grace gritted her teeth and shouted at Tetsai's smug tone.
'She's quite agitated.'
He could also sense impatience in her swordplay.
Unthinkable for the usual Grace. This was a golden opportunity.
He and Grace were perfectly evenly matched. Thus, even the tiniest variable would decide the victor.
In this situation, her sword showing such emotional turbulence was no longer a threat to Tetsai.
'Well, I'd be the same.'
It wasn't Grace's fault.
Who could have imagined the reinforcements led by Dragon Drake crumbling so pathetically?
Even Tetsai himself had felt his balls shrink when the Gadic Pirates approached.
Clang!
Their swords clashed hard, forcing distance between them.
As Tetsai imagined, Grace was grinding her teeth.
'This won't do. At this rate...'
An unimaginable horrific outcome loomed.
Defeat for the archipelago.
Captured pirates would all be enslaved or vanish as dust on the execution ground.
For executive ranks like Grace, death was certain, no question.
'Damn it, damn it!'
The anxiety and agitation bubbling in her heart steadily dulled her blade. The moment her sword fully lost its edge, Tetsai didn't miss it.
Slash!
Grace's head, brimming with uneasy emotions, soared high.
No need to worry about the crew's fight anymore.
Unlike the Iron Maiden Pirates, split in force, the Mermaid Pirates had thrown everything into this front.
The Commander's Pirates were mostly evenly matched. With twice the manpower, defeat was impossible.
"Almost there now."
Tetsai couldn't hide his surging elation.
Just one step remained until he made the woman he desired the new ruler of the archipelago.
His gaze naturally turned to the central Barque Pirates and the Olivia Navy main force.
"Baron. Do your best, please. Since we've come this far, let's dream of a second life."
Life's no big deal. Let's go.
"Second column, fire!"
Boom! Bang!
Even using amplification magic, Delro shouted again with his already hoarse voice.
A barrage of cannon fire streaked from the Olivia main fleet's second line flanks.
Kaboom! Kaaa-boom!
Ships half-shattered by the impacts, pirates flung into the air.
"Arghhh!"
"Damn it, fire back!"
Kaboom! Boom!
But the Barque Pirates were the Pirate King's elite.
Even as ships splintered and comrades plunged into the sea beside them, they never neglected their duty.
As a result, despite Delro toying with pirates in nearly every sea battle thus far, the Barque Pirates and Olivia Navy were locked in a near-equal naval clash.
Even as cannon shocks rippled to the rear, Delro and Dwain's expressions remained unchanged.
"The Barque Pirates' resistance is fiercer than expected."
"My apologies, Staff Officer. This might tarnish my old reputation."
Not taking his eyes from the battlefield, old Delro scratched his head sheepishly.
He hadn't expected a victory without losses against the Barque Pirates either.
The reason was simple.
While the undefeated Vidal Kroit had stagnated for years, the Barque Pirates had roamed the seas relentlessly.
Yet Dwain and Delro's faces weren't that grim.
"The magic corps ambushed on the Krull Wall is descending to support from the rear soon. The sea battle's momentum will shift."
"And the sirens' sea monsters too."
The Buckaneer Pirates on the left flank had been nearly annihilated by Faye and the sirens' ambush.
Through his telescope, on the right flank far off, wyvern knights were returning.
Mission success. Meaning both left and right wings stabilized.
"Once the flanks are secure, a unified push—even the Barque Pirates can't withstand that."
One hand can't beat ten.
"Agreed. However..."
Their gazes naturally turned to one spot.
The central front pitted Olivia Navy against Barque Pirates in fierce combat, yet neither side fired a single cannon there.
In a maelstrom where everything around disintegrated to dust, firing would be pointless anyway.
Instead, they fretted over whether the enemy would reach them if they moved.
"Commanding this hard, yet the battle's outcome hinges there—quite frustrating. Heh."
"I concur."
"In a way, that monster wasn't wrong. Now I see how absurd overwhelming force is."
"Where's Lampang now?"
Frustrating, but only Lampang could intervene in that absurd battlefield where no strategy mattered.
"Seems he's circled behind the right flank. Plenty of minor pirate remnants left."
Dwain bit his lip at Delro's reply.
"...In the end, even Lampang's hands won't suffice."
"Unavoidable. Even seated on the throne, he has but one pair of hands. Suppressing them alone stretches him thin."
The war situation had eased, but the archipelago's forces lingered in numbers.
Though the Commander's core was crushed, leaving those swarming minor pirates unchecked spelled trouble.
A battlefield lives like a beast. A single ember could reignite and overturn everything.
And whether that ember lived or died...
Depended on that battlefield. Where their young lord, the hero Jerome von Carviot, fought.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
Endless barrages. Jerome's Cerriate, which had pierced countless foes' defenses, stormed toward Ballak like a tempest.
A single light punch boiled the sea surface, sides of nearby pirate ships exploding one after another.
Having absorbed even the wyvern's inner core, comparing his attacks to before was an insult.
Jerome and Ballak's clash was a natural disaster incarnate.
At some point, no ships remained around them.
A high-kicking leg. It stamped down toward Ballak's shoulder.
Craaaash!
Leg met greatsword flat, roiling the sea violently.
Shrieeeek!
The greatsword that blocked the leg then slashed through the fists and legs filling the space in one stroke.
He twisted his waist desperately, evading the greatsword's arc.
The greatsword's aura grazed by a few strands of hair.
Even once exposed to that brutish blade meant instant critical injury.
'But if I can dodge it.'
Thwack!
Perfectly closing the narrowed gap. Jerome favored Iron Mountain in such spots, but now he chose differently.
A head slick with water, gleaming like black pearl.
Wrapped in full aura, it was a veritable iron hammer hurtling downward.
Thud!
Dodging the menacing headbutt, he softly wrapped around the neck, leaping to take Ballak's rear.
'Got you!'
Whirrr!
Embracing the monstrous bulk, he soared skyward.
Whirl!
Adding spin, plummeting toward the surface.
Perfectly seizing the rear, escape impossible this time.
Kabooom!
Fierce impact, waves enveloping his body. The dizzying pulse deafened him momentarily.
If I feel this using Ballak as cushion, his damage is obvious.
Piercing the turbid water churned with salt and sediment, Ballak sank deeper than me.
But not limply.
His upper body twisted taut.
'......?!'
Whoosh!
As if water's density and resistance meant nothing, the greatsword's massive wave surged like a tidal bore.
Before grasping the situation, his body moved first.
Unlike Ballak, I had no affinity with the sea.
The unfamiliar underwater resistance.
The slight lag it caused.
That split-second sufficed for Ballak's aura to close in.
Abandoning evasion, he crossed both arms in defense.
Thoom!
'Urgh!'
Dull impact like blocking a giant's hammer head-on.
Buoyancy hurled his body surfaceward like an arrow.
Splash!
Ballak erupted right after, swinging his greatsword.
"Hahaha! Excellent!"
What pleased this man so? He kept laughing.
Setting aside his screw-loose antics and blistering personality from the saltwater, Ballak's skill was genuine.
Worthy of ruling the vast South Sea.
But.
'It didn't break.'
Meeting the greatsword head-on without dodging.
Ballak's blade couldn't halve my steel-and-aura-clad arms.
Conversely, I hadn't shattered Ballak's body either.
Not even Cerriate's barrage, nor the recent surface-slam, did more than make him crack his neck casually.
His flesh was armor incarnate, tough as any shield.
The me before breaching walls might have despaired.
Yes, overwhelmed by that rampart in the mental realm.
Then.
'Just smash it the same way.'
As when I breached it.
Hummm!
Regulating breath, staunching minor wounds.
Orichalcum gauntlets, fused with aura, began gleaming like the sun.
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