Chapter 34
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Demon God's Fragment (2)
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The ship's interior was absolute chaos.
The clash of swords and people's screams echoed from every direction.
Raiders lay collapsed on the floor from battles with the crew.
Roin roughly lifted one of those raiders with one hand.
He closely examined the clothes the raider was wearing.
'No Ratio emblem.'
Just because there was no emblem didn't guarantee these weren't Ratio followers.
Ships loaded with expensive cargo were constantly exposed to such raids.
Roin grabbed the raider's hair and forcibly yanked his head back.
A pained groan escaped the raider's mouth.
Roin didn't care.
He spat out only the question he wanted answered.
"You lot, what are you? Ratio?"
"......"
The man clamped his mouth shut.
"Oh-ho."
Roin grabbed the man's sideburns and yanked them out.
Rriiiip!
The sideburns tore free, delivering excruciating pain to the man.
Watching the man writhe, Roin asked again.
"Answer my question. Or next, I'll rip off your ears."
The man's pupils shook violently.
Trembling, the man finally yielded to Roin's threat.
"I-I'm a mercenary......"
Men who would do anything for money.
Now that he knew what they were.
Time for the next question.
"Who hired you to raid this ship?"
He demanded the client's identity.
The hesitating man finally opened his mouth.
"That man was......"
At that instant, the man's throat began to swell.
"Wh-what?"
The man seemed clueless as to why this was happening.
Soon, the man's head exploded.
Roin, having anticipated it, shed his outer coat to prevent the blood from splattering.
'A prohibition spell was cast on him.'
The kind of magic that activated the moment certain words were spoken.
'Probably set the client's name as the forbidden word.'
From the man's final reaction, he hadn't even known he was under such a spell.
'Not that it matters.'
Only one thing occupied his mind right now.
'You bastards touch a hair on Oupf that I bid on, and I'll wipe you all out!'
For the first time in a while, Roin's eyes blazed fiercely.
Amid the sudden raiders' appearance, Senior Knight Den quickly rallied his subordinates.
"The fragment!"
"Right here!"
Den took the wooden box containing the Demon God's fragment from his subordinate knight.
He discarded the box and extracted the fragment alone.
Carrying a large box made it an easy target for raiders.
So he planned to hide just the fragment on his person.
The moment he touched the fragment with his bare hand.
Den's vision went pitch black.
"Wh-what the...!"
Caught off guard by the unexpected phenomenon.
But the abnormality wasn't limited to his sight.
-Do you desire power?
-Devour me.
-Then you shall have everything you desire.
Whispers from the darkness tempted him.
Focus gradually faded from Den's eyes.
Seeing Den suddenly freeze like a statue, the Mid Knights grew anxious.
"You need to move, sir!"
Even as the Mid Knights urged him, Den stood motionless like a statue.
The moment they reached to touch him.
Without warning, Den drew his sword.
And threatened his own subordinate.
A Mid Knight's side was deeply slashed.
The other subordinates couldn't comprehend the situation unfolding before them.
"L-Lieutenant?"
"Wh-what's going on all of a sudden!"
Den remained silent.
His eyes were already turning black.
Just as he, poisoned by Demonic Energy, swung his sword again.
Clang!
Jerka Tayla parried Den's sword, then thrust out his gloved hand.
He snatched the Demon God's fragment right from Den's grasp.
Only then did Den regain his senses.
"Wh-what in the world..."
Jerka provided the explanation.
"You can't grab the Demon God's fragment with bare hands. Do that, and Inkra's Demonic Energy takes over your body and mind, just like now."
"Are you alright, Lord Jerka?"
He nodded emphatically at Den's question.
The glove gripping the Demon God's fragment glowed white with mana circuits, dispersing the fragment's black Demonic Energy.
The white glove he wore was no ordinary item.
An enchanted item blessed by Goddess Sindia.
Wearing it prevented falling to Inkra's Demonic Energy like Den had, even when holding the fragment.
Jerka sheathed his sword, then picked up the white cloth from inside the wooden box.
He wrapped the Demon God's fragment with it.
"As I said earlier, never touch the Demon God's fragment bare-handed. Keep that in mind."
"Yes, Lord Jerka."
As they conversed.
Raiders began surrounding them.
Jerka raised his sword and demanded of the raiders.
"Who sent you?"
The raiders didn't answer Jerka's question.
There was no reason or need to respond.
Of course, Jerka hadn't expected an answer either.
There was one perfectly suited method for this situation.
'I'll do it like Roin.'
Roin's method was simple.
Beat them until they talk.
That was it.
Before the raiders could charge, Jerka shouted to Den and his men.
"I'll hold them here! You protect the Demon God's fragment at all costs!"
"I'm sorry, Lord Jerka!"
This wasn't the time to fight them.
They had to safeguard the Demon God's fragment no matter what.
Den and the knights swiftly evacuated the area.
The raiders tried to pursue.
"Where do you think you're going!"
He flung a dagger from his belt, embedding it precisely in a raider's back.
Drawing his sword again, Jerka single-handedly blocked the entrance in the direction Den's group had fled.
At least seven raiders.
But that wasn't the end.
As time passed, more kept gathering here.
'To think this many hid their presence for four whole days.'
They'd timed the chaos for just before docking at the port.
Jerka tightened his grip on his sword.
Despite the crisis, his expression looked better than during the Sendri Ruins battle.
There was a reason.
'Fighting people is easier than monsters.'
His first monster battle had been at the Sendri Ruins.
But he had plenty of experience clashing swords with fellow humans.
So regardless of the numerical disadvantage, this setup felt comfortable.
'Where the hell is Roin, though? Not a glimpse of him.'
Amid it all, Jerka suddenly wondered about Roin's whereabouts.
Jerka had decided to buy time alone until Den's group reached safety.
But the number of raiders exceeded their expectations.
Nine raiders blocked Den and his men.
Den and the knights drew their swords.
There was nowhere left to retreat.
One raider pointed at Den and shouted to his comrades.
"That man's got the Demon God's fragment. Don't let him escape!"
"Yes!"
At the man's command, the raiders moved in unison.
Their formation wasn't particularly polished.
Quite rough, in fact.
But it didn't feel like Ratio or a bandit gang.
'Mercenaries, huh.'
Someone had hired them to seize the Demon God's fragment.
The raiders held a clear numerical advantage over Den and the knights.
However, they were the kingdom's knight order.
Not an elite squad, but the kingdom knight order title wasn't for show.
Den deflected all the raiders' attacks with his single sword.
Blood sprayed everywhere with each swing.
Thanks to Den's prowess, victory was tilting toward the kingdom knights.
But then.
A burly man wielding a two-handed axe stepped forward.
"Stand down. That Senior Knight's mine."
It was the very man who'd been commanding the raiders.
Gripping his two-handed axe, the man charged at Den with startling speed.
His movements were far faster than expected.
Whoosh!
The axe cleaved through the air toward him.
Den dodged to the side.
The axe blade embedded deep into the wooden floor.
Before the man could pull it free, Den targeted his side.
But the man counterattacked instantly.
As if he'd deliberately shown an opening for Den, he yanked the axe free in a flash.
'Damn!'
Den parried the axe blade with his longsword.
Clang! The longsword snapped clean.
Den lost his weapon in an instant.
Had he not blocked, his head might have flown instead.
Den drew the knife he carried as a backup.
Readjusting his stance, he warily watched the man's moves.
'This guy's no ordinary foe!'
The man possessed at least Senior Knight-level skill.
Even among Senior Knights, skill levels varied.
Den instinctively knew the axe-wielder outclassed him.
'What now?'
He'd never anticipated a raider of this caliber.
As the man focused on Den, the other kingdom knights began losing ground to the raiders.
The numbers were too lopsided from the start.
The man smirked triumphantly and made his demand to Den.
"I know you've got the Demon God's fragment. Hand it over quietly if you don't want to die."
But instead of answering, Den fired back a question.
"Who hired you?"
"I ask the questions. You just answer."
"......"
The leisure of someone in control.
Yet he couldn't simply surrender the fragment.
If it fell into Ratio's hands, the entire Redinus Continent would plunge into chaos.
Den regripped his knife.
The man sneered at the sight.
"You've chosen the dumbest option."
"I follow only my superior's orders. Your words aren't worth hearing."
"Figured as much. Kingdom knights are all stubborn pricks like you."
The man squeezed his two-handed axe with force.
He swung at Den once more.
Den barely twisted back, evading the blade's path.
But the follow-up was the problem.
Den flew backward from the man's heavy kick.
He tumbled over the railing to the lower deck.
Crashing onto a cart, he clutched his waist with his left hand.
"Damn it...!"
The hard cargo on the cart had badly injured his back.
Standing at the railing looking down, the man raised his axe overhead.
And...
Leaped straight toward the cart.
"I'll split your skull clean!"
The man had a hobby of killing foes in one strike.
That's why he carried such a brutish two-handed axe.
Den gritted his teeth.
Struggling, he raised his knife.
Blocking that axe with a thin little knife was impossible from the start.
Still, he wanted to at least struggle.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
In the moment death loomed right before him.
An unexpected savior appeared.
The man took a direct kick to the side from a suddenly appearing boy.
The nearly two-meter giant tumbled dozens of meters from a single kick.
Den cracked his eyes open and finally identified the kicker.
A boy with a blatantly pissed-off expression.
Roin Leyden.
He warned the man rolling on the floor.
"Don't you dare touch the Oupf I bid on, you filthy pest."