Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: The Ancient Sea Serpent
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A head thicker than a man's skull smashed into Hesa's arm, which was as thick as a man's torso.
The massive flying fish naturally veered away from its rider, abandoning him over the railing, and the Deep One knight was flung onto the deck.
Hesa stomped down on the Deep One's head, crushing it flat.
"I'll smash you all!"
With that shout, the giant flying fish knights soared above the pirates' heads.
But this time, the opportunity didn't come to Hesa.
"Incoming."
Basen Rak Orzan gripped his spear tightly.
Even as the giant flying fish charged with its jaws wide open, Basen didn't budge.
'That's just to intimidate. The real threats are that flying fish's teeth and the trident behind it.'
Basen held his ground, and the giant flying fish impaled itself straight onto the spear tip angled at 45 degrees.
-Crack!
The wooden shaft couldn't withstand the weight of the giant flying fish and snapped. At that moment, Basen took a step back and watched the creature plummet from the air to the deck.
A Deep One knight tumbled down after it.
The creature wore a look of surprise.
"Hmph."
Basen snorted and drew his sword, charging forward.
It took only one swing to sever the Deep One's neck.
Basen shouted to his soldiers.
"Don't get greedy! Stay put! If they miss, let them run straight into the next spear tip!"
Following Basen's orders, the soldiers held their positions and repelled the giant flying fish knights' assaults.
General Iyan Tata repeated Basen's command and thought to himself.
'Exactly. No matter how novel the attack, if you think it through, it's just a variation on any other assault. They're riding stronger beasts and using their power to strike, no different from cavalry in the end.'
Iyan even considered that these foes might be easier to handle than land cavalry.
Deploying spearmen against cavalry was basic tactics, but cockatoos were slender and their thick feathers let them slip between spear tips easily. The horses' thunderous charge often shattered formations.
'But if we duck low enough, we can skewer the flying fish on our tridents before they reach us. Plus, unlike land cavalry, a fallen Deep One doesn't have fellow riders to protect it—it lands right in our formation.'
As Heukrin's warships effectively countered the giant flying fish knights, the other warships belatedly began imitating their method.
Basen surveyed the battlefield.
'But the ships hit early have taken heavy damage and are busy fighting the pirates who've boarded from the sea. And the pirates won't stop here.'
Just as Basen predicted,
pirate ships were emerging from Doltan Island.
"Pirates! About 120 ships!"
It was a large number, but in a fair fight during peacetime, they might have engaged even if it meant boarding battles.
But now, the lead warships had already been ambushed by giant flying fish knights and Deep Ones from the water.
'Some ships can't even maneuver. If we leave it like this, they'll tangle up, and the pirates will slip between them. It'd be hard for the relatively undamaged Heukrin ships to target the pirates effectively.'
The cannons' accuracy wasn't great yet.
'No choice.'
At the lookout's shout, Basen turned to Captain Tione Itimo.
"Captain, we need to advance."
"I figured you'd say that."
"We have to loop around the allied navy warships and take the lead."
"Just us?"
"They're a bit late, but they've succeeded in driving off the flying fish knights. There's fighting on deck, but individual Deep One pirates aren't that threatening. Give it time, and the allied navy will recover their combat strength."
"...So we're on our own until then."
Basen shrugged.
"What more is there to say?"
Heukrin's warships began advancing.
As expected, Basen saw the allied navy ships pressing together to drive off the Deep Ones in boarding combats.
'This might take longer than I thought.'
As the pirate flagship passed the allied navy's whale mustache ships, a massive shadow leaped from the mast atop one of them.
It was Garuda Mazdari, spreading his wings wide and landing with surprising grace for his size.
As the soldiers tensed, Basen raised a hand to hold them back.
"What is it, Garuda?"
Mazdari didn't answer directly and muttered something odd instead.
"Unexpected."
"Unexpected how?"
Mazdari grinned slyly at Basen's question.
"Those hundred-odd pirate ships will first tangle with the allied navy. Meanwhile, Heukrin can line up and broadside them easily."
"Attack our allies?"
"Allies? Do you really think that? Heukrin and the rest are enemy nations."
Basen didn't deny it.
Mazdari continued.
"More importantly, that way you can smash both the pirate ships and the allied navy. And you'd even have an excuse."
Basen chuckled dryly.
"Hearing that from you makes me want to do it."
"Afraid of my power?"
"No. Even if you had no power at all, I'd make the same choice. Enemy nation or not, we have a fight right in front of us. If we can't win this one, we can't worry about the next, Garuda."
"Hm."
"Besides, we can't assume those 120 pirate ships are all of them. We need to conserve strength no matter what. Ah, of course, your life is valuable combat power too."
Mazdari looked somewhat displeased but couldn't come up with a retort.
Basen said,
"Anyway, if you're leaving, climb aboard the ship next to us. I'll give a noble like you a chance to go."
"No need. You'll need me."
"Need you? Why?"
Garuda pointed with a talon at the lead pirate ship.
"Something dangerous is coming."
Basen looked where he pointed.
Now even Basen could see it.
"That's..."
At the vanguard of the pirate fleet was their largest ship.
A massive vessel should naturally be slow, but this one outpaced the others by far.
The savage at the bow shouted,
"Charge! Ram their ships to pieces!"
The target of Yabun's shout wasn't another pirate.
It was the colossal sea serpent bound and dragging the ship forward.
Drakes ruled the land, sea serpents the sea—a massive monster of legend.
Its body was roughly 40 meters long, its head alone big enough to swallow several men whole.
In form, it resembled a giant snake without limbs, but the razor-sharp spines along its spine and rugged scales proclaimed it a being of another league, not just in size but in menace.
Even this sea serpent, chained to the pirate ship, seemed far from ordinary.
-Kill those bastards... and I'll kill you too!
At the sea serpent's words, Yabun bared his teeth and snarled.
"Try it if you dare! Do you think a worm like you can defy the great Heartlight?"
The sea serpent merely rolled its eyes to glare at Yabun.
Meanwhile, gods stood watching over the battlefield at sea.
They had positioned themselves at a distance so their conversations wouldn't carry, and only Eldar remained beside Seong-un.
Seong-un looked at the sea serpent and said,
「Ancient Glimmering-Tail Sea Serpent」
Seong-un muttered,
"A monstrosity."
"A monstrosity?"
Eldar echoed.
"So the Deep Ones have... tamed a monstrosity?"
Seong-un was puzzled too.
"Yeah. How'd they manage that?"
Monstrosities and abominations were generally enemies to be repelled.
Of course, intelligent specimens could be reasoned with, and as civilizations advanced, even monstrosities had to tread carefully, leaving room for negotiation.
In such cases, they might serve as guardian deities for villages or cities, providing benefits.
'But from overhearing that exchange, it doesn't seem voluntary.'
Seong-un pondered.
'Could it be related to a domain?'
With that, Seong-un checked the domain he'd gained from slaying Jeolubi, once called an evil god.
「Domain of Corpses」
Not even a subdomain—just a plain domain.
'Not a racial or major domain, just a regular one. Meaning it falls under unique domains...'
Subdomains totaled 64: 32 major ones players started with, plus 32 minor ones from monstrosities, ancient ruins, and the like.
These encompassed technologies and knowledge naturally discovered in nature and civilization development.
Thus, over time, players commonly acquired them all.
'At this point, no player lacks subdomains like Livestock or Grains. Starting choices create level differences, of course.'
Racial domains were similarly common.
After the first and second races, players continually acquired more.
'Humans and elves are popular, so most players probably have Human or Elf domains by now.'
Excluding major domains unavailable yet, unique domains remained.
These arose randomly in gameplay, with varied numbers.
Crucially, no two players could share them.
One per game, guaranteed.
'Conditions are needed to obtain them, but you can't just will it into existence.'
Beyond level gaps in common subdomains and racial domains, unique domains defined a player's identity.
Thus, Seong-un rejoiced at gaining one by slaying an evil god.
Especially since 'Domain of Corpses' was one he'd never seen.
Likely unique to this playthrough, like vampires, werewolves, or Deep Ones.
'But it was trash.'
On reflection, it had to be.
Corpses were just corpses.
They couldn't move and rotted away once formed.
Jeolubi never used its domain power mid-game, solving that mystery.
Seong-un had examined the Domain of Corpses for uses but found none practical at the time.
That was a century ago.
'Everything alive dies eventually, steadily raising the level, but what's the point if it's useless?'
But this time might be different.
'Jeolubi had a unique domain. So Shacha probably does too.'
Seong-un watched Yabun and the sea serpent with interest.
'And if that unique domain lets him control monstrosities...?'