Chapter 103: 10-Quad. Aboard the Caravel
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 103: 10-Quad. Aboard the Caravel
The ship that had fired the opening salvo had already turned its bow. Seeing Seo-un’s group, the crew began to flee as fast as the hull could carry them.
It seemed their will to fight had evaporated the moment they saw an enemy split a 7th Circle spell apart with a Hand Aura at the very start of the engagement.
"Don’t chase! Focus on those two!"
Following their pre-arranged plan, Li Min took the helm and turned the rudder in response to Seo-un’s order.
They brought the ship broadside to prepare for attacks from the two vessels flanking them. One of the enemy ships turned tail and retreated, but the other charged straight toward Seo-un’s vessel.
Thud!
The enemy ship slammed into them. A boarding party of knights and martial artists immediately attempted to initiate close-quarters combat.
Seeing the enemies leaping over recklessly, the expressions on Nam Sa-gwang and Seo-un’s faces actually brightened. The enemies likely thought they held the advantage in a melee, assuming Seo-un’s team only had one mage.
Slash! Slice!
That delusion vanished the moment their lead knight—a sturdy-looking fellow—was carved up by Nam Sa-gwang in just two moves.
"Re-Retreat!"
The knights and martial artists who had just leaped onto the deck scrambled to get back to their own ship, but Seo-un, Jin Long, and Nam Sa-gwang followed them right back, pressing the attack.
Boom!
Whoosh! Screeeech!
Whirrrrr!
Meanwhile, spells from the team’s three mages rained down on the enemy vessel. Having wiped out an entire squad in just a few minutes by overwhelming them instantly, Seo-un’s team scanned their surroundings.
Watching the other ships scatter in different directions, Dump spoke up. "We should chase them!"
Jeong Su-hwa shook her head at the suggestion. "They’re in ships with the same specs as ours. It’s not easy to close a gap when the speeds are identical."
"Ah..."
"Should we try to draw them into a magic battle while pursuing?" Gi-chan suggested. "If we can just damage the ship..."
Seo-un shook his head. "It’s the early-game prime time. It’s better to focus on farming. Clearing these islands comes first."
Since they had secured this drop location, the four surrounding islands were essentially theirs. He judged that moving away from the islands to chase enemies in this situation wasn't the right call.
Li Min turned the rudder, which was larger than his own body, and vigorously pushed the lever to advance. Their vessel surged forward, pushing aside the enemy ship that now held nothing but bloodstains and crates.
As Gi-chan waved his staff toward the retreating enemy ship, a small fireball flew out and ignited a blaze on its deck. Watching the ship sink amidst a plume of smoke not long after, Gi-chan muttered, "This ship... its durability is like tissue paper."
"Tell me about it. It might just burn to a crisp from a single fire spell."
As Seo-un nodded in agreement, the ship came to a halt with an unpleasant grinding noise.
Screeeech!
"The water’s getting shallow, and there are a lot of reefs on the bottom. We’ll have to anchor here and head to the island on foot."
"Alright. Li Min, Dump, Lyle—you guys stay and guard the ship."
"Don’t worry about us, just go."
"Bring back lots of good items!"
"Hyung, there might be monsters, so be careful!"
Waving off the trio’s cheers and concerns, the remaining team members leaped into the sea.
Splash! Splash!
As everyone dove into the water and began to swim, a rhythmic sound reached their ears.
Tap, tap, tap!
Nam Sa-gwang was skimming across the surface of the water like a swallow. He landed on the island in an instant and looked back at his teammates with a look of pity.
"Water Walking..."
Jin Long’s eyes widened as he marveled at the lingering grace of that elegant lightness skill. Li Lingwei and Jeong Su-hwa also rubbed their eyes, momentarily forgetting to swim as they stared blankly.
"Tch. Show-off. Gi-chan, why aren't you using the Air Board?"
"It doesn't work on water."
Seo-un had expected as much, but he’d asked just in case. If the Air Board worked, Gi-chan and Juriel wouldn't have had to soak themselves in the ocean.
"Phew."
The first to climb onto the island, Seo-un regulated his breathing and checked his soaking wet clothes.
Pop!
He suddenly tensed his entire body into a horse stance, and the seawater soaked into his clothes sprayed out in all directions. In the midst of this, Nam Sa-gwang waved his hand, instantly repelling the water droplets flying toward him.
Ssssss.
As Seo-un circulated his internal power and pushed yang energy through his pores, steam began to rise, and his clothes dried in an instant.
Snap, snap!
He threw out a few punches and kicks with elastic movements, causing the white salt crust to fly off as well.
"It still smells, though."
Even if he dried the clothes with internal power and shook off the salt, there was no helping the briny scent lingering in the fabric.
"You should have studied lightness skills harder. To think you’d vulgarly drench yourself in seawater," the perfectly dry Nam Sa-gwang needled him.
"I still opened my Middle Dantian, didn't I?"
At the mention of the Middle Dantian, Nam Sa-gwang’s mouth snapped shut. After staring at Seo-un in silence for a moment, he finally spoke with difficulty.
"The Insights of the Mad Demon are..."
"Later. I told you."
Before Nam Sa-gwang could finish, the rest of the team members reached the shore one by one. The seven team members quickly ran up onto the island, where large and small rocks and trees resembling palms provided patches of shade.
Watching the mages use magic to instantly wick away the moisture, Seo-un brought his sleeve to his nose. "Tsk."
As Seo-un clicked his tongue, a bipedal lobster appeared in his field of vision. The moment Seo-un, who was in the lead, came to a halt, the rest of the team stopped behind him.
"It’s a Crabman."
When Seo-un tilted his head at Juriel’s words, Gi-chan explained instead.
"It’s a monster that appears near the sea. They look like that, but they roam in swarms and drop pearl-like items called Essence of the Sea. One of those is worth about 50 million won."
Seo-un’s eyes sparkled at that. "How strong are they?"
"They’re known to be fairly tough, but not enough for our squad to worry about."
The moment those words left Gi-chan's mouth, Nam Sa-gwang drew his Hand Aura and Seo-un, his arms twisting in a bizarre fashion, charged at the creatures.
With the mages firing off appropriate spells and all the martial artists rushing in, the Crabmen boasting large pincers were annihilated in an instant. After gathering the five Essences that dropped, they began moving again, spotting items scattered under palm trees or atop rocks.
While the team members fanned out to farm items like they were on a treasure hunt, Gi-chan called out to Seo-un.
"Hyung!"
At the shout from a distance, Seo-un dashed over to him in a single bound.
"Look at this."
Seo-un’s expression turned peculiar as he took the transparent glass bottle Gi-chan held out. There was a ship inside the glass bottle, and the moment he took it, a notification sounded.
[Ding! Basic Mana Carrack Upgrade Glass Bottle. It has decent durability but is somewhat slow. If you throw and break this bottle on the deck of the ship you are currently on, it will be upgraded to the ship inside the bottle.]
"Ah, so this is how it works."
"There’s this one too."
When he took another mysterious bottle where blue smoke swirled inside, another notification rang out.
[Ding! Magic Resistance Coating Glass Bottle. If you throw and break this bottle on the deck of the ship you are currently on, the ship’s magic resistance will increase.]
"It seems we can strengthen the ship we’re using through farming like this."
"Which means the ship’s performance could significantly influence the game later on."
The two made eye contact and nodded with a smile. If this was the case, they wouldn't have to worry about their ship burning up in the middle of the ocean quite so easily.
After thoroughly scouring the island and farming all the items, the team members hurried back to the ship. Back on the deck, the team members deliberated over three specific bottles.
[Basic Mana Panokseon Upgrade Glass Bottle. High durability but slow speed. Deals 20% additional damage to enemy ships upon collision.]
[Basic Mana Caravel Upgrade Glass Bottle. Low durability but high speed. Vulnerable to collisions with other ships.]
While everyone was contemplating, Dump was the first to voice his opinion.
"I think this Panokseon thing would be best. It looks sturdy just by looking at it. It’s big, too. Most of all, it seems specialized for ramming."
None of the team members had any real knowledge of ships, but the basic characteristics were listed. The Panokseon, which boasted solid durability at the cost of being heavy and slow; the Caravel, which was fast but fragile; and the Carrack, which balanced the two.
"I think the Caravel would be best. For now, securing mobility is the most important thing," Jeong Su-hwa emphasized.
"Seeing as ship upgrades are possible, items to increase speed might appear later, right? I think picking the sturdy one is..." Gi-chan sided with Dump.
"Then how about going with the Carrack, which is right in the middle?"
"Being mediocre isn't good. If we’re choosing, I think it’s better to pick between the Panokseon and the Caravel."
When Juriel disagreed with Jin Long’s opinion, Seo-un finally spoke. "Let’s go with the Caravel for now."
At those words, Dump looked at the bottle containing the Panokseon with a lingering gaze. He seemed to really like its appearance, so his disappointment was evident.
"No need to be disappointed. Since early farming is important, we’ll use the Caravel’s mobility to focus on looting. If a critical moment comes, we can just switch to the Panokseon immediately."
The team members’ expressions changed as if they’d been struck by a hammer. Looking at them—wondering why they hadn't thought of such a simple solution—Seo-un smashed the bottle containing the Caravel onto the deck.
Crash!
With the sound, the ship the team was on instantly transformed into the exact likeness of the Caravel inside the bottle.
"Hyung, should I install these?" Gi-chan shook the glass bottles containing the three Mana Cannons they had farmed.
"We don’t know what will happen if we change ships again, so just install one for now."
"Yes, sir!"
Crash!
[Ding! One Basic Mana Cannon has been installed.]
"Li Min, let’s go!"
At Seo-un’s order, Li Min, who was already at the helm, set the ship in motion. Powered by mana, the Caravel sliced through the sea with a speed that was incomparable to their previous vessel.
Cutting through the refreshing breeze, the ship quickly anchored near the closest small island.
"Brief us immediately if anything happens."
"Don’t worry, just go!"
Li Min, who was scanning the surroundings with the monocular Seo-un had given him, waved back.
As expected, Nam Sa-gwang used his Water Walking while the others swam to the shore. The team began farming the island, which was much smaller than the first one.
"Aw. It’s just some beef jerky and two recovery scrolls."
"Farming is always like this. Let’s move fast."
Encouraging the disappointed Gi-chan, they farmed the surrounding islands, but no particularly useful items appeared after the first island. As the Caravel cut through the waves, Jin Long spoke up.
"Priest. It seems we should focus on the larger islands."
"That’s true, but the problem is that those large islands are always surrounded by these smaller ones."
When Jin Long looked at him with a questioning gaze, Juriel answered in Seo-un’s stead. "Unlike open waters, there might be enemies hiding their ships near small islands to launch an ambush, so we have to be careful."
Only then did Jin Long nod in understanding. They had been able to farm easily because they knew they were alone in the starting area, but from now on, they had to move assuming that enemies were a variable in every region.
"Still, we can’t just not farm. Let’s focus on the larger islands. We have confidence in our combat power, after all."
As he spoke, Seo-un glanced at Nam Sa-gwang. Simultaneously, he pinged the nearest island on the map, and Li Min turned the rudder sharply.
The Caravel tilted its hull as if it might touch the water’s surface, carving a white arc of foam into the sea as it turned.
"Ugh."
Atop the heavily swaying deck, Lyle’s face turned pale as he began to dry heave.
* * *
"Gah!"
On a Panokseon with its deck split in half, a man thrust a rapier into an enemy. As he wiped the blood from his face, two men landed behind him.
"Lord. There was no need for you to step forward personally."
"Indeed. It is enough for you to simply give us orders from the rear."
At the words of the two identical-looking men dressed in red and blue armor, the man with long, flowing silver hair sheathed his rapier and spoke.
"This place is different from our world. Here, one cannot survive by playing king and watching from the sidelines."
At Senrurk’s words, the two knights knelt on one knee and bowed their heads.
"Forget the knightly etiquette. In this place, we follow the rules of this world. Forget everything that hinders survival and aim strictly for TOP 1."
"Yes! Lord!"
Watching the Devil Twins, who stood up while still bowing their heads in respect, Senrurk, the Madman of the Battlefield from Cresen, shook his head.