Chapter 104: The Tenth Quadrant—The Start of Naval Warfare
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 104: The Tenth Quadrant—The Start of Naval Warfare
Lyle, who had spent his entire life with his feet planted firmly on solid ground, found it difficult to keep his senses amidst a physical agony he was experiencing for the first time.
The other team members had held respectable positions in their respective worlds and possessed some experience with seafaring, but Lyle was a different story entirely.
Of course, there were outliers like Dump. Despite it being his first time on a ship as well, he seemed completely immune to the swaying of the sea.
“Seasickness? I’ve heard of people getting ill from long carriage rides, but this?”
Seo-un shook his head as he watched Dump. The man stood motionless in his heavy armor, seemingly unaffected by the ship’s constant pitching.
“Just lie down for now. If you press your body flat against the deck, it’ll be a bit more bearable.”
“I have to... maintain my position...”
“It’s fine. Just lie down.”
Once forced to lie down, Lyle closed his eyes, his dry heaving finally beginning to subside.
Though not in as bad a state as Lyle, the complexions of the other team members—excluding Dump, Nam Sa-gwang, and Li Min—weren’t exactly healthy.
“I guess I should start carrying seasickness medicine from now on,” Seo-un muttered.
As they cut through the waves, sailing smoothly, Jin Long suddenly shouted from above.
“Enemy! One-thirty!”
At his cry from the top of the mast, where he had been scanning the horizon with a monocular, everyone’s gaze shifted in unison.
“They’re pretty far off,” Li Min noted.
“Their heading is different, too. Doesn’t look like they’re looking for a fight. What should we do? It looks like a Carrack; we could catch up if we wanted to.”
Seo-un shook his head at Li Min’s suggestion.
“Right now, items to reinforce the ship are more important than combat. Unless they pick a fight first, there’s no need to go looking for one.”
Li Min nodded and took the helm again, steering the ship back on course.
The enemy ship, over a kilometer away, seemed to have spotted them as well. It hesitated for a moment before continuing on its way.
After half a day of sailing, the target islands finally began to appear. The team members’ faces brightened at the sight of a fairly large island surrounded by a cluster of smaller ones, their silhouettes stark against the setting sun.
Lyle even managed to pull himself up by the railing, looking toward the approaching land with eyes full of hope.
After Seo-un had Lyle taken to the cramped cabin to rest, he began issuing orders.
“Stay sharp from here on out. We don’t know where an enemy ship might be hiding among these islands.”
At those words, everyone took their battle positions. Nam Sa-gwang, in particular, stood at the very front of the bow, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. His precarious stance might have looked unstable to an outsider, but no one on the team looked at him with concern.
As the red glow of the sunset faded into the deep blues of dusk, they passed the first island—only to be greeted by a thunderous roar.
Boom! Boom-boom!
CRASH!
The enemies, who had been hiding their hull behind the small island, fired their Mana Cannons with impeccable timing.
Nam Sa-gwang blocked the first Magic Bullet with his bare body, but the second and third shells struck the ship directly, punching jagged holes through the hull.
A startled Lyle came stumbling out of the cabin.
“Charge the enemy ship!” Seo-un commanded.
Li Min gripped the helm and turned it without hesitation.
K-boom! K-boom!
Due to the sudden turn, the Magic Bullets that missed sent towering pillars of water erupting into the air.
“Ram them at full speed!”
The Caravel sped toward the flank of the enemy ship, which had turned broadside to fire its Mana Cannons.
“Sajae! Sa-gwang!”
As if they already knew what to do without Seo-un saying a word, the two were busy parrying the Magic Bullets flying from the enemy’s stern. Among the blue masses of Magic Bullets flying in arcs, there were occasional red ones that flew in a lethal, straight line. Those were the shells that had punched holes in their hull earlier.
Clang!
Meanwhile, Juriel, Lyle, and Gi-chan were busy casting Barriers to intercept the straight-flying projectiles.
Splash! Splash!
Cutting through the rising spray, the Caravel finally reached the enemy ship’s nose.
“Brace for impact!”
Even before the ships collided, Seo-un, Jin Long, and Nam Sa-gwang leaped toward the enemy deck.
Whoosh! Fwoosh!
Screeeech! Flash!
As soon as they jumped, magic poured down as if the enemies had been waiting for that exact moment. Four spells of the 6th and 7th Circles instantly engulfed the three men in flames. At that exact moment, the Caravel slammed into the side of the enemy ship.
THOOM!
The bow of the Caravel took far more damage than the Carrack it hit, but in that instant, the three men who had been caught in the magic vanished without a trace.
“Now!”
When the three men who had jumped first suddenly appeared on the enemy ship’s stern, the mages who had cast the spells looked bewildered. They had poured their prepared magic onto the three martial artists who had shown themselves at the bow, yet the men who should have been incinerated were now appearing behind them.
As is often the case once a trick is revealed, the truth was simple. Seo-un, anticipating that the enemies would sense mana fluctuations and save their magic, had used Cloning Technique and Transformation Technique to bait the enemy’s aggro.
“Kill them!”
At someone’s sharp cry, seven knights and martial artists rushed toward the three of them.
“Dis-all!”
At that moment, Jeong Su-hwa’s distorted incantation echoed from behind.
“It’s a Witch!”
Her neatly tied hair stood up in a disheveled mess, and a sickening light erupted from the crystal ball she held in both hands. The moment the light washed over the enemies, their movements became visibly sluggish.
“Leave the mages to me!”
Nam Sa-gwang lightly claimed the head of a martial artist rushing at him and broke through the line toward the mages in the rear.
Confirming that two of the three enemy mages were young women, Seo-un shook his head and began to engage the remaining enemies.
K-boom!
A knight in thick armor, stained red, rushed at Seo-un, only to be intercepted by Dump in his golden armor. The collision resulted in a thunderous explosion. The moment the two knights clashed, the deck splintered, and the wooden floor beneath them screamed as it collapsed.
Thud!
Dump immediately slammed his helmet into the enemy knight’s face and began to overwhelm him with sheer brute force.
With Li Min and Gi-chan joining the fray after Dump, the deck of the enemy ship began to feel cramped. In a shipboard battle where the range of movement was limited, being pushed back once was as good as a death sentence. With no room to retreat, the enemies had no choice but to grit their teeth and hold their ground, but Seo-un’s squad was overwhelmingly strong.
Once the melee began with Jeong Su-hwa maintaining her area-of-effect debuffs, the enemies were slaughtered before they could put up a proper fight.
Thwack! Thud! Crack!
A high kick landed squarely on the head of a female mage whose face was already covered in blood. Her body collapsed as she lost consciousness. Smiling at the one remaining female mage, Nam Sa-gwang began to walk toward her.
The other team members didn’t even glance at Nam Sa-gwang; they simply began farming the loot. The sound of a leather drum being beaten echoed from behind, but everyone pointedly ignored it.
“Oh! This is pretty good,” Jin Long said, holding up a silver sphere.
“If there are separate repair items, we won’t necessarily need to switch to a different ship,” Seo-un noted.
As they continued gathering items, Gi-chan spoke up while inspecting the eight Mana Cannons.
“Hyung, the items equipped on the ship can be salvaged too.”
“Really? That’s great. Everyone, load them onto our ship.”
“What should we do with this ship?” Li Min asked.
Seo-un glanced around the ruined vessel. “Let’s just sink it.”
After finishing the farming and returning to the Caravel, Nam Sa-gwang, who was left alone on the enemy deck, began to gather his internal energy. Exerting a massive presence and drawing up energy as vast as the sea, he performed a Stomp.
The deck of the Carrack split in half with a deafening scream.
CRAAAAACK!
Leaping into the air, he fired Hand Auras onto the split vessel. The ship, now completely halved, began to slowly sink beneath the waves.
As he kicked off the air and landed back on the Caravel, the way the team members looked at him had changed. They had briefly forgotten—because he was on their team and was a pervert who enjoyed hitting women—but he was still Nam Sa-gwang.
“Does increasing the amount of internal energy produce that kind of power?” Seo-un asked.
“What does the amount of internal energy matter? It’s the level of control and Aura technique that counts. You know that,” Nam Sa-gwang replied indifferently.
Of course, Seo-un knew that in theory, but seeing such monstrous martial prowess with his own eyes made him crave more internal energy. From the fight just now, Seo-un’s Dantian was already filled to its limit.
It wouldn't increase any further, and Vitality was no longer something he particularly needed. While he was lost in his thirsty contemplation, Li Min set the ship in motion.
“Don’t you think those guys already finished farming the island?”
“We’ll have to check. And I think we should call it a day.”
Seo-un looked at Lyle with pity. The man was still clutching the railing and retching. Since he didn't feel the need to navigate the dark sea any further, they headed toward the central island.
Nam Sa-gwang, with Lyle tucked under his arm, used Water Walking to land on the shore. Once on land, Lyle collapsed onto the ground with a look of deep emotion.
“L-Land...”
The aftereffects of the seasickness didn't vanish immediately, but he seemed happy just to be on solid ground.
“Lyle, you rest. Jeong Su-hwa, Li Min, guard the perimeter. We need to keep an eye on the ship too. The rest of us, let’s move out to farm.”
Juriel and Gi-chan summoned bright orbs of light and began to head deep into the island. As they moved past the white sandy beach into the interior, where green grass gave way to forest, they felt a sudden surge of mana.
“Sajae!”
Even without Seo-un saying a word, everyone had already finished their battle preparations.
Slash!
Jin Long, who had dashed past Seo-un, cleanly took the head of an enemy who was just about to cast a spell. The team members gathered behind Jin Long as he scanned the area for more threats.
“Oh? It’s a Creature Shaman.”
“Creature?”
When Seo-un asked about the unfamiliar name, Gi-chan replied while rummaging through the dead enemy’s belongings.
“They’re humanoid monsters. There are Shamans like this one who use attack spells, Assassins who specialize in ambushes, and Warriors who run wild with clubs or swords. The interesting thing is that they even split into factions and fight each other to the death.”
After hearing the explanation, Seo-un looked around. “The fact that these guys are here means this island hasn't been farmed yet.”
“Most likely.”
As they pushed deeper into the island, they saw items scattered here and there. As expected, most were items for reinforcing or repairing ships, though occasionally a decent weapon or magic book would drop.
“The island is big, so there are a lot of items,” Gi-chan said happily, having just picked up a useful magic book.
Crunch!
Just as Seo-un was about to suggest they head back, a sound reached them. Juriel quickly shot a sphere of light into the sky.
Running toward the sound, they found Creatures locked in a life-or-death struggle with a monster that looked like a giant turtle. It had gray skin and a face that looked like it had been erased, resembling a monster from a sci-fi movie. Aside from its mouth and eyes, it had only two small holes instead of a nose, making it a repulsive sight.
“Their movements are agile. If I didn't know better, I’d have mistaken them for Elves.”
The movements of the Creatures fighting the giant turtle were notable, moving with the same light-footedness as the Elves they had encountered before.
“A Giant Turtle!”
The team’s attention shifted at Gi-chan’s reaction. Feeling everyone’s gaze, he looked at Seo-un and smirked.
“That’s an expensive monster. They often drop shells, and their shells go for over 100 million per kilogram.”
Hearing that, Seo-un gave the order without delay. “Let’s start the hunt.”
The team members rushed toward the dozens of Creatures that were fighting the Giant Turtle while spamming magic. Despite the sudden intrusion, the creatures didn't panic; they retreated and reorganized their formation.
“Not bad,” Li Min admired sincerely as he watched the Warriors and Assassins take the front while keeping the Shamans in the rear.
“They’re highly intelligent. Don’t let your guard down.”
As Li Min nodded at Gi-chan’s warning and charged, the Giant Turtle let out a scream.
ROAAAAAR!
Taking advantage of the Creatures’ retreat, Nam Sa-gwang had attacked, his strike ripping open the thick skin of the turtle’s neck. Nam Sa-gwang, who had intended to take the head in one go, retreated to avoid the flames the creature spat out along with its scream.
“That’s some incredibly tough hide.”
“Don’t take it lightly. You have to flip it over and stab its belly to kill it easily.”
As he finished speaking, Gi-chan used the Earth Crag spell to upend the ground and shake the creature’s balance. The plan was for Jin Long, Seo-un, and Juriel to handle the Creatures while the remaining team members stole the kill on the Giant Turtle.
“Sajae! Their magic is all low-level! No need to overextend to target the Shamans.”
Even while pushing back the agile Assassins, Seo-un didn't lose track of his team members’ movements. Knowing well that having an eye for the whole field was crucial in a team fight, he didn't neglect the practice of observing everything even in an easy battle.
Once they had dealt with the Assassins, who could leap several meters in a single jump and flip mid-air, and the Warriors, who were quite strong for their size, the remaining Shamans turned tail and fled.
Seo-un’s Pyeonjeons flew into their backs, and the Shamans were all cleaned up before they could get very far.
The persistent Giant Turtle was still holding out even after all the Creatures were dead. Its shell was so hard that even Nam Sa-gwang, who had drawn his Hand Aura, shook his head. The shell was so thick that ordinary stabs couldn't even damage it. They repeatedly used ground-splitting magic to try and flip it, but the creature held its ground.
Thump!
Whenever they cast Earth Wall to create a barrier on the ground, it would sense it with uncanny timing and dodge backward, suggesting its sense for mana was very acute.
“Dump!”
“I know!”
Dump’s entire body glowed with a golden light as he dashed under the creature, whose body was tilted from the ground collapsing. Using an ultimate skill that couldn't be used again for a while, Dump slid under the creature’s belly in one go.
Boom!
With a heavy thud, the Giant Turtle’s body was tossed into the air and flipped over instantly. At the same time, Nam Sa-gwang ripped its belly wide open.
Splurt!
As green blood erupted from its stomach, the creature’s flailing movements stopped, and it vanished, leaving behind several items.