Chapter 133: Chapter 133

Above the ship, which was thrown into confusion by the pirate corpses suddenly springing to life.

Shan transformed A Thousand Shapes into a whip form and brandished it, striking down the approaching enemies.

The bastards who had risen without even dying properly were actually easier enemies than when they were alive.

For the bodies of such wicked creatures burned away at even the lightest touch of True Silver.

However, after dispatching a dozen or so corpses that had risen nearby, Shan instinctively felt that beating them down one by one like this was not the solution.

The number of corpses rising between the entangled sailing ships right now easily exceeded a thousand by a rough estimate.

If he were to beat them all down, he would have to wrestle with them for the entire day.

Although he was originally ignorant of magic, it was not as if he had heard nothing while chatting with Cheryn every day.

He knew at least that while black magic was far more powerful than ordinary magic in exchange for violating various taboos, it was not invincible.

If it were not so, evil mages would have long since driven out the Order of the Goddess and taken over the world.

‘For instance, consuming an immense sacrifice, or using extra power to maintain such a phenomenon from where the magic was cast…’

Come to think of it, compared to what he had heard in stories before setting out, the number of powerful pirates was exceptionally small.

While fighting, he had simply assumed they were battling elsewhere, but now he thought that perhaps the bastards here might all be disposable pawns.

Seeing the corpses attack even living pirates made him all the more certain.

If he had devised such a plan, he would at least not remain right next to the battlefield.

Shan turned his gaze toward the place where the unidentified wave had erupted moments ago.

Ordinary people’s vision would see nothing but the pitch-black night sea, but his green eyes caught a pirate ship nearly a kilometer away in the distance.

A group standing completely aloof from the heavily entangled warships, looking out toward this direction arrogantly…

It was truly suspicious beyond belief.

Looking around for a moment, Shan clicked his tongue upon realizing that there was not a single ship capable of heading over there.

For the warships and pirate ships were all tangled together with grapnels attached to ropes.

Untangling them and sailing over there alone would take quite some time, and above all, if he approached by ship, those bastards might flee.

After disposing of a few gurgling undead that approached him, Shan walked over to a priest who caught his eye nearby.

Escorted by soldiers, he was smiting the approaching undead with miracles of purification.

Seeing Shan lightly brandish his whip as if clearing away bothersome nuisances to burn the undead to death, the priest bowed his head in gratitude.

“Thank you, Your High…”

“Grant me the Blessing of Vitality, quickly!”

“Pardon? B-But…”

“They used magic to create monsters. Even under the Sacred Concordat, such scum are subject to punishment.”

The hesitating priest nodded with an expression of sudden realization at Shan’s demand.

Hearing that, it was indeed not the time to worry about such details when they were already subjugating undead with miracles.

Above all, if this ever became a problem, would it not be the young duke in front of him who would take responsibility?

As the priest cried out the name of the Goddess, it did not take long before Shan felt vigor return to his body.

His arm muscles, exhausted from slicing down pirates without rest, and his calf muscles, aching as if squeezed from leaping and running again and again, unwound smoothly.

Regaining his strength with a few breaths, Shan gave him instructions.

“Pass the word to the other priests as well! Tell them to actively use miracles from now on to aid our forces!”

“Understood… Your Grace!?”

Answering Shan’s order, the priest screamed in shock as he watched Shan leap off the ship’s gunwale.

Splash. As he fell into the ocean, the cool seawater cooled his body, which had been heated by the fever of battle.

The blood that had seeped through the gaps in his armor was washed away by the seawater and spread out in all directions.

Before he could even feel refreshed by this, as if smelling the scent of blood, the corpses floating nearby began to approach him.

Those thrown into the sea after dying, as well as those who had drowned, had also been brought to life by the power of magic.

‘Where do you think you’re going.’

Instead of getting entangled with them, Shan moved smoothly like a fish and slipped away.

The hands of the corpses targeting him tore through the seawater in vain.

For him, who could perfectly control his physical body and feel the flow of strength, swimming was not a difficult task.

That was true even while wearing plate armor, though it had become lighter than most leather armors.

Shan smoothly moved his hands and feet forward in line with the water’s flow, then pulled back.

Owing to his Fighting Spirit imbued with the mental image of grabbing a massive volume of water, his body surged forward sharply.

It was a divine feat that ordinary people could not even imagine… developing a unique swimming technique and creating an application of Fighting Spirit on the spot.

Thanks to that, his speed was close to an ordinary person jogging lightly on land.

Shan, who was surging forward powerfully like a mermaid, relaxed his body and floated lightly on the water whenever he felt somewhat fatigued, waiting for the Blessing of Vitality to revitalize him.

Resting for a few seconds calmed his pounding heart, and vigor returned to his body once more.

Repeating that a few times, the pirate ship that had been far away approached rapidly.

*

Flagship of the Red Eagle.

The pirates felt surreal terror at the sight of the enemy walking up over the ship’s gunwale.

They could not comprehend at all how an enemy clad in dripping plate armor had managed to get here.

Did he seriously swim a distance of nearly a kilometer wearing something like that? How on earth?

Their confusion was short-lived; thanks to the green light glowing inside the helmet, they realized the identity of their opponent.

To think a figure as grand as a duke would swim through the ocean all by himself to invade this place!

While the pirates were astounded like that, Shan, having climbed onto the deck, was also surprised in a different sense.

It was because he saw an unholy magic circle drawn with blood and skulls that covered nearly the entire upper deck.

Looking at that alone, he could guess what scheme they had pulled off.

Without a doubt, they must have performed foul magic using human blood, flesh, and souls.

“You pirate bastards have truly gone to the absolute extreme.”

Along with his murmur, the whip held in Shan’s hand transformed into a spear form and struck down hard onto the deck.

Then the True Silver weapon embedded at the edge of the magic circle emitted a bright light and clashed with the foul power.

Crack! Pitch-black lightning sparked, and the iron bowl filled with blood at the center of the magic circle bubbled before shattering with a loud pop.

“No!”

The sorrowful cry of an old man rang out from behind.

Glancing to the side, Shan confirmed that those fighting far away (so distant they could barely be seen with the naked eye) had entered a lull.

Just as expected, once the magic circle was ruined, all the undead that had risen earlier lost their strength and collapsed.

Releasing a sigh of relief, Shan heard a large pirate hurriedly point at him and shout.

“Catch that bastard quickly! Don’t let him escape!”

Now that the magic raising dead pirates to fight was broken, facing the army of Pendia with the remaining pirates was no different from smashing an egg against a rock.

To resolve this situation, they had to capture the knight before their eyes by any means necessary.

For if they made Pendia’s Lord Protector and Duke their prisoner, those foes would not be able to act recklessly.

However, there was something the man misunderstood: Shan had no intention of running away from the start.

The spearhead pulled from the deck pierced into the mouth of a pirate right in front of him, tearing his tongue, crushing his cervical vertebrae, and exiting through the other side.

“You bastard!”

“I’ll rip out your entrails and scrub them in seawater before eating them!”

Excited by the sudden preemptive attack, the pirates also shouted and rushed forward.

They were on a completely different level from the rabble that had charged at the Pendia fleet far off.

Each was either the leader of a major pirate crew, a high-ranking executive, or a trusted bodyguard.

Among them were several who, had they not been born of humble birth or dipped their hands into crime, would have become knights.

That dozens of such powerhouses could surely not lose to a single person.

Until the moment of clash, everyone thought so.

“Huh…”

Swish. The pirates’ eyes widened at the sight of him wrapping the weapon, transformed back into a whip, around the mast and flying into the air.

Originally, launching one’s body into midair was the worst tactic, relinquishing the right to control one’s body, was it not?

But Shan, as if mocking those waiting at the landing spot, shortened the whip to cling to the mast before kicking off the wooden pillar to leap.

Upon landing, he spun around while wielding Red Oath, which he had drawn at some point, splitting the bodies of four pirates wide open as blood poured out.

“Kuaaak!”

“N-No!”

The pirates tumbled to the floor while screaming.

However, true to being elites, their reactions were certainly different from the small-time grunts he had been slicing down until a moment ago.

Their momentum in thrusting spears and swords, paying no heed to their comrades collapsing beside them, was finer than that of most regular soldiers.

It was enough to bring forth a sigh that they were resorting to piracy with such skills.

To dodge the weapons reaching out regardless of their comrades’ deaths, Shan nimbly threw his body.

At the same time, using the weapons held in both hands, he parried the incoming attacks one by one.

Some of them contained Fighting Spirit, albeit weak, and even if not, there were weapons presumed to be magic items.

Judging by how the Necklace of Vigilance alerted him to life-threatening dangers several times, it seemed even his armor would have difficulty blocking such attacks.

‘It seems far too extravagant in many ways for pirates to possess; I should capture a few alive and question them about the origin.’

In any case, against these bastards, it seemed that emptying his mind, rushing in, and slicing wildly like before would not work.

It was not impossible, but while fighting alone, would it not be troublesome if he were injured by an unexpected attack?

Along with that thought, Shan stepped back a few paces to open up distance and kicked away a small lantern sitting beside him.

The deck was originally dark to hide within the shadows of the night.

As the few light sources vanished, Shan’s body disappeared as if melding into the darkness.

“What the…!?”

Every time green eyes created afterimages in the dark, blood poured out along with screams.

How could fighting an enemy who was difficult to face even when visible be feasible by looking only at glowing eyes in the dark?

Moreover, unlike when he fought earlier, Shan was pouring out Fighting Spirit without holding back.

It was because he trusted that the Blessing of Vitality would replenish his stamina anyway.

A Thousand Shapes and Red Oath tore apart even armor made from monsters’ bodies like paper, and when he flexed his thighs to leap, his body shot out like an arrow.

Daruga, leader of the Rough Waves Pirates, who was called a half-mermaid because he could dive underwater for twenty minutes, was beheaded.

Hella, leader of the Golden Anchor Pirates, notorious as the Witch of the South Sea who never spared a man she slept with, had her heart pierced.

Beto, the Ghost Archer (a pirate from Horais said to hit enemies hundreds of meters away with a single arrow) collapsed with his own arrow thrust into his temple.

The sight of pirates, each like a legend of the sea, dying off like small fry was truly close to surreal terror.

Was this like the monster his mother had told him stories about in childhood, the one that came at midnight to take away children who did not sleep?

Though they were men who had only terrified others all their lives and never known fear, the entity before their eyes was terrifying to the point of giving them goosebumps.

Why on earth did such a creature exist in this world?

No, was he even human?

While everyone was struck with fear, an old voice echoed across the deck.

[“Gehendria-Aurus-Kvalavete-!”]

Along with a voice filled with rage, a shockwave similar to the one earlier, though slightly weaker, surged forth.

The black mage Elam had cast evil magic.

Originally, along with raising the undead earlier, he had prepared a second attack.

It was to bring the ship they were aboard closer over there and scatter an evil curse toward the army of Pendia.

This, too, required as much preparation as the revival of the undead.

Not to mention human sacrifices, it was the result of consuming even Mana Stones and the essence of a dark spirit harboring powerful energy.

Even so, it was impossible for a modern mage to cast a strong curse targeting thousands of people.

At best, making them feel light dizziness for a moment was the limit.

Of course, while fighting corpses that had risen right before their eyes, even that would have been a tremendous obstacle.

But now that the plan had failed, Elam poured all of the curse he had prepared onto Shan alone.

Even if it was originally a weak curse, since the power intended for thousands of people was concentrated, its harm went without saying.

An ordinary person would have immediately vomited blood from every orifice and died, and even a knight would have lost consciousness and collapsed.

However, the moment he inflicted the curse, Elam stared directly at the soul of the target he was trying to attack and widened his eyes in shock.

He felt a spiritual barrier incomparably firm and towering compared to those of ordinary knights.

The fortress, built using well-refined Fighting Spirit as bricks, was even wrapped in an additional layer of barrier.

The ring Cheryn had given Shan in the past to defend against mental attacks.

After processing and inserting the Mana Stone of the succubus Yure, it had become even more powerful, taking on power close to a demon-resisting ring.

The curse, rapidly weakened by the power of the ring imbued with the mighty succubus’s magic, failed to pierce Shan’s Fighting Spirit and vanished helplessly.

And just as the saying goes that he who curses others should dig two graves, a failed curse naturally rebounds upon the one who attempted it.

“Kheck, kagh, krhh…”

Elam’s wrinkled face distorted as blood gushed from his mouth.

Clutching his chest tightly, the old man stumbled as if trying to avoid Shan, who was approaching with leisurely steps, before collapsing on the spot.

Having dispatched the most infamous black mage in the entire South Sea without lifting a finger, Shan stepped firmly on the old man’s corpse and advanced forward.

*

After the corpses that had suddenly risen collapsed just as abruptly without warning, the army of Pendia was occupied with tidying up the battlefield.

Meanwhile, terrible news was delivered.

That during the fierce battle, the Lord Protector had fallen into the sea.

No, to be precise, that he had jumped into the sea of his own accord.

“Has anyone spotted the Lord Protector!”

“No one, sir!”

A situation where ten warships and dozens of pirate ships were entangled.

With over several hundred corpses floating bloated on the ocean, finding one person was no easy task.

The knights of Pendia had also felt a strange wave when the undead rose, but pinpointing which direction it came from was difficult.

It was all the more so because they were in the middle of a fierce battle and on the ocean where it was hard to determine directions by terrain features.

Fortunately, however, before long, a sharp-eyed soldier spotted a few ships floating in the distance.

If not for a few lanterns faintly glowing, they would not have noticed it.

“Over there! There’s something over there!”

“That is…?”

Confirming with the help of a far-sight magic tool that what was over there was a sailing ship, Roden widened his eyes.

It was because he saw a person waving a hand toward them from far away.

Identifying the person, he quickly issued an order.

“Send a ship over there immediately!”

Since the distance was too far to lower a small rowboat, after a lengthy struggle, a warship on the outer edge (which had gained freedom first) advanced toward the unidentified ship.

A moment later, upon arriving at the destination, the soldiers aboard the ship gasped as they looked at the deck.

From corpses strewn everywhere to a magic circle drawn in blood (now heavily covered in blood above so its shape was hard to discern) a bizarre altar, and a few pirates still groaning without dying.

It was a scene revealing that a fierce battle had taken place atop this deck until moments ago.

Shan, standing alone on the bloody deck, greeted them with a wave of his hand.

“How on earth did you get here?”

“By swimming.”

“No, wait…”

At the sight of Shan spouting such absurd nonsense so truly confidently, Roden let out a sigh with a scoff.

Then again, it was not as though his friend doing ridiculous things naturally was anything new.

As Shan briefly explained what had happened here, Roden’s gaze turned to the ruined magic circle on the deck.

“Is that the magic circle that raised the corpses?”

“Probably. As for the details, these things here will tell us.”

When Shan kicked a pirate lying beside him with a thud, the pirate groaned in pain and squirmed.

He was one of the black mage’s disciples, clad in a black robe.

Roden, who was looking down at him with an expression of contempt, looked behind Shan and let out a startled groan.

“Don’t tell me… the mage did that too…?”

“This? I just separately picked out and gathered the faces from the wanted posters I saw before.”

With the severed heads of the pirates who had ruled the South Sea lined up in a row, Shan spoke to Roden in a nonchalant tone.

Their faces were every single one distorted with fear and despair.