Chapter 74

My face flushed red.

“---! ---!!”

He opened his maw as if screaming and even strained the veins in his neck, but there was no sound.

There was something silently writhing beneath a single layer of skin.

It leaped and danced from his temples to his waist, and then burst out from his neck with a lump.

A thick iron bloodline looked like a long snake.

It was black, smelled and was hot.

I gripped it with a hand clad in Valziart.

It was tough like steel and red-hot like lava.

Therefore, the third Ars was called, ‘The Heated Iron Bloodline’.

“……”

I pulled out my own bloodline from above my collarbone and made it into an Ars.

It was thicker than a thumb, but incredibly long.

It was long enough to wrap around both arms and still have plenty left over.

Clad in the black iron bloodline, I finally felt at ease, as if it had found its place.

Iron bloodline.

It was dark red, tough and fiercely hot.

It was so hot that smoke rose and even beyond Valziart, the heat was felt.

With each burst of heat, a metallic smell intensified.

“Your Ars smells of blood.”

Niko frowned.

He had often seen Ars that took the form of weapons.

But to pull out a bloodline from one's own body and use it like a whip.

What kind of state must a soul be in for such an Ars to be born?

“……”

I fell silent.

Remembering not to give up, I had pulled out and wrapped myself in my bloodline, so there was nothing more to say.

This iron bloodline was terribly heavy and terribly hot.

Even after drinking Lahukala and cladding myself in Valziart, I could barely handle it.

I twitched my hand.

It was just a slight movement, but the iron bloodline shot out.

Niko hastily raised his oar.

It was a speed that was hard for even the Whale of Hobel Bay to react to.

The shot-out iron bloodline struck down on the blocking oar.

“……!!!”

Niko Nereyades's eyes widened.

The iron bloodline was much heavier and tougher than he had imagined.

No, its weight could not be expressed by the words 'beyond imagination'.

He thought this weight was the power it possessed as an Ars.

Niko, who was about to exert force to counter it, clicked his tongue softly.

The iron bloodline had already coiled around the oar, and I was pulling.

When something that was striking down was suddenly pulled, strong force rather became a poison.

The old fisherman twisted his wrist forcefully, shaking off the iron bloodline.

He did not lose his weapon, but he felt his body lose its balance.

Damn it.

He felt a floating sensation in his left foot and then a thud sound was heard.

Niko’s left knee touched the deck.

“My goodness……”

Gold-toothed Kifkos let out a gasp that was like a scream without realizing it.

Niko Nereyades, a man who had also been one of the Ten Great Generals in his youth, lost his balance and knelt.

And it was just because I, Shion Pollinglight, had swung that black rope once.

“The Whale of Hobel Bay, kneeling……”

“To think a day like this would come where I see such a thing……”

The astonishment was not Kifkos's alone.

Gloriosus, Ofenia and everyone on the deck stared blankly, looking back and forth between me and Niko.

No one from Hobel Bay could know.

What kind of man the Whale of Hobel Bay was and what it meant to have brought such a man to his knees, even for a moment!

“…I'll have to apologize.”

Niko is also just as bewildered.

When was the last time he had lost his balance?

It was at least over 20 years ago.

He slowly rose to his feet and gripped the oar firmly.

“As I've gotten older, I sometimes underestimate the young without realizing it.”

The old fisherman's eyes became calm.

They became like the sea, without any slight carelessness or storm.

His aura was incomparable to before.

“…Hmph.”

I snorted and moved my hand.

The iron bloodline shot out again.

The weight of my soul, now a power, struck down.

However, Niko Nereyades abandoned his slight carelessness.

He parried it with his oar, not giving the iron bloodline a chance to coil around it.

The iron bloodline flew.

It aimed for Niko, drawing diverse trajectories that were hard to believe came from a single strand of rope.

I was surprisingly skilled at handling this heavy Ars.

With just a slight twitch of my finger, the iron bloodline flew back and forth.

‘…Terribly heavy.’

A bead of sweat trickled down Niko's forehead, who was receiving the attacks.

Even for the man who could raise and lower an anchor with one hand, receiving my attacks was not easy.

However, it was not impossible either.

‘This weight would be the same for the one wielding it.’

My face was flushed red.

It wasn't just because of Lahukala's effects.

To handle such a heavy Ars, I had no choice but to exert all my strength.

Though Valziart covered me and was not visible, both of my hands were already terribly torn.

Niko stood still.

Feeling the rocking of the deck, he rode on the flow.

No matter how dazzlingly the rope drew its trajectories, only the moment it touched Niko's body mattered in the end.

If I was skilled at handling the iron bloodline, Niko was just as accustomed to this large oar.

It was an item he had been with for half a century.

The iron bloodline coiled like a black snake, but it could not pass the large oar and reach Niko.

‘…A wave,’

The Whale of Hobel Bay had spent more time at sea than on land.

He knew how to read the currents of the sea just by standing on the deck.

He soon felt a strong wave crashing upon them.

‘It's here.’

A high wave struck the ship.

The deck tilted.

I and Niko were the same.

However, Niko had prepared and I had not known.

The fierce momentum of the iron bloodline died down for a moment.

It was the opening the Whale of Hobel Bay had been waiting for.

He lunges with his massive body.

The iron bloodline was already bouncing off in the wrong direction.

He thanked the wave and swung the large oar.

It had enough power to break my head into ten pieces.

“Ugh-!!!”

A scream burst out.

It was Niko Nereyades's.

His oar did not reach me.

It was because the iron bloodline was even faster in striking the old fisherman's back.

A terrible, sharp pain erupted, but he gritted his teeth and retreated.

If he hadn't, he would have lost his life, not just felt pain.

Niko's feet were unusually large.

He swiftly retreated four steps, and he was at the edge of the deck.

Niko broke out in a cold sweat.

“I'm surprised.”

It was terribly painful.

Just once it touched him, and the pain was so intense it felt as if it pierced his spine.

His entire back hurt terribly, terribly, as if it had been sliced with a thin knife.

“…No matter how I look at it, it shouldn't have been able to bend like that……”

The wound was deep, but no blood flowed.

It was because the fiercely blazing iron bloodline had burned and crushed the flesh the moment it touched him.

A long wound, as if seared by a branding iron, remained on the old fisherman's back.

“…What trick did you use?”

The smell of burning flesh permeated the air.

Kifkos and Gloriosus were horrified by the stench.

However, Niko, who was wounded, quickly composed himself and acted as if nothing had happened.

“Are you perhaps controlling a ghost?”

“Well.”

I had no intention of telling him.

“You might find out if you're more surprised.”

Instead, I shot out the iron bloodline again.

Niko Nereyades read the trajectory and swung his oar, but the black rope suddenly bent in mid-air, at an impossible angle.

“Again!”

Niko shouted.

This time, he blocked it.

But he couldn't understand.

It was not a movement that could be created by swinging with both hands.

The old fisherman's brow was deeply furrowed.

“…It's as if invisible hands are flying around……!”

At his surprisingly accurate guess, I snickered.

‘Though it's a part of my stubbornness, if a futile dream is added, there's nothing I can't do.’

The true value of ‘The Heated Iron Bloodline’ was revealed when it was used with ‘Fantasy Finger’.

No, in the first place, ‘Fantasy Finger’ was an auxiliary Ars for properly using the iron bloodline.

Dozens of invisible hands moved the iron bloodline freely.

Its movements were beyond what could be described as bizarre.

“Do you have two Ars……? No, that can't be.”

Niko clicked his tongue and raised his oar.

Again, the iron bloodline changed its trajectory in mid-air.

He strongly slammed it down in the center, stopping its movement completely, but its tip grazed his forearm.

His flesh burned, and the smell was pungent.

I was drenched in sweat.

The weight and heat of ‘The Heated Iron Bloodline’ were the same for me.

Even my body, amplified by Lahukala, was steadily being eroded of its stamina.

However, the effort of using my strength was worth it, as it steadily pushed Niko Nereyades back.

How could he cope when the trajectory of the iron bloodline changed several times in an instant?

Unless he was a fortuneteller, there was no way he wouldn't be hit.

“Ugh-!”

Niko groaned again.

It was because a long wound had formed on his shoulder.

He swung his oar wildly to prevent me from coming close and then shouted.

“-Ah, ah, aaah--!!!”

It was so loud it made his ears ache.

Niko looked down at his body.

Long burn marks were left all over.

The old fisherman stroked his beard and then opened his mouth wide enough to show his throat, and laughed.

“Ah! Ah, uh-hahahahahaha-hah--!!!”

The old man laughed heartily as if he were a child, excited.

His appearance was far from what he had shown until now, which was puzzling.

However, the faces of Kifkos, Gloriosus, and the men who had once belonged to the 11th Legion turned ashen.

“---Ah. This is troublesome. I know very well that I shouldn't be like this when I'm old, but I want to play.”

Niko bared his teeth and smiled.

“I was surprised when I heard the fortuneteller who defeated Her Highness Marina was twenty-five, but you look even younger than that.”

The Commander of the 11th Legion was a man as weighty as his size.

However, this was due to his age.

“-Ah-. That's right, sometimes I need a break too. That's right, that's right, even an old man can be indulged this much, can't he?”

Niko had spent his youth full of vigor, even punching the Great Emperor Cordisias in the face, and traces of that time occasionally resurfaced.

“We're playing, kid.”

A childlike laugh was always the signal.

When the Commander of the 11th Legion decided to show his true feelings, he would always laugh like that.

Niko Nereyades bared his teeth and curled the corners of his mouth.

“Now that you've awakened the old Whale, let's play properly.”

Niko Nereyades's Ars…….

“No thanks.”

“…Hmm?”

The Whale of Hobel Bay's vision changed.

The deck he was standing on was suddenly far in front of him, and there was nothing beneath his feet.

He looked as if he had been pushed away by something.

One, two… exactly about twenty steps.

“Ugh-hmmm?”

Niko let out a groan full of questions and fell.

Soon, a plop sound was heard.

It was because my second Ars, ‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps’, had pushed him off the ship.

Looking at the old man who had fallen into the sea, I shouted inwardly.

‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps, it was a good thing I saved it until now!’

The old fisherman immediately tried to swim back to the ship.

However, my iron bloodline did not permit it.

I fiercely swung the iron bloodline from the ship.

I was getting tired.

Lahukala's effects were wearing off.

“What are you doing, you idiots!”

I shouted.

“Steer the ship, quickly-!!!”

Ugh.

The iron bloodline struck Niko's face, leaving a mark.

However, there were no wounds like before.

It was probably because of Niko's Ars.

I felt a threat.

I was weakening, but Niko's Ars was just beginning.

“Ship, move the ship, ship!!”

“I'm already doing it!”

Kifkos hastily gestured, but it was unnecessary.

The navigator was a man who valued his own life, so he was already steering the ship.

Niko Nereyades saw Kifkos's ship rapidly moving away.

“This… I missed him.”

Niko waved his hand.

It was a shame, as he had intended to play for a while after a long time.

“Kid Pasionus, I'll remember that! Next time, we'll definitely play together!”

“Please forget me, old man!”

I screamed.

‘Goodbye, Sillemol!’

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