Chapter 61

My prediction was only half right.

The rain of arrows was enough to wipe out Tospol's subordinates, but it couldn't bring Tospol to his knees.

On the deck, filled with the corpses of pirates, Tospol stood alone and well.

It seemed that most of the impact had been absorbed by his fat.

Should I say, as expected of an ogre?

Or should I say, he lived up to his racial stats?

He was a truly difficult opponent.

Tospol, in his blood-soaked state, ground his teeth.

“I've changed my mind.”

“Again? What is it this time?”

“The plan to let you live long is canceled. I'm just going to kill you right here, right now!”

Flames erupted in Tospol's eyes.

The next moment, Tospol charged towards the crossbow unit in a frenzy.

CRASH!

It was just a simple charge, but every time he took a step, the deck split, and the sailors flew into the sky like scarecrows.

He was truly a living, breathing disaster.

“Aargh, everyone, get out of the way!”

The crossbowmen scattered in all directions without even having time to reload.

Because of that, there was now no one left to protect me.

Tospol was getting closer.

At the moment of impending doom, there was one person who stepped forward.

“I will block him here. Captain, you should retreat.”

It was Rhom.

Rhom, heavily armed in plate armor, was overflowing with confidence.

He was ready to fight against that ogre.

Was this how he showed the spirit of an Aosta knight?

Show the pride of a troll?

Being blocked in his path was not enough to stop Tospol.

The enraged Tospol shouted.

“What are you!”

“I am Rhom, a knight of Aosta! The man who will kill you today!”

“Seeing you confidently mutter nonsense, you must be a knight. But there is only one fate for a troll bastard who doesn't know his place!”

Indeed, that was the case.

THUD!

Rhom couldn't even withstand a single blow from Tospol's axe and was sent flying.

As expected of Rhom.

A great combat power meter.

I looked at Rhom rolling on the deck with cold eyes.

Rhom didn't dare to meet my eyes and pretended to be dead.

Well, yeah.

Since it was Rhom, I had expected something like this to happen.

But the mercenary company's ultimate weapon still remained.

“Theo.”

“I'm on it.”

The best knight of the Black Company, Theo, confidently walked forward with an axe slung over his shoulder.

His appearance was incomparably more reliable than Rhom's.

Having broken through all sorts of obstacles, Tospol's eyes went crazy when a new obstacle appeared.

“These damn bastards! What's with this pale-faced guy this time!”

Are you getting annoyed?

I'm annoyed too.

Because even after all this, you just won't die.

I knew that physical strength, health, and regenerative power were included in the calculation of the martial power stat, but still, wasn't this too much?

The Snow Elf and the ogre stood facing each other.

And, as if they had noticed they were roughly evenly matched, they began to hurl trash talk at each other without hesitation.

It was a trick to break the opponent's composure with provocation and make the fight even a little easier.

“Where did you crawl out from?”

“Never seen a Snow Elf before, you country bumpkin? First time seeing one after digging for lugworms in the sea?”

“You piece of trash? Let's see what you've got.”

“Then you'll have to offer your neck instead.”

“Haha.”

“Hehehehe!”

Tospol and Theo looked at each other and laughed, then suddenly swung their axes at each other.

THUD!

The moment they collided, the air on the deck trembled.

I could feel a murderous aura filling the space.

Two meat grinders began to operate fiercely.

It was clear that if I carelessly got in between them, I would be torn to pieces in an instant, so I quickly got out of the way.

“Ishmael! How far has the ship come?”

“Kruk, we've almost reached the coast. You can get off the ship now.”

“Then everyone, disembark! Abandon the ship and escape!”

“Everyone, run!”

If it was the coast, we could swim to the land.

The sailors, as if they had been waiting, ran to the lifeboats.

Some even just jumped into the sea instead of getting on a boat.

It was better to drink seawater than to be killed by a stray axe.

CRASH!

It was when I was the last to get on a lifeboat after the sailors had escaped.

At some point, Theo, who was fighting Tospol, rolled on the deck and was thrown into the sea.

As a splash of water rose on the surface, I was startled and stuck my head out of the deck.

Could he be dead?

“Theo!”

“I'm fine!”

Fortunately, Theo was not dead or unconscious.

He swam and floated to the surface.

Seeing his quite chagrined expression, it was clear that he had eventually lost due to a lack of stamina.

Yeah.

How easy could it be to fight a human butcher?

He did a great job for that much.

“More importantly, Young Master, watch your back!”

Behind me?

Oh no!

The fight wasn't over yet.

When I looked back, Tospol was approaching with a twisted expression like a hungry dog.

His vicious face and blood-soaked body were a sight to fear in one's dreams.

“Did you think I'd just let you run away? I said I'd chew you up alive!”

“You damn cannibal bastard. Can't you stop eating people? Don't people around you tell you you're fat?”

“Anyone who said that is already dead by my hand. Now it's your turn.”

At some point, everyone had escaped, and the only people left on the ship's side were me and Tospol.

There was no one to protect me.

I let out a deep sigh.

“I knew it wouldn't be easy to kill you, but you really won't die.”

“Khuhu. Why? Didn't you expect this? You must have underestimated the vitality of an ogre.”

“No. I roughly expected it. I never thought it would really come to this, but in the end, I will be the victor.”

“What?”

Tospol squinted as if he had heard something absurd.

“What kind of nonsense is that? Are you trying to buy time? Thinking someone will come to save you?”

“It's not nonsense. I know your weakness.”

“My weakness?”

I confidently pointed at Tospol with my hand.

Tospol, instead of immediately striking my head with his axe, crossed his arms.

It was an expression of confidence that he could not be killed no matter what I did.

“What weakness do I have? Tell me.”

“Ah, you don't know? It's simple.”

“Hurry up and tell me.”

“An ogre dies if its neck is cut.”

“What? This bastard! Playing with words!”

“Now, calm down and just a moment. I prepared one last gift just in case. Look over there.”

I pointed to the coast of Crescent Island.

Tospol, as if holding back for the last time, moved his gaze along my finger.

On the coast, the catapults commanded by Eleonor were lined up in a row.

They were in a state of being ready to fire at any moment.

Tospol sneered.

“You're trusting in just that? Don't you know how I got here? I can just deflect rocks and stuff!”

“I don't think I can kill you with this either.”

“What?”

“You'll know the details when you see what happens later. Let's say our goodbyes now. By the way, do you like squid?”

“Nonsense to the end! Who said I'd just let you go.”

Tospol was about to throw his axe at me, but I was faster.

Because instead of getting on a lifeboat, I immediately jumped into the sea.

Splash.

The sea was a dark and stuffy space where not a single ray of light could be found.

It was only for a moment that I realized I didn't have the stamina to swim.

Theo, who had gone down first and was waiting, saved me.

To be precise, the expression ‘fished out’ would be more accurate.

“Young Master, are you hurt anywhere?”

“I'm fine. More importantly, signal Eleonor.”

“I've already started.”

Even without a signal, Eleonor was already moving.

The catapults moved.

Whoosh!

Several large rocks tore through the wind and flew through the sky.

However, instead of hitting Tospol, the pile of rocks passed over his head and fell into the distant sea in an arc.

The rocks hit the surface of the water, and a large splash of water rose.

When nothing else happened, Tospol had a foolish face.

“Where on earth are you shooting?”

“I told you. Do you like squid? You don't?”

“What? Is this guy messing with me from the beginning?”

“I know you're impatient, but just wait a moment.”

“Funny talk! Stay there! I'm coming down!”

At my meaningful words, Tospol had a suspicious expression.

But everything was according to plan.

At that moment.

A strange phenomenon began to occur in the sea.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew on the sea where not a single breeze had been blowing, the ripples churned madly, and dark clouds gathered in the sky.

Thunder and lightning flashed in the darkness.

The Levonan fleet and the pirates, who had noticed the strangeness, stopped fighting and began to look up at the sky.

However, the source of the strange phenomenon was not the sky but the sea.

Bubbles boiled up, centered on the spot where the rocks had just fallen.

The bubbles spread out in all directions in ripples, and a black shadow was cast on the surface of the water.

Rough waves crashed over the ships, and even the heavy warships creaked and were pushed around.

Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble—.

And finally, it revealed itself on the surface.

A giant monster resembling a squid leaped out of the water.

—KRAAAAAAAH!

***

was basically a game with a fantasy setting.

And fantasy meant that there was a lot of room for imagination.

Thus, the developers of , in order to alleviate the user's boredom and increase the richness of the content, did not hesitate to take on new challenges.

They had committed the outrage of actually making a giant monster, which was only mentioned as an April Fool's joke in the community, appear in a fantasy war game.

The result of that was the special DLC, ‘Beasts of Nature’.

The game community's reaction to this was a complete disaster.

It was a backlash from a monster expansion pack popping up out of nowhere while religion-related DLC was coming out.

—What? Is it April Fool's Day today? It's not.

—Haha. Crazy bastards. They really made that.

—No, did they really have to release something like that at a time like this? There are no suckers who would buy that, right?

I bought it.

I bought it.

Ah, I can't resist a giant monster.

How can a person not like giant monsters?

Of course, I had to buy it.

The giant monsters that appeared in the Beasts of Nature DLC would appear in random locations in specific areas and often acted as a variable in battles.

Crescent Island of the Kresven Archipelago was one of them.

Information is useful only when it's utilized.

Since I obviously knew of its existence, I included the monster in Plan D of this operation.

In fact, the existence of the monster was close to a gamble.

Because I didn't know if the DLC would actually be applied.

If I hadn't confirmed its existence with Ishmael, I wouldn't have included it in the plan.

Tospol's face turned pale as he realized what I had done.

“A deep-sea monster? You summoned a monster? You crazy bastard! So that's why you called me to Kresven!”

“Haha. I figured this was the only way to kill you.”

“Do you think that monster will just go back after appearing? Then you'll die too!”

“Really? Shall we find out?”

“Young Master, stop talking nonsense and swim quickly!”

Theo shouted, looking at me with an expression that said he wanted to punch me.

I also kicked my feet hard, but I didn't have the strength, so it was no use.

While Theo was desperately swimming to the shore, carrying me on his back, the kraken began to move.

Every time the kraken moved, the sea churned.

In my opinion, that fellow was thoroughly angry.

It was understandable since tiny creatures were fighting each other and setting fires above its head.

The rocks that Eleonor had fired must have shattered its last bit of patience.

It was a relief that Eleonor had followed the plan at the end instead of acting on her own.

If she had aimed for Tospol to save me, things would have gone very wrong.

“Protect the captain!”

“Throw the spears!”

Even in the face of the giant monster's presence, the pirates did not surrender.

The pirates bravely drove their ships close to the kraken and attacked with javelins.

However, the attack did not inflict even a little damage on the kraken.

It just fueled its anger.

When the enraged kraken swung its tentacle, a pirate ship that was hit by it sank just like that.

Then the kraken brandished its tentacles like a whip.

Tospol's pirate flotilla was annihilated in an instant.

The allied fleet, seeing this, tried its best to get away from the attack range.

As it got rid of the buzzing flies, the kraken finally showed interest in Tospol.

The kraken extended a tentacle with a sucker towards the Fasan warship I had been on.

The tentacle wrapped around the warship and Tospol with a rough movement.

“This, monster! Get away from me!”

Tospol resisted fiercely, swinging his axe.

But the attack only left a slight wound on the tentacle and was of no use at all.

In front of that monster, even the flying and crawling Tospol was nothing but a handful in size.

“Uwaaaaaah!”

Finally, a tentacle wrapped around Tospol.

The kraken took Tospol under the surface as if it were dragging him to hell.

And then a bubble boiled up once, and everything was over.

Spit!

The kraken, having swallowed Tospol, spat out his neck, and, as if satisfied with having annihilated the pirate fleet, returned to the depths of the sea.

Tospol's neck drifted with the current to the shore.

I went into the sandy beach and picked up Tospol's neck.

His final expression was filled with terror, just like he had done to his victims.

It was the empty end of the pirate Tospol, who had made the Golden Sea tremble in fear.

“It's over.”

“It's over.”

The sailors, who had been staring blankly at the scene, cheered.

“The ogre is dead! Tospol is dead!”

“Now that the ogre is dead, the Golden Sea is free!”

“Hooray! Hooray for Fasa! Hooray for the Black Company!”

People's reactions were varied.

They cried, laughed, or got angry.

And I smiled.

「Achievement Unlocked: Hegemon of the Golden Sea Congratulations! You have defeated Tospol in the Golden Sea. It is something no one has accomplished. Your name will be talked about among people for a long time.

Your fame increases.」

「History Altered: You have twisted the flow of time. What was supposed to happen has returned to the void, and a new event will take its place.」

「Character Survival: The fate of many people has changed. With your choice, many people in Fasa have survived.」

「Trait Evolution: You have deceived and defeated your enemy in a way no one could have imagined.

Novice Strategist → Novice Tactician

Your deception has reached a higher level. The trait grows.

—Intelligence +2

—Increased success rate of attempting stratagems」

「Title Unlocked: Beast Tamer

—Increased notoriety

—Commanding troops on land and sea becomes easier.」

「May fortune be with you in your future endeavors.」

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