Chapter 50 - Beg and Beg Again (8)

"Damn it, we're getting out of here first!"

No one on the ship had the guts to maneuver with a dragon on both sides. After all, luring it required the hull and their lives to be intact.

SPLASH!

'But hasn't the ship taken on too much water?'

The water sloshing around the deck was slapping against my ankles. I wondered if this was okay.

"Bail out the water!"

'Well, guess it's not okay.'

At the boatswain's command, some of the sailors began bailing water with buckets. The rain was no longer just blocking our vision; it looked like it could split rocks at this rate.

"Stop throwing harpoons and help bail out the water!"

It seemed we had taken on too much water, because the sailors were grabbing adventurers to put them to work too.

DeB was absentmindedly handed a bucket, but thankfully, no wooden bucket was shoved at me, even though I was right next to him.

I guessed it was a decision to keep some manpower available to deal with the Dragon Tooth Warriors. Especially since I had the highest Dragon Tooth Warrior kill count on this ship.

"Dragon Tooth Warriors incoming!"

But to confess the truth, I had missed a few because of my seasickness. For me to still have the highest kill count, I didn't know what to make of it.

Should I cope by thinking it's because the Inquisitor and the whip-wielding adventurer gave me assists? I wasn't sure if that was actually something to cope with.

BANG!

I firmly gripped another harpoon, which I was getting more used to the more I threw them, and stealthily checked the progress of the monster battle.

The Sea Dragon and the black dragon were running wild, trying to tear each other apart.

If the Sea Dragon killed the black dragon like this, it would be the icing on the cake, but realistically, the chances of that looked very low.

If it couldn't put out the damage to kill it, it would just end up stealing aggro. Even if I threw a spear from here, something with teeth sunk into its neck wouldn't care about a toothpick stuck somewhere in its body.

I suspected we might have to turn the ship around later.

"Tsunami!"

"Damn it, why doesn't the barrier have a function to block waves?!"

Meanwhile, the black dragon's tail smashed the water surface near us, creating a massive swell. It was like when the Sea Dragon burst out—no, this time it was definitely big enough to flip the ship sideways.

The Dragon Tooth Warriors swept up in the wave were launched forward, only to be squashed against the barrier and slide right off.

"God, protect us!"

At that moment, the Priests, who I couldn't tell whether they were working or not, stepped up. Whether by clasping their hands in prayer or raising their weapons, they exerted their divine power in their own ways.

A barrier flowing with golden light overlaid the outside of the existing barrier. The tsunami was blocked by the holy barrier and split in two directions.

I had wondered why the Priests were on board, but it seemed it was all for this.

Though I never imagined that the first thing to chip away at my HP in this raid would be my allies.

"Goddamn, those crazy bastards look pretty for the first time."

For reference, that wasn't Windhand speaking, but someone Windhand brought along.

"Hey, what about the dragon!?"

Windhand asked. There wasn't actually anything to tell him. The monster battle was still ongoing.

And the distance had widened a bit too much for me to throw a spear. Even throwing from up close barely drew its attention, so I didn't know if throwing from here would even pierce its scales.

"We will bombard it."

*'Oh shit, you scared me. Right, the Archmage was on the ship too, wasn't she?' * I had forgotten her existence for a moment since I hadn't seen her face since we departed.

"When?"

"Now."

Suddenly, a whirring sound came from the main mast, and something that had been prepared started to activate.

I had thought they made the main mast sturdy because it had an unusual amount of iron plates padded onto it, but looking at it now, there must have been a device inside.

"W-Woah."

One childish sailor fixed his eyes on the mast even while relentlessly bailing water.

I stole a glance too and was a bit surprised. Mana gathered and sizzled into a spherical shape before shooting out something resembling a beam.

And the moment the black dragon shook off the Sea Dragon, the mana cannon struck its sleek body. *CRASH! * A massive explosion erupted.

KYAAAAAAK!

I checked the black dragon's condition while holding onto the railing. Through my shaking vision, I saw the black dragon thrashing its head.

Squinting at the part hit by the bombardment, the scales looked slightly shattered... Were they shattered? It was so pitch-black that I couldn't see anything. I wasn't even sure if we had drawn its aggro.

"Heup-hah!"

'Uh-huh, yeah. Hearing those grunts, I know Kimchi Dumpling is giving it his all. So, is the black dragon... looking this way? Did we draw its aggro?'

KYAAAAAK!

We drew it.

"The dragon is coming!"

We drew it far too well.

'It's coming straight for us! With a tsunami!'

I screamed internally. *'Is this right? Is this really right? Is luring it like this really right?' *

But no matter how much I freaked out, it wasn't going to change my current situation.

Ultimately, I dashed to the stern. I had been on the middle deck to easily deal with the Dragon Tooth Warriors, but right now, the dragon was the priority.

"I-It's coming!"

"Focus on the barrier!"

'Earlier, I countered it right before its attack and only got grazed, yet it took off a quarter of my health. Then how much would it take if we took a direct hit to the rear?'

BZZZT.

'No matter how much it takes, I definitely won't be hearing any good news.'

So I poured as much mana as I could into the harpoon. It was to go for a similar outcome as before—since hitting it with an attack and staggering it might cause it to just graze us.

KYAAAAAAK!!!

But the dragon swelled the waves even further and rode the tsunami higher into the sky. That was cheating!

"God!!"

Fortunately, we had backup barriers armed with faith.

"As this foolish servant offers herself."

Golden light started pouring out from the Inquisitor.

"Part the sea and save your pitiful lambs."

The surging waves finally tried to swallow the ship, but they were blocked by the golden barrier, turning the area into an underwater aquarium.

"Establish your glory upon this sea."

Along with that, my HP dropped significantly.

"Uwaaaah!"

"Oh, Sea Dragon!"

"Uwak, uwaaaah!!"

'No, hey, wait. I'm not going to drown in seawater; I'm going to drown in divine power.'

'I know I'm incompatible with divine power, but team killing is crossing the line! Uwaaaah!!'

PANG!

Fortunately, before my HP hit rock bottom, the ship surged upward and breached the surface. It scared me half to death. The divine power scattered along with the sea spray.

[A hostile target exists within a 30m radius.]

BANG!

But the black dragon didn't give us a chance to catch our breath. It surged up right in front of the bow.

It must have been pissed off that we didn't end up entombed in water as it expected. The ship tilted crazily.

If I had my way, I would have planted a spear into its body for revenge, but.

Whether it was because my HP dropped so suddenly or because of the shock of the ship rising vertically, the edges of my vision were black and white, making it impossible to move. The distance between the stern and bow was also a problem.

So I clutched my head and waited out the dizziness.

"Everyone, hold on!"

Incredibly annoyingly, the dragon that had reared its head at the bow bent its body into a U-shape and dove into the sea by the side of the ship, causing the ship to shake once again. Bile surged up my throat.

KYAAAA!

At that moment, the Sea Dragon rushed over, as if to save us.

Ah, of course, it wasn't exactly good help. It just caused another swell on the already chaotic water surface.

JOLT!

Like a body lurching forward when a car suddenly brakes, my body swayed out of my control. I felt like I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Blegh."

Something chunky spilled out past my throat.

The color was a bit dark. Even though the bile I knew was a bright color.

Drip.

Mixed with the rainwater, something came out of my eyes too. I hoped it was tears, but the color of the drops falling onto the deck didn't look like tears at all. Even parts of my vision had turned red.

'Still, as long as it's not an injury penalty, it doesn't really matter.'

'A bit of red vision and some bleeding won't kill me.'

KYAAAAAK!

CRASH!

"...!"

Just as I was comforting myself like that, the barrier was struck by something. *SHATTER! * The sound of something breaking echoed in my ears.

"Damn it!"

"God!"

I hurriedly raised my head with a sense of foreboding. The black tail had shattered the barrier and snapped a portion of the rear mast. We only took that much damage because the Inquisitor gritted her teeth and deployed her barrier.

The Archmage gasped in shock and went back down.

But the tail attacks didn't end there.

Whether by chance or intention, even while snarling at the Sea Dragon, the black dragon fiercely slammed and thrashed its tail toward us.

It was persistently aiming for the main mast.

Trickle.

Streams of blood flowed from the lips of the Priests who were gritting their teeth.

The Inquisitor was similar. The stronger the radiance became, and the more she formed barriers to withstand the tail attacks, the more her body radiated a heat capable of instantly evaporating the rain.

It didn't look like a very healthy sight. Not to mention my HP plummeting alongside it.

'We can't just take a beating like this.'

Grip.

I held tightly onto the railing and grasped the two-hander strapped to my back.

Sure, it was something to be thankful for that the main mast hadn't been hit, but it wasn't exactly something to be happy about when one mast had already broken.

The temper of my concept couldn't possibly let this slide.

"...? You?"

'Besides, if she keeps up this barrier, I'm destined for sudden death. I refuse to die to an ally! Absolutely refuse!'

'Screw the original plan, I need to live right now!'

Tap.

My body climbed onto the railing once again.

"Whip!"

"E-Eh?!"

Shooting from on top of the railing would only shake my sword. I stepped on the railing and dashed toward the tail that was about to fall onto the ship once again.

And when my position was roughly level with the tail, I jumped as if diving straight into the ocean.

SHING!

The drawn two-hander, held firmly in both hands, imbued a pitch-black energy.

SLASH!

A pitch-black half-moon extending from the sword grew in size and severed the dragon's tail. *SPLAT! * Black streams of blood scattered as several meters of the tail were finally cut off.

KYAAAAAAK!

The dragon's scream couldn't have been more satisfying.

"U-Uh!"

But as the price for landing a hit, I had no choice but to offer my body to gravity.

WHIP!

Just as my body was about to fall into the seawater, a whip quickly wrapped around my torso. I couldn't help but feel a stinging sensation, and when the leather strap coiled around me, I felt my torso tighten, but at least I avoided falling into the sea.

Thanks to several adventurers pulling, my body was yanked onto the deck using the whip as a safety line.

THUD.

I tried to break my fall but ended up rolling instead.

'Tsk. Still, props to me for not panicking over a failed landing and rolling one more time to strike a cool pose—kneeling on one knee with one hand on the ground. Even though my stomach churned, forcing me to vomit up more of that chunky stuff in my mouth.'

"Demon Knight!"

I hurriedly covered my mouth and coughed, feeling a relief that wasn't quite relief when I saw what stained my gauntlet.

'Wow, thank goodness it's blood. If it was bile, it would have ruined the mood completely.'

'No, of course, I know no one would criticize me. It's just... if I can't escape my concept anyway, I wanted to at least look cool. Throwing up bile after doing so much versus coughing up blood has a completely different vibe.'

"Uwaaaah! Sir, are you okay!"

DeB, who had poked his head out from inside, freaked out and came running. My head was already spinning, and DeB lifting my body under the guise of supporting me only made me dizzier.

"The, dragon."

I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again.

"I don't know, they both went into the sea..."

My vision was redder than before, but the dizziness had still somewhat improved. Well, probably?

The ship was still tilting back and forth, so I couldn't tell if I was better or not.

"It's the Dragon's Cry Gate again! Everyone, brace yourselves!"

'Still, I cut off that much of its tail, so there's no way it lost aggro. Once we enter the Dragon's Cry Gate, the water depth will be uneven because of the reefs, so it'll be hard to ambush us from below—'

[A hostile target exists within a 30m radius.]

"Huh?"

I noticed a shallow vibration beneath the sea and the approaching skill marker fixed directly below the ship. Soon, the water surface seemed to rise, and something shot up from the left side of the ship.

"Uwaaaaaah!"

The barrier, which I had no idea when it was reformed, shattered once again. The ship tilted drastically, causing everyone to slide to one side.

CRUNCH!

The black dragon's teeth tore right through the mast.

CRASH! KABOOM! CRASH!

Ominous vibrations continued to transmit from the ship's bottom panel.

CRUNCH!

"There's a hole!!"

"Dragon Tooth Warriors, uwaaaah!"

It was the sound of an impending catastrophe.

"God, hear our prayers. Hear our pleas."

"Don't panic! Go down immediately and block the water! Adventurers! Deal with the Dragon Tooth Warriors!"

'Ah, did I touch its tail for no reason? Should I have just waited for the ship to clear the tail's radius?'

'Even if my HP hits the bottom, me being on the brink of death alone is better than everyone dying...'

KYAAAAAK!

From the ship that had barely regained its balance like a roly-poly toy, I made eye contact with the dragon, which had gained some distance due to the waves.

SNAP.

The mast clamped in its mouth snapped in two and plummeted into the sea, and its bright red eyes stared directly at me.

"Hurry and bail the water! If we sink here, we all die! The foremast is still intact!"

At that moment, I realized.

That thing would have tried to kill us even if I hadn't cut its tail. Because we bombarded it before the tail incident. Or because we had a track record of driving a harpoon into it.

Or maybe it was simply because we invaded its territory. Or just because we were perfectly living beings.

Simply because it was 'corruption.'

"Right now—!"

CRASH!

Just then, something crashed into the ship through the gap between the unrecovered barrier and the Priests who couldn't chant their prayers.

It was a Dragon Tooth Warrior, larger than any I had seen so far.

However, perhaps because it was still being formed, its legs were just emerging and its face was popping out.

The information I could glean from its untransformed body was that its torso somehow resembled the severed tail of the black dragon.

But there was something more important. That bastard was incredibly lucky. I wasn't just saying that because it targeted our blind spot, but it was truly lucky.

Because with a single attack, it almost took away our irreplaceable manpower, so it definitely was.

"Captain!"

"Keok!"

Windhand, who couldn't move because he was holding the helm, was hit by the Dragon Tooth Warrior's blast of water and got sent flying over the sea.

"Captain!"

The sailors screamed.

It was the very next moment that mana instinctively gathered in my legs.

"Y-You!"

"Wait!"

'Hah, seriously. The mast is smashed, there's a hole in the bottom panel. This raid really looks like a doomed run.'

'Which means it's time for a reset.'

'But does that mean I'm going to just meekly accept it?'

"Return to the ship."

"Keup?!"

I caught up to Windhand as he flew through the air. I grabbed him by the collar and promptly threw him backwards.

"Sir Knight—!"

'It'll hurt like hell if he crashes onto the deck in that state, but that's none of my business. It's still better than me, who's about to fall into the sea, right? Let alone the fact that I have a black dragon right in front of me.'

KYAAAAAAAK!

The dragon gleefully opened its mouth and lowered its head. Thanks to its massive body, its speed was a bit slow.

But no matter how much I swam right after falling in, it would be hard to escape the radius of that mouth.

"Victory to my sword."

'However, I haven't given up yet.'

'Since it's a doomed plan anyway, I might as well attempt the fight I'd only ever imagined.'

"Glory to the heavens...!"

The skill 'Survival Instinct' pointed to the fragment of the mast that the bastard had torn off earlier and carelessly spit out into the sea.

I was very lucky. Surviving this swell and leaving a fragment floating on the surface was an incredibly difficult condition to meet.

But I seized that coincidence and gained a foothold.

BANG!

The stepped-on fragment sent a circular splash around it from the impact.

My body launched into the air.

CHOMP!

Beneath my feet, the black dragon's head came crashing down.