Chapter 312

I had been hit by mental waves many times before my return, and now I had become someone who could use mental waves.

I sometimes doubted if I was still human, but the important thing was that I was an expert in mental waves.

Generally, corrosion through mental waves occurs in the following order:

The energy of the old merges with low-frequency or high-frequency curses, distorting the mind; the distorted mind connects with the old, and the power that enters through the mind mutates the body.

In other words, the soul changes before the physical body does.

The song of the Blue Robe Priestess was different.

“RA- RaRaRa, RaRaRa-.”

A voice that was both sorrowful and beautiful captured both the mind and body simultaneously.

The moment I rejected the voice that was penetrating my mind, my legs weakened.

“Ghk!”

I gritted my teeth and opened my eyes wide, but I could feel my strength draining from my whole body at every moment.

The pirates descending the hill one by one were losing their focus.

“Brother, brother.”

“Uh, uh, uh….”

“Hehehe, hehehehe.”

Clank, clank, clank.

The weapons they were holding—spears and swords—fell from their hands, and they collapsed to the ground as if fainted.

Thud!

“Ghk!”

Some fell on their own swords and got hurt.

Splash!

“Grrr….”

Some slid down the hill and fell into the sea.

I looked at the events unfolding before my eyes with a feeling of disbelief and despair.

Swoosh—!

The rain was pouring down madly, and the sky was roaring angrily as the pirates stiffened and fell over, rolling down the hill into the sea.

And I felt as if I were about to follow them.

“World.”

I tried to control my mana, but my body had already stiffened.

Thud!

I tumbled down the hill like a log.

My white uniform was soaked with muddy water, I had crashed into thorny underbrush several times, and my face was buried in the mud.

Damn it.

At that moment, I saw white platinum armor rolling down the hill.

Bang, crash!

“…Lady Trentia.”

Lady Trentia was sliding toward the sea, clutching two captain-level pirates in both hands.

The mechanical armor contained the ‘purifying heat ray’ for dealing with major mental waves, but the platinum armor had no such function.

Lady Trentia was a knight with powerful mental strength, enough to fight the Infiltrator Archbishop head-on, but with my own body stiffened, I couldn’t expect her to save me.

Swish—!

Given the speed at which she was sliding, Lady Trentia was definitely about to fall into the sea.

I didn’t know when this binding would be released, but if it lasted more than 20 minutes, Lady Trentia would be in danger too.

She had said she could hold her breath for up to 30 minutes, but climbing a 3-meter-tall cliff in armor from underwater would surely be difficult.

I had an ‘Merfolk’s Kiss’ charm in my pocket, but it was the only one I had.

And judging by the speed, I too seemed ready to plunge into the sea.

I could probably hold my breath for 20 minutes.

I did not know what was waiting beneath those waves.

She always said she would die for me.

Damn it!

I had always been someone choosing the fate of others.

Today was no different.

I hurled curses at the gods and fate that could get me exiled, desperately moving a finger to dig into the ground.

As my body turned from horizontal to vertical, I slid down quickly like riding a board on a snow-covered mountain!

Swish—!

I managed to catch up with Lady Trentia, squeezing all my mental strength to pull out the ‘Merfolk’s Kiss’ from my uniform pocket and pushing it into her helmet’s visor.

“I…!”

She shook her head as if to say, ‘I don’t know what it is, but I absolutely won’t accept it.’

“Don’t speak nonsense.”

I pinched her nose, and at the moment her lips instinctively parted, I pushed the charm inside.

I couldn’t let someone who said they would die for me die.

Clink.

The moment I lowered her visor again, we reached the bottom of the hill.

Swish—!

Lady Trentia shot upward at the same speed she was sliding and fell into the sea with two pirates.

Splash, followed by a screeching sound!

I barely, really barely stopped at the edge of the sea.

My legs dangled over the cliff’s edge.

Soon, a massive wave crashed.

Swoosh—!

I squeezed my eyes shut as I saw the spray of water cover my head.

Swish—!

The seawater was cold and wet, but it washed away the dirt from my face.

The tide was still rising.

The ground was getting wetter, and my fingers began moving one by one as the waves rose higher and higher.

Eventually, at the moment when my body was immersed to the point of being half submerged, someone started pulling me roughly.

“I’m completely done for.”

The figure was in a uniform, wearing a blindfold, and their face was completely distorted.

They looked like they were crying loudly because of the rain.

“It’s all your fault, Valenciaunos. It’s too late to run, so I’ll have to take my revenge.”

Puff!

They threw me onto the hill and pulled out a dagger.

I wondered if they were an admiral; a light green mana blade shimmered above the dagger.

Swoosh—!

Normally, I would have been able to kill such an opponent in less than ten seconds, but my movements now were slower than a ninety-year-old.

“World.”

Crack.

They grabbed my arm and brought the dagger to my neck.

The dagger had a serrated blade, and thankfully, I had not removed the scales I had wrapped around myself earlier.

Clack-clack, clack!

They began slowly slicing my neck.

Sparks flew, and a chilling sound echoed.

Ssss, sssss!

My condition was gradually getting better.

It seemed I was recovering faster than I had thought.

I glowered at them while struggling to summon flames.

“It would have been wise to flee.”

They glared at me with their remaining eye.

“Then what? Die pitifully? I lost my ship and crew. If I’m going to die, I should get my revenge first.”

I spat at their face.

Ptooey!

“You mean your ship, not mine.”

They slapped my cheek.

Smack!

I glared at them, determined to kill them terribly.

But they had slapped my cheek, so it could be something to boast about in hell.

“If I stole it, then it’s my badge!”

They tightened their grip on the dagger again.

I glanced at their back.

A white gauntlet emerged from the edge of the cliff.

Crack.

My condition hadn’t fully returned yet, and my hand was still trembling.

They furrowed their eyebrows as if about to turn around, and I spat at their face again.

Ptooey!

“You little brat—!”

The pirate admiral’s face turned bright red, and I laughed genuinely.

“You pathetic wretch.”

Swoosh—!

At that moment, a huge wave crashed, and Lady Trentia emerged from the wave, climbing back up the cliff.

Swoosh—!

Water poured from her armor while a red cloak clung to her back.

Clack-clack-clack!

The pirate admiral didn’t notice Lady Trentia’s ascent and continued to scrape my neck scales with the dagger.

Lady Trentia seized their nape.

“Ugh, ugh!?”

“How dare you attack royalty! Your soul will be torn apart by the monsters below the sea!”

She broke their limbs and cast them into the sea.

* * *

We supported each other as we climbed up the hill.

The city and port lay in full view.

“Lady Trentia, thank you.”

“Your Highness! From now on, please take care of yourself first! If you had fallen with me, you would have nearly drowned.”

Lady Trentia was angry like a red demon.

I fumbled to calm her down.

“I can hold my breath for about 20 minutes too.”

“You aren’t even wearing armor! Down there, the rocks will shred you every time the wave crashes.”

“Instead, I’m wearing dragon scales. Look! Not a single one has been cut.”

“That’s quite the boast! Do you intend to make me a knight who survived thanks to my lord? Such a knight would suffer living! Please don’t make me wait!”

I understood what she meant.

I smiled bitterly, running my fingers through my wet hair.

The sticky blood of the crab warrior had long been washed away.

As I silently expressed my understanding, Lady Trentia let out a soft sigh.

I looked down at the city and port, the triple city walls and asked.

“…That song from earlier. Could you withstand it again?”

“Yes, Your Highness. It was indeed magnificent mana, but I was quite careless. If we keep a little distance, its effect will lessen.”

“Alright. Then let’s end this. Where are the eastern soldiers?”

Lady Trentia counted on her fingers.

“They are currently fighting the Undersea People who came up from below the fortress.”

“I see. It looks like more came than expected.”

“Thousands of prisoners corroded by barnacles from the east are also battling them.”

“Ah, that’s why I wondered why they hadn’t appeared.”

“They’ve also organized a pursuit team to chase the fleeing pirates.”

“……So who is left at the port?”

Lady Trentia’s face hardened.

At that moment, a shadow running between the triple city walls caught my eye.

I pointed it out, and Lady Trentia whispered.

The Blue Robe Priestess was running toward the port.

* * *

Lady Trentia and I dashed madly toward the port.

“Faster!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

We saw several soldiers sprawled on the ground, grinning foolishly.

The eastern soldiers were elite troops, but the song of the Blue Robe Priestess was powerful enough to knock both Lady Trentia and me down.

In a situation where the knights had vanished to confront the Undersea People and corroded prisoners, the soldiers alone could not catch her.

“Over there!”

“I see it too.”

She was not running towards Cariosa’s landing ship, but towards the long breakwater extending along the edge of the bay.

From among her flowing robes, a white leg peeked out.

The Blue Robe Priestess reached the top of the breakwater and began to chant an incantation.

“Oh, mother. Please look after this daughter—.”

In a flash, I summoned a spear of fire.

“I will twist your spine and toss you into a cauldron!”

Swoosh!

The flaming spear flew through the air, and the Blue Robe Priestess leaped aside to avoid it.

“Gyaaaa!”

Boom!

However, the flaming spear exploded, creating a wave of flames that swept over the Blue Robe Priestess.

She trembled, and Lady Trentia charged forward, kicking the ground.

Smash!

A crimson mana blade flared to life on Manha, her one-handed sword.

“You are the last!”

At that moment, something appeared on the breakwater.

Thud.

It was the foot of a starfish with a white base and purple patterns.

It was rather pretty; if dried well, it could be used as decoration in a seaside coffee house.

The notable difference from a regular starfish was that one of its tentacles exceeded 2 meters.

Squirm, squirm.

Giant starfish crawled all over the breakwater.

The white base with purple patterns spread like a herd of zebras.

Lady Trentia, who had been galloping boldly, paused and whispered.

“Your Highness Valenciaunos, this may be tiring.”

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of monsters with diameters exceeding 4 meters surged like a wave.

Squirm, squirm.

The sight was terrifying in itself.

The Blue Robe Priestess sat on the ground, looking at us.

Though I couldn’t see beneath her hood, she looked as if she were smirking, saying, “You took a hit, didn’t you?”

I hated that smile.

“How dare you!”

As a monster, as a lawbreaker, as a traitor.

It’s difficult to kill them all, and surviving up until now made it seem like it was their own ability. Did they think we couldn’t catch them?

I truly despised those masked monsters mocking our knights while pretending to be free.

I gripped my magic sword storm and infused it with a great amount of mana.

Whoosh!

In an instant, the blade of the wind stretched out like a whip.

“Lady Trentia! Lower your head!”

I poured the flames of the incantation and the mana blade into the blade of wind.

Whoosh!

The flaming whip blade stretched out dozens to hundreds of meters long.

“I’ll sever every single neck!”

Infusing the whip with mana blade to slice through multiple opponents in one hit was known as the eye of the storm.

Flame eye of the storm.

Swoosh—!

The flaming whip slashed widely across the breakwater in a vortex.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

The monster spawn were sliced like pudding before the blade, and smoke rose from their charred surfaces.

Their writhing, twisting forms were quite a sight.

“Haha, haha, ha, hahaha!”

I laughed like the bandit I was, swinging the flaming whip blade, and cast my gaze at the Blue Robe Priestess.

She shook her head leisurely.

Swish—!

In the next moment, a monster rose up over the breakwater.

“Waaaaar!”

Swish—!

The wave created by the monster rose higher than the fortress, and white droplets poured down as a burly red giant appeared amidst it.

With an octopus head and long tentacles, a body resembling a human but with a red hue, webbed feet, and tentacled hands.

It was the octopus guardian of the Undersea People I had fought earlier.

Aside from being about 40 meters tall, it was remarkably identical.

Flash!

Four pairs of black eyes larger than my body shone vividly against the backdrop of the night sea.

Squirm, squirm!

Again, the strange starfish beings crawled up onto the breakwater.

I let out a fake laugh and looked at Lady Trentia.

“If I ordered you to kill that monster, would you become a bad bandit lord?”

Lady Trentia nodded.

“Not to any other knight but me, please do not give such an order.”

Whoosh!

A red mana blade exploded from her sword.

“Because I am lacking orders as it is.”