Chapter 203: I’ll Spare Your Lives
A gigantic hole had ford in the middle of the sea. Like a volcanic eruption, it continuously spewed flas.
- You’re having quite a flashy ti.
- But that hero… he’s no ordinary one. He’s not a common fellow.
“The Demon King will handle it himself.”
Ernan trusted the Demon King. Her gaze turned toward the sky.
“I should do what I need to do.”
Streams of water stretching out from the sea wrapped around the floating battleship.
“I said you wanted it.”
- Still, it’s holding out pretty well.
It was far beyond “pretty well.”
The floating battleship crafted by the dwarves was truly a masterpiece. Even under the firm binding of the Spirit King, it did not easily fall; rather, it was on the verge of breaking free.
As the mana consumption steadily increased, Ernan realized there was no solution if things continued like this.
“I guess I’ll have to go myself.”
- What are you planning to do?
“I’ll knock all the pilots unconscious, then sink the floating battleship intact next to the tower.”
- Sounds fun.
Ernan flew up.
* * *
“Large-scale bombardnt impacting the barrier!”
“Barrier damage rate 31%! 33%! It’s rising rapidly!”
“The ship has been bound!”
“Increase engine output and break free!”
“Engine output at 77%! If it goes over 80%, mana consumption will double!”
Red warning alarms blared loudly. From all over, the floating battleship’s screams could be heard.
The captain of the floating battleship ground his teeth.
“Those damn traitorous bastards…!”
Since the battle had begun, the floating battleship had exchanged bombardnts with the tower. In the process, it beca clear.
The ones who made those mana cannons were undoubtedly dwarves. Even in the Berfht Kingdom, only the highest-grade products were mounted on a floating battleship. The only ones capable of producing mana cannons on par with those were one group alone.
The royal craftsn of the royal workshop who had made the floating battleship’s mana cannons.
‘The situation is the worst…!’
Due to the power of the Four Heavenly Kings—the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness—the floating battleship had been bound. They were struggling desperately to escape, but it was not easy. anwhile, the mana cannons installed on the tower relentlessly battered the ship.
The barrier was disappearing in real ti.
On the other hand, the tower being hit by bombardnt looked completely fine. Whatever it was made of, he could understand why humans were not trying to smash the tower from the outside.
‘Damn it, I really want to tear it apart once and see what it’s made of.’
Suppressing his racial instincts, he issued orders.
“Pour in all the mana stones we have! Redirect the ship cannons from the tower to the water chains. After a concentrated barrage, when the chains weaken, raise output to the maximum and break free!”
“Yes, sir!”
“We only have one chance, so don’t let your guard down!”
That was when it happened. A massive shock was transmitted to the hull.
“C-Captain!”
“What is it?!”
“A massive water giant is approaching. The water jet it fired struck the barrier!”
“What?!”
“The Four Heavenly Kings! The Spirit Sorceress of Darkness has been spotted! She’s approaching!”
“The Spirit Sorceress of Darkness…!”
The captain clenched his teeth. The ship being bound and turned into a punching bag, having to worry about rapid fuel consumption and engine overload while maintaining maximum output—when you thought about it, all of it was her doing.
“Fine. Let’s do this, then.”
How much did she look down on the dwarves and the floating battleship to dare do this?
“Redirect all ship cannons! Target the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness! Blow her away with a concentrated barrage!”
“Then our escape—!”
“She’s the one who caused all of this in the first place. Don’t you even know that spirits are forcibly reverse-summoned when their summoner is killed?!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
The ship cannons changed targets. The massive water giant surging toward the floating battleship and the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness beca their objectives.
The masterpieces crafted by the dwarves spewed fire. So rged together, others split apart, drawing long trajectories through the air.
────!
They collided with the water giant. An explosion erupted. Piercing through and crushing it, they annihilated the giant.
“We got it!”
“What about the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness?”
“She’s unhard!”
Using the giant as a sacrifice, the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness drew even closer.
“Distance approximately 30 ters!”
It was far too close to fire mana cannons. With that level of destructive power, the ship itself would be damaged.
However, mana cannons were not the floating battleship’s only weapons.
“Lightning Chain discharge!”
“Discharge!”
An artifact engraved with lightning magic accepted mana.
Pajijijik-
Hundreds of lightning whips split apart and lashed out, engulfing the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness.
But a water shield that suddenly surged up blocked them.
“It failed!”
“10 ters!”
“If it’s water, electricity should conduct! What kind of nonsense is this?!”
“Captain! Now’s not the ti to complain—!”
“I know that too! Activate reaction magic!”
“Reaction magic activated!”
The engines spun furiously. Spewing scorching heat, the magic sigils engraved throughout the floating battleship activated.
───!
A rebounding force that pushed everything away. The Spirit Sorceress of Darkness was instantly blasted dozens of ters backward.
“Fire the mana cannons!”
“Concentrated barrage!”
Once more, the mana cannons shone brightly.
This ti, there was no water giant, no shield. A massive explosion swallowed the surroundings.
Gulp—
The dwarves swallowed their dry saliva.
“Did we get her?”
That was the mont.
“Captain! A massive mana fluctuation 50 ters above the ship—!”
“What? Put it on the screen imdiately!”
The scrying orbs installed throughout the ship transmitted the outside view.
“My god.”
The captain exclaid.
It was a spear of water. An unimaginably massive, compressed force filled with terrifying mana.
It was dangerous.
All the dwarves were aghast.
“Running away is impossible, damn it.”
The water chains gripping the ship were still intact. It sent chills down their spines that this could truly be done by a single person.
‘Is she not a Four Heavenly King, but a fourth Demon King?’
“It’s falling!”
“Deploy shield magic!”
A translucent barrier, different from the automatic defense system, rose up to beco an umbrella over the floating battleship.
“Impact imminent!”
──!
The shield shattered in an instant. Should they at least marvel that it slowed the speed a little and reduced so of the force?
“Fire release!”
“Fire release!”
Different from mana cannons, fla cannons spewed fire all at once.
They intended to evaporate even a little of the water forming the spear and weaken its power.
The intent worked. Steam wavered, and the spear weakened. But it still continued to fall.
───!
The floating battleship shook violently.
“Impact!”
“Barrier damage rate 45%! 51%! Rising rapidly!”
Krrrk—
It felt as though cracks were forming in the barrier. The captain’s face turned pale.
“Concentrate mana upward and reinforce it!”
“Then the sides will weaken!”
“The top’s about to be breached, and you’re worrying about that?!”
“Orders received!”
The upper barrier thickened further. The water spear, blocked by the shield and weakened by flas, lacked the strength to pierce through.
“Spear dissipated!”
“Damage rate 66%! The bombardnt on the weakened sides is intensifying!”
“Start repairs imdiately and find the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness! This won’t end until that woman is dead!”
Faced with that monstrous power, the captain ground his teeth. Even taking hits from hundreds of mana cannons would not cause this much damage. The floating battleship’s barrier was its crowning glory, designed with the utmost care.
‘Just what is that woman?’
How could a re subordinate of a Demon King wield such power?
“It’s fine. There’s no need to look.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?!”
“She’s already right here, next to you.”
“How could the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness be next to —huh?”
“Huh?”
“C-Captain?”
The captain’s head turned with a creaking sound, like a broken golem.
There stood a woman wearing a mask, smiling.
She was the very one who, monts ago, had been charging toward the ship from outside.
“H-How?”
“The barrier was very sturdy. So I went for a single-point breakthrough.”
Destroying the entire barrier was impossible for now, but creating a tiny crack with the spear was feasible. She had thrown herself through that gap.
It was possible because the floating battleship’s barrier system was not a single complete form, but a structure that continuously regenerated.
“...K-Kill—!”
The captain’s body went limp and collapsed.
“C-Captain!”
“You monster!”
A few dwarves rushed forward with weapons, but were blocked by droplets of water and fell.
“Now then, everyone, you have two choices.”
The Spirit Sorceress of Darkness spread her fingers.
“One: obediently enter the sea as I wish.”
One finger folded down.
“Or resist, get knocked unconscious, and be dragged away by force.”
One dwarf raised his hand.
“What is it?”
“Is, is there no other choice?”
“There is.”
“R-Really—gkh.”
“Getting knocked unconscious for asking a strange question and being dragged away by force.”
“....”
“....”
The dwarves’ faces turned deathly pale.
“W-We’ll go quietly.”
“Sa here.”
And so.
The dwarves’ ultimate weapon jumped into the sea of its own accord.
* * *
“Amazing.”
Reina Sordein had been the core of this battle. Since they had chosen to face the heroes outside the tower—and at sea, no less—it was unavoidable.
The monsters, no less than the heroes, were not accustod to the sea, and she had to constantly freeze the ocean to properly set the stage.
At the sa ti, she was the only commander capable of smoothly directing the demons and monsters.
Thus, from one side of the battlefield, she observed everything and issued commands.
And she confird the exploits of those called the Four Heavenly Kings.
“All the stars have fallen.”
Stars. Reina knew well how much aning that na held for humans.
Especially when two or three of them gathered, they could kill a Demon King. Many Demon Kings had died that way, and most recently, Draxon and Ugar had t that fate.
They were by no ans weak. It was simply that the Four Heavenly Kings were stronger.
She could not tell whether to praise the princesses for their greatness, or Berje for binding them together and making them his vassals.
What was certain was that they had seized victory.
‘If it were just ?’
She would have lost. Without any doubt, a definitive defeat.
Balraf Dislode, Rozel Charnte, Watton Colo, Pablo Barkat, Aina Diaphrin, Ralph Schmitz.
No less than six stars. And the terrifying waves of mana and demonic energy currently clashing in the deep sea told her that Balraf Dislode was a powerhouse even stronger than herself.
By the stars, the upper-ranking demons would have been swept away.
And by the monster who scarcely resembled a hero, Balraf Dislode, her head would have been severed.
After more than a hundred years in Arein, she would have beco a foolish Demon King who achieved nothing in dinsional conquest, only wasting ti in ridicule and leading all the vassals who trusted and followed her to their deaths.
That was when it happened.
Kururur—
At the thunderous roar shaking the battlefield, Reina lifted her head.
A single human and the last bastion of the Dwarven Kingdom were engaged in a fierce battle.
‘Ernan Hilderan.’
The Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Hilderan, and at the sa ti, Berje’s vassal. All of the Four Heavenly Kings were outstanding, but compared to her, they fell short.
‘A contractor of a Spirit King.’
The Spirit King was a ruler who reigned from a higher dinsion called the Spirit Realm.
Unlike Demon Kings who were kings in na only, the Spirit King was a true king. Though each of the four great Spirit Kings lacked individual martial might compared to the Demon Emperor, the Lord of All Demons, they could not be taken lightly.
Her contemplation did not last long.
Kururur—
The fluctuations in the sky vanished. The water chains ca undone, and the floating battleship plunged into the sea.
Reina realized that Ernan had won.
“T-The floating battleship?”
“Why is it going into the sea?!”
“They should be providing bombardnt support!”
As the bombardnt ceased, the monsters’ onslaught grew even fiercer, and the heroes scread.
At the sa ti—
─!
A scorching heat originating from the deep sea pierced the sky. With it, all demonic energy vanished.
The battle was decided.
‘If the victor were…’
If it were not Berje.
Reina calmly gathered demonic energy.
Berje was still alive. As his vassal, she could tell. But if that ant he was barely clinging to life after being captured by a monster like Balraf Dislode—
‘When they co up carelessly, ambush them and rescue Berje.’
That was the best she could do.
But fortunately, it was unnecessary.
“Berje!”
The one who erged was Berje. Balraf Dislode’s limp body was miserable that it almost looked like a corpse.
“G-Guildmaster!”
“Balraf—no, the Guildmaster has been defeated!”
“My god! First the stars, and now even the Guildmaster!”
The Guildmaster’s defeat, following the fall of the stars and the sinking of the floating battleship, was the final nail in the coffin.
The heroes’ morale plumted beyond the bottom, sinking into the abyss.
“W-We have to run!”
“Run where? The ship has fallen!”
They panicked. At that mont—
- Greetings, everyone. I’m the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness.
Just before the falling floating battleship entered the sea, it stopped.
Through the voice amplification device installed on the ship, a gentle voice flowed out.
- The outco has been decided.
- Your ans of escape are gone now that the floating battleship has been taken.
“So it wasn’t a crash, it was seized?”
“Those stupid dwarves, calling it their treasure and still failing to protect it—what were they doing?!”
- I propose this.
- Surrender.
- Or else.
Kwarurur—
A thunderous roar erupted.
“T-That…!”
“It’s a wave!”
“It’s a tsunami!”
The heroes saw it. A 10-ter-high tsunami charging toward them.
“Aaaah!”
“Save !”
The heroes fell into panic, but there was nowhere to run.
Amidst that, the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness’s voice calmly seeped in.
- You will all die.
Fortunately, the tsunami stopped right before them. But the heroes could not feel relieved.
- Now. Surrender.
Rather, they were horrified and despairing at the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness’s ability to create such a tsunami and halt it at will.
- I’ll spare your lives.
All the heroes lost their will to fight.
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