Iron rusts, but gold does not.
The tips of the tentacles on top of Deep Ones’ heads shone deep underwater, and gold also shone in the dark. Therefore, the Deep Ones greatly valued gold craftwork once they’d established a civilization. Pirates who took whatever they wanted by force decorated themselves with gold, and the stronger they were, the more gold they used. The same was true for the captain of Yaboon’s Pirates, Yaboon.
Yaboon wore several necklaces and had rings on each finger, all of different thicknesses, and he also wore bracelets, anklets, and lip piercings.
“What did you say?”
The jewelry on Yaboon’s body shook.
The Deep One subordinate cowered.
“They are getting out of the Kraken’s range.”
“They’re getting?out of range?” Yaboon sharply emphasized the subordinate’s particular choice of words. “Not running?”
“Yes. That’s right. They are moving out of it. They didn’t suffer much damage by the Kraken.”
“There’s no way! They don’t even have the grace of God!”
The subordinate hesitantly said, “There is someone who used strange powers.”
“…Explain in detail.”
The subordinate then explained, “The Kraken attacked them at the perfect timing. But just before the first ship was about to be destroyed, the sea around the ship froze in an instant.”
“It froze?”
“Yes. Not only the sea, but the tentacles also froze. Then powerful waves came, and even our men that were waiting to attack were swept away. The frozen part of the sea broke under the impact. It was like…the power that Manda used.”
“Manda?”
Yaboon slammed down on the table,
“The power is unlikely to belong to a god. It’s not easy for gods to interfere in the mortal world with power like that. And they wouldn’t use such power to save a fleet from a Kraken… So there must be a wizard like Manda.”
As the subordinate knew, Manda was Yaboon’s rival. Both of them were high priests that had the authority to attend the highest council. Due to their overlapping territories, they couldn’t help but butt heads at every possible chance, which resulted in Yaboon’s defeat.
In terms of manpower, Yaboon had many more blood relatives, but Manda was a Wizard. There was no telling what a Wizard could do, and no priests wanted to be defeated by a wizard.
Yaboon wouldn’t call it a consolation prize for his loss, but he did gain authority over the pirates after that. And through that authority, he was able to go to the other continent, which had been a taboo for them. Yaboon initially planned to conquer a part of the other continent, build a new force, and go back to his original continent to attack Manda, but…according to the subordinate, it seemed like it would be difficult to follow that plan.
‘I got on the wrong side, but it seems too late to cut ties now. How should I go about this?’
Hoping that Yaboon would be intimidated into returning to the mainland, the subordinate said, “Captain, what should we do now? At this rate, we would have to fight them here at the coast of Doltan Island. They have a strange weapon and a wizard like Manda.”
“Hmph, don’t be such a coward,” Yaboon reprimanded his subordinate. “What are you so afraid of when God is with us? They are grubs that can’t even breathe underwater.”
“But still…”
“We have to face Manda one day anyway. I could use a grub wizard as practice.”
“How will we face them?”
Yaboon said with a smile, “The knights of King Gyo I called upon in secret have arrived.”
“By the knights of King Gyo, you mean…”
“Yes. It’s them. The fact that King Gyo lent us his knights means that Deep Light is also watching over us. I will lead my ships with them to victory.”
The subordinate then judged that it might be too early to cut ties with Yaboon.
***
“The interrogation is done,” said General Ian Tata as he walked up to the deck.
The big Lizardman had blood all over his hands, but nothing on his face.
Vasen Lak Orazen thought it was a relief that this Lizardman was an ally. “Did you gain nothing new?”
“Yes. It’s pretty much the same as the information we already knew.”
The process of getting away from the Kraken was by no means easy. In particular, since the Deep Ones judged that the leading military ships of Danyum and Mangul would be wiped out by the Kraken, most of their attacks were directed at the ships in the back, which happened to be the military ships of Black Scale. Black Scale’s ships quickly lined up and fired with two rows of cannons, but they were only able to hit a small portion of the seventy ships in the enemy fleet.
Fortunately enough, before an actual battle could break out between them and the pirates, the military ships of Danyum and Mangul were able to escape the Kraken’s range, and they made it back to support Black Scale’s ships, prompting the pirate ships to flee.
‘If that Garuda hadn’t used magic, it would have been a really tough battle.’
Black Scale and the allied navies sent reconnaissance ships to a large area of the sea and gathered the captains of each ship for a meeting. It was important to share the information on Doltan Island they had gotten out of the Deep Ones captives through interrogation, of course, but the main subject they were going to discuss was the wizard that had been hidden in Asbestos until now. In this case, there was also a diplomatic issue.
As the Garuda’s magic didn’t distinguish between friends and foe, some of the Mangul sailors who had fallen into the sea had been hit by the magic as well. That was another thing Oldor hadn’t properly informed Mazdari about. However, Mangul was unable to actively protest about it because the demonstration had made it clear how powerful the wizard was. With that power, if the wizard was escorted by Troll knights, he would be able to deal with all the ships there. And Asbestos’s general, Oldor, didn’t even try to hide the fact. Since they had been forced to reveal their hidden trump card, it seemed that he was trying to leverage it to gain authority.
“From now on, I will be in command of all the allied navies.”
But Black Scale was an exception. To be exact, with Mazdari’s power revealed, the two groups maintained an uneasy peace where a conflict could be triggered at any time.
After Vasen returned to his ship, he said to Theone Itimo and Ian Tata, “After the fight with the pirates is over, they might try to start a fight with us by picking a quarrel or a fault. So firmly supervise the sailors and soldiers.”
But fortunately or unfortunately, Yaboon’s Pirates wasn’t an easy group to deal with.
***
“It’s Doltan Island!”
At the watchkeeper’s shout, Vasen looked toward the front of the ship. The shape of the island was already clearly visible.
Then General Ian said to Vasen, “I’ll go check the soldiers and cannons one last time.”
“Alright. Make sure nothing goes wrong during battle.”
“Okay.”
“No, wait.”
Ian followed Vasen’s gaze to what his narrowed eyes were looking at.
Then the watchkeeper yelled, “Something is approaching at a rapid speed! It’s half submerged in the water!”
Vasen could have ignored it. If it was half submerged, it certainly wouldn’t be a ship, nor would it be a Deep One coming from underwater. However, they had already faced an unpredictable enemy, so it wouldn’t hurt to be extra cautious.
“Theone! Stop the ship! Ian, assume it’s an enemy and aim at it with the cannons!”
Starting with The Humiliation of Pirates, Black Scale’s fleet came to a halt. Then the allied navy fleet ahead of them took notice and followed suit. General Oldor Mayen, who was on board Whalebone, also turned the ship around and slowed down.
“…What is that?”
Watching from above, Sung-Woon sighed. He already knew what was coming, but it was too tricky to give them a warning.
‘Black Scale is in the back anyway, so I can only hope that they observe the situation and find a way to deal with it.’
The things repeatedly diving into and emerging from water came to the surface, but the bubbles concealed their form.
Oldor readied his sword and shield and took precaution.
Something shiny rose up through the bubbles.
‘…A fish?’
It was a large fish around three meters in length. Its scales shone while reflecting sunlight, and the Troll knights were unable to properly open their eyes. That was why not many had noticed the pair of wing fins spread out from both sides of the fish, or the Deep One riding behind the fins while lowering their body. The Deep One also had a trident in their hand.
“Aack!”
As the giant flying fish jumped up and gilded above one of the military ships, the Deep One pierced a Troll knight with their trident and disappeared over the railing on the other side.
Only then did Oldor figure out that the things under the bubbles were knights, just like they were.
Oldor then yelled, “There are Deep Ones riding on giant flying fish! Get away from the railings! Bend down!”
However, Oldor’s shout was lost in the noises of giant flying fish jumping through the currents and hitting the surface of the water.
Some of the Troll knights were blinded by the flashing light and got dragged into the sea.
‘Damn it! …No. They should be able to swim and get back onto the ship if they take off their armor.’
Oldor leaned over and looked below the railing, but something unexpected was happening on the sea. The knights who had fallen off board were being killed in perfect order by groups of Deep Ones. Oldor quickly shot an arrow, but it wasn’t enough to pierce through the water and hit the Deep Ones.
‘Shit!’
Oldor ran into the ship to look for Mazdari, keeping his body so low that it almost looked like he was crawling.
Meanwhile, Vasen was observing what was happening to the ships ahead. It seemed ridiculous, but it was a threatening tactic, and the attack continued to ravage the next ship that wasn’t properly prepared to defend itself.
“Are the knights on the giant flying fish quickly snatching those on deck into the sea? And the infantry kill them once they fall into the water? It’s an unusual tactic that makes good use of their traits as a species.”
General Ian replied, “Then what if all the soldiers hide beneath the deck?”
“That is an option…but look at that.”
Vasen pointed at the ship ahead of them. Those on board seemed to have gotten the same idea as General Ian. As all the soldiers ran under the deck, the Deep Ones climbed up the sides of the ship. Unable to use their new weapons, the cannons, the soldiers got into a close range battle.
“We might be able to win in a battle of close combat, but if the number of the enemies increases, the battle will last longer. Then we wouldn’t be able to move the ship when the enemy’s main units arrive.”
“…Then what?”
“Ian, don’t overcomplicate things. While this isn’t land, and they aren’t riding Cockatoos or horses, they are still clearly calvary. There’s no need for a temporary change in strategy. We just need to face them as we have done until now.”
At Vasen’s words, Ian’s facial expressions brightened.
“Alright. I will get all the soldiers ready.”
***
The giant flying fish knights were the flagship of the Deep Ones. Especially when dealing with ships, the giant flying fish could jump and glide ten meters in height, and up to forty meters horizontally at its best, even with a Deep One on its back. There weren’t many species who could take the weight of hundreds of kilograms of the fish’s huge body, so an untrained soldier would lose consciousness and die easily once they were pierced by a trident and pushed into the sea. 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚
Therefore, usually, King Gyo’s knights consisted of only Deep Ones riding on giant fish, but priests might also be deployed as support if God willed it so.
“That ship is the next.”
The giant flying fish knights had dealt with several ships already. They saw that their enemies weren’t prepared for anything, so they were full of confidence.
There was nothing on the deck of their next target, but the giant flying fish knights didn’t stop.
‘Everyone seems to be hiding under the deck. There are always cowards like that. I can just signal the infantry to take over the ship.’
A giant flying fish knight rose into the air.
“Attack!”
However, the Deep One realized soon that he had made a mistake. As the giant flying fish went above the deck, the soldiers crouching low raised their spears at a 45 degree angle.
‘…Shit!’
The knight pulled at the reins and changed directions.
‘That was close, but I avoided it!’
That was false hope.
A circular shadow blocked the knight’s view.
“First officer!”
The Ogre, Hwae-Sa, stood up and raised their arm before charging at the knight, doing a clothesline move.
“I will not lose against the sea!”
1. A common wrestling move.
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