Chapter 209 - Golden Beacon (2)

Some saw it as something to protect, but for others, it was merely something to harvest.

Barbosa's crew smiled gleefully as they watched the dwarves floating in the sea.

To them, who didn't see people as humans, the dwarves wandering without a place to go were nothing more than shining gold coins.

"Not all of them are dwarves!"

"Ha, ha! This is paradise!"

However, perhaps they were so excited about the unexpected harvest that they didn't notice the ship slowly drifting away from the group.

No, even if they had noticed, they wouldn't have paid much attention to it.

Because the ship approaching them seemed too small and insignificant.

"...What is this?"

Suddenly, a bright light began to shine over the excited sailors.

Although it was midday, the light shone intensely, and though small, it was bright enough to be mistaken for a lighthouse in the port.

The flickering light drew closer and closer.

Traveling on the small ship they had ignored for its insignificant appearance.

The ship cutting through the sea was heading directly towards them.

***

"Aaaah!"

"Too fast! Too fast!"

"The squids, the squids are going crazy!"

It seemed like they were riding on a silver shelf.

The sea was supposed to be blue, but the water's surface under Zemina's feet was now filled with silver.

Even Barbosa's ships in the distance seemed bewildered by the light produced by the swarms of glowing squids.

"Argh!"

A speed that would make even experienced sailors grit their teeth.

The bulging sail already fluttered as if it were about to tear, and the headwind was so strong it was hard to breathe.

"Everyone hold on tight!"

The Zemina advanced as if gliding on ice, but contrary to its exterior appearance, the impact the crew had to endure was violent.

Joseph's face had already turned pale due to the vibrations, enough to unsettle even the elves with their good sense of balance.

Bang! Boom! Boom!

"Enemy ship attack! They're firing cannonballs!"

Black dots started flying from Barbosa's ships, which he noticed belatedly.

At the ominous explosion heard from afar, Harven's eyes, hidden under the captain's hat, began to glow intensely.

"Huff!"

Screech! Screech!

A sinister sound was heard as the wheel was forced to turn.

It was the cry of the Zemina, unable to overcome its speed.

Boom! Boom!

Barbosa's cannonballs narrowly missed despite all their might.

Even Baradis, who never lost his composure, swallowed hard as he watched the projectiles fall close by.

"Ha! Ha, ha!"

Everyone on the ship was tense, but Harven was smiling broadly.

When was the last time I ran on my own legs?

It felt like the memories of that time, which I could hardly recall, were slowly awakening as the wind blew as if it were tearing me apart.

"Everyone! Brace for impact!"

Screech! Screech!

Sinister creaks echoed throughout the ship.

It was the cry of Zemina, exhausted, shattered, and burdened with a mission too great for its abilities.

However, Harven believed that Red Rose would definitely make it to the end.

"It's crashing!"

"Ahhh!"

The wind blown by Nibelun's magic and the waves generated by the spirits finally shot Zemina like a cannonball.

Even Barbosa's crew couldn't help but watch in fascination at the sudden acceleration.

Boom! Crash!

The two ships collided with a loud explosion-like sound and began to sway heavily.

The small but strong Lady managed to open a large hole in the side of the invader.

"Everyone jump!"

"Ahhh!"

"I'm not dead! I'm still not dead!"

The sailors began to jump forward onto the sinking Zemina.

Riding on the bridge created by the foremost hanging horn.

The sharp angle of the charge added force to their assault.

[How did we say we should take the initiative?]

And you could see their charge from the top of the collapsing watchtower.

It was the sight of a man whose body was covered in traces of Zemina's collapse.

"…With greatness!"

The dock reached the dock, but the slanted watchtower of Zemina was sinking towards the enemy's deck.

As it collapsed slowly, a golden, shiny object fell.

At the same time, the sword swung sharply.

The path of the sword pointed precisely at the enemy captain holding the wheel.

"This is madness!"

The captain's eyes, looking up, filled with light.

Two people who had gotten closer by looking at each other passed by.

Because there was only one path drawn by the sword, and only one person could stand on it.

Whoosh

The captain was slowly crumbling under the blood that had been cut vertically.

The moment passed fleetingly, and the light that came was of a precious golden color.

"…I am Vlad of Soara."

The mast of the Zemina, which fell, landed on the deck with a crash.

However, Vlad showed no pity for her as she collapsed.

"I will not hear any excuses from you who invaded the North."

What you must bring is only the name, not the dilapidated form.

A chilling aura began to flow from Vlad, who carried the banner of the red rose.

***

There are a total of five enemy ships.

Seeing the Zemina trapped in the flagship, they felt so bewildered that the ships quickly began to approach.

"Hmph!"

Another sailor lost his head due to the strong blow of the axe.

The dark-skinned man hidden in the darkness was not something that could be recognized even if someone was watching.

"Harven!"

"…Don't worry about me, just do what you have to do!"

Otar shouted while looking at Harven, whose left leg was bleeding, but they no longer had time.

"It's now or never! Everyone, to your posts!"

In the crowded hold, enemies and sailors mingled in confusion.

The elves and Jager were fine, but no matter how good they were, they couldn't block the artillery fire coming from afar.

"Gunners ready, load the fuse!"

Harven had lost his staff and was rolling around helplessly, but he still held the captain's hat he wore.

Although the ship was lost, the captain's duty was not yet over, and Harven was the one who somehow had to open a path for his passengers.

"Fire!"

"Fire projectiles!"

"Captain, fire!"

Endless repetitions amidst chaotic shouts.

The crew of the Zemina, having captured the enemy cannons, began to shout as loud as they could at the approaching ships.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A distance that could not be avoided for being too close.

The acrid smoke filled the sky with debris flying everywhere.

The enemy ships, which had never expected the dock to be captured in such a short time, abandoned the flank helplessly.

"Don't stop! Keep firing!"

From now on, only quick hands could save them.

The ships, realizing that the flagship had been captured, slowly began to open their cannons.

The bright tips of the cannons aimed at the sailors on both sides.

"Emergency increase!"

At that moment, one of the enemy ships that had finished aiming began to tilt sharply.

This was because it was ruthlessly pushed by something resembling a sunfish that jumped from under the sea.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The enemy projectiles that had lost their angle began to rise into the sky in vain.

With Harven's order echoing along with it, fire began to shoot from the dock.

A flying projectile and someone's scream.

The torn bodies fell to the bottom of the sea.

-······.

Above the bodies slowly sinking, bubbles rose.

It was a bubble emerging from the darkness of the depths of the sea, where not a single ray of light shone.

The misty bubble containing someone's breath extended its hand toward the golden beacon shining on the water's surface.

Though the color it held was different, it was like a resonance in a very old memory.

***

"We can't advance because of the chains!"

"Take a detour."

"Impossible! There are reefs everywhere!"

Barbosa scratched his head, worried by the reports he heard.

It seemed that the reason for the desperate defense, despite somehow not being a match for him, was due to timing.

"…You're so bold."

Barbosa looked at the ship in front of him and laughed as if it were absurd.

A ship equipped with a strange watermill was constantly luring them here.

Although its current appearance was in bad shape due to the projectiles, the flagship of Nidavellir finally managed to complete its mission.

"They say there's no iron armor beneath the ship."

"That's good to hear."

Blood was flowing down his forehead from the splinters, but Olmukar only smiled with satisfaction at the report received.

"Tell the submarines to make holes in the bottom of that ship."

"Understood."

Although these submarines were built to work, not to fight, it would have been easier to drill a hole under the ship.

These submarines were originally constructed to extract minerals from the seabed.

Boom! Boom!

"Sir! From beneath the ship now!"

"Ah, I'm no longer surprised by what emerges."

Despite the unsettling sound from beneath the ship that made the sailors nervous, the Golden Duke, Barbosa, merely shrugged.

A strange sunfish swimming under the sea in a ship that moves alone without wind.

Moreover, there are chains persistently tying between the reefs.

Barbosa grew tired of the dwarves' preparations as they struggled to survive.

"They say nothing is harder than a dwarf's beard... Just looking at them, they're crazy."

However, Barbosa's obsession with gold was closer to madness.

Despite the unsettling sound from beneath the ship that made the sailors nervous, the Golden Duke, Barbosa, merely shrugged.

"Ah, count, given the state of things, what can we do. I'm very sorry."

Barbosa, who recognized that he could do nothing, decided to use one of the prepared measures he had brought along.

It was originally prepared for the Blood Dragon, but it was inevitable in the current situation.

"…May a curse fall upon you and the house of Barbosa."

"Are those your last words, Salbara?"

The middle-aged man, firmly bound with ropes, looked with eyes full of hatred, but the Golden Duke, Barbosa, only looked at his dagger, unmoved.

Any defeated dog would surely bark like the man now, and Barbosa had heard such empty threats many times.

"Those words no longer move me."

"Guh!"

Barbosa cut the man's neck with a familiar motion.

The drops of blood from the last Salbara fell from the tip of the dagger he held.

Rumble, rumble!

As Count Salbara's eyes lost their light, a strong vibration began to resonate from the ship beside him.

It was a box that had been tightly sealed with silver chains.

"…Just as they said, it's starting to get out of control."

However, the chains that seemed to last forever were now rapidly rusting.

This was because they could no longer fulfill their noble vow as they had lost the oath passed down through the blood.

The southern lineage that had maintained the oath for so long until now was finally cut by a ruthless pirate.

Amidst the sinister sound of the box, the shadow under the sea darkened.

That shadow had been held by a being that had followed the dragon fragment from the south.

***

An old man was watching the sea from the edge of a cliff on the island of Lemnos.

Those who couldn't fight took refuge, and all the warriors who could fight left for the battlefield, leaving the island empty, but Rukhta was determined to protect this forge.

Even if you are an insignificant old man, you have the duty to preserve it until the end.

"What the hell is that…"

Although Rukhta remained with such firm resolve, what he was seeing now was hard to accept.

The sea was crying.

Because something hard to handle was emerging beneath it.

The ships of Nidavellir were trembling dangerously from that enormous howl.

Like a pathetic leaf that seemed ready to fall at any moment.

"…Oh my God."

A hoarse voice came out of Ruhkta's mouth.

Before his eyes unfolded a scene so incredible he couldn't believe it.

It was a spectacle that even he, who had lived a long time, couldn't dare to withstand.

Gaaahhhh-!

There was a dragon that raised its head while crossing the sea.

It was a being so enormous that its extended head reached the sky.

With its roar, even the clouds in the sky hid.

"The greatest… Dragon."

The greatest dragon. Leviathan.

The largest and perfect remnant of the dragon now appeared in the waters of the island of Lemnos.

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