Chapter 134
Suddenly, a loud bang echoes through the ship.
The priests and sisters on board begin to scramble.
The ship lurches once more, and a stream of water pours overhead.
“Gah!”
“Everyone, hold on to the railing!”
We’ve just entered the waters of Jeju Island and they’re bombarding us.
It’s a good thing the ship is low, but if it was any higher or bigger, it would definitely be hit.
“Sister Maria, are you injured?”
“Yes? Oh, yes. No, I’m fine, it’s the children, not me, we need to evacuate them.”
“It’s okay here, go ahead, that’s what I came here for in the first place.”
Sister Maria’s eyes widen as I pull the Tommy out of the cube.
“……that?”
“Well, I’m a hit man for Corleone.”
“Please, Mr. Cloud.”
With that, I let Sister Maria inside first, then walked toward where I think the shell came from.
Boom, boom, boom─────
I could feel the fear of the priests around me just by the sound of the ship’s bell.
It wasn’t the priests who were the problem, it was the sound.
‘If it can cause such a sound effect, it must be a ghost ship.’
There were certainly some ships in this world that had special effects, and if they were using effects related to fear, ghost ships were the most likely.
Indeed.
Giggle, giggle, giggle, giggle.
Gradually, the new model of the other ship began to appear.
“Prepare for battle!”
Father John shouted, and at the same time, a yellowish barrier began to surround the entire ship.
These are the members of the Halla Cathedral, one of the major forces in Jeju Island.
The priests and sisters, who began to hold their positions in unison despite the sudden attack, raise their weapons and point them at the slowly approaching ghost ship.
But
“……You’re having a hard time.”
I slowly walked past them and turned to face the direction of the ghost ship.
After focusing my aura,
-Boom!
I accelerated and jumped onto the deck of the ghost ship.
“Huh? Huh, Cloud?!”
The sight of me startled Father John, but it was better than taking a lot of casualties.
As I landed on the deck of the ghost ship, I could feel dozens of eyes on me at once.
“The ……priests are crawling up here?”
“Huh? He’s not wearing priests’ robes?”
“If he’s not in priestly robes, why is he crawling out of that ship?”
Magic and aura reverberations could be felt from every single one of them.
Thanks to Kwak Chun-sik’s training, my ability to sense auras had already surpassed that of Academy students.
It was no longer difficult to distinguish between the Awakened and the unawakened.
“You guys, what are you doing interrupting our event?”
“What?”
One of the pirates frowned as if he didn’t see the point of my question.
“If you guys are operating out of Jeju Island, you should have some idea whose ship this is, but you still believe that you’re doing this……?”
“What the fuck is he talking about, kill him and take his gun!”
These kids can’t even read their opponents.
I can’t be bothered to explain to them, so I point my Tommy gun forward and pull the trigger to show them the difference in class.
─!/ ─!/ ─!/ ─!/ ─!/ ─!/ ─!/ ─!/ ─!/ ─!/ ─!/ ─!
“Crazy, crazy! Take cover!”
“Return fire! Return fire!”
I squeezed the trigger in the direction they’d gathered.
The other guys quickly draw their guns and start pulling the triggers in my direction as they watch their teammates get torn apart.
Tsk. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Thud. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Well, there’s no way their weapons were going to penetrate DisPater.
“Guns don’t work.”
“Throw magic, bombs, whatever, you idiots!”
One by one, they start to panic at the sight of me standing there, unharmed, under a baptism of bullets, and some of them start to back away.
I could use the Tommy to wipe out the rest of them, but I don’t want to have to……search every inch of the ship.
The constant barrage of bullets and the aftermath of explosions interrupt my thoughts, so I duck behind some nearby cargo for cover.
“A ghost ship at this time of night, there’s got to be something.”
-Thud. Thud.
As they panic, I absorb the fear in the air and organize my thoughts.
Did any factions I knew of use ghost ships?
Off the top of my head, no.
Ghost ships weren’t in my memory, but it was clear what that meant.
“They must be mercenaries paid by someone.”
Mercenaries paid by someone to raid us.
“You guys were paid by someone to raid us?”
I can actually feel their bodies twitch at the sound of my own voice.
“What the hell──”
“……You guys are real amateurs, seeing as how you can’t even manage facial expressions. Well, I have a guess, so I don’t bother asking.”
I tap the deck with my shoe.
Now that I’ve gotten everything out of the way, I might as well clean it up.
After all, it’s easier to sweep it all up in one go, right?
I slowly begin to load the aura into my shoes.
This is no ordinary pair of shoes, but a pair of black shoes given to me by the Academy Dean.
Due to the nature of artifacts, they can hold more aura than ordinary objects, so I can use them this way.
“Let’s make this quick.”
If I had released my power normally, I would have simply punctured a hole, but I stomped my foot and spread the aura as wide as I could, enveloping the entire ghost ship.
“What are you looking at, kill him now!”
“Attack! Attack!”
“It’s too late for that.”
Woosh── woosh── woosh──!
The ghost ship makes a strange noise and slowly begins to twist and turn.
“The Ghost Ship is a great badge, immune to physical attacks, fast, and self-repairing, but it’s weak against magic and aura attacks.”
This is why most nations and guilds don’t use ghost ships.
For every advantage, there’s a disadvantage and a weakness.
“If you’re a pirate, you should be able to swim, right?”
At that moment,
-Kaaaahhhh!!!
I let go of the aura I’ve collected and it starts running around the deck like crazy.
“The ship, the ship!”
“Get out of here!!!”
“Lifeboats, where are the lifeboats!”
Suddenly, the hull shakes violently, like a gazelle letting out its final gasp before being bitten in the neck by a lion.
“We were told there was no bishop class! What the hell is that thing?”
“Hold me, hold my hand!”
In an instant, the ghost ship has become a crucible of chaos.
This was only possible because the keel was the area I had focused my aura attacks on.
“Captain, what should we do?”
“Calm down, you stupid bastards, have you forgotten that our ship is a ghost ship, and it can barely take an attack like this?”
The ship splits in half and the man who had just been called the captain is sucked downward, while the other sailors cling to the railing to not fall off the tilting ship.
“I hear the waters of Jeju Island are home to many strange monsters, so if you want to live, swim to shore.”
At the same time, an achievement window appears in front of me.
[Hidden Achievement!]
[Achievement: “EXORCIST”!]
[You have succeeded in defeating a large undead in front of numerous religious people!]
[Priests and nuns are horrified by your hostility towards the undead!]
[You receive a special reward!]
[Those with divine powers favor you!]
“Oh.”
I’ve never sunk a ghost ship in front of religious people, so I didn’t realize that, but ghost ships are considered undead.
What a win-win.
I returned to the deck, still buoyed by my unexpected harvest, to be greeted by open-mouthed priests and sisters.
“……is there a problem?”
I ask Priest John, standing at the front, scattering holy power, and he quickly shakes his head and waves his hands in the air.
“Ah, no, nothing, it’s just……that the Hitmen of Corleone are indeed strong.”
“Aah…….”
……Was that too much?
Well, whatever. This is not even my real face.
“You can just assume I’m special among them. By the way, how far is it to land?”
“There’s nothing in the way, so it shouldn’t be long now.”
“I see.”
Well, I’ll wait outside for a while.
After playing a little before we arrived, I felt my stiff body loosen up a bit.
“After all, people need to move around a bit.”
* * *
“We’re almost there, I hope you’re all ready!”
At the signal of the priest’s voice, the ship began to glow brightly.
Sister Mary summoned her holy power to dispel the surrounding sea mist, signaling their arrival to those on land.
On the other side of the fog, a bright light began to appear.
At first, I thought it was a lighthouse, but for some reason, as I got closer, I realized that it was lower than I thought.
It wasn’t until I was much closer to the island that I realized what the light was.
-KEEEEEEEEK────!
-Keeeeeeeeeeee!
It was a group of priests being attacked by black golems with holes in them and the light was coming from the body of one of the nuns there.
“It must be Jeju Island. This place is going crazy as soon as I get here.”
Seriously……I need to get everything done this weekend to get back to the academy.
“Let’s dock the ship and help the support team out of the church. We’ll unload later!”
Before pulling into the harbor I approach the priest, who is gathering people together and pre-planning the action below, and speak to him first.
“Father.”
“Yes, Brother Cloud?”
“Why don’t you unload your luggage first, and I’ll help you below.”
“What? Oh, no matter what…….”
“Three minutes.”
I took [Al Capone’s Tommy] out of the cube and held it in my hand.
“Three minutes.”
These are the people who saw me crush the pirate ship with their own two eyes a moment ago.
“Three minutes, you must be exhausted from dealing with the pirates──”
“You mean me?”
Hearing my words, he once again scanned my body.
There wasn’t a drop of sweat on my face despite being in a suit on the humid sea.
“Why don’t you go ahead and get your luggage and the kids off safely, and I’ll take care of that.”
“Ah…… yes.”
At my words, Father John could only nod.
As the bridge lowered from the ship, I grabbed Tommy and jumped into the gap between the golems.
-Thud!
“This is Jeju Island after all, to be greeted by such a mob right from the start.”
I guess this is why it’s called the Demonic Lands.
Well, it’s not like I wasn’t prepared, I thought something like this would happen…….
Let’s finish this as quickly as possible.
