Chapter 141.
[Gryahhhhhhhh!]
The inaudible screams of monsters shook the ship. But only their screams reached the boat since they were all crushed down before getting near it. Jung Si-woo raised his hammer and lightly struck the sea’s surface, causing a shockwave to spread. The tidal wave created by it swept away the monsters.
“But the ship is about to get turned upside down, Oppa!”
“Ah, I see.”
Jung Si-woo realized the fact that his combat style wasn’t suitable for protecting someone. But would that make him just shoot out more Critical Bullets? After looking around the winged players who started taking out the monsters after coming out from different places to surround the ship, he shrugged and ignited his Phantom Bike.
“Then I will fight from afar! Caina, take care of the people!”
[I am much alike with you, Master…but I’ll make sure nobody can set foot on this ship for now.]
“I will move separately, Hyeong-nim.”
“Sure.”
“Then I will too, Oppa.”
What Soo-rin said was rather surprising, although it wasn’t for Yong Se-ha. But Soo-rin flew up from his side with a confident look, and she took out a weapon from her inventory. It was the tool that could shoot magically enhanced bullets with mana even if there were no magic bullets, the Taylor Magic Cannon.
“With the upgrade from Beto, I’ve made it into B+ rank. It will work with average monsters.”
“That’s how you will play.”
Like how Yong Se-ha started to think by himself as he spent time with Jung Si-woo, Soo-rin may have started to think differently, too. He knew that she was training her shooting. Jung Si-woo hesitated for a bit, but he nodded in the end.
“Sure, and take care. Try to stick with Se-ha as much as possible.”
“All right.”
“Then we’ll head out.”
Those two flew up together with their wings. Jung Si-woo didn’t have any obstacles, so he headed forward as he pulled the throttle. The sparks from his Phantom Bike that maintained altitude just above the surface split the waves. That scared and lured the monsters at the same time.
“Arggggggggggggggggh!”
He used his War Cry for the first time in a while. The shout of a dragon’s dignity spread out inside the ocean and agitated the monsters.
[It’s…that guy.]
[The leader of the humans.]
Jung Si-woo may have caused a slight misunderstanding, but he wasn’t bothered by it for now. He stopped far enough away from the ship. As the Phantom Bike that unleashed the sparks stopped in the middle of the ocean and the monsters swimming towards the ship all stopped after spotting it. The monsters charging towards him shouted at their allies.
[We must kill him!]
[I’ve seen him giving commands!]
This was how a misunderstanding was created. As Jung Si-woo grasped the situation through the yells of monsters, he nodded solemnly and lifted his hammer. The judgment of the demon lord that was enhanced without anyone noticing started coming down from heaven.
“Then let’s start getting serious!”
The hammer fell down and struck the surface of the sea! The moonstone particles of the obsidian on the surface of the hammer vibrated all at once to cause a shockwave. As a result, the ocean was split like how Moses split the Red Sea. The monsters nearby were instantly killed. The monsters around a few hundred meters away passed out due to the monstrous impact.
[Mo-monster.]
[We have to bring him down!]
Some smart monsters realized there was no way to win this battle as he bombarded the sea from outside, even though there were sea monsters that could both move in the sea and on the ground! One of them was the mermaid race.
[Stop with your fierce expression and come to us.]
[We love strong men. You…are rather a bit stronger but still…]
Their first attempt was a badger game. Beautiful female mermaids that survived the hammer bombardment appeared on the surface to lure him! The exquisite appearance of the mermaids described in the old fairy tale could mesmerize people for a moment, even if they knew about them.
“Charge…”
[Ah, shit.]
[We screwed up.]
But as Jung Si-woo saw them and started to concentrate mana at the end of his hammer after sneering, the mermaids realized they made a wrong decision. But it was too late to regret it.
“Attack!”
[Grrrrrrrrrgh!]
An overwhelming amount of mana was concentrated in the massive hammerhead and struck down on the sea, causing a horrifying tsunami, unlike the previous attacks. Charge Attack, an option available in the hammer! It was a close-range version of the Charge Shot available to the Rage Rifle, and it was an ultimate skill that could cause an outrageous attack through mana.
Although its downside was that it caused damage to the weapon and the human activating it so it couldn’t be used multiple times! The tsunami swept away the attack force that was charging in while the mermaids were running distraction. It was their second plan to pull Jung Si-woo to the bottom of the sea in case their seduction failed, but that plan was destroyed.
[Hiiiiiiiiiick!]
[Ms., Ms. Hedea…!]
[A human that can split the water is here! Krggh…!]
The worst part was that the dark lightning attribute from Jung Si-woo’s hammer spread out and electrocuted the monsters that weren’t even within the attack range. The monsters preparing for the third plan were obliterated in seconds.
“Good, I’m gaining a great number of experiences.”
Jung Si-woo confirmed that he was scoring an endless kill even when his giant tsunami broke apart into waves, and he nodded out of satisfaction. He saw the bloody-pulp mermaid corpses floating everywhere.
“Whew.”
He retrieved the corpses of the mermaids after things became quiet. He thought about whether they were monsters from the earth, but as expected, they were under the influence of the gods.
‘They mentioned the name, Hedea…’
He recognized the weak traces of different gods on the mermaids’ bodies. Perhaps there was a fragment of the god in the sea? It was worth looking for it, although the sea was damn wide to search.
“First, I have to make sure they won’t even try to attack us.”
He lifted his hammer once again. The result of his two months of training combined with his weapon and physique reached its peak and expanded his consciousness. Dragon’s Dignity spread throughout the ocean and allowed him to listen to the heartbeats of the monsters filling up the ocean. There were countless monsters that were after this ship.
‘Unless there are at least one or two more people like me, safe voyages are impossible by any mean.’
Jung Si-woo thought objectively and headed forward with his Phantom Bike. He let out his War Cry one again. Even the monsters that felt fear towards him couldn’t ignore his battle cry. He caused two more tsunamis and leveled up once. As he returned to the cruising ship while carrying the corpse of the shark-tailed mermaids, a commotion was heard on the ship.
“This isn’t what we were told!”
“With whom did you converse with? We have boarded the ship to protect the ships and fight against monsters. We never promised the safety of each individual.”
The ones that were quarreling over were the man who approached Jung Si-woo earlier and pretended to be an acquaintance of his father and his best friend, Lee Seo-hee.
“It’s fine weather, so what are you fighting over…oh.”
Jung Si-woo turned off his Phantom Bike and stood on the deck after storing it in his inventory. There was a corpse on the broken-down deck that was missing half of its parts. The argument may have been about it.
“How on earth are you facilitating things! It’s unacceptable that a civilian is left to get badly hurt! Moreover, this horrible state…”
“I don’t understand why you are putting it up on me. I’ve only installed the barrier as a member of the WPC after receiving a request for cooperation from the American government.”
“Barrier! That barrier didn’t protect us in any way!”
Jung Si-woo gestured with his finger while quietly looking at them. Yong Se-ha rushed up to him and gave him a quick summary.
“A guy didn’t follow the evacuation order and stood out to watch the players fighting, then he died as a shark bit half of his body off. The reason why that man is accusing Ms. Lee Seo-hee is that he acknowledged her as a leader due to her setting up the barriers and giving commands amid battle.”
“Splendid summary.”
Jung Si-woo tapped Yong Se-ha’s shoulder and walked toward the commotion where the players and civilians were divided into two sides.
“Ah, Si-woo!”
Lee Seo-hee looked troubled as she couldn’t show violence against a civilian, yet she couldn’t make him understand. Her expression made it seem like she had met a savior when she saw Jung Si-woo. On the other hand, the civilian representative showed a similar expression as her.
“Si-woo! Why weren’t you on the ship!”
“I was crushing down monsters from afar.”
After gently patting Lee Seo-hee’s shoulder, he adequately tapped on the man’s shoulder. The man fell down on the spot. His power was enough to break down the deck.
“Urrrrgh!”
“Hey.”
Jung Si-woo spoke coldly as he looked down on the man rolling on the floor.
“We never signed up a contract regarding the protection of civilians. And we aren’t monkeys in a zoo. You are free to risk your own lives and watch the battle, but it’s absurd to tell us to become responsible for your lives. Do we look like your bodyguards?”
The deck became quiet as the Dragon’s Dignity worked well against humans. The weak ones couldn’t dare to even breathe. As he lifted his head, all the humans quivered as if they would be murdered by him if they made the slightest noise.
“Hick.”
“Whew…”
It was a splendid sight how he silenced thousands of humans at once, but Jung Si-woo felt utter pain in his heart. If there was no cruise ship in the first place, why would humans repeat their mistakes? Did they underestimate the monsters as the world started to get balanced by the players? Sadly, it wasn’t a balancing but rather a postponement.
“If you realized the truth, turn back and go on your way or stay quiet. Of course, there won’t be any players on your ship during your way back, though.”
Jung Si-woo resolved the commotion in a firm voice that didn’t allow any compromises. Some could freely control small nations, but they couldn’t order around even a single player. They had to shut up for now, even if they were shuddering at him. And that was how Jung Si-woo became the center of hostility among the civilians and the center of respect among the players on the cruise ship.
The ship continued its voyage in accordance with the other cargo ships. As expected, no more parties were held on the deck.
