Chapter 142 .
“The mood is completely ruined.”
“It would be great if there was a concert on the deck at least.”
“Forget it, I’m scared of the bow of the ship…ah, it’s nothing.”
The cruise ship became a total funeral as the players on the cargo ships became the target of jealousy. An unbreakable wall between the civilians and the players was created, but Jung Si-woo wasn’t bothered by it. He wasn’t someone who read the countenance of others in the first place.
“Instead of wasting our time trying to be conscious of those people, we need to invest that time in analyzing our enemies.”
“That mermaid corpse…whoa.”
Soo-rin looked at the mermaid corpse placed on the deck floor by Jung Si-woo, and she covered her face with her hands out of shock.
“Has he have no shame in showing everything!”
“I can see the gaps between your fingers.”
The mermaid had the lower half of the shark and the upper half of the human male, and due to its high level, its form was well preserved even after death. It was precisely level 220.
“Level 220 is quite high…but considering the players gathered around here, it isn’t that overwhelming.”
“Yeah. If only these guys were present in the sea right now.”
Jung Si-woo sneered and looted the mermaid. He wasn’t an elite that had mana within his body. Si-woo clicked his tongue and asked Soo-rin a question.
“Do you know about the god of water or the god of the sea?”
“Information about the gods was extremely limited until lately, Oppa. At least, I haven’t heard any about it.”
It would have been better to clearly recognize the enemy’s identity, so it was a shame. He decided to consult with Marina or Seria in the evening, and he discarded the corpse. The monster attacks continued for hours. As if they learned from their first battle, they charged in quietly and secretly from the deep side of the sea while not often showing themselves on the surface. Still, players who were skilled in sensing the monsters, including Jung Si-woo, handled them.
“I believe mermaids are their main force, aren’t they?”
“I’ve been to underwater dungeons several times, but I don’t know anything about the god of mermaids.”
“You were at the Sky Castle, yet you’ve been to the underwater dungeons.”
“You were at the Ant Cave dungeon, and it had ponds.”
Even Marina didn’t seem to know about the god that was ruling over the monsters. But if there was one thing that he confirmed was that the mermaid god called Hedea was already taking control over a vast amount of area on earth.
“They are very persistent, stubborn, and have similar intelligence to humans. At some point, they seem to be aware of our course. Mr. Si-woo, the end of this voyage doesn’t look that good.”
Seria was one of the players that didn’t like the idea of this campaign in the first place. Her stance was that a fleet comprised of only players should set sail to eradicate the monsters. The trade should resume after the absolute amount of monsters had been lessened. At this point, Jung Si-woo agreed with her.
“We have a lot to protect, and the enemies are aware of it…”
“People love processing tasks in bulk. And such a mindset always called forth terrible results.”
Jung Si-woo decided to console her.
“Don’t mind the cargo nor the people and just kill the monsters. I’m here with you to do so from the start!”
“As expected, Mr. Si-woo is wise!”
“Ah, Oppa is becoming a bad influence on others…”
There were a lot of players, but the monsters outnumbered them. Even if Jung Si-woo created tsunamis with his hammer, it was impossible to block all monsters that charged from the ocean’s depths. In the end, one cargo ship sunk on the second day of the voyage. Some players entered the ship and retrieved the cargo into their inventories, but it was too much to retrieve them all.
“It’s the data that the governments want. They want to leave a precedent that humans can overcome the threats by the monsters and continue on with the trade industry.”
“There shouldn’t be any damage done to the cargo aside from what was done so far. The whole world is watching us.”
But as three cargo ships exploded loudly and sunk on the fourth day, nobody even spoke of recovering the capital. By now, everyone knew that the ambitious plan of humanity failed. As Marina informed Jung Si-woo of this news, he replied with a smile.
“The cruise ship was already moody since the evening of the first day.”
“It’s not something to mock.”
As the ships reached exactly the halfway point of the route from California to New Zealand, another large-scale attack by sea monsters with mermaids as their first line occurred.
[Our empire will never be given up to the humans!]
[Brethren, let the humans feel the fear of Ms. Hedea!]
Their numbers were a problem. As if they knew that the morale of humans dropped due to consecutive attacks and ships sinking, an endless number of monsters gathered up.
“What’s all this…?”
Jung Si-woo felt like he was out of breath when he saw the sea monsters that filled up the entire ocean. Their numbers were no longer the only problem. His Dragon’s Dignity told him that there were monsters who were far stronger than those on the ground and that there were plenty of them. And the presence of the strong one that overpowered the players!
[That…is stronger than Luinos Lizard’s holy body.]
“Easy for you to say.”
[Strong one like that can be dealt with me and my master. There are strong humans even among them.]
She was referring to Marina and Seria. Jung Si-woo nodded at her and gathered up the members. From Soo-rin to Yong Se-ha, Marina, Seria, and Lee Seo-hee. They listened to his explanation and nodded doubtfully.
“Si-woo, is it really okay to leave this place? Clashing with that number of monsters will definitely crush this fleet…”
“It’s all right. Everything will be crushed if we don’t stop that guy.”
In the worst-case scenario, players with wings could run away, but humanity would all drown. And they might be found along with the ships’ cargo as traces of ancient civilization a few thousand years later.
“Then let’s go.”
The Players with wings flew, and Caina rode on the back seat with Jung Si-woo. They left the fleet and charged into a certain place, which made the sea monsters surface and attack.
[The leader is running away!]
[We must kill him at all costs!]
It was deplorable that they didn’t see through Jung Si-woo’s personality while fighting against him with their lives at stake. Jung Si-woo caused a tsunami and fired Critical Bullets at the mermaids who were coming to attack him; then he increased his bike’s speed.
“Wait a minute, a tsunami?”
“Oh…my goodness. Oppa, look behind you.”
As he turned his head, he could see that a tsunami was created by the horde of mermaids chasing them over. And as expected of the massive scale attack, which made people realize the power of the sea monsters, two cargo ships nearby vanished without a trace. And yet, that was just the beginning.
“Those guys are imitating me.”
“To see things differently, it’s amazing how a tsunami made by several thousands of mermaids was created by you alone, Oppa…”
Soo-rin offered a quick, silent prayer as she looked at the players, confused by the massive mermaid raid. It was no use to ask how many ships would survive, but rather, it was a question of whether the ships would pass through them after all. Jung Si-woo had completely given up on the cruise and cargo ships and was speeding up his bike as one thing struck his mind.
[The human commander is escaping!]
[A coward, slit his throat!]
“Why are these shits acting all worked up? And why frame an innocent person?”
The mermaids and the monsters led by them were divided into two groups, where one group attacked the fleet, and another group only chased Jung Si-woo. What he couldn’t understand were their word choices.
[Escapee!]
[The escapee is on the run!]
“Don’t they know that I’m actually heading towards their boss?”
“Isn’t it just to merely provoke you, Oppa?”
“Nice for a death wish, isn’t it?”
[If that’s not it, Master…]
As his supporters were speaking nonsense, Caina calmly spoke as she quietly waited for the moment to engage in combat.
[Perhaps they aren’t aware of the existence of the monster that we are trying to kill?]
“What…?”
As Jung Si-woo tried to refute, a giant water pillar arose at the place nearby their destination. Soo-rin bit her lips at the horrible sight of how the mermaids were getting torn apart after getting directly hit by the water pillar that was rotating with mana. Tremendous mana, a power worthy of being called a spell!
“Ah, I see.”
Jung Si-woo realized only after witnessing such a scene. He saw a giant monster from the abyss arise while opening its mouth as it swallowed thousands of mermaids in an instant. They heard the screams and angry shouts from the mermaids.
“Caina was right. They weren’t allies.”
[Kwaaaaaaaaaaaah!]
As the giant monster that looked like a whale roared, his mana moved the ocean. Several water pillars rotated on the sea like a blender, shredding the nearby mermaids, making the tsunami of mermaids look like child’s play. Along with that…
[Kill them.]
[Drive them away from our sea.]
[Hedea…fuck yourself!]
Along with the giant whale, the sea monsters that stayed hidden until now made their appearances one by one. As the mermaids and other sea monsters tried to attack, the humans started hesitating after getting hit by them; they just blinked their eyes since they didn’t understand the entire situation.
“This is…”
“How?”
Unlike Jung Si-woo, his members didn’t understand the words spoken by the mermaids and the whale monster. For some reason, only Jung Si-woo clearly grasped the situation because he could comprehend them all. At first, he thought that those two monster groups were allies. But that wasn’t the case. The mermaids were making an obvious appearance while the abyssal monsters completely hid their presence.
That wasn’t to trick the humans but the mermaids. In fact, if Caina and Jung Si-woo didn’t have overpowered detection abilities, spotting them beforehand would have been impossible. In a way, those monsters could have been agitated as they chased the abyssal monsters.
“It wasn’t just the humans who were against the gods.”
He explained briefly.
“So they are the enemy of our foe.”
“It’s now simple!”
Jung Si-woo smiled. The sea battle started to become boring as it wasn’t as exciting as he expected. Still, now they were witnessing a clash between monsters! This was when his perception took a different turn. The whale monster surely was a strong one, but he decided to suppress his battle urges for now.
“They aren’t our allies…but I can make use of them enough for now.”
[A temporary alliance with the monsters. A rare sight possible in a world that hasn’t been taken over by the gods.]
Caina smiled as if she was enjoying it. Actually, the rest of the members weren’t having fun. In the end, they had to fight monsters from the Otherworld, including those that were created on earth, and the appearance of a strong enemy like that whale kinda darkened their vision towards the future.
“Then let’s fight! Tossing the strongest mermaids to that whale would weaken both sides, wouldn’t it?”
[Master, that mermaid seemed to be suited for that.]
Jung Si-woo, who didn’t care about the aftermath, changed the direction of his Phantom Bike and raced into the mermaids. The sledgehammer in his hand started to shine and gather mana. The largest scale sea battle among three different factions was about to begin.
