Crane blew the flute as the ship got close to the merchant convoy. A melodic, soft sound escaped the windpipe. It sounded great as if the greatest bard had just played his life masterpiece.
That, however, probably was only the effect of the magic item and not from his musical skill.
'It begins.'
The sea turned around. It suddenly became calm as the wave stopped.
I nested on the quarterdeck behind the captain's cabin. No one noticed I was there because I stood against the wall, away from the other eyes.
'Let's use the best equipment,' I thought as I opened the list of equipment available in my inventory.
I was on the sea and about to fight many sea monsters, probably even Boss-rank monsters. So armor with water resistance was required.
My choice was Level 90 [Clad of Ice Sea], a dark blue armor with a silver accent created from the sea monster's scale. I immediately equipped it without much thought and then went to the weapon selection.
The unbuttoned brown shirt earlier was replaced by cool armor covering my whole body. The shoulder pads looked sharp, and my gloves and greaves were colored deep black with glowing blue engraving.
[Caliburn] would do nothing. Its effect was best when used to fight against sea monsters. This was a sword better suited to fight another human or in a war, as that was the lore when I gained this sword from being a King of a nation in Horizon Online.
My weakness was magic. My fighting build was centered around my swordsmanship and body enhancement, and the only Magic above Lv 5 I had was <Holy Magic>. The others were only Lv 2 or Lv 3, as I had no use for them.
Instead, I compensated for that weakness with equipment to get a similar effect to a high Lv magic.
"Sea monsters are weak against high temperatures as most of them can't regulate their own body temperature."
Meaning the best weapon I could choose was those amongst fire attributes. Boiling the seawater might be the best way to kill all of them, but that was impossible even for me in this world, considering how this sea might be even bigger than that of Earth.
"But I can at least increase the temperature with that."
I took out the weapon of my choice and grinned. [Sword of Mars], something my weapon idiot friend made after he created [Excalibur]. It was a long sword with light amber color and one edge that was always burning with the sun's surface temperature when I fed it with my MP.
Of course, the sun's surface temperature was just an exaggeration. But it didn't change the fact that I could burn my enemy to a crisp with just one slash. Their wounds wouldn't even spray any blood as it was immediately closed with a soaring heat from the blade.
"This one is perfect."
I inspected the one-bladed sword in my hand with a sleek curved design and swung it down slightly. The wooden railing got hit slightly by the tip of the sword as I still failed to judge its distance and got chipped.
That little chip was turned black just from the sword's initial temperature and caught in a fire. That was a mistake, so I immediately put the fire off by patting it with my hand, sighing after making sure no one noticed it.
'I won't be able to take over this ship if I destroy it. Be careful, me.'
But thanks to that, I remembered how long my reach was and how to move this sword. The knowledge was already in my mind as I had used this sword many times in the past.
The rest was…
"They are coming," I muttered as I looked at a big wave, more than 50 meters tall, in the distance coming from the side of the merchant convoy.
Because that wave was still outside the large dot's range, I saw many small red dots clumping together inside. That wave wasn't a normal one. It was caused by monsters' movement from all directions of the sea.
A similar wave also appeared on the other side as well as behind the merchant convoy. I took a peek, and the people on their ships were panicking. I noticed some Elves holding bows and looking around in horror. I guessed they were mercenaries hired by the merchants because he didn't fully trust Cecil.
Normally, that was a good decision, but not at this time.
'He just added some dead bodies that will be revived in the church.'
That was something I could just ignore. They were nothing to me, and I didn't act as the Paladin. For the merchants and the pirates, I was just someone to protect.
Even Cecil didn't realize that I was the Paladin yet. She was too horny to notice that she gained no Sins even though she had sex with me. That, or she didn't even care if she gained Sins.
Anyway, the merchants and the pirate crew could die as they pleased. I had no obligation to help them. And those merchants would be a hindrance if they saw my face.
"First…" I muttered and jumped from where I stood and landed on the sea a bit away from the pirate ship that stopped moving and just rocked on the sea.
The water underneath me immediately turned into ice, creating a foothold for me. This was the passive effect of [Clad of Ice Sea], and that was turning seawater into ice when I stepped on it.
Because the merchant would be troublesome, I decided on something.
"Let's just destroy them all and the monster at once before they see me so I can deal with Crane and his crew without overthinking."
From my position, slightly behind the pirate ship and a bit away to the side, I could destroy everything in my sight without getting the pirate ship caught in it.
Raising my sword, I began infusing it with a lot of MP, impossible when I still had a maximum of 100 MP. Now, I could use as much as I could and amplify the effect of the sword many times.
The blade let out a bright orange glow, and the temperature around me rose exponentially. The ice under me also cracked due to the heat, but I immediately supplied 20 MP to my armor to increase its chilling effect, once again fortifying the ice.
"100 MP seems to be too much," I muttered as my lips rose in an awkward smile. "But I can't cancel it, so I can only unleash it."
It was ready. Next, I only needed to use a skill that had an AoE effect. And that one fits the best in this situation.
"<Sonic Sword>"
Unlike the one I used in the forest, I swung it vertically. And the trace left behind wasn't the golden glow, but an orange one as the sword I used was that of fire attribute, and I activated its burning effect. This skill would automatically change its attribute to what I currently use if the person using it was skillful enough.
But I haven't finished yet. Before the skill was shooting out a large vertical flying slash, I activated another skill. This time, it was a basic one derived from Lv 3 <Swordsmanship>. My sword moved at a lightning speed twice.
"<Cross Slash>"
A cross-shaped flying slash with bluish color without any attribute connected to the <Sonic Sword> turned red due to the elemental resonance and flew toward the convoy and the wave.
Swoosh!!
The night sky suddenly brightened as my flying slashes cut the sea, illuminating the area with bright orange light as the Sonic Sword left a long trail behind.
It happened instantly. In just a second, the flying slashes had already reached the convoy and destroyed them completely, turning them into the burning debris of the sea.
[Ding! You had killed 150 people with Virtues alignment! Your Sins increased by 75!]
What I heard in my ear was the notification indicating I had just massacred good people. They would revive, so I wasn't really that worried about them.
The sea was split, but I didn't fall as the ice underneath me had turned into a solid pillar. From my radar, I noticed the sea monsters were almost completely annihilated, leaving only those lucky enough or strong enough to dodge the attack's aftermath.
However, the pirate ship was attacked by a strong current and a big wave, pushing it toward the island from earlier. The hull was damaged, but that was still repairable. I didn't need to worry about it.
The flying slashes slowly disappeared after traveling more than 500 meters. The split sea crashed back, hitting each other in front of me while hot steam rose from it. My attack boiled the sea perfectly, turning it into a hot pot of sea monsters, and the red dots in my radar slowly disappeared once by once.
"It's a perfect job if I do say so myself." I nodded in satisfaction. "Now I just need to deal with the pirate ship that got stranded on the island. I hope Cecil will be fine and not that badly injured."
