Volume 5 - CH 47

I could now naturally use【Strengthening Magic】,【Physical Enhancement】and【Jumping Technique】in combination. As I leapt from the bow of the ship, my body soared several meters high into the sky.



「Bocchan!」



「Reiji!」



I heard everyone’s voice calling me from behind. …I’m sorry, but please let me go to Lark’s side for now.



「OOOOOOHHHHH!!」



I activated【Fire Magic】and【Wind Magic】at the same time to produce greater blast waves than ever before. My body soared forward like a rocket. A tremendous amount of inertial force was applied to my body. My bones creaked and my vision distorted. I forcibly suppressed the breakdown of my body with【Healing Magic】– I felt that my actions were gradually becoming like a superhuman.



「Is that–!?」



Lark was still slashing apart green tentacle-like splashes trying to attack the magic ship. But beyond them, the sea level was gradually rising.



A deep green mound rose out of the sea while spraying seawater. There were several dents on the mound. The cavities were pitch black–it didn’t look anything like a face.



「——Increase the speed!」



「——I already am! Boss, you’re getting in my way. Go stand over there!」



「——Aaaaaaaaah!」



「——Don’t let the young miss fight alone! At least shoot some arrows!」



Lark’s companions were being rackety on the magic ship.



And speaking of Lark, she was shooting black blades from the back of the magic ship’s deck. But at last, even as she held out her hand, the blades did not come out.



She fell down to her knees on the spot as if drained of all strength, and hung her head.



A number of tentacles charged at her right then.



「LAAAAAAAAARK!!!!!!!!」



I increased the power to the maximum and compressed the output of【Wind Magic】as thin as possible on each of my 10 fingers. With 10 wind blades at the ready, I jumped from the sky and onto the deck, right beside Lark.



It was impossible to completely kill the tremendous impact of banging my feet from the landing. My body screamed in pain as the bones in my leg cracked. I suppressed it with【Healing Magic】again. My body was now in a state of operation where I had to cover my debt with more debts. My healing could no longer keep up with the breakdown.



However, if there was ever a time where I have to push myself beyond the limit, this is it!



The 10 wind blades followed me down from the sky and lined in front of me. As I launched every single one of them simultaneously, the tentacles which were rushing towards the ship were torn apart by the blades, and dropped onto the deck like rain.



「Little… brother?」



I turned around and looked at her.



「Lark…」



I whispered. And then said,



「YOU, IDIOT!!!!!!」



「Eh?」



「Idiot! Fool! Stupid! Moron! Reckless! No brain!」



「Eh, wait–what? Why are you dissing me for no reason?」



「Obviously! Why did you run away without telling me!? There is no guarantee that the sage even exists! And you were even abusing【Shadow King】knowing that it was worsening your condition! You’ll die before even meeting the sage!」



「You…you already knew all that?」



「Yeah. Yeah, I know.」



I placed my hand on Lark’s head and used【Dark Magic】together with【Healing Magic】.



「You must know that I can fight side-by-side with you, right? If so… rely more on me. We are siblings, aren’t we?」



「You, what are you…」



Lark’s eyes appeared drowsy and her eyelids closed shut.



It was the【Dark Magic】which you can’t activate unless in contact with the target. I activated “Playing Nightmare” and put Lark to sleep.



I held the weakened Lark in my arms.



「You there, I’ll take care of Lark! If we don’t put her to sleep, her body won’t hold.」



「O-Okay.」



I decided to entrust Lark to a tall, sturdy man. In the meantime, I used【Wind Magic】to cut off more tentacles.



「Are you the young miss’…」



「Yes, I am her brother.」



I answered. Joy sprang up from the bottom of my heart.



「You don’t look similar at all」



「…………」



Well, I suppose that’s right, but… Is that really what’s important at the moment!?



「So, what do we do about this monster?」the man asked.



「Well, I’ll do something about it. Please do your best not to get injured.」I said.



「What can you d– No, I’m sorry to leave it to you. Thank you.」



「Alright.」



After confirming that Lark had been taken away, I faced Umibozu again.



「Well, then. Shall we get started? Though, I’ll be overjoyed if you could just go away quietly.」



Ours was the ship which intruded into Umibozu’s territory without permission. So, Umibozu was naturally attacking it. I wanted to avoid fighting if possible, but Umibozu was eager to destroy the magic ship. I readied for battle reluctantly.



First and foremost, I have to confirm what kind of creature Umibozu is.



I checked the green tentacles that had fallen onto the deck. They were twitching and squirming around energetically. They varied in thickness, ranging from the thicknesses of a hair to a log.



I looked at Umibozu’s “face” next. The dents on the mound were lit with a dim light. It felt like Umibozu was looking at me.



【World Ruler】is useful in such cases. It conveyed the information that Umibozu was still a single creature. Needles containing paralytic poison were hidden in the tentacles. The dim lights were a sensory organ, not for visual information but for detecting temperature and the flow of mana.



When the cut pieces of tentacles fall into the sea, they are reabsorbed by Umibozu’s main body. In other words, the tentacles can be cut with【Wind Magic】, but it does not deal significant damage to Umibozu.



「In that case, should we escape till the harbour while cutting off the tentacles?」



There were no records of Umibozu coming to the shore, and if it is such a huge creature, there is a high probability that it will turn back at shallow sea.



「Uwaaaah!」



The magic ship suddenly tilted greatly.



「——Gyaa!」



「——B-B-Boss…」



The people in the wheelhouse fell and slid to one corner of the cabin. I hurriedly grabbed the railing on the deck, but my body floated and I was almost thrown into the sea.



Umibozu had launched an attack from under the ship.



Not only that.



「Hey, hey, hey…!」



The “mouth” under the “face” suddenly opened up, and pale light gathered there.【World Ruler】 conveyed that it was a “high energy reaction”.



And just as I thought, the light was emitted like a laser beam.



「Damnitttttt!!」



I devoted my mana to【Dark Magic】and developed a cloud of darkness behind the magic ship. The cloud absorbed the emitted laser light. The dark cloud was shrinking with every passing second—the laser did not stop, so I added even more dark clouds.



The laser energy was offset by the dark magic.



「Can you really contend with something as big as that!?」



Right as desperate cries came from the wheelhouse, an arrow landed at my feet. The arrow was carrying a small bottle that shattered as soon as it landed.



Immediately as a faint phosphorescence spread, another dark cloud appeared outside of my magic, and absorbed more and more of the laser light.



「——Bocchan!」



「——Reiji-kun!」



I heard the voices of Zerry-san and Mimino-san. No doubt they were the ones who shot the arrow.



The warship I asked to turn around earlier was right beside me. The warship had begun a U-turn and was probably trying to run in parallel with this magic ship.



They had remained behind to help me.