“!”

A booming sound, “Woong!”, spreads throughout the unseen depths, and Alon feels a primal fear start to churn in his brain.

His whole body trembles, as if standing before a predator, his mind grows hazy, and a thought begins to dominate his mind: he must escape from this place right now.

And then—

‘No—No—If I run—’

‘If I run, I mustn’t—’

‘Runn… away’

‘I must… run!’

Radan was the same.

His mind twists, as if entranced by something. His thoughts are subconsciously driven to a single conclusion, repeating over and over in his head:

‘Run away run away run away run away run away run away run away run away run away run away run away run away run away run away run away run away run away.’

Instinctively, Radan flails his arms around, as if grasping for something nearby.

It turns out to be a piece of wooden debris from a sunken pirate ship brought down by the mermen.

Seeing the sharp edge of the wood, Radan feels a strange sense of relief.

‘I can escape.’

With that thought, he raises the debris with his right hand and aims it at his neck without hesitation.

“Guk—!”

But as sanity returns to him, Radan bites his tongue and twists the wood in his hand, driving it into his forearm instead.

Stinging pain erupts, accompanied by trickling blood.

‘I almost made a terrible mistake.’

Seeing this, Radan clenches his teeth, realizing he had nearly fallen victim to the entity lurking in the abyss below.

Yet soon, a sense of confusion arises.

The reason being that the giant eye, which had just been pulling him into the depths and flooding him with terror, now seemed to reveal an alien emotion.

As he turns his dazed gaze away, Radan notices that he is not the only one in the sea, drawn here by the green scales.

Standing beside him is the Great Moon, holding a blue-tinged potion between his lips, readying a technique.

Despite experiencing the same terrifying sensation, the Great Moon’s face remains unchanged.

He is utterly impassive, as if that overwhelming fear had never affected him at all.

Thus, Radan, staring at Alon with a gaze tinged with awe, suddenly realizes that everything has stopped.

The green scales dragging him into the depths cease their movements, and the turbulent currents come to a halt.

Simultaneously—

[-!]

The previously emotionless eyes of the merman now brim with vivid confusion and fear as they fix on Radan.

And then—

[Buvyivuiviuyviuvieiejfiejkejkjvjjeiijiejeeeesshsijkd}

A chilling, eerie voice echoes, and the massive eye that had been dragging Radan into the depths begins to slowly close.

As the eye closes, fleeting emotions pass by.

Shock.

Fear.

…Reverence.

[If only there had been more time…]

And finally, as the eye in the deep darkness closes completely, the force that had been pulling him down—Kalak-Kul—vanishes entirely.

“…”

Staring blankly at the sight, Radan then turns his gaze towards Alon—

No, towards the Great Moon—gazing blankly.

However, Alon, who was receiving Radan’s gaze of awe, was also thinking,

‘…What just happened?’

In fact, he had not fully grasped what had transpired.

After all, he was also in the midst of a fear that gnawed at his mind, trying desperately to cast a spell to prevent Radan from being dragged away, when Kalak-Kul suddenly vanished.

‘I think I heard something about the “Star-Eater” mixed with some noise,’ Alon recalled, looking puzzled as the eerie voice echoed in his mind.

For a moment, confusion lingered, but then—

‘I’m alive…’

Satisfied for now with the simple fact of being alive, Alon moved toward the surface to take a breath.

####

About a week later—

In the end, Radan unified the Seven Archipelagos, while Alon had to endure a week of recovery from the aftereffects of his depleted mana.

Though the mana exhaustion penalty was relatively mild, taking only a week to recover compared to the mana poisoning that could take up to half a year, Alon found it manageable.

Especially since dealing with the external press had nearly turned him into a shell of himself.

Of course, the main reason Alon could handle Kalak-Kul relatively easily was because Kalak-Kul had only recently manifested and had not fully inherited its powers.

Moreover, the human sacrifice required to summon it had not been properly carried out.

What mattered most to Alon at this point was that he had managed to deal with a demigod-level entity without sustaining any serious injuries.

After resting for four days, Alon experienced two significant changes.

The first was the attitude of the pirates.

From the beginning, Alon was aware that the pirates’ gazes were not particularly friendly toward him.

However, since that day—

“Ah, hello! Big Brother!”

“Have you eaten well, Big Brother?”

“…Yes.”

—The pirates had started calling Alon “Big Brother.”

And it wasn’t just the regular pirates.

“Ah, isn’t it Big Brother? Is your body feeling better now?”

“Tariq.”

Even the pirate lords, who were directly under Radan’s command, had begun addressing him this way.

“If you need anything, just let me know. I’ll have the men handle it immediately.”

“Thank you.”

“Haha—this is nothing! Of course, we’d do this for Big Brother!”

Watching the pirate lord of the Fourth Archipelago leave with a hearty laugh, Alon wore a peculiar expression.

Just a few days ago, the pirates had looked at him with discontent, but now, they were showing him obvious trust and respect.

He wasn’t sure when or where it started, but every pirate was calling Alon “Big Brother.”

‘…Not that it’s a bad thing, but it feels like I’ve become a mob boss.’

The other change was Felin Crysinne’s attitude.

Though he hadn’t been openly hostile after their initial meeting, he also hadn’t been particularly friendly.

At best, their relationship could be described as distant.

But ever since the last incident, Felin had been looking at Alon with a gaze full of reverence.

Honestly, from Alon’s perspective, it felt a bit overwhelming.

‘Well, there’s nothing wrong with building a positive relationship with a talented mage.’

Still, the drastic shift in Felin’s behavior left Alon feeling slightly bewildered.

Anyway, after sensing these changes over the past four days, Alon decided to head to the eastern shore that had been mentioned.

As soon as he felt somewhat recovered, he went to find Radan.

“Big Brother, are you feeling better now?”

“Do you know anything about the eastern shore?”

“The eastern shore?”

“Yes.”

“Well… I think it’s the eastern shore of the Syphra Archipelago.”

“Syphra?”

“Yes, it’s about six hours away from here. Have you heard of it?”

“I’m somewhat familiar.”

Alon nodded, as the Syphra Archipelago was a location he had frequently visited while playing Psychedelia.

‘The Syphra Archipelago, also known as the Island of Criminals.’

Similar to the underworlds of Asteria and Ashtalon in the United Kingdom, the Island of Criminals was a gathering place for outlaws and pirates.

Whenever Alon played Psychedelia, he often visited Syphra to use its black market, which sold many unidentified relics.

Recalling this, Alon asked, “Can we head there now?”

“If Big Brother wants to move, we can leave right away.”

“Please do. Ah.”

As he received an immediate agreement and nodded, Alon let out a small exclamation and spoke again.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t given you this yet.”

Saying so, he placed a small box on the table.

“It’s a gift.”

“…A gift?”

“Yes, I meant to give it to you earlier, but it took some time.”

Radan, slightly surprised by Alon’s words, looked at the box and then replied,

“If it’s a gift from Big Brother, I’ll gladly accept it.”

With a smile, he took the box.

Soon, Alon, Radan, and the others set off for the Syphra Archipelago.

####

The journey to Syphra was quite calm, and this time, both Penia and Felin accompanied Alon voluntarily, not by his request.

It seemed they had something to investigate in Syphra.

After about six hours of sailing, they arrived at Syphra around noon.

For now, Alon decided to move alone on the island, as his business on the eastern shore was something he needed to do by himself.

‘Of course, the island’s criminal nature makes it a bit tricky.’

Although the island had a rough reputation, it was essentially a village, so Alon felt it should be relatively safe.

With that in mind, he was the first to step off the ship.

Before long, Alon regretted venturing out alone.

‘What a filthy maze this is.’

The Syphra Archipelago’s pathways were more convoluted than he had anticipated.

Despite not being directionally challenged, he found himself looping back to the same place multiple times.

‘How can it be that going left brings me back here, going straight returns me here, and even going right leads me here?’

It was absurd.

He stopped in front of a sign he had already seen several times—”Rum’s Bounty”—and, on a whim, approached a group of four people drinking in the nearby street pub.

“Excuse me, do any of you know how to get to the eastern shore?”

His tone was reasonably polite.

“Hah? How the hell should I know, you idiot!”

“Pwahahaha! You really do look like an idiot—what a softie, huh? A total softie! Hahaha!”

As expected, Alon realized he wouldn’t get any helpful answers from them, so he moved on.

About 20 minutes later—

“…Ah.”

A low sigh escaped Alon.

Despite having moved to another location, he found himself in front of “Rum’s Bounty” for the fifth time.

Just as he was considering whether he should turn back—

“Hey—”

“?”

He turned toward the voice and saw a man.

He recognized the man as one of those who had been mocking him from the corner of a pub earlier. Alon wore a puzzled expression, as the man now wore an anxious smile instead.

The man quickly spoke,

“U-uh, you’re looking for the eastern shore, right? You can reach it by following this road straight ahead, then taking the left turn at the fork on the right.”

This man, who had not offered any help earlier, was now providing directions.

His overly polite smile, combined with a rough appearance suggesting he’d done some dirty work, sparked a small suspicion in Alon.

“Really, I swear. Once you take the fork on the right, you’ll see a path over the hill leading to the shore. You can check it yourself.”

Noticing Alon’s hesitation, the man hurriedly added, trying to sound convincing.

‘…He was mocking me earlier, so why is he helping now?’

“Ah, well, thinking it over, I felt a bit bad about it, so I thought I should tell you,” the man explained awkwardly.

Alon gave a thoughtful hum, his expression still uncertain.

‘Well, the road he mentioned isn’t an alley but a main street, so there’s probably no trap… I might as well try it.’

Feeling tired of wandering aimlessly for nearly an hour, Alon decided to give the man’s directions a chance.

“For now, I’ll say thanks.”

With that, Alon began walking along the main street as instructed.

Meanwhile, the man watched Alon leave and, once he was out of sight, his forced smile faded, replaced by a look of terror and anxiety.

He turned toward the alley next to the pub, where he saw his companions, who had been laughing with him earlier, now lying on the ground.

They were covered in blood, their bodies in such a gruesome state that it was unclear if they were alive or dead.

Standing nearby, watching him with an eerie, chilling gaze that could make him wet himself just from eye contact, was the Pirate King.

And then—

The Pirate King gave a nod—

And vanished.

Thud—!

The man collapsed to the ground on the spot.

Though he fell in an embarrassing position, he didn’t care.

Instead—

‘I’m alive I’m alive I’m alive I’m alive I’m alive!’

All he could do was offer infinite thanks to the gods for still being alive.