CHAPTER 264: SEA GOD

Boom-!

A giant ship appeared on the surface of the water.

Its roof was covered with an iron deck, topped with sharp spikes all over.

It resembled a shell-like structure.

There were also numerous gun ports.

What stood out most on the seemingly sturdy exterior was the head section. A head that looked like both a turtle and a dragon was attached to the front of the ship.

“One… ship.”

Over 20 enemy warships were approaching from the distance.

However, Ethan had summoned only one ship.

Of course, Ethan’s ship was quite large and looked powerful, but the numerical difference with the enemy was too great.

Moreover, there was no one suitable to operate this ship right away.

Merfolk fundamentally do not need ships. So they wouldn’t know how to sail one.

Not only that, there was no one who properly knew about naval warfare.

“…”

The king of Watopia fell silent. His head was aching quite badly. But this was no time to just worry.

Boom-!

Behind the dozens of enemy ships, more ships continued to follow.

The followers of the Moon approached, raising high flags emblazoned with the Dawn Council’s emblem.

This was another plan of the 5th Apostle.

In case he failed to instigate a war between Tartaros and Watopia, he planned to start a war here to secure souls.

The king of Watopia wanted to kill the 5th Apostle right away, but he couldn’t.

It was because Ethan had intentionally kept him alive.

Ethan surely wouldn’t forgive the 5 Apostles for doing this, but it was natural that his anger hadn’t subsided.

In this increasingly urgent situation, Ethan quickly leaped onto the turtle ship.

The Pope hurriedly grabbed Ethan.

“Ethan! You can’t go alone!”

The Pope could now understand how strong Ethan was.

But this was too much even for Ethan. There were over twenty ships right away. Each ship would have about a hundred people on board.

Fighting thousands of people alone?

With just one ship?

Even if Ethan possessed monstrous strength, it was a fight with significantly low odds of winning.

No, it could be said there was no possibility of victory at all. How could one ship face dozens of massive warships?

Moreover, if Ethan sailed the ship alone, he clearly wouldn’t be able to properly counterattack.

As the outcome was obvious, the Pope strongly dissuaded Ethan.

But at the same time, the Pope couldn’t figure out how to handle this situation.

There was no way they would come down to Watopia to fight willingly. They would position themselves far away and fire shells. If that happened, the only option available here was defense.

At best, the merfolk mages could occasionally counterattack, and the Pope could also launch long-range attacks, but there were limits to that alone.

“It’s alright. I’ll take care of this and come back. Please look after the 5th Apostle. I deliberately didn’t kill him right away, so make sure others don’t kill him.”

“Are you trying to save him? This kind of people?”

“Of course not.”

Ethan smiled.

“I just don’t intend to let him die easily.”

With those words, Ethan immediately entered the turtle ship.

“Huh…”

Seeing this, the king of Watopia let out a heavy sigh.

One ship against dozens of enemy ships.

Essentially, Watopia’s future depended on Ethan.

He never thought that the complacency of not anticipating external threats, relying on geographical advantages, would come back like this.

“We can’t… just leave everything to him.”

The situation was that they were entrusting everything from start to finish to an outsider – the one who had opened a rift in Watopia and deceived all the merfolk.

The king trembled with humiliation and anger.

“Pia Knights!”

Although there were no ships, the sea was the merfolk’s stage.

At the king’s call, the Pia Knights regrouped.

Most of the Pia Knights had been severely injured by the 5th Apostle, but thanks to the Pope’s healing, they had recovered their strength.

“We will support Ethan Whiskers, the benefactor of our Watopia! The enemy has dozens of ships. Our chances of winning are significantly low! But…”

“We await your orders!”

“We await your orders-!”

Having already been saved once, the Pia Knights immediately jumped into the sea without hesitation.

“Whew.”

The king squeezed his eyes shut from the headache and tapped his forehead with his index finger. Then, as if resolved, he snapped his fingers with a click.

His armor, helmet, and trident appeared.

Finally, the fully armed king of Watopia raised his trident high and shouted.

“I will take the lead.”

“Your Majesty! You can’t!”

“It’s dangerous!”

The Pia Knights’ captain, who was about to jump in after the knights, waved his hands. He, too, knew. That there was no chance of winning this battle against dozens of ships.

Nevertheless, the king of Watopia jumped into the sea.

“We decide our own fate! We will do what we can!”

As the king of Watopia took the frontline, the morale of the Pia Knights rose.

Moved by the king’s cry, the merfolk of Watopia also began jumping into the sea one by one.

Splash-! Splash-! Splash-!

Countless merfolk, except for those who were injured, jumped into the sea. In an instant, over a thousand merfolk floated in the sea.

“We will join from here!”

The merfolk mages had already consumed all the potions they had.

Whoosh-!

“Let’s unite our strength and drive them back!”

At the king’s cry, the merfolk steeled their resolve.

And simultaneously, Ethan’s turtle ship began to move.

Swoosh-!

Cutting through the rough waves, the turtle ship’s speed was much faster than ordinary ships.

“Huh?”

“…?”

Seeing the turtle ship advancing alone, the king of Watopia, who was about to follow, stopped in his tracks. Not only because of the speed, but because the turtle ship didn’t seem to have any intention of matching pace.

Bang-!

And then an unbelievable thing happened.

***

“Finally, finally.”

“It’s time to show our skills. With this, we’ll definitely make an impression on the 5th Apostle and rise to executive positions.”

“When we become executives, we’ll be able to receive more of that power bestowed by the Moon Mother.”

“From what I hear, the 12th and 11th Apostles have gone missing.”

“We could take those positions… heh heh.”

There were three leaders of this fleet. Two of them were notorious pirates in the nearby seas, and the other was the vice-governor leading the Holy Empire’s navy.

Of course, he had now left that position and was officially operating the Dawn Council’s fleet.

Although their backgrounds differed, these three had a clear commonality.

All three had almost never lost at sea.

With three First Orders, who held tremendous authority regarding the sea, directly leading the fleet.

Unless the god of the sea personally intervened in this situation, it could be considered already over.

Moreover, this side had taken position much faster, so they also had the initiative.

These three were favored by the 5th Apostle, and were just one step away from becoming executives. They intended to achieve definite results with this operation and all become core members of the Dawn Council.

With such a long-awaited opportunity for status elevation clearly before their eyes, it was natural for the three to have bright expressions.

“Let’s finish this quickly and go to escort the 5th Apostle.”

The 5th Apostle’s fleet advanced. In the distance, Watopia rising above the water’s surface could be seen.

“Check it out.”

“Yes.”

Whoosh-!

A follower used magic to check Watopia’s status.

“There’s no reaction at all.”

“Of course they wouldn’t have ships. What ships would an underwater city have? This is like picking our nose without even using our hands.”

“Increase speed!”

If the other side has no means of resistance, ending it quickly is the best option.

“The 5th Apostle can easily dodge cannon fire. So don’t worry about his safety!”

“Yes!”

“Prepare for cannon fire!”

“Prepare for magic bombardment!”

Operation: Fall.

The main point of this operation was to sink Watopia, which had risen above the water’s surface, back into the sea.

As the gun ports opened, the mages on deck activated their artifacts.

Rumble-!

Magic was cast over the entire fleet. The fleet’s sailing speed increased further and the abilities of everyone inside the ships were enhanced.

At the same time, flames condensed on the deck.

Apart from the cannons, the fireballs shot by the mages were also the ships’ main weapons.

“Um, First Order.”

At that moment, the follower monitoring Watopia spoke.

“Yes, there’s no way there wouldn’t be any resistance, even if they don’t have ships. They should at least have mages. Report.”

“A ship has appeared.”

“One ship? That’s laughable. And only one ship coming out is even more ridiculous.”

“But its shape is a bit strange.”

“Since they’re merfolk, they probably didn’t make a proper ship. A merfolk ship, how interesting.”

And the report continued.

“The merfolk are jumping into the sea. It seems they intend to fight barehanded.”

“Huh, they’re going to charge in barehanded? Do they think they’re some kind of monsters? Foolish bastards.”

“There seem to be hundreds, no, over a thousand.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

This is even better. We can clean them up with cannon fire and then take care of anyone who resists.

Thanks to magically increased speed, they had gotten closer to Watopia.

Then another report came in.

“The enemy ship is moving!”

“The enemy ship is advancing towards us!”

“What about the merfolk?”

“The merfolk…”

The reporting follower showed a surprised expression.

“The enemy ship, shaped like a turtle, is charging this way! The merfolk can’t keep up!”

“Wahahahaha-!”

“Like a moth flying into fire!”

“Give them a taste of heat!”

“Yes!”

Screech-!

The cannons were aimed directly at the enemy ship.

But as soon as they aimed, the turtle-shaped enemy ship increased its speed even more.

“Huh?”

The speed was so fast that even the First Orders could see the enemy ship getting closer with their own eyes.

“What is that…”

It wasn’t a speed a ship could reach.

Swooosh-!

Bang-!

The enemy ship quickly cut through the waves and rammed straight into the lead ship of the widely spread formation.

As it hit exactly on the side, the ship was torn apart and shattered.

Although the Dawn Council’s ships were much larger, their allied ship was actually split in half and destroyed.

“…!”

“The… the ship with a turtle-shaped head collided with our vanguard! The vanguard ship has been half-destroyed!”

The enemy ship that had just shattered the vanguard ship increased its speed once again. Then it suddenly entered between the ships and came to an abrupt stop.

Boom-!

At the same time, all the gun ports of the enemy ship opened.

And immediately, cannons were fired in all directions.

Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!

“Intercept!”

“Fire the cannons!”

In response to the enemy ship’s cannon fire, the Dawn Council’s ships also began retaliatory fire.

Boom-!

With a thunderous roar, the sea was filled with gunpowder smoke.

“Foolish bastard! Good momentum, but entering alone into the heart of enemy lines?”

The enemy ship would probably have turned to rags and sunk to the bottom of the sea.

The First Order waited for the gunpowder smoke to clear with a confident smile.

But at that moment, something began to glow within the smoke.

“…What!?”

It was eyes.

The eyes of the turtle head glowed bright red as its mouth opened wide.

Whoosh-!

And a flame cannon was unleashed.

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