Chapter 52 - Beg and Beg Again (10)

「LEVEL UP!」

Leaving the window covering a corner of my vision alone, I quietly reflected.

I felt like I could finally understand the saying that diving deep is actually safer when the waves are rough.

Compared to the absolute mess above, beneath the surface felt surprisingly calm and cozy.

Blub.

I reeled in my sanity, which had momentarily left home after being battered back and forth by the waves, and exhaled. Bubbles slipped from my mouth and shot upward, unlike me.

'I need to move.'

A two-hander barely gripped in my hand, a longsword on the verge of slipping from its sheath, and the weight of a well-built adult male with all sorts of items strapped to his insides—it was a combination that made floating naturally impossible.

If I didn't want to sink, I had to thrash my limbs or do something.

'Move.'

However, contrary to my reason, my body did not easily follow. The rays of light that pierced the gray sea only to scatter like an aurora. The calm yet clamorous noise unique to the ocean depths. The muffled, crushed roar of it all... It was all uncharacteristically gentle.

Enough that it felt fine to sink forever just like this.

「Hostile targets exist within a 30m radius.」

... Still, after everything I did to get here. I could faintly see the black dragon I had cut down in the distance.

It'd be a bit pathetic to die distracted by a brief moment of peace, right?

I snapped my eyes open, readjusted my grip on my sword, and turned my body.

Unsettling white shapes faintly appeared from the dark, cloudy surroundings. They were all Dragon Tooth Warriors.

The situation, however, was not good at all. Normally, I would've dealt with them thinking, Ah, they're just one-shot mobs, but we were underwater, I was running out of breath, and I had absolutely no HP or mana.

Since the cooldown wasn't up, I couldn't even use 'Survival Instinct.' Let's just get out of the water first.

I hurriedly kicked my legs. The two-hander was far too heavy, but I managed to solve that by shoving it into my inventory. I kept the longsword out since I'd need it to deal with the Dragon Tooth Warriors.

Thump, thump.

With a muffled sound, my legs and arms kicked and propelled me toward the surface. The higher I went, the stronger the waves became, making it even harder to move.

"Gasp!"

And the moment I stuck my face out of the water, a cursed wave smashed me back down into the depths. No. It was a Dragon Tooth Warrior. I felt a burning pain in my ankle.

「Indomitable Spirit activated!」

"……!"

This damn lizard bastard really just took my extra life.

I swung my longsword, praying that the HP recovered by Indomitable Spirit wouldn't hit rock bottom as well.

The blade pushed through a slight resistance and somehow struck the Dragon Tooth Warrior.

SMACK!

Whether it was because I couldn't put strength into it, or because I didn't coat it in mana.

A single slash only gouged halfway through the Dragon Tooth Warrior's flesh. I forced myself to swing the sword one more time. Only then did the Dragon Tooth Warrior's head pop off, releasing my ankle.

SCREECH!

But the Dragon Tooth Warriors' ambush was only just beginning.

I smacked the head of a newly lunging bastard and desperately kicked upward.

Gasp. A bit of air entered the corner of my mouth along with some water, and I lowered my gaze back below the surface. Sure enough, I saw Dragon Tooth Warriors rushing at me.

CHOMP!

One of them finally bit into my right arm.

Naturally, I swung my sword to sever its neck. Creeeak. For a moment, the sound of metal, which I hadn't paid attention to until now, grated harshly on my ears.

CRACK!

And just as I barely managed to kill the one biting my right arm and tried to slash the next one lunging at me.

Snap.

There wasn't even a clear ring. The blade of the longsword snapped clean in two. Fucking hell. It was the moment a straight sword became a broken straight sword.

Blub, blub.

I mouthed a curse along with the rising bubbles. Understandably so; even though its durability had dropped quite a bit, it was still around 70.

Not 50, but 70!

And it just snapped out of nowhere?

And of all times, at a moment like this?

This was absolute bullshit!

Even as I failed to hide my dumbfoundment, I first tilted my head.

A Dragon Tooth Warrior narrowly bit down on water instead of my head. It was extremely fortunate, but a sense of hopelessness over what to do next instantly overtook my mind.

The two-hander? That couldn't be an alternative. Maybe on land, but in the water, the heavier and longer a weapon was, the more unwieldy it became.

Then should I fight with the broken one? Was I crazy?! It was true that longer weapons were unwieldy, but the remaining blade looked to be less than 10 centimeters, and the longsword didn't even have a proper edge near the hilt!

Blub!

I ground my teeth as I watched a Dragon Tooth Warrior approach with a trail of bubbles. SMASH! The broken hilt cleaved through the water and flew forward, accurately striking it right between the eyes.

The Dragon Tooth Warrior's body reflexively twisted away.

Alright, I'll draw a weapon now! I frantically fumbled inside my clothes and pulled out a dagger. Throwing weapon or not, gripping this was my last desperate struggle.

At the same time, my right hand snatched the snapped-off blade. I had my doubts about fighting with this, but I had no other choice.

Two Dragon Tooth Warriors charged at me with their jaws wide open.

I swung the dagger to threaten the one lunging from the left, and quickly thrust the blade out at the one coming almost straight down the middle.

CRUNCH!

Thanks to my swift hand movements, its jaws clamped down on the blade instead of my body. CHOMP! CHOMP! Its ferocious bites gnawed at the blade as it tried to rip my head off no matter what.

I wanted nothing more than to plunge my dagger into its neck, but there were far too many of them swarming my open left side and my back. I swung the dagger while my arm trembled violently.

Gurgle.

To make matters worse, the breath I had barely been holding burst out, demanding oxygen. It was a situation that would drive anyone insane. My vision, overlapping with all sorts of things, began to blur at the edges.

"Sir Knight!"

SPLASH!

But wasn't there a saying that even if the sky falls, there's a hole to escape through?

With a massive burst of bubbles, something plunged into the water near me and hurriedly approached.

A harpoon pierced the crown of the Dragon Tooth Warrior that was pushing me back with the blade in its jaws. Following the forearm that wielded the harpoon to look at the face, a rather familiar and welcome sight appeared.

It was DeB, with a pale blue chain wrapped around his upper body.

Blub, blub-blub.

DeB mouthed something as if trying to speak. Honestly, I couldn't hear it well. The visibility wasn't good enough for lip-reading either.

Instead, there was one thing I could clearly see.

"……!"

I tossed the dagger aside and hurriedly pulled DeB in with my bare hand. CHOMP! My right arm was mangled by another Dragon Tooth Warrior.

What happened next was DeB shutting his eyes tightly and tugging the chain wrapped around his body.

RATTLE!

With the sound of chains, DeB and I, who was holding onto him, began to rapidly cut through the currents. It was slightly faster than the Dragon Tooth Warriors.

On top of that, barring any special circumstances, this was definitely heading toward the ship... I had no idea how he knew my location and got all the way here, but I figured we would live.

That is, as long as I didn't run out of breath.

Shove.

Had I unconsciously flailed toward the surface due to my lack of breath? Something entered my mouth. It was an object leaking oxygen.

"……!"

DeB, you absolute legend!

I choked up with emotion. Not only had he rushed in to save me despite hating the water, but the fact that he sensibly brought an item to breathe for me was incredibly moving.

SKREEEE!

However, there was a clueless bastard intruding on this situation.

With my vision brightening again thanks to the replenished breath, I looked down. It was a matter of course, since the target mark appeared down there, and the sound came from there as well.

And a crazy sight filled my eyes.

The black dragon, sliced right around what would be the waist in human terms, was swimming toward me using only its upper body.

It wasn't some zombie, but it was a disgustingly repulsive bastard!

Ah, of course, looking closely, legs that originally hadn't been there were jutting out of its flat belly, and a new tail was sprouting from the severed stump.

If I had to describe it, it looked like a Dragon Tooth Warrior. I didn't know it could modify an entire torso instead of just operating at the scale of scales.

Wait, then was the thing that struck Windhand earlier really the severed tail turning into a Dragon Tooth Warrior too? It wasn't even a slime, but its division was insane.

Its sheer tenacity was exactly like that four-letter mage Vol-something who tried to enjoy eternal life by splitting his soul.

Blub.

Regardless, if I stayed still like this, I'd just get taken out. I cursed alongside the air bubbles and made my decision.

DeB, noticing my choice, gripped my clothes tightly, but shaking him off wasn't very difficult.

DeB was dragged away by the chain, and in an instant, I was left all alone in the sea.

Fortunately, the remnants of the black dragon were charging only at me, not DeB. The distance was closing rapidly.

Blub-blub.

Now, please.

I barely managed to pull the two-hander out of my inventory and gripped it. It was incredibly hard to swing, but after bringing in mana via 'HP Conversion,' it became somewhat manageable.

At the cost of my paper-thin HP dropping to exactly 1, but what else could I do? It was a situation with no way back for me anyway.

Blub.

Die.

Thus, I unleashed my absolute final attack. The sword strike extended with a faint resistance, splitting the divided dragon in half from the crown of its head to its jaw, scattering its blood.

Because the dragon's blood was black, an unintended blackout occurred.

* * *

The Archmage anxiously stared at the sky and sea as the storm gradually seemed to clear.

The young man who had volunteered to bring back the Demon Knight after spotting his head popping out of the sea was just now crossing the water. And he was doing it using the footholds the Mages had pooled their mana to create as stepping stones.

And soon, his body dove into the sea. The adventurers tensed up tightly.

"Pull when the signal comes."

"Fuck, this is..."

The iron chains were prepared considering it would be difficult to swim back through the Dragon Tooth Warriors. Though hastily crafted with magic, as long as it succeeded, it would be enough to save the two of them.

"It's here!"

"Pull!"

And the promised signal was executed.

The adventurers and the sailors who still had some strength left pulled the chains with one mind and heart. With magic added to the mix, the speed was quite fast.

"Cough, cough! "

However, when she confirmed that only a single person had returned, the Archmage collapsed to her knees without realizing it.

"Hey, look at him!"

"It's not, it's not too late yet, cough."

Someone tried to support the young man. The one who shook them off was the young man himself.

Through his soaked dark green hair, his green eyes shone vividly.

Just like the Inquisitor, who was still praying without giving up hope despite the disastrous situation.

"It's not too late yet!"

"What?"

"We can still save him!"

"Wait, no. The Dragon Tooth Warriors have already reached the vicinity!"

"Goddammit, Sir Knight is still alive, I'm telling you!"

"The Dragon Tooth Warriors are approaching!"

Given all that, how could she possibly give up?

While the Hero was vomiting blood to keep this ship afloat and maintaining a holy barrier to keep the enemies at bay.

While the Thief, who was practically an ordinary person, had volunteered for such a dangerous task, disregarding his own life.

While the Demon Knight was fighting a dragon at the bottom of the sea with a human body.

How could she.

"Give me just ten seconds."

She had suffered internal injuries when the protective barrier broke, but none of that mattered anymore. Caring for one's body only held meaning if they lived.

Trickle.

"A-Archmage!"

She forcefully drew out her mana and condensed it. Chanting a spell would produce more precise magic, but since her mouth was full of blood, she simply skipped the incantation.

It didn't matter, though.

A barrage of mana arrows akin to a bombardment pierced through all the Dragon Tooth Warriors that surfaced near the ship. Her insides violently churned and blood soaked her white fur, but this much was a cheap price to pay.

"Archmage!"

"I'm... fine..."

Those young ones were far more precious than an old woman's life.

Leaving her blurring vision behind, she collapsed with a thud. The strain added to her senile body would no longer allow any further action.

But she was fine with that.

Suddenly, a portion of the vast ocean surged upward. Rays of light seeping through the clearing clouds dyed the world golden.

"That's..."

"D-Don't tell me it's here to..."

The one poking its head out through the seawater was a dragon.

Clad in blue instead of black, the uncorrupted divine beast.

SKREEEEE.

Along with its clear cry, the dragon's mouth opened. Through the gaping maw, a red tongue and a black figure gripping onto something tightly came into view.

The hair with different colors on the left and right and the covered eye were distinctly visible.

"Sir Knight!"

"Demon Knight!"

The uncorrupted beast easily thrust its head into the holy barrier. The young man and Windhand fearlessly shoved their upper bodies into the beast's mouth to grab the man.

Thump. A dragon's head, cleaved in half, dropped onto the deck.

"Hey, are you alive?"

"Sir Knight, Sir Knight, are you alive?"

The Archmage forced her closing eyes wide open. At the very least, she wanted to confirm the safety of the one who had taken the lead in the most dangerous task before going to sleep.

"Sir Knight, please answer."

"Cough. "

"Sir Knight!"

Ah. As expected.

"Don't make a fuss..."

"Is that really something you should say?! I thought my heart dropped into my stomach!"

With that temper, there was no way he would die so easily.

Only then could she relax and lower her eyelids. It felt like it would be... a slightly long sleep.

* * *

Ah, fucking hell.

I was just heading up to the surface after confirming the split body wasn't going into phase 3—meaning, it wasn't resurrecting as a Dragon Tooth Warrior again.

The breath DeB gave me was enough, but shouldn't I at least report that I survived?

Of course, the sinking dragon corpse was way too much of a waste to leave behind—since these guys only dropped materials if you butchered their corpses—so I strained to carry one of the split heads up with me.

The title 'Dragon Byproduct' was way too huge to just throw away under the excuse of my 'no looting trash mobs' roleplay. The fact that it was surprisingly light for its size also played a part.

Besides, my longsword had just snapped clean off. It would be great if I could forge a custom sword out of this dragon's head.

Unless I was completely sure whether there'd be a quest reward or not, I had to secure at least this.

But as I was struggling up while kicking my legs, weren't there some arrow-like things came pouring down.

I freaked out and dove back down to dodge them, only to witness the Sea Dragon tearing one of the black dragon's split bodies to shreds.

I was going to quietly head to the ship, but then I saw the overflowing divine power and was about to cry and just surrender myself to the waves... when the Sea Dragon forcefully picked me up in its mouth—I got so startled here I almost attacked it, though it ended as a misfire since my mana and HP were rock bottom—and gave me direct delivery.

There was no choice in the matter.

I appreciated the goodwill, but my HP was in deep trouble.

"Cough. "

Wow, hey. Look at the blood coming out the second I entered the divine power zone.

Isn't this penalty seriously way too harsh? How come I've lost more HP to my allies than to the enemies?!

"Sir Knight!"

But really? I was really going to die like this? After everything I did to survive this far? After how I managed to kill the dragon?

Hah, what do I do about this... I went entirely limp, leaving my bottomed-out HP window alone. It was because all the strength had left me at the thought of dying so pointlessly.

But as a silver lining, the moment my HP hit 1, my health stopped dropping. It stayed that way even after enough time had passed for it to have dropped twice over.

What was this, giving me a disease and then the cure? Was this the game's final shred of conscience? The fact that my health wouldn't drop below 1 even if the divine power chipped away at it?

It's a game setting I had a lot to say about but didn't even want to voice out loud.

"Don't make a fuss..."

"Is that really something you should say?! I thought my heart dropped into my stomach!"

Still, it was a bit of a relief knowing I wouldn't die immediately. I slouched lazily, leaning right into my concept.

"The sun."

It just so happened that one of the people supporting me was Windhand.

"It hasn't set yet, right?"

Did you think I wouldn't hear what you said earlier? I kept my promise.

Although it was a meaningless promise since we were delayed by a day. Regardless, we still hunted the dragon itself in half a day.

"... Yeah, goddammit. It hasn't set. It hasn't set yet..."

I watched Windhand let out a hollow laugh. It was rewarding in its own way.

"Damn it, does it feel good to write a legend?"

It was rewarding, but...

Hey, I just noticed this, but why is the Archmage being carried away? And what is the Inquisitor doing trapped in a pillar of light? Why are the Priests all passed out?

Are we even going to be able to go back??

"Th-The dragon!"

Just then, the people murmured and began shouting. Clunk. The sound of the ship seemingly being lifted was a bonus.

"The fish and turtles are carrying the ship..."

"... Is it planning to take us to shore?"

"My god, to think the Sea Dragon would lead the ship..."

... I didn't know what was going on, but it seemed the dragon was doing something for us for now.

「❖ The Rot Washed Ashore

∎ Return to Gruh Telz」

Then we can really go home. Wow, what a relief. I would've cried if we couldn't return from here.

"Priest!"

"Inquisitor!"

Right then, the Inquisitor slumped forward. The brilliance wrapping the ship vanished.

"Hot, hot!"

"You shouldn't touch him carelessly!"

"Oh, God..."

The person gasping for breath with heat radiating from his body seemed to have suffered through some ordeal I was unaware of. And I guessed that was probably what protected this ship.

"... It pisses me off, but I have to admit it. The Temple is helpful in its own way."

There was no way Windhand would say something like that otherwise.

"Well, he is the Hero, after all."

"... What? Hero?"

"Whatever. Sir Knight, let's please just get some rest when we get back this time. Please."

"Hey, you can't just stop talking halfway!"

"Aren't you going to watch the helm? Aren't you steering?"

"The helm is smashed, so what the hell am I supposed to watch!"

Regardless, at that point, I felt that the raid was truly over.

Even though our initial plan had completely gone out the window, we achieved everything we had set out for.

"Yeah."

"……?"

Of course, it felt like there would still be quite a few things scattered around to do once we got to the city. I needed to go help Windhand right away, for starters.

"I'll rest, just a bit."

Still... it should be fine to rest a little today.

"... You aren't Sir Knight. I won't be fooled. There's absolutely no way Sir Knight would say he wants to rest."

"……."

"Hah, don't make things difficult for people when they're in a good mood and just go inside already, alright? Honestly, you really don't know when to join in."

"What are you suddenly talking about?"

"You don't need to know."

... Hah, fucking life.