“It’s the Hoarder!”
“The Hoarder is here! Get him!”
As soon as Yeon-woo appeared, Triton immediately let the captains of each boat know. The captains moved busily. They quickly got ready for Yeon-woo’s imminent attack.
Unlike the 92nd Squad of the Fantasy Regiment, who had underestimated Yeon-woo, Triton had gathered information about Yeon-woo before this.
From his contribution in the Endless World of Night, to how he dealt with the Nine Dragon Sons, how he fatally attacked the Summer Queen, and what kind of power he had after the 26th floor.
They considered him to be at least at the level of a ranker.
They even judged that he might be at a high ranker level.
High ranker.
It was easier said than accomplished. It was impossible for a lower-floor player who hadn’t even cleared through the 30th floor to have that power.
People who were considered kings now had been like that in their younger days. Recently, only Heaven Wing had been a genius like that.
Also, the people in Triton who judged Yeon-woo highly heard that he had been ranking 1st place on all the floors, and they thought that he might be someone who could resist Allforone.
Whatever the limits of his power were, as of now, Triton was on their guards against Yeon-woo.
High rankers didn’t care about the numbers of their enemies. Each of them had one or two extremely powerful skills, so they could only be stopped when someone who was equally as powerful as them stepped up or if they had a barrier system that could stop such a person.
Fortunately, Triton had a barrier system.
<Poseidon’s Blessing>. Poseidon generously gave his Authorities to what was basically his cult. The greater their courage, the more buffs and defense power they received.
Everything else aside, this was the territory of water that Poseidon ruled.
The River of Souls was quite literally a river of souls with countless ghosts roaming around it, so it was deeply affiliated with gods who ruled over death, but since it was in the form of water, Poseidon’s influence would be greatest.
Even though Yeon-woo had activated the unbelievable Wave of Fire, they were confident that they could stop him.
That was, until they found something attacking the bottoms of their ships.
Kwang!
Kwang!
“W, What is that?”
“Sea king monsters! They’re sea king monsters! Predators are attacking the bottom of the ship!”
“S***! Why are they suddenly…..!”
Kwang!
The river waves crashed again, and a great number of other sea king monsters like the Predators popped out and began to attack Triton’s ships.
Predators chewed the bottoms of the boats with their teeth, and the ones with long, snake-like bodies wrapped around the boats to destroy them.
The players of Triton were vastly surprised by the sudden attack of the sea king monsters, and they were forced to turn their attention to them.
[King of the Sea]
At the moment, the holy artifact of Ceto that Yeon-woo had around his neck, the Sea Water Charm, was shining brilliantly.
The other option in the holy artifact had activated to control the sea king monsters.
When Yeon-woo discovered Triton’s navy, he hadn’t come up to the surface immediately but gathered the sea king monsters nearby first.
Maybe if they were on land, it would be better, but on the river, Poseidon’s territory, he was disadvantaged in many ways.
Also, even though his skills had grown to the point that the number of his enemies didn’t matter, a large gap between their numbers would still be difficult.
If the Ghost Ship was captured while he was dealing with Benteke, it would be Yeon-woo who would be on the edge of the plank.
Because of that, Yeon-woo brought over the sea king monsters in order to make Triton disordered.
A great amount of the holy power within the Sea Water Charm was used, but it was definitely effective.
The sea king monsters were hard even for Triton to deal with. With tens of them causing chaos, of course their lines would be messed up.
The most annoying part about the sea king monsters was that most of them had a high intellect.
They quickly hid under the water when Triton fought back and appeared again to attack the players on deck when they saw the chance.
Triton didn’t have the chance to focus on Yeon-woo with the situation at hand.
This was the timing that Yeon-woo had been waiting for.
Pat—
Yeon-woo used Blink and appeared on a ship surrounded by Predators.
“Watch…..!”
The captain tried to shout out in warning, but—
Kwang!
Yeon-woo was already swinging Vigrid. As black Aura emitted from it, a Wave of Fire flamed up, and the deck collapsed with a large explosion.
Black smoke soared up into the air. Fire gobbled at the deck. River water flowed through the cracks of the boat, and the ship sunk, split in two.
“S, Save me!”
“Aack!”
The pirates surrounded by fire jumped into the river water screaming.
However, they were only swept away by the angry waves or became snacks for the sea king monsters.
In an instant, it was pandemonium.
Yeon-woo nonchalantly activated Blink again and moved to his next target. It was Ship 12, the one closest to him.
“Hey!”
The 12th Ship captain, Carht, who had been waiting for him, crumpled his face and powerfully swung his halberd.
Yeon-woo’s head was almost crushed as strong winds whirled around him, but he blocked the attack with Vigrid, and wrapped himself with wings of fire, activating Blink again.
He appeared right in front of Carht. His attack landed exactly on his solar plexus.
Kwang!
“Kuk!”
The armor Carht had been wearing bent inwards, and he was blown away from the impact.
He crashed on the sail. With his crushed intestines, he died right after.
Crack, kukuku—
The sail couldn’t bear the shock and toppled to the side. At the same time, the ship tilted, and the bow was bent perpendicularly.
Yeon-woo gathered magic power in his feet and crushed the deck. The ship that had already lost its balance was completely destroyed, and black fire soared up from where Yeon-woo was.
The black fire looked like fire from hell, and it was hot and sticky. Also, it was greedy. It touched the river water, but it wasn’t extinguished. Rather, it flamed up even more.
The black fire created from Holy Fire, Aura, and Consciousness was a magical creature that wouldn’t be put out unless Yeon-woo wanted it to.
Yeon-woo’s attack didn’t stop there.
Where sparks flew, columns of black fire soared up and threatened the other boats. In fact, a few ships were almost destroyed because of it.
And there, from the shadows. Monster Portents poured out.
With the strengthened 3rd Spirit, the Monster Portents that had higher stats moved from the fire and river water like it was nothing, massacring Triton’s players.
Ships sank one by one, and when 15 ships disappeared, Triton felt that it was in danger.
Sea king monsters came without end from the River of Souls, and now, the black fire moved above the river water toward them. The shadow monsters they couldn’t see put them on edge.
Furthermore, whenever Yeon-woo used Blink, the ships were destroyed without even having a chance.
The net that they had created to trap Yeon-woo and the Ghost Ship had ended up becoming a double-edged sword for them.
“Split apart! Get as far away from him as possible!”
Judging that their forces would be crushed at this rate, the captains scattered away from the net they had created.
The ships all turned around to run away from Yeon-woo’s Territory.
It was the complete loss of Triton, the ruler of the sea.
* * *
Even while the situation was worsening, the captain’s ships with Benteke on it didn’t budge.
“Kehalhalhalhal! What a fun game of fireworks. It’s burning well. Ablaze!”
Benteke burst out laughing. His laughter was so loud that it rang out on the deck.
However, his subordinates all had concerned faces.
They could see Yeon-woo moving through the air with his wings of fire, chasing after the escaping ships. The sea king monsters also didn’t stop their attack.
The Ghost Ship that had been attacked wasn’t on the defensive anymore. At this rate, their boats would be destroyed instead.
However, Benteke was just laughing, not moving in the slightest. He was just chuckling on his throne. Of course they felt frustrated.
“Captain, the damage on our side will be great if this keeps up. You need to…..”
“Jinrang.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What do you think is most important when gathering forces?”
It was a sudden question. Jinrang widened his eyes. Benteke was someone he served back in the Blue Rose, but he still didn’t understand Benteke well.
Even though he looked simple and violent, he was actually extremely sly on the inside.
“Do you think it’s people? Or money?”
“I…… don’t know.”
“Both of them are wrong.”
“……?”
Jinrang tilted his head. If it wasn’t people or money, what was it? And why was Benteke saying this in the urgent situation?
“It’s honor.”
Jinrang’s eyes widened.
“We can also get people. We can buy slaves or use the overflowing Cannibal Monster Humans. Same with money. If we need more, we can steal it. But honor is different.”
Fire was blazing inside of Benteke’s eyes.
“Building up honor is so hard. It’s also hard to spread it far and wide. There are so many things that get in the way of it. Even if you build it up, it all disappears if you make a mistake. Building it up again…..you need more time than before.”
The Eight Large Clans had built up their honor in the way Benteke said.
“My ex-lover, Lana, lost that honor. She always won, but eventually she kneeled to the Eight Large Clans. That was why the Blue Rose toppled. She struggled to recreate it, but in my eyes, it was all a waste. Re-establishing it? She didn’t even know that the people around her were trying to stab her in the back.”
Jinrang thought of when he had caused the coup with Benteke in the past. Back then, Lana really did seem possessed by something.
The wise and sly Lana was gone. She was always angry, wanting revenge, and disillusioned, as if always on drugs.
Other pirates had approached her saying they would help, but in reality, they were only looking to steal from her.
Benteke and his subordinates couldn’t hold back. It was obvious that the remaining forces would be destroyed at the rate she was going, but Lana couldn’t get herself together.
That was why Benteke had caused the coup. He destroyed the Quartz Palace. And he killed his own lover.
Poseidon had wanted to steal some of Ceto’s holy power in that process, but still, it was completely Benteke who had wanted it.
With that, Benteke took control of the Blue Rose and brought the other pirates under him.
It was the creation of a new large clan, Triton.
“Honor is made from victory. If the victories continue, people will gather like moths drawn to a flame, and they’ll even give money that they don’t have. Wasn’t Triton made like that? The Eight Large Clans were also created like that, so we can’t lose until we reach that level.”
“…….”
Jinrang realized what Benteke was saying then. Jinrang had only been worried about the continued damage.
However, Benteke was different. The damage they were receiving wasn’t important. If they were victorious in the end, it was fine. No, it would be an even greater accomplishment.
Benteke had used his subordinates as bait.
It was to confirm the Hoarder’s power. He had already gathered information, but he wanted to check with his own eyes.
Also, that meant Benteke acknowledged Yeon-woo.
Brrr.
Jinrang trembled. He always felt this, but his master was violent, cruel, and cold-blooded at times.
He thought of the nickname of Benteke.
Ruler.
The Ruler King Benteke. There was no one who could stand against the ruler of the sea.
“Bring the spear.”
Benteke stretched out his hand. Then, five of his maids kneeled and politely offered up his spear. Their hands were shaking because of the weight.
Triaina.
The holy artifact of Poseidon that had the ability to cause tsunamis, earthquakes, and storms. It was a greater holy artifact than what Yeon-woo saw in the Olympus Treasury.
Thump!
Benteke slowly stood up with Triaine in his land, bringing it down on the deck.
Just then, he could see Yeon-woo flying towards him with his wings of fire.
It was clear he was approaching them after reading Benteke’s energy. Black fire tailed behind him.
Benteke accepted Yeon-woo’s challenge in high spirits. He raised Triaina with a laugh.
“Come, storm!”
Just then, dark clouds began to crowd above. Lightning flashed between the clouds, and the River of Souls tossed violently.
Urrrr, kwakwakwang!
Krrrr.
Authority <Storm Rain>. With Poseidon’s holy power, tsunamis that were tens of meters tall swarmed Yeon-woo.
The storm whirled, and tens of bolts came down from above.
