Chapter 112
At the lookout pirate’s shout, every eye on the deck turned toward one place.
I looked in that direction too.
But all I could see was the endless horizon.
The calm sea brought peace of mind.
“What’s supposed to be coming?”
At my question, the other pirates tilted their heads too.
They apparently hadn’t spotted anything either.
Maybe the lookout sailor had seen wrong.
But Teech, standing beside me, was different.
Teech studied the direction I was looking at closely.
Soon, his face hardened.
“Damn it, it’s already showing up...”
He spat out a curse and told me,
“New captain? Look below the water, not above it.”
“Below?”
At his words, I moved to the edge of the deck.
The railing was high, so I had to stand on a nearby crate just to barely see beneath the ship.
The deep blue sea.
I could see black things moving in its depths.
Shadows closing in on the ship.
The number was easily over several dozen.
“Fish? Dolphins?”
“No. Look more closely.”
At first, I thought it was a huge school of fish.
But when I looked more closely, it wasn’t.
One of them lifted its head.
A monster disturbingly human for a fish, and disturbingly fishlike for a human.
The local specialty here: mermen.
“No wonder the floor hadn’t ended; there was a second phase.”
The moment I realized that.
“Whoosh!”
With a sharp tearing sound, something burst through the water’s surface.
A harpoon.
An attack aimed at my head as it peeked over the deck edge.
“So fish throw harpoons here, too...”
A harpoon that should’ve been stuck in a fish was being fired at a person.
I reflexively pulled back.
Of course, there was no need.
Before the harpoon could even touch me, sand rose on its own and formed a barrier.
Thunk.
The harpoon was helplessly stopped by the sand barrier and fell to the deck.
“You should back up, new captain.”
I followed that and backed up a few more steps.
Teech’s judgment was right.
Starting with the first harpoon, dozens more rained down from all directions.
“Battle stations!”
At Teech’s shout, the pirates moved with practiced coordination.
They drew their blades from their waists, checked their guns, and took their positions.
There was no fear on the pirates’ faces.
Their faces showed just how used to this they were.
Clearly, this wasn’t the first or second time they’d faced something like this.
Splash! Splash!
Water splashed up around the ship.
They were the mermen we’d seen on the island a little while ago.
Dragging their wet bodies, they slid onto the deck.
The stink of fish and rot stabbed at my nose.
“Kill them!”
The pirates and the mermen tangled together.
The deck turned into a scene of utter chaos in an instant.
The sound of clashing blades, gunfire, and screams filled the ship.
“They’re fighting well...”
The pirates fought better than I’d expected.
Two or three of them formed a unit and systematically took on the mermen.
But they were at a numerical disadvantage.
The mermen kept coming up from the sea.
At this rate, annihilation was only a matter of time.
In the end, I would have to step in.
I couldn’t just stand by and watch my ship and crew get hurt.
“Looks like it’s Captain Star’s turn to step up.”
Hm, come to think of it, I want a cool nickname too.
Not one of those bizarre titles the flag gives you.
I started wanting a title from the pirates someday too.
I’ll have Teech think of a few later.
I cleared my throat and shouted.
“Everyone, get down!”
At my sudden command, the pirates battling fiercely froze for a moment.
The pirates turned back to me with faces that said they had no idea what was going on.
Seeing those dazed expressions made me sigh involuntarily.
Teech jumped in to back me up.
“You bastards, what are you doing? The captain’s words aren’t making sense to you!”
Teech, having grasped my intent, threw himself to the deck without hesitation and shouted.
Seeing that, the other pirates hurriedly lowered themselves too.
“If you lift your heads, you’ll get hurt. I warned you.”
After confirming that every pirate on deck was lying flat.
I spread both hands.
The sand around me rose and condensed into bullets.
Hundreds of grains of sand orbited around me like satellites.
“Go.”
With my short command, the grains of sand shot out in every direction.
Tatatatatatatata!
A sound like a machine gun spraying.
The sand bullets pierced the mermen’s shell armor.
[Kerk?!]
Pupupupupupang!
Blood and flesh splattered everywhere.
A single attack.
More than half of the mermen filling the deck disappeared without a trace.
“There’s still a lot left.”
I gathered mana once more.
I was planning to clear out the ones who survived too.
That was when it happened.
“What the hell? Captain, calm down for a second!”
“What is it, what’s wrong?”
Teech, lying face-down on the deck, yelled like he was having a fit.
Teech’s finger was pointing at the ship’s railing and walls where my sand bullets had torn through.
A bunch of gaping holes.
In some of the holes, seawater was seeping in.
“Damn it, are you trying to sink the ship by drilling holes in it?”
Only then did I realize my mistake.
Come to think of it, this was a ship, not an island.
It wasn’t an environment suited for spraying magic around carelessly.
“Ah, crap...”
Embarrassed, I scratched the back of my head.
In the end, I decided to use a different method.
Rather than brute force, a smarter method.
I ripped one arm off and mixed it into the pile of sand on deck.
“Eek!”
The pirates, apparently seeing a detachable arm for the first time, looked startled.
They’d all been using crude hook prosthetics, so seeing my arm probably made them jealous.
I reached out and moved the sand spread across the deck.
The sand wriggled and began taking on a human shape.
Sand clones made by adapting the sand totem skill, in my own image.
One, two, three...
In an instant, dozens of sand soldiers were created.
All of them wore faces that said they were too annoyed to care, and they held spears and shields made of sand.
At the front stood an enlarged Cheohoki, proudly thrusting out its chest.
“Deal with them.”
At my command, the sand soldiers and Cheohoki charged the mermen at once.
The mermen, startled by the sudden new enemies, swung their swords wildly.
[Kerruk!]
But the mermen’s attacks had little effect.
The sand clones formed a tight shield wall, blocking the mermen’s attacks.
Through the gaps, Cheohoki went berserk, skewering two or three mermen with each thrust.
Even when the sand clones were lightly cut or pierced, they scattered into sand for a moment before returning to their original forms.
With sand, they were truly immortal and an endless army.
The mermen were helplessly swept away before them.
The ship suffered no additional damage.
Splash!
The last merman’s head was severed and fell into the sea.
The battle ended in an instant.
I turned the clones back into sand again, except for Cheohoki.
Putting Cheohoki, now back to a small size, on my shoulder, I looked around.
…….
A heavy silence hung over the deck.
The pirates still stood there dazed, as if they couldn’t believe what they’d just seen.
Their gazes went back and forth between the deck, now a mess of blood and flesh, and me standing calmly at the center.
A look mixed with awe and fear.
“...as expected, you’re amazing.”
Teech was the first to break the silence.
Teech, getting up from where he’d been lying down, looked at the pile of sand with an odd expression.
“New captain, I have a question...”
“What’s that?”
“Those soldiers just now—can you call them again?”
“If I need to?”
“How long do they last?”
“I don’t think so...?”
Back when my mana reserves were much smaller than they are now, the number of sand clones and their duration were limited.
But now, if I needed to, it felt like I could keep them going for days.
Cheohoki had been maintained for months now too.
“Then it seems like guys like us aren’t really needed, huh.”
Teech said, pointing his chin at the pirates around him.
“Wouldn’t it be better to have those sand soldiers run the ship instead of a bunch of useless thick-headed idiots like us? They won’t eat, and they won’t sleep, so there couldn’t be better crew than that.”
It was a fair point.
If not for one problem.
“These guys are too stupid and lazy to do it.”
Teech gave me a puzzled expression at my reply.
“Stupid? For idiots, they fight pretty well.”
“You don’t know how long it took these guys to start fighting like people.”
I shrugged.
I remembered the first time I had put these guys in charge of battle.
Back then, there was even one who tripped over his own feet and fell.
And now they were good enough to be entrusted with an entire floor’s battle.
Suddenly, the sand clones and Cheohoki felt incredibly precious.
But even with that explanation, Teech still didn’t seem to understand.
Teech gave a bitter smile and looked over his underlings before saying,
“These guys are just as stupid, though. Most of them can’t even read, and they’re all just fools who can only fight.”
“We’re not fools!”
“You see?”
“Hmm...”
Leaving me to swallow my groan, Teech went on.
“How could those soldiers possibly be dumber than the fools here?”
He tapped his chest with his fist and said,
“People can all learn. Even fools become sailors who can do their part once time passes. Humans have no limits. Aren’t those soldiers the same?”
“…….”
I listened to Teech in silence.
It was a pretty reasonable answer.
I nodded.
“Now that I hear it, you’re right.”
For a moment, I considered teaching the sand soldiers navigation.
If I put them on the ship for a few days and taught them one-on-one, they might make unexpected progress.
But I soon dismissed the idea.
After I left this floor, how often would I ever have to ride a ship again?
There was no need to go to that trouble.
“Not cost-effective.”
“Well, I was just making a point. If they really end up replacing us, that’s a disaster. Then what are we supposed to live on? You can’t even find another job on the sea.”
Teech took my words in stride, deadpan.
Meanwhile, the Cheohoki on my shoulder seemed distracted by something else.
The little guy kept staring, mouth open, at the sea and the crew scurrying around.
After hearing our conversation, Cheohoki perked up and suddenly tugged at my hair.
I could tell right away what it wanted.
“You want to learn navigation?”
I fell into thought for a moment.
Should I really let Cheohoki learn?
Leave Cheohoki here for a while?
I soon realized that was impossible and shook my head.
“No.”
Learning navigation was fine.
But leaving Cheohoki here was impossible.
If something happened while I was gone, I wouldn’t be able to protect it.
At my refusal, Cheohoki’s shoulders slumped.
It jumped down to the deck, went to a corner, and sat there with its back turned.
“Not now. Learn next time I come back. If sailing feels safe enough then, I’ll let you learn as much as you want.”
At my words, it turned back around, made a miserable face, and reluctantly nodded.
Watching us, Teech laughed and said,
“This one stays instead of turning back into sand. Is it a pet? I keep a parrot too.”
“A pet? Not at all.”
I hastily objected to Teech’s words, surprised.
But what Cheohoki was supposed to be was still confusing.
A subordinate? Family? Or maybe a part of my body?
None of those quite described the relationship clearly.
I changed the subject.
“By the way, a parrot? I’ve never seen one. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve even seen a cage in the captain’s cabin.”
“He’s such a free spirit. Wouldn’t it be pitiful to keep him locked in a cage?”
Teech let out a long whistle.
Fweeeet-
A clear note rang out long and far.
Right after that, something fell from above.
A sand barrier sprang up automatically.
“Bird poop?”
The moment my expression crumpled, the parrot landed lightly on Teech’s shoulder.
“That bird’s kind of ugly.”
“That’s part of his charm. Wouldn’t it be funny if a pirate were handsome?”
With feathers poking out everywhere and a gaunt frame, the parrot couldn’t be called beautiful even as a joke.
Then, hearing me, the parrot started chattering,
[Ugly! Ugly!]
...
“Kek... Don’t mind it. It’s just repeating something it heard recently.”
“Well, I suppose so, right? Honestly, I’m not ugly.”
[Idiot! Idiot!]
“...I don’t think I said we were idiots, did I?”
[Genius! Genius!]
“This damn bird...”
For a birdbrain, it had a talent for making people mad.
It was then.
The parrot suddenly headed for Cheohoki on the floor.
“Huh?”
I didn’t even have time to stop it.
The parrot grabbed Cheohoki’s shoulder with its talons and flew into the sky.
“Hey!”
I shouted in shock.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and bring it back!”
I cried out urgently at Teech.
But Cheohoki reacted differently than expected.
Hanging in the air, it wasn’t panicking at all, but looking down with curiosity.
With both arms spread wide, it looked as if it were actually enjoying the flight.
“What the...”
Apparently, unlike me, it didn’t have a fear of heights.
It seemed quite satisfied with its first-ever flight.
Seeing that, Teech snickered and whistled again.
The parrot circled the ship a few times, then came down to the deck and set Cheohoki down.
As soon as its feet touched the ground, Cheohoki bounced up and down excitedly.
It looked like it wanted another ride.
“Haaah...”
I sighed at the sight.
After mostly calming the commotion, I got back to the main point.
“So, how much farther to the Swirling Archipelago?”
At my question, Teech looked at the sun and sea for a moment before answering.
“If we keep going like this, it’ll be about three more days.”
Three days.
The moment I heard that answer, I sensed this floor would be cleared around then.
Usually, it didn’t take that long to clear a floor.
Leaving the tower is sort of an intermission, or an epilogue.
Then this was probably the remaining time before the clear result came up.
“I’ve got to take care of something before then.”
I pulled a flag out from inside my robes.
My flag, emblazoned with a golden hourglass emblem.
More precisely, one of the duplicates.
I handed it to Teech and said,
“Put this in a suitable place. Ah, and don’t put it up high.”
“What is this?”
Teech took the flag with a bewildered look.
“It’s the new flag to fly in place of that pirate banner.”
I pointed at the black pirate flag hanging from the mast.
“Take that black flag down and make a new one. Put my emblem on it.”
Teech’s eyes widened.
I tapped his shoulder and warned him,
“I’ll probably be leaving soon. But I can always come back. At the very least, I’ll be back before we reach our destination.”
I looked over every pirate on deck and said quietly,
“So don’t think about doing anything stupid just because I’m gone. Behave yourselves.”
Teech tucked the flag to his chest and answered firmly,
“Understood, Captain.”
Sure enough, with his words as the last thing I heard, the familiar system message appeared before my eyes.
[Congratulations on clearing Floor 41 on EXTREME difficulty.]
[The first-clear bonus has been applied!]
[You have obtained ‘Coral of Life.’]
A small white piece of coral appeared on my palm.
[Coral of Life]
[Effect: While holding it in your mouth, you can breathe underwater.]
[Duration: 1 hour]
“Oh, this is useful.”
For someone like me, who doesn’t get along with water, it was a truly essential item.
Now I wouldn’t have to worry about drowning if I fell into the water.
The message didn’t end there.
[The rank 1 bonus has been applied!]
[You have obtained ‘Explorer’s Compass.’]
[Explorer’s Compass]
[Effect: It allows the compass to detect hidden places and special events.]
I smiled in satisfaction.
This floor’s rewards were all especially practical.
Teech and the pirates seemed to want to say more, but it was already too late.
The familiar sensation of floating wrapped around me.
My vision turned white, and the smell of the sea and the cool breeze vanished in an instant.