Chapter 72. The Marauder, No. 9 (4)
“Those things are overtechnology weapons! They can bite through things far tougher than this!”
Yukgap shouted urgently.
Jeonghyeon, who was steering the boat, looked beyond the horizon and murmured meaningfully,
“Don’t worry. This is exactly why we chose the sea as the interview location.”
The moment he finished speaking, numerous shapes began appearing beyond the horizon.
Only then did Yukgap understand why Jeonghyeon had come out to sea with such confidence.
“What the hell? Why are there so many boats?”
Boats.
So many of them that they seemed to fill the surrounding waters.
They moved into formation with the precision of a well-trained military unit.
Jeonghyeon calmly steered their small boat between them.
“Kevin, the Mercenary King, is afraid of flying, so he always travels by sea.”
Yukgap had heard that much before.
“That’s why interviews for his personal chef are also conducted aboard a ship.”
Jeonghyeon then glanced at Yukgap.
“If anyone heard that information, the obvious response would be to send an assassin specialized for combat at sea.”
“After all, this is a rare opportunity to kill Kevin, who is famous throughout the underworld.”
It made perfect sense.
Abraxas had done exactly that by sending No. 9, the Archon most suited for naval combat.
“But if you look at it the other way around...”
Jeonghyeon smiled.
“It also means that if we set a trap at sea, we can catch that assassin much more easily.”
Yukgap glared at him.
“Who the hell are you?”
“I’ll explain later!”
With that, Jeonghyeon accelerated.
Their boat traced a wide semicircle and skillfully slipped between the approaching vessels.
As though they had been waiting for the signal, the surrounding boats simultaneously lowered thick cables into the sea.
Victoria stared.
“What’s that?”
Jeonghyeon smiled lightly.
“I was impressed by how you used a battery to deal with the biological weapons earlier, miss.”
“By coincidence, we prepared something similar.”
Looking closely, every ship carried an enormous generator.
Jeonghyeon immediately shouted toward them,
“Everyone, attack!”
BZZZZZZT!
A massive electrical current violently surged through the surrounding waters.
Fish immediately floated to the surface, their white bellies exposed.
Among them were the Nine Fish that had been trying to devour Yukgap and Victoria only moments ago.
“My Nine Fish!”
No. 9 screamed when his overtechnology weapons were wiped out in an instant.
Even Yukgap was impressed by the clean and overwhelming attack.
“Wow. They just wiped out every fish around here in one shot.”
“When you’re killing bedbugs, burning down the whole house is certainly effective.”
Jeonghyeon spoke with a mocking smile.
“I was hoping it might work on No. 9 too. Shame he’s still fine.”
Apparently, he had hoped the electrical attack might knock No. 9 unconscious as well.
But Yukgap knew No. 9’s durability too well.
“It can confuse his senses, sure. But electricity alone won’t kill No. 9.”
“He’s practically a monster as long as he’s in the ocean.”
Sure enough, the moment No. 9 saw his Nine Fish destroyed, his eyes rolled with rage.
“I’LL CHEW EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU TO PIECES!”
He tore through the sea toward them.
The way he charged through the water resembled a cannonball.
“He’ll catch us soon. Do you have a plan?”
Yukgap asked Jeonghyeon.
Jeonghyeon responded with an odd question.
“Have you ever heard of cage aquaculture?”
“What?”
The surrounding boats began linking their sterns together as though grabbing one another’s tails.
Then they curved into a spiral and quickly surrounded the entire area.
It looked like an enormous maze made entirely of ships.
“W-Wait... what?”
No. 9, who had been charging recklessly, suddenly stopped when the wall of ships closed around him.
After a moment, he seemed to make up his mind and dove beneath the surface.
“As if something like this could stop me...!”
If the ships made it difficult to advance along the surface, he simply intended to swim underneath them.
But long nets suddenly blocked his path.
“What the hell is this now?”
No. 9 stopped in surprise.
The nets stretched beneath the boats surrounding the area.
The surface was already blocked by the ships.
No. 9 had never imagined there would be another barrier waiting beneath the water as well.
“Titanium metal nets are suspended beneath every ship.”
Jeonghyeon spoke confidently as though he knew exactly what No. 9 was thinking.
“Even an Abraxas Archon shouldn’t be able to tear through them easily.”
Just as he said, No. 9 looked around beneath the surface before apparently giving up and resurfacing.
“Grrrr! You bastards!”
And that was exactly what Jeonghyeon had been waiting for.
“The fish reached the target zone. Now!”
He shouted immediately.
Huge harpoons rose from the decks of the surrounding ships.
They were massive weapons fit for hunting whales.
“Ghk!”
