The Reborn Swordmaster
Chapter 40
The Trident alliance's galley was certainly different from the weaklings they'd dealt with earlier.
"Enemy!"
Riyan had thought they'd infiltrated quietly enough, but opponents accustomed to the water noticed them almost immediately.
The moment they crossed the railing, swords and spears were already waiting.
But retreat wasn't an option.
Yarik leaped through the hesitation of the others.
"Uraaah!"
He swung his enormous battle axe.
The enemies instinctively backed away.
Aries and Riyan surged forward through the opening.
Aries's sword moved first.
Slash!
The incoming net was cut cleanly in two.
Something white slipped through the gap.
Riyan.
His white hair streamed behind him as he rushed in low, twisted his body, and drove out a kick.
"What the..."
The moment the net stopped blocking their vision, his kick slammed into a shield and knocked it aside.
Then a white arc of light flashed.
Splurt!
The wrist of the fighter holding the shield split open.
The man beside him had the back of his knee cut.
The fighter behind them had his forearm pierced.
"You bastard!"
A hole appeared in their formation in an instant.
They tried to surround Riyan after he'd broken into their ranks, but it wasn't that simple.
Three rushed him.
Three fell.
Five surrounded him.
Five were pushed back.
"This... this monster..."
There was no wasted movement.
No unnecessary force.
No emotion.
His sword only cut the vulnerable points needed to disable the enemy immediately.
Every time that pale sword light flashed, someone was driven backward.
The very idea of surrounding him became meaningless.
Then the Rodus fighters following behind formed a line of their own, splitting the Trident formation in half.
"Aries!"
"I'm going!"
The moment Riyan finally opened a path, Aries and the rest of the special detachment pushed forward.
Their target was the enemy commander's flag.
A fierce close-quarters battle began.
The detachment stubbornly drove deeper into the enemy formation around Aries.
Blood sprayed.
The sound of flesh splitting rang out everywhere.
More enemies fell overall, but Riyan's group had started at a numerical disadvantage.
Soon, his own men began bleeding as well.
Riyan bit his lip.
This isn't going well.
Even he couldn't protect everyone.
It wasn't impossible if he truly committed himself.
But this wasn't a one-on-one duel.
There were still many enemies left to face.
With a prolonged battle ahead, he couldn't afford to exhaust himself here.
They had no choice but to keep advancing and break the enemy commander's flag as quickly as possible.
"Have you bastards lost your minds...?"
A man stepped into Riyan's path.
He was enormous, nearly two meters tall, with a blue trident tattoo climbing up the side of his neck.
Five or six fighters accompanied him.
Even the way he walked was different.
His eyes were filled with such obvious killing intent that even Aries, following behind Riyan, hesitated.
Riyan spoke quickly and quietly.
"You know him?"
"He's fairly famous. Strong."
"How strong?"
"On a moving ship, I'm not sure even I could guarantee a win."
At Aries's answer, Riyan looked toward the enemy commander's flag.
It was already close.
The banner fluttered from the stern platform.
Not far at all.
In other words, this was the last obstacle.
"I'll cover you. Go straight for the flag."
"You want me to just run?"
"What? Don't trust me?"
"Of course I do."
Aries grinned and threw himself forward.
At a glance, it looked like he was diving into a furnace.
He ran without worrying about defense, so weapons naturally came pouring toward him.
But a white afterimage covered his back.
Above.
Below.
Left.
Right.
Riyan's black eyes read every incoming trajectory in an instant.
Clang! Clatter!
He released a burst of strength and knocked every weapon away.
Then he immediately rushed the tattooed giant.
The man hesitated.
Should he chase Aries, who had already broken past him?
Or confront Riyan, who was charging straight at him?
"What the..."
That instant of hesitation was fatal.
Riyan planted his foot and snapped out a turning kick.
The blow shattered the man's spear shaft.
The sword that followed cut cleanly across his throat.
Splurt!
Riyan lowered his head to avoid the spray of blood and settled his stance.
Then he extended one hand and casually pushed aside the giant, who was clutching his throat.
The massive body collapsed.
Behind it, Aries could be seen cutting down the commander's flag.
"It's over, you bastards! Get down!"
Yarik's shout followed.
The sound of weapons clashing gradually died away.
Eventually, the battle settled into silence.
Only rough breathing filled the deck.
Riyan silently checked his men.
"..."
The situation wasn't good.
There were quite a few injuries.
Yarik was in particularly bad shape.
He stood there with his battle axe resting on one shoulder as though nothing had happened, but blood was streaming from cuts on his forearm and thigh.
Eleven, twelve, thirteen... thirteen total.
Excluding the injured, the number of people still capable of fighting immediately was thirteen.
That included Riyan and Aries.
Five from the special detachment.
Eight ordinary fighters.
They had started with twenty-eight.
Half their force was already out of action.
What about the rest of our allies?
Riyan turned and read the battlefield.
The first ship of the Rodus alliance, the one that had initially collided with Trident, had fallen.
The remaining left-wing ship, Ship Three, was still fighting.
But without support, it looked unlikely to last much longer.
And the filler ships...
There had been three total.
The Sea Serpent destroyed one.
Riyan and the special detachment eliminated another.
The Trident alliance had dealt with the third.
All of them were gone.
Then there are three enemy ships left.
Riyan had just destroyed one Trident vessel.
The remaining three had taken some damage from both the Sea Serpent and the Rodus alliance.
Even so...
It was still three against one.
And Riyan's side had only thirteen combat-capable fighters left.
The bigger problem was that the enemy had finally noticed what they were doing.
From this point onward, the commander's flags would be heavily defended.
And there was no telling when the Sea Serpent might turn its savagery toward them.
Neither time nor numbers were on their side.
Do I have to push myself?
Riyan's gaze darkened.
If he fought with everything he had, truly wringing out every last drop of strength, he could probably take one more ship while keeping their losses minimal.
But after that...
Even Riyan would have to risk his life.
I don't like it. But I can't exactly trust the Sea Serpent to keep moving conveniently for us either...
That was when something strange caught his eye.
The Sea Serpent was circling violently around one of the Trident alliance's galleys.
Amid the chaos, a fighter hurled a trident with all his strength.
Even from this distance, the trajectory looked perfect.
A deadly throw aimed directly at the Sea Serpent's eye.
But—
Whip!
The trident missed.
There had been no obvious warning.
Just before reaching the monster, its trajectory bent slightly, as if pushed aside by an invisible force, and plunged harmlessly into the water.
It could have been coincidence.
But Riyan's monstrous senses caught something subtle.
Once could be chance.
But what if it happened again?
"..."
Riyan suppressed his exhaustion and focused.
The world divided into red and white.
He fixed his eyes on the Sea Serpent's enormous body.
Then he saw it.
Another spear flew toward the monster.
At the same instant, an unfamiliar energy stirred around it.
It wasn't Aether.
Riyan recognized the nature of that power.
It was the same kind of force as the web-like energy beneath the water that moved the galleys.
Magic.
Someone was protecting the Sea Serpent.
Riyan's eyes turned cold.
Why?
Were they planning to leave no survivors?
No.
That couldn't be it.
This was still an Imperial festival.
A complete massacre might thrill a blood-drunk audience in the moment, but it would produce a terrible story afterward.
Nothing worth celebrating.
That left only one answer.
They're arranging the spectacle.
The Sea Serpent was nothing more than a tool meant to create chaos.
In terms of a play, it was the villain.
And who was supposed to punish that villain?
The answer was obvious from the way things were unfolding.
The White Wolf.
The Arena's newest favorite.
The fighter who had appeared like a comet and built up a winning streak while the entire Imperial Capital watched.
"Damn it."
Riyan quietly cursed.
His grip tightened around his sword so hard that his hand trembled.
What had this mock naval battle been for in the first place?
He already knew how cruel the people running the Arena were.
But did they truly need to go this far?
Forget everything else.
Life and death.
Victory and defeat.
Shouldn't those things, at the very least, be left to the individual fighters' own fate?
Wasn't that the bare minimum of respect owed to the people spilling blood for this spectacle?
"Riyan. What do we do now?"
Aries approached with a weary expression.
Yarik and the remaining fighters followed behind him.
Not one of them was free of wounds, large or small.
Looking at them, Riyan couldn't immediately find an answer.
Was he supposed to tell them that all the time they'd spent rolling through dirt, getting bruised, breaking bones, and vomiting from exhaustion had been meaningless?
That no matter what they did, their fate had already been placed in someone else's hands?
Riyan looked toward the highest level of the Arena.
A secluded, luxurious area that clearly belonged only to those in power.
You really do keep piling up sins.
With admirable diligence.
Riyan closed his eyes for a moment.
Then he opened them again and regained his composure.
"For now, we reorganize. Stay ready to move into battle at any moment. Aries, memorize the positions of the remaining enemy commander's flags and their troop strength."
"Reorganize?"
Aries tilted his head.
His tone suggested they should be considering rushing to help their collapsing allies immediately.
But Riyan, who had already read the situation, lightly tapped the railing.
"It's not a situation where we can go somewhere just because we want to."
"Ah."
Only then did Aries and the others nod.
The galleys that had been tangled together in the center had already drifted apart under the waves.
Since they couldn't control the ships unless the organizers wanted them to move, all they could do was wait.
Of course, Riyan was convinced that creating that distance had been deliberate.
"Damn it. If we're going to fight anyway, I hate dragging this out..."
"Sit down and rest, you bastard. Drink some water or something."
"What water? Where are we supposed to get water now?"
"Are you stupid? This isn't the sea. It's freshwater."
"You asshole, you want me to drink water that the Sea Serpent's been pissing in?"
Yarik and the others were still arguing when—
SCREEEEEECH!
A piercing roar shook the Arena.
The Sea Serpent.
It didn't look particularly healthy anymore.
Dark blood continued leaking from the wound where Riyan's spear was still embedded.
Perhaps because it was trapped in freshwater, its body occasionally convulsed noticeably as well.
Eventually, the combination of pain and stress pushed the monster past its limit.
It began losing its reason.
Its enormous body thrashed in every direction.
As though unable to endure the cramped Arena any longer, it repeatedly slammed the surface and sent huge sprays of water into the air.
Then one of the Trident galleys became caught in its frenzy.
CRUNCH!
A sickening sound echoed through the Arena.
The galley's keel snapped.
The entire vessel began sinking.
Of course, the struggle was so violent that even the Sea Serpent seemed to be forcing itself past its own limits.
The crowd roared again until their throats seemed ready to split.
As if answering them, the Sea Serpent thrashed even more wildly.
Then—
"Huh...?"
The galley carrying Riyan began to move.
"They're sending us toward that insane snake because it's going berserk?"
"Yeah. Fuck. They're telling us to finish it."
The fighters muttered among themselves as they tightened their grips on their weapons and worked themselves back into fighting spirit.
But Riyan was looking somewhere else.
Hummm...
A faint vibration.
He lowered his eyes toward the sensation coming from his left hand.
The ring there was glowing softly.
Then a strange energy traveled through his hand.
Mana.
The moment he accepted it, a familiar voice entered his mind.
[Fighter Riyan. The stage has been prepared. I'm sure you already know what you're supposed to do. Good luck.]
...Petra.
There was no mistaking that flat, emotionless tone.
The stage has been prepared?
Standing on the galley as it sped forward, Riyan swept his gaze across the Arena.
Then he noticed something.
The Sea Serpent.
It had submerged completely, leaving only a dark shadow beneath the surface.
And then—
BOOOOM.
A heavy rumble spread through the Arena.
Where was it coming from?
Riyan turned toward the source.
"..."
The stone barrier separating the spectators from the battlefield.
