Chapter 49

“Thanks to Ryan, we were able to prevent a major accident. Count Dman will surely commend Ryan’s achievement.”

“If it’s going to be commendation, I’d prefer money over mere words.”

“…I’ll convey your thoughts.”

Even as we spoke, the distance between the two airships closed.

Now, we could even distinguish the faces of the enemy with the naked eye.

Failure, confusion, urgency.

Seeing their faces, with emotions they couldn’t hide clearly displayed, I felt an inexplicable sense of exhilaration.

Gradually, the enemy entered the range of our main cannon.

Judging by their appearance, they were pushing their engines to the limit, forcing their altitude higher while exceeding their payload capacity.

Unlike the Alliance, which deploys defensive barriers with mages, the White Hero’s airships deploy barriers using their inherent functions.

Given their overloaded state, it was highly likely that the enemy airship wouldn’t be able to deploy its barrier.

If we could land just one main cannon shot, we could easily annihilate them with the mana bomb explosion.

"Ryan.”

“……?”

“Can we capture the enemy ship safely?”

“You….”

Selina seemed to have a different idea than me.

Unlike my simple thought of destroying the enemy’s plan and easily shooting down one enemy ship.

She seemed to be aiming for a greater advantage, even at some risk.

As it was not a matter of right or wrong that I could judge, I decided to respect Selina’s opinion as the commander.

“Wait a moment.”

When I subtly indicated that I would use my Eye that Seeks Truth, Selina naturally moved to shield me from others’ gazes.

The old man still looked at us with interest, but at this point, I wondered if it even mattered much.

“…It’s entirely possible.”

Upon inspection.

The enemy forces were not a threat at all.

There was one Level 2 player character and four Level 1 heroes.

Since they were troops meant to be sacrificed anyway, the Level 2 hero probably wouldn’t be very high-level, and the team was composed of expendable personnel.

In short, I could easily handle them alone.

It would be good to give the team members some practical experience in this situation, but that cursed mana bomb was the problem.

Weren’t these guys madmen who willingly sacrificed themselves for a suicide mission in the first place?

I had to finish it quickly, without giving them time to think.

Because they would surely try to detonated the bomb and die together the moment they judged they had no chance of winning.

“Bring the ship closer. I’m going in alone.”

“Are you sure? What about the other members….”

“It’s not that I’m just ‘sure,’ it’s the only way to capture the enemy ship. And we have to show something to that old man who’s watching us like a supervisor, don’t we?”

"Ryan, you really….”

Selina, who had been staring at me like a disobedient troublemaker, couldn’t hold back and a slight smile crept onto her lips.

She didn’t argue further.

And she gave instructions to the sailors.

The airship flew at an even faster speed, and as soon as it caught up with the enemy ship, which was flying slowly like a snail, it lightly rammed into it.

Thump!

It was a light collision in name only; the entire airship shook violently.

Still, with the accumulated experience from previous aerial battles, this much was bearable.

It was the perfect moment for a surprise attack.

I immediately leaped over the railing onto the enemy airship.

As expected.

On the deck of the enemy ship, I saw heroes and sailors who had lost their balance and fallen around a massive metallic object spewing blue light.

I plunged my sword into the back of the man closest to me.

“Gahhh!”

I had intended to take him out with one blow, but I must have missed slightly due to the difficulty of maintaining my balance.

The man screamed and thrashed around like a fish caught on a hook.

“…E-enemy attack! It’s an enemy attack!”

“Take up arms! Hand-to-hand combat!”

Only then did the White Hero’s heroes realize my presence and draw their weapons.

However, most of them hadn’t even properly regained their balance yet.

I decapitated the guy closest to the bomb.

A clean sword strike, so clean it didn’t even feel like cutting.

I understood why swordsmen were so obsessed with good swords.

“Kalam’s neck in one blow….”

“H-hero! A hero! How dare they copy the skills bestowed by Her Majesty the Queen, those shameless wretches!”

“Don’t let your guard down!”

The enemies, having regained their stance, surrounded me.

The sailors did likewise.

Judging that they couldn’t shake off Unit 917 even by desperately operating their airship, they gripped their weapons and chose to become soldiers.

The number of weapons aimed at me rapidly increased.

It was one against many.

Normally, I would have racked my brain and fought anxiously, wondering how to break through this dangerous fight.

“This is just….”

I swung my sword sideways.

Whoosh!

The thick blood clinging to my sword unfortunately splattered onto the clothes of a soldier standing there.

I aimed the now somewhat clean sword at the White Hero’s hero in front of me.

Was it because I was confident of victory?

I found myself smiling.

“No matter what I do, it feels like I can’t lose.”

It wasn’t just because of my experience fighting numerous enemies.

Back then, my stats were abnormally boosted by drug doping, and my opponents were mere ordinary soldiers.

But the enemies I had to face now were on a level incomparably higher than before.

Four Level 1 heroes, and one Level 2 hero.

From Level 2, they could even use elemental attributes, so there were more things to be mindful of, but my mindset was relaxed.

“For Her Majesty the Queen!”

I felt it even when I was a player; these guys always charged in shouting cliché and childish lines, as usual.

Still, one thing to respect was their lack of fear.

Thud!

“…Ugh.”

Like this.

Like moths drawn to a flame.

I kicked the enemy, whose heart had been pierced by my sword, pulling the sword out.

In that short time, two enemies had attached themselves to me, front and back.

I blocked the incoming sword with my shield and spun my body, unleashing a blow with all my rotational force.

Clang!

Sword met sword.

The moment I felt the impact on my hand, I knew.

The state of my weapon, my strength—I was overwhelmingly superior.

“…Huh? What?”

The expression on my opponent’s face, who had been in a struggle of strength, was filled with bewilderment.

Who could remain calm when two swords, clashing in mid-air, were rapidly approaching them?

The startled White Hero’s hero tried to retreat.

It was probably an unconscious action.

But that, too, was a mistake.

With already insufficient strength, the moment he took a step back, his stance collapsed, and his strength rapidly dwindled.

My sword moved even faster and ultimately sliced his body in half.

Two heroes died in an instant, but the White Hero’s momentum did not stop.

They charged relentlessly, like a runaway train with no brakes.

Blocking, slashing, parrying, cutting.

I repeated a series of these actions.

With each breath, the number of corpses around me increased.

I could feel the number of thunderous shouts steadily decreasing.

Crackle!

Thin ice covered the deck with a cold chill.

‘Ice attribute… It’s an efficient attribute in naval combat.’

A characteristic of naval combat is instability.

Of course, airships are specially constructed to reduce shaking, but they cannot compensate for shaking during combat.

What if a slippery sheet of ice is laid down on top of that?

If not a seasoned soldier, one might meet an absurd death without even being able to display half of their true abilities.

‘But….’

Just a Level 2 hero.

Unless they were a high-level hero, they were merely flashy on the surface and not a significant threat.

I stomped my foot hard on the ice.

Crash!

With a loud sound like breaking glass, ice fragments scattered in all directions.

The sharp ice fragments, instead, wounded the enemies who were approaching me and flew into their faces, stopping their charge.

A hero engulfed in cold qi rushed through the ice fragments.

I blocked his blow with my shield.

It was lighter than expected.

It seemed he was barely clinging to Level 2.

The cold qi that rushed in dulled my movements, but it wasn’t a big problem.

As we exchanged several blows and my movements intensified, my body temperature rose, and my movements also became smoother.

Frustration gradually accumulated on my opponent’s face.

His gaze kept returning to the mana bomb.

I guess one can lose control of their expression that much.

I could clearly see what he was thinking.

Well, it’s funny to expect anything from those who were scraped together as pawns anyway.

“Aaaaaah!”

The White Hero’s hero lowered his stance and gathered mana into his weapon.

He looked as if he was unleashing a full-force blow at me, but his eyes were still fixed on the mana bomb behind me.

His sword swung.

I didn’t run away; I charged forward.

As expected, the White Hero’s hero couldn’t hide his flustered expression.

I put my weight into my shield and charged towards his swinging sword.

Thump!

A rather strong impact hit my body.

However, it wasn’t enough to make me falter.

Although we were both Level 2, my equipment and stats were overwhelmingly superior.

“Get out of the way! I cannot let this operation fail because of me!”

“…This shield performs well.”

Indeed, as expected of something made in the kingdom’s best forge, its performance was superb.

If it had been a generic supply item, it would have been dented and damaged everywhere, unable to perform properly.

But the shield flawlessly blocked the blow without a single scratch.

“……!”

I swung my left arm wide, batting away the sword that was pressing down on my shield, and thrust my sword towards his exposed chest.

Thud!

Hot blood splattered on my face.

The blood that escaped his body quickly cooled, and the man’s once vibrant eyes lost their light at a similar speed.

I retrieved my sword and surveyed my surroundings.

There was no one left standing on their own two feet.

“Operation successful.”

With this, Unit 917 successfully captured one of the White Hero’s ultra-small airships carrying a high-density mana bomb.

* * *

Since breaking through the thunder and lightning-ridden dark clouds with a bomb on board was quite dangerous, we waited for the weather to clear.

After waiting for about half a day, the sky became clear, and the ground was visible.

The ground was damp, as if a thunderstorm had just passed.

The battle had once again reached a lull.

However, even from a distance, it was clear that the White Hero’s camp was very noisy.

When Unit 917 returned, Count Dman was first astonished that they had captured the White Hero’s airship, and then, upon realizing that it contained an enormous mana bomb, he was astonished twice in a row.

“If this had fallen on the fortress…. The thought alone is terrifying. Unit 917 has truly rendered a great service. I will definitely remember this.”

“Thank you.”

“By the way, may I ask how you identified the enemy airship above the dark clouds? Is it a new magic developed by the Verdin family? Or perhaps by the Archmage?”

“No.”

Selina shook her head with a proud smile.

Then, she naturally moved to stand next to me, who was standing a step behind her.

“It’s the ability of my soldier here.”