Chapter 149 – Vicious (4)

Swiiiiiish- Swiiiiiiiish-

There were two whirlwinds roaring on top of Cale's palm. Cale felt a presence and turned to see Raon looking at him.

"I told you I'm okay."

Even after Cale said that Raon continued to look at him with a sharp gaze that looked like it could cause sparks. Raon started to speak.

"Your arms were shaking just now. Don't use too much of the ancient power. Weak human, you need to do some strength training."

'What do the ancient powers have to do with strength training?'
Cale questioned Raon's thought process before he ignored Raon in order to look at the people who were in the invisible barrier with him in the air.

Rosalyn, Choi Han, and Gashan.
The three of them could not say anything as they looked down. Cale looked toward Choi Han and started to speak.

"What are you doing?"

Choi Han and Gashan responded to his question. Rosalyn slowly turned toward Cale as well.

Cale's finger started to move. His index finger was pointing down below.

"How about you go down and fight?"

The shaman Gashan flinched. He then realized that he had been blankly staring down at the Hais Islands.

'Yes, I need to help as well.'

He was the one who had gathered the Tiger tribe and brought them over. Gashan put some strength into the hand that was holding his wooden staff.
It was at that moment.

"No. Cale-nim, I need to be here to protect you. I don't know when you will get hurt or start coughing up blood again-."

Choi Han continued to speak. Gashan opened his eyes to look toward Choi Han with a look of disbelief.

'He is weak?'

Gashan could see the whirlwinds roaring in Cale's hands. Who was the one to create all of the whirlpools roaring in the ocean between the Hais Islands?

Even if he himself, Rosalyn, and the Dragon had created the storm, those whirlpools were still dangerous. Gashan was in disbelief at Choi Han's story.
In fact, he thought Cale was amazing for seriously listening to such a story. Cale started to speak.

"I may be like that, but I don't think I will cough up blood this time."
"He's right, Choi Han! The great and mighty Raon Miru is here!"
"… Yes. The great and mighty Raon is here as well."

Choi Han nodded his head at the conversation between the human and the Dragon.

"Yes. I understand."

Gashan still had a look of disbelief. There was a hand patting his shoulder. It was Rosalyn. Rosalyn started to speak once Gashan looked toward her.

"Mr. Gashan, let's go."
"… I understand."
Gashan followed Choi Han and Rosalyn down to the islands. Gashan could hear Cale's voice coming from above his head before they split to go to different islands.

"Choi Han, you cannot destroy the island."

Gashan was thinking that Cale was saying all sorts of odd things. At that moment, Choi Han looked up and shouted back.

"Yes Cale-nim. I will be careful."

The old shaman just clenched onto his wooden staff. He did not say anything and instead split away from Rosalyn and Choi Han in order to head toward the Hais Islands with the Tiger tribe.

Swooooooosh-

A chilling noise brushed by his side. A whirlwind had passed by him while heading down. The whirlwind soon crashed into the ocean.

Baaaaang!

The whirlwind dove into the water and started raging inside of the ocean. Gashan clenched onto his wooden staff as he quickly moved down.

"… Oh nature-nim. Please calm my shaking heart."

The shaman used that short prayer to calm himself down.

Cale, who had sent two whirlwinds to block the path of the ships, started to leisurely watch. Thanks to the invisible shield created by Raon, the rain and wind could not affect him.

Although he could not see everything because of the darkness, Raon's thunderbolts allowed him to get a decent grasp of the situation.

"…Wow."

Cale let out a gasp of admiration.

Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-
The large Whales roared as they rose up to the surface.

Baaaaang!
A mid-sized ship's side broke apart after being hit by three Whales. Cale watched this and gulped.

'Vicious.'

Witira and the other Whales continued to crash into the ships in their whale form. However, it wasn't that they were doing this without considering their own health.

They were using the whales they brought with them to threaten the ships and only crashed into the ships that were trying to get away from the whirlpools in order to strategically guide them toward the Hais Islands.

Raon shared his thoughts as Cale watched them while thinking they were scary.

"The Whales listen to you very well, human."
"Apparently."

It had been Cale's command.
He just did not expect them to do so well.

He could see the broken ship through the thunderbolts.

"Aaaaaah!"
"Aaah!"

The people on the ship who could not dodge fell into the ocean.

They could not calm down in the darkness.
Their trip had been fine until the sun had set. But why was all of this suddenly happening?
One member flailed in the water and tried to swim toward a wooden plank floating nearby. He thought that doing so would allow him to live.

'Just a little more, almost there!'

The member barely managed to reach the wooden plank with the tips of his fingers. He reached out both hands with all of his strength in order to grab onto the plank. It was at that moment.

Splash-

The sound of something moving in the water could be heard.

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-
The sound of rain was also present, but the member could not hear that at all.

Splaaaaaaash-
The sound of something moving in the water became even clear.

"N, no."

The member's hand was shaking as he held on to the wooden plank. He felt like his body that was underwater was starting to stiffen up. Finally, the lifeform that was moving in the water revealed itself.

Oooooo-

It was the cry of a sad whale.
The whale opened its mouth toward the member of the organization that had killed their young children.

"Ah, ah ah-"

The member could not speak properly as he shivered and faced the wrath of the whale.

Oowooooooooo-

Many whales that came with the Whale tribe moved toward the broken ships.
It was hell for the people who fell overboard.

However, hell was not only in the ocean.
There were many people who were even angrier than the Whale tribe all around the Hais Islands.

"C, crazy. Why are the Tiger tribe bastards here- ugh!"

One of the members of Arm's First Battle Brigade could not finish his sentence. This island was covered in boulders, tree, and tall grass. The night was not an issue for the Tigers to be able to jump around this island with the roughest terrain out of the Hais Islands.

The subordinates who were walking behind their squad leader started to step back.

"Grrrrrrr-"

The animal laughed as it ripped the squad leader's arm from his body.

Tap. Tap. Tap.
The Tigers were lightly walking on the muddy ground. Three Tigers ripped apart the squad leader's body.
The gazes of the Tigers that had lost their families and fellow tribe members then turned toward the subordinates who were in a state of panic after losing their leader.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing-
An odd noise was coming out of the Tigers. One of the Tigers stepped forward.

Chhhhhhhhhhhhhh-
Smoke appeared and the Tiger soon turned into a human. The large Tiger tribe warrior opened up his arms and started to speak.

"Kehehe, you want to catch our people and take our hides?"

There were five brigades under Arm's Battle Brigade. (The author uses squad for both the First Battle Brigade and the squads underneath them, so I am using Brigade for the group of 20, and squad for the subordinates under each member. )
They had split up by brigade in order to take their subordinates and take out the Tigers living in each mountain.
With all of these ships being part of one brigade, there would have only been at max four Tigers to fight against them.

There was blood flowing out of the mouth of the Tiger that had ripped the squad leader's arm off. He started to shout at the remaining members of Arm with fury.

"I will take all of your hides off."
"Ah, aaaaaaaaah!"

The two subordinates with the squad leader started to run toward the rest of their group. The Tiger tribe warrior just calmly watched them run. He started to speak after waiting a while.

"Time to hunt. The night is long."

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.
The Tiger secured the mana disturbance tool in his chest pocket as he stretched his neck muscles.
All of the Tigers were holding a mana disturbance tool in order to prevent Arm from sending the message that the Whale tribe and the Tiger tribe had teamed up.
The Roan and Breck Kingdoms had sent these devices in order to support them.

The three adult Tigers disappeared into the darkness with a tiger's unique relaxed walk. They did not hide their presences.
They let out angry laughters after hearing the screams of Arm's members.

On the other hand, there was someone moving very quietly on another island.

This was the island with the most diverse terrain of the Hais Islands.
Cliffs, a forest, sand dunes, and a swamp. The island that had all of these terrains was currently engulfed in a silent battle.

"Ugh!"

One of Arm's members fell down with a short groan.
He was one of the assassin specialists under Assistant Leader Greetel. He had been the second of the two that had gone to investigate.

The corpse was carefully laid down on the ground.

The servant Ron quietly looked down at the corpse before cleaning the blood off of his dagger with a handkerchief. His son, Beacrox, had packed this handkerchief for him.

There was no noise in any of his movements.
All that could be heard was the sound of nature.

The sound of waves crashing against the shore.
The sound of the rain.
The sound of thunder.

Ron started to smile. He could hear another type of noise.

It was the sound of a human moving around.

Ron had been the successor to one of the three families in control of the Eastern continent's underworld. He slowly moved after hearing the quiet noises coming from the people.

They should be the newest group sent to investigate after the first group did not send back any information.

That was how Ron started to take down Assistant Leader Greetel's group one by one.

Ron was someone who had survived as an assassin for over 60 years.
In addition to getting revenge for his family, he still had the ability to teach these youngins the definition of fear.

Shhhhhhh-

The sound of grass rustling in the wind could be heard. Ron moved toward the location of the stealthy footsteps.

In another island, violence rather than stealthiness dominated the area.
This was the island with the flattest terrain.

Baaaaaang!

One of the few boulders on the island broke apart.

"Damn it!"

Opid shouted out while breathing heavily. However, he did not even have a moment to rest. He felt chills on his back.

Baaaaaang!
Another sound of the ground breaking could be heard. He could not turn around. He did not even have the time to think about what had happened to his subordinates.

'Where did such a crazy bitch come from?!'

She was a crazy bitch. She was an extremely crazy bitch.

"Hahahaha!"

Laughter echoed through the forest.
It was coming from a sword master using a golden aura. She was laughing while destroying everything in front of her.

Opid was the leader of Arm's First Battle Brigade. His First Brigade was not strong in comparison to Arm's other Brigades.
However, they knew how to effectively use their individual abilities. That was why they were stronger than the knights of most kingdoms.
That was why they were able to strategize to take down a group of Tigers in the Eastern continent.

He had used his standard methods when first going up against this sword master.

"… Fuck! It wasn't supposed to be like this!"

However, this sword master was a crazy person.

The sword master was now covered in both black spiderwebs and red blood.
She did not seem to care for defense nor did she show any fear. She started to laugh even more as she saw blood and rushed toward them.

Opid and some of his subordinates had managed to hit her with some arrows. However, rather than wincing in fear, she had rushed toward them even more fiercely.

'Why is that woman here?!'

There was no way that he still would not know the identity of this woman.
He was the leader of Arm's First Battle Brigade. He had decent knowledge of the organization's activities.

The fake Holy Maiden that the organization had thrown away.
This was that woman. He was certain that this was that woman.

Opid was running back to his ship. He could not hide on the island. He needed to escape to the ocean.
Based on what he was going through, he could not fathom how the other members were doing. The rain and wind were strong because of the storm, but he felt like he could hear people screaming as well.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing-
At the same time, he could hear the sound of a mana disturbance tool coming from the woman.

'I need to contact the organization.'

He needed to get away from the range of the disturbance tool in order to contact the organization.
Opid clenched his side and continued to run. Blood was pouring out of the cut he had received from her aura.

It was at that moment.
He heard a voice from right behind him.

"Do you think you can continue to run and live? Hmm?"
'Son of a bitch.'
Opid started to frown. He could see the beach right in front of him. He just needed to go a bit farther.

"Blood is really beautiful. Don't you think so? Is that why you all wanted to kill me?"

She was teasing him.
The crazy sword master was chasing behind Opid while teasing him. Opid held back his swearing as he continued to run. He had no choice.
A deer could only run away from a predator.

He then reached the sandy beach.

"Huh?"

He saw the ship that was docked at the beach.
However, there was a man with black hair standing in front of it. Opid could hear the sword master's voice coming from his back.

"Ah, what the… No fun."

Chhhhhhh-
Opid took out his sword.

Clang.
However, the high-grade expert's sword was easily broken by the black sword master's aura. That aura also cut through Opid's chest.

The sword master Hannah looked toward Choi Han in a grumpy manner.

"I will do it on my own."
"I know. I just came to tell you not to run too wild and destroy the island."

Hannah turned around and headed back into the forest without responding. She had killed the leader first as Cale had ordered. It was now time to kill the rest.

Choi Han then turned his gaze to the ocean. The small Humpback Whale Paseton offered him his back and Choi Han jumped onto it in order head to another island. He quietly started to mumble.

"I can't understand it."
"Understand what?"

Choi Han shared his thoughts at Paseton's question. This was what he had been thinking about after seeing that Arm's group that was strong enough and large enough to take on any decent Knight Brigade of a kingdom but did not have anyone with overwhelming strength.

"Why are they trying to kill strong people?"

The Whale tribe, the Tiger tribe, and the fake Holy Maiden and sword master Hannah.
It was as if they were trying to kill all the strong people in this world. Choi Han thought about the people that the secret organization tried to kill instead of roping into their organization and could not understand their thought process.
Paseton responded to Choi Han's question.

"Maybe because it is easier to rule if they are the strongest? Anyway, what good will it do even if you knew what they were thinking?"

Choi Han nodded his head at Paseton's comment which seemed to say that the reasons did not matter.
It was true, it was not his problem.
It was not important who the leader of the secret organization was nor what their thoughts were. All he had to do was destroy them so that they could not continue doing what they were doing.
That was his role.

"Paseton, let's head toward the island with the weaker Tigers."

They avoided the whirlpools as Choi Han headed to where he needed to go.

At that moment, Cale could only see glimpses of the battlefield through the light provided by the thunderbolts. He could not see all the blood being shed, however, Raon, who could see everything, peeked toward Cale every so often.
It was because he didn't want the weak human to have second thoughts after seeing what was going on.

"Raon."
"W, what is it, human? I cannot see anything!"

'What is he talking about?'
Cale looked toward Raon with confusion. Raon avoided his gaze but he could hear Cale's voice.

"You brought the dead mana bomb with you, right?"
"… I brought it because you asked me to. What is it?"

Raon looked toward Cale with curiosity. Cale was speaking with a smile on his face.

"I'm thinking about leaving some evidence on the most destroyed island."
"The evidence of a dead mana bomb?"

Cale looked down at the ocean below. He could only see darkness.

"Even though the Tiger tribe and some of our people have mana disturbance tools…"
"Gramps Ron doesn't have one!"
"Yes. Ron doesn't have one, but anyway, some of their mages would have sent out emergency communications after seeing the Whale tribe."

The focus of Cale's side as they observed Arm the last five days was on the existence of mages in the group. They sent out crows and the oceanic lifeforms to thoroughly investigate the number of mages.

Raon nodded his head.

"It is obvious that they would have done so."
"Then wouldn't the secret organization come here to investigate?"
"You're right! They will do that!"

Cale resolved Raon's curiosity.

"What would they think when they see the faint traces of someone trying to erase the residue from the Empire's dead mana bomb?"

Raon started to laugh.

"Hehe. That sounds fun, human!"

Cale started to think after hearing Raon's response.
'What a scary Dragon.'

However, contrary to his thoughts, Cale was smiling as well.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]