Chapter 204 – The Ocean is … (4)

Of course, this method of keeping his word was Cale's personal philosophy.

Baaaaaang!

The tornado shot up and crashed into the ship. The mast started to shake and tilted to the side.
And then.

"Aaaaaah!"

It broke.
The Indomitable Alliance was being attacked on two sides from the sky and the ocean, however, there was no visible enemy attacking them. Only one person, the Dragon Catcher, had enemies in front of him.

The Dragon Slayer, the helmeted knight, looked toward the ocean and became at a loss for words.
He heard continuous noises of things breaking. He also heard people screaming.

There were people using magic against the red fog and the tornado even though no enemies were there. There were also some knights blankly slashing their swords at the air.

"Turn the ships! We need to get away from the fog and the tornadoes!"

The few people who managed to come to their senses avoided the fog and started to shout from inside magic shields. The Dragon Catcher who was watching this suddenly thought about someone.

'Why isn't the old mage doing anything?
Why isn't he coming to save me?'

He didn't like the damn bastard, but the old mage was good at differentiating people based on their rank. It was weird that such a person was still quiet. He should have done something by now.

'Perhaps?'

The Dragon Catcher heard someone's voice in his ear.

"Looks like you have time to think about other things even when someone is choking you."

It was Cale.
Of course, Cale had intentionally given the Dragon Slayer an opening to think about other things.

Only then would he truly understand his present situation.
They were out on the open sea.
For Cale, the ocean had to be somewhere that the enemy had nothing to rely on.
Cale explained the situation to the helmeted knight in a friendly manner.

"What is it? Is it weird that the mage has not responded?"
"…How do you know about the mage-?"

It was before the knight could even finish his sentence.

Boooooooom!

There was an explosion that was much stronger than the others. The Dragon Catcher's face turned toward it. He saw a pillar of water and a bright light clashing at the ship at the front of the fleet.

It was not that the mage had not done anything.
He could not do anything.
He was currently under attack.

Cale whispered into the Dragon Slayer's ear once more.
"You know that I have a Dragon."

Cale's voice sounded happy. On the other hand, the helmeted knight felt chills on the back of his neck. His eyes turned toward Cale.
'Who would think of this guy as a just hero?
And how could this person have three different ancient powers in his body?'

Cale's plate was the worst that he had ever seen. It was maybe as big as a fly's plate.
So how was this possible?

Even if he had regeneration abilities, the wood and wind would clash in a few years and he would eventually die in pain.

'…Perhaps?'

Extraordinary.
An unbelievable thought crossed through the Dragon Slayer's mind. There was a sensation suddenly surrounding him.
Boom, boom!
An ancient power inside his body was reacting to something. The Sword of Disasters was sending him a warning.

"…W, what the-"

His gaze headed downward. To be specific, it headed toward Cale's hand. He could see the small red thunderbolt crackling on top of Cale's palm.

Fire.
It was a fire that was even stronger than the volcano within the Sword of Disasters. Such a power could be felt coming from this small red thunderbolt. The strongest destructive power could be felt in it as well.
Fire and thunder. These were the strongest powers that could shoot up from the ground and strike down from the sky. The two gathered together in order to amplify the strength of the fire.

The helmeted knight's mouth started to shake.

Extraordinary.
An unbelievable situation had become a reality.

"…No, no way-"

'Did he gather all five elements?
Is that why his body is not exploding?
Are the regeneration power and a balance of five elements keeping this glass egg of a plate stable?'

He could see that Cale was looking down at him.

"How could you gather so many ancient powers-"
"Because I am different than you."

Cale's calm voice asked in response.

"You are an artificial Dragon Slayer. Am I right?"

The Dragon Slayer's pupils started to shake.
On the other hand, Cale was calm. He recalled one of the facts that Guardian Knight Clopeh Sekka had told him.

'Cough, he is supposedly a fake Dragon Slayer. Ugh, furthermore, the rest of Arm's high ranking members that are accompanying the Indomitable Alliance are a mage and a healer.'

'He is said to have grown after eating the latest ancient Dragon that died about two hundred years ago.'

Ancient Dragons right before their death were said to be better to eat than adult Dragons. Especially for this knight who had the Sword of Disasters, Dragon corpses were said to be the best medicine.

However, this fake Dragon Slayer needed the Sword of Disasters and something else to become a complete Dragon Slayer.

He needed a relic that had been passed down through generations.
A crown.

The Dragon Slayer needed the crown that drinks Dragon blood in order to have a Dragon-like body.
Cale remembered how Clopeh had snitched to him in anger.

'But some bastards, sigh, ended up stealing it- ugh!'

Beacrox had struck Clopeh's head with the whip once more when he said that.

'Because I'm the bastard who stole it.'

Cale had held back his laughter.

Boom.
Boom!
Something inside his body was currently going wild. The glutton priestess started to speak to Cale.

– Am I eating this too?

The ancient power that was currently the most active in Cale's body right now.
The Sound of the Wind.
The shield was lusting after that power right now. She continuously showed her greed and gluttony to Cale.
Unfortunately, Cale could not help but shake his head, 'no,' at the priestess's question.
Why?

'My greed is pretty strong as well.'

Ancient powers move themselves to a special spot or an item once the owner of the power dies.

The Indestructible Shield landed in a tree.
The Vitality of the Heart was in the rock tower.
The Fire of Destruction was in the pig sculpture.
The Sound of the Wind was in the spinning top that was underneath a boulder.

They quietly wait there until the next owner comes around.
You didn't automatically gain the ancient power by killing the current owner.
If that was the case, there would be no reason for ancient powers to disappear for long periods of time.

The glutton priestess started to speak inside of Cale's mind again.

– I really can't eat this?

The Sound of the Wind. Another ability. The shield's greed for other powers was endless.
However, Cale shook his head internally.

'No.
Not today.
My plate is still lacking. I can't overdo it anymore.'

Most importantly, although he did not have anything to give to the shield today,
there was something to give himself.

If ancient powers don't get transferred and move to a special place or item, it was simple.

'All I have to do is pick it up.'

Then it would be mine.

Cale's eyes focused on the Dragon Slayer. The hunter who had found his prey started to speak.
He recalled what he had planned on doing with this prey.

'Beat him to death.'

Unfortunately, Cale lacked the strength to do that. This body had become even weaker and less muscular than originally. These were the times he thought about the muscles he had when he was still Kim Rok Soo.

However, wasn't the reason he looked for ancient powers so that he didn't have to do such difficult physical training?'

Cale's finger pointed at the Dragon Slayer. That action made the Dragon Slayer flinch.
Cale started to speak at that moment.

"Throw him."

'What?'

The Dragon Slayer felt his body being lifted up before he could even question what was going on.

"Yes, young master-nim."

The Dragon Catcher was thrown into the air along with Ron's response. His eyes opened wide.

"N, no!"

Ruuuumble.

Something was beyond the red fog.
He could hear the sky rumbling.
The Dragon Slayer's eyes opened wide.

Flash!
It was the moment he had thought the night sky flashed in the color of blood.

Baaaaang!

"Ahhhhh!"

He had no choice but to be hit by the red thunderbolt striking down at him. He activated the Sword of Disasters' volcano attribute, but it was useless.
An even stronger power had gulped up his body.

'How does that bastard have such a power...!'

His body started to burn black.
The thunderbolt had accurately attacked only him.

Boom!

His body fell back down to the ship.

"Ugh...!"

The Dragon Catcher's body started to twitch. He looked like a worm, or maybe a snake, as he twitched on the ground.

Siiiiiiizle-
The remains of the red thunderbolt were not going out, instead, they continued to dig into his body. Just as he was twitching on the ground, the thunderbolt became like a snake and slithered through his body.

However, the Dragon Catcher who had eaten an ancient Dragon that someone had gotten for him still had a strong body.
He still had his sight, his hearing, and his sense of smell. He could also speak.

Tap.
The Dragon Catcher could see a shoe in front of him. His twitching body suddenly stopped moving. He could hear someone's voice through his ears that were still able to hear.

It was Cale.
Cale thought about the ancient powers that the Dragon Catcher had in his body.
One, the Sword of Disasters. Two, the power to control wyverns.

Furthermore, he remembered what the World Tree had told him.

'The person who is collecting ancient powers has collected a total of three ancient powers.'

The Dragon Catcher could hear Cale's voice.

"Why aren't you using your last ancient power? You have one more."

The helmeted knight felt a sense of fear.

'…How much does he know?'

The Dragon Catcher's body twitched for a different reason.
He had thought that the Guardian Knight bastard Clopeh Sekka had snitched about everything. However, the fact that he had three ancient powers was something that only he and that crazy bastard knew about.

'How does he know?'

His face that was burnt black slowly looked toward the sky, however, the only thing that he could see was the smiling Cale's face.

"Hurry up and show me."

Cale was speaking quite gently.

"So I can have that too."

Since his eyes were still fine, the Dragon Catcher could clearly see the way that Cale was looking at him. He shouted out in astonishment at the same time.

"…How could I … to you!"

The burns made his mouth rip and bleed every time he opened his mouth; however, he could not keep his mouth shut.
He felt something suddenly overwhelming him. It was an aura that seemed to only belong to someone who rules over everything.
The person who dreamed of becoming a complete Dragon Slayer immediately realized the true identity of this aura.

The Dominating Aura.
The useless scam of a power.
However, that power was currently making it difficult for him to breathe. His body that was currently crawling on the ground could not even handle such a hallucination.

'…This is something I cannot keep to myself.'

That was the thought going through his mind.

The Dominating Aura.
There was also the regeneration ability and the ancient powers of five different elements.

This was someone who ignored the fact that his plate was weak.
This was something that broke all of the rules.

However, the Dragon Catcher knew that it was possible because he too was someone who had overcome the limits of the human body.

There were always existences that were an exception to the rules of nature in the world. Furthermore, nobody knew what those exceptions were capable of doing.

He was thinking that he needed to share this information with Arm, however, that thought quickly disappeared as he started to think about something else.

'Will I even be able to survive?'

The crazy Cale Henituse. This person had hidden his ancient powers from other people and acted like a good and just noble, hiding the fact that he could do such a vicious attack.
Could he survive and escape the hands of such a person?

Since he was a smart person whose mind moved quite well when it came to doing bad things, the Dragon Slayer could accurately identify Cale's personality.

'I've been tricked.'

He had been tricked by Cale.
He didn't know how he had been tricked, but his instincts were telling him that the reason everything had gone awry was because he had been tricked by this bastard.

"I, I'll tell you everything!"

That was why he was quickly trying to find a way to survive.

"This will be useful to you! The crown will be beneficial to you if you have the Dominating Aura. You know about the crown, right? I will bring that to you! I will also tell you all of the secrets about Arm as well! I swear!"

He could not even feel the pain in his body as he urgently shouted out. At the same time, he felt relief after seeing Cale's reaction to his statements.

It was at that moment.

"Whether you speak or not…"

Cale slowly took the crown out of his magic bag.
Whether the Dragon Catcher talked or not…

"…I'm the one who will decide that."

The Dragon Catcher's eyes opened wide as he looked at the crown. He was shocked and had a blank expression on his face. His mind turned white as fear filled his body.

'…He's worse than that bastard!'

Arm's white star. He had met him only once, but Cale was even worse than him.
Why?

"Syrem, you've seen the face of the head of the organization, right?"

That bastard did not know about Cale Henituse's existence.
However, Cale knew about him. That difference was huge.
The Dragon Catcher quickly nodded his head to show Cale, who called him by his name, that he had indeed seen the head before.

"H, he was wearing a mask so I don't know his face, but I, I've seen him!"
"Your body is too weak right now to show me the final ancient power, right?"
"R, right! But I'll show you if you want!"

The Dragon Catcher Syrem tried to continue to conversation with a smile as it seemed to be going well. However, the burns on his face, as well as the fact that they were still burning, made it impossible to see the smile.

Aaaaaaah!
Baaaaang!

He could still hear the sound of people screaming and things breaking.
However, there was no noise of the Roan Kingdom, the enemy, within those noises.
The only noises were those of his poisoned allies and their ships breaking.

Syrem looked toward Cale with desperation. Cale opened his mouth to speak.

"I don't need it."
"'…What?"
"I don't really need to see your ancient power."

Cale turned away from Syrem.
'I'm going to pick it up anyway, I just need to go figure it out at that point.'
Cale walked over to the people behind him.

"Ron, make it so he is only capable of talking."
Ron touched his son's white glove as he started to smile. Cale had no plan on letting the Dragon Catcher Syrem die peacefully since he dared to harm his people.
He was not the only one who felt this way.
Cale then added on.

"Leave something for Raon, Choi Han, and Mary as well. I'll be there after them."
"I understand, young master-nim."

Ron walked past Cale toward the Dragon Catcher.
Cale walked over to Choi Han's side and observed the night ocean.
He started to speak.

"We're here."

The right moment had arrived. Cale started to move using the Sound of the Wind.

"Ahhhhh!"
"Move the ship just a little more! We're almost at the end!"

A mage from the Indomitable Alliance used a magic shield in order to defend against the poisonous fog as he shouted toward the navigator. The navigator heard the mage's voice, as well as the sounds of soldiers falling off the broken ships.

"Ugh, ugh!"

He also heard his fellow shipmate dying next to him. His hand started to shake as he continued to navigate the ship.

'I need to survive.'
That was the only thought in his head as he avoided the roaring whirlpools and barely managed to steer through the poisonous fog.

"Yes, just a little more!"

The mage was protecting the navigator, the elite knights, and himself as he continued to urge them onward. There was the slightest chance of hope if they could get out of this poisonous fog.

He could see the red poisonous fog started to turn fainter.

"Just a little more!"

There was a smile of relief on his face.
However, he could not help but speak in shock in a moment.

"…Huh?"

There was something dark red in the distance beyond the red fog.

"W, we avoided the whirlpool!"

The navigator shouted with joy.
However, he had to soon greet the red ship at the other side of the whirlpool.

There were numerous ships surrounding the area at the end of the poison fog.
These red ships resembled the red fog.

They could also see a golden ship at the front of these red ships.
Cale, who had returned to his original location at some point, was standing on the golden ship's deck as he touched the sculpture of the Henituse family crest, the golden turtle, and started to speak to these people who barely managed to escape from hell.

"I was waiting for you."

The enemy who had barely managed to get past the poisonous fog had to now meet a real ghost. The people who wanted them dead were the ghosts.
Cale gave the order.

"Obliterate the enemy."
Numerous arrows and spells flew over the night ocean.

***

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]