Chapter 175

The Hunchback was enormous.

It was visible from the beach and from the surrounding Imperial fleet.

The sea only came up to its waist, and if it jumped high, it looked as if it could grasp the clouds.

The body, wrapped in the heated iron bloodline, constantly spewed steam, and the flowing tears of blood turned the sea bright red.

Silence.

Everyone fell into silence.

Before the hunchback that appeared in the dawn sea, before the sight that stained the world with nightmares, there were no words to be uttered.

They could only chatter their teeth and chew on their fear.

“Ah……”

The Hunchback looked up at the sky.

Then, soon, it lowered its eyes and looked at the enemy.

The ships are engraved with the Imperial emblem.

Those utterly hateful things had caught the Hunchback’s eye.

“…Co, rdiisss-!!!”

A scream erupted.

The sea roiled at the sound of the wail.

Just by twisting its body, the Hunchback created a storm, shaking the ships.

The Hunchback continued to scream, looking as if it would charge the Imperial fleet at any moment.

“Coreuu……!!!”

“Noisy.”

The Hunchback’s body bent sharply.

The hill-like body staggered from the sudden impact.

Niko, who had kicked the Hunchback, snorted and kicked again.

Niko Nereyades had the form of a dragonoid.

His white beard hung down to his waist, and his entire body was covered in scales.

The very shape of his body had transformed, making him look like something not human taking on a human form.

He was like the king of the great sea.

The ‘Sinew of the Great Sea’ held such power.

The sea moved according to his will.

No, even when he was still, the sea came to serve him.

Niko kicked as if to stomp on it.

The Hunchback was plunged headfirst into the sea.

Because its heated body was plunged into the sea, a fearsome steam spread in all directions.

“…Uu!”

The Hunchback stood up, unconcerned.

The sight of it emerging from the steam was utterly horrific.

Watching the fiercely charging Hunchback, Niko clenched his fist.

He threw a punch.

A large hole appeared in the Hunchback’s side.

Even that split the sea.

For a moment, a path was created all the way to the beach.

“Ah, aahh……!!”

Shion let out a groan and writhed.

From the ruptured side, something thick and viscous flowed out.

Black and sticky, a shadow. Mana Armor Valziart.

The Hunchback donned the shadow.

It was a mana armor personally reinforced by Beluchian.

It quickly covered the Hunchback and made it look even more horrific.

Stronger and tougher than before.

Just by swinging its arm, the entire body of Niko, who was in the form of a dragonoid, trembled and rang.

The Hunchback now even possessed a sense of dignity.

But Niko did not back down in the slightest.

“Good.”

The Whale of Hobel Bay stood on the waves.

In his hand was the super-sized oar.

“Good!”

The sea climbed up the oar.

The seawater swirled and covered the oar, and the great sea imbued the simple piece of wood.

The super-sized oar had transformed into a spear with three prongs.

Niko gripped the trident.

At his spirit, the sea cried out in joy.

“This is what a fight should be, kid Shion!”

The old man laughed like a child.

He had always wanted to do this.

He had wanted to throw down all the boring things like responsibility and duty and just play like this.

But he had no choice but to endure.

He had no choice but to silently and quietly hold his position.

The present was as enjoyable as the time he had suppressed himself.

“I thought it would be like this. Seven years ago, from the first time I saw you, I somehow felt it would be like this!”

“–Aaaah–!!”

“I had a feeling I’d get to play with you properly!”

Shion screamed.

Niko did not expect an answer.

He just leaped up, his white beard flying.

The trident was aimed at the Hunchback.

The Hunchback countered with a scream.

“You should enjoy it a little too.”

Niko pulled the trident back.

It seemed he had thrust, but he had already been stabbed. The Debius Forged Horn.

Seven holes appeared in the Hunchback’s body.

It would recover soon, but it had no choice but to fall.

The trident mangled the tattered Hunchback.

An arm was quickly torn off.

The severed arm twitched and sought its torso.

Niko laughed even louder.

“A fight like this is rare!”

“Ah, u, aah……!”

“This old whale is laughing like a child, so why can’t you do the same!”

Naturally, Shion could not laugh.

A scream is like a flame, it turns all other emotions black.

Especially soft emotions like laughter quickly turn to ash. Niko knew this, so he felt sorry.

What had he gone through at such a young age.

But separate from his pity, his spear grew even fiercer.

“If you can’t laugh, then just keep playing with me. It’s this old whale’s last fight!”

“Cordiisss……!”

***

“Good heavens, good heavens……”

Grand Duke Pret lamented.

Everyone watching the fight let out nothing but groans.

A nightmare and a myth collided, shattering their soft common sense.

No one could maintain their composure.

“Is that an Imperial Ten Great General……?”

With a single gesture of his hand, a single gesture of his foot, the sea cried.

He did not seem like the same person at all.

They feared the Whale of Hobel Bay, and they felt awe for Shion who was fighting against him.

“Fearsome, fearsome……”

“……”

Only the jade-colored eyes were calm.

But Amethus also felt a slight sense of foreboding.

His intuition pricked at his heart.

‘…Your Highness, your Hunchback has become stronger than it was seven years ago…….’

Amethus remembered the Hunchback that fought the Breath of Light.

The current one was clearly stronger.

It was larger, and its screams were more horrific.

‘Your soul is…….’

He gripped his double-edged sword tightly.

‘…Still being gnawed away even now?’

***

The Hunchback was kicked away.

“…Uu!”

It was pushed far toward the Imperial fleet.

The Hunchback, which had lost its balance and fallen before getting up, saw the Imperial emblem.

The lion, the eagle, and the dragon, and the imperial crown of a human seated above them.

A symbol it hated to no end.

The flames in the Hunchback’s eye sockets grew fiercer.

“-Co-rdiisss–!!!”

Shion stretched out his hand.

Not toward Niko, but toward the Imperial fleet.

Hic, there was a small sound.

A cannoneer of the 14th Legion was terrified seeing the giant monster stretch out its hand.

He had, without realizing it, faithfully carried out his duty.

With a bang, the cannon was fired.

To the Hunchback, it was merely a sting.

But when one person fired a cannon, the others also began to move.

Soon, a volley began.

Hundreds of ships, thousands of cannon ports.

A barrage of cannonfire poured down.

“…Uuuuuu!”

The ear-splitting roars mixed together and became an indescribable shimmer.

The Hunchback took thousands of magi-cannonballs with its entire body.

The bombardment did not cease.

Shion struggled.

The Hunchback quickly recovered from its wounds, but the pain was indescribable.

It was a natural consequence of taking the bombardment of three Cordis legions with its bare body.

“Ugh-aaaaah……!”

The Hunchback screamed and trembled.

While being bombarded, it grabbed the nearest ship.

The large warship was like a toy.

The spot where its heated fingers grabbed burned black.

It was about to throw the ship, and the people inside it.

“Stop it, kid Shion.”

Niko cut off the Hunchback’s arm.

Then, he caught the falling ship on his back and carefully set it down.

There were those who were surprised, but no one was dead.

Even with one arm lost, the Hunchback could not take its eyes off the Imperial emblem.

“I apologize for my subordinates’ mistake.”

“Ugh……”

“But you shouldn’t look away.”

The Whale of Hobel Bay charged at the Hunchback’s chest.

Because he had used all his strength, the Hunchback staggered.

He intended to push the Hunchback far away from the ships.

“We were just playing amongst ourselves. Wasn’t this a fight to not shed blood!”

“Cor, diisss……!!!”

“…Can’t you hear me?”

Niko smiled bitterly.

Even after becoming covered in scales, his heart was no different from before.

But Shion was not the same.

It was clear that he was seized by anger.

“…Well, I suppose it makes sense……”

Not being seized by anger is the most difficult thing of all.

Just living with a deep-seated sorrow is a terrible and miserable thing, and to become free from it, one must truly carve away at their own soul again and again.

One cannot be blamed for not being able to do it.

“I can’t help it. This must also be the duty of an old man.”

Niko simply felt sorry for Shion.

An Ars is the shape of one’s soul. Shion’s soul, which had become such a horrific sight after being captured by sorrow and hatred, was pitiful to no end.

“So that you don’t dare to look away, I’ll play with you a little more intensely.”

The Whale of Hobel Bay awakens his own soul.

It was to reveal his Ars.

“Even if it means losing this old life.”

***

The sea is cruelly blue.

Like a woman, it is often rough and quick-tempered.

It is so unpredictable that there are many things to feel wronged and resentful about.

And yet, how can it be so lovely.

That must be because there is a blueness within Niko as well. It must have been proof that he was a son of the great sea of Hobel Bay.

He lived a life like a wave.

Rough storms were a given, and just when it seemed calm, a storm would soon follow.

He had lived through a countless number of storms and tempests.

Such was his life.

As a result, the shell of his soul grew increasingly sturdy, hard, and tough, so that clams and barnacles would attach to it, and fish would hide beneath it.

His soul had become vast enough to be a home for small lives.

Even after becoming so sturdy and vast.

Even after becoming so powerful as to be looked up to.

He never swallowed others.

He just breathed the great sea with his long beard.

He let himself become a home and breathed in the great sea, becoming one with it.

As if to prove that he was a son of the great sea.

That is right.

That soul twisting its giant body is surely.

It resembles a white whale.

Niko Nereyades’s Ars.

‘White Whale’.

***

Bu-u-.

Over the scream, a majestic sound was layered.

There was no longer a dragonoid.

A soul even more powerful than an Ancient Weapon wanted to reveal its form to this world.

From within the fog-like steam, a giant form, sounded a low and majestic steam whistle.

Buu-oooooh—–.

It was a white whale.

A whale that was three times the size of the Hunchback, truly a mountain-like whale, was Niko Nereyades.

The old whale no longer speaks.

It just cried, bu-ooooh—-, along with the sea.

It had many scars.

The whale’s skin was covered in wounds and scars.

But it was that much more sturdy and tough.

It was more rock-like than a rock.

The whale swam.

And with its body, it blocked the Hunchback, and soon, they collided.

“Ugh-uu……!!!”

Shion screamed.

The white whale’s collision held a weight that was impossible to endure.

It was a power built up over the years.

Niko twisted his body again.

Half of the Hunchback’s body was torn apart.

Through the torn body, Shion was glimpsed.

There was light in his eyes.

He still shed tears of blood, but he had regained some of his reason.

“This……”

Shion opened his mouth.

“…I’m sorry, Niko……. I showed you an unsightly side of me……”

Niko responded with a cry of, bu, u.

The Hunchback still cried, Cordis, Cordis, but Shion suppressed it.

As Niko had said, this was now a fight between the two of them.

He should not have looked away to others.

“…So that is your soul.”

Looking at the white whale, Shion once again became the Hunchback.

But he did not rampage like before.

Instead, from the depths of his throat, an immeasurable heat began to blaze.

“Then I too, will now squeeze out the very last drop.”

A promise was made long ago.

Seven secrets, seven Ars.

Septem Arcana.

The fifth of them.

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