Volume 9 Chapter 1 Part 12

Still, as long as he lives, he has to continue killing, since to him, to kill means to live.

Right now, Eric was standing on the ironed ship’s deck, which has been dyed completely black.

It was the ironclad ship that Alexis Ducet was on.

The wounded beast he currently was let out a roar of anger, and the sailors on the ironclad ship roared back.

「What’s going on? 」

Alexis opened her eyes to see what was going on. Then, he became paralyzed with fear and couldn’t move a single finger.

A gigantic man covered in blood stood tall on the deck of the ironclad ship that Alexis was riding on. He had his greataxe in one hand, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he was breathing heavily.

「The Nords boarded the ship! 」

「It’s just one man! Take him down! 」

The sailors of the iron-clad ship raised their spears and surrounded the giant. The knights of the royal guard gathered around Alexis with their swords unsheathed and ready.

「Is that a berserker? 」

Alexis muttered in shock.

The berserker looked up at the sky, roared once more, and began swinging his axe furiously. With each swing, the sailors surrounding him were blown away into chunks of flesh falling on the deck of the ship.

「Aaah… 」

Alexis was so terrified of that sight that he lost his voice.

The berserker brought death and terror as if he was sowing wheat. The screams of the sailors overlapped with each other and sounded like they were going to burst his eardrums.

He has never seen life so easily lost. Alexis thought he himself was dead because he felt like his heart was breaking.

in this naval battle alone, the Fantasia Union lost thousands of lives from the hands of the Nord warriors. Since the end of the time of Extreme Chaos, there have never been so many deaths in a single battle. Alexis thought it was a great sin, and they’ll definitely be judged for it someday.

It was at that moment that the berserker’s bloodshot eyes caught Alexis.

(I’m about to be killed by that man…)

It seemed like dying here was his destined fate, after all.

「Lord Alexis, come with me, please! 」

At that moment, his maid Noelia appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and she took her master, who was frozen like a statue, to the bow of the ship.

However, in order to prevent the prey he has found from escaping, the berserker grabbed anyone who stood in his way with one hand and threw them into the sea as he advanced. However, the Lords and soldiers of Halusia, trying to protect their young and beautiful master, surrounded him with many layers of barrier made of their own bodies in an attempt to try to block the berserker. Rhey also pierced the berserker’s body with spears and shot him with more arrows.

The berserker had suffered countless injuries. Arrows were stuck all over his body. However, the berserker didn’t seem to feel any pain as he broke through the human wall and approached Alexis…
A ballista was aimed at the berserker’s back. Its projectile was loaded with a hook tied to a line for whaling.

The person operating the ballista was Kato Meletes. Seeing that his master was in danger, he jumped from the mast to the ballista, shouting at the archers to move aside.

(That person is humanity’s greatest treasure. We cannot afford to lose him!)

Kato took aim and fired the ballista. The huge iron hook easily pierced the thick chest of the berserker. There was a large barb on the hook, and a rope was tied to it. The end of the rope was wrapped around the iron pillar that supported the ballista. The berserker still tried to move towards Alexis, but he was held back by the rope. Looking back, the berserker noticed this and let out an angry cry.

He strained his legs to break the rope, but the rope was strong enough to hold even a whale. He tried it several times without success.

In desperation, Halusia’s soldiers shot more arrows at him, and the berserker became like a hedgehog. But still, he refused to fall.

(Is he immortal?)

Kato became stunned.

The berserker put his hands around his back and forcibly pulled out the hook lodged inside of him. Blood flooded out and a large cavity formed in his chest.

Still, he kept moving towards Alexis.

Kato was at a loss, not knowing what else he could do. Alexis was already down to the tip of the ship’s bow. There was nowhere left for him to go. He just continued to tremble behind his maid, Noella. The berserker no longer had an axe in his hand. The sight of his body still moving despite being covered in injuries seemed almost divine to him.

「Please protect Lord Alexis! 」

Noelia was screaming hysterically.

「Understood! 」

There were only a few Royal Guard knights left around Alexis. They readied their swords and pierced the berserker all at once. They put all their strength into it, trying to push the berserker back. However, they slipped on the blood-soaked deck and slithered backwards.

The berserker was a few steps closer to Alexis.

Noelia held a knife in her right hand and tore off her maid’s uniform with her left hand. Underneath she wore a jet black suit that sticked tightly to her body. The fine mesh fabric allowed her skin to be seen through.

Throwing daggers were embedded all over her clothes. Their tips were coated with various poisons. That was one of her preferred methods of assassinating her Lord’s enemies.

Noelia throws her daggers one after another with her left hand. The daggers pierced the berserker’s eyes, and embedded themselves in his throat and arms one after another.

Still, the berserker didn’t stop walking. He stretched out his arms to grab Alexis.

「Take his head off! 」

Noelia’s voice was almost a scream.

「Understood! 」

The last of the Royal Guard nights responded. Standing on the barrel near him, he leapt high from there towards the berserker. And he wielded his sword with all his strength.

The berserker made no attempt to avoid that blow. And in the next moment, there was a thump and his big head fell onto the deck.

Still, the berserker took two more steps and finally fell forward. A huge headless body looms over them, and the knights of the Royal Guard who were trying to stop the berserker were crushed under it.

The berserker no longer moved.

Eventually, a Crest with a complicated pattern began to shine on his right hand.

「That Crest… 」

Alexis takes a deep breath. It was obvious that it had a fairly high rank.

「I think that berserker is Eric the Ocean King. Judging by his huge body and appearance, there is no doubt about it. 」

Noelia answered Alexis, keeping her dagger at the ready.

「This man is Eric… 」

Alexis muttered, and then he felt weak in the knees. Noelia hastily hugged her master, but Alexis has already fallen unconscious. His face was pale and had no trace of blood left in it, but his heart was still beating. When Noelia gave him some basic first aid, Alexis quickly regains consciousness.

In the meantime, Eric’s Crest shattered with a loud sound. Then, a black swirling Chaos Core appears.

「Lord Alexis, claim the Crest of the Ocean king. 」

「Ah, y-yes, of course. 」

He was initially hesitant to even get close to it, but absorbing the Crests of defeated enemies was the Lords duty, and also a sign of respect for the enemy.

Alexis inserts his right hand into the Chaos Core, his face twitching.

「Khhh… 」

He felt the pain of being pierced by something sharp, and that something foreign was coursing through his blood, making it all the way to his heart, where it finally settled.

Alexis wonder what were the intentions of the Ocean King. He sought power and loved fighting, but he could sense that he had a strict but deep compassion for his family, and wanted to make all of his subjects into his family if he became Emperor…

(He was a great king…)

Alexis thought to himself.

(But why did he have to choose killing and plundering as the method of his rule?)

Alexis felt a deep sadness, but in a way, he was the same as him.

Alexis has expressed his dreams and thoughts through various forms of art. And although he appealed to people’s hearts, he was unable to change the world. But by winning the fight today, he got one step closer to making that change a reality.

Eric the Ocean King, the ruler of the Nords who dreamt of becoming an Emperor, is gone, which must means that the times must’ve determined there was no place for him in the future.

(Now I will accomplish what I’ve set out to do, Theo Cornero.)

Alexis headed south, calling in his mind to his friend from the Artuk Treaty.

This battle later became known as the Battle of Bretland Gulf. After this battle, the activities of the Nords, who had been the masters of the North Sea, lost their momentum entirely.