The story of the black silk female knight

On the afternoon of the second day, just after everyone had finished lunch, an alarm, signaling the approach of a dangerous monster, suddenly blared throughout the ship.

The merchants, who were leisurely enjoying the afternoon, were initially slightly alarmed, but then they quickly and skillfully hid in the cabins, holding teleportation scrolls and ready to escape at any moment.

Meanwhile, the well-equipped guards of the Imperial Household Agency went up to the deck and took control of the merchant ship's weapons to prepare for battle.

Some passengers who considered themselves capable also remained on the deck, ready to contribute to resisting the attack of the sea monsters.

Valensa and her group naturally didn't hide in the cabin, but went up to the deck, ready to fight the sea monsters.

Of course, as one of the three main families of the Four Islands Alliance, the Teido family would not send their guests to fight immediately when they encountered a monster attack. The passengers who voluntarily stayed on the deck were the main force in reserve.

This large merchant ship has more than 1000 people, including the crew, of whom 200 are elite guards to deal with attacks from sea monsters.

The ship has limited capacity, so the guards on board are generally of high quality rather than many. These 200 guards all have the strength of Pearl level or above, wear metal armor that can protect their entire bodies, and each of their weapons emits magical light, making them enchanted weapons.

The only downside is that there are only a few spellcasters among the guards, less than five, so they can only use some perception and target-finding spells to assist in the battle.

However, these four spellcasters were quite skilled; they used perception and divination spells to detect the monsters that were about to attack the merchant ship and issued an alarm, allowing the merchant ship to prepare in advance.

Soon, the monsters that were rushing toward the merchant ship from afar with the giant waves became visible to the naked eye.

Judging from their appearance, it is obvious that these monsters are evolved versions of various common marine creatures such as fish, shrimp, and crabs that have absorbed magic power. Each of them has a larger body size, stronger and sharper forelimbs and a more solid shell, and can also use some water and lightning magic.

The monsters seem to understand the principle of using ranged firepower to suppress enemies before charging into melee combat.

When the monster horde was still about 500 meters away from the merchant ship, various spells such as compressed water balls, ice spikes, and lightning arrows were thrown at the deck of the merchant ship.

Valensa, out of caution, originally wanted to use a divine shield to protect everyone, but she saw that neither the Imperial Guards nor the other passengers on the deck were affected by the attack, as if it were commonplace.

Sure enough, just as the barrage of spells was about to hit the merchant ship, the output power of the ship's power core suddenly increased dramatically, and a layer of water-attribute shield protected the entire merchant ship.

Valensa roughly sensed that the water-attribute shield wasn't very strong. It definitely wouldn't be able to stop a Radiant-rank enemy, but it wasn't something that just any weak monster could break through... It could withstand the magical baptism of this rabble without any problem.

And that was indeed the case. This spell attack, consisting of compressed water orbs, ice spikes, and lightning bolts, looked impressive, but it was actually very weak at breaking through single points. When it hit the merchant ship's water-attribute shield, it was like raindrops hitting a windowpane—it made a lot of noise, but had no effect whatsoever.

Seeing this, some of the smarter sea monsters chose to turn and leave, but nearly a hundred monsters of varying strengths continued to charge at the merchant ship driven by their bloodlust.

"Prepare the crossbows!"

At the same time, the captain also gave the order that another type of weaponry on the merchant ship, in addition to the magic shield, should be activated.

It was a giant crossbow, about three meters long, that could not be moved. It was fixed to the sides of the merchant ship's deck and the bow and stern like a turret. There were more than thirty of them on the entire ship.

Valensa recognized these giant crossbows, which were equipped on every warship in the French Navy and were also taught in the theoretical courses at the War College.

The crossbow is a weapon specifically designed to kill monsters. It uses specially made bolts, each bolt being over 2 meters long, with the arrowhead made of refined steel mixed with anti-magic metal, which can easily pierce through various magical defenses.

In addition to the initial velocity provided by the crossbow bolts using the tough monster tendons, each bolt is also engraved with wind-attribute magic runes on the side of its shaft, and fire-attribute magic crystal powder at the tail can ignite and propel the bolt when it is fired.

The combination of three powers gives the crossbow bolts extremely strong kinetic energy. Combined with the already incredibly sharp arrowheads infused with anti-magic metal, the crossbow bolts can almost easily pierce the magic shields and flesh of any monster below the Radiant Rank.

Once the crossbow bolt pierces a monster, another function of the wind-elemental magic runes engraved on the bolt is activated—by creating a pressure difference between the inside and outside of the monster, it rapidly bleeds the monster.

With such rich features and powerful capabilities, the crossbow bolts are naturally expensive, costing over 300 gold coins each, but they are worth the price.

Because the crossbow bolts can fully achieve their design goal—to shoot monsters below the Radiant rank one by one.

"shoot!"

Whoosh whoosh!

As the captain gave the order again, the dozen or so crossbows on the deck facing the monster horde immediately fired a volley, sending more than a dozen powerful bolts toward the monsters.

The first turtle-like monster tried to withstand the attack with its shell, but unfortunately, it was no match for the crossbow bolt. The bolt pierced through its shell, and the blood instantly stained the waves red.

The other monsters targeted by the crossbow bolts fared even worse. Many monsters had their entire bodies pierced by the bolts, killing the monsters behind them as well. Their blood stained the sea, turning the white waves created by the monster horde's charge into waves of blood.

One round of shooting killed at least 20 sea monsters.

Unfortunately, the reloading speed of the ballistae was a major problem. The monsters' sprinting distance of about 500 meters was only enough for the ballistae on the merchant ship to fire two volleys. After that, if they wanted to fire again, the monster horde would already be below the ship, and the firing angle would no longer be sufficient.

However, the guards on deck did not rush forward to engage in boarding action, because the captain then gave a third order:

"Shield Second Form, Offensive Defense Barrier, activate!"

The water-attribute shield covering the entire merchant ship is fine for defending against ranged magic attacks, but it's not very effective against close-range charges and bites from monsters... Forcing a defense isn't out of the question, but it would consume a huge number of water-attribute magic crystals, which is too wasteful.

So the captain immediately ordered the magic shield to change its form, from defensive mode to offensive mode.

Offensive Defense Barrier – the name sounds a bit strange, but it's actually quite easy to understand… its effect is roughly like an AOE aura that deals continuous damage to enemies around you in the game.

This offensive defensive barrier covers an area of ​​about 30 meters and takes the form of dense fog. Any monsters that forcibly pass through this fog will suffer from corrosion and frostbite, further weakening their combat power.

However, the monsters that have managed to reach this point are not weak in themselves. They are basically at the Pearl level or even the Lighthouse level, the kind that could have their own territory even in the inland wilderness of Fran.

Chapter 51 Three Waves

Bang bang bang!

This merchant ship is an ironclad vessel, reinforced with magic arrays. As long as the magic crystals in the engine room are not exhausted, the ship itself is almost impossible to be damaged by attacks below the Radiant Rank.

So after their attempts to ram and tear at the ship's hull failed, the monsters in the water jumped onto the deck and attacked the humans on board.

The Imperial Guards, who were well-prepared, immediately rushed forward and engaged in a fierce battle with the monster.

These guards of the Imperial Household were clearly skilled workers at a glance. Most of them were in groups of three, with one person wielding a sword and shield and the other two using spears.

The sword and shield guards will restrain the monster at close range, keeping its movements within a certain area.

They were clearly trained in the same way, all using a special technique—striking their shields with their swords to create a noise that would draw the monsters' attention.

The guards wielding long spears focused entirely on attacking.

The spears they wielded were about 4 meters long, and the spearheads were specially designed so that once they pierced a monster, blood would spurt out like a pillar. A monster of considerable strength would wail and collapse to the ground after being stabbed seven or eight times.

Besides these guards in groups of three, a few guards were armed with two-handed large square hammers.

These guards were all extremely muscular, not as tall as Giru, but still nearly 2 meters, with muscles bulging beneath their armor.

If any particularly strong monsters appear that are impervious to spear thrusts, these guards wielding two-handed maces will form a formation and surround them, finishing them off with blunt weapons.

These guards from the Imperial Household were extremely efficient in combat. They wiped out more than 50 Pearl-level or higher ocean monsters in less than 20 minutes, and not a single one of them died. Only 16 people suffered minor injuries or poisoning, which were enough to allow them to continue fighting after drinking a couple of bottles of alchemical potions.

They were equally efficient at cleaning up the battlefield, quickly dividing the monster corpses on the deck into two categories. Those that were edible were sent directly to the kitchen, while those that were inedible were dug out for their magic cores or valuable materials and then thrown back into the sea.

A monster horde attack that would likely force small merchant ships to abandon ship was easily dealt with by the Imperial Family's guards.

But the captain did not signal that it was safe. Instead, he stared at the many monster corpses, his face covered with a thick beard and full of solemnity.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with these monsters, Captain?"

Valensa asked curiously.

She knew a fair bit about land monsters, having been an adventurer for three years, but she knew almost nothing about ocean monsters.

"Yes, there are two problems."

The captain sighed, first pointing to several monster corpses that the cook was cleaning up:

"These monsters, like the cartilaginous carp you found last night, should have only been active in the southern waters of Ruler Island, but now they've all come to this area. And..."

After speaking, the captain looked at the other monsters and said worriedly:

"Many of these monsters are actually natural enemies. They should fight each other as soon as they meet, but they can unite to attack us... There is only one possibility for this."

"They are all minions of some powerful monster; this attack was just a test."

Valensa immediately understood what the captain meant:

"And the one that can command so many Pearl-level and Lighthouse-level monsters to probe and attack must be a Radiant-level monster lord!"

"Yes."

The captain nodded:

"And if I'm not mistaken, that guy should be here soon."

Sure enough, less than half a minute after the captain finished speaking, the powerful expert from the Imperial Family, who had been sitting on the deck with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze bright.

Compared to the elite guards clad in full armor and wielding enchanted weapons, this Radiant-rank expert looked like an ordinary fisherman.

He looked a lot like one of those construction workers in his forties from Valencia's previous life, wearing a very ordinary linen outfit and even his weapon was just a harpoon.

But at this moment, the fierce aura emanating from him was something no one dared to underestimate... Even a simple linen outfit costing only a few dozen copper coins looked more imposing on him than armor costing hundreds of gold coins.

"I'm counting on you now, Mr. Sakura."

The captain said something very politely, but Mr. Sakura remained silent, only nodding to the captain before leaping into the sea.

Valensa quickly took two steps forward and looked curiously into the sea. She saw that Mr. Sakura was moving at an extremely fast speed in the water, almost 800 kilometers per hour, and had rushed far away in an instant.

More than ten seconds later, about two or three kilometers away from the merchant ship, a huge column of water suddenly burst out of the water, reaching a height of up to 100 meters.

While others could only get a general idea and make guesses, Valensa saw it clearly... that Mr. Sakura had already engaged his enemy in battle.

It was indeed a Radiant-rank monster—a giant catfish over 30 meters long, but instead of scales, it was covered in exoskeleton armor. The bones were extremely sharp and hard, and could continuously multiply and deform, making it look just like that sickly ninja in a certain anime from Valensa's previous life who fought with bones.

Mr. Sakura tried to attack several times with a harpoon but failed. Instead, he was forced to dodge left and right in the water by the constantly deforming fish bones, which seemed to be in great danger.

Valensa was a little worried about whether he could win alone... After all, the water is the home ground of fish, and no matter how good a human is at swimming, it's like fighting on an away turf.

So Valensa told the captain what she had seen of the battle and asked if they needed any help.

After Valensa described the fish, the captain's expression turned slightly unpleasant:

"It's the Iron-Eating Catfish with Ten Thousand Bones. This kind of monster usually feeds on various metal ores on the seabed. The more it eats, the more bones it has and the stronger it becomes. It's very dangerous."

They are also the most fond of attacking human ships among the Radiant-rank monsters... To them, human ironclad ships are far more appealing than metal ore! It's like the difference between a gourmet cake and coarse black bread.

"However... Mr. Sakura should be fine."

After a moment's hesitation, the captain politely declined Valensa's offer of help:

"Mr. Sakura's Noble Phantasm is quite special. As long as it is not a monster of the Moon-level or higher, all fish-type monsters have almost no chance of winning against Mr. Sakura."

"I see... Okay, I'll take another look."

Since the other party refused to help, Valensa didn't want to force them to help, so she continued watching.

In just over ten minutes, the size of the Iron-Eating Catfish had almost increased by one size... or more accurately, its exoskeleton multiplied and transformed into all sorts of sharp weapons, launching a fierce and relentless attack on Mr. Sakura.

Mr. Sakura's situation seemed very dangerous, but he was more like a game master like Valensa in her previous life, who could complete the game without taking any damage and had completely adapted to the attack rhythm of the Iron-Eating Catfish.

Amidst the dense attacks of countless bone spikes, Mr. Sakura always managed to dodge with minimal body movement and seize any opportunity to deliver a vicious spear to the Bone-Eating Iron Catfish.

It is obvious that the harpoon is Mr. Sakura's treasure, and as the captain said, it should have some kind of special damage effect on fish monsters.

Because every harpoon strike failed to pierce the bone armor of the Iron-Eating Catfish, yet each strike caused the catfish to experience intense pain, resulting in more severe bone spur growth and an increasingly chaotic and frantic attack rhythm.

But the more the Iron-Eating Catfish did this, the less likely it was to hit Mr. Sakura. Instead, it was hit by the harpoon more and more often, and several times it was already rolling around in the water in pain.

Finally, the Iron-Eating Catfish seemed to have reached its limit and suddenly unleashed a strong surge of magical energy, then disappeared into the water along with Mr. Sakura.

It was a domain; the Iron-Eating Catfish of Ten Thousand Bones had finally activated its domain.

It originally intended to use its domain to attack the merchant ships, but it realized that if it didn't use its domain soon, it might be defeated by Mr. Sakura, so it had no choice but to use its ultimate move ahead of time.

But this was precisely Mr. Sakura's purpose—he would voluntarily jump into the sea to confront the enemy, in order to force the enemy out of their territory at a safe distance and prevent the merchant ships from being affected.

The Ten Thousand Bone Iron-Eating Catfish in the domain will definitely be even stronger, but Mr. Sakura must still have some trump cards he hasn't used yet... Anyway, the captain didn't seem worried at all, so Valensa didn't worry about it either, and just waited for the result with everyone.

However, just as everyone was patiently waiting for Mr. Sakura's good news, the four spellcasters who had been responsible for sensing and locating the enemy suddenly coughed up blood and fell to the ground. The crystal ball they used to observe the merchant ship's surroundings also suddenly shattered into pieces.

Three spellcasters immediately lost consciousness and fainted. The remaining one, barely breathing, raised his hand as if in his dying moments and tremblingly uttered:

"There's...there's one more."

Then he also fainted, and his life force grew weaker and weaker.

Valensa was about to give them a little help when her expression suddenly changed, and she turned around to look in the opposite direction from where the Iron-Eating Catfish of Ten Thousand Bones was attacking.

A massive acid ball, over 20 meters in diameter, streaked across the sky, hurtling rapidly toward the merchant ship in a parabolic trajectory, and was set to hit in a maximum of 3 seconds.

This was clearly an attack from a Radiant-rank monster, and it was a charged attack.

In the rush, Valensa found it difficult to employ any defenses that could ensure the safety of the merchant ship... She didn't have time to use any powerful protective spells.

So while her brain was still thinking, Valensa's body had already taken action. She leaped forward as if taking off to meet the giant acid ball, and three different forces were simultaneously mobilized and converged by her.

The fire elemental power forcibly driven by the bloodline of the gods, the blazing and explosive power of the sun, and the chaotic divine power that the evil god was born with were mixed by Valensa in a ratio of approximately 3:6:1 and gathered in her outstretched palm.

boom!