Chapter 99
Chapter 99
Communication with the troops guarding the island was completely cut off.
In fact, it was as if the entire defense of Blue Harbor was down, and the situation would only get worse as time went on.
"We have lost contact with Sir Pinch, too."
The head butler let out a deep sigh.
"He must be engaging with the pirates. Unless something also happened to him."
At those words, the maids muttered amongst each other in fright.
The situation was even more hopeless now that even the necromancer of the Oldwin family, who could be called the strongest, couldn't be contacted.
"Its like that Kizen student said. Something seems to have happened in the headquarters."
Concluded the admiral, putting his communication crystal back in his inner pocket.
"However, the troops on site must still be fighting. I'll somehow gather up the remaining forces to form a defense line."
Shiiing!
The admiral drew his sword from his waist, and other soldiers followed suit, drawing their weapons, too.
This time, it was the head butler who opened his mouth.
"Then we'll find an escape rou"
"It's more dangerous to head out of the island by boat. The pirates would've blocked the waterways."
Interrupted Simon before stating,
"The post and the entire Sea Force have been completely neutralized. This is a plan that has been in the works for a long time."
"Ahem."
The air became heavy. The admiral spoke again.
"I agree with the Kizen student once more. If all the sea outposts were neutralized, there would be no escape. I think we have no choice but to hold out on this island."
Then, he looked to Simon.
"Kizen student, can you please help us? You'd be a great help here"
"I don't mind, but......"
Simon let out a bitter smile, looking at Shun, who was still clinging to his legs. Simon was on a bodyguarding mission. Shun was his top priority.
"Big brother Simon."
"Yes, Count?"
"I'm fine."
Shun, who separated himself from Simon, slapped himself on the cheek. Then, he opened his eyes, revealing determination beneath.
"I'm asking you as both an administrator of Blue Harbor and as a client. Don't worry about my safety, and please save the people."
Panicked voices were heard all around them. Simon knelt down and looked Shun in the eye.
"Shun, something feels off. There may be people after you."
"It's more urgent to save the people who are in danger right now. I'll pay any additional fees, so please"
Shun bowed his head, even as he trembled.
"Please save Blue Harbor and its citizens."
"......"
He seemed to have made up his mind. He may have been small and young, but Simon thought that he truly had inherited the title of Count.
Simon also bowed his head.
"As you wish, Count."
* * *
The force was divided into three.
Shun, along with the head butler and the family's guests, decided to head to the mansion and hold out. The mansion had its own defense facilities, and some butlers could fight.
The Sea Force admiral decided to head toward the barracks with his soldiers. It was an urgent task to reorganize forces by retrieving the scattered soldiers.
And Simon was
Step. Step.
He was alone, heading toward the beach where the first pirate ship had landed. Simon judged that there was a high possibility that the captain was at the largest and fanciest of the three pirate ships.
If he could suppress the captain, the rest of the small fries should be disrupted, and if he combined his power with the remaining soldiers in the Blue Harbor Sea Force, the situation should somehow be resolved.
'Pier! Can you hear me?'
Ever since the pirates started their invasion, Pier's clone hadnt spoken a word. It seemed that the other side got involved before Simon did.
'Let's just do what I can do for now.'
A terrible hell unfolded before him when he passed through the mansion gates and entered the city of Blue Harbor.
The beautiful city has been turned into a sea of fire because of the bombardment, and screams of pain and the cries of people facing crises far beyond them were all that could be heard.
As Simon moved forward through the thick smoke and scorching flames, he finally found a group of residents near the fountain.
Some Sea Force soldiers were fighting the pirates, but they couldn't put up much of a fight, and collapsed due to their lacking numbers.
"Please! Anything but that! That's my father's!"
"You're making me sick."
A man begging over his father's belongings was kicked, and fell to the floor.
A scene of absolute plundering. The pirates scoured the buildings and took valuable items, and if the residents resisted, they wielded their weapons without hesitation.
"Hey, hey! Aren't you going to lower your sword?"
"You dirty bastards!"
A lone soldier was confronting the pirates. The pirates were threatening him by putting their swords at the necks of citizens.
"Huh? Are you really not going to lower your sword?"
Slaaaaaaash!
One captive fell to the ground as blood spurted from their neck after the pirate at the back sliced it open.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Dear!!"
"Are you still not gonna lower it?"
Next was an old man, and then a young man. They fell down in fountains of blood. The captives were screaming out of fear.
These pirates weren't just taking the captives hostage.
They were playing.
'These bastards really are insane.'
The soldier trembled.
He could never know how many more people would die if he charged. He lowered his posture and pretended to put down his sword.
"W-Wait! I'll put it down! I'll put it down, so calm dow!"
Whack!
A pirate approached from behind and struck him in the back of the head. The soldier crumpled on the spot.
"Kyahahahah!"
"Too easy, too easy!"
The pirates approached and began to stomp down on the prone soldier.
"Can't you even tell the difference between real war and limited warfare? You have to fucking fight no matter how many captives drop dead!"
"Bastards who're fattened up by peace!"
Simon, who was watching from behind a building, bit his lip.
It wasnt that hard to beat up a few pirates, but if he rushed in, the lives of the captives were at risk.
Moreover, a powder keg was placed between the captives kneeling in an alley. The pirates ordered the captives to hold the keg, and people trembled as they were forced to gather around it.
At that moment, Pier's clone spoke into Simon's mind.
[Boy! Can you hear me!]
'Pier! Why were you so late?'
[A pirate ship has come this way! I'm engaging them right now!]
'Will you be fine by yourself?'
[Kuhehe! It's a piece of cake! By the way, you successfully cast Bone Armor with a summoned skeleton for the first time yesterday, am I right?]
"Yeah, I did! What about it?"
Pier's clone smiled.
[Then I shall grant you this permission! You can use the conscripted undead as Bone Armor. As many as you want!]
Pier's message ended with that. His voice cut off, so maybe he entered the fight again.
'Alright.'
Simon didn't know what Pier's intentions were, but he had no other options.
He summoned a large number of conscripted skeletons from his subspace.
Then, he recalled the image in his mind to raise his concentration.
'I can't concentrate well.'
He could see sparks fluttering in the wind and falling.
'It's still too fast.'
Simon clenched his teeth.
His mind was elevating. As though consciousness transcended the body, his senses started to become more and more detailed.
'Get slower. Get slower. Get slower.'
Slowly, the speed of the sparks falling slowed down. Now, it all looked like slow-motion to him.
Simon nodded and slowly appeared from behind the building.
* * *
* * *
Wham!
Whack!
The man who had been plundered of his parent's belongings was being kicked by pirates over and over again. Angered, Simon flicked his right arm toward him.
'Bone Armor!'
The bodies of two skeletons disassembled and flew toward the man.
"Wh-What?"
The pirate panicked and retreated.
The flying bones began to stick to the man's body one by one. The arms, legs, and chest bones connected into neat rows.
Simon then finally realized it.
Why Pier was preventing him from practicing Bone Armor with conscripted skeletons.
'This is so much easier!'
This didn't require any practice in the first place.
The conscripted skeletons, each carrying consciousness, knew exactly where the bone armor should be aligned and slotted together.
All Simon had to do was finetune the whole thing. It was like Simon completed the blueprint, and the skeletons looked at it and put themselves together.
If you mastered Bone Armor using the summoned skeleton, you could also naturally master the conscripted type.
Ta-tap!
Tap!
Click!
The man wearing the Bone Armor staggered. The bones that flew from the air went into the hollow armor and clicked into place.
He looked down at himself with bewildered eyes. Before he knew it, his whole body was covered in armor made of bones.
"Wh-What did you do?!"
The pirate kicked the man's chest out of panic, but thanks to the bone armor, it didnt hurt one bit.
At that moment, the man's body moved completely on its own and punched the pirate's face.
Pooooooow!
With the unbelievable force, blood spewed from the pirates nose as he spun thrice in the air, and then rolled on the ground. His teeth glistened under the sunlight and flew out of his mouth.
"Hey! What's going on?!"
His pirate comrade saw it and ran to him.
Pow!
This time, the fish shop owner struck the pirate in the head, embedding the mans face in the wooden box next to him.
"I-I didn't do it! Why is my body moving on its own?!"
Flutter!
The bone armor that covered the fish-shop owner was peeled off and moved on to the next person.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Stay still!"
"Please don't do this!"
A rough-looking pirate was harassing a female tourist.
When the pirate, who had lost all reason and succumbed to his primitive desires, licked his tongue and tried to take off the female tourist's clothes, the skeleton bones started clinging to her body.
"I told you not to do it!!"
She slapped the Pirate's cheek while crying.
Then
Slaaaaaaaaaap!
The pirate's body flew up a few meters and fell to the floor.
She was surprised and covered her mouth before looking at her palms.
"Just kill this bastard right now!"
"Trample on him!"
Simon's arms moved frantically.
He made the soldier who was being stomped on after being struck on the back of his head wear the Bone Armor.
"H-Huh? This bastard is standing up!"
"He still had the strength?"
The soldier pushed himself up with his hands even though five men were trampling on him. No matter how much the pirates stomped on him, it was only their feet that hurt.
"Huufffff!"
Soon, the soldier shouted out and shook off the pirates, making them fly like bowling pins before rolling across the floor.
"You bastard!"
A pirate approached and swung his sword.
But with a loud clang, it hit only the boney armor that the soldier was wearing. It was as if the armor was alive.
"I mean, what the hell is that!!"
Since the attack didn't work, the soldier felt tremendous courage rising within him. He grabbed the pirate's head and rammed it down on the floor.
Poooooooow!
The floor tile was smashed, and the pirate's head was stuck in the remains.
"Haha Hahahaha!"
Unbelievable strength. The soldier looked down at his body in disbelief.
"Get out of therrrre!"
A young lady jumped three meters up and kicked a pirate with a flying kick, smashing the pirate into the treehouse behind him.
"You trashy pervert bastards! I'll kill you all!"
Crunch!
The florist started to bare-handedly swing the wagon he usually hefted along at the pirates.
"Finally, the powers I had in my early days have awakened! Back in my day!"
Suddenly, there was a huge counterattack from the residents. The citizens who had suffered one-sidedly suddenly exerted tremendous power while dressed in skeletal armor, overwhelming the pirates.
"Y-You bastards!"
One pirate ran in the front of the powder keg where the captives were tied and lifted the torch in his hand.
"Get down on your knees, you crazy bastards! Otherwise, I'll blow these bastards sky!"
Crush!
The pirate's eyes glazed over, and he fell to the floor.
An old man had crushed the back of the pirate's head. After dusting off his hands, the old man smiled as he looked at the bone armor covering his skinny body.
"Old man!"
Shouted Simon, who appeared on the street.
"Please put that away!"
The old man looked at Simon and quickly grasped the situation.
"So you're the one who put this on me! Got it!"
The old man threw the powder keg into the garbage heap in the empty square, where it was safely detonated!
"Huff!"
Simon, who had reached the peak of concentration, crossed his arms in the air. The old man's Bone Armor was released and put on the body of a man fighting the pirates.
"I've been waiting for this!"
The man blew apart a pirate with a single uppercut.
'Right side.'
The man's Bone Armor was removed, and it flew into the air this time. A woman holding her child was falling down a four-story building, escaping the flames.
Bone Armor was put on her body, absorbing the shock of her fall. The woman stood up fine.
'Left side again.'
'Recover two suits and bring them to the square.'
'I need to put more power on the fountain side.'
Simon's fully immersed Bone Armor control was almost like a work of art.
His arms were moving frantically. He repeatedly put on and removed the armor on the residents being attacked by pirates.
'There can be no more casualties. I'll save every last one of them!'
Simon's eyes widened. Ten sets of bone armor were busily roaming the city, helping people.
Now people noticed the identity of the person moving the mysterious suits.
"Isn't that lad from Kizen?"
"Yeah! It's that person who was interviewed at the exhibition!"
"Kizen is helping us!"
"Waaaaaaaaah!"
Citizens who had been one-sidedly attacked by pirates were pumped up. Now, there were even people who volunteered to dress themselves up.
Simon took full advantage of them.
"Mister! Please wear this and take care of the pirates in the alley!"
"Okay!"
"Sister! Two pirates right in front of you!"
"Leave it to me, kiddo!"
The tides of the battle quickly shifted. The pirates were being pushed back by the hands of the residents, who weren't even trained.
"Look over there! It's the doings of that boy!"
"Get him first!"
A few pirates found Simon and rushed in.
Simon was completely unaware of his surroundings, as he was concentrating on putting Bone Armor on people far away.
"Hey, dodge it!"
"Careful!"
The people crowded around him surged into a clamor. The moment when the pirates smirked and were about to swing their swords at Simon
Pow!
Wham!
Crack!
Out of the blue, a flower shop owner, a Sea Force soldier, and a tourist woman kicked the pirates with flying kicks and landed on the floor.
The bodies of the pirates flew dozens of meters and crashed into walls or houses.
"Woooooaaaaah!"
"Nice!"
Simon, who wiped off the sweat dripping down his forehead with his sleeve, smiled.
"Now, let's keep on fighting."
A single person could change the tides of battle.
It was the moment when the residents of Blue Harbor realized the greatness of the Necromancer.