With the sound of something being cut off,

“Aaaaah!”

Neptune Spear screamed loudly.

Flutter… Hundreds of black strings fluttered in the wind.

“Oh dear.”

Kang Chul-In smirked.

“You should’ve taken better care of your hair. It’s so weak… Hmm… Should I get you some glue to stick your hair to your scalp?”

“Arghhhh…!”

“Well, it’s not that bad actually.”

“...”

“It looks like… that two-block style that"s trendy these days."

Of course, it was all a load of bulls.h.i.+t. Neptune Spear"s hair on the sides of his head had fallen out from Kang Chul-In"s ridiculous strength. Obviously, other than the fact that he didn"t have any side hair, it looked nothing like the two-block style.

Crunch!

Neptune Spear grounded his teeth together.

“You dare... I"m the King of the South Sea...! Do you think you"ll be...!”

“Be what?”

“...”

"You"re not trying to threaten me, are you?"

As soon as he finished speaking,

Kwannnng!

The second s.h.i.+p, [Monocle], exploded. It was the work of Dorian Explorer.

"...!"

Neptune Spear was surprised, but that wasn"t the end of it.

The Full Metal Dragon… No, the Full Metal Drake had pierced through the barrier of the s.h.i.+p, [Atlanta], and began to thrash around.

"Oh no...!

It was a tremendously shocking sight. In the blink of an eye, out of the eleven s.h.i.+ps, Alligator, Nemesis, and Monocle were reduced to pieces of sc.r.a.p metal. Now, even Atlantica was taken over…

The captain"s s.h.i.+p, Poseidon, also had Kang Chul-In aboard.

-Heeheehee!

It was then.

-I"m gonna be the only one you beat up, is that it?

Hecate"s maniacal voice spread out through the magical voice amplifier.

-Fine… let"s do it… just you wait… I"ll break you to pieces…!

It was a voice filled with frustrations from being held back. Hecate naturally enjoyed blowing things up, so being held back because of the anti-aircraft guns was horrible for her. However, the tables had turned, because Alligator, Nemesis, Monocle, and Atlantica were all unavailable for battle!

That meant…

“Gun one, ready!”

“Gun two, ready!”

“Gun three, ready!”

“Gun four, ready!”

The soldiers of Temeraire all shouted at the top of their lungs.

Fire. The 74 guns of the greatest firepower in Pangaea were about to teach Neptune Spear what the price was for messing with them.

-Wait!

Kang Chul-In’s voice shook the battlefield.

-Hecate!

-What?

-Stop.

-Hm? Why should I stop? This is our chance.

-Victory is already ours, so there’s no need to use Fire.

It was true. With Kang Chul-In aboard the captain’s s.h.i.+p, Poseidon, this battle was already the victory of the Valhalla soldiers.

-So?

Hecate asked.

-Are you telling me to stop the attack?

-Of course.

Kang Chul-In nodded.

-Why would you break all of these when they’re worth a hefty amount of money?

People had to look for opportunities at any chance they got. Neptune Spear’s fleet was worth an astronomical amount, and breaking all of them would be a waste of supplies and manpower.

-But I don’t want to.

Hecate continued to argue.

-I’m gonna break all of them!

-...!

-So what if all those s.h.i.+ps are crushed?

She seemed to be furious because Neptune Spear’s fleet had only targeted her.

-I like breaking things too, but this time…

-No.

-It’s an order.

-I’ll break them.

-...!

-I can’t let this go! So this time, you let it go!

-Whew…

A long sigh escaped Kang Chul-In’s mouth.

Dammit… He bit his lower lip.

From his experience, whenever Hecate was stubborn like this…

It’s the real deal this time.

She didn’t know how to let others have their way. Hecate didn’t have the “female Kang Chul-In” t.i.tle for nothing. Of course, she was a lot easier to talk to, but once she started being stubborn, she would never change her mind.

How should I convince her…

Kang Chul-In contemplated.

She probably won’t budge…

He thought of threatening her, but because Hecate was already angry, it would cause the situation to become worse. But he couldn’t just tell her to shoot to her heart’s content.

There were 10 s.h.i.+ps in the fleet of iron. If it’s worth was exchanged for financial and tactical a.s.sets, it was greater than the Full Metal Dragon by 5 times. It was too priceless to be thrown away to appease Hecate.

-I’m gonna shoot, so move.

Hecate warned.

-Shoot.

Kang Chul-In shot his shot.

-Huh…?

-If you want to shoot, just shoot. There’s nothing I can do about it.

-...!?

-Instead…

Kang Chul-In shut his eyes tight when he spoke.

Drip…! Sweat and s.h.i.+vers appeared on his back.

This is the only way. There was nothing else he could do. “That” was the only way to make Hecate bend to him this time.

-What! Instead what?!

Hecate raised her voice.

-Are you threatening…

-You’ll never get what you want.

-What do I want?

-I think you spoke about this every time you opened your mouth.

A heavy silence descended on the battlefield after Kang Chul-In spoke. What was he talking about? He was bringing up the relations.h.i.+p between a man and a woman in the middle of the battlefield with the magical voice amplifier?

-S-So…? Are you saying you’ll give it to me?

-Of course not.

-Are you playing with me right now?

-No way.

Kang Chul-In decided to handle Hecate in the calmest att.i.tude possible.

-I don’t sell my body like that, so making a deal like this doesn’t seem right. I am the king of a kingdom. I’m saying that I can’t give it over just because I want to.

-So what do you want to say?

-The possibility.

-...!

-I’m not saying I’ll give it to you, but if you don’t bend this time, the 1% chance will completely disappear.

It was a cowardly offer, but,

-Huk..!

Not for Hecate.

-If I shoot, you’ll never sleep with me?

-I won’t speak twice.

-And if I don’t shoot, we can sleep together?

-That’s up to you.

Kang Chul-In didn’t say what Hecate wanted until the very end,

-Hng…

And Hecate was left pondering. It might seem like a pathetic struggle to others, but it was important to her. Would she destroy Neptune Spear’s fleet and give up the “l.u.s.tful night” with Kang Chul-In forever, or would she leave the chance open?

What should I do?

Both of them were so tempting, that Hecate was deep in thought.

Then…

-That’s it?

She began to set conditions.

-What do you want?

-Mm…

Hecate thought to herself for a moment and spoke.

-If you become my man…

-...!?

-You have to sleep with me once a week.

-...!

-You can’t say that you’re too busy as an excuse. You have to.

Hecate had brought up conditions for when she and Kang Chul-In were completely connected.

-That’s not hard.

Kang Chul-In readily accepted the deal.

It’s a profit. He had to reason to refuse. The conditions that Hecate brought up all hung on an “if,” and if he didn’t marry her, nothing would happen.

-Sure, then do that.

Hecate seemed to be taking a step back.

-Oh, also.

-...!?

-Take 26 guns from that b.a.s.t.a.r.d’s s.h.i.+p.

She wasn’t satisfied with her 74 guns and wanted 100 of them.

-Sure.

-Good.

The strange deal was finished like that.

These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds…!

Neptune Spear was flabbergasted. Kang Chul-In and Hecate were treating him as an “extra.” In front of the perfectly healthy King of the South Sea, they were making a deal about whether to destroy his fleet or not? It was humiliating. He was looked down upon.

“Hey, you…”

Rage! Neptune Spear shook the Epic-item Triton and screamed.

“Son of a b.i.t.c.h!”

“Hm?”

Kang Chul-In saw the trident that was aiming for his chest.

“Mm…”

It was slow. Very slow. It might’ve been a fast attack for normal people, but it looked like it was moving in slow-motion to Kang Chul-In.

Swoos.h.!.+ Kaiforce scattered darkness in 10 different directions, and Neptune Spear’s chest split into ten pieces. Bright red blood spewed out.

Plop! Neptune Spear fell to his knees on the deck. He didn’t have the strength to stand anymore.

Kas.h.i.+ng…! Kang Chul-In held Kaiforce at Neptune Spear’s neck.

“Hey, fishermen.”

“Y-Yes.”

“Give me everything you’ve got.”

The Supreme King (king/thief) of the West. Kang Chul-In was faithful to his profession like always.

***

Meanwhile, at the same time, about 30 kilometres away from the Esmeralda territory, Kwak Jung was receiving a report from a soldier.

“Commander-in-chief!”

“Yes?”

“His Majesty has succeeded in defending Venetz!”

“...!”

“And that’s not it!”

“What is it? Didn’t he break everything to pieces?”

“No!”

“Hm…?”

“Of the 11 s.h.i.+ps, he completely destroyed 2 of them, made 2 of them unfit for war…”

“...!”

“But has succeeded in taking the remaining seven s.h.i.+ps in good condition! Including the two that aren’t able to be used for war, he has captured 9 s.h.i.+ps!”

“W-What!?”

“Also…”

There wasn’t an end to the soldier’s report.

“He has even taken over the Aquatica Kingdom that’s under the King of the South Sea Neptune Spear’s rule…!”

“Huk…!”

Kwak Jung was taken aback.

That guy…!

He couldn’t tell how much stronger he had become.

I thought he would take a break for a day or two…!

He knew that Kang Chul-In would defend Venetz properly, but he didn’t imagine that he would destroy Neptune Spear like that…

“S-So? What did his Majesty say? He must have said something!”

“T-That’s…”

The soldier hesitated.

“What is it? Say it quickly, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

“His Majesty said to…”

“...?”

“Take over the Esmeralda territory before he arrives...”

“...”

“If the Esmeralda territory isn’t dominated in two days… His Majesty will…”

“M-Me…?”

“Give you mental training.”

“E-Eek?!”

“That was his message…”

The soldier carefully handed Kwak Jung a piece of paper.

The content was the following:

To the subordinate I cherish the most…

Work.

-The Supreme King of the West, Kang Chul-In.

“...”

Kwak Jung was speechless.

“s.h.i.+t…”

It would take at least 3 days to take over the Esmeralda territory.

But two?

“Aaack…!”

Kwak Jung groaned painfully.

“C-Commander-in-chief!”

“Hey…”

“Yes?”

“Go tell this to everyone…”

It was a wise decision. The defense of Venetz was a great accomplishment. It would influence the morale of the soldiers.

“Increase the speed of the march! Unless you want to see me die!”

“Yes, sir!”

There was no time. He had to get to work if he wanted to take over Esmeralda territory in 3 days.

***

In a secret lab 10 floors underground in the Pentagon of the Bifrost territory.

“Useless b.a.s.t.a.r.d…”

Andrei Ivanovich frowned after checking the rankings.

Rank 6: Overlord Neptune Spear (position revocated!)

“I can’t believe he didn’t even last a day…”

The result was disappointing to no end.

“Well, I didn’t expect much from the beginning.”

Milenius muttered to himself and looked at the great gla.s.s casket in front of him. A man was floating around naked in the boiling liquid. The man’s hair was black, and he looked extremely similar to someone.

“You’ll have to step up soon.”

Milenius spoke to the man in the gla.s.s casket. Of course, the man didn’t reply.

He was still incomplete...