Read Novel Full Chapter 514: Abyssal Reckoning? [9 - END]
Chapter 514: Abyssal Reckoning? [9 - END]
[Ruguda POV]
I remember it like it was yesterday when I returned to Noah’s Ark after my shift was over for the day. The work of a captain was stressful.. The need to constantly be on guard for both fools and monsters was tiring.
The residents of Noah’s Ark were even more of a pain to deal with due to their constant needs and wishes.
"Daddy, daddy! How was work?"
"Hahaha!" I still remember the feeling of her weight as I picked her up, "Work is all good, my dear! Noisy, but everything is well when I remember when I have you and mommy to come back to."
Raising my eyes from my daughter, I looked toward my wife, who had appeared from around the corner. Long brown hair, green eyes, and a freckled face...
"Oh, Ruguda, come home already?"
She was the most beautiful person I’ve ever met in my life... And ultimately, the one I fell for.
"Hahaha, why wouldn’t I, Jenna? When I have a lovely wife and daughter at home waiting for me?"
If I had a choice, I would retire as a captain to live the rest of my life with my family... It had always been a dream of mine to have such a peaceful life.
But unfortunately, such a dream in this world was more difficult to achieve than some might think.
"What the hell!? Why are we steering in this direction?!"
One day, I found out that the other captains had made a decision on where Noah’s Ark should head without me. And towards the territory of the Storm King, no less!
"Why didn’t any of you bastards tell me about this—?!"
"Oh, calm down, matey!"
With an arm wrapped around my neck, I looked at the cause, who was the one in charge of all of this damn drama...
William Rubert Farland, the supposed strongest out of the four of us and someone the other two captains follow like pets because of his strength.
"We won’t be travelling too far into there! We discovered there was land somewhere there! Yar know that we’ve been running a bit low on supplies, so a little excursion shouldn’t do too much harm~...
"And plus! Yar guys, plus me, can get through that sea easily!"
I listened to his reasoning and sighed. He was right... These days, the materials needed to repair Noah’s Ark after each attack have been getting fewer and fewer...
But... I wish I had done something to change my mind back then.
"CAPTAIN! THE STORM KING FOUND US!"
Because of this fool’s decision to tread into the Storm King’s sea, we were discovered by the Storm King himself! Although most of the ships managed to make it out in one piece, including Noah’s Ark, my fleet couldn’t be said the same.
I cradled my family in my arms as I protected them against the harsh winds and rain, feeling them shiver at the sound of thunder. To think the day they decided to visit me at work would be the day we were met with a storm like this...
As I continued to protect them, I remembered spotting a person through the storm and also being able to hear his damn voice!
"RUGUDA! ARE YAR THERE!?"
"YEAH!" I screamed back, even if I hated his voice and the way he spoke, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t glad I could hear him.
"GET OVER HERE AND HELP US, DAMNIT! OUR SAILS AND RUDDERS ARE DAMAGED!"
"I CAN’T, ALL THE CHAINS AND ROPE TO HOOK ONTO YAR SHIP ARE MISSING!"
"W-what..."
Could it be that the storm had ripped them away? Preposterous!
Gritting my teeth, I remembered shouting:
"THEN, TAKE MY FAMILY! MY FLEET AND I WILL BE FINE!"
I was lying... With the storm that we were in, only a divine intervention would be able to save us... But at least my family could be saved, right?
Right...?
...
"William? WILLIAM!? ARE YOU THERE?! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!"
Without even knowing, my family, my entire fleet, and I were abandoned... Did that man really believe that saving his family was too much for him? Wasn’t he strong? Didn’t he boast about being the strongest of the four?!
"YOU BASTARD!"
"D-daddy..."
After my yell, I looked down at my daughter, who looked up at me with shivering fear.
"W-will we be okay...? I-I’m s-scared—..."
"Don’t worry, Jennuda, daddy is strong... I promise to protect both you and mommy..."
...
That was what I hoped.
Soon enough, the storm became even worse, destroying the ship I was standing on and... Pulling everything down into a whirlpool along with my family, who were ripped from my arms...
I lost everything...
My ship, my fleet, and... My family...
***
"Yes..." Ruguda’s eyes reflected sadness as he remembered his past, "I... I understand what you are feeling... I, too, had someone I love to come back to..."
Lillian nodded with a sad smile, twisting the water that was wrapped around her fist rapidly.
"Then... You know what I’m fighting for, right? Then... You must know that I can’t break either promises I made..."
Ruguda, raising his eyes to meet Lillian and dropping his hand away from his face, stared at the girl’s fist and found a rapidly spinning water drill around it.
"... I suppose you wish to end this fight of ours with one last attack?"
"Scared?"
Hearing the girl’s response, Ruguda’s face twitched. But then... A small smile appeared, for some reason.
"Scared? Hm... Before I answer that, answer me this. What is your name, Blessed?"
"My name? Haha..." Feeling a bit of pride that someone like Ruguda wished to know her name, Lillian yelled proudly, yelling the name she had been called and used since the moment she transmigrated into this world:
"Lillian, Lillian Ker Arius!"
"I see..."
Bending his knees, Ruguda expended the last amount of mana he had stored within his body to form a harpoon made of water, causing his body to begin cracking.
"I, Ruguda, am scared, Lillian Ker Arius. I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be able to achieve my goal for revenge and that I would disappoint those that I lost... Now, how about you? Are you not afraid that you may lose your life?"
Lillian, seeing that the Drowned King had accepted her challenge for one last attack, smiled self-deprecatingly as she raised her drill higher, making it spin even faster.
"I am... I’m scared as well..." Lillian’s heart clenched, fear making itself obvious. However, just a moment after, that fear vanished...
Upon relaxing and allowing confidence and bravery to appear once again inside her heart, Lillian took a strong step forward.
"But even if I’m scared, not returning back to those waiting for me is even scarier!"
"Then, come! If you wish to return back to those you love, then show me your resolve! LILLIAN KER ARIUS!"
With a rapid dash, the two charged towards each other for one last clash!
The clash that would end it all.
The clash that would decide the control of Lillian’s body and the fate of the loser!
Pulling her arm back, Lillian spun her drill even faster, using every ounce of mana she had recovered into this attack!
"HAAAAAA!"
Ruguda pulled back his arm and gripped his harpoon. At this very moment, he could dodge Lillian’s attack and kill her instantly...
And yet...
"HRAAAAAH!"
DING-DZZ!
He didn’t.
The two clashed, the sound of Lillian’s drill scraping against the tip of Ruguda’s harpoon as they were then locked into a furious stalemate.
Lillian, seeing that Ruguda didn’t decide to dodge and counterattack easily, smiled widely at the man, who seemed to smile back as cracks began to form across his body.
DZZ!
The water of the sea below them rippled as their intense clash caused the aura to whip outwards wildly.
Lillian gritted her teeth, feeling her arm growing sore as she felt like she was pushing her muscles to their very limit...
DZZ-SPLASH!
"Ngh...!" Lillian let out a groan, watching as a layer around her drill shattered and fell apart. She was being forced back!
Was this her limit?
...
No... It wasn’t.
As long...
"As long as I... Ngh—!"
As long as she had strength in her legs and mana inside her body...
"No matter—...!"
No matter how impossible the task was...!
"I’LL KEEP ON FIGHTING!"
She’ll keep fighting! She won’t give up! And she would rather die than break another promise!
If she couldn’t overcome an obstacle with her current self, then...
She just had to bypass her current conceptual limits! And—
"HAAAA!"
DZZ-SPLASH!
—BREAKTHROUGH!
Shattering through another layer of her drill, Lillian screamed out again, her eyes flashing intensely with a blinding light as her resolve to win exploded.
And with that explosion...
She was finally...
SPLASH-Psht...!
Drip... Drip... Drip...
Able to break through...
...
[You have slain a Master Maw, Ruguda, the Drowned King]
[You have gained a Shard]
...
{50% of the Final Boss, The Drowned King, Ruguda, has been defeated by Lillian Ker Arius and Nearlo Farland}
{All bosses needed for completion have been achieved.}
{The Jester’s Trial, titled "The Resolve against the Sinking Feelings", has come to an end.}
===
[Total Time of Battle: 1 Hour and 7 Minutes]