BBYW Vol. 2 Interlude Part 11 (WN)
Interlude – Dietrich Maxwell’s Adventure
Part 11 – Mankind’s First Manned Flight
The pirate battle continued to escalate.
The 20 Lion King vessels shot fire arrows without pause. I cut down the flaming objects with my sword, while Grace countered by launching cannonballs.
The sea battle continued for a while, without either side giving in.
“We’re not losing, but we’re not dealing decisive damage either! We can’t keep up against those numbers at this rate!!”
So I yelled as I once again swung my sword.
“Gh…we can put out the fires, but it takes too long to plug the holes! We’ll last for 10 minutes, no longer!!”
“Tch…! Can’t we get closer to them somehow!?”
I glared at the enemy ships in irritation. They were about 100 meters away from us: while the maximum range of my Lancelot was 50 meters. To be able to sink them effectively, I had to be at least 30 meters away.
“If we get closer without a good plan, we’ll just drown in fire arrows!! If it’s easier for us to attack, it’ll be easier for them too!!”
“That’s true, but…”
Fighting against an opponent out of sword’s reach was extremely aggravating. I felt like I was about to pop a blood vessel from the stress.
“Right!! I’m getting tired of this!!”
Grace threw another iron ball and howled. She shared my same feelings, apparently: she was baring her beast-like fangs in an angry scowl.
“We’re almost out of cannonballs too! Perfect timing for the next move!”
“What, you got a trump card or something?”
“I got a new one actually —, something special!”
Grace then sprinted in my direction. She came right next to me, crouched down and grabbed my ankles.
“Here goes!”
“Whoa!?”
I got lifted from the ankles and flipped upside down. I barely managed to keep my head from hitting the deck.
“What the..hell…?”
“You can cut down the ships if you get closer, right!? Mister pirate ship slicing swordsman!!”
“Wha…how do you know that!?”
“Everyone’s been talking about it! There’s a merchant ship protected by a fearsome guard, someone capable of slicing apart a whole ship!!”
Grace, firmly grasping my ankles, started rotating in place. I spun with her, and had an awful premonition.
“You can’t mean…!”
“Go do it again!! Cut’em down!!”
After accumulating enough centrifugal force, Grace tossed me towards the sky.
“DYEAHHHHHH!!!!”
I rose high in the air, drawing a wide arc. I couldn’t know for sure, but it was probably the first time a human being flew.
“YOU BASTARD!! DON’T EVER FORGET THIS!! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!!”
While shouting, I tried my hardest to take a posture that would allow me to swing my sword.
Even with her incredible muscular strength, Grace wasn’t probably used to tossing human beings: I was going to fall into the sea at this rate.
“Lancelot!! Extend!!”
I stretched my blade towards an enemy ship. My magic sword, extended to the max, struck right into one of the ships’ mast.
“GRAAAHHH!!!”
“Eh!? What!?”
I returned the sword to its normal size, twisting my body in the air to land on the ship with my feet.
Seeing me drop down from the sky, the pirates screamed in shock.
“H-How…how did you…!?”
“I’ll be honest. I couldn’t care less about you people at this point.”
I ignored the pirates and started talking by myself.
“There’s someone I want to kill a lot more than you. So let me warm up a bit before I do. I don’t have anything against you, but just die!!”
“Whargh!?”
I swung my sword twice.
The first slash cut off the mast at the base.
The second cleaved the whole ship in two.
The two halves of the ship started creaking as they sank, raising waves and foam.
“GWAAAHHH!!”
“H-Help…!!”
The pirates fell into the sea, together with their vessel. I did not wait for all of them to disappear below the waves, however, and jumped up from the deck.
“One down…”
I climbed the mast I had cut down and hopped onto the nearest ship.
“Heh!?”
“You’re next!!”
The pirates were still staring incredulously at their comrades’ suddenly sinking ship. I ignored them completely and swung again.
The fatal slash sent the second ship rumbling and sinking. The impact of two sinking vessels formed a small whirlpool in the seawater.