Dark Fantasy’s Extra

Thirty guards followed us.

From what I observed on the rooftop, there were roughly 200 Deep Sea Folk.

At the very front were Deep Sea Folk shield bearers.

About fifty of them were lined up in a row, forming a barrier.

Breaking through from the front seemed difficult.

However, they had no offensive capabilities, so they weren’t a threat by themselves.

The real problem was the majority of spearmen right behind them.

Even if they were low-tier Beasts, a frontal assault with just us against over a hundred would be impossible.

Particularly threatening were three Deep Sea Folk mages, easily identifiable by their characteristic purple scales and brightly glowing yellow eyes.

In Blue Paper Moon, Deep Sea Folk mages mainly used an area-of-effect magic called ‘Black Mist’.

Black Mist’s effect inflicted continuous poison damage and a vision-obscuring debuff on enemies within range.

For ordinary people like the guards, just skin contact could be life-threatening.

Our side was not only outnumbered but also inferior in overall quality.

But I wasn’t too worried.

After all, I hadn’t expected much combat ability from the guards in the first place.

Ten guards first appeared in front of the Deep Sea Folk guard squad holding shields.

Though called shields, they weren’t proper metal shields like the Deep Sea Folk had, but just three layers of doors ripped off from nearby houses and joined together.

The Deep Sea Folk crowd hurled spears at them.

Dozens of spears rained down and stuck into the shields.

“Eek…!”

“Ugh!”

The guards hiding behind the makeshift wooden shields groaned.

The force of the Deep Sea Folk’s thrown spears must have been felt through their entire bodies even with three layers of doors combined.

This kind of attack would pierce even steel armor if taken head-on – I could strongly sense its power.

“My arm!”

“Argh!?”

Some spears must have already pierced through the wooden shields and reached those behind, as screams from the guards could be heard.

“Retreat! Fall back and rotate!”

At the guard captain’s command, they fell back and other guards came forward just like before.

Then more spears flew, and they retreated again, repeating the cycle.

The Deep Sea Folk spearmen often threw their spears and fought bare-handed.

Of course, the Deep Sea Folk’s hook-like hands had claws that could tear through iron plates, but their reach was still shorter than spears.

If we could use the guards to exhaust the spearmen’s spears first, subsequent attacks would be easier.

Though not all spearmen threw their spears, roughly half were now without them.

And the remaining uninjured guards gathered together at once to face off against the Deep Sea Folk.

As soon as they formed ranks, the guards opened fire on the Deep Sea Folk all at once.

Though most shots were either blocked by shield bearers or their shields, the shields couldn’t cover their entire bodies.

Some shield bearers started falling to the coordinated fire from 25 guards, but the Deep Sea Folk didn’t move rashly.

Or rather, they couldn’t act without their commander’s presence.

Shields crumbling helplessly, confusion spreading within.

The spearmen who should respond also lack spears to throw.

Finally the Deep Sea Folk gathered toward the collapsing side to fill gaps, while the opposite side’s wall grew thinner.

And when I judged sufficient weakness had appeared in the Deep Sea Folk’s formation, I threw a bomb from where I was waiting on the opposite side from the guards.

It was a white flash bomb, one of the Order’s standard equipment – an iron ball the size of a fist filled with gunpowder and silver fragments.

This was also a consumable support weapon in Blue Paper Moon, but it was often better to just attack normally since Beasts would usually dodge by the time you could throw these things.

In reality too, shooting was more accurate and reliable than throwing, so these had been piling up in storage, but I brought a few in preparation for this invasion.

The fist-sized metal projectile flew over the shield bearers’ heads and landed among the clustered spearmen.

A moment later the bomb exploded with a thunderous boom, spraying silver that was lethal to low-tier Beasts like poison gas.

“…!?!”

As Deep Sea Folk covered in or inhaling silver powder went berserk from pain, their already weakened formation crumbled.

A Deep Sea Folk mage watching the battlefield from atop a carriage spewed black mist toward me.

Black mist was certainly a troublesome magic, but it had the disadvantage of being slow.

At close range it could completely envelop opponents without gaps, but at this distance it was easily avoidable.

In the game, Deep Sea Folk mages’ attacks had long intervals.

Though I never timed it exactly, it was roughly 30 seconds or so.

I took out another white flash bomb and threw it at the Deep Sea Folk mage on the carriage.

The bomb’s speed, thrown with arms, shoulders and waist enhanced by magical power, far surpassed the level of baseball pitches from my previous life.

The white flash bomb struck the Deep Sea Folk mage’s chest.

“…!!”

The mage collapsed from the carriage into the crowd after being covered in exploding silver powder.

Now two mages remained.

“Now!”

The moment I shouted, Hilde started running toward the Deep Sea Folk crowd.

Perhaps due to her spirit in charging alone with a huge axe against forces numbering in the hundreds, even the Deep Sea Folk seemed somewhat intimidated.

Their crowd split in half and from within, 10 Drowned Ones walked toward Hilde.

Hilde stopped her charge and took out another white flash bomb to throw at the Drowned Ones.

The four Drowned Ones caught in the bomb’s explosion also exploded themselves, spraying blood, guts, and flesh fragments everywhere.

And I picked off the remaining Drowned Ones one by one with my rifle.

Even now, the guards would be reducing Deep Sea Folk numbers with their firing line from the opposite side.

Everything was going smoothly.

Though the Deep Sea Folk outnumbered us several times over, this situation was possible and sustainable only because we had neutralized their commander from the start.

What sets Deep Sea Folk apart from Red Hood’s Beasts is their organization and discipline.

If they had tried to fight chaotically from the start regardless of their commander’s absence, we would have been helpless.

But now they cannot show flexibility beyond Commander Dara’s initial orders to hunt humans and defend their position.

Even exposing their mages, who should have had the most protection, in the most vulnerable place was just to show intimidation at the start, and they should have come down afterward.

But except for the one that fell, the rest still stood on the carriages.

Deep Sea Folk without their leader are not organized forces.

Just multiple stupid low-tier Beasts.

Next I sniped the remaining two mages on the carriages, and now only completely useless ones remained.

“You… vermin!”

Just then, one wearing a giant shell mask appeared among the Deep Sea Folk.

‘Land Expedition Commander Dara’.

The Beast whose back of the head I had sniped at first.

Since I hadn’t managed to finish him off, I thought he would appear again.

“How dare… how dare you desecrate my comrades like this!”

Dara shouted in rage.

“We are the proud vanguard of Lady Mermaid Rusalka who will cover the whole world with the ocean! Did you think we would fall so pathetically to trash like you!”

He raised high the staff in his hand.

When yellow light burst from the giant pearl fixed at its tip, eerie yellow flames blazed from the dark, hollow eye sockets of the surrounding Deep Sea Folk.

It looked exactly like Dara’s phase 2 pattern.

Even Dara’s words just now were exactly the same as his dialogue in the game.

The effect strengthens Deep Sea Folk soldiers’ abilities and aggression while increasing summoned numbers.

But realistically, other Deep Sea Folk couldn’t suddenly appear.

The bigger problem was that with their commander back, more organized responses…

“Go! Kill all humans! Let the ocean’s name echo throughout the world!”

At Dara’s command, almost all Deep Sea Folk soldiers scattered in all directions at once.

“Are they insane, what are they doing!?!?”

I shouted unconsciously.

“Hahaha! Kill the humans! Kill them all! Hahahaha!”

Dara laughed maniacally.

My mind froze.

It would be impossible for me, Hilde, and the few guards to track down and catch all those Beasts.

Civilian casualties would snowball obviously.

No, it had already begun.

“Damn it! Catch him!”

I shouted while rushing at Dara.

Hilde immediately stuck to my side at those words.

“Stop them!”

At Dara’s command, about 10 shield bearers stepped forward.

With shields much larger than other shield bearers, they were clearly elite troops.

“Senior! What should we do?!”

“I’ll go first, buy me time!”

“Yes! …What?”

I pushed my magical power to the extreme.

Feeling like my body’s wick was burning out, I used magic for the first time in a very long while.

[Acceleration].

I couldn’t use it during Hilde’s tutorial due to insufficient magical power, but now I had enough left to use [Acceleration].

All the blood vessels in my body expanded and even my consciousness seemed to drift away.

But everything remained crystal clear.

I threw the Mermaid Hunter in my hand.

I saw the harpoon tear through the air, pierce even the elite soldier’s shield, and lodge in his head.

Then I took out all my silver daggers and threw them at the enemies around the dead elite soldier.

While they staggered blocking the daggers with their shields for that instant, I had already reached the harpoon again.

Then I grabbed and pulled out the harpoon before reaching right in front of Dara.

Just getting here, I could already feel the burning magical power weakening.

If this drags on, I’ll die.

I thrust the Mermaid Hunter at Dara.

The harpoon’s tip went for his neck.

But before that, Dara also stretched out his hand.

“Arrrgh!”

The spear entered his palm and came out through his elbow.

Though this destroyed one of Dara’s arms, I still hadn’t finished him off.

Not only that, but I had essentially lost the harpoon too.

I let go of the spear without hesitation and drew my rifle again.

But when Dara struck the barrel with his other hand, the rifle shattered like a rotten branch.

“Not yet!”

When I took out my backup rifle, this time he smashed his shell-masked face into the muzzle.

The gun broke again on impact with the mask.

Damn it, this is why mass-produced weapons…!

I sensed pressure from the side.

Glancing briefly, I saw an unharmed elite soldier throwing himself to ram into me.

The magical power’s wick had already burned over halfway.

But right at that moment, Hilde also rammed into that elite soldier and pushed him away.

Hilde and the elite soldier tumbled down together.

I drew a pistol in one hand and the Raven Dagger in the other.

This time Dara charged at me bodily.

I fell backward with him.

“Die!”

Dara, who had fallen on top of crushing me, raised his upper body and swung down with hook-like sharp claws raised.

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