The knight pirates resisted, but most were surrounded by soldiers and fell one after another.
Surrounded by trained soldiers, the knights were outnumbered and could only fall.
The second-in-command was running around inside the ship.
"Damn Gorez. He escaped all by himself."
He had let the enemy's ground forces board and engage them, and somehow disappeared in the meantime.
The second-in-command was also trying to think of a way to escape from this situation.
He checked the ship's status on his terminal.
"No good. There's nowhere to run. Damn it—what a place to be in."
The second-in-command slumped to the ground.
Then, he was spotted by an enemy unit led by a knight with a sword.
He tried to run, but wherever he went, there were only enemies.
The second-in-command raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Wait! Listen to me!"
The small knight carrying the sword on his shoulder stopped and ordered his subordinates not to shoot, as if he was going to listen.
From his voice, he seemed to be a young knight.
(This is my chance. I'll do anything, even beg. I have to survive no matter what.)
"I was just being used by Gorez. Please, let me go."
The knight was wearing a helmet, so his expression was not visible.
"Right! I know where the treasure is. I can't open the key, but I'll tell you the location, so let me go. I swear!"
The second-in-command prostrated himself.
The knight said nothing.
But one of the knight's subordinates was operating a terminal and reporting.
"Sir Liam, this man seems to have been the second-in-command of the Gorez pirate group. It doesn't seem like he was just being used."
Hearing the name Liam, the second-in-command looked up.
"Liam? You—no, it's you, Sir! I thought you had the air of a king. How about it, will you hire me? If you hire me, who was in charge of the Gorez pirate group, you'll have—power—"
Suddenly, his vision changed.
His body was motionless, yet his vision changed.
In zero gravity, he saw his own body.
From the front—.
"Wh—?"
The second-in-command's consciousness faded there.
â—‡
The guide, who had been watching the battlefield, was dumbfounded.
He was standing on a destroyed pirate ship in space.
"Unbelievable. What is that strength!"
Faced with a power that Liam should not have, the guide was bewildered.
A school of swordsmanship like the One-Flash School does not exist in this world.
Moreover, it was a lie by Anshi.
Yet—Liam had reproduced it.
"Even if he had talent, what does that strength mean? What did that man teach him?"
He had become much stronger than expected while the guide was not watching.
He never thought he would be this strong.
The guide held his head in his hands.
"It hurts. My chest feels tight. Damn it!"
The guide could feel the gratitude of the detestable Liam.
The feeling of trust in him made him feel sick.
"Now that it's come to this, I can't afford to care about appearances. Gorez, I'll give you special power."
Swinging his arm, black smoke appeared.
"Against my principles, but there's no other way. This is your fault, Mr. Liam. You've really put me through a lot."
Despite being the one who started it, his words were harsh.
â—‡
Gorez, hiding inside the ship, was trembling.
He was gripping the alchemy box with both hands.
"I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I can't die here."
Despite being the leader of a pirate group that had wreaked havoc, he was cowering and crying.
After all, his abundant source of funds was his weapon.
Being just a bit stronger, he would be killed if found.
"Should I beg for my life? No, that won't work. I'll be handed over for my bounty. That's it, I'll prepare the treasure with this—"
If he had used the alchemy box more skillfully, Gorez could have gained immense wealth.
He wouldn't have had to be a pirate.
But because he had acted recklessly, he ended up in this situation.
It was his own doing.
However, no one had expected him to lose to Liam.
Black smoke enveloped Gorez.
"What the—!"
The voice he heard was that of the guide.
"Gorez, I'll give you a chance."
"Wh, who are you!"
The black smoke entered Gorez's mouth and throat.
When the guide appeared, Gorez clutched his throat with both hands in agony.
The guide said,
"Anyone will do. I'll give you a chance to defeat Liam. Do you want to lose like this?"
Gorez shook his head, and the guide smiled with a crescent-shaped mouth.
"That's good."
Gorez, who had inhaled the black smoke, dropped the alchemy box but was freed from his suffering and saw his own form.
"What? Power is surging through me. And I'm not afraid of anything! I'm not afraid at all!"
He felt no sense of wrongness in his blue-black skin.
Rather, power was surging through him.
Gorez smiled.
The guide also smiled.
"Your skin now has the hardness of adamantite. There's nothing to fear. You are now a being beyond human. Go on!"
"Brat! I'll beat you to a pulp!"
As the guide watched Gorez run off, he put his hand to his forehead.
"—I pushed myself a bit too hard. I played a bit too much."
He had used the door to other worlds many times and had done reckless things.
The guide looked tired.
"Well, with this, Gorez won't be able to cut Liam. Let him regret boarding recklessly."
The guide disappeared from the scene, and a small light approached the alchemy box.
This light was the light that had entered Avyd and had been watching the guide.
The light turned into a black and brown dog and ran down the corridor toward Liam.
â—‡
As I was walking down the corridor, I felt a familiar presence.
"—Huh?"
What crossed my field of vision was a brown tail—a dog's tail.
One of my subordinates asked me,
"What's wrong, Sir Liam?"
"No, I just—was there a dog?"
"A dog? No, there are no biological reactions, and there's no way a dog would be here. They wouldn't even put a special combat suit on a dog."
Was it just my imagination?
I thought for a moment about why the tail felt familiar.
—That's right.
It was the dog I had in my previous life.
I also remembered the story that animals you had kept would come to meet you when they were dying.
They didn't come to meet me, so it must have been a superstition.
The one who came to meet me was the guide.
"I had forgotten about it."
"About what?"
"Nothing. Let's go this way."
Walking in the direction where I saw the tail, I came to a cluttered corridor instead of a clean one.
It was used as a storage room, with things placed everywhere.
There were many places to hide, and my subordinates were advancing cautiously, but there was no sign of anyone.
There was no sign of the dog either.
I was a bit disappointed.
Sighing and looking down, I saw something on the floor.
"What is it?"
Picking it up, it was a golden box.
It was a size that could be held in one hand.
It was decorated with patterns and various designs, and I felt like I had gotten a good deal.
"I've found something good. This is mine."
My subordinate looked at me with a look of exasperation.
"So you really do like gold, Sir Liam."
"I love it."
"What about mithril or adamantite?"
"Hmm? Yeah, I like them too. But gold is the best."
My subordinates seemed to be looking at me with a look of exasperation, but mithril is silver, right?
And I only have the image of adamantite as a material for weapons.
I don't really feel the value.
As I was looking at the box, I saw a dog's tail in my field of vision again.
"—Again."
"Sir Liam, don't go ahead!"
Chasing after the dog, leaving my subordinates behind, I reached a dead end.
But something felt unnatural.
Checking with my helmet, I found it was a hidden door.
"I smell treasure."
I had my subordinate blow up the hidden door and we entered.
There was indeed a mountain of treasure, but it was not the gold and silver I had expected, but only antiques.
"—A dud, huh."
My subordinate was surprised.
"No, no, it's a big win! They all look expensive."
"I only have the image of antiques being fakes."
Actually, the antiques owned by the Vanfield family were all fakes.
I decided to secure them and looked around to see if there was anything else.
"There's a sword."
The sword, which looked quite old, was like a sword from a fantasy game.
The design of the scabbard and hilt was very typical.
It was quite simple and not flashy—
But when I picked it up, the blade was very clean.
"Should I try it out?"
"It's better not to. It looks expensive."
"It's only right to use it. It's fine. It's something I took from the pirates."
I put the golden box in a large pouch on the back of my waist and handed my rifle and blade to my subordinates, taking the sword in my hand.
Thinking about it, I didn't need to fight.
"Where to next—"
"Sir Liam, emergency communication!"
One of my subordinates shouted.
â—‡
The ground forces had discovered Gorez.
But the soldiers in powered suits were being thrown by Gorez's single arm.
"Damn it! Why is he deflecting bullets!"
"Optical weapons don't work either!"
"Back off! I'll take care of it!"
A soldier with a bazooka fired at Gorez, but Gorez walked out of the explosion and smoke as if nothing had happened.
The soldiers' faces turned pale.
Gorez put his hand on his neck and twisted it.
"You've been wreaking havoc on someone else's ship. Don't think you'll all get out of here alive."
Drunk on the power he had gained and the feeling that he could do anything, Gorez felt he could take on any knight.
When he clenched his fist, a sound that was not like a human hand but like metal creaking could be heard.
"I'll make all of you my toys."
With the power given to him by the guide, Gorez was blowing the soldiers away.
Bullets, lasers, and explosives were meaningless.
A soldier, thinking quickly, tried to manipulate the air pressure inside the corridor, but it had no effect on Gorez.
"What kind of modifications did this guy do?"
"Is he a cyborg?"
As the soldiers tried to get away from Gorez, he ran after them and beat them up.
He grabbed and threw them, and Gorez was wreaking havoc with his power.
"Bring the brat here! I'll take care of him myself!"
One of the soldiers shouted orders to the others.
"Get Sir Liam out of the ship. Don't let this guy get to Sir Liam!"
The soldiers, knowing their attacks were ineffective, started attacking anyway, and Gorez wreaked havoc among them.
"What's wrong? Is that all you've got!"
When he punched a soldier, he crushed his helmet and head, and when he threw him, the body bent in a direction it shouldn't have.
Using a soldier as a shield, the gunfire stopped.
"Now I'll—"
He threw the soldier he was using as a shield and took a step forward, but Gorez's body was covered in wounds.
"—What!?"
Surprised, Gorez looked at his own body and saw several wounds.
Not knowing what was happening, a person fell from above.
The man who landed slowly stood up and looked at his badly chipped blade.
"This is too hard."
He seemed to be smiling a little.
His face was not visible because he was wearing a helmet.
Gorez reached out with his right hand to grab him, but something fell with a thud.
And his right arm was missing from the elbow down.
"—What?"
Surprised, the small man in front of him threw away the blade.
What he was holding was a sword he had seen before.
A sword he had seen in the room where he had thrown the antiques.
It was a very valuable sword.
"You, that's mine!"
The man was smiling.
"This? I got it. But you've really caused a lot of trouble."
He shouldered the sword and reached out with his left hand.
This time, his left arm fell off.
"—!"
Gorez didn't know what was happening.
Moreover, the man in front of him had somehow drawn his sword.
He was looking at the blade with admiration.
"Amazing. Not a single chip. It's a great blade."
The two arms he had lost.
As Gorez was confused, black smoke spewed from the cut surfaces and turned into fleshy tentacles. Whip-like things grew from his arms.
"You, you—!"
Without thinking, he attacked the man in front of him.
But the man ignored Gorez.
"This is nice. I'll use this from now on. Wow, it was a treasure trove."
The whip he swung was finely sliced, and this time Gorez's leg was cut off.
Black smoke was leaking from Gorez's body as he knelt.
"U, uh—"
He no longer had the bravado he had before and was trembling.
Black blood was flowing from the cut surfaces.
The enemy gathered to protect the knight.
"Sir Liam!"
Hearing the name, Gorez looked up.
He frowned and glared at the man in front of him like a demon.
"You—You're Liam!"
The man was absorbed in the new sword he had obtained and wasn't looking at Gorez.
"Yeah. I'm Liam. And add 'sir' to that, trash. But who is this black guy? Some kind of cyborg?"
The subordinates around him answered with some doubt.
"His skin color is different, but it could be Gorez."
"This guy?"
This time, a sharp horn-like thing grew from Gorez's left arm.
"Don't ignore me!"
He thrust his left arm forward, trying to pierce Liam's heart, but this time his left shoulder and everything above it was cut off.
Liam looked at the kneeling Gorez.
He was looking at Gorez's face closely with the sword on his shoulder.
"You're Gorez?"
Gorez was trembling.
(What is this? What is this guy? How can he cut through my body, which can even deflect bullets? This is wrong. This is all wrong!)
Confused, Gorez begged Liam for his life.
"—P, please forgive me."
"Huh?"
"Help me. No, please help me. I won't defy you again. If you let me go, I'll give you an incredible treasure. So—please forgive me!"