Chapter 222
It was the same stimulant that Boris had experimented on mercenaries in Delphoa when he was the Black Night Yaksha.
"Kroooooo!"
The mermen, brainwashed by the stimulant, rushed madly towards Zeke.
Zeke turned his body and stepped on the True Awakening, unleashing the Forceful Quake.
Kwa-kwang!
A strong shockwave spread out, sweeping through the mermen's bodies.
"Kuh-uh-uk!"
Their insides shaken by the shockwave, the mermen lost their balance and collapsed.
Zeke immediately activated Healing Factor as an area of effect buff.
Uwooo-oong!
Surprisingly, unlike before, the range of the area of effect buff had widened, and the power of the applied buff had also increased.
The bodies of the fallen mermen began to recover rapidly due to the effect of Healing Factor.
"Cough!"
The mermen who regained consciousness vomited and couldn't properly support their bodies.
'Are these withdrawal symptoms from the stimulant?'
Zeke pondered and then took out the Jewel Roland Sword .
'With Recovery, it might be possible to heal them.'
Princess Arina had inscribed the light magic Recovery onto Roland and returned it to Zeke through Clone.
It was his first time using it, but trusting Arina, Zeke held Roland and used Recovery.
Uwooo-oong!
A silver radiance spread from the sword.
The dazzling light permeated the bodies of the fallen mermen.
Tsutsutsutsu—
As the light faded, the mermen who had fallen were finally able to regain their senses.
"Ugh..."
"Oh, I'm gonna die."
"Head hurts, throat's dry..."
Zeke took out water from his inventory and distributed it to the mermen.
The mermen, without even checking who was giving it, quenched their thirst with the water and barely managed to stand up.
One of the mermen asked Zeke in a trembling voice,
"W-where are we?"
Zeke looked at the awakened mermen and asked,
"Are you Peter Pan's mermen pirates?"
At Zeke's words, the mermen blinked his seemingly innocent eyes, unlike before, and said,
"No, calling us p-pirates is a bit much. We just occasionally go out on boats to catch fish and catch bad guys. That's about it."
'What's with this guy?'
It felt more like dealing with a naive young man from a rural fishing village than a pirate.
Just then, other mermen regained consciousness and approached.
"Brother, are you alright? My head feels like it's splitting."
"Don't even mention it. I feel like I'm dying. Mark, how are you doing?"
The mermen called Mark was the largest, and he still seemed dizzy, staggering before collapsing back onto the floor.
He was the mermen who had thrown the net at Zeke first.
"My stomach feels queasy, and my head aches like crazy. But where is this place, brother?"
"I don't know either. Sir knight, where exactly are we?"
Seeing the mermen pirates looking completely different from what he had expected, Zeke forcibly suppressed his confusion.
Then, he calmly asked,
"Who is the highest-ranking... no, the oldest person here?"
Then, the skinny mermen who had regained consciousness first raised his hand.
Zeke gestured to him.
"Alright, let's ask one thing at a time. What's your name?"
"It's Billy."
"Billy. You and the other mermen here, are you not the mermen pirates?"
"Well, it's kind of right and kind of not."
"What does that mean?"
"We're, like... originally the youth association of our island's village."
"Youth association?"
"Yeah. When we get older, the young men of the island form a youth association together and help out with tough jobs in the village. If bad guys take the villagers who go out diving, we chase after them on boats and bring them back. We do stuff like that."
"So, that youth association is the mermen pirate crew?"
"We're not pirates, but they keep calling us that. The captain said it's easier to work that way, so we just went along with it."
"The captain... you mean Peter Pan?"
At those words, Billy clapped his hands and laughed.
"Oh my, really. I can't help but laugh every time I hear the captain's name."
"Laugh? What do you mean by that?"
"Peter Pan is originally the name of a whale we raise on our island."
"A whale?"
"Yeah, at first we were wondering what to name our youth association, and then our Peter Pan just came up to the surface. So we said, great! Let's name our youth association Peter Pan and the mermen. But then that guy with the hook or whatever suddenly called the captain Peter Pan? After that, everyone kept calling the captain Peter Pan, Peter Pan, and that's how it happened."
Zeke, hearing Billy's words, was utterly dumbfounded.
'What the hell? Are these guys really the mermen pirates, the strongest among the Southern Sea pirates?'
The agility he had seen when fighting them earlier was definitely outstanding.
Their teamwork, their skill in throwing nets and hooks, and their stance when thrusting harpoons were not the work of a day or two of training.
Zeke calmed down again and asked Billy,
"Have you perhaps heard of Cali Draker?"
Then, Billy clapped his hands and said,
"Oh my, the Silver Knight! Of course even country bumpkins like us know her. She's super pretty and incredibly strong, right?"
"Incredibly pretty...? Anyway, let's skip that. So, you're saying you didn't come with Peter Pan to eliminate Cali Draker under the orders of the Empire or those Siemens guys?"
At those words, Billy waved his hands dismissively.
"We don't know anything about that! We're just helping the captain with what he does for our island."
Zeke looked closely into Billy's eyes.
His spiritual power had grown stronger, so he could tell the truthfulness of such simple words.
'Doesn't seem like he's lying.'
Zeke pondered and then said to Billy,
"The dizziness you felt earlier was because of a stimulant made from Soma by the Empire."
At those words, Billy was startled and asked,
"S-Soma? Isn't that a bad drug?"
"It's mostly used as a narcotic. Anyway, it seems the Empire put a stimulant in you and brainwashed you. Do you remember anything?"
Billy clutched his head and thought hard.
"Hmm. Come to think of it, someone did come to our island where our youth association is a few months ago."
"Who was it?"
"I don't really know who it was, but anyway, he looked scary. He had red hair and stuff."
From that description alone, Zeke thought he knew who it was.
'Abel Draker. So that bastard approached the mermen pirates.'
Zeke asked Billy again,
"Did Peter Pan join hands with that guy?"
Then, Billy shook his head.
"Oh my, don't say such awful things! Our captain isn't that kind of person. When the captain flat-out refused, he just got on his ship and left."
"Hmm, Abel just left?"
"I don't know if it was Abel or whatever, but he left. But then... uh oh?"
It was then.
"Kuh-uk!"
Billy suddenly clutched his head and collapsed.
Zeke hurriedly forced Billy's head up to check his condition.
Billy rolled his eyes back and trembled violently.
"Kuh-uk! Knights! Knights are coming! C-captain! B-because of us, he's c-captured...!"
Billy trembled and then fainted. Then, the other mermen approached and checked on Billy's condition.
"Sir knight! Is Billy alright? Oh no, what do we do!"
Zeke pondered and then told them to move Billy towards the seawater.
The most comfortable place for a mermen was in the seawater.
After putting Billy in the seawater, Zeke deployed Steadfast Mental Defense as an area of effect buff.
Uwooo-oong!
As the light permeated his body, Billy's face looked much more relaxed than before.
'What on earth happened?'
Zeke decided to find out what had happened to the mermen through the sleeping Billy.
He grabbed Billy and gathered his energy.
As his Dragon Senses activated, Billy's memories flooded into Zeke's mind.
* * *
When Zeke opened his eyes, the surrounding scenery had completely changed.
"Where is this?"
Zeke stood on an island he had never seen before.
There were several large and small islands centered around a crescent-shaped rocky island.
Just then, the sound of a long blast from a horn echoed throughout the entire island.
Boo-wooooooo!
At the same time, a massive whirlpool formed in front of the path leading to the crescent-shaped island.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
The ships approaching the island were blocked by the whirlpool and couldn't move.
Zeke recognized that those ships were Empire battleships.
'Did the Imperial Army attack the mermen pirate crew?'
Just then, he saw something rising from the ships.
Keeeeeeek!
Surprisingly, flying demon beasts were soaring from the ships towards the island.
Hoo-oong!
The demon beasts flew over Zeke's head. On their backs were Fiends and black mages.
Kwa-kwakwang!
The black mages hurled magic bombs from the air towards the island's village.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!
As the magic bombs exploded, the mermen in the village sprang out with harpoons and nets.
At the same time, the Fiends riding on the demon beasts jumped down towards the mermen.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The Fiends attacked the mermen, wielding swords engulfed in demonic energy.
The mermen fought back by throwing nets and stabbing with harpoons, but it was futile.
Soon, most of the mermen were either dead or captured.
Eventually, the whirlpool blocking the path into the island was dispelled, and the Empire's ships safely entered the inner part of the island.
Those who entered the mermen's island alongside the Empire's knights.
It was none other than Abel Draker, the Knight of Massacre.
He swept his red hair back and surveyed the island.
'As expected, that bastard Abel was involved.'
Just then, a knight discovered Zeke and grabbed him, dragging him towards Abel.
Zeke realized that he was seeing the scene from Billy's perspective and was also sharing his emotions.
Billy, kneeling before Abel, was terrified.
In Billy's gaze, the face of a familiar man appeared.
"Hoo, these mermen are troublesome. Commander Abel must be having a hard time."
A man with slightly receding hairline.
It was Morgan Buffon, a knight of the Quadruple Spear.
Abel looked down at Billy with cold eyes and said,
"Do you think Peter Pan will fall for this, taking these filthy mermen as hostages?"
Morgan Buffon nodded and replied,
"It seems Peter Pan is quite attached to the mermen of this village. He will surely yield to the Commander's proposal, so please do not worry."
At Morgan's words, Abel slowly nodded.
Then, Morgan grabbed Billy's chin and smirked.
"If the mermen are soaked in drugs and brainwashed, they'll become docile. If it's these guys, they'll be able to navigate the ruins well, so His Majesty has high expectations."
Abel looked at Morgan Buffon's vile smile, then turned his head away without a word.
As he left, Morgan also wiped the smile off his face and gestured to the knights.
"Clean up. We're going to meet that Peter Pan bastard right away."
The peaceful village was engulfed in flames, and the mermen, in handcuffs and chained, were dragged onto the Empire's ships like slaves.
Billy, seeing this, howled and tried desperately to break free.
Then, the knights beat Billy mercilessly with their spear shafts. A suspicious-looking mage approached the badly beaten Billy and injected something into him.
"Ugh..."
The world began to spin.
Billy called out for his captain and lost consciousness.
* * *
"Hoo."
Zeke, having read Billy's memories and returned, regained his senses.
He roughly understood what had happened.
'The Empire captured the mermen to threaten Peter Pan.'
Their island was attacked not only to trap Cali but also with the aim of exploring the ancient ruins hidden on this island by using the mermen's abilities.
Zeke clenched his fist tightly as he looked at the mermen who were looking at him with innocent expressions.
In his previous life, such things had happened all over the continent.
But in fact, Peter Pan and the mermen pirate crew had also been used, so there must have been far more victims than he knew.
Abel's cold eyes and Morgan's vile gaze flashed in Zeke's mind.
'Damn those bastards.'
Zeke took Billy out of the seawater.
Then, he asked the other mermen,
"Does anyone remember what happened to the captain?"
At Zeke's question, the mermen clutched their heads with confused expressions.
They seemed to have lost their memories due to the drugs.
It was then.
Billy, who had lost consciousness, regained it.
"Ugh."
Zeke approached Billy.
"Are you feeling a bit better?"
Billy looked at Zeke and opened his mouth.
"M-memory. I remembered."
At those words, Zeke approached Billy.
"Is there anything you remember about the captain?"
Billy barely raised himself up and said to Zeke,
"T-the captain f-fought that p-person for us!"
Zeke's eyebrows twitched at Billy's words.
"That person? Who are you talking about?"
Billy said, gasping for breath,
"Cali Draker... the S-Silver Knight!"