Repeat Vice - The Villainous Noble Doesn't Want to Die, So He Swore to Not Die As One of The Four Heavenly Kings - Chapter 9 - Demonic Whale

Chapter 9: Demonic Whale

A massive magical creature—the Magic Whale, swims and dances through the sky, glaring at us with its emerald eyes. It lets out a short cry and releases another high-density magical wave similar to before.

“…Damn it.”

In response, I release a magical wave back at it.

Our magical waves clashed on the sea.

The collision of excessive magical waves distorts the air and grinds the space.

I increase the amount of magical energy I release even further.

After a brief standoff, I emerge victorious in the clash of magical waves.

The Magic Whale’s magical wave disperses, and my magical wave strikes it.

It squints uncomfortably, and its emerald eyes lock onto me.

“Hmph, so you finally noticed me. Just a whale with a bit more magic.”

In a battle between equals like this, exchanging magical waves is not basic practice.

It’s because it’s pointless.

Those with high magical power have high resistance to magic.

From the perspective of high-level magicians, while they may feel discomfort from being hit by magical waves, it’s practically damage-free.

The only reason to release magical waves is when facing a vastly inferior opponent.

Those with lower magic power are greatly affected by magical energy.

Receiving a high-density magical wave can render those without magic power unable to move.

Just like how the sailors fainted earlier.

With magical power like that of the Magic Whale, it could likely render most enemies incapacitated with just magical waves alone.

However, this time, I, Rofus Ray Lightless, am here.

“If you ever dared to look down on me for a moment, I’ll make you regret it.”

I create countless Dark Balls, filling the sky above the flagship.

Even low-level magic like Dark Balls can reach the power of high-level magic when I use it.

With this many Dark Balls, their power would be enough to obliterate a suitable mountain.

It’s impossible to dodge the barrage of Dark Balls with that huge body.

“Disappear.”

The countless Dark Balls produced endlessly attack the Magic Whale.

Without attempting to avoid them, the Magic Whale is hit by a large number of Dark Balls, and the roar of magical explosions resounds.

Fol and Carlos are dumbfounded as they watch.

“…Didn’t you talk about being prepared to die?”

Fol says with a half-closed eye.

Idiot, this can’t be the end.

Carlos silently watches the Magic Whale engulfed in smoke, not letting down his guard.

The smoke clears.

There, as if nothing happened, the Magic Whale floats just like before.

“What…?”

“…Seriously?”

Carlos and Fol widen their eyes in astonishment.

To endure that barrage without a scratch.

Without hesitation, I immediately create an extra-large Dark Lance and aim it at the Magic Whale.

While the overall firepower is inferior to the barrage of Dark Balls, the piercing power of an extra-large Dark Lance is overwhelmingly high.

The released extra-large Dark Lance approaches the Magic Whale at tremendous speed.

And just before it hits the Magic Whale, a semi-transparent membrane appears and blocks the extra-large Dark Lance.

A tremendous magical explosion occurs, but it doesn’t reach the Magic Whale.

That membrane is…

“A Magic Barrier…?”

A wall that covers the entire body, made with the innate magic power of high-level magicians.

I also constantly maintain a magical barrier, so it’s not surprising for the Magic Whale, which has magic power on the level of mine, to have a magical barrier.

What’s astonishing is its strength.

Even my magic barrier can only completely defend against intermediate-level magic, and if it were to receive advanced-level magic, it would either distort or, at worst, be breached.

Naturally, while a single Dark Ball might be manageable, facing a barrage would easily reach its endurance limit. As for the Dark Lance, it’s simply beyond tolerance.

And yet, that Magic Whale…

“Was it solely using its magic barrier to defend against my magic…?”

To think that it could defend against my Dark Lance, which is difficult for even standard protective magic to fully block, using only its magic barrier…

As I am taken aback, the Magic Whale lets out a roar that shakes the sea surface.

The tremendous volume makes me instinctively cover my ears.

While there seems to be no sign of the expected magical waves, I can sense magical energy imbued in the echoing roar.

It’s not just a roar; it’s something else entirely…?

After a moment of silence, the sea surface near the ship trembles greatly, and countless magical creatures emerge.

Leading the charge are Swordfish, followed by Mermen, Needle Frogs, Electric Serpents, and various other magical creatures, all climbing onto the deck of the ship.

“Magical creatures at a time like this!?”

Fol shouts as he delivers a roundhouse kick to a Mermaid, sending it back into the sea.

At a time like this?

No, these creatures were clearly intentionally sent by the Magic Whale.

It must have summoned them with that roar just now.

And the behavior of these creatures…

All the creatures have glowing red eyes and are notably aggressive.

This characteristic is undoubtedly the same as creatures affected by “Catastrophe.”

Is there a connection between this Magic Whale and the Catastrophe that occurred when the Demon King was resurrected?

In any case, it’s certain that the Magic Whale is involved in the massive emergence and aggression of sea creatures.

“Young master, we should retreat…!”

Carlos suggests as he cuts down approaching creatures.

“It’s impossible.”

“Young master!”

“I’m not being stubborn. I’m saying it’s impossible to shake them off on this ship.”

Though the Magic Whale is now gracefully floating in the sky, it can quickly catch up to Clinton’s ship, which should have been quite a distance away.

To the Magic Whale, this ship’s full speed is probably akin to standing still.

There’s no choice but to fight back.

Fortunately, Fol is doing a good job.

Dealing with this number of creatures would have been tough for Carlos alone.

It’s turned into a different situation than the anticipated battle with the Sea Fiends, but now I can focus solely on magic.

The Magic Whale may be calling forth a multitude of creatures and watching from a distance, but we have our forces too.

If the Dark Lance isn’t enough, then I’ll just have to use more powerful magic.

To think you’ve won with just this much…

“Huh?”

As I prepare to launch a new magic attack against the Magic Whale, I notice something glittering around it.

Shimmering white flakes gather around it, forming spears.

Several giant ice spears form around the Magic Whale.

That’s undoubtedly…

“Magic…!”

Magical creatures fundamentally cannot use magic.

It’s not that they choose not to, but they simply cannot.

Using magic requires a high level of intelligence for understanding magic circles, chanting, and the like.

Only a very small number of beings, such as humans, humanoid races, certain high-ranking dragon species, and the like, can handle magic.

Is that whale on par with high-ranking dragon species in terms of intelligence…?

At the very least, it undoubtedly possesses the high intelligence necessary to use magic.

Moreover, those are intermediate-level ice magic, Blizzard Lances.

Did it imbue ridiculous amounts of magic power like I did, or is it just naturally that size?

Each of those Blizzard Lances would have destructive power on par with high-level magic, and there are more than ten of them.

And their numbers are increasing.

If they were all released at once, there would be no escape for this ship.

Even a single hit would likely result in its sinking.

Is it really willing to attack alongside the creatures it summoned…?

Despite having the high intelligence necessary to use magic, it lacks any sense of ethics.

Truly fitting for a magical creature.

“Hey, isn’t that dangerous!?”

Fol looks at the Magic Whale, his face contorted.

From Fol’s perspective, witnessing the power of my Dark Lance, those magic spears must be quite threatening.

“You focus on the creatures in front of you. It’s my job to worry about that.”

Even if you worry, you can’t escape or defend against it.

Well, I’m not particularly skilled with protective magic myself.

With ice spears of that level, it would be tough even with the Dark Cliff, let alone blocking more than one attack.

Then, I take out a knife from my pocket and lightly cut my finger.

Then I let the blood flow onto my shadow.

What I’m about to activate is an ancient magic that has survived since the mythological era.

“—[Gate of Purification].”

Simultaneously with the activation of the magic, the Magic Whale sends numerous Blizzard Lances towards us.

Immediately, a massive ominous gate appears on the sea between our ship and the Magic Whale.

It emits a pitch-black miasma and remains there despite the collision of approaching Blizzard Lances and the continuous intense magical explosions.

To think that it would force me to use one of my trump cards, the highest-level protective magic…

It’s been two years since I last used an ancient magic.

And now I have to use it repeatedly.

I cut my finger deeply again and let more blood flow onto my shadow.

“—[Reaper’s Scythe].”

A jet-black scythe, almost as tall as me, appears in my hand.

It’s smaller than the intermediate-level Dark Scythe, but its power is incomparable.

It’s an ancient magic passed down in the Lightless family, the progenitor of the Dark Scythe.

Among the attack magics I can use, it boasts the highest level of destructive power.

Its single blow can rightfully sever all things.

“To think you’d go as far as using the ‘Gate of Hell’ and the ‘Scythe of Death’…”

Carlos mutters with a mixture of awe and fear.

This should be the first time he’s seen me use these magics, but he seems to know them well, even their nicknames.

Truly, it’s because he’s served the Lightless family since my grandfather’s time.

“Now, let’s end this.”

I swing the jet-black scythe at the Magic Whale.

Unlike the Dark Scythe, there’s no black slash flying out.

Everything at the tip of the scythe’s blade is silently cut off.

The sea creatures, the sea itself, and even the atmosphere.

In front of this scythe, distance, obstacles, and even magic are all meaningless.

The Magic Whale’s sturdy magic barrier is easily severed like butter, and the scythe cuts through its massive body.

It seems to have twisted its body at the last moment; instead of bisecting its torso, only one side of its pectoral fin is severed, falling into the sea.

Blood spills and flows.

It’s the first time, a scream of agony that could be called the Magic Whale’s roar.

“…You’re quite perceptive.”

Or perhaps just desperate?

Originally, it should have ended with its torso being bisected, but to think it avoided it…

Well, it lost one fin regardless.

And the “Reaper’s Scythe” isn’t a magic that ends with a single swing.

With immense magic consumption comes tremendous power, and it can be swung multiple times.

I raise the jet-black scythe again.

At that moment, there’s movement from the Magic Whale, which had been screaming in agony.

While it had an air of ease until it lost a fin, it now glares at me with clear hostility.

And as if its already massive mouth wasn’t enough, it opens it wider, gathering white light inside.

It’s obvious to anyone.

That’s clearly a charge for a breath attack or something.

Every drop of blood flowing through its body is sounding the alarm.

This is bad.

“—[Gate of Purification]!”

Once again, the ominous gate emitting miasma.

It’s the ultimate protective magic that nullifies all attacks, but even so, I can’t shake off the unease.

I produce five layers of Dark Cliffs covering the entire ship, preparing for the breath attack.

Then, the Magic Whale releases a white-hot beam from its mouth.

The Gate screams as the white-hot beam pierces through its center.

I add more magic power, but it’s like a drop in the ocean.

I can barely hold it back for a few seconds, but the white-hot beam breaks through the center of the gate and creates a hole.

Next, the beam pierces through the five layers of Dark Cliffs like paper and approaches our ship.

“Kuh…”

I quickly swing the “Reaper’s Scythe Harvesting Lives” at the approaching beam.

The collision between the white-hot beam and the scythe’s slash creates a tremendous shockwave, raging over the sea, and with it, the trajectory of the white-hot beam deviates slightly.

The direct hit to the center of our ship was narrowly avoided.

While the ship’s hull suffered damage that cannot be overlooked, it’s at least not completely destroyed.

However, at the end of the strayed white-hot beam’s trajectory, Fol was facing off against a magical creature.

Ah, this is bad.

This won’t make it in time.

No magic will be able to stop that white-hot beam.

“…Ah”

Fol gazes at the approaching white-hot beam absentmindedly.

He doesn’t even attempt to dodge.

Of course not.

I’m the one who ordered him to focus on the creatures.

It’s my job to worry about the Magic Whale.

“…What’s that?”

Even though I was so confident in facing the Magic Whale, I haven’t been able to stop a single attack.

And to think he’s blaming the damage on someone who was just following my orders?

Enough with the jokes.

I am Rofus Ray Lightless.

As the heir to the Lightless Duke household, I cannot afford such foolish mistakes…!

I flow magic power into my legs and leap forcefully towards Fol.

“Wha!? What are you doing!?”

Ignoring Fol’s surprise, I grab him by the collar and, strengthened by magic, throw him towards the center of the ship.

Then, facing the approaching white-hot beam, I swing the “Reaper’s Scythe Harvesting Lives” once again.

I chant a spell and pour immense magic power into the scythe to enhance its slashing power.

I continue chanting.

Behind me, I create as many Dark Balls, Dark Lances, and Dark Scythes as possible and unleash them all towards the white-hot beam.

Damn, I can’t believe I’m forced to do this embarrassing chanting.

But the power of magic with chanting far exceeds that when not chanting.

Dark magic clashes with pure white magic on the sea.

A temporary balance of power.

But even so, my dark magic was defeated.

Even after all this, the white-hot beam still prevails.

No, from the looks of it, the white-hot beam is either light or flame-based.

Dark magic has an extremely disadvantageous affinity against light and flame attributes.

Ideally, we shouldn’t confront it head-on.

But even so, I managed to divert the trajectory of the white-hot beam slightly.

It deviates slightly upward, just grazing the ship.

But…

“Rofus-sama!!”

Amidst the roaring sound of the approaching white-hot beam, Carlos’s voice echoes like a scream.

And my field of vision is dyed white.

…It seems it was impossible to completely divert it.

Before long, I am engulfed in a torrent of white and heat.

*

—sama!

Rofus-sama!

Voices reverberate through my hazy consciousness.

I don’t know whose they are.

There is only one person in this world who calls me “Rofus-sama.”

“Rofus-sama!”

My consciousness is stirred by a voice that sounds like a scream.

My vision is blurry.

There, I see Carlos, his face a mix of despair and slight relief as he holds me, and a pale-faced Fol a little further away.

That’s right, I couldn’t handle the Magic Whale’s white-hot beam… how pathetic.

“How long was I… asleep?”

“Just a few seconds.”

“I see.”

I try to get up, but I lack the strength, so Carlos lifts me up.

There’s a numbness beyond the pain, even in areas where I can’t feel anything anymore.

Suddenly, I notice Fol’s blood-drained gaze directed at my left side.

“…Y-Your, your left hand…”

“Hm?”

I look at my left hand as he says.

My left hand… from the elbow down, it’s gone.

The wound is blackened as if burned, with almost no bleeding.

No, the damage isn’t limited to just my left arm.

My left side is scorched black overall, and while my left leg isn’t lost, it’s almost powerless to even move.

Now that I think about it, my left eye can’t see anything either.

I’ve been quite severely injured.

“…Hah.”

Wouldn’t a normal person go mad from losing their left arm?

Considering my age, it wouldn’t be strange to lose consciousness from the intense pain and confusion.

But I’ve been killed thousands, even tens of thousands of times, or so I believe.

To me, this is nothing.

It’s just my left side being burned.

It’s just my left arm being lost.

It’s not like my throat was cut or my heart was pierced.

It’s far from being a fatal wound.

There’s pain, but… well, one gets used to it.

But the reactions of Carlos and Fol are probably the correct ones in the normal scheme of things.

They’re staring at the Magic Whale, the culprit who burned my left side, with resentment.

It seems it’s quite unhappy about failing to kill me.

And the fin that I cut off with the “Reaper’s Scythe Harvesting Lives” earlier… for some reason, it’s back to normal.

There’s no bleeding from the cut fin, and there’s not even a scar.

“…What’s going on?”

Is it abnormal regeneration?

It couldn’t possibly be healing magic.

Healing magic falls under the category of divine magic.

Divine magic is a bit of a special magic; it requires not only magic power but also faith.

It’s mainly used by the church forces, but it’s hard to imagine that a magical creature could use it.

Well, unless it’s a devout believer who worships a god.

Then is it an abnormal regeneration?

With my ancient magic passed down from the Lightless family, I can barely penetrate magical barriers of this level, but can it also instantly regenerate injuries?

That would be a bad joke.

Fire!

The command echoes from inside the ship, followed immediately by numerous cannon shots.

The cannons fired from the ship are hitting the Magic Whale splendidly.

It seems they’re being blocked by a magical barrier, but the bombardment continues regardless.

“Log…!”

The sailors seem to be giving instructions and firing the cannons.

We had briefed them on the strategy for fighting the Straff and the use of the cannons, but they chose a good time to do it.

This ship is stocked with a large number of cannonballs, anticipating battles against the Straff.

It will take quite some time to fire them all.

It would have been fine if it were a battle against the Straff, but the enemy is a Magic Whale.

Although the cannon fire is being blocked by the magical barrier, it seems the Magic Whale is still bothered by it, as it gazes annoyingly in our direction.

And just like before, it opens its mouth wide and gathers light inside.

“…It’s that again.”

It’s the preparation for the white-hot beam.

No, this is different.

I sense a stronger convergence of light and magic in the Magic Whale’s mouth than before.

Of course, it’s convenient for us to have this time to recover, but is it preparing an even more powerful attack that we won’t be able to dodge this time?

And at the same time as the convergence of light, countless Blizzard Lances are forming around the Magic Whale.

Is it planning to release them simultaneously? It’s being very thorough.

Now, the Magic Whale is preparing the Blizzard Lances and the white-hot beam that it’s about to release, but these are created by consuming magic power, but their nature is different.

Blizzard Lances are a form of magic, a technique that uses magical power generated by chanting, magic circles, and rituals.

Magic is a skill that requires a certain level of intelligence to handle.

On the other hand, the white-hot beam (though that’s just a nickname, it’s not the official name) is not magic.

It’s a unique ability of creatures that possess magical power—magical beings that are created through their biological functions.

Famous examples include the Dragon’s Breath and the Petrification Magic Eyes of Basilisks.

The Magic Whale’s white-hot beam is presumed to be a similar unique ability possessed by such magical creatures.

But this unique ability is not exclusive to magical beings.

Humans with a large amount of magical power also sometimes possess unique abilities.

Among the upper-class nobles of the kingdom, only a few have this chosen power.

This unique ability used by magical creatures is distinct from their unique abilities and is called inherent magic.

This power, inherited by the Lightless family, is the unique magic “Shadow Eater.”

This power, which caused havoc as one of the Four Heavenly Kings in the second chapter of the story, is the origin of my nickname “Shadow Wolf.”