Chapter 34: Sea Raiders

The Pontos Coast, where the Son of the Sea Pontos is said to have brought the City Founder Ronamos and others ashore.

Walking along the coast to the furthest south is the southernmost point of the Salia Peninsula, Cimali Fishing Port, the promised place of worship for the Son of the Sea, and the destination of Ace’s current journey.

Ace’s carriage was moving along the dirt road beside the coast. The carriage bumped constantly on the rutted road.

He was driving the carriage leisurely, watching the seascape and the busy figures of the fishermen along the coast. This was his first time seeing the sea. According to a short, thin boy in an unnamed village he had just passed, this sea area was infested with Merfolk and Sea Raiders, who frequently came ashore to rob.

Ace chose this path that was most likely to result in a robbery, hoping for an unexpected encounter with a small group of Merfolk or Sea Raiders.

He had been traveling through the desolate wilderness for the past few weeks but hadn’t encountered many low-level Monsters. He did encounter quite a few ordinary wild beasts, which all ended up as his kebabs.

With no new low-level Monsters and no way to discover new runes, Ace felt stifled and decided to travel near the coast to see if he could encounter a small group of Sea Raiders or Merfolk.

Sea Raiders were readily available live material. They were physically strong and notorious for evil deeds, making them perfect for experiments. They were suitable for dissection or drug testing.

The frequent conflict between Merfolk and humans meant their body structures were different from humans. Capturing some for research was also a good option.

Ace activated the spell Lesser Ultrasound Perception every once in a while, scanning for creatures within a 500-meter radius.

When he activated the spell for the fifth time, the world flashed to black and white before his eyes, and he finally made a discovery: three double-oar wooden boats. These boats had five oars on each side, one rudder, and carried eleven people, suitable for coastal and near-shore navigation.

There were 33 Sea Raiders in total. Most wore leather armor and wielded heavy axes. Five or six wore chainmail, helmets, and carried shields and swords.

Nearby fishermen were frantically rowing their boats away, but the Sea Raiders ignored them. These hardworking fishermen held little loot. The Sea Raiders had received word from an informant that a scholar’s carriage would pass by, and they planned to hit it big and kidnap a major person of value.

In Ace’s perception, he only saw images and could not hear conversations. He didn’t yet know that he was the one being targeted by the prey. It remained to be seen who the true hunter was.

“Ward, you take one boat of men to the pile of rocks ahead by the road, set up a tripwire, and lay an ambush. Becky, you take one boat of men to circle around the back and set up a tripwire there to prevent the target from escaping. The rest of you follow me. I hear the target is about to arrive here. We’ll head straight for the dirt road and drive the carriage toward the pile of rocks.”

A tall, strong Sea Raider wearing a helmet with a nose guard commanded.

“Awoo! We’ll use the scholar’s skull as a bowl!”

Several Sea Raiders shouted loudly and quickly dispersed to take action.

In Ace’s perception, the Sea Raiders secured their wooden boats and quickly split into three teams. One team went to the pile of rocks to ambush, another went to circle around the back, and the last team rushed straight toward the carriage.

I am being watched. I lack experience. I should not underestimate even Sea Raiders, Ace thought.

He stopped the carriage and jumped up onto the roof. The Spell Book opened to the wind, quickly flipping pages. His mental power activated the Illusion Gaze card. The Spell Model quickly lit up. Mana condensed, forming a mysterious rune structure that was almost visible to the naked eye, shrinking and entering Ace’s eyes.

Ace’s eyes emitted a magical rhythm. Rune structures constantly appeared and vanished with the rhythm. He fixed his gaze on the Sea Raiders rushing toward him. The Sea Raiders suddenly felt dizzy and disoriented. The carriage before them disappeared, replaced by a massive Monster with tentacles all over its body, emitting terrifying, disgusting screams.

The Sea Raiders frantically dodged the Monster’s pursuit. They felt extremely panicked for unknown reasons, their minds filled with distracting thoughts. Their companions beside them suddenly vanished after a few steps.

The tall, strong Sea Raider wearing the helmet with a nose guard stared in horror at the monster that suddenly appeared before him—a humanoid figure, completely black, holding a large black axe, rushing toward him.

The tall, strong Sea Raider ducked and rolled, narrowly dodging the deadly axe strike. Just then, two more black monsters appeared. He gritted his teeth and charged straight at them. He impacted one with his shield and stabbed the other with his short sword. The black monster actually fell, emitting an incomprehensible howl.

The tall, strong Sea Raider was encouraged. He pressed on and killed two more black monsters in one go.

Ace looked at everything before him with satisfaction. The Sea Raiders rushing toward him were now attacking the Sea Raiders circling behind them. Both sides were locked in combat, and the tall, strong Sea Raider had even killed several of his own men.

It looks like this will end soon, and the Sea Raiders ambushing in the pile of rocks were also collectively stunned after being controlled by his illusion. The practical effect of this spell was outstanding.

Ace’s Illusion Gaze spell had been modified with the addition of the Sound Rune, the Mana-Crystal Rune, and the Thought Activation Rune. Through these improvements, the illusion manipulation effect had become even more powerful.

Creatures gazed upon were instantly subjected to a will check. Those whose mental power was weaker than his essentially fell into the illusion.

The suggestive effect brought by the Suggestion Rune, combined with the panic and confusion induced by the Fear Rune, and the target’s self-generated distracting thoughts caused by the Thought Activation Rune, trapped them in the false world Ace constructed, which they then completed on their own.

Thirty-three seasoned Sea Raiders, whose strength was equivalent to fighting nearly 20-30 veterans, were defeated with ease.

Ace was very satisfied with the effect of the modified Illusion Gaze. It required a will check every 15 seconds and lasted for five minutes. Once a will check failed, the target would fall into the illusion.

The combination of real sounds and sights, inducing the inner fear of the targets, and the mental activation causing the targets to confuse illusion and reality, with Affection and Aversion being arbitrarily manipulated, made this Ace’s strongest area-of-effect spell. It could easily defeat a group of ordinary human warriors.

Ace had not tested it on Nobles, but as long as they failed the will check, they would fall into the illusion and their senses would be arbitrarily manipulated, resulting in the same outcome as the Sea Raiders.

This spell is ineffective against targets with mental strength higher than the caster. Against targets with mental strength lower than the caster, it is virtually invincible, unless the opponent possesses a Wonder that provides Calm or immunity to illusion.

Ace himself once used the Mana Rune to interfere and escape the illusion of the Eye of Illusion. After further research, he realized how lucky he had been at the time.

The barbarian Shaman had almost exhausted his mental power to partially activate the rune structure inside the Eye of Illusion and was completely unable to continue manipulating or guiding the enemies caught in the illusion.

The greatest strength of an illusion spell lies in the Spellcaster’s manipulation, toying with the opponent in the palm of their hand through various real and false illusions.

If the illusion is manipulated by the Spellcaster, Mana interference would likely be thwarted by the Spellcaster, making it extremely difficult for the target to break free from the illusion.

The Sea Raiders’ killing spree was about to end. The tall, strong Sea Raider stood alone in the pool of blood, proving his strength. Ace slowly walked over, stopping at the maximum casting distance of the Lesser Spell.

The illusion before the tall, strong Sea Raider’s eyes gradually vanished. He was horrified to find that the black monsters had all turned into his Sea Raider companions, and all his companions lay in a pool of blood. He let out a desperate howl.

Ace gently flipped through the Spell Book in his hand. His slender finger lightly touched one of the cards. The Calm spell activated. The rune on the spell card flashed, condensing into a halo around Ace, then, guided by Ace’s mental power, entered the tall, strong Sea Raider’s body.

Ace then gently flipped a few pages and activated Charm Creature. The rune on the spell card flashed. The Spell Model gathered Mana, and a phantom rushed over. The tall, strong Sea Raider, who had just calmed down, was easily controlled.