Black Bear Billy

But.

The pirates held an absolute numerical advantage after all. Though the battle was deadlocked, they had retained the initiative until Leopold's reinforcements arrived.

At the rear of the battlefield, following the Pirate Captain's orders.

A small squad of pirates quickly assembled. Led by a pirate leader with a gold earring and a vicious tattoo across his face, they circled around the chaotic battlefield under the cover of the main force and fought their way to the foot of the city wall.

"Fire!"

Bang—

Bang—

The close-range musket volley instantly suppressed Evan's attacks. As he ducked behind the battlements, two unusual sounds rang out beside him.

"Clang!" "Clang!"

Iron hooks tied to ropes were thrown onto the wall, catching in the gaps between the stones. Then, two grinning pirates used the grappling hooks to pull themselves up, their heads appearing over the city wall.

"Haha, whichever of you two takes down that brat gets first pick of the spoils!" Seeing his two men climb onto the wall, the pirate leader laughed wildly, as though the credit for breaching the city had already fallen into his lap.

Unfortunately, before his words had even faded, Bang! Bang! Two dark figures fell from the wall, twitched twice, and went still.

The leader's strange laughter came to an abrupt halt. Red-faced with rage and humiliation, he roared, "What a pair of useless trash! All of you, come with me! Don't be afraid—the brat is almost out of arrows!"

With that, he threw out his grappling hook first and scaled the wall at incredible speed, wholly at odds with his burly build.

The other pirates followed suit, tossing out their own hooks and climbing after him.

At the same time, the defenders' numerical disadvantage continued to widen. Seeing the rear section of the wall fall, their morale collapsed. They were steadily driven back through the breach in the wall by the fearless pirates and had no choice but to fight them in the streets.

"Soldiers, hold on! Reinforcements will be here soon." Even though the officers screamed themselves hoarse to encourage their troops, they could not turn the tide.

The situation had changed in an instant. It was no longer something Evan could influence on his own.

"Grem, leave this to me. Go join up with the City Guard."

Looking at Grem, drenched in nervous sweat and gripping a hunting knife clearly unsuited for close combat, Evan told him to leave first rather than throw away his life in a direct clash with the pirates.

"Evan, be careful. If you can't handle it, retreat. One pirate ship can't occupy this place."

Knowing Evan's skills were far beyond his own, Grem nodded and told him to be careful. Without wasting any time, he turned and left.

Two years ago, he might still have wanted to test his skills against Evan. But now, two years later, Grem could no longer see the depths of Evan's abilities at all.

In his eyes, aside from the Ferocious Mountain Cat they had encountered by accident and which had later vanished without a trace, no one he knew was Evan's match. That even included Lord Nabuli, Leopold's City Guard commander, renowned for his formidable swordsmanship.

The moment Grem left, Evan was busy kicking away the grappling hooks being thrown up one after another. Taking advantage of his distraction, the burly, ugly pirate leader was the first to climb onto the wall.

"Brat, wasn't your archery supposed to be amazing? Go on, shoot me again! Hahaha..."

The pirate leader's overly fat flesh twisted his face grotesquely when he laughed. The long tattoo running from his cheek down to his neck writhed like an ugly centipede.

Evan truly had run out of arrows. Otherwise, he would have launched a ranged attack the moment he saw them closing in.

As for resupply?

There was plenty of gunpowder and lead shot atop the wall, but arrows had long since been removed from the quartermaster's procurement list.

His right hand swept across his waist, and a gleaming longsword slid from its sheath. With a casual Sword Flower, he assumed the opening stance of White Sail Swordsmanship.

Without Evan blocking them, more and more pirates climbed up the grappling hooks. Seeing this, they began shouting:

"That's hilarious! Does he think he can stop all of us alone?"

"He's even more arrogant than us pirates. Really pisses me off!"

"That damn Pretty Boy has to be a noble. All nobles deserve to die!"

"Kill him! Boatswain, kill him!"

The pirate leader—the boatswain, as the pirates called him—raised a hand, and the group instantly fell silent.

Quite satisfied with his prestige among the pirates, the burly, ugly boatswain ordered, "You lot go into the city first. Let Black Bear Billy play with this brat."

Whoosh—

Before his words had finished, he swung his scimitar and pounced at Evan. Before he even arrived, his brutal and savage aura was already bearing down on him.

Combined with his hideous face, enough to make children stop crying, a timid person would have their courage shattered just standing opposite him, much less trying to block his attack.

It had to be said, Black Bear Billy truly deserved his position as the boatswain in charge of boarding actions and close combat aboard the pirate ship. He had some real ability.

But Evan was not inferior in the slightest.

With a shift of his feet, Evan was like a small boat floating upon the water, narrowly evading the blade by a hair's breadth.

Billy's sure kill slash cut through empty air.

Black Bear Billy did not pause. He lowered his body slightly and rammed forward fiercely, using the metal armor on his shoulder as a shield.

Evan was slightly surprised. This fellow, who looked like his brain was nothing but muscles, actually had such adaptability.

His feet kept moving as he lightly slid aside.

This time, Black Bear Billy could not dodge in time. With a thunderous crash, he slammed into the battlements.

"You stinking monkey, stop running! Aah—!!"

Shaking his head, Billy charged again like a truly berserk bear, waving his scimitar. He pushed his Brute Force to its limit, and his momentum was indeed terrifying.

Missed.

Missed.

Missed again.

"Huff—! Huff—!"

Panting heavily, Billy had burned through a tremendous amount of stamina with his intense chopping. Even the hand holding his scimitar was trembling slightly.

Yet that damn Pretty Boy was still hopping around like nothing had happened!

Evan was not dodging simply because he had nothing better to do, but because...

Seeing that Billy had already shown everything he could do and had no other tricks left, something stirred in Evan's mind.

"Display data!"

Name: Billy (Nickname: Black Bear)

Gender: Male

Identity: Boatswain of the pirate ship Blood Anchor

Attributes: Constitution 0.54 (1)

Strength 0.58 (1)

Agility 0.43 (1)

Intelligence 0.4 (1)

Skill: Basic Scimitar Technique (Beginner)

Billy's physical attributes were only slightly lower than Evan's had been two years ago. Without any systematic training, he could indeed be called someone with Innate Divine Strength.

That was likely what had allowed him to stand out from among the pirates and become their boatswain.

Black Bear Billy was the first human opponent Evan had fought in a life-or-death close-quarters battle. For Evan, who aspired to join the navy, Billy's attributes were highly valuable as a reference for judging the general strength of pirates in these waters.

The result satisfied Evan as well.

If even the main fighter aboard a pirate ship was only at this level, then his safety after joining the navy would be assured. As long as he took care not to be surrounded by several enemies of the same level, he should be able to handle them all.

To thank Billy for his contribution, Evan decided not to let him keep struggling. He could rest for a while now—and that while would be... forever!

When Black Bear Billy swung his scimitar at him again, Evan suddenly closed in along his side with Both Hands on his sword. He used the stronger section of the blade near the guard to catch the enemy's scimitar, then twisted and wound it around...

"Let go!"

Clang—

The scimitar flew from Billy's hand and fell to the ground.

In the instant Black Bear Billy froze in disbelief, Evan followed up with a vicious front kick to his lower abdomen.

As though struck by a wild bull, Billy's burly body was sent flying by Evan, who looked far thinner than him, before crashing heavily to the ground.

"Urgh... Y-you, what kind of monster are you?!" Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Black Bear Billy clutched his stomach, drenched in cold sweat from the pain and unable even to crawl.

Still, the man truly deserved his reputation as a vicious pirate leader. As he spoke, he covertly reached for the pistol tucked at his waist.

With no interest in speaking to him at all, Evan walked straight over, stepped on that restless hand, and drew a perfect arc with his longsword.

"Urgh..."

Hiss—!!!

Dodging the spray of blood bursting out under the pressure of the severed artery, Evan sheathed his bloodless sword.

Then he forced himself to keep his eyes wide open, watching the bear-strong Billy convulse bit by bit until he died, staring wide-eyed and motionless.

Evan had not suddenly awakened some strange and terrible fetish. He simply knew that if he wanted to adapt to the battlefield as quickly as possible, this was a hurdle he absolutely had to overcome.

Abandoning mercy for one's enemies was the greatest respect one could show for one's own life!

And he still had many things he had to do. He did not want to die young for no reason.

After confirming that Billy had truly stopped breathing, Evan stepped forward to search his spoils.

Several gold coins from some unknown country, a battered Bone Amulet, a short pistol at his waist, and a scimitar. There was nothing else.

He pocketed the gold coins and tucked the pistol, clearly much finer in workmanship than an ordinary standard-issue piece, into his belt. He had no use for the remaining items and simply tossed them back onto Billy's body.