The Rain Came Too Late

When the Belik Pirates' vanguard attacked, Long Yi had four chances to draw prizes.

And with Long Yi's luck, the prizes were naturally nothing more than low-level consumables.

So after using the Flower of Magic Power, the hard black bread, and the Beginner HP Potion, Long Yi had only one item left: the Blast Bomb.

The so-called Blast Bomb was actually a small bomb. It did not deal much damage, and it took some time before it exploded.

To Long Yi, it was not a very useful item. Its effect against enemies was nowhere near as effective as a sword slash. So the Blast Bomb had remained unused in the system space, yet he had never expected it to become his final trump card at this moment.

Enough to turn defeat into victory!

With a thought, sparks appeared on the exposed fuse of the Blast Bomb. Even the torrential rain could not extinguish that tiny light, as though the embers left behind by the fire in Mosmar Village were also awaiting vengeance.

Belik had changed Long Yi's fate with a great fire back then. Today, Long Yi would use this tiny flame to bury Belik's ambitions for good.

There was neither shock nor fear on Long Yi's face. His eyes held the resolve to fight to the death. When he had completely merged with the lingering soul left behind by the original owner of this body, Long Yi had known that this day would eventually come.

Belik cried out in panic, flapping his wings desperately as he tried to widen the distance between them. But the vicious pirate had forgotten that the strength in his claws was not so easy to withdraw.

Just as Belik frantically dropped Long Yi and tried to fly into the air to avoid the blast, Long Yi threw out the Blast Bomb at precisely the right moment. It stopped three inches in front of Belik.

"No!"

He only had time for a terrified roar before his figure was completely swallowed by the flames of the explosion.

Boom!

The explosion erupted alongside a clap of thunder, rumbling through the cloud-filled sky. Even the rain could not wash away the smoke in the air, leaving only the scent of blood to spread.

Beneath the dark clouds, two figures fell from the sky. One was Belik, charred black and barely human. The other was Long Yi, clutching a greatsword, battered from head to toe.

"It's over."

He murmured softly. Having broken through in the face of certain death, Long Yi had completed his reversal from defeat to victory.

At the instant the Blast Bomb exploded between them, his mind had been exceptionally calm. Without time to hesitate, he had pulled out that heavy infantry greatsword from the system space.

The thick, weighty greatsword became his sturdiest shield. Under the effect of the Guard skill, Long Yi suffered far less damage than Belik.

The only thing he had to consider now was how to fall from this height without being crushed to death.

Silver Light Falling Blade.

With great difficulty, Long Yi twisted himself in midair. He could only entrust his life and death to elusive luck. Spotting a relatively soft patch of sand, he used the momentum of his sword technique to alter his trajectory.

Belik, having lost consciousness, could only fall straight down.

Two more dull thuds rang out as bodies struck the ground.

Rain fell ceaselessly, slapping against the muddy earth as though it wanted to make amends, to extinguish the fire that should never have been lit years ago.

"Faster, faster!"

Will, a lieutenant at the Marine branch base, kept shouting. Braving the heavy rain, he urged the Marines under his command onward as they hurried tirelessly toward Guya Village.

Zovi, who traveled with them, remained silent. He merely protected his camera tightly from the rain and followed close behind Will without saying a word. Though his face was calm, his heart was pounding wildly.

No one who had seen the pirate corpses left on the shoals earlier could remain unmoved. Zovi was now filled with boundless curiosity. He desperately wanted to know which force had wiped out such a colossal power of the North Blue so completely.

"Prepare for battle! We may have a hard fight ahead of us!"

Will shouted loudly. His voice was unclear amid the rain, but it could not conceal the excitement in his heart. This Marine lieutenant, who indulged in drink and women, realized that his chance to strike it rich might be right before him.

"It must be a clash between pirate crews. It has to be! Heaven is helping me!"

Rubbing his stiff hands together, Will could not help touching the Marine sword at his waist. Though that sharp blade had not tasted blood in many years, he was certain it could still cut off pirate heads and earn him merit.

When the snipe and clam fought, the fisherman profited. Will, who was not skilled at scheming, had rarely made such a good calculation.

Guya Village was neither particularly far nor particularly near. With a shipload of Marines hurrying forward without rest, their destination was soon within sight.

Forcibly suppressing the trembling in his body, Will gave several hand signals to the accompanying Marines. Lowering their voices, the group quietly slipped into the village.

But when they actually entered the small fishing village, the scene of fighting they had imagined did not unfold before them.

The village was abnormally quiet. Other than the rain striking the ground, there was no other sound at all.

"Hm?"

Will's eyes shifted suspiciously as he began to grow wary. He had not reached the rank of lieutenant at a Marine branch base for nothing. At the very least, he was timid enough to have survived until now.

"Lieutenant Will, there's someone over there!"

Suddenly, a sharp-eyed Marine seemed to spot something and hurriedly tugged at Will's sleeve. Under normal circumstances, Will would have flown into a rage and taught that disrespectful Marine a proper lesson.

But at this moment, he had no time to slap the rash Marine around. His heart tightening, Will looked in the direction the Marine indicated.

What he saw was a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.

Even after Lieutenant Will grew old and retired from the Marines, he would often tell his grandson about the first time he had seen that godlike figure.

"The rain that day was unbelievably heavy. I took my boys there hoping to pick up some easy gains, to see if we could catch a few big fish and climb a little higher. But I never expected that fish to be so enormous. Yatogami Long Yi—the government Marines' supreme fighting power, the strongest man in the world—was lying in the mud not far in front of me back then."

Whenever he reached this point, old Will would sigh and say that time spared no one.

His grandson, however, would look doubtful and always could not resist arguing back.

"Yatogami Long Yi, the world's greatest swordsman, the acknowledged strongest. He was driven into such a miserable state by a pirate from the North Blue?"

Will said nothing, only chuckling. Ignoring his grandson's disgusted expression, he placed his rough hand on the boy's head and messed up the brown hair, the same color as his own had been in his youth. In a voice only he could hear, he murmured to himself.

"Yeah... who could have imagined that the god of death in human form, who could now split mountains with one sword and part the sea with another, had once been nothing more than a ghost crawling through the mud, barely clinging to life..."

Cold rain dripped down his face, while the mud beneath him burned against his wounds. Long Yi's lips were purple and his face pale as paper as he crawled through the mud with difficulty.

He had no idea that a group of Marines nearby was staring at him in stunned silence. The only reason he could still move was the obsession in his heart that refused to let go.

Since he had luckily survived the fall, his body could not stop until he had confirmed Belik's death.

He no longer had the strength to swing the heavy greatsword. What Long Yi held now was a broken section of a katana blade.

He had found that fragment not far from where he had landed. Struggling, he crawled over to it and, ignoring the lingering sharpness of the blade, gripped the weapon tightly in his hand.

The jagged edge pierced the skin of Long Yi's palm, and blood dripped down the blade. Yet the expression on his face did not change in the slightest. Compared to the pain carved into his heart two years ago, what was this feeling worth?

Long Yi crawled slowly. Every inch forward required all his strength. Filthy mud stained his Marine uniform and his slightly long black hair, leaving him in a miserable state.

Rain, mud, and a vengeful ghost.

This strange scene struck deeply at the hearts of the Marines and Zovi. Will forgot about profit and status, while Zovi forgot about that damned news story. Long Yi's difficult crawl occupied their entire minds.

Raindrops fell like the ticking of a clock, drip, drip.

Accompanied by the rain's countdown, Long Yi crawled to the end. Not far ahead of him lay Belik, whose fate remained unknown.

Without hesitation, and without any strength left to stay alert, Long Yi struggled to his feet and swayed over to sit atop Belik's powerful, burly, flesh-mangled body.

Looking at Belik's tightly shut single eye, he smiled in relief. Then, using every last bit of strength, he slowly pushed the broken blade in his hand into Belik's chest, piercing straight through Belik's heart.

Blood flowed down, some of it Belik's, some of it Long Yi's.

Seeing such a scene, Will and Zovi could not help shuddering, a chill running through their entire bodies.

It was not the cold brought by the rain that left them at a loss, but the mad obsession of that boy that filled them with fear.

The rain fell harder and harder. Having completed his revenge, Long Yi sat atop Belik's corpse in a daze.

After a long while, he raised his head. Through strands of black hair, he gazed at the weeping sky. A bitter smile curled on his lips as he murmured softly.

"If only it had rained that day too..."