Krieg's "White Tail" staff caught a Fighting Fish lunging from the front right. With a heavy sweep, the staff shattered the creature's pride—its massive horn—sending it spiraling away into the distance.
Behind him, the Major took to the sky using Moonwalk (Geppo). A Fighting Fish snapped at him with a cavernous maw, only to be met with a brutal kick to the lower jaw that pulverized its serrated teeth.
Meanwhile, the Corporal provided cover with his long rifle, picking off stragglers as the unit pushed forward. Above them, Kafu—with Cotton on his back—spat out a continuous stream of lead. Together, they finally cleared the iron bridge and reached the mainland shore.
As the men slumped onto the sand to catch their breath, Krieg immediately began barking orders.
「Alright! Everyone take five! Cotton! Kafu! You two rest up as well. I've got something I need to take care of.」
The Major looked up, a hint of exhaustion in his eyes. 「Something you need to do, sir?」
「Don't you think Fighting Fish would be incredibly useful for naval combat?」 Krieg replied.
The Major buried his face in his hands. Here we go again...
「Krieg, surely you don't mean to capture one-less?! It's useless-less! Fighting Fish are too ferocious.
Their bloodlust even turns them against their own kind-less! Taming them is impossible-less!」 Cotton added, landing on Krieg's shoulder and voicing her protest.
「No, no, I'm not talking about herding the whole school,」 Krieg said dismissively. 「I just want to bring back one for now. It's a unique species with incredible combat potential.」
「Well, I'm not even going to try and stop you at this point...」 the Major muttered.
「At... this point-less?」 Cotton asked, confused.
「Ah, Cotton-chan. Rear Admiral Krieg has a bad habit of picking up children, stray animals, and strange tools. Something about that fish must have struck a chord with him.」
Ignoring the whispered conversation between the Major and the dwarf, Krieg stripped down to his trousers, took a deep breath, and dove headfirst back into the infested waters.
「Krieg! Major! Krieg is in danger-less!」 Cotton screamed, watching him dive solo into the swarm.
「Calm down, Cotton-chan. The Rear Admiral will be fine.」
「But the Fighting Fish are strong-less! Even we need a whole squad to take one down-less! Diving in alone like that is suicide-less!!」
The Major shook his head at Cotton's perfectly logical argument. 「Yeah, I know you're making sense, but you'd better get used to this now.
In terms of individual combat power, the Rear Admiral is comparable to an Admiral... though I suppose that doesn't mean much to you yet.
Just know that his common sense when it comes to fighting is non-existent. If you're really worried, go watch from above.」
「...I'll provide backup if it looks dangerous-less.」
「Just don't interfere until then, alright?」
With those words, Cotton hopped back onto Kafu and soared into the sky. What awaited her was the "initiation" every member of the Vanguard eventually faced: witnessing the sheer absurdity of Krieg's strength firsthand.
「What... what is this-less...?」
Cotton hovered in the air, jaw dropped. One after another, Fighting Fish were being launched out of the sea like geysers.
They reached a staggering height before falling back down, slamming into the water with massive splashes, dazed by the impact.
But the fish were tenacious. Despite being hammered, their black scales mitigated the shock. One particularly large male lunged at Krieg, aiming to impale the intruder with its horn.
Krieg caught the horn with his bare right hand, then delivered a shattering blow to the base of the horn with his left.
When another tried to crush him with its jaws, Krieg drove a kick into its snout, shattering its teeth.
He moved through the water with terrifying precision, dealing enough damage to deter the school without killing them.
Eventually, realizing this "prey" was actually a predator beyond their comprehension, the majority of the fish began to circle him at a distance, no longer daring to strike.
However, there is always one that doesn't know when to quit.
One individual, its horn badly scarred by Krieg's hand-blade earlier, felt the cowardice of its peers was a disgrace. It charged again, eyes bloodshot with rage.
I like this one's spirit, Krieg thought. Let's go with him.
Krieg met the charge head-on. He unleashed a barrage of controlled strikes: straight punches, elbows, headbutts, and knees.
He followed up with an upper-cut and a descending axe-kick. The fish found it couldn't land a single hit, while the internal damage continued to mount.
Finally, the primal instinct for survival overrode its rage. It understood: I cannot win.
The Fighting Fish ceased its attack and began to turn away, attempting to flee the monster in human skin.
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