Chapter 196 - 184: A More Dangerous Existence

’The Brain-Eating Monster... Could this be the unknown Demon that Trevor mentioned, the one Teresa discovered during her reconnaissance in Wailing Gorge? But...’

Watching the Pirates, who stood as stiff as string puppets, Roland’s brow furrowed slightly.

’Is it because the assimilation isn’t complete?’

As his thoughts raced, his shout boomed like muffled thunder.

"Teresa! Galvis!"

No more words were needed. An unspoken understanding was reached in an instant.

The dormant [Nameless Breathing Technique] inside Roland roared to life, and a torrent of Fighting Spirit, hot as Magma, coursed through his body.

He held nothing back. His Sword Momentum transformed into a violent curtain of light, forgoing precise strikes for sweeping attacks filled with the power of Destruction.

The moment he called out, a silver flash tore through the gloom.

Teresa’s figure moved so fast it left a Residual Shadow.

The Foil in her hand became a blur of deadly silver serpents, precisely striking the joints and wrists of the "puppet" Pirates left unprotected by their Armor.

Each thrust was accompanied by the sickening thud of severed nerves, instantly neutralizing several Pirates.

Meanwhile, Galvis’s fingers danced across his instrument’s strings.

A beautiful melody struck the surging puppet Pirates like an invisible sledgehammer.

The movements of the Pirates controlled by the Brain-Eating Monsters faltered. As if pulled by unseen forces, their limbs twisted, and they let out agonized howls, their assault descending into Chaos.

The combined power of the three experts far exceeded the limits of what these parasitized husks could withstand.

The battle turned into an efficient slaughter.

Broken puppet bodies fell one after another, the sickening thuds of rending flesh and bone and the hum of weapons becoming the main symphony.

However, just as Teresa’s Foil pierced the last few puppet Pirates’ throats and Roland’s Longsword split their chests, something unexpected happened.

The slimy, grayish-purple bodies of the Brain-Eating Monsters, exposed within the shattered skulls, did not perish with their hosts.

Like enraged, eyeless vermin, they shot out from the wreckage.

Their targets were not the powerful trio of Roland, Teresa, and Galvis, but the terrified, weaker crew members behind them.

The disgusting lumps of flesh trailed viscous, purple-glowing threads of slime as they moved with astonishing speed.

They traced several ominous, grayish-purple arcs through the air, lunging straight for the faces of the nearest crewmen, whose reactions were slowed by Fear.

The circular maws at their centers gaped greedily, revealing dense rows of sharp teeth. Their goal was clear.

To burrow into new skulls and find new hosts.

Just as the grayish-purple masses, reeking of death and slick with slime, were about to touch the crewmen’s horrified faces, an invisible power erupted from Roland.

He took a sharp breath, his chest heaving violently.

In that instant, the lingering Sparks from clashing metal, the mists of splattered blood, and even the despairing death-cries of the puppet Pirates and the terrified gasps of the crewmen were all seemingly snatched by a giant, invisible hand and drawn madly into Roland’s expanding lungs.

These violent battlefield Elements were smelted and purified within his body, transforming into countless fine, brilliant golden embers, like scorching sparks.

They did not erupt outward. Instead, like a golden mist, they spread silently and swiftly from Roland, precisely enveloping the dozen or so terrified crewmen a few steps away.

[Embers Echo], activate!

The moment the golden embers merged into the crewmen’s bodies, the effect was immediate.

The unfocused light in their eyes instantly ignited, replaced by a tangible, blazing will to fight.

Their fatigue vanished, their bodies felt flooded with inexhaustible strength, and their hearts hammered in their chests like war drums, dispelling the chilling dread of the unknown monsters.

Limbs that had been frozen with Fear were suddenly filled with power, and their reaction speed soared.

"ROAR!"

A burly sailor, the one closest to being attacked, who had been moments from having a Brain-Eating Monster pounce on his face, let out a deafening roar.

This was no longer a roar of Fear, but one filled with ignited fury and the will to fight.

And this powerful willpower, like a returning stream, flowed back along the path of the golden embers into Roland’s body.

The molten-gold aura of Roland’s Fighting Spirit flared intensely.

His speed, Power, and Perception all surged in that moment.

At the same time, [Echoing Forge] activated!

Guided by Roland’s [Material Synesthesia], the golden embers that had merged with the crewmen instinctively flowed toward the weapons they clutched and the Armor they wore.

Like liquid gold, they swiftly coated and permeated the gear.

The sailors’ equipment, which had been slightly damaged in the fighting, was instantly plated in a layer of flowing golden light.

A faint hum came from their blades, as if they had been re-honed by an invisible hand, their edges glinting with an unprecedented, sharp light.

Even old scratches on their Leather Armor were smoothed over by the flowing golden light, making the armor more resilient.

"Kill all these disgusting monsters!"

The rescued crewman roared, his eyes no longer holding any trace of fear, only ignited rage and the desire to protect his comrades.

It was as if time had been slowed down.

To the enhanced senses of the crewmen, the pounce of the Brain-Eating Monsters no longer seemed so deadly.

The roaring, burly sailor moved as fast as lightning.

Instead of trying to retreat, he faced the lunging Brain-Eating Monster and swung the Curved Saber in his hand—now wreathed in golden light and exceptionally sharp—in a fierce upward arc.

The flash of his blade, like a bolt of white silk, precisely struck the slimy mass.

"TCHSS!"

It was not the dull thud of cleaving rotten wood, but the harsh sizzle of a red-hot brand plunging into grease.

The Curved Saber, enhanced by [Echoing Forge], easily tore through the Brain-Eating Monster’s grayish-purple, viscous skin.

The nauseating mass of flesh was split nearly in two, and viscous fluid, shimmering with a faint purple light, splattered everywhere.

It went into a violent, silent convulsion, its central maw opening and closing uselessly as it fell limply from the air.

The other crewmen also roared and counterattacked.

Roland did not stand by idly, either.

Despite the slight dizziness from the rapid consumption of his Spiritual Power, the boost to All Attributes from [Embers Echo] pushed his strength to a new height.

Having witnessed the horrific sight of the Brain-Eating Monsters surviving after leaving their hosts, he immediately switched targets, his blade aimed straight at their slithering, true bodies.

Under the fierce counterattack of the crew, the situation was reversed in an instant.

The remains of sliced, pierced, and flattened Brain-Eating Monsters littered the clearing and the deck.

They twitched, making a nauseating sizzling sound, their severed parts flickering with a faint, ominous purple light, like dying vermin.

After confirming there were no remaining threats, Roland took a deep breath and deactivated [Embers Echo].

"Everyone! Get back to the ship, now! We’re setting sai—"

The order to retreat was on the tip of his tongue, but Roland’s voice abruptly stopped.

His brow suddenly knitted tight, as if he had felt an invisible prick.

His eighteen points of Spiritual Power granted him a perception far beyond that of an ordinary person.

He now clearly detected an indescribable, yet extremely unsettling, presence.

It was cold and slick, carrying a malice like mud from the Deep Sea, far more profound than that of the dead Brain-Eating Monsters.

This presence wasn’t coming from the wreckage before him, but from...

His gaze shot toward the deeper, thicker Darkness within the cave.

There, he did not see the expected tide of more puppets controlled by Brain-Eating Monsters, only a single figure standing silently at the edge of the Shadow.

It was abnormally tall and slender, almost blending in with the Darkness, yet it radiated a bizarre sense of presence.

In the dim light, its smooth, wet head shone with an unsettling grayish-purple hue.

Several slick tentacles, their tips twitching slightly, dangled from its face, swaying gently.

Those eyes...

...if the two orbs pulsing steadily with an ominous purple light in the Shadow could even be called eyes.

They were staring coldly and emotionlessly in Roland’s direction.

A cold consciousness—immeasurably purer, stronger, and more profound than that of the Brain-Eating Monsters—spread out like a silent, invisible tide.

It carried a pure, inhuman calculation and scrutiny, along with a malice that could freeze the soul.

Merely by standing there, it seemed to be the very source of the cave’s darkness—a living, intelligent nightmare.

Roland’s blood felt as if it had frozen solid.

He had never seen such a being, but his intuition was screaming.

’This is nothing like a Brain-Eating Monster.’

’This is a completely new, unknown, and extremely dangerous entity!’