Chapter 129: 128 Water Ghost

Dylan approached the blood-soaked Murdering Stool and lifted it up.

For a moment, the pirates' gazes, almost solidifying into substance, all converged on Dylan.

If looks could kill, Dylan would have been dead dozens of times already.

If Caspar hadn't been killed, why would they have handed the initiative over to Gerhard?

Gerhard also glanced twice at this middle-aged man who had previously been so unnoticeable—hiding his true strength.

Scout Puji had ambushed and killed Caspar; no one fully understood its specific strength, but everyone silently categorized Dylan as Gold-tier, and a very treacherous, vicious Gold-tier at that.

Whoever saw Caspar's manner of death would feel the cruelty within it...

Retracting his gaze, Gerhard spoke loudly: "There should still be some time; we must concentrate all our strength! You must call everyone from the Blood Shark over; the Wind Feather is higher and more suitable for defense!"

"Defense? What enemy?"

"If everyone comes over, what do we do with the Blood Shark?"

The pirates immediately erupted into chaotic chatter again.

"Shut up!"

The pirate first mate suddenly roared; this two-meter-tall man wielding a great hammer pointed a finger at a pirate.

"You, swing over and explain the situation to the people on our ship!"

"Me?"

The pointed-at pirate looked extremely unwilling; swinging back on a rope in this unclear situation with poor visibility—who knew what dangers awaited...

Boom!

Without warning, the great hammer smashed down, and the first mate instantly crushed the pirate's head into his chest.

Then the first mate pointed at another pirate: "You go!"

This pirate said not a word, turned around, and went to execute the order.

"What else needs to be done?" the pirate first mate turned to look at Gerhard.

Gulp—

The first mate's brutality not only intimidated those pirates but also made Gerhard and the crew feel a chill of fear.

Gerhard now believed the man's earlier words were true: if he dared to have ulterior motives, he would be killed on the spot.

Secretly pinching his fingers, Gerhard issued the next order: "Everyone, grab weapons and anything you can throw, scatter and guard the ship's edge; the enemy will come up from the sea! You must not let them board!"

"What exactly is the enemy? Soulless Ones?" The question came from the pirate second mate, who had two curved daggers hanging at his waist.

Anyone operating in the archipelago knows about the mist; the most widely circulated legend is the Soulless Ones.

These beings lost in the mist, finally becoming puppets, are the things most likely to appear at the mist's edge.

So-called resistance against the mist mostly involves dealing with these Soulless Ones.

As for the depths of the mist, various theories exist, making it impossible to distinguish truth from falsehood.

Hearing there was an enemy, the pirates naturally thought of the Soulless Ones first.

However, Gerhard shook his head: "No, at least they aren't as weak as those Soulless Ones at the mist's edge. I don't know what these enemies are called; if I must use a name to describe them, Water Ghosts might be more fitting. Their weakness is similar to the Soulless Ones: the head!"

Pausing for a moment, Gerhard added: "Of course, this experience comes from my single encounter; it's not impossible to meet something unexpected. You must stay vigilant; if you see anything, shout it out."

Nodding, everyone dispersed under the arrangement to guard the ship's edge, while ten sailors were assigned inside the cabin.

Whether intentionally or not, Dylan was assigned to the stern, the part of the ship he knew best, along with a few pirates.

"Damn it, they didn't even give us a Magic Crystal Lamp; how can we see anything?"

Three pirates complained, huddling together, clearly not wanting to deal with Dylan.

Coincidentally, Dylan thought the same.

"Boss, how is it?" Dylan asked within the Fungus Network.

"Nothing detected for now."

Although 【Mana Perception】 and 【Light Perception】 were unusable, Scout Puji still possessed 【Sound Wave Detection】 and 【Airflow Perception】.

Unless the opponent was a ghost, they shouldn't be able to escape Scout Puji's detection.

Time ticked by second by second; just as Dylan grew increasingly oppressed by the wait and the pirates behind him began complaining incessantly,

a flash of fire accompanied by a deafening roar suddenly appeared from the mist, coming from the direction of the Blood Shark!

Immediately after, a huge illumination spell orb rose in the distance, allowing Dylan to vaguely see the swarming figures of people on the Blood Shark.

It seemed the plan to persuade the pirates on the Blood Shark to come over for joint defense had failed, and moreover, they had encountered the enemy first!

Snap—

Scout Puji detected a faint sound, while Dylan and the three pirates were still staring blankly at the distant Blood Shark, oblivious to this noise.

"Dylan, it's here!"

Scout Puji's bladed tentacle suddenly whipped out along the ship's edge; below came the sound of a blade entering flesh, but apart from that, no other sound followed.

At the same time, he ran to Scout Puji's side and looked down, colliding directly with a pair of dead-fish-like, pale eyes.

A humanoid monster, ten bloodless fingers gripping the ship's hull, with translucent webbing connecting the gaps between the fingers, and sharp bone blades growing on the backs of its hands.

Its damp skin displayed an unnatural grayish-white, with slender, moving shadows occasionally bulging beneath the skin, like some parasitic leeches crawling through the blood vessels.

A deep cut marred this Water Ghost's shoulder, caused by Scout Puji's attack just now, yet not a single drop of blood flowed from the wound.

In Lin Jun's eyes, this monster had no status panel... "The enemy is here!"

Prepared mentally, Dylan calmly shouted a warning to the others while thrusting his sword down.

The steel longsword smoothly pierced the Water Ghost's head; the Water Ghost instantly lost all ability to move, its hands letting go of the ship's edge and falling away.

However, the matter was far from over...

Snap, snap—

Snap, snap, snap, snap—

The sound of countless water ghosts clawing their way onto the boat rose from below, and this time everyone heard it clearly.

One after another, figures of water ghosts emerged from the mist below.

"So many! Can we possibly kill them all?"

Dylan felt his scalp go numb, yet he dared not pause for a moment; he ran back and forth, stabbing to death any water ghosts within his guard range that tried to climb up, while Scout Pujie also waved his blade-whip to help.

The pirates behind them also began to stir, obviously water ghosts had reached their side as well.

The fight, like playing whack-a-mole, continued for a long time; Dylan gradually grew exhausted, and the disadvantage of his age became undeniable.

After stabbing another water ghost to death, Dylan had just wanted to catch his breath when he suddenly heard the captain shout: "Get down!"

Instantly dropping to his knees, Scout Pujie's blade-whip swept past, and a headless water ghost lay fallen beside Dylan.

Did a water ghost get on board?

When?

Dylan turned to look, and saw that the three pirates behind him had actually lost their position!

Two pirate corpses lay on the deck, and a third was missing; he had been so fully engaged in the fight that he hadn't noticed.

"Quick, back to the foredeck!" Lin Jun said.

The aft deck can't be held; we must join the three Gold-rankers at the foredeck.

I wonder what the situation is up front?

With this question in mind, when Dylan ran back to the foredeck, he saw a chaotic melee...

Water ghosts, pirates, and sailors were locked in combat on the deck; individually, the water ghosts were not strong, and a single Silver-ranker could handle one-on-one, but their sheer numbers and endless supply were overwhelming, and many had already been killed.

The good news was that the three Gold-rankers had suffered no losses for the moment; although they looked wretched, at least they were all still alive.

The Blood Shark was the same; every now and then, one could still see the mage's magical attacks.

In fact, the power displayed by this mage, whom Lin Jun had not yet met, far exceeded his expectations; at the very least, he was Diamond-rank level, yet Lin Jun couldn't figure it out: if the mage is the strongest, why is that Gold-ranker Caspar the leader?

After Dylan reunited with Gerhard and the others, the battle continued for a long time.

The deck was now covered entirely in corpses—water ghosts, pirates, or who knows whose; Dylan leaned on his sword, unable to muster the strength to swing it again.

As for Gerhard and the pirate ship's first mate, they had been forced apart who knows when.

Another water ghost, moving on all fours, kicked off and lunged forward.

A flash of cold light split the water ghost's head in two, and it crashed into the pile of corpses, just like its kin.

Scout Mushcap stood listlessly beside Dylan.

【Sound Wave Detection lv6】

It seems... there are no more water ghosts?

Once Dylan recovered a sliver of strength, he followed Scout Pujie, stepping over the sea of corpses to circle the area.

The only living humans left were Captain Gerhard and the pirate first mate.

Both were covered in wounds; the pirate first mate had even lost an arm.

As for the others, they were probably all buried in the pile of corpses.

Boom!

A wave of magical energy radiated from the Blood Shark.

That Diamond mage really is skilled; he hasn't exhausted his mana yet. Although the interval between his spells has lengthened, he is indeed still alive.

"So, does this count as having survived?" the pirate first mate asked, his voice hoarse.

This ferocious giant, two meters tall, now spoke as weakly as a mosquito.

Gerhard couldn't even speak; he had been stabbed by a blade and had only survived until now thanks to a few potions and a tiny bit of "wisdom for survival"; facing the question, he could only nod with great difficulty.

This time was the same as last time: a massive number of water ghosts; once they were all killed, it would be over.

The mutual suspicion between the three had vanished; after all, the number of survivors might not even be enough to sail the ship; if they didn't cooperate, they would just wait to die...

All three thought about going to find the mage later, hoping that more survivors remained on his side.

Splash—

It was the sound of waves being split by the bow.

But strangely, it didn't come from beneath them or from the Blood Shark next door, but rather... from ahead?

In the thick mist, some enormous entity was tearing through the veil of fog!

Getting closer, the group finally saw clearly: it was a massive ship fully twice the height of the Wind Feather.

Unlike the pragmatic Wind Feather and Blood Shark, this giant vessel bore decorations distinct from the archipelago style.

Besides the bronze figurehead of a sea monster, the massive hull was entirely carved with exquisite patterns; various pigments formed designs with unique cultural characteristics.

Everyone was stunned by the grandeur and beauty of the giant ship, except for Lin Jun, who felt something was strange.

What are those rows of square grids on the hull? Why do they look somewhat familiar?

(End of this chapter)