Chapter 32: Ghost Ship?
Seeing the Doom Number's devastating heavy cannon ability, Su Xiao was very satisfied. This thing wasn't meant to bombard ordinary enemies, but to bombard ships.
For a vessel of the same size, after taking a hit from the Doom Number, even if it didn't sink, it would be basically crippled, making continued navigation completely impossible.
As for the abilities that hadn't been unsealed yet, one was diving into the sea to sail. While the sailing speed was fast, it couldn't sail for too long.
As for the last one, that was the true strength of the Doom Number: awakening the cursed crew members. The Doom Number was judged as Su Xiao's summoned creature, and of course, he could also control those cursed people. Their combat power was still unknown.
Su Xiao had basically understood the current situation, which led him to deduce that the third round of the Expert Battle Royale should be the longest of the five rounds.
Arriving at Losh Island, also known as Terror Island, within 15 natural days, the danger along the way was easy to imagine.
However, Su Xiao already had a ship. With the Doom Number's sailing capabilities, his difficulty in reaching Losh Island was over 70% lower than that of other participants.
This way, he would have more ample time. There were likely Ancient Gods on the Viking Sea, so making a detour to 'visit' them was a pretty good choice.
There were three benefits to killing an Ancient God: you could obtain Divine Bones, and also improve the quality of the growth-type equipment [Divine Judgment].
The current [Divine Judgment] was at Legendary rank, with the effect: for every 1 point of Soul Strength, increase Health Points by 80 and Neural Reflex Speed by 0.5% (already increased by 12000 Health Points and 75% Neural Reflex Speed).
If [Divine Judgment] was upgraded to Epic rank, or even Holy Spirit rank, the boost to Su Xiao would be quite exaggerated, after all, the current [Divine Judgment] was only Legendary.
Besides improving [Divine Judgment], killing an Ancient God could also yield Soul Coins. The rank of those Soul Coins was still unclear.
Not only the benefits above, if the ability was suitable, Su Xiao could also obtain Soul Memories through his Soul Devourer talent, thereby improving himself.
Generally speaking, to find an Ancient God, you had to start with myths and legends. On the Viking Sea, you could narrow the scope to maritime myths and legends.
Whether it was reaching Losh Island or finding an Ancient God, Su Xiao needed to make contact with the natives of this world.
The sea breeze gently brushed against his face. Baha landed on the crossbeam above, acting as a lookout. Amu was responsible for steering. If a fight broke out, Beini would take over.
As for Bubu Wang, he was squatting on the special seat at the bow, squinting his dog eyes and enjoying the sea breeze. But what he didn't know was that, in most cases, the ram at the bow was the most likely to be hit by cannonballs.
Su Xiao didn't have a clear sailing target right now and could only sail at random. He urgently needed to find a pirate ship or an island; that was the most effective way to get information.
Unfortunately, until dusk, he hadn't encountered any other ships. As for islands, he hadn't even seen a shadow.
Night fell. There was no moon in the sky tonight, making the sea pitch black.
Inside the captain's cabin, the candlelight was dim yellow. Compared to the damp and cold deck, it was dry and comfortable here.
Su Xiao sat on the wooden bed in the captain's cabin. Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Beini were all inside. Because they were too bored, the four of them had started playing rock-paper-scissors, with the loser getting slapped.
After a while, a teary-eyed Beini jumped onto the wooden bed and curled up beside Su Xiao's leg. The right side of her cat face was slightly swollen. Just now, she had almost been slapped against the wall by Amu's friendly big slap. It wasn't that she couldn't take a joke, but it hurt too much. That simpleton Amu, after winning, when he slapped her, he even aimed and charged up. Beini was almost slapped into crying, her skull buzzing.
Su Xiao's eyes opened. For some reason, he felt the temperature in the captain's cabin getting lower and lower.
Thin, cold mist appeared in the air. The dim yellow candle flame flickered, as if it might go out at any moment.
Bubu Wang blended into the environment and activated [Sacred Traveler], passing through the wooden wall of the captain's cabin.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang's bark came with a trembling tone. Just as Su Xiao pushed open the captain's cabin door, Bubu Wang shot behind him with a whoosh, hugging Su Xiao's leg, clearly scared.
Creak～
The harsh sound of wood rubbing came. A large ship sailed head-on towards the Doom Number. In the darkness, this ship was like a sea evil spirit.
Thin mist spread along with this ship. Tattered sails fluttered in the wind.
Seeing this ship, Su Xiao immediately thought, this is a ghost ship.
"Finally encountered another ship."
Su Xiao pressed his hand against the wooden wall of the captain's cabin. The sails of the Doom Number suddenly bulged, catching the full wind and accelerating, as if it had found prey.
At the same time, on that ghost ship sailing towards them.
"So, has that ship turned? Prepare to fire."
"Captain, something's off."
"What's off?"
"That ship... is charging at us."
"?"
"Prepare for collision!"
Clang, clang, clang...
The sound of metal striking spread. This ghostly-looking ship became lively. As for how it sailed with those tattered sails.
Indeed, the deck of the ghost ship was very quiet, surrounded by thick fog, the atmosphere was eerie. But if you entered the cabin below the deck of the 'ghost ship', you would see a large group of pirates, drenched in sweat, bare-chested, vigorously pushing large oars. The funny thing was, to maintain the ghost ship's eerie silence, their chanting was very low.
Now, the deck of the ghost ship was in chaos. Pirates were running quickly, some pushing cannons, others shouting loudly.
"Hurry! Hard to port!"
"Load the cannonballs! Sink that ship!"
"Too, too late! Grab the railing!"
Amidst the shouts, the Doom Number rammed from the side.
Crunch!
The ram of the Doom Number directly cut into the side hull of the ghost ship. Large splinters of wood flew everywhere. The ghost ship let out a creaking 'groan', its hull beginning to list.
The pirates on board cried out in surprise. As for their thoughts, besides regret, there was nothing else.
The Doom Number was almost 'riding' on the ghost ship, with a small part of its hull out of the water.
The two ships soon stabilized. The pirate captain led over 50 pirates standing on the deck, their eyes fixed on the Doom Number.
What happened next was something this pirate captain and his crew would never forget.
The planks at the front of the Doom Number opened up like ribs, and the entire ship came alive.
"What... what kind of ghost ship is this?"
A pirate spoke with a trembling voice. Ask yourself, what is the scariest thing to encounter at sea? Sea beasts? Other pirates? The Kingdom's fleet? None of those. The scariest thing at sea is encountering a ship with supernatural abilities.
Tap, tap, tap...
Steady footsteps came from the towering Doom Number. Below, the pirate captain, wearing a black bandana and holding a flintlock pistol, swallowed his saliva.
"Finally, found some living people."
Hearing this, the pirate captain's eye twitched. The words sounded familiar. No, he often said that himself to intimidate enemies. But this time, it seemed they had encountered a real 'ghost ship'. Walk the night path long enough, and you'll eventually meet a ghost.
A figure jumped down from above and landed on the deck of the ghost ship.
As soon as Su Xiao stood on the deck, Amu landed behind him with a dull thud.
"Boss, what do we do?"
"Kill half first."
Su Xiao drew the Dragon-Slaying Flash from his waist. These pirates had ill intentions, clearly here to plunder. He certainly wouldn't consider negotiation. Dealing with these pirates required an even harsher approach.
Choose to return good for evil? Don't be ridiculous. On the Viking Sea, returning good for evil would only invite more aggression.
Besides, that wasn't Su Xiao's style. As long as the situation allowed, he wouldn't even wait overnight for revenge. When encountering pirates, the first thing to do was to kill them until they trembled.