Chapter 2: Annihilate the West Sea King's Pirate Crew and Seize His Fragment of the Sea King's Horn
Tip: A complete Sea King's Horn is a necessary item for the Hunter to undergo the final trial.
Tip: Upon completing all stages of the main mission, the Hunter will also simultaneously pass the 200-point attribute barrier assessment.
Mission Time Limit: 10 days.
Mission Reward: None
Mission Penalty: Forced Execution.
...
Upon seeing the second part of the main mission, Su Xiao was somewhat surprised. He had wiped out the Byrne family, not completely offending their collaborator, the Duke, but instead angering the West Sea King, whom he had never even met?
The function of the Sea King's Horn was unknown for now, but judging from the mission data, this item was inherently very valuable.
The Sea King's Horn had been split into three parts. One segment was with Baron Byrne, another with the West Sea King, and the final segment was with the Twin Towers·Empress.
The West Sea King had been secretly cooperating with Baron Byrne all along, with the aim of obtaining the segment of the Sea King's Horn in the Baron's possession.
Looking at it this way, Baron Byrne was a double-crosser. On the surface, he cooperated with the great pirate·Duke, but in secret, he had long been on brotherly terms with the West Sea King.
Su Xiao currently had two choices. The first was to compromise with the West Sea King and join him in dealing with the Twin Towers·Empress. In that case, the segment of the Sea King's Horn in his hand would have to be offered as a token of sincerity to the West Sea King.
The second choice was to take everything. Deal with both the West Sea King and the Twin Towers·Empress, then assemble the complete Sea King's Horn. What would happen after that was unknown for now.
Based on Su Xiao's experience, this Sea King's Horn was most likely used to summon some powerful sea beast from beneath the waves, or perhaps the strongest sea beast in this world. This Sea King's Horn might be the broken horn of that strongest sea beast, shrunk down by the inscriptions on it for easy storage.
If the strongest sea beast wanted its horn back, as long as the situation was properly arranged, it could be used as leverage to force that strongest sea beast to accomplish a certain task.
A bolder conjecture was that once the Sea King's Horn was fully assembled, it could be used to forcibly enslave that strongest sea beast.
Su Xiao felt that this alone wasn't enough to ignite the greed of the great pirates. The strongest sea beast might not just be powerful in itself; it might be able to command other sea beasts within the Demon Sea, forming a sea beast army.
How many supernatural sea beasts were there in the Demon Sea? It was impossible to count to this day. Even if the strongest sea beast couldn't command all sea beasts, if it could command even a fifth of them to form a sea beast army, that would undoubtedly be the most powerful force in the Demon Sea.
Only something like this would be worth the greed of a great pirate like the West Sea King. Perhaps even the Duke knew that Baron Byrne had this segment of the horn, which was why he let Baron Byrne have the fat prize of Shipwreck Island, to prevent Baron Byrne from becoming desperate and destroying this segment of the horn.
This wasn't impossible. Baron Byrne had just blown his own brains out with a gun. When this guy got ruthless, he would even kill himself. Destroying a segment of the Sea King's Horn would be nothing to him.
He was a mad dog, a mad dog that gave the three great pirates—the West Sea King, the Twin Towers·Empress, and the Duke—very few options.
Complete Sea King's Horn = Control the Strongest Sea Beast = Possess a Sea Beast Army = Become the Overlord of the Demon Sea!
The West Sea King wanted the Sea King's Horn for this very purpose. This guy wanted to dominate the Demon Sea.
The Twin Towers·Empress, on the other hand, wasn't too desperate for the Sea King's Horn. This female pirate was currently in the best position. Anyone dominating the Demon Sea, including herself, wasn't a good situation for her. If someone else dominated, she might be captured to warm their bed. If she dominated herself, she would constantly worry about being assassinated.
Having formed a general estimation in his mind, Su Xiao put away the [Sea King's Horn (1/3)]. He had no interest whatsoever in a sea beast army. The reason was that he was the captain of the Doom Number. Even if the strongest sea beast had the ability to command other sea beasts, it would be useless here.
On the Demon Sea, all sea beasts feared the Doom Number, feared it from the depths of their souls. Since entering the Demon Sea, Su Xiao had never seen a supernatural sea beast.
Supernatural sea beasts possessed intelligence no lower than humans. If they knew they were helping the captain of the Doom Number, any pressure from the strongest sea beast would be complete nonsense. Those supernatural sea beasts would scatter in all directions, trying their best to stay far away from Su Xiao, the captain of the Doom Number, because they were too afraid.
In Su Xiao's understanding, a complete Sea King's Horn = Summoning the Strongest Sea Beast = A High-Quality Soul Crystal = Enhancing the Azure Steel Shadow ability.
This was very tempting. If he could obtain the soul crystal of the strongest sea beast, the Azure Steel Shadow energy would undoubtedly see a massive increase.
Moreover, with the Doom Number, why would he need an army of supernatural sea beasts? Those supernatural sea beasts would need to be coaxed and have high enough charm attributes to ensure their loyalty. Unlike the cursed people, who would go east if he told them to go east, without any hesitation or doubt.
Su Xiao looked at the remaining two items: the letter and the dark golden skull. He chose to pick up the letter.
After a moment, Su Xiao tossed the letter back. It was a love letter Baron Byrne had written to his sister. Perhaps he was afraid of having his legs broken by his father when he was young, so he never dared to show it. The interpersonal relationships among nobles were very chaotic. Some nobles practiced incestuous marriage to ensure so-called "pure bloodlines."
In Su Xiao's view, this so-called pure bloodline was complete nonsense. Apart from checking a dog's bloodline purity when buying one, this aspect was never relevant at other times.
The inheritance of bloodline power was not such a superficial thing. Its key lay not in purity, but in inheritance: a healthy and stable inheritance from generation to generation, along with the development and wisdom of each generation. That was the true key to powerful bloodline abilities.
Picking up the final golden skull, this goose-egg-sized golden skull gave Su Xiao a pleasant surprise. It wasn't just made of gold; it also contained Demon Sea energy inside, which could be used to break the curse on the Doom Number. Its effect was estimated to be equivalent to about 16,000 Demon Sea Gold Coins.
After a thorough search, Su Xiao walked out of the castle and headed towards the dock.
Over ten minutes later, the Doom Number set sail. The casualties among the cursed people and the Black Curse Crows had yet to be tallied.
As the Doom Number sailed away, the flock of crows blocking the sky retreated, and the black mist shrouding the entire Shipwreck Island also dissipated. The evening sunset shone through.
An hour later, over a dozen pirate ships appeared on the horizon. These raiding ships sailed very fast and soon docked at the pier.
Several wooden planks were slanted down, and a sturdy figure draped in a blue coat walked down the planks onto the dock. His hair was meticulously groomed, and his brows and eyes carried a cold sharpness. It was the great pirate·Duke.
The Duke looked at the small town behind the dock. It was too quiet, eerily quiet.
"Captain, we've checked. There are no... survivors on the island."
The pirate who said this lowered his head, afraid of angering the Duke with his words. Everyone on Shipwreck Island associated with pirates had been killed without exception.
"Go find a segment of a horn. Use any means necessary to find that thing."
"Yes, sir."
The dozen or so pirates nearby trotted forward. At that moment, a sound of something cutting through the air came, followed by an explosion. Splintered planks flew everywhere, and the mast of a raiding ship crashed down with a loud bang.
The Duke looked out to sea. Over twenty large ships had appeared on the water, approaching the dock of Shipwreck Island.
"It's Murray's men."
The Duke watched the Royal Navy ships advancing from the sea. He knew Commodore Murray had arrived. This was his old rival.
"Captain, we..."
"Shipwreck Island belongs only to me."
"As you command."
All of the Duke's raiding ships turned around, heading towards the Royal Navy's twenty-plus large ships. A massive sea battle began.
...
In an unknown sea area, a fierce wind whipped up raging waves, mercilessly battering a small sailboat. It looked like the small sailboat could capsize or fall apart at any moment.
On the small sailboat stood a figure clad in full-body armor. Neither the wind, rain, nor waves could shake him in the slightest.
"Firefly, I have received your will."
The armored man representing Gluttony spoke in a deep voice. A blood bead emitting a red glow floated before him. This indicated that the enemy was ahead, the contractor named Bai Ye, was ahead.
The moment the blood mark was formed, the armored man had confirmed this. The appearance, clothing, the sword at the waist, even the aura, all belonged to the contractor named Bai Ye. Everyone's aura was unique; there was no mistake. The enemy was fleeing in panic ahead.
At this moment, ten nautical miles ahead of the armored man, a dark shadow was swimming at high speed in the seawater. This was a cursed person, the target of the armored man's pursuit. The two sides always maintained a distance of nearly ten nautical miles, preventing the armored man from sensing this cursed person, forcing him to track only by direction.
On the small sailboat in the storm, the armored man's gaze was firm. Even if he had to chase to the ends of the earth, he would not let the enemy go. Even if the rain was heavy, even if his stomach was empty, even if the sea was full of dangers, the armored man would not give up. He looked ahead and shouted loudly:
"You can't escape!"
His shout was drowned out by the heavy rain. Cold raindrops pelted the armored man. The rain grew heavier, and the waves grew higher.
Meanwhile, inside the captain's cabin of the Doom Number, Su Xiao had just finished his daily meditation and was thinking about what to eat for dinner tonight.