Chapter 31: Ultimate Form
Shattered wooden planks flew in all directions as the West Sea King's fleet sailed at high speed across the sea. The pirates who had been sneering moments before could no longer force a smile.
The West Sea King stared down at the water below. If another ship was destroyed, he would have to summon the witch aboard his vessel. He wouldn't resort to that unless absolutely necessary—the cost was too high. With the lifespan he had left, he could only afford two more transactions at most. After the second, he might die.
All the pirate ships came to a halt, as if waiting to be bombarded, but after a long while, no cannonballs came from beneath the waves.
In the seawater, relying on the real-time sensory intelligence provided by Bubu Wang, Su Xiao learned that the West Sea King's fleet had stopped.
The West Sea King might be bluffing, or he might be weighing his options. In this situation, the best move was to fire one last shot and then retreat.
Just as Su Xiao was about to order the cursed human controlling the Destruction Cannon to fire, a fluctuation came from above. Sensing this fluctuation, he pondered for a moment before commanding the Doom Number to continue diving.
On the deck of the four-masted great ship, Storm, the West Sea King was staring intently at a figure draped in a red robe.
"The Doom Number has left. It is awakening. Perhaps soon, I won't be able to drag it back to the surface. This time... our Blood Pact has not been fulfilled."
The witch on the deck spoke softly. Hearing her words, the West Sea King breathed a sigh of relief inwardly, though his expression remained unchanged. He waved his hand, signaling his pirates to take the witch back and keep her under strict guard.
The West Sea King pulled a horn segment from his bosom. Sea King Horns could resonate with each other, but only through a specific method—a secret known to few.
...
In a sea area several dozen nautical miles from the Sunken Ship Island, the Doom Number was sailing at a moderate speed. The recent encounter with the West Sea King had revealed something to Su Xiao: Sea King Horns could resonate with each other. How exactly to do it, he didn't know.
Su Xiao speculated that the West Sea King wouldn't attack again anytime soon. The other party had just lost four three-masted pirate ships, and the morale of his pirates had been severely damaged.
The recent attack seemed more like a probe—a test of Su Xiao's stance on the Sea King Horn.
If Su Xiao was willing to hand over the Sea King Horn, the West Sea King wouldn't press the matter further. He might even offer compensation to recruit Su Xiao to deal with another great pirate, Twin Towers: Empress.
But if Su Xiao refused to give up the Sea King Horn, it signaled one thing: Su Xiao also needed it.
Once that was confirmed, the West Sea King would immediately consolidate his forces, avoiding naval battles with the Doom Number. Both sides coveted the Sea King Horn, making conflict inevitable.
All four great pirates knew one thing: the captain of the Doom Number was cursed by the Demon Sea and couldn't stay active on the sea for long.
The West Sea King was counting on this, which was why he dared to probe so boldly.
Su Xiao deduced that afterward, the West Sea King would hole up in his base camp, waiting for Su Xiao's Demon Sea curse to erupt, or for Su Xiao to attack his stronghold.
The West Sea King wouldn't sit idle. During this time, he would try to recruit other great pirates. The Duke was a prime target.
Su Xiao entered the captain's cabin of the Doom Number. He was constantly worried about one thing: which contractors in this world had joined the West Sea King's pirate crew? If someone as strong as the Poison Healer: Guangmu had joined, he would need to be cautious. These were all renowned powerhouses in the Eighth Rank.
Su Xiao opened the Legend Rank Leaderboard to check his standing. The last time he looked, he was second to last.
[Legend Rank Leaderboard Activated. Current Rankings:]
First Place: Nether Wolf (Reincarnation Paradise), 3260 Legend Points.
Second Place: Alec (Death Paradise), 2751 Legend Points.
Third Place: Bai Ye (Reincarnation Paradise): 899 Legend Points.
Fourth Place: Black Rose (Reincarnation Paradise): 850 Legend Points.
Fifth Place: Guangmu (Holy Light Paradise): 829 Legend Points.
Sixth Place: Carnival (Apocalypse Paradise), 754 Legend Points.
Seventh Place: Sweet Orange (Apocalypse Paradise), 530 Legend Points.
...
Ranking third wasn't bad. The Doom Number had only just unlocked its first-stage seal.
Nether Wolf, who previously had only 1 Legend Point, had shot straight to first place. Dragon Scale: Alec was also not to be underestimated, holding second place firmly.
Somewhat sadly, Death Paradise often ended up as the eternal runner-up. While Su Xiao was checking the leaderboard, Alec's Legend Points increased by 14, showing that Alec strongly disliked being in second place.
Seeing Black Rose in fourth place surprised Su Xiao. He had heard of this famous Eighth Rank contractor even before he himself had reached Eighth Rank.
With nothing else to do for now, Su Xiao checked the World Contact Platform. The messages there were surprisingly uniform.
Tumbler (Watchful Paradise): "Buying the location coordinates of Apocalypse Paradise contractor: Carnival. Offering 5000 Soul Coins. Those in the know, activate your mark to contact."
Guangmu (Holy Light Paradise): "Raising the bid. I offer 5200 Soul Coins."
Sweet Orange (Apocalypse Paradise): "Then I'll offer 5250 Soul Coins."
Guangmu (Holy Light Paradise): "6000."
Sweet Orange (Apocalypse Paradise): "8000!!!"
Guangmu (Holy Light Paradise): "12000 Soul Coins. If you've got the guts, keep raising."
Black Rose (Reincarnation Paradise): "Two idiots, you ****, and definitely not *****, just ****."
Blazing Fire (Reincarnation Paradise): "Fiery Black Rose, online greetings to the double poisons."
Black Rose (Reincarnation Paradise): "Up there, want to die? You ***?????."
[Tip: This contractor has been restricted from speaking.]
Black Rose (Reincarnation Paradise): "???ω?."
Black Rose (Reincarnation Paradise): "?"
[Tip: This contractor's daily speaking limit has been exhausted.]
Sweet Orange (Apocalypse Paradise): "Hahahahaha, the speech turned into Ancient Elvish. Let me laugh for a bit."
Nether Wolf (Reincarnation Paradise): "I think... I've found Carnival."
Carnival (Apocalypse Paradise): "Then I'm done for."
...
For some reason, the contractors on the World Contact Platform were all searching for Carnival's location. This contractor named Carnival must have violated some "heavenly law" or something, because just his location was worth a hefty sum of Soul Coins.
Black Rose was just as rumored—after a round of colorful language, she was successfully restricted from speaking by the Void Tree.
Normally, cursing on the World Contact Platform wouldn't get you restricted, unless it happened every time, leading the Void Tree to judge it as "excessive useless speech," which would trigger the restriction.
Su Xiao closed the World Contact Platform and waited until 4 PM, when Baha returned with 30,000 Demon Sea Gold Coins.
As soon as Baha flew above the Doom Number's deck, he opened the team storage space, and dozens of large money bags tumbled out, each stamped with the emblem of the Liyin Bank.
Counting the value of the Golden Skull, Su Xiao now had 47,507 Demon Sea Gold Coins. It was time to unlock the Doom Number's second-stage seal.
He had Baha hang a lantern on the bow. A black mist vortex appeared, and chains flew out from it, dragging the Doom Number into the vortex.
A blood moon hung diagonally in the sky above. Only the upper half remained; the lower half had shattered, with jagged cracks still visible at the break.
The sky was pitch black, as if it could extinguish all light. The Doom Number docked at the pier of Extinguished Light Island, where over ninety percent of the area was shrouded in black mist.
Standing on the Doom Number's deck, Su Xiao knew that unlocking the second-stage seal had extraordinary significance. At that point, the cursed humans' consciousness would regain clarity, and another Mist Guardian on Extinguished Light Island would awaken. Through this Mist Guardian, he could replenish the number of cursed humans on the Doom Number by consuming Demon Sea Gold Coins.
Beyond that, the maximum number of cursed humans the Doom Number could carry would increase. Most importantly, the cursed humans' overall combat strength would be further enhanced.
But that alone wasn't enough to deal with the West Sea King. Su Xiao planned to "set" a third Curse Stone into the Black Crow Ring, pushing the number of Black Curse Crows past 100,000, thereby triggering the War Lord's "All Ability Levels Increased by Lv.10" bonus.
If that still didn't feel secure enough, Su Xiao could stay on Extinguished Light Island, earn a large amount of gold coins through Fuland, and unlock the Doom Number's third-stage seal—bringing it to its complete form.
At that point, the Doom Number's abilities would be fully unleashed. The number and strength of the cursed humans would reach their limits. If Su Xiao could withstand it, he might even consider setting all six Curse Stones into the Black Crow Ring, pushing the Black Curse Crow count past 300,000, thereby unlocking all the bonuses from the War Lord title.
This was the ultimate form. If he achieved all this, he could smash the West Sea King's skull to pieces.