Chapter 652: Section 439: Fishman Youth: Cang Xu?!
The Sea Snake Lady infused mana into it, and the Mana Scroll left her hands, slowly levitating in front of her.
The scroll quietly emanated a faint blue glow.
The Sea Snake Lady bit her own finger, releasing a stream of fresh blood.
Under the guidance of her spirit, the blood merged into the surface of the scroll, solely staining the snake-shaped totem red, while the other patterns and runes remained unsoiled.
In fact, the primary material for drawing the snake-shaped totem was the blood of the Sea Snake Lady herself.
Thus, the fresh blood quickly blended with the snake-shaped totem, activating it.
For this Spell Contract Scroll, the blood of the Sea Snake Lady was the key to activation.
Without the Sea Snake Lady’s blood, the scroll would be nothing but a piece of useless paper to anyone who stole it.
The first step was critical. After the Sea Snake Lady had completed it, she confidently continued to pour mana into the scroll, fully activating it.
The main Array within the scroll began to flow with a deep blue radiance, its brightness flickering uncertainly, circulating endlessly, gradually illuminating each and every Magic Rune.
When all the runes and Magic Lines were lit, the blue light reached its peak brilliance.
The dazzling blue light shone upon the Golden Level sea snake and also illuminated the Sea Snake Lady, linking their spirits together.
At this moment, the Sea Snake Lady’s brows were tightly furrowed, her face showing a pained expression. It felt as if all the blood in her body was boiling, and her head was as if being hammered by an invisible mallet, her spirit subjected to a severe test.
After all, she was trying to dominate a Golden Level as a Silver Level, an act of subverting the natural order.
As for the Golden Level sea snake, it shuddered violently, as if being brutally electrocuted.
Ba Qi firmly controlled the sea snake, ensuring it could not truly resist.
After a dozen seconds, the blinding blue light gradually stabilized and softened, significantly easing the Sea Snake Lady’s agony and smoothly furthering the contract process.
But just at this moment, a strong surge of spell fluctuations violently erupted in the nearby sea!
In the blink of an eye, the Level of these spell fluctuations surged from Bronze Level to Golden Level.
Undead Magic—Soul Shrieking Cannon!
At this time, on the deck of the Ghost Ship, behind a Silver Level cannon that had been hastily brought out, countless ghosts whirled and danced.
A dense swarm of ghosts danced into a pitch-black vortex shaped like a disk. A Golden Level ghost plunged into it and under the vortex’s compression, changed in form to resemble the shape of a bomb.
After the bomb was loaded into the cannon, it was immediately fired.
The undead were already close to the battlefield and had the Sea Snake Lady within effective range. This cannon shot caught the pirates completely off guard!
“I’ve never seen such tactics before!” Cang Xu closely monitored the results of the shot.
He noticed that the Golden Level ghost made into a bomb clearly bore signs of modification.
Despite being hindered by a Silver Level cannon, the power of the Golden Level ghost serving as a bomb, cast by the Golden Level ship ghost himself, and amplified by the Golden Level Ghost Ship, far exceeded the firepower of Deep Sea Monster Fish’s Golden Level cannon + Golden Level bomb! Moreover, if one considered the new faction advantage of the undead, it outdid it by far.
Faced with such a cannon shot, Ba Qi and others were shocked and their expressions changed dramatically.
“A Golden Level spell!”
“Those are Undead Mages!!”
In the midst of everyone’s exclamations, the Sea Snake Lady swiftly rose into the air, attempting to evade the bomb’s strike.
Having clashed with the ship ghost and others before, she was the person best able to handle this sudden accident, so her response was quite agile.
But the target of the cannon shot was not the Sea Snake Lady, nor the Softie, but the immobile Golden Level sea snake.
“No!”
Amidst the Sea Snake Lady’s screams, the bomb hit the sea snake precisely, blasting it into a pile of bloody fragments and bone debris. The sea snake’s Golden Level spirit was utterly obliterated in an instant.
The problem was that the Sea Snake Lady was in the midst of establishing a Magic Contract with the sea snake, a process that had not been aborted, and between them existed a spirit link.
With one party dead, the other immediately suffered a severe blow.
The Sea Snake Lady spewed blood, her body staggering, and she nearly plunged into the sea. Barely stabilizing herself, she managed to maintain her levitation.
Gum Man exclaimed in shock, wanting to assist, but just as he tried to stand up, his legs gave way, and he fell to his knees.
His energy was drained too much; he was completely powerless, and his combat strength had plummeted to rock bottom.
“Undead Mage, you’ve gone too far!!” Ba Qi roared and leapt from the Softie, crashing onto the surface of the sea.
Boom.
A massive column of water erupted as Ba Qi, like a tiger descending a mountain, charged toward the Ghost Ship.
This was a very wise tactical choice; only in close quarters could a fighter fully exploit the innate advantages over a War Mage.
However, the ship ghost was well-prepared.
He had been biding his time up to now, not engaging in futile efforts, but silently brewing his spells.
Chains of pitch-black soul enveloped Ba Qi.
The Soul Shrieking Cannon was fired once more, striking Ba Qi who was restrained.
Boom!
A loud explosion caused the sea to heave up like a hill.
Two Gold Level ghost “bombs” were fired, and the Silver Level cannon on the deck of the Ghost Ship dimmed completely, as if it had been subject to petrification, turning ash-gray with not a hint of metallic luster remaining. It had suffered such severe erosion from negative energy that it could no longer be used.
The Sea Snake Lady, carrying a seriously injured body, attempted to fly back to the Softie.
In the process, Bone Spears flew toward her, and numerous ghosts spiraled upward, blocking her path.
“Damned Undead Mages, Fin Spirit, quickly lend me assistance!” The Sea Snake Lady, feeling the threat to her own life, could no longer maintain her disguise and issued a direct command.
The Fin Spirit immediately grasped her Magic Wand and descended swiftly from the Softie.
Once she took action and employed Undead Magic, her identity was exposed.
A shock ran through those aboard the Softie; none had anticipated that Fin Spirit, who had kept a low profile while living among them, was actually an Undead Mage!
“This is trouble,” Cang Xu, who was casting spells from a distance, fell into distress as he found it difficult to bring himself to strike at Fin Spirit decisively.
They were there to rescue her, not to kill her.
On the other hand, constrained by her contract with the Sea Snake Lady, Fin Spirit had no choice but to go all out.
With Fin Spirit holding the line, the Sea Snake Lady safely returned to the Softie.
Gum Man hurried forward to support her, his heart aching for the heavily injured Sea Snake Lady, while choosing to ignore the sudden revelation of Fin Spirit’s true identity.
The Sea Snake Lady scanned the deck and declared, “Rest assured, everyone; I have Fin Spirit under control. Although she is an Undead Mage, she is my Slave!”
Hearing this, the pirates aboard the Softie grew restless once again.
Seeing Fin Spirit “loyally” combat the sudden enemies, they began to believe the Sea Snake Lady’s words.
“Don’t panic,” Cang Xu advised the Little Prince, placing a hand on his shoulder inside the Ghost Ship’s cabin, “Aerial combat is disadvantageous for us; first, we need to lure Fin Spirit into the sea.”
Clever people know how to choose their battlefield.
The Little Prince nodded in agreement with Cang Xu’s suggestion.
Ku Feng, meanwhile, stood guard by the two Mages’ sides.
Fin Spirit too was “cooperative,” plunging straight into the sea and directing Water Ghosts to attack the Ghost Ship.
These Water Ghosts indeed could maximize their combat strength in the sea, which meant Fin Spirit wouldn’t violate the Magic Contract she had with the Sea Snake Lady.
“It’s turned into chaos!”
“Who would have thought there’d be another group of Undead Mages.”
The Fishmen of the Da Ji Tribe had already retreated to a distance, observing the sudden onset of hostilities, and were scared into retreating further.
Fin Spirit battled alone against the Little Prince and Cang Xu, with Water Ghosts and a legion of Death Skulls and skeletons entangled with each other.
“What on earth are these flying dead heads?” Fin Spirit marveled in disbelief.
“It’s a pity, I can’t use my Skeleton Turtle Heavy Cavalry; otherwise, these Water Ghosts would stand no chance against me!” the Little Prince grumbled.
The Ghost Ship, carrying the Undead Mages, fought against Ba Qi while tactically retreating. Meanwhile, hordes of Undead Life filled the widening gaps in the battlefield, clashing on a large scale.
Ba Qi had already sustained minor injuries.
The blast from the cannon just now was indeed formidable, and despite deploying his defensive combat skills, he still couldn’t fully protect himself.
Yet this kind of injury didn’t affect his fighting ability; Ba Qi’s speed continued to increase as he approached the Ghost Ship with all his might.
The Ghost Ship fought and retreated at the same time, and, combined with the ship ghost, it abandoned its usual rigidity and became extremely agile and nimble.
A dozen or so Gold Level ghosts, more or less modified, circled and flew around the Ghost Ship, forming the main force obstructing Ba Qi’s approach.
Ba Qi kept using his combat skills, and under the leadership of the ship ghost, the dozen Gold Level ghosts advanced and retreated strategically, with impeccable coordination.
The situation fell into a brief stalemate, and the Sea Snake Lady on board the Softie grew impatient.
“Fire the cannons!” she ordered on behalf of Gum Man.
However, the other pirates didn’t listen to her and only looked at Gum Man.
Gum Man, staring at the Sea Snake Lady with a face full of worry and care, quickly gave the order to fire upon realizing the situation: “Aim at the Ghost Ship and bombard it fiercely!”
There were quite a few Silver Level cannons on the Softie, and a considerable number of cannonballs were stored.
Silver Level cannons, along with Silver Level cannonballs, fired consecutively into the sea, blasting up several water columns.
The cannonballs, once in the water, left long trails of bubbles behind them, all rushing towards the Ghost Ship.
The Ghost Ship was swift, dodging most of the cannonballs. Then, Ku Feng took it upon himself to slice two solid cannonballs in half.
However, what the Sea Snake Lady saw was a different scene entirely.
She saw almost all the cannonballs hitting the Ghost Ship, which was partially destroyed amidst the explosions.
The ship ghost was forced to show himself; his aura weak, the severe damage to the Ghost Ship had also affected him.
Ba Qi reached the Undead Mages.
The mages scattered like birds and beasts.
Ku Feng, as a fighter, stayed behind to cover the retreat but was also the first to be killed in action.
Next fell Cang Xu and the Little Prince.
At last, the ship ghost was also slain by Ba Qi!
“Ba Qi is truly remarkable!” exclaimed the Sea Snake Lady, her heart racing with excitement.
“It’s just a shame about my sea snake… Wait, what’s that?” The Sea Snake Lady suddenly spotted a Gold Level sea snake rushing into the battlefield, seemingly attracted by the scent of blood.
“Set sail quickly, fly above that sea snake,” ordered the Sea Snake Lady.
The pirates, however, perceived and saw Gum Man shouting the orders, and they immediately took action, steering the Softie to adjust position.
Ba Qi, using his combat skills, charged and bulldozed his way through, effortlessly erasing the Gold Level ghosts.
Not only that, but with the support from the Softie’s cannon fire, he also successfully sunk the Ghost Ship.
After a fierce final battle, Ba Qi also eliminated the ship ghost and the rest.
“Undead Mages? Hmph, they should be thoroughly dead this time,” Ba Qi thought triumphantly, but suddenly a sharp pain struck, and he couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of fresh blood.
He looked down sharply at his waist and abdomen, only to see huge wafts of black smoke rising from there, emitting a strong scent of Undead.
“Is it Undead Magic?”
“When did it happen?”
He immediately recalled that during the recent battle, he had taken a hit from a mysterious spell cast by the ship ghost, which had given him the chance to kill the ship ghost in return.
“It seems to be the dying counterattack of that Gold Level Undead Mage!”
The next moment, Ba Qi’s body shook again.
He discovered two other areas on his body spewing out a lot of darkness.
Ba Qi hurried to deploy his defensive combat skills while administering potions for healing.
The reality was that a Gold Level Octopus person fighter, Zhang Yuwan, with his weapons at the ready, kept jabbing at Ba Qi’s side.
The Undead black smoke Ba Qi saw was in fact the fresh blood gushing forth from his wounds.
Ba Qi tried to take a sip of the potion, but Zhang Yuwan took it away from him. He gulped down a mouthful of seawater without realizing it.
Magic Skill—Concurrent Deception Skill!
Performed secretly by the octopus Zhou Zhang of the Holy Domain Level, the fluctuations of the Divine Arts were not concealed, yet the enemies who perceived the fluctuations were all deceived at the same time, causing them to subconsciously overlook it.
Zhang Yuwan circled around Ba Qi, wielding a weapon to stab and pierce profusely, inflicting serious injuries on him. Then, he clenched his fist, aimed at the back of Ba Qi’s neck, and hammered down hard, knocking Ba Qi out cold.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the Softie had landed on the surface of the sea. Another octopus of the Gold Level with wine-blossom arms used his robust four tentacles to tie up the Sea Snake Lady, Gum Man, First Officer, and other important pirates.
Moments later, Cang Xu and the others also became captives of the seabed army, all taken alive.
Ocean Nest.
“These people are back again?” The Fishman youth had long observed the movements of the army outside the nest through the Reconnaissance Puppet.
He paid close attention to it.
During the disturbance, the Fishman youth was tempted too.
Could Zhou Zhang and the others leaving be an opportunity for him to escape from here?
After hesitating for a moment, the Fishman youth discarded the thought.
The risk was too great.
Although Zhou Zhang and the others had left, there were still many people left behind—three of the Gold Level, even more of the Silver Level and Black Iron Level.
However, staying here, the Fishman youth was reaping astonishing benefits—the Pearl Bubbles from the Mermaid’s Fairy Tale were accumulating more and more, nearly too many to contain!
Key to this was that the Fishman youth could not be sure of more information. What if Zhou Zhang and the others had suddenly departed just to meet a rather large group of sea beasts?
This kind of scenario had occurred multiple times before.
However, Zhou Zhang’s interventions were rare; most of the time, the other two Gold Level octopus fighters were the ones who took action.
This time, with all three octopus individuals mobilizing, the Fishman youth felt something unusual.
The Fishman youth waited in the cockpit, closely monitoring the activities outside the nest through the Magic Image.
He was eagerly anticipating a powerful Beast Tide to strike the order outside the nest, giving him a chance to muddy the waters and slip away.
But soon, he was disappointed.
He saw Zhou Zhang and the others returning.
“They didn’t stay away long; fortunately, I didn’t take any risks,” the Fishman youth felt somewhat relieved.
“This time, they’ve actually caught a lot of captives from the Human Race? Judging by their attire, are they pirates?”
“There’s even a Gold Level fighter…” For the first time, the Fishman youth saw Ba Qi, who had passed out.
“Wait, Sea Snake Lady?!” The Fishman youth recognized the Sea Snake Lady. He had encountered her during the Battle at Pine Wind Sea.
“It turns out that members of Firebeard’s pirate group met their downfall here today.” A smile flashed across the Fishman youth’s face.
These Human Race captives had been subjected to Spells, temporarily preserving their lives even underwater.
But the Fishman youth was well aware of what Zhou Zhang and others were up to—they wanted to keep their captives alive only for a while to then sacrifice them to the Mei Lan deity. Blood Sacrifice was naturally best with living beings.
“Clearly, the Sea Snake Lady wouldn’t worship the Mei Lan deity.” Regarding his former enemy, the Fishman youth was naturally happy to see the Sea Snake Lady perish under the Holy Domain sea beasts in the Ocean Nest.
“Perhaps, I could take action first? Obtaining a portion of Human Race’s magic bloodline might not be bad either,” the Fishman youth calculated inwardly.
“Yo? There’s also a Gold Level Undead Mage… he looks kind of familiar.” The Fishman youth noticed the ship ghost.
But the ship ghost was dressed in black robes with a hood, lacking particularly noticeable physical features.
The next moment, the Fishman youth’s eyes widened in surprise.
What did he just see?
“Cang Xu?!”
“How did Zhou Zhang capture him!”
“Wait, so the one in front is the ship ghost?” Following, the Fishman youth saw Little Prince, Ku Feng, Qing Xin—this bunch of familiar faces.
The Fishman youth: …