The fight lasted for an entire hour. Even after the Lights joined the battle, the Dark Lights showed no signs of retreating. They fought recklessly, as if they were willing to pay any price to achieve their objective.
Amid the chaos, Skyler noticed a group of villains attempting to use a strange artifact on Charles and Austin. The object glowed with dark Evol as they secretly activated it.
Skyler's eyes narrowed dangerously. In the next instant, he vanished from his position.
Before the Dark Lights could react, Skyler appeared in front of them, swiftly snatched the weird stone-like artifact, and sent them all flying with kicks powerful enough to hurl them across the ship. Ignoring the villains rushing toward him, he studied the artifact for a moment, turning it over in his hand.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Then he tossed it toward Isaac.
"It's good stuff."
Isaac caught it in surprise.
"It can create a powerful cage around the targeted person and trap them inside. Study it. We can use it in the future."
Isaac blinked suspiciously.
"Strange. If it's such a good item, why are you giving it to me instead of hoarding it like usual? That's very suspicious."
It was Zack who answered with a deadpan expression.
"Because it's ugly. Because it's not a gem. Because it isn't shiny enough. Got it?"
Isaac was left speechless as he lowered his gaze to the artifact in his hands.
Indeed, it was quite ugly.
With a sigh, Isaac muttered.
"Sometimes I doubt Skyler is even human. Maybe he's a strong dragon or some other race that loves collecting shiny things."
Isaac said it as a joke.
But two people who heard him froze.
The first was Skyler, who rubbed his nose with a displeased expression. He couldn't help but think that Isaac's intuition was so wrong. Not accurate at all. After all, he was one percent human. His status showed it!
The second was Zack.
A look of realization flashed across his silver eyes. After all, in the novel, the Queen of the Human Continent was half-dragon.
Although Skyler's sister Jenny and the Queen's other descendants had not inherited that bloodline, it was entirely possible that Skyler had. The more Zack thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
No wonder Skyler was obsessed with gems.
No wonder he kept hoarding treasures.
No wonder he always seemed interested in anything shiny or valuable.
Zack slowly turned his head toward Skyler.
Could it be...
The guy actually had dragon blood?
Unaware of the dangerous conclusions Zack was suddenly reaching, Skyler was busy examining another artifact he had just looted from a fallen Dark Light. A moment later, he tossed it into one of his storage rings with a satisfied nod.
"Not bad. This one is pretty good too."
505 sneered with a numb expression. A familiar screen flashed in front of Skyler.
("But it's completely useless, Host.")
Skyler waved the screen away.
"Hey, how do you know it's useless if you haven't tried it? If I say it's good, then it is."
505 was left speechless. It didn't dare point out that the artifact Skyler had just looted was only appealing in appearance. It looked like a glass marble and served no purpose other than glowing like a lamp in the dark.
The system quietly faded into the dark, already accustomed to its Host's antics.
No one noticed, but Zack's expression changed as he watched Skyler's actions.
'Haha... that's confirmed it.'
'This guy isn't human.'
'If he is, I'll write my name backwards.'
Zack's lips curled upward.
Now, he finally understood why Skyler hadn't been afraid in the slightest when he looted everything from a dragon's abode.
After all, as someone with dragon blood, why would this guy fear other dragons?
'He hid it quite well.'
Unaware that someone watching him had discovered that he was part dragon, Skyler killed another villain. He looked up and saw more corpses rising from the surroundings.
"Some of them are hiding. Tsk."
Skyler disappeared and appeared beside Riruru's massive body, then raised his voice.
"Guys, if we continue fighting, this will drag on for a long time. Jump into the water and see if they have the courage to follow us."
With that, Skyler turned toward Riruru, signaling for her to jump first. However, instead of following his signal, Riruru wrapped her tail around his body.
Skyler's eyes widened slightly as he was suddenly dragged into the ocean with her. The huge water snake followed the two of them, plunging into the waves behind them.
Seeing this, Zack stopped fighting as well. He rushed toward the nearest railing and, without hesitation, jumped down into the ocean.
Yuris simply vanished from his position, using his space element to escape.
Austin, Charles, and Isaac were closer to each other, so they jumped into the water together from another direction. Anyway, they would regroup beneath the surface.
One of the Dark Lights, who had been manipulating corpses from the shadows, finally showed himself. The robed woman shouted toward the splashing water where Skyler and the others had disappeared.
"Follow them! Don't let them escape!"
The Lights and the other people fighting against the villains tried to stop them from following, but many Dark Lights still jumped into the water after Skyler and the others.
However, entering the ocean turned out to be their biggest mistake.
On the ship, Zack and the others had been unable to unleash their full power due to the risk of destroying the vessel. But that restriction no longer existed underwater.
Barely a minute had gone by since the villains jumped into the water when the people fighting on the ship suddenly noticed a massive shadow above them.
They instinctively turned toward it, only to be shocked to see a colossal wave rising from the still ocean, towering high enough to engulf a large portion of the vessel. Even the ships in the surrounding area noticed the disturbance and were left stunned.
Standing atop the enormous wave was Isaac, who laughed loudly. With a casual motion, he threw the corpses controlled by the Dark Lights, along with the bodies of the defeated Dark Lights, onto the ship.
The sight was so shocking that everyone who had been fighting froze in place.
Isaac brushed his hair back and shouted.
"Next time, choose your targets carefully. Don't be so foolish as to fight those far stronger than yourselves."
Suddenly, he added sheepishly.
"Skyler said it. Heh."
With that, he vanished into the ocean, leaving behind a crowd of stunned onlookers.