Chapter 176: Fifty-Five Thousand Pounds

Chapter 176: Fifty-Five Thousand Pounds

The Black Tulip… Admiral of Hell Ludwell… There’s a wolf in front and a tiger behind… Isn’t this a bit too unlucky? Floating in midair, Klein was the first to notice the approaching ship. He could not help turning his head and looking down at Anderson, who was holding the black short sword and carefully examining the monster.

Somewhat puzzled, Anderson quickly glanced back at him. While staying on guard against gray-black chunks of flesh that might shoot over at any moment, he said, “That look in your eyes is strange. Did something else happen…”

Before he could finish, he reflexively closed his mouth. Then, seemingly sensing something, he leaped sideways and rolled, dodging the monster’s split-off bodies that would make his nails grow wildly. He swiftly reached the opposite side of the ship.

Straightening his back and stretching his neck, Anderson suddenly hissed.

“Admiral of Hell…”

This was no kind-hearted fellow. As a pirate admiral already known for indiscriminate killing, he would certainly feel no psychological burden over taking advantage of someone else’s crisis.

Once he weighed matters and discovered that he could use the powerful monster’s attack to kill Admiral of Stars and everyone aboard the Future, thereby harvesting extraordinarily rich spoils, he would definitely act!

My bad luck hasn’t weakened. It’s just changed form, saving up in small amounts and paying out all at once? Anderson’s expression twisted, neither crying nor laughing.

At the same time, the corresponding information surfaced in Klein’s mind:

Admiral of Hell Ludwell had a bounty of 55,000 pounds from the Loen Kingdom alone!

He was an extremely powerful spirit medium, the pirate admiral with the highest bounty among the seven pirate admirals.

On his flagship, the Black Tulip, there were not many living pirates. Most tasks were handled by the undead creatures and spirit world creatures he drove.

He killed indiscriminately, but he had no perverse love for slaughter. He was merely earnestly completing the work of throwing living beings into hell.

He had countless connections with the Numinous Episcopate, and rumor held that he possessed a ring left behind by the ancient Death!

As Klein and Anderson watched the Black Tulip, the golden brooch on Admiral of Stars Cattleya’s robe began radiating pure, bright, yet non-glaring sunlight.

Before the captain’s cabin, a blurry figure appeared and rapidly stretched taller.

It carried the ghostly aura of deathly silence and peace, yet also emitted the warm, gentle temperature of sunlight.

It was an exceptionally contradictory existence, like a wraith made from Sun Holy Water!

Both sacred and evil!

This “Sun Wraith” opened its arms and flew out at an exaggerated speed, embracing a gray-black chunk of flesh.

The sound of burning grease sizzled. The Sun Wraith and the gray-black chunk of flesh canceled each other out, annihilating one another without leaving the slightest trace.

Deep purple flowed through Admiral of Stars’ eyes, and the golden brooch shone bright. Outside the captain’s cabin window, she rapidly created one Sun Wraith after another, making them throw themselves at the gray-black chunks of flesh that had invaded the Future.

At that same time, Bloodless Heath Doyle protected Frank, Nina, and the other sailors, using swallowing and digestion to resist the monster chunks with their extremely powerful vitality.

The Black Tulip was faster than Klein expected. In only a few seconds, it entered the Future’s warning range.

The deep-black sailing ship tinged with gloomy green slowed down and stopped at the edge, seemingly not entirely clear on what was happening here.

Suddenly, Klein saw a nearly transparent eye appear in midair over the Future. It had pale-white pupils and was looking down from above, unblinking.

This… a spirit-medium version of a telescope? After a moment of blankness, Klein drew his revolver with his right hand and aimed at the eye belonging to a spirit world creature.

At that instant, he hesitated slightly. As the crazy adventurer Gehrman Sparrow, firing directly best suited his persona and presented no issue. However, Admiral of Hell Ludwell had not yet shown hostility. He might take Admiral of Stars Cattleya’s backing into consideration and maintain restraint. If Klein recklessly killed his “telescope,” it would inevitably push the situation toward an even more chaotic and dangerous development!

During Klein’s brief hesitation, the nearly transparent illusory eye vanished. In the distance, the Black Tulip continued forward, growing clearer and clearer.

On it, white skeletons either naked or wearing leather armor bustled about, operating the sails. Pale living corpses with longswords at their waists patrolled back and forth, surveying the surroundings with eyes dyed in dark-green flame. Shadows, wraiths, and all kinds of strange spirit world creatures sometimes circled in the air, sometimes burrowed into the ship, revealing transparent faces with indistinct features along the hull.

In Klein’s Spirit Vision, there was only one living person aboard the Black Tulip. It was the man dressed like a captain, standing quietly at the front deck and looking this way.

He wore an exaggerated tricorn hat embroidered with a white skull and fitted with feathers. He wore a white shirt edged with lace and a complicated, ornate short brown coat. Hanging from the tawny leather belt that secured his white tights was a thin rapier.

This man’s face was covered by a silver-white mask, hiding his features and contours entirely. Around the holes marking the positions of eyes, nose, and mouth, cold lines made anyone who looked at him feel fear.

This fully matched the rumored image of Admiral of Hell Ludwell!

Where are his first mate, second mate, third mate, and boatswain? Klein was first surprised that there was only one living person aboard the Black Tulip, then quickly understood.

Just as the Future had sent its third mate, gunner, and many sailors to other ships in its pirate crew, keeping only the minimum personnel needed to enter this sea, Admiral of Hell Ludwell had not brought his “fragile” subordinates along. After all, he could drive undead creatures and spirit world creatures to operate the ship.

At that moment, the Black Tulip visibly turned, and dozens of cannons on its starboard side aimed this way.

As Admiral of Hell Ludwell touched his silver-white mask, booming sounds erupted one after another.

Cannonball after cannonball flew over. Some fell into the sea before even drawing close, blasting up waves. Others shot directly past them, landing farther away.

This was a calibration volley!

Very soon, the Black Tulip began its second round of cannon fire.

Klein was just about to activate Creeping Hunger and use the Corrupt Baron’s Distortion ability to make the cannonballs change targets and bombard a more distant place, when he saw Anderson Hood raise his right hand and push forward.

Orange fire ravens instantly condensed, circling as they flew out and precisely intercepted every cannonball!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Blazing firelight shone in midair, and fragments scattered everywhere, as though fireworks had been set off dozens of times in succession.

I have to say, a Pyromaniac’s abilities are quite useful at sea. A mystical version of a ballistic missile defense system… Of course, that’s also because Anderson is the Strongest Hunter and has already reached Sequence 5. If it were Danitz, he definitely wouldn’t be able to intercept them one by one. If he could detonate half, that would already be impressive… Sigh, when I use Fire Manipulation, I can only deal with one at a time… As Klein sighed inwardly, the Black Tulip stopped firing. Its speed increased again, shortening the distance between it and the Future.

As it approached, the golden-sunlit sea between the two enormous sailing ships rapidly turned black—not black like ink, but like the deepest, heaviest night without moon or stars.

From this deep, dark ocean, one half-transparent, half-illusory ferocious creature after another climbed out. Pale corpses stretched out palms still hung with strips of rotting flesh. Flames, either deep red or icy cold, appeared one after another, forming pairs of eyes.

Suddenly, this place seemed to have become the entrance to hell. All kinds of undead creatures crowded to the surface, charging forward wave after wave like the tide.

Anderson glanced back at the Sun Wraiths annihilating the gray-black chunks of flesh, knowing that Admiral of Stars was currently at a critical stage in dealing with that terrifying monster. He could only hiss softly and raise his head, flashing a bitter smile toward Gehrman Sparrow in midair.

He was about to press both hands against the ship’s rail and create outward-spreading crimson flames to stop the undead army’s assault, when he was astonished to see Gehrman Sparrow suddenly turn around and fly back into the cabin.

He ran? He ran? No way… Anderson’s expression obviously froze for a moment.

Immediately afterward, he showed an expression of gritted teeth. His body quickly leaned forward, and he reached out with both palms, pressing them against the ship’s side.

Silently, a field of crimson flame rose from nowhere and swept forward.

At that moment, a charm suddenly fell before his eyes, and beside his ears rang an ancient Hermes word:

“Storm!”

Huh? Anderson instinctively raised his head and saw Gehrman Sparrow, dressed in a round-neck shirt and brown jacket, wrapped in a violent wind, rapidly flying toward the Black Tulip.

He—he’s going to kill himself? This kind of madness, I can’t understand… Anderson’s mouth hung half-open, confusion filling him.

Woo!

With the help of the charm’s effect and the wind’s favor, Klein shot through the air and reached the sky above the front portion of the Black Tulip.

Admiral of Hell Ludwell immediately raised his head and glanced at him. Inside the eye holes of the silver-white mask, two pale flames burned quietly.

The shadows, wraiths, and spirit world creatures belonging to the Death domain that circled above the Black Tulip instantly swarmed upward, rushing toward the enemy.

Some opened their mouths wide, unleashing silent screams. Others spat out long, thin tongues embedded with miniature human faces. All seemed extremely excited.

Expressionless, Klein watched them. His left palm reached into his pocket, undoing the wall of spirituality around a square iron box.

Then he took out Azik’s copper whistle, tied together with several matches, and threw it toward the Black Tulip’s rear deck.

Abruptly, the transparent, cold, blurry wraiths and shadows all stopped, as though they had been frozen like insects.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, they turned around and flew at extreme speed toward the rear of the Black Tulip. The strangely shaped spirit world creatures followed closely behind.

In less than a second, the skeletons and living corpses operating the ship and adjusting the cannons also betrayed Admiral of Hell. The front deck area became empty at once, leaving only Ludwell.

Pa!

Holding down his hat, Klein landed on the deck before Ludwell.

His body arched slightly. He released the right hand pressing his hat down, and his gaze locked onto Admiral of Hell, whose face was covered by the silver-white mask.