Chapter 868: Plague Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
" Cough cough …"
Blackbeard spat out some seawater. He was in bad shape. The explosion had completely destroyed a number of defensive magic tools that he had on him. Now that he was on Specter s.h.i.+p"s deck, its cold aura penetrated his body, causing even more damage to his wounds.
After seeing several undead creatures close in on him, especially the Ghoul Tyrant in the lead, Blackbeard chuckled wryly and gave up any attempt at resistance.
However, after he was brought before the captain of Specter s.h.i.+p, his jaw dropped in surprise. "Why are you here?!"
In horror, Blackbeard saw that Specter s.h.i.+p"s captain, who was surrounded by various undead creatures, was the pirate who he had hunted down and had let escape into the Golden Ocean, Arcane Trickster Roche!
In less than a month, he had transformed from an outcast to the captain of Specter s.h.i.+p. The change was so fast that Blackbeard did not even know how to react.
"We meet again, Governor Blackbeard!"
Fang Yuan looked handsome and fas.h.i.+onable, even donning a Death cloak. He looked condescendingly at the pirate governor that had once hunted him down.
After he had endured the tests on that day, he had automatically obtained the authority to become the captain of Specter s.h.i.+p.
All the undead creatures on the s.h.i.+p, including the Ghoul Tyrant and the DemiG.o.d Lich, were bound to his orders under the contract"s power.
With them under his command, he had more than enough to escape from the wrath of the Raging Thunder G.o.d, who was not yet fully unsealed.
After all, the opponent had not yet attained complete freedom either. In fact, he was unable to pursue Feng Yuan after he had left the h.e.l.l of Lightning
However, even though he had obtained Specter s.h.i.+p and the ability to travel across realms, Fang Yuan"s original body was unable to exist in the real world immediately. On top of that, he had to start fulfilling the captain"s responsibility—guiding all kinds of s.h.i.+pwrecked souls to the afterlife.
Otherwise, even with his intrinsic quality, he would not be able to bear all the grudges of Specter s.h.i.+p for too long.
According to the agreement, the two DemiG.o.ds will only obey my orders for three years. After that, I will return their freedom to them. Furthermore, Specter s.h.i.+p is responsible for guiding souls to the afterlife at all times. While it can be summoned occasionally into battle, it doesn"t really work as a flags.h.i.+p… The average pirate won"t be able to live on Specter s.h.i.+p either.
Every living man on Specter s.h.i.+p could very well turn undead after spending too much time on it, and even Fang Yuan would not be able to reverse the process.
Therefore, I need to obtain another legendary pirate s.h.i.+p. Blackbeard will be useful in that regard… Fang Yuan thought as he looked at his prisoner.
Not only did Blackbeard have the last fragment of the treasure map, but there were the riches of the entire Blackbeard Pirates as well.
They could very well have more than one extraordinary s.h.i.+p on top of that.
Even if there wasn"t, just a portion of their riches would be enough to start building a first-cla.s.s extraordinary s.h.i.+p.
This was why Fang Yuan had saved Blackbeard"s life.
"Fire!"
"Even Specter s.h.i.+p must succ.u.mb to the great Ettoman flag!"
Victory had excited the entire royal fleet, and it decided to attack even after finding out that it was facing Specter s.h.i.+p.
"Spiritualize!" Fang Yuan commanded at the same time as the cannons fired.
The entire Specter s.h.i.+p instantly turned phantasmal. The huge cannonb.a.l.l.s flew right through the s.h.i.+p and eventually exploded on the surface of the sea.
"Pure physical attacks, while powerful, do have their flaws. For example… the Spiritualize ability of Specter s.h.i.+p renders all physical attacks ineffective!"
It was a peculiarity of Specter s.h.i.+p, but it was limited to only pure physical attacks.
If the cannonb.a.l.l.s had been Monster"s Annihilation, the only thing Fang Yuan could have done was to run away.
All things had their strengths and weaknesses.
"Lich! It appears that these sailors have taken our kindness for weakness. They"ve even forgotten to fear Specter s.h.i.+p!" Fang Yuan said to the DemiG.o.d Lich as he sneered.
"Captain, as long as you command it, I can remind them of the terror of Specter s.h.i.+p!" replied the DemiG.o.d Lich with a weird laugh.
"Okay, go ahead!" Fang Yuan waved his hand. Immediately, a dark green mist surrounded the Lich and carried it into midair. "Death Cloud!"
A giant dark green cloud appeared and enveloped the surrounding ironclads.
The poison was accompanied by the sound of erosion.
Undead monsters released freaky screams as they floated about, killing the sailors who had drifted apart from their crew.
"All right!" Fang Yuan no longer paid any attention to the battlefield and looked straight at Blackbeard. "Shall we begin our negotiations?"
"Heh… are you l.u.s.ting after the riches I"ve acc.u.mulated over the years?" Blackbeard laughed weirdly, removed the seaweed on himself, and slowly rose. "That"s right… As the Nightmare Ocean"s governor for so many years, I have indeed acc.u.mulated a huge amount of riches. Unfortunately, they were all left on those islands. Lucky Ettoman!"
"Those are only the treasures from your public treasury. I don"t believe that you, as the leader, didn"t keep any personal treasures." Fang Yuan laughed mischievously. "Or would you rather I ask you after turning you into a specter?"
As the captain of Specter s.h.i.+p, he had even more ways to deal with specters than live people.
Blackbeard"s expression changed immediately.
Currently, his situation was not much better than dying at sea.
The high-level undead creatures would not fear his magic. Furthermore, his greatest fear was exactly the situation that Fang Yuan had described.
Blackbeard finally decided to spill the beans after staring at Fang Yuan for a long time. "Fine! I do have a secret stash. I"ve hidden priceless treasures there. If you let me go, I"ll give you the map!"
"We"ll discuss that later! I need that treasure map fragment first!"
A light flashed on Fang Yuan"s hand, and a treasure map with a section missing appeared. "Don"t tell me that you don"t know what this is!"
"The Soro Pirates" treasure map… My G.o.d, you managed to collect three pieces of it?"
Blackbeard looked shocked.
"Pfft… your slave trader subordinate had done many deeds behind your back." Fang Yuan laughed mockingly. "So how about it? You have to first present that fragment to me as a token of your sincerity!"
Blackbeard"s face twitched as he reached into his s.h.i.+rt and tore his clothes apart.
A treasure map fragment that emanated a curious radiation appeared on his hand.
Fang Yuan grabbed it without missing a beat and put the two pieces together.
A light flashed, and the two pieces slowly fused together. The lines on the map seemed alive as they moved about. Finally, they marked out the treasure"s location and a route leading to it.
At the spot where the treasure was marked, an additional symbol that represented a s.h.i.+p also appeared.
"According to the rumors… the Soro Pirates left their treasures and an excellent legendary s.h.i.+p in the depths of where they hid it. That"s why I valued the treasure map so much…"
Blackbeard could feel his heart bleeding.
His fragment was crucial since it marked the treasure"s location. After collecting information, he had a good idea of what exactly the treasure contained.
But now, someone else had claimed all the fruits of his labor.
He was furious at the thought.
"Plague!"
The DemiG.o.d Lich was cleaning up the battlefield.
After trapping the enemy inside the Death Cloud, it immediately used the Plague spell that struck terror into the hearts of pirates.
In fact, in terms of pure combat ability, the DemiG.o.d Lich was leagues above Blackbeard.
With the incantation"s sound, the royal fleet"s marines instantly started to foam at the mouth, falling onto the deck and coughing relentlessly.
The more unfortunate ones even saw black spots appear all over their bodies and two egg-sized cysts appear under their armpits.
"It"s the Death Sickle!!!"
All the sailors started to scream in terror and back away at this sight. Some even chose to plunge into the sea and swim toward allied s.h.i.+ps.
It was obvious that the DemiG.o.d Lich"s Plague reminded the Ettoman marines of something extremely unpleasant, as they now looked at the Lich in fear.
A ma.s.sive translucent specter army also marched out from Specter s.h.i.+p, killing marines at will.
They were completely immune to physical attacks. Only attacks imbued with extraordinary attributes were able to damage them and make them disappear temporarily. Some of the specters were even able to suck the life out of the living.
The s.h.i.+ps immediately start to flee. An ironclad even hung up a white s.h.i.+rt as a sign of surrender.
"It seems that… I"ve taken things a bit too far!"
Fang Yuan rubbed his forehead. He suddenly felt that it was a mistake to promise these guys freedom after a mere three years.
It was not a matter of not having enough underlings but the possibility of them turning the world into a living h.e.l.l.
"Time to go!"
He clapped.
"Let"s go!"
Like a receding tide, the white specters returned to Specter s.h.i.+p.
Under a thick cloud of smoke, Specter s.h.i.+p slowly left the battlefield.
"Investigate!
"Why did Specter s.h.i.+p appear here? Investigate everything!"
After returning to Fearless, Norton saw Philip in a rage.
Specter s.h.i.+p was indeed unaccounted for, but it"s merely a single s.h.i.+p. It can"t possibly change anything… Norton thought to himself. He immediately suggested to Admiral Philip, "Our primary course of action should be to take over Blackbeard Island and seize the treasures… We need to remember to seize everything! Then we need to win over one or two pirate governors to our side using this victory. They don"t necessarily need to produce any results. Just a slight uncertainty on their part in critical moments would go a long way."