As it turns out, Mogensha only attained a "B+" score after completing his mission, which also meant the realm tacitly approved the mending of his broken spear. However, the process of mending wasn"t instant, but required a definite time! …...exactly the same situation as when Sheyan appraised his "Hyrdralisk acidic gland"! As such, that equated to Brother Black losing the offensive might of his unrivalled silver storyline grade spear in the coming world!
Following that, the trio proceeded to enhance their unenhanced equipments and weapons by 2 stages; upholding the principle of ceasing their enhancements once encountering a failure. Besides, the failure rate of enhancement to "+1" stage wasn"t considered high. This time, Sheyan was exceedingly lucky, probably due to good fortune sown by playing middlemen for Uncle Dasi. While enhancing his equipment, he went on an incredibly unexpected streak; enhancing his "Barbarous Crust Armour" all the way to "+4". Ultimately, the "+4" stage granted him a bonus property, and he managed to draw a special rare property:
[ During combat with storyline characters, cooldown of the "Zergling Rush" ability is zero and ability can be activated consecutively. During combat with contestants, this ability retains a 30 seconds cooldown. ]
Actually, there was a chance for drawing another special rare property for his armour; where his attack damage wouldn"t be lowered for the "Zergling Rush" ability. Sadly, he didn"t draw it…..
With such extravagant enhancements, the defensive and offensive capabilities of the trio was raised by approximately 8-10%; a feat somewhat bound to happen eventually. Following that, they toured the realm marketplace to purchase their routine supplies of bandages and so on.
With the conclusion of the realm war, the prices of commodities once again plunged into an acceptable range. Nevertheless, the expenditure rate of party Ace was simply too frightening, and they were left with only adequate utility points in reserves - required points for certain ability casting (Reef"s ability requires). In the end, the trio once again sank into poverty.
When the countdown commenced, the trio a.s.sembled at those oval white glowing doors at the center of the nightmare realm. As before, those oval doors appeared like beautified large mouths devouring the lives of those who entered. Besides, who could guarantee they would make it back alive from the next world? Sheyan observed the surface ripples on those doors as others walked through it. He couldn"t help but feel an unknown rush of emotions as he breathed in before shoving himself in.
[ Initializing entry into the nightmare world... ]
[ Initializing data a.s.similation... ]
[ Initializing pairing of members..... ]
[ World selected. ]
[ Initializing characters and world a.s.similation... ]
[ Entering world..... ]
[ The music of an armed rebellion has begun humming. ]
[ Facing the music, a perplexed captain is on the verge of losing his freedom. ]
[ A mysterious curse looms over the treasures of the sea. ]
[ A curved apparition saber dances under the moonlight, echoing out anguished howls ]
[ The coexistence of death and fortune. ]
[ The companions.h.i.+p between risks and rewards. ]
[ Restrain your greed, my child. This is my only counsel! ]
[ Set sail!!! ]
As his consciousness gradually recovered, Sheyan opened his eyes.
A pitch-darkness welcomed him; so dark, his fingers wouldn"t be visible as well.
Besides, Sheyan instantly felt that he had been bound, with a rugged cloth stuffed into his mouth.
This was the first time receiving such treatment upon entry into a nightmare world.
His keen senses issued a clear feedback. Not long ago, fishes had been stored here. The fishes weren"t stored once, as a dull fishy odour had permeated deep into the wood. Sheyan could never forget such familiarity.
His body was currently swaying; not because Sheyan was struggling, but the wooden planks beneath were violently tremoring. It was as though his entire frame was being rolled left and right along this wooden floor.
Yes, they were in the hold of a s.h.i.+p. Furthermore, they were being imprisoned here. Judging the shaky extent of the boat, it seemed like a storm was raging fiercely outside. Fortunately, the ropes and complicated knots binding the contestants were ordinary, and couldn"t impede a contestant"s capabilities. Under Sheyan"s freakish strength, he easily ripped apart the ropes.
Apart from Sheyan and his buddies, there were 7-8 other contestants present; all cursing while scrambling to get up. All of a sudden, following a sonorous boom, the entire s.h.i.+p tilted to the right.
The s.h.i.+p tilted at an angle exceeding 45 degrees, catching the totally unprepared contestants off guard; several of them collided into the s.h.i.+p"s wall while screaming "ahhh yaaa"! If they were ordinary folks, b.u.ms would inevitably form on their heads while dizzy spells wouldn"t be strange.
"I"m afraid the storms outside, is at least category 7!" Sheyan immediately called out his judgement based on his plentiful experience at sea. "This s.h.i.+p is probably being pursued, while its aggressors are blasting cannons from the rear!"
"What is this d.a.m.ned place?"
At this moment, a contestant bellowed angrily. Sheyan watched as he clenched his fist, and pounded heavily against the s.h.i.+p"s wall. With his crackling fist booming in, the wall instantly emitted splintering sounds; distinct cracks could be seen.
Sheyan shouted aghastly in his head. One must understand, he had spent more of his life on board s.h.i.+ps than on ground. One glance, and he could already fathom they were trapped inside the s.h.i.+p"s hold that was beneath sea surface! Once this fool smashed through the wall, undoubtedly, the bunch of contestants would turn into drowned rats!
With Sheyan"s experience, he knew the flavour of submerging into the sea now wasn"t a good one. Another fit of violent tremors rocked the s.h.i.+p once again. Spittin phlegm out his mouth, that contestants revealed a lethal glint in his eyes. Roaring crazily, he raised his fist.
"Stop!" Sheyan cried out. Instead, that brute revealed a trace of disdain; who the f*** are you, why should I take orders from you. He pummeled his fist heavily against the wall again.
Kacha! Without hesitation, a dent appeared on the s.h.i.+p"s wall; leaving cracks like a spiderweb in its wake. Finally, it bluntly burst into splinters. That brute hadn"t even retracted his disdainful glance, as an insane gush of seawater flooded against him; causing him to lose his balance and slumped with his b.u.t.tocks cras.h.i.+ng onto the floor.
Chain reactions rapidly ensued. Under the ginormous pressure of rus.h.i.+ng seawater, defined cracks started spreading from the nexus of that shattered hole; before swiftly bursting into splinters. Sheyan immediately rallied Brother Black and Reef over. Under such a state, it would be impossible to plug the holes. Sheyan then rammed against the besiding wall with his elbow. Kacha! Clamorous cracks resounded, as the entire wall crumbled inwards. Seawater flooded in vehemently, irrigating the entire s.h.i.+p"s hold in no time.
Reef could only feel himself being weighed down rapidly, as an icy chill soaked his entire body in that instance. A surge of seawater crashed in, and directly submerged him deep underneath! Fortunately, Sheyan was gripping onto his back, as the two forced their way out and swam into the sea.
Caught totally unprepared, Reef drank in several mouthfuls of seawater; tasting that insipid fishy flavour. Swinging round to observe, he realized he was surrounding by somewhat extraordinary thick bubbles. Though floating along the boundless sea, he felt his senses tingling as though he was in another world. The pitch-black sea water reeked of blood and smoke. One could imagine the incredibly intense naval warfare that had befallen this place!
Debris of fragmented railings, floating unknowns, casks, stools and overturned masts drifted along the sea surface. Sheyan even noticed a cosmetic mirror bobbling while facing upwards. There were even ancient china rosewood dividers broken into halves, shoes, and pipes floating around. If those ancient china rosewood dividers could be delivered to the London marketplace, it could even fetched exorbitant prices of 2,000 pounds.
At present, at a region 20 metres into the distant, they could faintly hear the rumbling of cannons. Occasionally, flames lacerated against the thick fumes. Amidst the chaos, one could faintly observe two fleets berthed together, entangled in mutual slaughters. Evidently, they were at the climax of their naval boarding battling. Casting one"s vision afar into the horizon, one could see from the gaps between the fog and ma.s.ses, a dull scarlet glow contaminating half the skies.
Distributed nearby Sheyan and Reef, apart from ma.s.sive debris of casks, ruins, and wreckage, were also several 10 metre long single-masted tiny sailboats. These unarmed tiny boats were probably lifeboats, but the majority were in tatters; some combusting with flames atop. Naturally, fighting had concluded here recently. At this point, Brother Black finally popped up from the water surface, gasping widely for breath.
After bringing his two party members for a swim, they climbed up a tiny boat roughly dozens of metres away; gentle embers were still licking the boat. Corpses were sprawled everywhere on this boat. Amongst the corpses, some were british marines clad in red and white stripes; while the others were vicious pirates dressed in shabby clothing. Most of the corpses met their ends after entangling and peris.h.i.+ng together; obviously attempting to take each other down with themselves, during the intense naval boarding battling.
The trio rapidly extinguished the embers. They then discovered that surrounding them within this vast sea, were many pirates and marines still struggling after falling overboard. Even those inside the water, remained wrestling each other.
Though the marines were equipped with relatively superior equipments, the fighting courage of the pirates outstripped them. The pirates knew of the hanging consequences after being captured; hence, they strived to drag their foes down to h.e.l.l with them!
At this moment, Mogensha and Reef simultaneously received a notification from their nightmare imprint.
[ Please rescue at least 10 marines or pirates, to determine your selected allegiance ]
TN: note that for this pirate of the caribbean world, author combines elements from the game Uncharted Waters 4. Therefore, the magnitude of certain specifics are magnified in this pirate of the caribbean world. For example: the sizes of s.h.i.+ps (how many masts it has), the number of pirates on a s.h.i.+p, currency, some game elements fantasy stuffs etc.
TN: Important terms to note:
Broadside battles (long range battles) - s.h.i.+ps facing their broadsides to each other and firing cannons at a distance.
Naval Boarding battles (close combat battles) - to come up against, or alongside, an enemy s.h.i.+p to attack by placing men aboard the enemy s.h.i.+p. The goal of boarding is to capture, or destroy, the enemy vessel.