A massive warship slowly approached through the mist. Apart from the sound of waves, the fog was eerily silent.
"This time... what is it now?" the pirate first mate asked weakly.
Captain Gerhard of the Wind Feather simply shook his head, indicating he didn't know either.
Dylan wondered aloud, "Isn't this just another ship from the archipelago that got lost and wandered in like us?"
"Impossible. The archipelago doesn't have ships this large, and I've never seen this style before. Plus... there's not a single light on it..."
As the pirate first mate spoke, he secretly stole a few more glances at Dylan, who had dropped his disguise—a green demon race. But now wasn't the time to discuss such things.
Only after he pointed this out did Dylan notice it was indeed true.
While magic crystal lamps weren't cheap, they were essential equipment for ships. The Wind Feather had four of them before.
For such a massive, luxuriously decorated warship, even having a large magic crystal lamp would be reasonable. But looking now, behind the thick fog, there wasn't a glimmer of light.
Moreover, it was far too quiet.
A ship this size would require at least a hundred people to operate. Even at this distance, it shouldn't be this silent.
The group exchanged glances, all sensing something strange.
Lin Jun, meanwhile, was thinking: doesn't this world have legends about ghost ships?
The scout was repeatedly using [Sonic Detection LV6], but couldn't detect a single living being on that ship. If it wasn't a ghost ship, what was it?
Could it be one of those cases where everyone who's seen it died, so no rumors ever spread?
The massive warship slowly approached, finally stopping not far away, with the Blood Shark positioned between it and the Wind Feather.
Even though it wasn't directly adjacent to the Wind Feather, and even though they already knew this ship was enormous, when the hull's side loomed before them like a city wall, everyone still clearly felt that oppressive presence of something colossal.
"What is it planning to do?"
Finally, sounds came from the massive warship—not human voices, but the thunderous rumble of heavy objects moving.
And not just one, but many!
Under everyone's gaze, rows of square hatches on the warship began opening one by one, and dark cannon barrels slowly extended from within...
Cannons?!
This made no sense!
This world didn't even have muskets—where did cannons come from?
And shouldn't ghost ships be technologically backward, only having the advantage of being undead and immortal?
How could their technology be more advanced than the locals? Was this reasonable?
Without any time to react, the sound of dozens of cannons firing simultaneously was deafening. The scout, with its [Sonic Detection] ability, had its entire mushroom cap stunned for a moment.
Fortunately, the Wind Feather wasn't the target of this barrage.
The Blood Shark wasn't so lucky.
Under the baptism of the massive cannons, the hull was torn apart like a fragile toy, even the mast was shattered into several pieces.
By the time Dylan ran to the ship's rail to look, he could only see the Blood Shark's wreckage slowly sinking.
No matter how many pirates had survived on it before, they were probably all gone now...
Now, all the cannons had retracted, presumably reloading.
Magic power suddenly gathered toward the Blood Shark's wreckage. The water surface exploded, and a bedraggled figure flew out—it was the mage!
This was Lin Jun's first direct look at this seemingly powerful mage, but checking his status panel left Lin Jun utterly confused.
It wasn't that he was too strong or had something special about him. What puzzled Lin Jun was why this mage was just a Gold-rank with such an ordinary status panel?
Only level 43, with typical wind and fire dual-element mage skills, and unremarkable attributes. How had he cast such powerful spells?
The answer was immediately thrown in Lin Jun's face—because of the mist!
Though the mage looked disheveled, his condition seemed much better than the three people on the Wind Feather.
Obviously not intending to swallow this sudden bombardment, he began channeling the dense magical power in the mist, gathering it into his brilliantly glowing staff.
Sixth-tier magic—Great Storm!
Lin Jun had seen this magic before. The Gold-rank mage in the vampire viscount's squad had used it in the Yellow Book Happy House.
But that Great Storm was completely incomparable to the one before his eyes.
The high magical power concentration environment greatly enhanced the spell's power, allowing this Gold-rank mage to produce Diamond-rank effects.
Countless massive wind blades like guillotines howled forth, any one of them capable of easily cleaving the stone pillars that Puffshrooms could transform into.
These wind blades all spun as they struck the massive warship. Wood chips flew everywhere, revealing three layers of decks inside the warship.
Inside were cannons, cannonballs, gunpowder barrels, and various supplies—but no living beings.
The mage was obviously stunned for a moment. He probably thought he was being attacked by living people.
While the mage stared at the broken decks, three ballistas with grappling hooks extended from the warship's bow.
"Watch out above!" Dylan shouted a warning.
But it was too late.
The ambushed mage tried to dodge in mid-air but was still pierced by a grappling hook and fell straight into the sea.
The hook was connected to a rope. As the rope was reeled back, the mage's lifeless corpse was dragged up from the sea and finally got stuck in front of that ballista.
Worse yet, at some moment without any warning, the massive warship returned to its original state.
All damage from the Great Storm had vanished, as if nothing had happened.
If not for the mage's corpse still stuck on the ballista, they would have doubted they were hallucinating.
Lin Jun also found it incomprehensible. If the broken wood chips flew back to fill the gaps, that could be understood as some kind of time reversal. But this instant restoration without any magical power fluctuation—what was this?
Wasn't this a bit too overpowered?
Unfortunately, this world had no customer service to report the warship for cheating.
The square hatches on the hull opened again. This time, the cannon barrels were aimed at the Wind Feather...
Despair.
"You bastard, how did you survive back then?" Knowing there was no chance of survival, the pirate first mate couldn't help but complain.
"Back then there were only water ghouls..." the Wind Feather's captain said, then closed his eyes and waited for death.
Both of them were seriously injured and had no strength left to move.
Dylan wasn't much better off in terms of stamina.
"Dylan, I'll make you a memorial tomb in the mushroom garden. Oh right, any last words? Like telling Bella 'Daddy loves you' or something?"
"After I die, would Boss actually jump out and tell Bella these things when he sees her someday?"
Lin Jun thought about it. "No."
Dylan had an "I knew it" expression on his face.
"Then I'll struggle a bit more..."
Amid the thunderous roar of cannons, Dylan grabbed the scout and rushed over the ship's rail, leaping down!
The Wind Feather was a bit larger than the Blood Shark, but this difference meant nothing against dozens of cannons.
After one barrage, the Wind Feather also became a pile of debris floating on the water's surface, with no sign of any survivors.
After a brief pause, the massive warship started moving again and disappeared into the thick fog.
...
...
...
Pop—
A mushroom cap surfaced.
The mushroom cap bobbed up and down, quickly moving to the Wind Feather's wreckage.
A tentacle wrapped around a larger piece of debris, and the scout struggled to drag the waterlogged, unconscious Dylan onto it.
The scout stood beside Dylan and began stomping hard on his swollen belly!
With 52 points of strength, it quickly made Dylan violently vomit seawater.
The debris didn't seem like it would sink anytime soon, so the scout swam around the area and finally found a relatively intact small boat among the Blood Shark's wreckage.
Rowing to the debris, it dragged Dylan onto the boat. After this whole ordeal, Lin Jun felt exhausted.
Not physically tired, but mentally drained.
He completely didn't understand this mist—first water ghouls without status panels, then warships with cannons, and that bizarre restoration.
What was going on with this world?
The scout didn't try to row either. It wouldn't know which direction to go anyway, so it just let the boat drift with the current.
If water ghouls or the warship appeared again now, it would truly be heaven's will to destroy Dylan, and Lin Jun would be helpless.
Fortunately, nothing happened.
They drifted like this for a long time. The fog gradually thinned, and even a ray of light appeared in the distance—the morning sun.
Just as the small boat was about to completely leave the mist, a clear voice suddenly transmitted through the scout into the mycelial network.
"Keep fighting!"
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