Captain – Chapter 581 – Curtain Fall or Prologue?

Caine heard no death knell, only a series of fine “crack” shattering sounds, as if a solid stone before him was collapsing and crumbling.

And that was indeed the case.

Pierced through the heart, with the light in his pupils completely dimmed and no longer showing any sign of life, Talin did not lean forward or slump against the railing, but maintained his posture from when he was alive.

When the young man withdrew the curved blade from his body, what he felt was no longer the pulling sensation of flesh and blood, but something like drawing from a rock wall—extremely difficult and laborious.

When the blade tip finally left the man’s chest, Caine even saw some sparks.

Just moments after the blade left the body, those low crackling sounds became frequent and clear at a terrifying speed. Finally, a pale gray color began climbing up from the neck, gradually spreading across Talin’s face, fixing his solemn expression forever.

He had truly become a stone statue.

As if in the previous battle, he had been cursed by the serpent-haired human face on the small shield.

Gradually, cracks climbed up his face, occupying every inch of skin beneath his clothes. This strangely formed stone statue began to crack and crumble without any apparent cause.

Only it didn’t collapse like a mountain falling into scattered stones of various sizes, but dissolved into countless particles of dust, drifting away from one side of his body along the wind currents.

Soon, the dust scattered completely, carried away to unknown places. On the bridge, there was no longer any trace of that pirate legend’s figure—only the young man standing alone.

However, though he had witnessed the entire process of the Deep Sea Captain’s death, petrification, and scattering into dust, Caine neither did nor could notice…

Among those drifting “gray sands,” there was an inconspicuous speck of dim light dust.

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That faint blue-gray light dust, before the devil’s eyes, evaded wind and rain, crossed over the ship’s rail, and finally silently entered the sea along the Nightmare King’s hull.

Drifting toward that pale golden light mist, or rather, toward the remains sinking to the seabed.

Seemingly like mourning for a departed old friend, yet more like…

Some kind of evil ritual.

Caine didn’t notice that speck of light dust, naturally unaware of the sinister events taking place beneath the sea. Thinking he had finally eliminated a great enemy and avenged the captain and crew whose fates were unknown, he let out a sigh of relief, then bent down.

From that pile of ownerless clothes that had fallen dejectedly, he picked up the scabbard, tricorn hat, and the ocean-blue cloak that symbolized Talin’s identity.

It fits quite well.

Comparing that captain’s uniform, the young man thought silently, feeling it was at least much better than his current shirt that was so tight it barely covered his abdomen.

At this thought, he chuckled and shook his head, donning the coat and hat, then sheathing the blade at his waist. In just moments, he seemed like a completely different person.

From an assassin hidden in the night, he transformed into a “dignified” pirate captain, almost identical in appearance to that old photograph in the pocket watch.

Walking slowly to the railing beside the ship’s wheel, Caine looked down at the deck from above.

The brutal fighting there had already stopped, partly because Talin’s earlier whim of raising waves and using the warship as a scale, randomly swaying it about, had knocked out or killed too many crew members, making them instinctively cease hostilities.

On the other hand, it was because this fateful battle on the bridge had been too eye-catching.

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With fierce wind and torrential rain, lightning and thunder, it was impossible not to look.

But precisely because of this, many pirates who survived the “ghost wave” personally witnessed Talin’s defeat, saw him turn to dust and scatter, and the young man appear like a conquering king.

Naturally, they no longer had any will to resist.

“Clang!”

Not knowing who started it, after a crisp sound, the pirates one after another threw their weapons before them, looking up with pale faces and trembling lips at the figure above.

Thus expressing their awe and submission.

Yet despite the pirates unanimously laying down their arms and becoming as docile and quiet as rabbits, the deck was not completely silent—sounds of biting and tearing could still be heard from time to time.

The dragon, covered in wounds with even blazing golden blood flowing, much more subdued than before, was silently and viciously gnawing at the strange man beneath it.

Though there were many scars on its horny scales, most were scrapes left by blades and guns that hadn’t truly wounded it deeply. Those profound wounds dripping with golden blood, like beast claw marks, were all courtesy of the grotesque creature before it.

Of course, that strange man was far more miserable than it.

That gray-white robe had long been torn to shreds, and the gauze used to cover his body was almost entirely gone, revealing the creature’s body glowing with blue-gray fluorescence.

Except for the face which remained wrapped and indistinct, the strange man’s body was no different from an ordinary person’s, only shrouded in dim light, pale and even somewhat crystalline.

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However, beneath the torn human skin’s surface layer was not flesh and bone, but clear, transparent crystal with leaf-like veins.

Those veins were like blood vessels, flowing with pale golden blood that burned like flames.

And at the chest position, a gemstone-like “heart” of different color was vigorously beating.

This strange man, beneath the surface appearance, was entirely some kind of grotesque creation that humans or even nature could not understand, revealing forbidden meaning in every aspect.

Fortunately, it was not impossible to kill.

After tearing open the strange man’s body and reaching that “heart,” the dragon lowered its head and, ignoring the flames wrapping around it, bit down and tore it out in one gulp.

After the “heart” left the body, the strange man who had been making futile resistance with his remaining form immediately lost all vitality. The dim light around his body and in his pupils quickly faded until completely extinguished, and his entire body turned to ash and dispersed in the flameless fire.

Holding that “heart” in its mouth and shaking its head to fling off the rainwater and blood from its face, the dragon bit down hard several times before swallowing the gemstone broken into several pieces.

After this, Nidhogg’s wounds visibly began to heal somewhat, and even the light in its pupils gradually recovered and became even brighter than before.

Clearly, it had treated that “heart” as some kind of nourishment.

Just like what that giant serpent had tried to do to Roy.

Perhaps for those eternal beings from the Old Calendar, devouring life and destroying everything was just such a simple process, not involving any questions of good and evil.

In the extremely short time after swallowing that “heart,” the dragon seemed to have grown faintly larger again. Sensing the hot currents surging everywhere within its body with nowhere to vent, it raised its head high and roared like the dragon of despair from the legends, that unyielding ancestor whose name it now bore.

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As if declaring its authority over this sea.

But before long, the roaring stopped abruptly.

The dragon lowered its head back down, its eyes dangerously narrowed. It paced on the deck, constantly looking toward the surrounding seas in all directions, as if searching for something.

But until the end, it couldn’t “smell” the opponent’s general direction as usual, only feeling that fateful pull growing ever stronger.

Ever closer.

Snorting heavily through its nostrils, the confusion in Nidhogg’s eyes flashed by momentarily, instantly replaced by hatred and fury as it spread its wings high in a battle stance.

When the dragon was searching in all directions, Caine noticed something was wrong with its condition and quickly walked down from the bridge, happening to intercept it just as it was about to take flight.

“What’s wrong?”

Gently stroking the dragon’s curved horns, the young man frowned slightly and asked with some gravity, simultaneously recalling the whispered words the Deep Sea Captain had spoken before dying.

But before he could figure anything out, or the dragon could respond with a low growl, the wooden door leading to the cabin was heavily pushed open. Though no figure could be seen, Richi’s shouts came first, actually giving orders to the pirates.

“Stop fighting and get this ship moving immediately, you bastards…”

“If you don’t all want to die!”