Captain – Chapter 582 – Too Late

As soon as the order was given, the young man came up to the deck.

What was unexpected was that following behind him wasn’t Vivian, who was almost inseparable from him, but Talin’s first mate, the great schemer Ferguson.

This thin, short man, as soon as he boarded the deck, broke into a run toward the group of surviving crew members, shouting for them to put down their weapons as he ran.

When he got close, he realized somewhat awkwardly that these previously fierce and brutal pirates were now all empty-handed, their faces full of fear and submission.

Clearly they had already surrendered.

After a brief moment of confusion, Ferguson ignored the somewhat evasive looks from the pirates and immediately began explaining the situation while assessing the damage to the warship.

During this time, the pirates who had come to the deck with Richi, pushed forward by the water ghosts, also surged in that direction after getting the young man’s approval.

“What’s the situation here?”

Frowning slightly as he watched this scene, vaguely hearing terms like “ceasefire” and “ship repair” from the first mate’s mouth, Caine turned around to face the young man and asked.

“Put nicely, it’s a ceasefire. In reality, this ship belongs to us now.”

After briefly explaining, Richi looked him up and down, nodding approvingly: “That outfit looks good. It seems you’ve already dealt with that old guy?”

After receiving an affirmative answer, the young man reached out and patted his shoulder encouragingly, then turned around and slightly turned his face toward the water ghosts in the direction of the Nightmare King’s crew, signaling them to go help… or rather, supervise.

Having done this, Richi finally met the young man’s puzzled gaze, pointing at the wispy rising light mist that was growing brighter, and explained: “This is a kind of signal.”

“In Ferguson’s words, it’s sacrificing a ‘believer,’ or rather a puppet, using the most intense flame before its death to attract the arrival of certain things.”

“It’s the same principle as lighting a fire for rescue when stranded on a deserted island.”

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Watching the contemplative young man, seeing the light in his blue eyes flicker intensely then quickly settle, Richi knew he should already have an answer.

Even if he didn’t, he must have made a guess and prepared himself.

So after a brief silence, the young man softly spoke the name that even thinking about would make him feel boundless pressure, with his first instinct being to retreat.

“What’s coming is… the Drowned Captain.”

As the words fell, the two immediately fell into silence.

After a long while, Caine, whose guess had come true, finally came to his senses, his brow furrowing even more deeply, asking for final confirmation: “Are you certain that thing will definitely come?”

The young man wasn’t surprised by Caine’s questioning and heavy tone, because when Richi first learned this news, his own reaction had been even more exaggerated.

After all, in pirate legends, that death ship was the most famous and feared ghost ship besides the Victoria, which was linked to immortality and existed outside the world, with a fearsome reputation loud enough to make desperate pirates tremble.

Rumors said that anyone who encountered that ship became part of it.

Of course, this wasn’t entirely accurate.

Though he didn’t know if any other ships had escaped when encountering it, at least the Mermaid had managed to do so, and had even fired several cannons at that thing.

And compared to pirates who were enthusiastic about this topic but had never been fortunate or unfortunate enough to see it, Richi and his group understood the truth about that ship much better.

They knew its origin and cause, knew it was the devil’s death scythe, and were also more aware that it was far more terrifying than the legends described.

It was a disaster capable of burying civilization.

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“I also hope we’re just worrying needlessly.”

Shaking his head lightly, Richi said with rare gravity: “But whether from Talin’s identity, Ferguson’s behavior, or… this big guy’s reaction.”

Looking at the giant dragon that was obviously extremely agitated and could barely suppress its killing intent even under Caine’s soothing, the young man said hoarsely: “That’s the only possibility.”

“So prepare yourself. Maybe soon, we’ll have the honor of seeing it.”

Just as Richi finished speaking, footsteps sounded behind them.

It wasn’t until the young man stepped aside that Caine realized it was Vivian approaching, and she was followed by many water ghosts who seemed to be struggling to carry something.

“Thud!”

With a muffled sound, a broken and shattered corpse that was visibly healing its wounds and growing limbs at an observable rate was heavily thrown onto the deck.

“And there’s also this thing that just won’t die no matter what. Do you have any solution?”

Hearing Richi’s somewhat irritated question, the young man finally recognized from the gauze remaining on the corpse and the extremely familiar aura that this was one of the three strange men.

Of the three puppets created by the devil, one had been backstabbed by Talin to become a beacon, one had its heart taken and devoured by the dragon, and now only this one remained.

Thinking of what he had seen earlier, the scene of Nidhogg feeding, Caine’s furrowed brow relaxed slightly. He patted its coiled horn, then signaled for the two to follow him.

As they left, the young man and woman couldn’t help but look back, only to be deeply shocked by that extremely “bloody” scene before withdrawing their gaze and finally feeling completely at ease.

“So, if we really encounter that death ship, do we have any tactics?”

Stopping at the bow, the young man turned around, glanced at the pirates who were busily repairing sails and re-tying ropes, then looked at Richi and the others and asked.

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“Tactics? What tactics could there be?”

Hearing this, Richi shrugged, saying expressionlessly: “The only feasible plan is to run as fast as we can. With just this few people we have…”

“We simply can’t deal with that thing.”

Hearing this, Caine raised an eyebrow, though he didn’t speak, his meaning was crystal clear.

The former Nightmare King might not have been a match for that monster, but you had to understand that what was here now wasn’t just a mortal wielding a divine artifact and three puppets, but something far more powerful, even capable of sweeping across the entire sea.

With such tremendous power, they still couldn’t stop that giant ship at all?

Wasn’t this somewhat exaggerated?

Seeing this, Richi didn’t need to think to guess his thoughts, and smiled mockingly: “I say, First Mate, you seem to be overconfident now.”

“But you should also be clear that taking this ship was expected all along. If we couldn’t beat Talin even with such variables, that would be the real joke.”

“But the Drowned Captain is different. That’s an existence that absolutely cannot be explained by common sense.”

Looking directly into the young man’s blue eyes, Richi asked coldly: “You might want to think carefully about this – if you and Roy fell into a killing trap prepared for the Lady, then after the devil eliminates her, eliminates his greatest threat…”

“Who will deal with that serpent?”

Hearing this, Caine narrowed his eyes slightly and said: “You’re saying the Drowned Captain is the devil’s backup plan for hunting the giant serpent, and it’s as powerful as that monster?”

“Just speculation.”

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The young man didn’t immediately agree, but said lightly, then added: “But even if that ship can’t compare to the ‘Hydra,’ it probably won’t be much weaker.”

“And also, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I know better than you how terrifying it is.”

“You should listen to me on this matter.”

Richi spoke with reason and evidence. After a moment of silence, the young man finally nodded in agreement.

Time passed minute by minute. Amid the pirates’ shouting, the spare sails were finally raised high, all ropes were restored to their original state, and the Nightmare King set sail again.

At the young man’s signal, Longfellow took over as helmsman, hoping to use this chief of water ghosts’ natural sensitivity to resentment and monsters for evasion.

But what no one expected was that before the warship had sailed very far, the increasingly bright and fine light mist actually began to dim at an extremely fast rate.

In just a few breaths, it completely disappeared, dissipating among the sea fog.

At the bow of the Nightmare King.

Looking at where the light mist had originally existed, the three of them didn’t speak for a long time, until the blood craver could no longer bear this silent atmosphere and tentatively spoke up.

“Does this count as… over?”

With his back to Caine and Vivian, the young man walked several steps forward toward the direction of the light mist, quietly sensing for a while, then turned sideways and shook his head at them.

In those consistently cold blood-red pupils, emotions named anxiety were surging.

“No, it’s too late.”