Captain – Chapter 600 – Ship Spirit

As if responding to that simple, powerful word, the specter’s head facing the girl directly opened its massive jaws without warning, biting down with terrifying wind sounds.

The remaining eight heads, just like that darkest night a thousand years ago, spread out high and low, left and right, almost surrounding the entire side rail of the Goddess Hestia.

During this process, abyssal mouths opened one after another, and ghostly fog-like decay energy surged forth once more, casting a sickly green pallor over everyone on deck.

Everything happened in an instant.

Not to mention those in the ship’s hold with unopened gun ports before their eyes, even the pirates standing in the specter’s shadow, who had been tensely watching it all along, couldn’t help but fall into stunned shock facing such a sudden and decisive attack.

Only when orderly gunfire rang out from their sides, hundreds of blazing white flames illuminating the rainy night, did the pirates wake as if from a dream, raising their weapons alongside the skeletal soldiers and roaring as they opened fire.

“Bang, bang, bang…”

Countless bullets flew out, even dispersing the rain curtain, then struck the giant serpent’s body, producing crisp, dense metallic collision sounds and erupting in brilliant sparks.

Unlike when the Taranhof had battled it before, under the impact of those seemingly unremarkable bullets, even smaller than lead shot, the giant serpent’s previously indestructible scales began to deform and twist, quickly developing fine cracks.

More critically, after enduring the purification of night and fire, its wounds had not fully healed.

Though a shipload of gunpowder could cause massive damage, it wasn’t unbearable for the giant serpent. What was truly troublesome, even nearly fatal, was that person’s will.

Those gentle yet utterly irremovable traces of night.

Though after several days of recovery, the gashes caused by flames and explosions were no longer visible, countless cracks still remained on the specter’s armor.

They were all threads of night that had cut through its flesh, bones, and even soul during that protracted battle—threads that remained unquiet even after it had swallowed that person.

Now, facing the rain of incoming bullets, those deep lines danced gently, as if countless hands were caressing the specter’s surface.

Making scales harder than metal and flesh denser than stone become unbearably soft.

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“Thud!”

A muffled sound—a bullet struck just right along the night’s path, shooting into a crack thinner than a finger.

Immediately, brilliant golden blood erupted violently, accompanied by hissing burning sounds.

Weak white flames ignited from the wound, then spread rapidly along the splashing, flowing golden blood, as if using it as fuel.

The same scene repeatedly appeared across the giant serpent’s body.

Whether firearms or heavy cannons.

All weapons and ammunition on the giant ship were specifically designed to target these Old Calendar specters, capable of shattering their steel-like “shells” and burning away that dangerous, eerie blood.

Therefore, as long as the gunfire didn’t stop, the Hydra’s twisted, curved scales would eventually crack—those remnants of night only accelerated this process.

But this was already extremely dangerous for the giant serpent.

Yet despite that bone-deep burning spreading through most of its body, and even those rounds of blue-green blazing suns showing intense pain.

No one could stop the ghostly fog from spreading or that massive mouth from descending.

Everyone on deck could only watch helplessly as that enormous serpent head drew closer and closer to the captain, shrouding the large area where she stood in shadow.

They could even smell the thick, fishy odor emanating from that abyssal maw.

It seemed the next moment, that slender figure would be lost, the fog full of decay would devour all life and souls, and that night’s tragedy…

Would repeat itself.

Facing this seemingly unchangeable situation, Roy, directly confronting that abyss, still wore a cold smile at the corners of her lips. Her body, and even the great power within it, hadn’t moved at all.

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Wind whipped her robes and sent her hair dancing wildly, but the girl at center stage remained calm and confident, her carelessly narrowed eyes…

Looking as if watching a foolish creature that had fallen into a net without knowing it, arrogant beyond measure.

“Meow.”

A cat’s call sounded from the corner of the stage, comforting the siren while expressing the same sentiment.

Stupid snake.

Behind Roy, in the pirates’ eyes, time seemed to suddenly slow down, specifically manifested in how the speed of the specter’s head and blue-green fog descending…

Was growing slower and slower, nearly to a standstill.

They could even faintly hear sharp “creaking” sounds from the air, as if the giant serpent’s fangs were wrestling with invisible forces.

“Bang, bang, bang…”

Hearing the gunfire still ringing out in rounds around them with no intention of stopping, one pirate blinked hard and looked aside somewhat bewildered.

He saw that after firing one shot, the skeleton smoothly reloaded, raised its weapon, and fired again, as if that slowed time had no effect on it at all.

No, it should be said… time hadn’t slowed at all!

Thinking this, the pirate loaded his firearm while glancing up at the sky a few times. His heart’s speculation finally settled, knowing the giant serpent had been stopped by something.

Blocked by those gradually appearing pale golden light streams around the giant ship, like curtains.

That was inviolable divine grace.

Facing this amazing sight, Roy seemed to have expected it all along.

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She withdrew her gaze, looking at the trace of night closest to her on the giant serpent’s body. The smile at her lips gradually faded, then she lowered her head thoughtfully for a moment.

Finally, she lightly tapped the ship’s railing and gave a clear order.

“Cannons ready.”

The gun ports that had remained tightly closed to hide their killing intent suddenly opened on their own the moment the order fell, under the gunners’ amazed gazes. Hundreds of cannons moved forward, extending beyond the ship, producing orderly securing sounds.

The scene was spectacular beyond measure.

When feeling the obstruction at its fang tips, the light in the giant serpent’s pupils began flickering violently, surging for the first time with incredulous colors.

No longer caring about revenge or “nourishment,” the specter exerted all its strength to withdraw its fangs. Along with its other eight heads, it closed its massive mouths, turning its body to leave.

But now it was too late to escape.

“Aim at will, fire the tether chains.”

Roy still kept her head lowered, eyes downcast, but her verbal commands continued without pause.

“Boom, boom…”

The order had barely fallen when thirty-six massive cannons positioned on both sides of the fore and aft rails—cannons with even larger specifications than the heaviest artillery, three times bigger—thundered and fired.

Metal chains thick as a man’s embrace, with sharp cone-like tips, flew from the cannon mouths. With muffled impacts, they ruthlessly pierced into the giant serpent’s body.

Golden blood sprayed wildly, and the specter’s movements immediately staggered.

The chain tips bore divine script—extremely sharp and possessing terrifying suppressive effects on bloodlines and magical power. If Roy had observed carefully, she would have found their appearance identical to the chains that had locked the giant serpent in the waterfall.

Only… not “ghostly”?

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Feeling intense pain and the approaching taste of death, the giant serpent struggled violently, roaring as it retreated, not hesitating to have large chunks of flesh torn away by the chains.

But under such tremendous pulling force, the giant ship only swayed lightly.

During its struggle to break free, the specter still didn’t forget to look back at the warship, casting its ghostly pupils toward the bridge, toward the culprit who had caused its crushing defeat and made even escape difficult.

There, a ghostly shadow stood gracefully, with no emotion in the gaze that met the specter’s.

It was the ghost who had disappeared earlier.

The reason Roy dared set this trap, confident that the giant ship could activate its magical power and display divine grace before she was swallowed, was because of her existence—because she had miraculously merged with the warship and gained authority that even exceeded Roy’s own.

In a certain sense, perhaps she should be called a ship spirit?

Though even in myths and legends, this title was rarely mentioned by anyone.

No matter how much it resented them, the giant serpent had no thought of counterattack at this moment. After venting its rage in roars, it silently and stubbornly retreated, bit by bit breaking free of those chains, just as it had once penetrated that night.

Continuing like this, even if the Goddess Hestia could fire several rounds before the specter broke free, it would be difficult to eliminate this eternal being with terrifyingly strong vitality.

Of course, that was assuming it could break free.

At some point, the wind and rain had gentled, and the violent sea surface gradually calmed. The giant serpent’s violent movements became increasingly sluggish under suddenly imposed terrible pressure, as if trapped deep in a quagmire.

The devil’s great power… had finally descended upon the world.

Then the specter heard that gentle whisper that didn’t conceal its killing intent at all.

“Open fire.”