Captain – Chapter 667 – The Hunt in “Hell”

The strange ship appearing from the distant horizon and then vanishing, provoking the dragon’s furious roars and the cat’s bewildered confusion—such scenes didn’t stop at four occurrences.

Instead, they happened abruptly every few days, with intervals never exceeding half a month.

It seemed that even after thousands of years had passed, this old sea still contained countless monsters and transcendent beings being hunted day after day by that skeletal giant ship.

Never finding peace.

But Roy knew this wasn’t actually the case.

Because she had learned from the cat that whether in the Cursed Sea or during the old eras that began with Ancient Auran Empire’s destruction, the massacres like the extinction of the siren race had actually been happening continuously, far more than just once or twice.

And when the slaughter finally ended and Edward grew tired of supreme power and finally departed, these beautiful or powerful beings had already nearly gone extinct.

The world was left clean, with no remaining races that could threaten him.

Even the few survivors like Nidhogg’s kin were constantly hunted by the strange ship, unable to escape their tragic fate, having died out completely hundreds of years ago.

Therefore, the current behavior of that ship of the dead appeared so bizarre and incomprehensible.

Even the cat couldn’t guess what exactly it was hunting.

It surely couldn’t be just to lure them, because Mango could clearly perceive that the thing wasn’t acting according to the devil’s will, but purely on instinct.

That composite entity had no wisdom, no schemes—it would only advance like a shark…

Following the scent of blood to bite and devour.

The scent of transcendent beings’ blood.

Though constantly troubled by the strange ship’s motives and behavior, since no answers could be found, the giant ship and the Nightmare King could only continue following that night color forward.

At most, they would cast a few wary glances when the Drowned Captain appeared.

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But in the extreme distance, in that sea region where strange mists frequently emerged and the skeletal giant ship constantly manifested, everything seemed twisted, with wind and waves never ceasing.

Thunder rumbled and torrential rain filled the sky.

Though not as violent as the thunder sea of the past, those pale mists drifting in mid-air, undisturbed by wind or rain like static paintings, along with the terrifying “forgetting” dense fog and clear funeral bells that appeared from nowhere, made this place endlessly eerie.

Like hell in reality.

And now, there was a ship slowly moving through hell, like the most extreme ascetic.

It was a large ship.

Different from all recorded ship designs in the known seas throughout history.

Its hull was high and wide, with an extremely broad deck, upon which sat a magnificent superstructure. But unlike the Constantine or Goddess Hestia, its superstructure wasn’t distributed in groups toward the stern, but was nearly integrated and positioned forward.

Like a magnificent hall given powerful propulsion to roam freely across the seas.

But the style of that towering superstructure also went against all known styles of the present and old eras. Besides being entirely dark, it was carved with complex patterns of considerable antiquity.

Moreover, within those patterns, faint silver ethereal light could be seen flowing. Though far from matching the divine grace of the Goddess Hestia and the extremely complex structure beneath its hull, it could still be seen that this was an extraordinary, otherworldly ship.

But… how had it appeared in this “hell,” and traveling alone at that?

One should know that even ships like the Empire’s Pilgrimage and main battleships of similar class would at least bring a complete fleet when going on expeditions.

But at this moment, this large ship was sailing alone through this eerie and strange sea region, seemingly completely unaware of the possible approaching danger, or rather…

It was waiting for that “danger” to arrive.

The answer was soon revealed.

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Accompanied by the suddenly much more obscured wind, rain, and thunder, descending strange mist, and successive shouts throughout the large ship, a ship’s shadow appeared from thin air ahead.

Rising with it was the clear sound of bells.

“Clang, clang…”

Though not mournful or harsh, even somewhat peaceful, when that bell sound rang out one note after another in the gradually deadly silent mist, it was still heart-stopping.

But what made the people on the large ship even more fearful was that moments after the funeral bell rang, dense sounds of bone friction and miserable screams suddenly came from ahead.

Those wails were so real, so chaotic.

Mixed with human cries, beasts’ agonized howls, sirens’ ethereal but no longer pleasant funeral songs, and even deafening dragon roars.

Gradually, the ship’s shadow in the strange mist solidified, revealing the outline of that tall skeletal figurehead and the slender figure standing beside it.

Facing the approaching monster, the large ship reacted.

Soldiers dressed in short robes completely different from the short shirts commonly worn by pirates and the uniforms of Empire and Federation military quickly took positions, preparing to meet the impact.

The ethereal light that had been flowing over the ship’s body also began to intensify, forming an extremely faint, unidirectional elliptical curtain several meters in front of the large ship.

Deep, powerful command voices continuously echoed within the superstructure.

But similarly, it was also a different language never heard in the known seas.

Though the soldiers and the important figures with different identities—whose clothing bore strange yet majestic beast patterns—all showed unmistakable tension and hidden fear, from any perspective, this was undoubtedly an ambush.

A killing trap aimed at that ship of the dead.

The sound of breaking waves that immediately arose in the distance after the great fog and funeral bell sounds appeared, along with the faintly visible nearly ten ship shadows, all confirmed this point.

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But…

Sometimes the identities of hunter and prey don’t depend on who has fallen into whose trap.

But on the disparity in absolute power.

A howling sound suddenly rang out, and a giant iron anchor heavy as a mountain peak abruptly approached, crashing heavily onto that shallow curtain in front of the large ship.

“Thud.”

Vaguely, collision sounds seemed to ring out. Though that curtain was separate from the ship’s body and shouldn’t have transmitted actual impact before breaking, the large ship still sank inexplicably.

Then, accompanied by teeth-grinding “creaking” sounds, that light screen began to deform, constantly twisting. What had originally been an outward ellipse was now being pressed back.

Then it approached its limit, then shattered.

The light curtain that seemed weak but was actually many times more solid than the thick walls surrounding the superstructure just broke like that, and with it all the light among the ship’s patterns dimmed completely. So in the next moment, strange mist shrouded the entire building.

Only the commander standing at the highest and foremost position of the superstructure could see that approaching, blurred giant shadow, watching that pitch-black heavy anchor swiftly falling.

Coming toward him.

Though there were thick walls blocking ahead, though soldiers behind him who had discovered the situation swarmed forward, pulling him back again and again, with some even directly blocking in front of him, bravely facing death, the iron anchor still struck him.

Like an inescapable fate.

“Bang!”

With a muffled sound, he was carried by the anchor’s remaining impact, then fell nearly twenty meters, only stopping his backward flight when he crashed into a wooden wall.

But even with the light screen, thick walls, and human sea blocking in succession, plus the great distance that had nearly exhausted the iron anchor’s force, he still had most of his bones shattered.

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Even though he wasn’t an ordinary person, even though he was the bait used to attract the strange ship…

By now, he was already like a cripple.

Unable to move even a finger.

Ending up like this was related to planning errors, but more importantly, he hadn’t expected the main battleship’s curtain to be so vulnerable.

But this made no sense.

Because long ago, that light screen had clearly been able to withstand the strange ship’s great force.

This time it couldn’t even last half a minute.

Why was this?

With pain throughout his body, blood gradually reddening his vision and filling his throat with saltiness, the commander leaned against the half-collapsed wall, looking ahead in silent thought.

The cold seeping into his body and even soul was spreading, the taste of death growing heavier. He couldn’t find an answer, only seeing through his increasingly dark vision that the residual walls of the superstructure were being torn apart, that skeletal giant drawing ever closer.

Later, the commander’s vision was completely occupied by its ethereal pupil light.

“Tap, tap…”

Among the ethereal radiance, footsteps suddenly sounded, a tall figure approached, finally stopping before the commander. And the last image in his consciousness…

Was a pair of completely emotionless, extremely indifferent dark golden pupils.

The flames in those pupils were even more dazzling than the sun.

So very much like His Majesty.