This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 129, Section 128: The Water Ghost
Dylan went to the blood-soaked killing bench and picked it up.

In an instant, the pirates' almost tangible gazes were all focused on Dylan.

If looks could kill, Dylan would have been killed dozens of times over.

If Kasper hadn't been killed, they wouldn't have handed the initiative over to Gerhard.

Gerhard also took a second look at this middle-aged man who had previously been rather unremarkable—a man of unassuming nature.

Scout Puji ambushed and killed Kasper. No one knew its exact strength yet, but everyone silently regarded Dylan as a Gold-level, and a very insidious and vicious Gold-level one at that.

Anyone who saw the way Casper died would feel the cruelty of it...

Turning his gaze away, Gerhard said loudly, "We should still have some time. We need to concentrate all our forces! You need to call everyone from the Blood Shark over as well. The Wind Feather is taller and more suitable for defense!"

"Defense? What kind of enemy is there?"

"Now that everyone's here, what about the Blood Shark?"

The pirates immediately started talking all at once again.

"Shut up, everyone!"

The pirate first mate suddenly roared, and this two-meter-tall guy wielding a sledgehammer pointed at a pirate.

"You, swing over there and explain things to the people on our boat!"

"I?"

The pirate being pointed at looked unwilling; in this situation, with poor visibility and unclear visibility, who knew what dangers might arise if he swung back by rope...

Bang!
Without warning, the hammer slammed down, and the pirate's head was instantly smashed into his chest by the first mate.

Then the first mate pointed to another pirate, "You go!"

Without saying a word, the pirate turned around and went to carry out the order.

"What else do we need to do?" The pirate first mate turned to look at Gerhard.

Gollum—

The first mate's brutality not only intimidated the pirates but also terrified Gerhard and his crew.

Gerhard now believes that what the guy said earlier—that he would kill him on the spot if he dared to have any bad intentions—was true.

After silently calculating with his fingers, Gerhard issued the order: "Everyone grab your weapons and anything you can throw, spread out and guard the ship's side. The enemy will come up from the sea! Make sure they don't get on the ship!"

"What kind of enemy is it, the Lost Souls?" The question came from the pirate second mate, who had two curved swords hanging at his waist.

Anyone who lives in the archipelago knows about the mist, and the most widely circulated story is about the Lost Souls.

These creatures, lost in the mist and ultimately becoming like puppets, are among the most likely to appear at the edge of the mist.

The so-called fight against the fog mostly involves dealing with these lost souls.

As for the depths of the mystery, there are various versions of the story, making it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

When the pirates heard that there were enemies, their first thought was naturally that the Lost Ones were the only ones they would think of.

However, Gerhard shook his head: "No, at least they're not as weak as those Soul Losers on the edge of the mist. I don't know what these enemies are called. If I had to describe them with a name, 'water ghosts' would be more appropriate. Their weakness is similar to that of the Soul Losers—their heads!"

After a pause, Gerhard added, "Of course, all the experience comes from my own experience. It's not impossible to encounter something unexpected. You must stay alert and shout out if you notice anything."

Nodding, the group dispersed to guard the edge of the ship as arranged, and ten more sailors were taken into the cabin.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Dylan was assigned to the stern of the ship, which he was most familiar with, with several pirates.

"Damn it, they didn't even give us a magic crystal lamp. What can we see with this?"

The three pirates grumbled as they huddled together, clearly not wanting to deal with Dylan.

Coincidentally, Dylan thought the same thing.

"Boss, how's it going?" Dylan asked from inside the mushroom web.

"Nothing has been found yet."

Although [Magic Perception] and [Light Perception] are no longer useful, the scout still has [Sound Wave Detection] and [Airflow Perception].

Unless the other party is a ghost, they shouldn't be able to escape the scouts' detection.

Time ticked by, and as Dylan grew increasingly impatient, the pirates behind him began to complain incessantly.

A burst of fire, accompanied by a loud bang, suddenly appeared from the mist, heading in the direction of the Blood Shark!
Then a huge sphere of illumination rose in the distance, allowing Dylan to vaguely see the bustling figures on the Blood Shark.

It seems the plan to persuade the pirates on the Blood Shark to come and help with the defense has failed, and they've already encountered the enemy!
Snapped--

A faint sound was detected by the scouts, but Dylan and the three pirates were still staring blankly at the Blood Shark in the distance, unaware of the sound.

"Dylan, he's here!"

The scout's bladed tentacles suddenly slid out along the edge of the ship, and the sound of a blade cutting into flesh came from below, but there was no other sound.

At the same time, he ran to the side of the scout Puji and looked down, only to meet a pair of eyes that were as white as dead fish.

The humanoid monster had ten bloodless fingers gripping the hull of the ship, with translucent webbed membranes clinging between them, and sharp bone blades growing on the back of its hands.

The damp skin has an unnatural grayish-white color, and thin, elongated shadows that occasionally bulge and move under the skin, like some kind of parasitic leech crawling through the blood vessels.

The water ghost had a deep cut on its shoulder, caused by the scout's earlier attack, but not a drop of blood came out of the wound.

In Lin Jun's eyes, this monster had no control panel...

"The enemy is coming!" Dylan, who was mentally prepared, calmly shouted a warning to the others, and at the same time stabbed down with his sword.

The steel sword pierced the water ghost's head smoothly, and the water ghost immediately lost its ability to move, its hands slipping off the side of the boat and falling overboard.

However, the story was far from over...

pop-

clap clap clap-

The sound of countless water ghosts clinging to the boat came from below, and this time everyone heard it clearly.

One after another, the figures of water ghosts emerged from the mist below.

"So many! How can we possibly kill them all?"

Dylan's scalp tingled at the sight, but he dared not pause for a moment, running back and forth, stabbing to death any water ghosts that tried to climb up within his guarded area. Scout Puji also swung his bladed whip to help.

The pirates behind them also became agitated; clearly, water ghosts had arrived on their side as well.

The whack-a-mole-like battle lasted for a long time, and Dylan gradually ran out of energy, his age disadvantage becoming increasingly apparent.

After killing another water ghost, Dylan was just about to catch his breath when he heard the boss suddenly shout, "Get down!"

He instantly knelt down, and the scout's whip swept across, leaving a headless water ghost lying beside Dylan.

The water ghost is coming up?
when?
Dylan turned his head and saw that the three pirates behind him had fallen!
Two pirate corpses lay on the deck, and another was missing; he had been so engrossed in the battle that he hadn't noticed him.

"Go back to the foredeck quickly!" Lin Jun said.

The aft deck can't be held anymore; we need to rendezvous with the three gold-class ships on the foredeck.

I don't know what happened ahead?
With these questions in mind, Dylan ran back to the foredeck, only to find a chaotic battle raging...

The water ghosts, pirates, and sailors were fighting on the deck. The individual water ghosts were not strong; they could be dealt with one-on-one by a silver-level enemy. However, their numbers were overwhelming and they kept coming. Many people had already been killed.

The good news is that the three gold-level items are not damaged yet, although they look quite disheveled, at least they are still intact.

The same thing happened on the Blood Shark side; you could still see mages' magical attacks from time to time.

In fact, the strength displayed by this mage, whom she had not yet met, far exceeded Lin Jun's expectations. He was at least at the diamond level. However, Lin Jun couldn't understand why, if the mage was the strongest, the gold-level Casper was the leader.
After Dylan reunited with Gerhard and the others, the battle continued for a long time.

The ground beneath his feet was littered with corpses—water ghosts, pirates, or whatever else—and Dylan, leaning on his sword, could no longer muster the strength to swing it.

As for Gerhard and the pirate ship's vice president, they were forced to disperse long ago.

Another water ghost landed on all fours and pounced with a kick.

With a flash of cold light, the water ghost's head was cleaved in two and fell into the pile of corpses, just like its kind.

Scout Mushroom Hat stood listlessly beside Dylan.

[Sound Wave Detection LV6]

It seems... there are no more water ghosts?

Once Dylan regained some strength, he followed the scout and walked around the corpses scattered on the ground.

Only Captain Gerhard and the pirate first mate remained alive.

Both men were badly injured, and the pirate's first mate had even lost an arm.

As for the others, they're probably all among the corpses.

boom!
A magical fluctuation emanated from the Blood Shark.

That diamond mage is really skilled; he hasn't run out of magic yet. Although the intervals between spells have lengthened, he's still alive.

"So, we've made it through?" the pirate first mate asked in a hoarse voice.

This ferocious giant, standing two meters tall, spoke as softly as a mosquito's buzz.

Gerhard was speechless. He had been stabbed and had only survived to this point thanks to a few bottles of medicine and a little bit of "survival wisdom." Faced with the question, he could only nod with difficulty.

Just like the last time he encountered them, there were a lot of water ghosts. Once he killed them all, everything would be fine.

The previous wariness among them had disappeared. After all, there might not even be enough survivors to fill the boat, and if they didn't cooperate, they would just be waiting to die...

All three of them were thinking of going to find the sorcerer later, hoping that there would be a few more survivors on his side.

wow——

It was the sound of waves being broken by the bow of the ship.

But the strange thing wasn't that the source was under the group or the Blood Shark next to them, but... coming from ahead?
In the thick fog, something enormous is tearing through the veil of mist!

As they got closer, they could see that it was a giant ship twice the height of the Wind Feather.

Unlike the pragmatic Windfeather and Blood Shark, this giant ship has a different style of decoration than the archipelago.

Apart from the bronze prow of the sea monster statue, the entire massive hull is engraved with exquisite patterns, with various colors of paint forming patterns with unique cultural characteristics.

Everyone was awestruck by the grandeur and beauty of the giant ship, except for Lin Jun, who seemed a little puzzled.

What are those rows of squares on the hull? They look kind of familiar.

　I've written 7500 words today (three updates total). I'll continue with three updates tomorrow to make up for what I owe...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)