Brain bloom

While she was frantically trying to salvage the situation, the arrow's power exploded, far exceeding her expectations.

Coming to his senses, Mori could hardly believe what had happened.

A deafening roar shook the ocean.

Like a miracle, the swift arrow swept across the sea, cleaving it in two. The ghost ship was also shattered into countless flying fragments, not to mention the black mist that had been swept away by the wind, leaving the world with a clear blue sky.

Sen noticed that after the black mist dissipated, many bone fragments fell into the sea. It seemed that a large number of skeleton pirates were hidden in the black mist, and now they had all turned into experience points.

This is just a single arrow...

Thanks to this, her level skyrocketed from 17 to 24, just one step away from the required level.

The fire arrow split the sea, creating a torrential downpour, accompanied by countless strange debris that shattered from the ghost ship and fell onto the sea surface.

"What on earth did I shoot? How could it produce such bizarre power?" she said blankly.

"Mori Toki! You...you're finally back..."

Dandelion knew perfectly well who was helping her, and her words were full of joy.

A few seconds later, the sea barely returned to normal after churning, but the enemy was still there.

The enemy, shrouded in question marks, stood unharmed on the sea. Moreover, behind her, the First Mate Iron Hammer, his soul now much weaker, floated on the sea, clutching the wreckage, the canvas billowing behind him, though quite torn.

"They're still alive."

"...What kind of monster is it that survived being hit just now? And even protected its companions?"

The dandelion, being the closest, was even more shocked.

"Alright, then take another arrow."

Mori summoned another arrow, this time an ice arrow formed from ice, as it had greater penetrating power. Now that the sneak attack had succeeded once, there was no point in hiding any longer. She nocked the arrow and aimed it at the strange question mark-shaped enemy.

This time, let the sea be frozen solid, like the coldest winter—she cried out in her heart. Even though she couldn't see the enemy's face or gauge their strength, what did it matter? As long as they were rich, that was enough.

It must be extremely wealthy, otherwise that arrow just now wouldn't make sense.

However, the attack power of the debt-collecting bow only became 121, a three-digit number. It didn't transform into an exaggerated astronomical number as she had imagined.

"...Uh, it must be that I used the wrong arrow."

Sen immediately discarded the ice arrow and switched to a fire arrow—but its attack power decreased by 1 point.

……

(I've already added hundreds of words to each chapter to explain everything in order to avoid being killed...)

Are you, dear readers, really going to force me to reveal my true, fragmented form...?

Volume 1 #078 The Captain...?

With this level of attack power, they can't do anything; the current situation is extremely troublesome.

Mori felt awkward, but her expression remained frozen and intimidating. She knew very well that she shouldn't show weakness in battle.

Her hand remained poised as if holding a bow, even deliberately making it more imposing, intending to instill fear in her opponent. Regardless of what she had aimed at before, or the loss of wealth due to the destruction of the ghost ship, the astonishing power of her attack was a fact that had indeed occurred.

Since the other party is unaware of the bow's effects, they will definitely be wary.

"Fu Fu," she whispered, trying to calmly plan her escape route.

"Ok?"

"Go find Dandelion and tell her to prepare to escape."

Fufu did as instructed, flying over to the still-excited dandelion and whispering a few words in its ear.

Ke Sen felt a growing chill in his heart. This bow's fluctuations were too great; it was truly a distressing thing. Against such an unknown and powerful enemy, this weak attack was utterly useless…

What can we do next? Use bluffing to threaten the enemy and scare them away? Or negotiate directly and look for an opportunity to retreat?

As she pondered, the enigmatic enemy suddenly moved. It raised what appeared to be a hand and slowly touched what looked like its head.

This single movement sent a storm raging through Mori's heart. What kind of attack was it? How could he possibly dodge it?

Suppressing her inner panic, she couldn't help but shout, "Don't move! You ghost!"

But it moved even faster.

Like removing a mask, its hand grasped something and then forcefully ripped it open. After a sound of tearing packaging paper, the leaden-black mist enveloping its body was removed.

Then, a girl about the same age as Dandelion appeared before everyone.

She was dressed in strange medieval attire, a one-shoulder cloak covered in feathers, and a ring that shimmered with the light of the sea.

—"All Four Seasons, Ceasefire!"

She said in a flustered manner that even her voice had changed; it was no longer that kind of noise, but had become clean and pleasant.

Mori, Dandelion, and even Fukufu were all extremely surprised. That terrifying thing from before had suddenly transformed into this girl. Was this some kind of illusion? What was its purpose?

"Who are you?" the dandelion asked first.

"Why are you coming to plunder our home?" Mori lowered his face, then threatened in a stern tone, "I advise you not to make any small moves, otherwise the sea will be divided even more, and my arrows will tear everything apart like thunder."

Mori's words worked. The girl's expression became noticeably more tense, and even the ghost ship duo she was protecting behind her began to wail, clutching their hair.

"Ceasefire! I am not the enemy! This is a misunderstanding—"

"Ah, it's the lady who asked for directions." Fu Fu suddenly remembered who she was.

"Who?"

Asking for directions?

Recalling whether he had been asked for directions before, Mori remained vigilant and slowly approached. He gradually magnified his vision to see more clearly and confirm whether the other person appeared in his memory—they looked somewhat familiar.

She suddenly stopped in her tracks: "Is it the demon summoned by the rain wizard? There's only one I've asked for directions."

"Huh, it's you?" The devil exclaimed in surprise. "The travelers who guided me!"

Hearing this, Dandelion remembered what had happened and muttered, arms crossed, "That thing about the dawn sky something?"

"Um..." the other party admitted embarrassedly, "My name is Yuan. This is all a misunderstanding. You two... Four Seasons, let me explain?"

"The misunderstanding you're referring to is that you suffered a defeat and then backed down? Please provide evidence first. After all, you attacked first, which is extremely egregious! Produce evidence, otherwise how can we believe you?"

Sen Shi deliberately hardened his tone, but he felt much more at ease inside, because if the fighting continued, they would be the ones to die.

She deliberately left herself an out, hoping it really was a misunderstanding.

Yuan gave First Mate Iron Hammer and Sail a slightly embarrassed look before turning to explain:

"I'm just a traveler. I came here only to find the last survivors of the Kingdom of Flowers. I hope to witness the moment when winged clouds sweep across the sky. I have no hostility towards them. As for the two of them—"

"...You actually know our folk customs." Dandelion's tone and face were ashen.

"Princess, let her finish speaking."

After Yuan explained, Dandelion finally understood that the ghost ship really did want to attack her legs...

As for Yuan, she was just hitching a ride and helping out casually, but she didn't expect to run into trouble. She had never met the Four Seasons People before, and the Rain Wizard hadn't explained where they lived.

Mori felt annoyed, because she was the culprit again, making those two pairs of socks and causing this trouble.

If we had made things clear back then, and prevented Dandelion from wearing it, wouldn't that have been better?

"Princess, why don't you go back and take off your socks first?" she whispered to Dandelion.

"Why? It's very comfortable to wear... You've changed your mind? This wasn't actually made for me?"

"The enemy has their eye on your socks."

"Ugh, how disgusting." She stuck out her tongue, and the dandelion wilted. "Then...then I'll go hide..."

"Don't worry, I won't let them get any closer."

Her sharp gaze swept over them, and her voice rose considerably, clearly startling the two great pirates.

After Dandelion trotted away, a long silence fell, as Sen Shi's bow and arrow remained firmly in place, and the murderous aura lingered. About a minute later, a gruff voice finally broke the deadlock.

First Mate Iron Hammer slapped the sea with both hands, then suddenly shouted—

"Am I... mentally unstable?"

“Old Hammer, I’ve felt this way ever since you decided to plunder a leg,” Blood-Red Canvas sighed. “Our beloved ship is gone because of your foolishness.”

"What the hell? I actually want to get a young girl's soft, tender leg and attach it to my body? Am I... a pervert?"

Mori shrugged, thinking that Dandelion must have taken off her knee-high socks to successfully dispel the summons. Fortunately, this had created a turning point where negotiations could take place.

She said, "We haven't suffered much loss. As for you, you've already paid the price for your foolishness. That's it. This is the end of it. Get out of here."

"Your tone..."

First Mate Ironhammer was furious that someone dared to speak to him like that; his beard seemed to have been struck by lightning, splintering into fish bones. However, her bow and arrow were still aimed in their direction, and the terrifying power of the arrow was still vivid in his mind, so his anger and embarrassment gradually faded.

The blood-red canvas was clearly much more rational; it spoke in a humble tone:

"But our true captain is still sunk in these waters... The orphans of the Kingdom of Flowers, the Four Seasons, a great race blessed by nature, may we... come to salvage the captain's remains?"

"Wait, aren't you the captain? Your clothes look pretty intact." Mori asked, squinting.

"No, I'm just an acting captain. The real captain... is the lonely ghost ship lady. To put it bluntly, we're just her sailors."

Mori seemed to have figured out exactly who he had aimed his arrow at.

……

(P.S. I recently came across a lot of posts about people not reading books carefully (or maybe I didn't explain it clearly?), so I'll explain.)

The one who lost the money was indeed this alt account of the Four Seasons Warrior! So, the one who lost the money, the one who carries the coffin with faith, is obviously the alt account! It has nothing to do with the main account; the main account is stuck at the entrance to the final dungeon. As for whether it will appear later, I can only say no comment.

PS2. The dandelion illustration is almost finished; I've seen the preview version, and it's beautiful!

Volume 1 #079 Truce

Although Mori didn't know how they did it, since they even had something like "salt spirits," a ship with a soul wasn't so unacceptable. Therefore, it seemed that the true mastermind of this pirate crew, and the source of their immense wealth, must be the ship itself.

And it was shot dead.

It turned into a pile of wood chips and drifted away in the ocean.