At his cabin, Ambrose flipped up a silver coin, and after it landed on his palm, he saw that it landed on the head symbol.
The silver coins had two sides—one was the head with the face of a person whom Ambrose had never seen before, and the other side was the tail with a symbol of a majestic eagle.
As he was about to pocket the coin, he heard a shout from the deck.
“We’ve arrived at the Sea King’s territory!”
“Sigh…” Ambrose pocketed the coin and sat up straight on the edge of the bed. “What is Mars planning to do? Does he plan to search every corner of the territory for the heart of the Nymn Tree?
“How long does it take for him to realize that they don’t have it?”
Splash!
A semi-loud splash interrupted the silence, making Ambrose look outside the window, but he saw nothing except the foggy sea and random fog-shrouded island at small distance away.
“Weird, that sounded like a large fish had jumped out of the water.”
He walked out of his cabin and closed the door behind him.
As he was about to return to the deck, he heard the sound of a door creaking open in the dining hall.
‘Someone is here?’ Ambrose looked over his shoulder to the door of the dining hall, which was shut tight, and then heard nothing from the dining hall.
He approached the door and opened it as he entered the dining hall.
“Hey, is someone here?” He looked around the empty dining hall and saw another door that led outside. He decided to investigate further and opened the door, stepping outside.
The cool breeze hit his face, and then he looked down at the floor that was below his boots and saw that it was drenched by sea water. There was almost a puddle, as if someone had dropped a bucket full of water there.
‘Look out!’
Ambrose’s eyes widened open in shock. ‘What was that? Who are you?’
‘Behind you!’
Ambrose quickly turned around and saw a masked figure lunging at him with a dagger in hand.
Before he could react, the dagger plunged deep into his back, and the masked figure covered his mouth to muffle his screams.
The masked figure then dragged him inside the dining hall, tossed him onto the floor, and closed the door.
“Ngh!” Ambrose wanted to scream, but shockingly, a second masked figure appeared behind him and covered his mouth with a scarf.
As Ambrose’s eyes swam around the dining hall, he saw a third masked figure peeking out of the door towards the dark corridor, ensuring that no one would interrupt them.
“Finish him off and dump him into the sea.” The first masked figure whispered sinisterly.
The second masked figure nodded and pulled out his sharp dagger with a blade that looked like shark teeth.
Ambrose’s eyes slammed open, and he smashed his head backwards against the masked face of the second figure, causing a sickening thud as if something had broken.
“Argh!” The second masked figure staggered backwards, blood flowing through the thin fabric of his mask.
The backward headbutt caused his nose to break!
Ambrose stood up, and without removing the scarf, he reached out to his sword, but then the first masked figure threw an accurate jab that dislocated Ambrose’s wrist.
The masked figure then snatched the scabbard with a sword sheathed inside and tossed it away to the corner of the room.
Ambrose tried to reach out to the inventory, but the angry second-masked figure grabbed him by his hair and slammed him head-first on the ground.
His vision blurred as he felt a numbing pain shoot through his skull.
“What are you fools doing?” The third masked figure asked with annoyance. “Hurry up, we’ll still have much work to do!”
“Yeah, yeah.” The second masked figure grabbed his shark-bladed dagger and placed it against Ambrose’s nape, planning to separate his head from his body in one clean swipe.
‘Fuckers…’ Ambrose coldly thought and threw an elbow strike from an awkward angle, catching the second masked figure off guard as it landed perfectly on his temple.
“Hmph!” The first masked figure threw his dagger at Ambrose, but he put his hand in the way, and the dagger stabbed straight through, but the tip stopped an inch before impaling through his eyeball.
Ambrose’s eyes didn’t look fazed; he looked calm and cold as he pulled out a dagger from his hand and dropped it to the ground.
He then stood up from the ground and tore off the scarf that had been covering his mouth.
“Quick, he is going to scream for help!” The third masked figure turned anxious.
“Scream for help?” Ambrose chuckled. “Hardly. I can deal with this by myself.”
“Oh, I love fighting egotistical fools. They are so easy to kill.” The first masked figure pulled out two more daggers from his wide belt and twirled them expertly in his hands.
“I might need some answers as to why and how you got here, but I only need one of you.” Ambrose went into a boxing stance, his eyes locked on the first masked figure.
“This fucker…” The second masked figure was still feeling lightheaded from the elbow, but he quickly regained his composure and directed his intense rage at the figure in front.
He clenched the shark-bladed dagger tight in his grasp. He was born and raised in Pirate Battleground; therefore, he has fought since he was very young.
The countless experiences had taught him to gauge the power levels between his enemies. It had helped him survive many deadly encounters.
Now, his countless experiences told him that this should be an easy victory, especially with the first masked figure here, whom he respected a lot.
“Whoo…” Ambrose took a deep breath and flexed his fists like a warrior, ready for battle. ‘During my long voyage from Hightown all the way here, I had time to learn more about this intelligence stat.
‘Using that and watching countless boxing fights on ForeverTube, I had learned how to box quite efficiently. I hadn’t managed to learn another skill, such as Heaven Drop, but that doesn’t matter.
‘I wonder how I would fare against real-life boxers if I went against them, but I know for a fact, I wouldn’t be a pushover.’
“End him!” The third masked figure shouted. He was aware of his colleague’s strengths, so he didn’t expect them to need his help. He also had to keep an eye on the corridor.
The first and second masked figures shared glances and nodded. They circled around Ambrose like vultures waiting to strike, and after having done a semi-circle, they both lunged and stabbed their daggers forth.
“Mortal Style, Nachbilder!” Ambrose’s feet moved in a dizzying way, and he swiftly dodged the daggers.
He then appeared beside the second masked figure and threw a powerful straight punch.
“?!” The second masked figure was still aiming at one of the afterimages and, thus, was unable to dodge.
The punch landed on his cheek, and Ambrose drove his head to the ground with a thunderous roar.
The impact reverberated through the room, leaving the second masked figure unconscious on the floor. It was unclear whether he was alive.
The first masked figure launched forward like a human missile and twirled the daggers in his hands with expert movements.
“The Death Scythe!”
Ambrose turned around, put his muscular arm next to his right shoulder, and then sent a storm of lightning-quick jabs.
The Death Scythe attack landed on his fists, but he was immediately overwhelmed by Ambrose’s powerful jabs.
The first masked man’s eyes almost popped out of his skull. As he saw the jabs nearing him, he imagined them looking like a bunch of fridges flying at him.
Smack, smack, smack, smack!
The jabs landed on his body, each strike leaving a fist-sized bruise and a broken ribcage.
The first masked man was already unconscious, but the jabs didn’t stop, and soon, Ambrose reeled back his fist and smashed it through his skull, ending his brutal assault with the masked man’s death.
“…” Ambrose coldly looked at the frightened masked man that was the last one still standing.
“Well then.” Ambrose approached him with a smile. “I would like to have my answers now.”