Having prepared the spellcasting materials in advance, Xia De and Princess continued forward.
As the horrifying sickly green light grew clearer, the end of the staircase finally appeared below. The next deck had no rooms at all; most of this entire level was open, likely where the Fishbone Pirate Ship originally stored cargo and entertained.
Rotting wooden crates and sacks were piled around, revealing gold artifacts and jewels inside. Pearls, human bones, and various gems were scattered on the floor, both magnificent and malevolent. Skulls hanging from the ship's overhead planks swayed back and forth with the rocking of the ship, their green ghostly glow illuminating the area, while human skeletons in ornate armor stood along the walls.
The air on this deck was even more humid. In the center of the cabin, covered in jewels and mud, stood a long table entwined with seaweed.
Ghostly green pirate wraiths were gathered around the table, either playing cards or drinking and brawling. Even as undead, their physical deformities persisted. Although most appeared humanoid, features of various strange marine creatures seemed to be crudely stitched onto their limbs, with most exhibiting fish-like characteristics.
In stark contrast to this horrifying scene, the tableware on the table actually held food that normal humans could accept. Fragrant roasted chickens were placed whole on platters, surrounded by green vegetables; purple grapes were arranged in bunches in silver basins, reflecting an eerie luster under the skull-firelight; steaming, rich fish soup, spiced with aromatics, had a fish head peeking out of a pure gold bowl, its eyes seemingly watching Xia De and Princess appear at the stairwell.
As their figures were illuminated by the firelight from the skulls hanging above, all the sailor wraiths in the cabin turned to look at them. Perhaps they hadn't expected the strange phenomenon of cracks appearing all over a human body, as Xia De clearly sensed the wraiths' astonishment.
But they did not swarm forward to try and tear Xia De and Princess apart; instead, they maintained an eerie calm.
Silence descended, and the swaying head-lamps caused strange light and shadows to flash intermittently at the stairwell. Only the occasional sound of the fish in the soup bowl wiggling its tail broke the quiet. The smell of fish, the dampness of the ocean, the stench of corpses, the moldy scent of wood, and so on, all mixed together and assailed Xia De, yet it only made him swallow and feel even hungrier.
He didn't smell the deliciousness of the food on the cabin's long table, but just one glance amplified his already strong appetite.
Thump, thump, thump ~
Breaking the silence was the sound of fingers tapping the tabletop. Xia De looked up and, among the malevolent spirits watching him, found the only one who seemed still alive.
It was a middle-aged, bearded man in his forties, wearing a magnificent dark blue formal suit with over a dozen different medals pinned to his chest. His sleeves were rolled up, both hands resting on the table, though his right hand seemed to be missing its pinky finger. The other nine fingers were adorned with gold rings. He wore a black tricorne hat, with a skull embroidered in white thread at its center.
He clearly had a human male face, but that face displayed an ugliness Xia De had never seen before. His entire upper body, clothed, seemed to be enveloped in a membrane, yet it also looked like a layer of transparent scales.
This was likely the captain of the Fishbone Pirate Ship. He squinted at Xia De, his fingers deliberately tapping the table with unusual force. If the first three taps were to get everyone's attention, then the continuous dozen or so forceful taps afterward were definitely meant to intimidate Xia De.
However, Xia De, who was so hungry he wished he could gain sustenance from the air, didn't care why the other party was tapping the table. The hollow feeling in his stomach made him feel that even if a steamed elephant were placed before him right now, he could definitely eat it all.
He just felt that the middle-aged man tapping the table, despite his fierce expression, was truly ridiculous. Attempting to intimidate through such means was merely a laughable display of crude people's reverence for primitive power.
“It's two of you together? You are the seventh and eighth people to come before me in the past hundred years.”
He finally spoke, his turbid but exceptionally sharp eyes, like bulging fish eyes, scrutinized Xia De in the sickly green light. Then, his ringed finger slammed the table again:
“Man, do you want to join the ship?”
“No.”
Xia De immediately shook his head. He stood in front of Princess, his eyes carefully examining the malevolent spirits in the cabin. Just as he had expected, upon reaching the lowest deck, the Sorceress's power was indeed further weakened due to the presence of the evil god's power.
“You don't want to? Alright, by the rules of the sea, if you wish to remain here and speak with me, you must defeat one of us. You can both go at once; whoever wins is fine.”
The hoarse voice was exceptionally fierce, and the captain's face showed a cruel expression. After speaking, he pointed to his left.
A tall, one-eyed pirate, who had one leg propped on a stool and was arm-wrestling with a companion, stood up. The wraith's height was similar to Xia De's, but its arms were as thick as Xia De's thighs.
“Pah ~”
It unceremoniously spat to the side, then reached for its waist and, from somewhere unknown, pulled out a scimitar inlaid with rubies.
That was not an appendage of a Soul Echo, but a real, existing scimitar. With the appearance of the weapon, the Soul Echo, which had barely retained its sanity, completely transformed into a malevolent spirit. The sickly green light around it burst forth, causing it to rush towards Xia De like a ball of light.
The appearance of the malevolent spirit not only brought mental pressure and a chilling wind that seemed to pierce the Soul Echo, but Xia De, being sensitive to Soul Echo, saw more in that green light: countless ant-sized Mermaids swimming within the riddled Soul Echo.
“Moonlight!”
He pointed his finger forward, but this power, which usually held almost absolute suppression over malevolent spirits, this time only emitted a grain-sized light.
“Damn it, the cabin is suppressing Moonlight.”
Without time to think, Xia De, already a step behind, made a sweeping motion with his right hand. A holy silver two-handed sword appeared in his hand, just as the sailor wraith's scimitar slashed down.
Clang ~
The two clashed, and the blade in Xia De's hand immediately shattered. He himself staggered back two steps, caught by Princess, who was standing at the hatch, preventing him from falling directly onto the last step.
“His strength is much greater than mine, but he doesn't have an absolute advantage!”
Sweeping with a chilling wind, the malevolent spirit roared and charged at Xia De again, but at this moment, a Moonlight Greatsword surprisingly appeared again in the void before him.
“Chaotic Time Blade!”
At the same time, Xia De vanished from his original spot and reappeared behind the malevolent spirit. As the opponent swung his scimitar to shatter the Greatsword in front of him, Xia De, from behind, thrust his sword with both hands, precisely piercing the malevolent spirit's body from the rear.
With a forceful twist, the Greatsword, radiating holy silver brilliance, carved a large hole in the malevolent spirit's body. But the malevolent spirit did not dissipate; instead, the ant-like Mermaid swarm, swimming in the sickly green light, quickly repaired the wound on its body.
“This isn't a simple malevolent spirit!”
The scimitar swung backward, forcing Xia De to abandon his weapon and retreat. But this time, the brutal sailor did not continue the pursuit; the damage Xia De inflicted was not without effect.
The surrounding sailor wraiths booed, their clamoring making Xia De's fight with the sailor seem like a game to entertain them.
Xia De's feet were firmly planted on the floor as he narrowed his eyes, looking at his opponent. Although he had little experience fighting alone, he could roughly estimate that this opponent was basically equivalent to a Three Ring or Four-Ring Warlock wielding a relic.
Of course, if he were not immune to the mental influence of this special malevolent spirit, the opponent could even be considered a Middle-Ring Warlock of around Seven Ring.
“What are you going to do?”
She whispered softly in his ear.
“It's simple; that Princess is acting very well.”
Clang, clang, clang ~
The captain again tapped the table forcefully with his finger, urging the two not to stop.
The continuous sound had a stimulating, infuriating effect. The nine rings on the captain's hand were not just for show.
Hearing the captain's urging, the scimitar-wielding malevolent spirit, in that sickly green light, skillfully performed a blade flourish with its scimitar, then once again slashed at Xia De in front of him.
Xia De narrowed his eyes. Facing the direct slash, he did not swing his sword to block again, because in the next moment, an arrow with natural colors pierced the malevolent sailor's head from behind it.
The archer slowly disappeared from beside Princess, who had not participated in the battle until now. The malevolent spirit, with a large hole in its head, turned to pounce on the young woman, but Xia De had already leaped forward, his finger piercing into the crack in the malevolent spirit's head.
Spirit bodies were originally impossible to touch directly, but because of the Miracle of Soul Echo, his hand touched the inside of the malevolent spirit's head. Subsequently, a faint Moonlight, only the size of a grain of rice, lit up at his fingertip. This mere faint light actually melted the sailor wraith's head, having a greater effect than the previous sword strike.
As the malevolent spirit's head melted, Xia De's hand continued to grasp its body. But at this moment, the pirate captain sitting at the long table suddenly spoke:
“Wait!”
He squinted at Xia De. Xia De hesitated, then, seeing Princess shake her head slightly, asked:
“Does that count as my victory?”
“You won.”
“Good.”
He released his hand, and the sailor, now just a body, immediately dispersed into a cold black mist and vanished. As the black mist exploded, it reappeared by the table, its head slowly recovering on its shoulders. Once its mouth appeared, it immediately spat to the side, clearly very unwilling about its defeat.
Seeing the two weak humans win by such “despicable” means, the sailors at the table grew subtly restless.
But Xia De didn't care. The captain was restraining those malevolent spirits, and this ship also had to follow rules. It hunted Soul Echo for the evil god, but the evil god was constrained by the righteous gods; no being could act wantonly in the material world. Even hunting had to abide by rules.