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Chapter 231

After finishing their luxurious meal on the deck, Yeon-woo and Seong-ryong geared up again and jumped into the sea.

Thanks to Sebek driving away the monsters during their pursuit, they faced no major issues, but now that he was gone, they found themselves missing his presence.

What they discovered after piercing through the monsters was a gigantic underwater cave.

“Whoa, crazy fish heads.”

“Shh, don’t make loud noises.”

As Yeon-woo voiced her irritation upon stepping into the cave, Seong-ryong admonished her. He could say the undead had no ears, so what did it matter, but Yeon-woo knew better than to make excuses.

“By the way, this structure is a bit strange.”

“Definitely. It looks kind of like a dock.”

“…Are you talking about a dock?”

“Uh, that’s what it’s called in English.”

Hearing this for the first time startled her, but she couldn’t deny the functionality of the structure. There was a large channel in the middle, with pathways on both sides.

It wouldn’t be surprising to hear the sound of hammering coming from inside.

“Is there really a necessity for such a structure? Do ghost ships need a dock as well…?”

“Seems like they do?”

As they rounded the corner, Yeon-woo was left speechless by the sight that greeted her. A dilapidated large sailing ship, the kind you would expect to see in a history textbook, was moored in the center. A horde of skeletons were aboard, hammering away.

“Did they somehow bind a ghost to the actual pirate ship…?”

“Oh wow, just like how a powerful zombie can be created from a knight’s corpse and soul, does it apply to objects too? The craftsmanship is truly impressive.”

“Indeed. I wonder where they got something like that.”

Still, it probably wasn’t a pure, hundred-percent pirate ship. If they were lucky, only wreckage would remain from the point of sinking, but it was clear more than 80% had been rebuilt.

“It’s like the Ship of Theseus, but they infused it with a soul, bringing forth the history of the pirate ship.”

“Seems necromancy is a surprisingly handy skill, huh? If you have the materials, you can create something like this.”

“Like the Flying Dutchman, right?”

“Whoa, I need to look into research materials related to necromancy.”

“Since it’s not entirely banned, I guess you won’t hear much back.”

In fact, there were some necromancers operating quite fine, revealing that the black arts hadn’t been completely ruined.

“Then shall we proceed with stealth? Should we move separately?”

“Hmmm, that would be too risky. Let’s do this: I’ll guard this entrance, and you investigate.”

“That just puts me in danger!”

“Isn’t it funny for a user of darkness to say that? I’m the one who’s big and gets spotted easily.”

“That’s true. Fine, I’ll do it. I’ll keep one earpiece in, so call me on the radio if you need backup.”

“Sounds good. Off you go then.”

Chuckling, Seong-ryong hid behind a large rock. He poked around and pulled out some tools, laying them out on the ground.

Then, as if he had laid down an optical camo, Seong-ryong’s figure vanished, leaving only the rock in view.

“Dude, that’s awesome.”

Yeon-woo had seen Je Gal Seong-ryong’s mechanism before while it enveloped him, and it was still fascinating. How could something like that be made so smoothly? If that’s not magic, what is it…?

Thinking this, Yeon-woo began sneaking towards the ship, careful to avoid the wandering undead.

It wasn’t very hard. There weren’t any standardized patterns since it wasn’t a patrol, meaning there were plenty of gaps. For Yeon-woo, who could see the color of mana, spotting the undead popping up unexpectedly was no issue.

In fact, being told to sneak in alone was something Yeon-woo had secretly preferred.

Using shadow elemental mana to hide was a technique he no longer needed practice for, but something about the presence inside the ship felt bothersome.

However, he had assumed that they would follow, and that made him ponder more.

‘No matter how I think about it, it must be something related to dragons…’

On the day of his admission, Je Gal Seong-ryong hadn’t noticed that he was somehow connected to dragons. Was it because the distance was too far? Or could it be that someone was deliberately calling out to him from that side?

‘Guess I’ll find out when I go.’

With a large, timeless ship before him, Yeon-woo swallowed hard. As his shadow rippled with a splash, his body had already vanished.

Moving through shadows was a rather unique act. Should he say it felt like stepping into a mirror? Or that the world had flipped upside down?

Beneath his feet was a white shadow instead of black, and the world’s colors turned into a pale black and deep black, simplifying everything to black and white extremes.

Yeon-woo moved carefully, stepping through this shadow realm. The shadow travel was quite a burden for Yeon-woo.

Even a doppleganger would show signs of fatigue after using the technique, and since Yeon-woo was not a doppleganger, he felt it even more keenly.

There had been warnings from Tae-oh about potentially losing the ability to return if one stayed too long, so he didn’t often use it, but it was necessary to enter the ship. There hadn’t been much shadow on deck, more than he had anticipated.

Using shadows to hide would end up making his intellect an adult’s but leaving him a childlike figure who resembled a suspicious character in a detective comic if there weren’t any shadows around.

He briefly considered jumping down and hanging onto the hull, but that would make noise, so he opted for a cleaner approach despite the burden.

In what felt like an hour’s wait during those two minutes, Yeon-woo succeeded in infiltrating the ship.

There were zombies wandering about, but from here on, he could use shadow concealment, so there were no issues. As long as he stuck close to the walls.

‘Come to think of it, is this my second time entering a ship?’

A month ago, he had been aboard the Black Mirror, which was a boast of maritime prowess, while this ship was sparsely decorated compared to the ostentatious style of the Black Mirror.

Well, there was no reason for a ship with only undead and necromancers to have any decorations.

‘No signs of the necromancer…’

From the perspective of a synesthetic person, they said that necromancers tended to leave plenty of traces. Since there was a connection formed when issuing commands to the undead, someone once expressed that it could be detected from anywhere they commanded them.

Though spirits with spirit masters are few, necromancers commanded tens of thousands of undead. As long as the undead followed orders, that connection could be sensed at all times.

Yet, the absence of visible mana connection meant one of two things: either the necromancer had completely vacated the area, or were carelessly resting.

Either way, it appeared too risky to conduct a full sweep of the giant ship, so it seemed like an assassination attempt would need to be set aside.

‘The necromancer I’m searching for isn’t visible, but the aura is getting denser…’

So now he had to confirm it swiftly. With that thought, Yeon-woo began to move without hesitation.

‘Hmm, at this depth…’

Maybe it was a cabin or a prison…?

*

“────!?”

As Yeon-woo entered the room without knocking, he heard an incomprehensible yet familiar-sounding furious foreign language. Actually, he wasn’t even sure if it was a foreign language.

Thinking it might be a voice belonging to either a man or a woman, he looked up and saw a figure.

It was a figure, yet not a person. A skeleton clad in armor that looked like it had jumped right out of a fantasy game.

“Wow, Sans! …Or should I say, why is a skeleton locked in a prison?”

No, more importantly, how did it even speak? If it were a high-tier undead like a death knight, it would make sense, but a skeleton shouldn’t possess such a skill.

Though his mind was flooded with questions, all Yeon-woo could do was patiently wait until the translation finished.

Usually, the interdimensional language translation feature was tied to his Hunter’s Seal, but in Yeon-woo’s case, Relin’s Warehouse could serve in place of that, hence it was no big deal. After all, a translator is the essence of magic engineering, isn’t it?

While the skeleton showed confusion at Yeon-woo’s hand gesture to wait a moment, it remained silent. Soon, noise filled the air, and a voice was heard translated into Korean.

[Motherf*er, what is this?]

Um… that’s quite earthy…. Whatever curse it was spewed, it must’ve been translated to “motherf*er” simply because that was the only word fitting the context.

“Ah, um. Can you hear me?”

“Oh, what the hell? Are you from our country?”

“Such a prejudicial remark….”

It might sound racially insensitive, but didn’t they look completely different from him? Yeon-woo could confidently say he had never been part of the Bone Kingdom’s population.

“Dude, I had skin before I died too! So, I guess you’d think you’re the hero of this town, huh?”

“Eh, how did you know?”

“I sprinkled it randomly so that only those worthy of being heroes could feel it. I thought nobody would come down here to the bottom of the ocean, but luckily, here you are.”

“Whoa….”

Is that even possible? was all he could think at the outlandish statement.

Even if it were possible, he assumed only gods could do that, yet here was an undead doing it. This made Yeon-woo wonder about what kind of being he was dealing with.

“So why are you looking for heroes? What kind of person are you to maintain your sanity even after becoming undead?”

“I’d like to say I’m your senior, but this seems to be another world, so I won’t flaunt my status. Just think of me as a nosy skeleton. But what’s important now isn’t about me, you knucklehead.”

Then what is important… thought Yeon-woo as the skeleton rattled its jawbone. Eww, disgusting. The skeleton chuckled at Yeon-woo’s shivers, speaking in a serious tone.

“Right now, I’m keeping it under control, but in a few days, a dragon will go on a rampage. You gotta do something before that. It’s hard enough managing my own body without taking care of that guy. I might lose my hair from the stress. Not that I have any to lose.”

Thud Thud.

“This world’s dragon knight is quite the strange fellow… putting in bizarre interjections like that…”

“…What did you just say?”

“Huh? I said you’re a weird guy?”

“No, not that. You said dragon knight?”

“Oh, dragon knight. Aren’t you one too? That’s you, right?”

Yeon-woo frowned deeply at the skeleton’s nonchalant assertion. What the heck?

(To be continued in the next part)

 

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