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Chapter 234

Yeon-woo’s hands moved chaotically, causing the ghost’s body to shake violently in all directions like leaves scattered by the wind. Red Beard screamed.

“Let go, let go! I said to let go!!”

“Come on, come on. Don’t be so mad, just enjoy it. I promise a moment of fun will come, okay?”

His words sounded like he was teasing a woman, but the one being teased was the bearded ghost uncle.

The other ghosts were just staring in shock at the sight of their captain being tormented without even being able to lift a finger.

‘It’s about time to wrap this up.’

Using air manipulation against an ethereal being isn’t much harder than moving a physical object; however, that doesn’t mean it alleviates the intense mana consumption unique to air manipulation.

The more the volume and tactile feel were nuanced, the greater the mana consumption became.

Nevertheless, the reason for scattering mana into the air was simple.

After all, this ghost was likely under the control of a necromancer, so I was thinking of checking the necromancer’s location through my telepathy.

And that thought proved correct. As I swung the captain around, I suddenly noticed a connection that hadn’t been visible before. Yeon-woo seized that moment without hesitation.

“Grrk, Graaaah!!”

“Whoa.”

With a sudden roar, the ghost’s aura began to surge wildly in all directions.

If I tried to hold it in with mana, it would clearly result in a significant loss, so Yeon-woo quickly pulled back his mana while simultaneously launching his body forward.

He swung his sword towards the captain’s throat, believing he’d gathered all the information he could and that this would end it.

But the captain’s body was pulled away by a rope flying in from the side, avoiding the sword.

“What the—?”

“He, ha! Finally listening, heart!!”

“Heart? What’s that, Davy Jones?”

“I don’t know, you brat!!”

Sending my sincere condolences to Davy Jones, who was treated like a newbie, I scanned the area around the now changing captain.

A pale green light spread around the captain, enveloping the ghost ship. The color had lightened significantly, but there was a strange presence.

At the same time, a familiar sensation flowed across my skin.

“So you managed to nest in such a short time?”

In a place that had zero nests, to have such a cozy setup…!

As if reacting to Yeon-woo’s mumbling, ropes and pieces of wood began to float in midair from all directions.

How on earth could having a heart allow him to control such things? If that’s possible, theoretically, can’t I control, like, leg hair too?

Anyway, the important thing is that things just got a bit more troublesome.

Generally, a necromancer holds the most crucial part tightly under their control, so if it was freed, it meant that the necromancer was feeling immense anxiety.

‘But a heart.’

It’s unlikely that it was granted permissions blindly, so it would be right to assume the heart’s real thing was held by the necromancer.

And under normal circumstances, unless they do something with that heart, there wouldn’t be a way to deal with the captain.

“Just got way too annoying. Should’ve killed him right away.”

Muttering that, Yeon-woo readied his doppelganger in the form of a gauntlet. With the ghost ship’s exterior coated in ghostly aura, he figured regular punches wouldn’t break through.

BAM!! Slamming down without hesitation, the deck shattered, creating a hole big enough for a person to fit through. Yeon-woo hurriedly threw himself inside. First, let’s take out the necromancer.

“…He, ho!? Where are you running to!!”

The captain, enraged after sucking in all his crew fighting around the ghost ship, chased after Yeon-woo.

In an instant, as the ghosts cleared out, the crew looked up, dropping their weapons.

“…Whoa, ghost ship!! All hands, we’re heading to help Student Choi Yeon-woo!!”

If not for the timely shout from the suited man, they would have remained staring for a long time.

*

“Wow!!”

Yeon-woo screamed as he sprinted through the narrow corridor of the ship.

Dodging countless arms that shot up from the floor, he ran along the walls, and when a door swung open, he leapt on the ceiling to avoid the ropes that shot out.

Thanks to gravity being fair to everyone, he soon fell but quickly regained his balance and continued running.

“This could work as a theme park attraction, you know!”

With this level of realism, it could surely make kids from all over the country cry. But kids’ tears feel too pitiful, so Yeon-woo swung his sword.

“Grrrraah!!”

The translucent arms sprouted like a flower were split in two and fell to the ground.

The severed ghost arms screamed. Sharpened pieces of wood flew at him from the front.

In a flash, engulfed in flames, Yeon-woo swung his arm, turning most of it into mere charred bits that fell to the floor.

Some remaining debris grazed his skin, causing droplets of blood to splatter, but Yeon-woo didn’t care.

Yanking out the wood splinters embedded in his skin, he slid along the floor. He barely squeezed himself under a closing door.

Just because he got in narrowly didn’t mean he could stay still. Given that his opponent was an ethereal being, he could just ignore walls like they were not there at all.

As he took a moment to catch his breath, his muscles started to ache, but he compelled himself to rise. Dodging the ominous aura approaching him, he threw himself forward.

“He, he, ho!! Dieee!!”

The captain, now several times larger than when he bounced around on the deck, revealed himself.

Where had the ordinary-sized captain gone? The ginormous one that could fill a room fell down from the ceiling. Clearly intended to squash him.

“Hey, you’ve gained some weight since I last saw you!!”

Yeon-woo’s head spun rapidly as he shouted hysterically. What should he do? Should he smash the floor? Or maybe try to use a flying kick upwards?

His pondering came to an abrupt end. There wasn’t really even anything to ponder. Even if he landed a clean flying kick, nothing would change.

Yeon-woo’s body heavily impacted the wooden floor with a bang. Feeling that the necromancer would be on this floor or the one below it.

“How many holes are you planning to put in my ship, you bastard!!”

Two already… Considering that most of the holes in the ship were due to explosives that Yeon-woo set up, one could say he had the biggest share of the holes.

After falling to the floor and rolling over to negate the impact, Yeon-woo hastily glanced around and scattered his mana.

The ghost wouldn’t bother using stairs to come down to the first floor, so he had to hurry up and either check or rush through the hallway.

The dispersed mana caught a strange sensation on the opposite side of the hallway, directly below him. How should he describe it? A vault? A tightly confined space whose contents were unknown.

‘Did he set up a barrier to turn the ship’s bottom into a different dimension?’

What a troublesome affair. He limited the exit to one direction, encircling with a curse to create a pseudo-gate.

Ideally, he wanted to break through from the ceiling. But as it is, he would have to make a proper descent through the stairs.

Resolving this, Yeon-woo dashed out without hesitation. For some reason, the ghosts’ reactions were a little slow, but as he checked, sounds of the Coast Guard fighting could be heard from above.

“Good job.”

As he dashed out, he caught sight of the cells where the Dragon Knight was imprisoned but ignored it, realizing rushing in wouldn’t change anything.

“He, he, ho! Stop there!!”

“Seriously gross.”

That kind of man is usually unpopular. Though, isn’t that a bit rich coming from me? Yeon-woo thought as he threw himself into the dark, shadowy staircase.

*

“────.”

A barely comprehendible language echoed in his ears. Yeon-woo was convinced that it was the voice of the necromancer.

Although he couldn’t make sense of it, that language belonged to the Cult of Oblivion.

First, Yeon-woo rolled his eyes to assess the environment inside the barrier. It was a space made solely of bones, connecting bone to bone.

Truly a necromancer’s barrier. Designed so that undying creatures could be summoned no matter the situation.

‘At this level, it’s definitely possible.’

Even though a necromancer could summon countless undead, they wouldn’t be a match for Yeon-woo now.

If the blessing that Sebek had bestowed was to pacify the souls of the dead, the blessing Amir had given was solely for combat against the undead.

As could be seen from the case of Red Beard, who lost his entire hand just by grazing it against Yeon-woo’s sword, even a normal undead controlled by a necromancer would be shredded to pieces at just a touch.

Having made that judgment, Yeon-woo slowly stood up.

The necromancer must have noticed him. Although they pretended not to have any undead, the reality was different.

They were likely digging a trap, pretending to hastily summon the undead. One could easily predict that if he were to rush in, the undead would burst forth from the ground.

‘Looks like I picked the wrong opponent.’

WHAM!! With a sound that pierced the air, Yeon-woo leapt into action. The distance was about 50 meters. For a typical hunter, it would be a relatively long jump, but Yeon-woo was different.

His unleashed silver mana acted as a propellant, launching his body forward.

“W-What!?”

In the blink of an eye, as Yeon-woo closed the distance, he spotted a small trap in the necromancer’s hands.

The man’s face was filled with shock. He thought he had become somewhat famous, but was the Cult of Oblivion not aware of his reputation? Thanks to that, things became easier.

The man hastily scraped the surrounding bones together to create a shield. But it was completely meaningless.

Amir’s blessing, Aura Blade, and the supreme sharpness possessed by White.

A shield that couldn’t even block one of the three powers crumbled like sand as they all unleashed simultaneously.

“What the, that’s impossible…!!”

And that was it. Though he was a necromancer involved in one of the Cult of Oblivion’s plans, Yeon-woo’s sword effortlessly severed his neck.

*

Upon the death of the one who built the dimension, the barrier was lifted.

The captain, who had been unable to enter due to the barrier, began to sweat coldly as soon as he stepped into the chamber.

It was probably because he saw the trap resting in Yeon-woo’s palm.

“Should I help you pass?”

“Eeeek!!”

Under Yeon-woo’s veiled threat, Red Beard began to bow his head. Seeing the ghost grovelling with a plea for mercy made Yeon-woo stroke his chin.

He wondered why it remained even after the necromancer died, and it seemed he had become a sort of pseudo-bound spirit stuck to the ship.

Yeon-woo intended to give him peace, but since he had the heart, he decided to conscript him to fight the Kraken.

“If you behave, I’ll send you off to the underworld without pain.”

“Ugh….”

Clearly reluctant to go to the underworld, he let out a groan, yet as long as the heart was in Yeon-woo’s hand, they had no choice but to accept that condition.

Dragging the sulking captain onto the deck, Yeon-woo suddenly took a step back.

“By the way, what happened to the Dragon Knight?”

I wondered if he had passed on, so I opened the door only to find the Dragon Knight sprawled on the floor, his jaw dislocated.

“Y-Younger brother.”

“Senior, you haven’t been able to pass yet.”

“I didn’t leave yet. Looks like the curse I inscribed is quite high quality.”

That made sense. It was a special curse from the Demon King. If placed on a lion, it could even lure a pseudo-lion.

“Are you about to lose your sanity soon or something?”

“H-how did you know?”

The surprised Dragon Knight held up three fingers. Seeing that made Yeon-woo feel relieved.

“Phew, three days left.”

“Two.”

Seeing the Dragon Knight fold a finger down, Yeon-woo’s expression hardened.

“You’re joking, right?”

“One.”

“Gyaaaah!!”

As Yeon-woo tried to rush out with the captain, the Dragon Knight caught him with laughter.

“I was just joking! You still have about an hour to spare.”

“Don’t ever make that kind of joke again….”

“You won’t have the chance next time, so what? Have a wide heart and forgive me.”

Watching the laughing Dragon Knight, Yeon-woo wore a complicated expression.

(To be continued in the next chapter.)

 

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