Infinite Bloodcore
Chapter 544: Section 331: The Greedy Divine Bone

Chapter 544: Section 331: The Greedy Divine Bone

The calm sea surface suddenly flickered with a pale gray brilliance.

Immense spell fluctuations were pushing waves, stirring up a gigantic swell in the surrounding waters.

A strong surge of negative energy rapidly expanded in all directions.

Amid the raging waves, the shadow of a ship gradually emerged and within mere seconds, solidified into reality.

This was no ordinary ship.

From its outward appearance, it was hard to imagine such a dilapidated vessel could still sail.

The ship’s sails were riddled with holes of various sizes, and the planks looked like rotten wood that had decayed for years, covered with a great deal of moss, shells, and so forth.

The atmosphere on the ship was gloomy, with ghosts drifting in and out occasionally, before dipping back into the cabin.

This was a ghost ship, a Golden Level ghost ship.

The cabin doors opened, and several Undead Mages filed out onto the deck.

It was ship ghosts, Cang Xu, and the rest of the group.

“The Main World, we’ve finally returned!” the Little Prince with a big head and a small skeleton shouted, waving his arms.

The Zombie Warrior Ku Feng, gazing at the clear blue skies and sea, exhaled heavily: “This time, we are truly safe.”

After the departure of the Stone Surgeon, their original plan was to leave the Netherworld as quickly as possible and return to the Main World.

But unexpectedly, they encountered trouble on their journey back.

The main channels of the Nether River were teeming with powerful Undead Life forms.

The ship ghosts and their companions struggled desperately, barely pulling through a life-and-death crisis, barely clinging onto their lives.

Looking back now, everyone was still shaken.

“Even a Golden Level ghost ship isn’t safe to sail on the Nether River,” Cang Xu commented profoundly about his first trip to the Netherworld.

He was no longer just a head.

He had regained a body.

This Silver Level zombie body was a gift from the ship ghost.

Upon awakening, the first thing Cang Xu did was to remove the zombie’s head and replace it with his own.

The ship ghost was the leader of these men. After returning to the Main World, he immediately determined his position and the Main World’s time.

Hearing Cang Xu’s reflection, he was casting a spell while explaining, “This is why I do not frequently use the Netherworld travel.”

“Previously there was no choice but to risk escaping to the Netherworld.”

“Traveling on the Nether River is highly dangerous, at least a Holy Domain Level is the true qualification for exploration.”

He paused for a moment at this point.

“Alright.”

“We’ve now confirmed our coordinates. The good news is: we are less than five nautical miles away from the nearest safe house.”

“The bad news is: eight days have passed in the Main World since we last used the Netherworld travel.”

“Eight days?” Cang Xu’s eyelids twitched slightly.

In his perception, it seemed as if only three days had passed.

The flow of time in the Netherworld and in the Main World is different.

Moreover, during spatial plane transmission, one may encounter time distortions and inexplicably lose some time.

As a mage, Cang Xu was not unfamiliar with such knowledge; he simply lacked the relevant experience.

“Eight days have passed, I wonder how the Mercenary Group is faring.”

“They should have reached the Ice Sculpture Kingdom by now, I wonder if they have entered the Royal Capital.”

Cang Xu was silently concerned about his companions.

The main purpose of his trip was to get close to the ship ghost, gain his trust, and acquire higher-level knowledge.

After battles like sailing the Nether River, he had made some progress but at the loss of his body.

Only his head remained original.

After a brief period of reorganization, the Undead Mages set sail on the ghost ship towards the next destination.

Undead Mages usually set up several safe houses.

Their situation in the world was not good, nearly hunted and blocked by all forces.

Without two or three safe houses as backup, the Undead Mages would not feel at ease.

The ship ghost’s safe house was built on a deserted little island.

According to his brief introduction: the terrain of the island was very low. It would be completely submerged at high tide in the evening. Only from early morning until 3 pm would the desert island be exposed.

But when they were about to reach their destination, something unexpected happened.

A relocation scene came into their spell scouting vision.

“Lord ship ghost, is this the safe house you mentioned?” the Little Prince asked with a peculiar tone.

The ship ghost was also at a loss for words.

At this moment, three pirate ships were moored on this deserted island.

A group of pirates was moving things onto their ships.

Clearly, the items stored in the ship ghost’s safe house had been discovered by a group of pirates for some reason.

Now, these pirates were busy transferring the items onto their ships.

Ku Feng and the others looked at the ship ghost, silently asking what to do next with their eyes.

The current scouting results showed that the pirates’ strength was weak, without a Silver Level among them, only three Black Iron Levels.

But the ship ghost didn’t rush to act.

He first used a spell to raise a heavy fog, concealing the entire ghost ship.

He then asked, “They probably haven’t discovered us yet. Do you know which pirate group they are?”

Ship Ghost had a certain understanding and control over the pirate groups active in the surroundings.

However, the origins of the group before him had exceeded the scope of his intelligence.

The banners of the three pirate ships were identical.

On the white banner, a mass of black lines intersected each other, forming the pattern of crossed swords and blades.

This was not the flag of any notorious pirate group.

The Undead Mages all shook their heads, indicating their ignorance.

Qing Xin pondered and said, “Ever since the pirate throne appeared, there has been a huge number of sailors choosing to become pirates every day. Even people from inland who aren’t sailors are willing to spend their entire fortune to buy ships and sail the seas as pirates. These guys are probably of that sort.”

Qing Xin did not participate in the battle of Nether River.

After the battle, she woke from her unconscious state and was informed of everything that had occurred.

As the only living person on the Ghost Ship, her situation was awkward and she had become marginalized.

Speaking out now, she increased her own presence.

Little Prince said, “That must be it. Let’s make our move quickly and take down these pirates! They actually dare to snatch our supplies!”

The Little Prince, who was usually active along the routes of several merchant ships, focused on protecting his kingdom’s vessels and fiercely fought against pirates.

He had no love for pirates.

Ship Ghost nodded slightly, “Then let’s take action together and make sure not to let a single one escape.”

Cang Xu added, “First approach covertly, try to destroy their communication devices as much as possible. Try to keep a few alive to gather intelligence. At least we should find out how they were able to discover the safehouse.”

Ship Ghost looked at Cang Xu appreciatively and affirmed, “That’s the way to go.”

Fog gradually formed around the pirates.

“It’s cold!” a pirate sneezed.

More of them looked up at the sky to see the sunlight had weakened significantly. As the fog kept rising, they cursed: “Damn this weather, is there going to be a storm?”

The three captains on their respective pirate ships sensed something was wrong and hurriedly urged their men to hasten their efforts.

Unknown to them, Ku Feng and Cang Xu had quietly breached the hull and stealthily infiltrated the cabins.

The ghosts controlled by Ship Ghost completed their reconnaissance first.

Ku Feng and Cang Xu, following the information gathered, easily destroyed the ship’s long-distance communication devices.

“Attack!” As soon as Ship Ghost saw they were ready, he gave the order.

Little Prince had been prepared, casting his spell.

Hundreds of white bone javelins materialized out of thin air, descending from the sky and covering the most densely packed area of pirates.

In an instant, large numbers of pirates were killed or wounded by the bone spears.

“Ambush!”

“No, my first officer…”

“What is this?!”

“Damn it, they seem like Undead Mages!”

Caught by surprise, the pirates fell into chaos.

Ku Feng swung a sharp cleave from the lower deck directly upward, striking the pirate captain standing above.

Cang Xu pounced on the gunners.

His claws transformed into deadly weapons, powerful and forceful, capable of effortlessly tossing pirates into the air with each strike.

Without exception, the pirate gunners were broken and killed on the spot.

Seeing the tide turn, one of the pirate captains ordered in panic, “Set sail, set sail! Get out of here fast.”

The next moment, several Wind Blades flew in, precisely striking and bringing down the sails of the pirate ship.

“No!” The pirate captain fell into despair.

Ku Feng leaped from an adjacent ship, carving a path through the pirates with a few swift cuts, and then finished off the captain with one stroke, displaying the might of a true warrior.

The Undead Mages’ surprise attack was successful, immediately dominating the battleground.

With the captains of the pirates quickly slain and their first officers and others also dead, there was no chance of mounting a meaningful resistance.

Soon after, the battle ended.

Only a few pirates were left alive—intentionally spared by the Undead Mages.

Interrogating the pirate captives was not difficult.

Their courage had been thoroughly shattered.

They revealed their identities—they were part of the Rope Tied Pirate Group.

As Qing Xin had guessed earlier, the Rope Tied Pirate Group was a recently organized band of pirates.

Ship Ghost was more concerned about why this pirate group had managed to locate his safehouse.

“So it was the Bone of Greed,” Ship Ghost sighed.

These were the remnants of the fourth generation Pirate King, scattered across the world.

Whenever a sentient being came into contact with these bone fragments, the innate greed inside would begin to take effect. These bone fragments would then point towards whatever the user most desired.

The vice-captain of the Rope Tied Pirate Group had a piece of the Divine Bone. As they passed by, the bone stirred, leading her to discover the safehouse.

The leader and vice-leader of the Rope Tied Pirate Group teamed up to crack the safehouse’s defenses and had already entered, taking away some of the supplies.

They were in a hurry with other matters, so they left behind three ships, ordering them to move all of the supplies while they headed out with the main force.

“A rope mage and a Cloud Piercing Archer. The two of them teamed up to form the Rope Tied Pirate Group,” Ship Ghost noted the name of the squad leader and Little Prince both remembered as soon as they heard it.

They were two infamous bounty hunters.

Before, they made a living by accepting missions and hunting criminals.

But recently, the two joined forces, abandoning their previous lives, and became pirates.

“The seas are getting more and more chaotic,” Ship Ghost sighed, “Let’s clean up the battlefield quickly, we need to leave as soon as possible. This place is no longer safe.”