Pirate Kingship
Chapter 92 - 91 Mad Hunt Knight, Summoned!

Chapter 92: Chapter 91 Mad Hunt Knight, Summoned!

Just as Little Norwich continued to fall forward from inertia, Byron did not activate the Holy Grail of Blood to brew him into the Blood of Transformation.

Instead, with a mere gesture, a large amount of blood from his neck was automatically collected into the Warrior’s Cup.

He even placed two fiery red spherical objects beneath Little Norwich’s falling body to cushion him.

Then, Byron pulled away and swiftly retreated.

The next moment, BOOM!

Having received the distress signal, Fleet Commander Old Norwich York, who had rushed over personally from the sterncastle command room at the first opportunity, didn’t take the intricate inner passageways of the ship. Instead, he shattered the lower deck with a single stomp and descended from above. He landed right beside Little Norwich, precisely where Byron had just been standing.

Little Norwich’s final shout was not just an outburst of meaningless fury, but also a way to guide his father to his location.

But he was a second too late. Fleet Commander Old Norwich York only saw his son’s Corpse sprawled on the ground. Especially since his head had just been blown off.

The still-living nervous system, muscle tissues, and so on within his body were still twitching instinctively, attempting to salvage this rapidly cooling body. It only futilely pumped more blood from the carotid artery, making the sight incredibly tragic.

"AHH—!"

Looking at the Corpse at his feet, Old Norwich’s eyes turned bloodshot, and he trembled as he let out a mournful howl like a lone wolf. This was his only son!

Overwhelmed by intense emotions, he didn’t even seek to punish Byron, the chief culprit, but stumbled forward to first pick his son up from the ground.

But the moment the Corpse was lifted just three centimeters from the ground, Old Norwich’s Spirituality suddenly seemed to sense something. His face changed drastically, and he released his hold, retreating explosively.

The two booby traps pressed beneath the Corpse then exploded thunderously.

Evidently, Byron hadn’t kept Little Norwich alive until the end merely to toy with him; he purely wanted to use him to set up the old man one more time.

The hold was inherently the part of the Warship with the thickest hull, and below it lay a full layer of pig iron ballast. The violent explosion did not damage the ship’s bottom. Yet it swept shrapnel and fragments of Little Norwich’s shattered bones in all directions.

Despite the Knight Commander’s acute spiritual perception and swift retreat, he was still caught in the blast and instantly engulfed by the Blood Mist.

Witnessing this human tragedy, Byron, who had already retreated to a corner and taken cover behind a thick ship’s rib, couldn’t stop a wide, unrestrained smile from spreading across his face.

"Haha, spectacular!"

Since waking up on the Man-Eating Shark, Byron hadn’t been this happy in over a month. The more York suffered, the happier he was.

No matter how many of those Privateering Pirates at Iron Anchor Bay died, it was of no consequence to him. This time, not even counting the Norwiches of the York Family, father and son, he had, under the protection of Hightins Law, audaciously killed all dozen or so Law Mages in the cabin. A loss of this magnitude was no less devastating than the Fleet’s annihilation and was enough to make Edward IV cough up three liters of blood in fury.

But this is not enough; this is still far from enough!

Collecting some interest from the York Family and their vassals in advance was an unexpected pleasure, but Byron hadn’t forgotten his true purpose for boarding the Warship.

He turned to look at the tentacle that made his mouth water.

The previous slaughter had deliberately avoided the compass-like Array at the other end of the cabin; the faience jar holding that segment of the ’Touch of the Kraken’ was also unharmed.

This actually belongs to an entity above the ’Kingly Title’.

From the fragmented memories of the Undead Servants he had just conscripted, Byron had found information brought back from overseas. This gave him a vague concept of this thing’s form of existence. He now knew that beyond the Humanized World ruled by the Silver Law, there existed many things that surpassed the cognition of Humans, even peak Transcendents.

The Touch of the Kraken seemed to originate from a ’God’ worshipped on some indigenous island.

To try and eliminate such an entity, whether by blasting it with explosives or ramming it with a ship, was definitely courting death.

However, there was one taboo worth exploiting:

Absolutely, absolutely must not let that thing soak in seawater!

But violating this taboo would cause it to completely lose control, and the outcome could be better or worse. Currently, it was still entwined around Iron Anchor Bay. If it were freed without any means of restraint, it would benefit neither friend nor foe. The best-case scenario was to make it release Iron Anchor Bay and, in turn, latch onto the Strait Fleet. That had been their initial plan.

Byron fingered the thirty octopus silver coins stored separately in his pocket.

Now it’s up to this. As long as all the silver coins are soaked in the blood of the same person anywhere on this Warship, the Profane Black Mass Ceremony can be concluded, summoning the Great Power of the ’Touch of the Kraken’ to descend. This will compel the Touch of the Kraken to release Iron Anchor Bay and shift its target of attack to the nearer Strait Fleet. Though this group of Law Mages is small, their Class is high enough. Using them to mark the Fleet, or even to extend the marking to their respective Great Noble families, shouldn’t be a major issue. If the blood of the Norwiches, father and son, is used to conclude the ceremony, dragging the Yorks down with them would be even better. But when I make my move, I’ll need to stay far away, lest I get caught in the crossfire when they’re eaten.

However, just as the Blood Mist dispersed, revealing the sole, motionless figure on the ground, Byron did not advance to bleed Old Norwich. Instead, he stepped back and suddenly fired upwards, blasting a large hole in the deck above.

Employing Mountain Goat Steps, he leaped out of the hold without hesitation.

He had just jumped out when a roar erupted from behind him: "Ah! Bastard, come back! I will tear you to pieces alive!"

A figure covered in wounds also shot out from the hole, hurtling towards Byron like a cannonball. It was Old Norwich, who had just taken the full force of a booby trap.

Evidently, he had relied on some means outside his Sequence, had not been killed by the Bomb, and had then opportunistically lain on the ground, preparing to ambush this unfathomably deep and exceedingly cunning adversary. But he didn’t know that the Sailing Logbook in Byron’s hand, even if it couldn’t read his detailed History, could determine his life or death by checking if his History had ended.

Old Norwich, though not dead, was clearly in a very bad state. His head and face were covered in blood, one of his eyes was blind, and an arm was broken, hanging uselessly at his side. Moreover, a red armor that resembled an insect’s carapace yet gleamed with a metallic luster was rapidly spreading from his chest and back across his entire body.

In merely one or two breaths, not only had an exoskeleton reconnected his arm, but it had also formed a suit of full Knight Armor. Even his hand had sprouted a blade-foot resembling a Knight’s heavy sword. An incomparably ferocious aura spread out. It made one wonder if they were facing a Human, or an insectoid monster.

Byron used the bright silver barrel of his pistol as a convex mirror to see Old Norwich behind him, his gaze hardening slightly:

This doesn’t seem like a normal Miracle’s ability, but more like some creation of Black Sorcery. I knew the York Family must have recently come into contact with some forbidden knowledge. The root cause of how the thirty-year Throne War was ultimately decided has also been found.

The Sailing Logbook couldn’t see through the Transformation on him, but it found the answer from the recently conscripted Little Norwich.

Forbidden Knowledge—Book of Giant Insects:

Using various insects as raw materials, they undergo bloodline modifications through forbidden knowledge and rituals to serve as Battle assistants for Transcendents. The one Old Norwich cultivated is called the ’Dragon Bone Worm,’ also known as the ’Iron Bone Dragon Filament Worm.’ It can coexist with the Human body, providing its master with a defense comparable to steel Knight Armor, as well as extraordinary Regeneration abilities. The side effects are photophobia; the parasitic armor absolutely cannot be used in sunlight. Moreover, excessive use carries the risk of completely transforming into a giant insect.

The York Family possessed abundant resources; as long as they grasped the knowledge, they could achieve results in a short time. What was particularly noteworthy was that the source of this forbidden knowledge, like Byron’s *Bloody Mary’s Gourmet Cookbook*, came from the Bloodthirsty Cult (Chapter 28). It seemed even the York Family’s acquisition of the Touch of the Kraken had not been without the help of this mysterious cult.

This piece of Intelligence truly surprised Byron:

The Bloodthirsty Cult has such a connection with the York Family? The two sides have always cooperated in overseas colonies. With this clue, there’s no need to search aimlessly across the vast sea anymore. I’m one step closer to obtaining the ritual of the Crimson Holy Grail, eliminating the side effects of the Blood Brew, and acquiring the Blood of Immortality.

Facing a monster who also dabbled in Black Sorcery, he wasn’t worried about his own safety. Before preparing to conclude the Black Mass Ceremony, he had already secured an escape route. Killing Old Norwich was just a matter of convenience. Killing him would be best; if not, using only Little Norwich’s blood was also fine. The only difference was whether York felt pain, or more pain.

At this moment, a total of twenty Professional Level Undead Servants, including a Third Order Grand Judge, afforded him a huge boost to his abilities. Byron felt that even in his normal state, defeating a Second Order Transcendent would be effortless. And this was not yet his limit.

He quickly dashed to the large hole he had entered through, then turned to look back at the ’giant insect.’ After confirming that the Sailing Logbook had recorded all the Intelligence from the minds of the Undead Servants behind him, he decisively activated the second-tier ability of the Mad Hunt Legion.

He uttered a low command, "Wild Hunt Knight, SUMMON!!"

In the pitch-black cabin, a loud bark and a gloomy howl of hounds suddenly rang out. Pale blue Flame erupted from Byron. The twenty Undead Servants behind him manifested one by one, then rushed into this pale blue Flame like moths drawn to a fire.

BOOM!

The massive pillar of Flame exploded, making even Old Norwich, whose mind was clouded by rage and hatred, involuntarily stop in his tracks, his face filled with surprise and suspicion: "What is this?"

The next moment, CLOMP! A bowl-sized, pitch-black hoof stepped out of the Blaze. Followed by horse legs covered in bone-like armor, and a horse’s head with menacingly sharp teeth, tangled thorny antlers, and pale blue eyes. A terrifying aura, like that from a mountain of corpses in a sea of blood, washed over them, chilling to the bone.

Astride the horse sat a tall Knight in black full-plate armor with a blood-red cape, fiercely brandishing a thick, long lance. Pale blue Blaze erupted, easily blasting a large hole through the Warship’s Bulwark. With a pull on the reins, as if horse and rider were one, he leaped and charged straight up the Warship’s hull, an almost ninety-degree incline. In the darkness, he left behind a trail of burning hoofprints, like brands seared into the wood.

"This... is the Mad Hunt?!"

Even though Old Norwich had never seen such a being, the word instinctively escaped his lips amidst the tremendous shock in his heart. For his schemes against the North Bay Folks’ Iron Anchor Bay, he had read too much related material. And the Mad Hunt was far too famous in the mythology of the God of Prophecy, Authority, and the Mad Hunt.

At this moment, Old Norwich almost believed that the legendary primordial God himself had manifested to personally punish these Bayfolk traitors and invaders. After all, that was not only the ancestor of the Lancasters and the Bayfolk but also of the York Family.

But the consuming hatred quickly overcame his Fear of the unknown, and he too burst out of the hole in pursuit.

"Even at full power, your aura is no more than Third Order. You will die today without a doubt! Even if Woden, the Wild Hunt King himself, were here, he couldn’t save you!"