The Cursed Ship

Chapter 30: Cross-slash

“That body was right there just a moment ago. How did it disappear without making a sound?”

He didn’t stand around to mull this over. Instead, he took two huge steps forward in order to gain tactical space, and then turned around and brought his machete up behind him in a diagonal upward slash.

His attack hit nothing, but his judgment was sound, nonetheless, because that headless sailor was indeed five meters behind him.

That thing reached down its exposed spine and quickly drew a sword in a way that suggested it was taking its time.

“D*mn, do you have to be that hard on yourself?”

His throat was parched, making it difficult to swallow, let alone gulp.

The last humanoid monster he fought had drawn a blade from its stomach, while the one before him drew one from its spine.

“Are you people having a competition amongst yourselves or something? What’s the next guy gonna do?”

He positioned his machete at his left and, with his left hand supporting his right wrist, he started to summon all his strength… he felt like he was doing battojutsu like in that very famous manga.

Spirit power flooded his body from the void around him, and as he began to focus, his surroundings became extraordinarily quiet.

“Alright, I’ll admit it. It was quiet right from the start.”

That headless sailor took great strides as it charged towards him like a knight, coming at him with a determination that suggested only one of them would survive the clash.

It attacked when it got within two meters of him.

Shoopp…

The thing’s blade fell down on him in two strokes, first perpendicular and then parallel, like a cross.

“Holy sh**!”

He was unable to react in time. The difference in power between the two of them was too great. He had already been readying himself, striking at a split second’s notice as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

Yet, by the time he saw the headless monster’s attack, he had already been hit with that cross move.

He was immediately sent flying backward, with the entirety of his right arm, face, and chest sustaining very deep cuts, and his whole body crashed hard onto that massive capstan.

“What the f**k? How is that thing this powerful?”

He was down with his back against the ground, feeling that it would be the end of him as his lifeforce slipped away at a frightening rate.

“No, I have something else up my sleeve.”

He then siphoned spirit power to mitigate his injuries. He still had his back against the ground, but his machete was positioned to his left yet again.

“Come on, I’m on the ground now. Just pounce once…”

The headless sailor kept charging with great strides, its every step making the floor rumble as it gathered momentum.

When it was two meters away, the headless sailor lifted its sword yet again, as if it were going to bring it down and chop him in two.

The blade of the sword reflected the blood-colored glow above, making it look very eerie. The move lacked the extreme speed of that cross-slash move, yet it seemed to harbor enough power to cleave mountains.

“Now!” he thought.

“Burning Thorn!”

He immediately cast the spell, and flames instantly rose from his hand that was holding the machete, enveloping the entire blade.

He put all of his will, strength, and spirit power behind what was about to come next. There was only one thing on his mind at that moment—attack!

Swwoop

A three-meter-long flaming blade extended from the machete, which he brought diagonally upwards from his left to his right, looking like he was about to cleave the sky, and cut through the headless sailor’s midsection.

That thing froze momentarily with its blade still raised high, pointing at the sky, but it was no longer bring its sword down on him. Fire spread from its midsection and quickly covered its entire body in a raging inferno.

Its upper body slumped as the flames burned, and it was reduced to ash before it even hit the ground.

A globe of white light a tad bit larger than the one that had appeared when he’d defeated the last sailor monster immediately shot into his brain. However, his injuries proved too grievous for him to ignore any longer, and by then, blood had spurted everywhere.

Thump…

He heard noises.

It sounded more like heartbeats than footsteps, and it was coming from somewhere below that tower.

“Something is coming here.”

He tried his best to relax and slow his breathing, dragging his breaths as long as he could. The potent regenerative powers inherent in his werewolf genes worked to ease the severity of his injuries at the moment.

He had to continue like this until the mist came to send him back again. Otherwise, there was no telling what the consequences would be.

This very real near-death sensation overturned his initial speculations, and he began to wonder if his real body had been transported to this ghost ship.

If there existed such a power capable of transporting someone to such a place, then said power would naturally be capable of mending his injuries when he was transported home, which meant that he couldn’t say for sure that he was in a dream.

His thoughts slowed, and he started to feel dazed. His increased physique and regenerative abilities brought about by the power of his bloodline served only to delay the worsening of his injuries.

Thump…

The heartbeats came right below the tower he was on, sending a chill of fear through his body.

Finally, the mist came out of nowhere and shrouded him.

Feeling relieved, he could vaguely see a massive head coming from below that tower. The streams of air shooting out its nostrils looked like they were about to blow him away.

The next second, his consciousness sank, and he was shrouded in darkness.

This time, he didn’t wake up immediately. He felt as if he’d slept for quite a bit, and by the time he opened his eyes, the morning sun was already shining through the cracks between the curtains covering the window in the cabin.

He jolted up to check the time, finding it lucky that it was 20 minutes to seven in the morning, which meant that he hadn’t overslept.

He quickly tidied up his bed and washed up in three minutes. Then, he folded the bed back into the sofa and went to the bow to push his boat away from the docks.

All three outboard motors were capable of reversing the boat, but the batteries weren’t sufficiently charged, and it didn’t take him long to push the boat away with a pole anyway.

Emily and Eva arrived at the docks the same time he did. Both of them were wearing sunglasses, and each was carrying a bulging backpack. He wondered what they were carrying.

Emily was dressed very casually today. She was wearing a long white dress covered in blue floral print, and her blue hair was tied back into a messy bun behind her head. Her voluptuous figure and chiseled features brought out the best of a woman her age.

Eva, on the other hand, looked young and radiant. She was dressed in a pair of white skinny trousers, which hugged her legs and buttocks tightly, a white short-sleeved t-shirt with a cartoon monster printed on it, and a pair of boots. Her blue hair—clearly inherited from her mother—was tied up in a ponytail, which hung out of the white flat cap she was wearing, making her look very lively.

Zheng Yang stood at the stern and opened a portion of the guardrails, welcoming both of them onto the boat.

This was the first time Eva had seen his boat. She exclaimed in her songbird-like voice, “Wow, your boat is beautiful!”

Emily had seen his boat before, and she immediately noted that it was noticeably different from last time. Seeing the doubtful look in her eyes, Zheng Yang explained right away, “This is a new boat. I just got it renovated and got it back here yesterday.”

All three of them went into the cabin, which looked rather quaint. There was a sofa on one side of the table and floor cabinets on the other, both of which were set right below the window. The women put their backpacks on the floor and brought out a variety of food.

Fruits, beverages, biscuits, bread, canned food, ham and sausage…

“I brought you breakfast, Zheng Yang!” Eva took out a bag of hot bread and two packets of milk that was preheated as well and flashed a beaming smile at him.

Delighted, Zheng Yang also smiled and said, “Just wait here for a bit. I’ll get the boat out into the water, and we can eat along the way.”

He explained to them how to raise and control the sails, how to manage the wheel, the laws of physics that allowed the triangular sail to move the boat against the wind, and “Bernoulli’s Principle.”

The boat left the docks, and there was only a southwest wind at number two Beaufort Scale blowing. He raised the ball sail, expanded the solar panels, and headed towards the region where he’d last caught the tunas.

The reason for heading there was simple…

He was strapped for cash at the moment.