met free Chapter 202 Soul Hunting Time
Chapter 202 Soul Hunting Time
Chapter 202 Soul Hunting Time
A crescent moon rises into the sky from the horizon.
The bright moonlight shone on the ship, illuminating the two round discs at the bow of the Two Gold Coins ship, making them look like a pair of deep blue eyes.
The heavy iron anchor hangs silently in the heart of the sea.
The sails had long been furled, so the ship remained stationary, swaying with the waves.
The wood makes a "crunching" sound in response to the "whooshing" sound of the flame inside the lampshade, along with the sounds of water and wind.
But there was no sound of conversation, no sound of footsteps, not even the sound of breathing.
Henry stood in front of the bridge, his right hand resting on the railing, quietly observing everything on the ship.
The sailors ahead were all loyal to their posts, with sailors leaning against the mast or under the saddle line, their hands tightly gripping the ropes.
Eight people, some sitting and some lying down, were positioned under the anchor barge to pull up the anchor as soon as they received an order, allowing the longship to accelerate quickly.
Even without turning around, Henry would bet that the old helmsman behind him was daydreaming.
This is certainly not a qualified helmsman; in fact, it's being compared to Miko.
Miko will never be distracted as long as he holds the helm.
But he is now—
Miko hasn't stepped onto the bridge in a long time since he developed a psychological aversion to sailing.
He must be standing guard in front of the giant crossbow in the ship's cabin right now. Should we say that this "strong man" is loyal to his duty or inflexible?
Before a naval battle, it is necessary to first locate enemy ships and approach the target before the giant crossbows can be used.
This process is more than enough time for a man who has just woken up to get dressed and take a piss.
But since Miko likes it this way, let him be. His peace of mind is more important than anything else.
Benson has quieted down recently, probably because he understands what kind of enemies the two gold coin ships will face next, and is therefore uneasy.
Benson has grown; at least he's not like he was ten years ago, when he would try to persuade Henry to abandon the idea whenever he felt fear because of Henry's decision.
This time, Duozui (a nickname) managed to keep his mouth shut.
Of course, it's also possible that Benson finally realized that once Henry made a decision, he couldn't be persuaded to change it by himself alone.
However, Henry still hoped that Benson could be more lively, as his witty remarks could always boost the team's morale unintentionally.
But tonight is an exception.
Tonight belongs to silence; everyone must hold their breath and concentrate.
The crow's nest overhead flickered with a faint light.
If you plan to ambush other ships under the cover of night, you must first extinguish that tall and conspicuous light.
But a sneak attack isn't the theme for tonight, at least not right now.
The lights there, like the faint smoke rising from a battlefield, seem to be telling our friends at sea where the ship is now.
So Henry Parcyr served as the jellyfish of the night, and in terms of eyesight, no one on board could match him; not everyone could be called "the lookout."
As for Victor...
He's really old, and Henry doesn't want to bother him.
The atmosphere on the two gold coin ships was rarely so oppressive.
Gazing into the deep darkness in the distance, Henry couldn't help but drift into a reverie.
So—Henry thought—what am I doing?
Henry has been searching for Natalie ever since he parted ways with Cathy.
He did indeed find Natalie and even spent a rare night with her.
But Natalie is like an ocean current; he can't hold her, and the seawater will slip through his fingers.
After that night, he and Natalie parted ways again, so he had to continue on his journey.
Henry must bring Natalie back to Cathy.
Reuniting a son with his mother is an obligation that every father must fulfill.
Looking back, it's been almost a year since I broke up with Cathy. I wonder how she's doing.
"Ugh—"
Henry let out a long sigh, feeling that he was far too slow.
In fact, Henry had long been aware of Natalie's movements.
Natalie was taken to Pad Island by the lord of Belly Button Harbor.
He had planned to infiltrate Insole Island and rescue Natalie.
However, as he got closer, he discovered that the island was teeming with longships and warships.
Even though Henry considered the Two Gold Coins an invincible ship, it was no match for such a massive fleet. He had to order the Two Gold Coins to retreat temporarily.
Henry didn't know why so many ships had gathered on Shoepad Island, but he could foresee that those decent people were about to make a big move.
It's probably related to Goddess Island. The curator once said, "How can one tolerate others sleeping beside one's bed?" Upright people would never tolerate this. There are pirate strongholds on their shipping routes, so sooner or later they will be determined to eliminate the bandit problem.
This outcome was foreseen when Henry lured Riley and his men to attack and seize Goddess Island.
Regardless of their true intentions, the sheer number of warships was a significant obstacle to Henry's efforts to rescue Natalie.
He also understood that if he did nothing, it was almost impossible for Natalie to return to him on her own.
Henry must be more proactive, but that also means he is likely to clash with those troops.
Therefore, Henry must make thorough preparations in order to get Natalie out of the way unscathed.
He had already resolved the issue of stockpiling giant arrows with Wan Shi Tong in Bitou Port.
But that was far from enough. Even if Miko and Cyril could accurately sever the keels of the longships with their arrows, they couldn't withstand the enemy's hundreds of ships.
Therefore, what Henry urgently needed was military strength!
His fleet remained stationed on the Clown Islands, where there was no way to defend against attacks from unscrupulous forces if no ships were left to guard the area.
Of course, Henry was willing to give up his rule over the Clown Islands if he could rescue Natalie.
The problem is that traveling to and from the Clown Islands, especially with such a large and cumbersome fleet, would take at least four months.
Moreover, after a long journey, the fleet is unable to engage in direct combat and needs to find a corner that is not easily discovered by righteous people to rest for more than half a month.
But a crisis was imminent. Natalie was now in someone else's hands, and her life was in danger at any moment. Henry didn't have time to call for reinforcements.
But Henry quickly came up with a solution...
"Boss!"
A shrimp came up to Henry.
"Jelly said that a boat was spotted in the northwest direction."
Tonight's jellyfish is Cyril; no one can doubt his eyesight, especially since he's heading in the right direction.
"I understand," Henry said. "Tell him that if it's confirmed to be the ship we're waiting for, he should come to me, and then you can take over his post."
Shrimp, please return to the main text below.
Henry then went to the northwest fender and waited for the ship to approach.
Before long, Henry spotted a white, two-masted boat approaching his Two Gold Coins.
At that moment, Cyril approached him.
Henry glanced at Cyril but said nothing. He looked down at the men on the ship below, tried to jump onto the rope ladder, and climbed onto the Two Gold Coins.
Cyril asked, "Is he trustworthy?"
"No one is trustworthy," Henry replied emotionlessly, "and we don't even have the right to talk about trust."
“That’s true,” Cyril shrugged. “Anyone who would completely trust pirates must be an absolute idiot and deserves to be pushed into the sea from behind.”
"All I need is for them to have real talent and skills."
"There's no need to worry about that. People are found by talking a lot. In terms of connections, I personally think he absolutely deserves the title of 'pirate leader'."
“Benson has his own abilities, just like you,” Henry said. “I hope you will each do your job.”
"Should we call him up?"
“No need,” Henry said. “You can just follow me.”
At this moment, the first "guest" had already climbed onto the mast.
He glanced around the ship, then fixed his gaze on Henry and said something.
"What did he say?" Henry asked.
“‘Really hard to find,’ that’s roughly what he meant,” Cyril replied.
Cyril knows a little Ice Language, not very fluently, but enough for simple conversations.
However, it is estimated that it will not be enough to support tonight's conversation. Nevertheless, among the people boarding the ship tonight, there should be some who speak Mandarin, so there is no need to worry too much about communication problems.
Henry kept Cyril with him because he wanted someone who knew a little about the language of ice to be by his side, so that Cyril wouldn't use the language to communicate with him secretly and plot something bad.
A short while later, four more people came up.
The oldest among them was a man with graying hair, around fifty years old.
And he was the most capable, experienced, and prestigious among this group, and the one Henry could trust; his name was Knut.
The two looked at each other, and Knut nodded to Henry, who nodded back in response.
Henry ordered Cyril, "Now that they've arrived, tell the shrimps to weigh anchor and set sail for the heart of the sea. We must save time; a night will pass in the blink of an eye."
"yes,"
Cyril responded, gave a graceful bow, and went to deliver the message as Henry had instructed.
When he returned, the five visitors also came to his side.
Knut said in the Royal Language, "I never imagined that the famous navigator, the dignified pirate captain, would actually be interested in such evil things."
"I am grateful to you, sir, for speaking of 'evil' while excluding us pirates."
"Hmph, you're just bad guys at best, but you're not the same as evil. That kind of thing is corrupted and polluted by filthy power."
“I know it, I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” Henry said, “but it looks—well, it’s more like a description from a fairy tale.”
Knut's expression turned serious upon hearing this:
"Will we see that thing tonight?"
"I hope so. I don't want to drag this out for two or three days," Henry replied. "And according to intelligence, the ghost ship was recently spotted in this area of the sea."
"But what is your purpose in taking my boat and wandering aimlessly around the sea?"
Upon hearing this, Henry looked up at the night sky:
Have you ever paid attention to the constellations in the sky?
Knut said, "The starry sky is boring and not worth my gazing at. The wondrous magical power in the hands of a wizard is far more dazzling than the Milky Way."
"Have you ever seen a shooting star?"
"I've witnessed it once or twice."
"That's right. You can remember shooting stars, but you never pay attention to constellations. But both are stars; the only difference is that the former moves."
Henry turned his head toward Knut.
"I have no way to find the ghost ship, so I make it come to me. Moving the ship around makes it easier for it to find me."
Knut did not answer, but looked down at the ship, as if to confirm whether his vessel was following.
Henry's goal was the ghost ship.
He needed fighting power, but he didn't have time to return to the Clown Islands to get reinforcements, so he had to find another way out.
He placed his hopes on the power the curator had given him.
He was missing one technique from the book "Stars, Moon, Night, and Enchantment": the enchanting of souls.
Based on Henry's analysis of the book, he deduced that the soul cannot be created out of thin air.
To imbue an object with a soul, you need to prepare that soul in advance.
The undead sailors on the ghost ship are truly ghosts!
If Henry could utilize the ghosts on that ship to build his own spirit army, it would undoubtedly become a formidable fighting force.
They should obey Henry without question and be unafraid of death.
Even though the number of ghosts is limited, their presence can definitely give the enemy a headache and greatly increase Henry's chances of winning.
The problem is, he doesn't know how to deal with ghosts.
These ghosts attack nearby ships and devour or assimilate the souls of the living.
The evidence is that, from time to time, there are rumors in the Sea of Crying Gorge that a long ship full of corpses is floating on the sea, but no external injuries can be found on the corpses.
Therefore, he must first master the methods to attack or weaken spirits.
In this regard, the wizards of the frozen continent are clearly experts.
Henry then went to the Eastern Community to gather some information.
However, they discovered that the methods for dealing with ghosts had been lost for hundreds of years.
Henry was disappointed, but he did not give up and sent more people to investigate.
Not long after, Benson brought Knut to Henry's side.
It was only after exchanging words that they learned that Knut planned to use ghosts to conduct witchcraft experiments, and therefore had specifically studied ancient documents to reproduce certain techniques.
However, lacking experience in sea navigation, recruiting sailors alone to confront the ghost ship at sea was too risky for him.
Ordinary captains, on the other hand, would avoid ghost ships like the plague.
Therefore, one side lacks technology, and the other lacks experience.
The two were a perfect match, complementing each other perfectly, and immediately hit it off, which led to their meeting.
Henry asked, "Are you sure you can handle the ghost?"
"I have found a spell to dispel souls," Knut said, "but I will not do it; that would go against my original intention."
Therefore, it mainly relies on another technology.
"What technology?"
"The magic that can protect the soul," Knut said. "According to the information left by our predecessors, ghosts can only easily attack a person's soul. Therefore, as long as the soul is protected, those ghosts are nothing to fear."
Henry nodded; this suited him perfectly.
Two boats, one after the other, sailed on the Sea of Weeping Gorge, bathed in moonlight.
To accommodate the small boat, the sails of the Two Gold Coins were not fully unfurled.
Suddenly, Henry seemed to hear a melodious song amidst the roaring waves.
He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a ship with a faint green glow slowly approaching.
Henry grinned and drew his axe:
"Old friend, it's time to hunt souls!"