Chapter 85: Turning Point |
“Forget it, being jealous is useless anyway.”
Kyle shook his head and shifted his attention back to the sea shrouded in mist.
On the ocean surface, the ghost fleet was slowly approaching, and the flagship at the very front was already clearly visible.
On the ship, countless translucent figures could vaguely be seen wandering across the deck, their hollow eye sockets uniformly turned toward the harbor.
A chilling coldness that made one’s heart tremble swept toward Coral Thorn City together with the salty, damp sea breeze mixed with the stench of corpses.
Every person on the sea who had failed to escape in time turned into cold corpses without exception.
Large numbers of corpses maintained the stiff postures they had before death, drifting slowly toward the shore along with the waves.
O’Brien clenched his teeth and pushed the Holy Light to its limit.
At this moment, even his brown hair and beard were coated in a dense golden radiance, making him resemble a deity descending upon the mortal world.
However, outside the curtain, sinister winds howled and deathly energy spread everywhere. Under the pressure of the aura of death, the Holy Light continuously trembled, emitting overloaded buzzing sounds.
The fleeing crowd began to descend into disorder once more.
Anyone with even a little ability to think could tell that the paladin’s power was nowhere near comparable to that sinister wind.
Despair began spreading once again.
Gann Cole, who had originally thought there might be a turning point, lay back down with empty eyes.
What use could a Grandmaster paladin possibly be? Dying sooner or later made no difference…
Right now, O’Brien’s entire focus was concentrated on controlling the Holy Light, leaving him completely unable to spare attention for anything else.
This was his first time directly facing the might of a ghost ship, yet all he could do was barely resist the corrosion and delay death for a little longer.
To his sorrow, he discovered that his only remaining hope was actually pinned on a dark creature.
“What a pity my true body isn’t here.”
Kyle shifted his consciousness once more, possessing Alvaro, who was returning to Coral Thorn City.
“Ah, I just wonder how much face this title of number one among the Aiven family’s younger generation can actually carry.”
Kyle had never intended to clash head-on with the ghost ship. Its infamous curse was no joke.
The ghost ship itself was not particularly powerful; a Grandmaster could already inflict damage upon it.
But nobody truly dared to destroy a ghost ship.
Otherwise, the endless resentment and power of death attached to the ship through countless ages would be borne by the person who destroyed it.
Even a Legendary paladin could at most drive it away.
No matter how strong a Legendary paladin was, they still had not transcended the material realm and were helpless against ghost ships that wandered along the boundary between life and death.
Unless one reached the Saint level, in other words a Demigod paladin, they probably could withstand the curse power of a single ghost ship.
But to bear the curse of an entire fleet—there was absolutely no possibility of that.
Fortunately, ghost ships were not mindless objects. They possessed self-awareness.
Controlling Alvaro’s metallic body, Kyle crossed through space and appeared above the flagship of the ghost fleet.
The towering metallic figure instantly attracted the attention of every ghost.
“Honored Ferryman of the Styx, could you temporarily delay your sacred voyage and grant these humble living beings a sliver of hope for survival?”
The sea breeze suddenly stopped.
The speed of the ghost fleet visibly slowed. The surging waves also became gentler, and the corpses drifting toward the shore seemed to be frozen in place by an invisible force, remaining motionless atop the sea.
The ghosts upon the deck collectively fell into contemplative silence. It had been a very long time since they had heard that title.
“What is that?!”
Atop the harbor lighthouse, Gann Cole, who had just lain back down, abruptly sat upright once again.
His eyes, which had previously lost all color, stared fixedly at the silver metallic figure floating above the ghost ship!
“Ky—”
Just as he was about to cry out, he hurriedly forced himself to stop, the contract deep within his soul fiercely slapping him across the face.
While hunching over and enduring the spasms wracking his soul, he continued watching that figure with hopeful eyes.
In his view, Kyle was far more reliable than anyone else.
If there was anyone capable of saving Coral Thorn City right now, the only person Gann Cole could think of was Kyle, that mysterious vampire.
The sudden change was not noticed by Gann Cole alone. Nearly everyone paying attention to the movements of the ghost ships discovered it immediately.
“Who is that silver figure?”
“Is it another paladin?”
“It must be! We’re saved!”
***
The harbor became noisy once more, but the despair that had just risen was suppressed again.
Fortunately, the people of Coral Thorn City had already been tempered through countless ordeals. Had it been people from another place, this repeated emotional whiplash would have either scared them to death or driven them nearly insane.
The reaction of the ghost ship caused Kyle’s “eyes” to brighten. As expected, there was hope!
“Who are you? Why do you obstruct our voyage?”
A deathly voice as vast as countless souls chanting in unison echoed through consciousness.
Kyle controlled Alvaro to perform an elegant salute.
“Honored Ferryman of the Styx, I am a direct descendant of the Dark Night Progenitor, of the Keeper clan that bears the ‘Secret of the Silent Moon,’ the current Walker of the Night of the Aiven family—Kyle Aiven.”
Upon hearing Kyle’s self-introduction, the ghost ship came to a complete halt, allowing the waves to batter its decayed hull and send towering sprays into the air, yet it remained unmoving like a reef amidst the sea.
“The Keeper clan?”
The ghost ship sank into thought. Yet another term it did not know how many years had passed since it last heard.
As beings neither alive nor dead, the ghost ships had risen and fallen throughout endless ages. Even they themselves no longer knew how many times they had collapsed and reassembled.
Having witnessed countless eras of prosperity and decline, they had long since become indifferent to all things, yet today they found themselves intrigued by the words of the “little fellow” before them.
“To think that one day we would encounter the Night clan pleading on behalf of the living. Time truly is wondrous. Have you forgotten how your Progenitor was betrayed, exiled, and ultimately perished because of the living?”
“That history shall never be forgotten by the Night clan.” Kyle’s voice remained calm as still water.
“But that is merely one page of history. The living are far too numerous. It is impossible for us to extend hatred toward every living being. Presumably, the Progenitor would not wish to see descendants who had lost their true hearts and become monsters living solely for revenge.”
Kyle did not believe the Dark Night Progenitor had truly fallen. Having been a blood race member for so many years, he deeply understood how powerful the blood race’s survival abilities were.
Moreover, possessing the talent of causal threads, he could faintly sense the source of his bloodline.
For all he knew, their Progenitor was currently hiding in some world, sleeping soundly and not caring in the slightest about external changes.
The ghost ship released a deep and horrifying laugh formed from countless dead souls, carrying within it the vicissitudes of endless ages.
“An unexpected answer. State your reason. Why should we halt our voyage? You should understand that death is a journey every living being must undertake. We move only in response to death’s summons.”
Kyle knew that success or failure would be decided in this very moment.