Chapter 257: The Terrifying Captain

Chapter 257 The Terrible Captain

The captain’s neck twisted with a sharp cascade of cracks, and his ten fingers trembled slightly, resembling a ferocious beast that had been imprisoned for an eternity, finally reclaiming its freedom at this very moment.

Gradually, a shroud of holy radiance manifested around the captain.

He was hideous, yet he was divine;

he was furious, yet he was serene;

he was twisted, yet he was gentle.

Two entirely contradictory personas were forcibly thrust together upon the captain, forming a disharmonious yet undeniably real existence.

"I once swore an oath... that when I return... I shall drink deep of the Dark Moon's blood."

"Roar!"

The captain let loose a roar, then immediately charged toward Karen and Ophelia.

Out of habit, Ophelia stepped forward, placing Karen behind her. A scroll appeared in her hand, and with a flick of her wrist, it unrolled, instantly conjuring a small array of runic formations.

From within these runes, a sword hilt emerged.

This scene was intimately familiar to Karen, because he had an old refrigerator at home that served the exact same purpose.

As the princess of Dark Moon Island, it was only natural for Ophelia to enjoy such privileged treatment; furthermore, unlike him, she wouldn't feel a pang of heartache over the sheer expense of a weapon summon.

However, Karen knew that when Ophelia used the scroll, the runic array she summoned was quite small in area, meaning this island was not too far from Dark Moon Island; had the distance been any greater, Ophelia would have been unable to summon her weapon.

On this point, his old refrigerator held a greater advantage because it could be upgraded, though the cost of upgrading was simply too exorbitant, and the price of using it would become even higher—in short, even if Karen poured all his current wealth into it, it would not suffice for such an engineering upgrade.

Ophelia drew a massive purple greatsword, its hilt encrusted with gemstones.

It was difficult to say whether this sword was superior or inferior to the Sword of Alius she had gifted him; in any case, Her Highness the Princess was never short of weapons.

The moment she drew the sword, the power of the Dark Moon burst from Ophelia's body. Stimulated by her energy, the greatsword unleashed a blinding purple light, which immediately slashed toward the oncoming captain.

Just as the captain's body was about to be cleaved in two by the greatsword, his form abruptly vanished, appearing behind Ophelia almost at the exact same instant.

Even as her greatsword swung down, Ophelia whipped it around in a flash, reversing her direction to thrust straight behind her.

The captain retreated once more, but a purple net materialized upon the greatsword at that moment, sealing off his path of retreat.

"Pfft!"

The greatsword pierced the captain’s chest. Without a shred of hesitation, Ophelia struck the hilt, and a terrifying concussive force surged down the blade.

"Hum! Hum! Hum!"

Ultimately, the power channeled directly into the captain's body.

"Bang!"

The captain's body exploded outright.

From the moment the captain charged to Ophelia drawing her sword and the two sides instantly clashing, everything happened within an incredibly brief span of time—so brief that Karen had only instinctively condensed the Sea God's Armor and the Dark Moon Blade, not yet having the chance to actually join the fray.

And then,

right before Karen's eyes, the captain exploded.

Karen blinked hard. He had always believed that letting personal emotions influence a battle was a foolish endeavor, yet reason often failed to control sentiment. The captain’s sudden descent into madness was a massive shock to Karen's mind, and the explosion of the captain’s body left his brain momentarily blank.

"Watch out, he’s not dead!"

Ophelia shouted to Karen.

A pair of hands emerged from beneath Karen’s feet, lunging straight to grab his ankles.

Snapping out of his daze, Karen sensed the mortal peril, and his eyes cleared instantly.

"Order—Cage!"

A cage materialized, enveloping Karen himself; he used the cage to seal himself in, simultaneously walling off the outside world.

Those pale white hands struck the barrier of the cage violently, and in an instant, spiderwebs of fractures began to spread.

Karen intended to chop down directly at those hands with his dual Dark Moon Blades, but his heart suddenly tightened.

"Order—Guardian Wall!"

Wall after wall appeared beneath Karen, cutting off the connection between himself and those hands. At that moment, the hands formed fists, pointing two index fingers at Karen as two beams of white light shot forth, piercing straight through the walls Karen had summoned and shattering the barrier of the cage around him.

The Sea God's Armor upon Karen quickly stimulated the ultimate water-attributed power of Ancestor Allen, freezing instantly into ice.

"Bang!"

Karen felt as though his chest had been struck heavily by two fists, and his entire body was sent flying backward. He quickly adjusted his posture in mid-air, but he suddenly discovered that at the exact spot where he was about to land, those hands had appeared ahead of time, as if waiting to catch him.

A plume of black mist enveloped Karen. After his body rapidly atomized, he forcibly altered his direction, shifting his position away.

The hands seemed intent on pursuing him, but a massive purple greatsword plunged straight down, stabbing into the center of the pair of hands, whereupon Ophelia yanked it out with all her might.

"Boom!"

The ground exploded instantly, but as the greatsword was pulled free, there was no blood on the tip of the blade; it had merely impaled a cloth doll.

Karen remembered this cloth doll; it was a trophy from the time they killed Inquisitor Luke, with two of them in total. It seemed the captain had collected them for his own use.

The greatsword in Ophelia’s hand hummed softly, and the cloth doll split apart directly.

Karen’s figure also appeared by Ophelia’s side. Karen’s original intention was for each of them to watch a different direction, but Ophelia spoke directly:

"I will lead the assault, you support me."

Karen nodded and said, "Alright."

By now, Karen had adjusted his mindset, and no hesitation remained in his heart. Since the captain had already lost himself, he was no longer the captain; he could no longer afford to have reservations.

"Hehe..."

Laughter echoed from ahead as the captain’s silhouette stepped out from that patch of darkness.

Ophelia lowered the tip of her sword, preparing for another charge.

Karen simply put away his Dark Moon Blades, retaining only the Sea God’s Armor for defense. Because he had no tangible weapon in his hand, the power of the Dark Moon Blades could not be exerted to its fullest extent, so it was better to focus entirely on supporting Ophelia.

"God said, let there be light."

As the captain’s voice fell, a circle of light appeared beneath Ophelia and Karen’s feet, and the moment it manifested, it began to expand rapidly.

Karen immediately crouched down, pressing both hands flat against the ground. Darkness instantly blanketed the area, completing the sealing restriction.

Yet in the next moment, bulges began to swell across the blackened ground, as though whatever lay beneath was about to surge forth once more.

Karen threw back his head, continuing to pour in his spiritual power:

"Order—Dark Curtain Isolation!"

This was a spell of the Inquisitor level, used to saturate the surrounding atmosphere. Under normal circumstances, this spell was actually quite useless, as its most frequent application was to establish a better sense of mystery and solemnity when one was about to read the "Regulations of Order."

But now, this rather useless move happened to be the perfect counter to the situation at hand.

Finally, the ground returned to tranquility. Before the captain’s recent move could produce any effect, it was forcibly smothered by Karen.

"He was testing us just now," Ophelia said.

He was probably testing you, Karen thought to himself.

But soon, Karen realized that even the captain himself did not seem to know the true extent of his own power, so was the captain also testing him?

No, even the original captain needed time to absorb the memories of that "him," so the "him" currently occupying the captain's body might not know about him, or at least not entirely, nor understand his abilities.

"I will try to hold him off in close combat, you secretly go and activate the teleportation array."

Ophelia adjusted her breathing as Karen stood up behind her, casting a layer of black purification power upon her, immediately followed by Karen placing his hand on Ophelia's shoulder, causing a layer of the Sea God's Armor to appear on her body as well.

Ophelia spoke, "Thank you."

"Be careful."

"Hurry up."

Ophelia swung her greatsword, tracing a flourish in the air, a traditional etiquette for challenging someone to a duel.

Seeing this, the captain tilted his head slightly to the right:

"Interesting."

With that, the captain raised his arm, and from the pitch-black night, a beam of white light suddenly cast down, illuminating the captain, as armor manifested upon his body and a greatsword of light floated before him.

Spell—Holy Knight.

Fully armed, the captain walked toward Ophelia, his face now carrying a solemn expression; clearly, he was taking this seriously, and when Karen bypassed the battlefield to distance himself, the captain completely ignored Karen as he left the fray.

He seemed entirely certain that everything was within his grasp.

Karen's figure appeared on the platform, rapidly searching through and familiarizing himself with the array; he needed a little time.

However, Karen had made an oversight here, which was that when the captain defeated Anita, the successor of the gravekeeper, last time, Karen had only arrived at the scene after the captain had already triumphed over her, and had not witnessed with his own eyes how powerful the captain was in close combat.

Otherwise, he would never have agreed to Ophelia using close combat to stall for time.

The captain arrived, raising his sword of light, and Ophelia also raised her own purple greatsword, the two blades clashing rapidly in an instant.

Yet, Ophelia, holding a physical weapon, began to be forced back step by step by the captain holding a spell weapon, her posture gradually showing signs of disarray and exhaustion.

This was a head-on clash, a pure contest of strength between the two, and Ophelia had initially thought she could hold the advantage in this aspect, but now she realized she was wrong.

The man before her was not only skilled in spells; his immense and terrifying holy power, combined with his own robust physical body, granted him absolute, overwhelming strength in close-quarters combat.

And in this kind of head-on clash, no matter who fell into a disadvantage, they could only bite the bullet and keep pushing forward; retreating meant exposing a flaw to the opponent, which would immediately bring about the most terrifying blow.

Karen, who was figuring out the array, looked up at the battle and immediately saw the situation clearly; at this moment, he needed to help Ophelia break the current rhythm, and in the next instant, Karen condensed two spears of punishment in his hands and hurled them straight at the captain.

The captain continued to suppress Ophelia with his sword in his right hand, while an ancient white shield appeared on his left arm.

"Hum!"

The spears of punishment struck the light shield without exploding; instead, they turned into two black spots and were absorbed directly by the light shield.

Seeing this, Karen did not leave his spot to join the fray, but could only force his emotions to calm down and focus on the array platform before him.

Ophelia clashed with the captain for more than twenty consecutive rounds, and as she grew increasingly exhausted, she began to deliberately lower her defenses, gradually shifting to a fighting style that could lead to mutual injuries.

Sensing Ophelia's intention, the captain actually threw away his defense entirely, swinging his sword down toward Ophelia.

Seeing this, Ophelia did not dodge in the slightest, sweeping her purple greatsword across.

This was a strike where neither side defended.

But at that very moment, the light shield that was originally on the captain's left arm appeared in front of him; Ophelia's purple greatsword struck the light shield, and the purple glow on the greatsword was instantly drained, leaving it lifeless, while the captain's sword of light was already descending toward Ophelia's head.

A red glow emanated from beneath Ophelia's clothes, and a tall, red figure appeared behind her, arms raised to catch the greatsword, but with the frantic boiling of the holy power, that blood-red figure was rapidly evaporating.

Clearly, this was originally Ophelia's trump card; she possessed some sacred artifact on her person that could summon the red figure behind her, which was also why she had been willing to risk mutual injury just now.

But now, the situation was still firmly suppressed.

Ophelia reached out, wanting to pull back her purple greatsword, but the light shield melted at that moment, adhering completely to the greatsword, making it impossible for her to move it, and the red figure behind her was also on the verge of dissipating.

Ophelia could only retreat, and just as she backed away, the red figure completely vanished; the captain swept his sword toward the retreating Ophelia, and though the blade did not touch her, the sword light struck her body directly, sending her flying.

If it weren't for the Sea God's Armor and the layer of purification power Karen had applied to counteract the impact, the damage she sustained would have been far more severe, but even so, upon landing, Ophelia tried to stand up but coughed up a mouthful of blood, forced to remain crouching.

The captain gave her no time to readjust, appearing straight in front of her and raising his sword of light.

But Ophelia flipped her left hand, and a small mirror was uncovered and dropped to the ground, from which countless illusory tentacles suddenly emerged, wrapping around the captain's entire body.

The captain instantly lost his balance and fell to his knees.

Ophelia's gaze narrowed, her right palm opening to reveal a pin; she deliberately allowed the pin to pierce her palm, and stimulated by her blood, the pin turned black, conjuring a burst of silver radiance as Ophelia raised her right hand and stabbed directly at the captain's head.

But a helmet appeared on the captain's head.

"Bang!"

The powerful piercing force of the silver radiance only shattered the helmet on the captain's head; the captain wrenched his neck, making a slight sound, but sustained no fatal injury.

And Ophelia, whose surprise counterattack had failed once again, could only offer a helpless smile; she was no match for her opponent, she had lost.

The captain reached out, binding her and cutting off all her external senses; at the same time, his other hand held the sword, preparing to slash down, and Ophelia closed her eyes in despair.

At that moment, a cloud of black mist appeared behind the captain, and Karen's figure emerged with it, and currently, Karen was gripping the purple greatsword that Ophelia had dropped earlier.

Infused once more with the power of the dark moon, the greatsword burst into radiance again.

The captain sensed the attack from behind, and that giant shield appeared behind him, blocking the purple greatsword once more, but the giant shield, which had seemed capable of defending against all attacks, was actually breached this time.

"Puff!"

The purple greatsword not only pierced through the giant shield, but also penetrated the captain's armor, emerging from his chest.

Because as the greatsword stabbed in, Karen had applied a layer of holy power to envelop it; powers of the same attribute would accommodate each other, and this effect was most pronounced between holy powers.

After all, every characteristic has two sides; when you possess the ability to convert other attributes of power, you naturally bury some weaknesses as well.

Ophelia opened her eyes, sensing the weakening of her binding; though isolated and not knowing why this was happening, hope surged within her once more after she had almost given up resistance, her hands spreading as the blade of the dark moon appeared, slashing at the barrier binding her.

"Holy—Incineration!"

A terrifying fire appeared on the captain's body, seemingly intending to directly melt the two people he was holding who were still hanging onto him.

The Sea God's Armor on Karen's body, conducted through the greatsword, covered the captain's body, and the rising flames began to rapidly evaporate the moisture attempting to suppress him, while the water-attribute power of the Ancestor Alan within Karen's body was also fully activated at this moment.

For a long time, the abundant accumulation of spiritual power within his body had been Karen's advantage, and at this moment, he utilized this advantage to the absolute fullest.

In this instant, fire and water began to clash violently upon Karen and the captain.

"Bang!"

Ophelia broke the binding and regained her freedom, seeing Karen holding the sword that pierced through that person's body, the two of them pressed together almost frantically, the powers of fire and water on their bodies undergoing a terrifying collision.

Karen's entire face was already distorted as he shouted:

"The array is one step away, go!"

Ophelia bit her lip, without hesitation, and without a single word of nonsense, the remaining dark moon power in her body propelled her to the array platform at the fastest possible speed.

Indeed, the preparation work to open the array had been basically completed by Karen, leaving only the final step; Ophelia poured her spiritual power into one of the positions, and the array successfully activated, a white light appearing.

She looked over there; Karen was still locked in a death grip with the opponent, the scorching temperature baking Karen's skin red, and white smoke was already rising from his body.

"Roar!"

That person seemed to sense the activation of the array and desired to force himself to stand up.

"Ah!"

Cullen let out a furious roar, the frantic drain of his spiritual power warping his very consciousness, yet he forced his hands tightly around the purple greatsword, pressing the captain back down once more.

"Cullen..."

Ophelia’s figure vanished from within the formation; she had been teleported away.

Cullen exhaled a long, ragged breath, pushed to his absolute limit, for the captain was simply too formidable.

He suddenly recalled the words the captain had spoken to him that evening: "If you cannot discover it on your own ahead of time, then come to the grave with me."

But captain, you never said it would happen this quickly!

The purity of the white flames enveloping the captain surpassed his own water-attributed power, demanding a far greater toll of his spiritual energy to counteract it; now that Cullen’s spiritual reserves were utterly depleted, he knew he was about to be turned to ash.

Yet, just as Cullen’s Armor of the Sea God dissolved for lack of sustenance, the terrifying, searing flames vanished along with it.

"Everyone is gone, so why haven't you pulled the sword out yet?"