Chapter 70: Human-Faced Wasp Nest
Robin and Tom both raised their hands and said at the same time, "We only want to trade weapons. We’re not joining your operation against Celula and her people."
Richard rolled his eyes and snorted, "Cowards. You don’t have to join the fight, but if any of you dares to tip them off, don’t blame me for turning nasty."
With that, Richard flashed a dirty grin. "I swing both ways, you know. You’d better behave, or watch your asses!"
After saying that, Richard shot Raphael a defiant glare, which made Toti so mad he was about to snap.
"Everyone, calm down!" Raphael said, her head pounding as she watched the captains split into two sides.
Even though she was the leader of this temporary alliance, she couldn’t really force the other captains to do anything.
Thinking about those captains going after Celula and the others made her hesitate.
But soon, she dropped the idea of sending a warning.
For one thing, Celula and her people weren’t allied with her, and there was no real trust between them.
For another, if Raphael chose to side with Celula, the captains under her would probably go crazy, and the whole fleet would fall apart in no time.
With that in mind, Raphael cleared her throat and spoke up, "For now, we’re only here to trade. As for your plan against Celula, I’ll keep it to myself."
"But you have to wait until the storm passes and there are no monsters chasing us before you make your move. Otherwise, I’ll turn on you right away and take you all out!"
Valentina raised her hand right away. "I agree with Captain Raphael."
Captain Oliver nodded and also accepted Raphael’s terms.
Seeing more and more captains side with Raphael, Derek nodded and agreed as well.
Richard spat on the ground and cursed, "What a waste of time! Like taking off your pants to fart-totally pointless! Raphael, quit the act!"
Then he raised his hand too, agreeing to Raphael’s demand.
While they were all secretly plotting, no one noticed that one captain’s attendant had been standing stiffly at the back of the crowd, with blank eyes and slow movements. It was actually a zombie in makeup.
At that very moment, on the Spectral Corsair Vessel a few hundred meters away, Keston was watching and listening to everything through the zombie’s eyes.
"What a bunch of idiots. With that kind of firepower, you dare to mess with Kevin?" Keston said with a sneer.
But soon, a sly grin spread across his face. "Then again, this works out fine. Kevin cost me big time. Let them give him some trouble. When the time’s right, I’ll turn them all into zombies and patch up my Spectral Corsair Vessel. Hehehe!"
While everyone was busy with their own schemes, on an empty stretch of sea, a single-masted ship suddenly vanished out of nowhere.
Then, a pair of blood-red wings unfurled.
Kevin stood on the back of his summoned Dragon Form Mist Phantom, flying fast toward the Two-Masted Sloop.
Just now, after scanning and breaking down the Attack Helicopter and Military Armored Vehicle, he went back to the single-masted sailboat they had abandoned earlier.
Anyway, leaving that boat there was a waste, so Kevin scanned it again and spent a good half day taking it apart.
The reason he could finish the scan so fast was that Kevin already knew most of the mechanical structure of wooden sailboats.
Standing on the back of the Dragon Form Mist Phantom, Kevin quietly counted what he got from devouring the sailboat, and he was shocked inside.
He had thought that even if he fully devoured a wooden sailboat, he’d only get some extra lumber.
But he didn’t expect that even a wooden sailboat still had tons of metal and rare materials on it.
That included lots of iron blocks, copper blocks, lead blocks, and tin blocks used for welding and rust-proofing.
Also, to make the hull more watertight, the single-master used a bunch of resin, gum, and fiber materials.
Of course, there was even more tung oil, varnish, lime, and all kinds of mineral ores.
Looks like breaking down the whole ship was the right call. Wonder how Celula and the others are doing with their trading?
With that, Kevin gave the Dragon Form Mist Phantom a hard kick. The beast let out a long cry, flapped its wings hard, and shot off toward the Two-Masted Sloop.
By the time Kevin got back on board, Raphael had already agreed to Celula’s deal.
Besides that, Nova, Luna, and Amelia had also traded for a bunch of rare materials through various channels, including gunpowder and explosives.
Kevin did a new estimate based on what the girls got. If he broke down all nine sailboats Raphael brought, he could produce at least five thousand new drones.
By then, even without the big Fireball enchantment, five thousand Vulcan Cannons firing together could take out any monster in one volley.
Thinking that, Kevin went straight back to the captain’s cabin and focused all his attention on the mechanical kingdom, pushing the production lines to speed up the new drones.
Time quickly rolled around to evening.
Celula stood at the helm and spotted the island first. "Look! We’re here!"
Monchhichi frowned a little and said in a deep voice, "This island feels weird. There’s a cliff in the middle, but not a single patch of grass."
Celula sighed at that. "With Eldritch around, anything can happen. Even if there were vampires on that island, I wouldn’t be surprised."
Just then, Nova pushed open the door to the helm, looking serious. "Don’t dock yet! I can sense a ton of negative curse energy on the island."
The girls stopped the ship and dropped anchor right away. Even Kevin was pulled out of his work by Luna and Amelia.
"A ton of negative energy covering the island?" Kevin frowned and looked out the window.
The island nearby was nothing but rocks-no seaweed, no moss, nothing.
Seeing that, Kevin let out a sigh. "Celula, contact Raphael. Ask her if that Survivor who gave her the island’s coordinates is still alive."
Celula paused for a second. "Captain, are you saying..."
Kevin nodded and said straight up, "We hit the jackpot. That’s not an island. That’s a goddamn nest."
Hearing that, Celula’s face went pale. "I’ll check with Raphael right now."
As soon as Raphael got Celula’s question, she sent a confirmation message to the Survivor who had given her the intel.
But the moment the message went out, a red notification popped up in front of Raphael:
[Detected that the trade target’s soul distortion has reached 100%. Soul fully Eldritchized. Survivor system permissions revoked...]
"Crap!" Raphael forwarded the message to Celula, looking worried.
If something happened to Celula and her people, their chances of holding off the storm and the monsters would drop a lot.
Thinking of that, Raphael said with a guilty look, "Sorry, Celula. What can I do for you now?"
Celula passed Raphael’s apology to Kevin, and Kevin let out a sigh. "Tell Raphael to find another island. We’re leaving this place right now and meeting them at the new one."
The moment he finished speaking, the whole sea began to shake.
A creepy buzzing sound suddenly rang out.
Then, a bunch of monsters with human faces but insect bodies flew up from the center of the island. They circled around once and locked onto Kevin and the others in an instant.
With a single buzz, Celula, Monchhichi, and the other girls suddenly showed painful expressions on their faces.
[Sanity -10]
[Sanity -10]
"It’s a mental attack! Drink the’Tear of the Goddess’now!" Kevin yelled, quickly opening a bottle of "Tear of the Goddess" and splashing it on the girls.
The girls’conditions were cleansed by the "Tear of the Goddess," and they snapped back to their senses right away.
They each opened a bottle of "Tear of the Goddess" and chugged it down like crazy.
Meanwhile, Nova started humming a tune.
She absorbed the negative curse energy around her while purifying the mental attacks that hadn’t been blocked in time.
While everyone was pulling themselves together, more and more Eldritch bugs filled the sky, forming a swarm like a dark cloud.
Seeing that, Kevin didn’t bother going back to the helm. He used his "Mechanical Sovereign" Talent to command the Two-Masted Sloop to pull back fast.
"Release the mist!" Kevin shouted.
Luna and Amelia each took out a bottle of dark green Fish Fiend Holy Spring.
[Detected that covenant-bearers "Luna" and "Amelia" have obtained a temporary Talent ability "Deepsea Mist." Within 24 hours, they can release up to 100 cubic meters of Eldritch mist and control it in battle.]
[Now beginning combined reimbursement...]
[Reimbursement rate: 22x...]
[Congratulations! You have obtained the temporary Talent "Deepsea Mist." Within 24 hours, you can release up to 2,200 cubic meters of Eldritch mist and control it in battle.]
As soon as Kevin got the reimbursed "Deepsea Mist," he released all of it to wrap around the ship.
The bug swarm in the sky had already been diving toward Kevin and the others, but once they hit the green mist, the bug monsters seemed to lose their target and got lost in the air.
Still, they didn’t let Kevin and the others go.
They kept following the Two-Masted Sloop, waiting like hunters for the "Deepsea Mist" to fade away.
Kevin and the girls stood on the deck. The girls stared at the bug monsters through the mist, panic written all over their faces.
Kevin had already recognized what these bug monsters were. His face darkened. "These are’human-faced wasps.’They specialize in capturing humans. They use human sperm and eggs to breed their offspring inside their own abdomens."
"The scales on their bodies are super strong aphrodisiacs. Anyone who touches them will keep mating nonstop for twenty-four hours, like a breeding machine, until they can’t release any more sperm or eggs."
"By then, they’ll eat the humans who’ve outlived their use."
The girls turned pale with fear after hearing Kevin’s description.
"These monsters are terrifying. Are they Eldritch Entities too?" Celula asked, her voice shaking.
"Yes, and high-level ones at that. Eldritch Entities that can survive on the Terror Sea in large groups like this are usually the followers of some evil god." Kevin said in a heavy tone. "Even the strongest Survivors have a hard time dealing with those evil gods. If we don’t have to, let’s not mess with these things. Or they might just summon something really nasty."
Halfway through his words, Kevin suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Wait! I’ve got an idea!"