Chapter 122: How to Beat the Enemy
After getting everything ready, Kevin rubbed his still-sore shoulders.
He opened his status panel and saw that his stats had gone up again.
[Name: Kevin ]
[Survivor Number: 9527]
[Status: Beyond Mortal]
[Strength: 23 (16–2+3+6)]
[Spirit: 18 (16+5–3)]
[Agility: 21 (14+3–2+6)]
[Endurance: 14 (14)]
[Perception: 31 (26+5)]
[Sanity: 125/125]
[Stamina: 120/120]
[HP: 118/118]
So his base strength and max HP both went up by one point?
Kevin looked at his strength stat and did a quick estimate.
If he used the Eight Arms state, with all those hands working together, he could probably put out 150% to 200% of his normal strength.
And with the [Charged Strike] skill from [Mantis Fist], that strength stat could double on top of that.
But even then, Kevin still came out worse in his clash with Draven.
Thinking about it, Kevin’s face darkened.
That guy Draven probably has some other abilities on top of his crazy stats that I haven’t figured out yet.
But that’s fine. Next time, I’m not giving him a chance to get close.
The next day passed without any trouble.
Kevin and his crew spent their time relaxing while keeping an eye on the world channel for any news.
To everyone’s surprise, though, nothing about what happened with the Conch clan had leaked to the outside world.
"Did those guys all die from diarrhea or something?" Celula asked, wide-eyed and curious.
She’d been glued to the world channel since she woke up, but there wasn’t a single bit of news. It was driving her crazy.
"Maybe they’re just too embarrassed to talk about it," Raphael said, shrugging with a grin.
Monchhichi smiled as he looked at the others, but then a confused look spread across his face. "Maybe they haven’t given up on getting back at us."
He pulled out the sea chart and marked several red dots, which together formed two identical paths.
Nova saw it and frowned. "We’re being followed."
Monchhichi nodded. "Seems like it."
The others followed the trail Monchhichi had drawn and traced it backward.
Soon they realized that the ship following them had probably set out from the Conch clan’s island.
"Looks like those guys on the island are coming to settle the score," Raphael said, frowning as he studied the distance on the chart. His voice turned serious. "They’re about two hundred nautical miles away. Should we try to lose them?"
"No need." Kevin walked over. He had also noticed the ship tailing them.
Ever since Draven’s attack, Kevin had been feeling uneasy.
Now there were three groups after him. He couldn’t let them join forces.
So Kevin turned and looked toward the back of the ship, his eyes cold. "While they’re still dealing with the runs, let’s go take them out."
Kevin summoned an Attack Helicopter. "Amelia, Nova, Monchhichi - you three take the helicopter over."
Then he grabbed Celula’s hand and summoned his Dragon Form Mist Phantom, jumping onto it. "You and I will ride the Mist Phantom and attack from the other side."
The girls nodded excitedly.
The helicopter’s rotors soon started spinning, and it flew off into the distance.
By now, after a full day and night of diarrhea, Bella and Keston and the others had finally started to recover.
But they were still pale and looked completely drained.
"How is it? We didn’t lose them, did we?" Joseph asked, his face full of anger as he looked at Bella.
"Don’t worry. Mr. Draven’s boomerang has been guiding us the whole time," Bella said coldly, keeping her patience.
Thanks to Draven’s big fight with Kevin and the others last night, his boomerang had the ability to lock onto enemies.
Even from hundreds of nautical miles away, Draven could still track them through the boomerang’s guidance.
That was also how he got his nickname, [Lone Wolf].
Black Knight Aaron stood with a cold face, staring into the distance with a look of resentment.
Ever since he set out, he hadn’t even had a real fight with Kevin and his crew - he’d just been badly tricked.
What made it even worse was that Draven had reported his embarrassing failure directly to Darius. Because of Black Knight Aaron, Draven had also gotten hit with the diarrhea and poisoning. That deal between [The Eye of Tarot] and Sky Island had completely gone bad.
Kingston didn’t pay a single cent - in fact, he demanded compensation from [The Eye of Tarot]. This caused huge losses for the organization and left a stain on Black Knight Aaron’s record that he couldn’t wipe away.
The worst part was that the higher-ups at [The Eye of Tarot] had given a direct order: Black Knight Aaron had to keep following Lone Wolf Draven and capture Nova alive. If he didn’t complete the mission, he couldn’t return to the [Second Sea Area].
That was basically the same as being exiled.
Thinking about all this, Black Knight Aaron kicked the railing hard.
Keston, who could feel the ship shaking from far away, frowned and said, "Be careful - this is my ship."
Black Knight Aaron shot Keston a cold glare. "Shut up if you don’t want to die."
Bang!
Before Keston could say anything, a fist the size of a sandbag slammed into the back of Black Knight Aaron’s head.
Aaron shot straight up into the sky like an artillery shell. He didn’t come to his senses until he was falling back down and about to crash into the deck. He spread his wings just in time to barely hover in midair.
That was when he saw that the person who had just punched him was Draven, who had just come out of the bathroom.
Draven’s face was cold as he glared at Aaron. "This is our only ship. If you break it, I’ll kill you myself."
Thinking about how his shark mount had died from drinking poisoned seawater, Draven wanted nothing more than to kill Black Knight Aaron.
As a survivor who also operated in the Second Sea Area, Draven couldn’t understand how Aaron had let Kevin and his crew mess him up so badly.
"They didn’t get away, did they? How long until we catch up?" Draven turned to Bella, his face full of murderous intent.
"They’re about a hundred and ninety nautical miles ahead. If we go full speed, it’ll take at least two days to catch them."
Draven clenched his fist, then let out a sigh. "Two days it is. We need the time to recover anyway."
He turned to Black Knight Aaron. "When we catch them, you fight for real this time. Those people have two A-Tier sniper rifles - they’re extremely deadly. You can fly, so your first job is to take out one of the snipers."
His gaze turned cold. "If they lose one sniper, I can wipe out the whole ship by myself."
Hearing this, Aaron muttered under his breath, "What a load of crap."
Suddenly, an icy glare fell on him.
He looked at Draven and instinctively shrank back. "I’ll do my best to cooperate with Mr. Draven."
Joseph saw Aaron acting like a complete bootlicker and looked at Keston with confusion. "Since when did that guy get so tame?"
Keston grinned. "It happened last night. Draven taught him a lesson. Aaron challenged Draven three times head-on and even ambushed him twice while he was in the bathroom. Every single time, Draven beat him half to death. If Aaron couldn’t fly, he probably wouldn’t even be standing here right now."
Joseph barely held back his laughter and turned to walk toward the back of the ship.
Lying there were three dried-up corpses - the Captains who had been traveling with them.
He threw them one by one into the ship’s hold. Soon, a bunch of tentacles shot out and devoured the bodies completely.
After feeding on the three corpses, the Spectral Corsair Vessel’s sailing speed noticeably increased by about ten percent.
On the other side, two more Captains who had also boarded the ship stared at Joseph in terror. "Please... don’t kill us."
Joseph spread his hands helplessly. "It’s not up to me. But there are two man-eaters on this ship, so you’d better be ready."
"Aren’t you afraid we’ll expose what you’re all doing?" one of the Captains threatened, putting on a tough face.
Joseph shrugged. "I wouldn’t recommend that. The longer you stay alive, the better, right?"
He turned and walked away from the stern.
The two Captains looked at each other, their eyes showing a spark of desperation. They decided to go all out - they opened the world channel and were about to publicly accuse Black Knight Aaron of his crimes.
But before they could send a single message, Aaron’s hands landed on their shoulders. "I just heard you two were thinking about snitching."
"No... we weren’t," one Captain quickly denied.
Without warning, Aaron opened his mouth wide and bit straight into that Captain’s neck. Then, as the other Captain watched in horror, his companion was drained dry.
Aaron licked the blood off his lips and turned to the last terrified Captain, grinning. "My ears are sharper than a bat’s, you know. Next time you talk behind my back, I’ll eat you."
The Captain was overwhelmed with fear and despair. Finally, he snapped.
"Ahhh! I can’t take this anymore!" he screamed, turned, and jumped over the railing into the sea.
But before he could sink, a tentacle and an arm grabbed him at the same time. Both Keston’s Spectral Corsair Vessel and Aaron had reached out to fight over the Captain’s body.
"Keston, control your ship, or I’ll tear it apart," Aaron casually threatened.
In response, a boomerang came flying at him.
The boomerang carved a tricky path through the air, chasing Aaron up and down no matter how high or fast he flew. Aaron couldn’t shake it off no matter what he did.
"Hey, I was just joking! Don’t take it so seriously!" he shouted angrily.