Chapter 337 - 155: Apu, Luno, Rexi...
"Bwahahaha..."
Henrik’s maniacal laughter still echoed across the entire Storm Hunter as his body began to change.
His dark, fat-layered belly rippled rhythmically, pushing the flesh upward like waves. His stout, round limbs swelled in an instant, then immediately contracted, drawing away wisps of ethereal blue flame with each flex.
On his grotesque face, four vortices of flesh appeared: one between his brows, one on each cheek, and one on his chin.
The four vortices tore and twisted the flesh on his face, shredding it into a web of fine, twisting lines that threw his scars into sharper relief. Then, his entire face violently burst open, revealing countless tiny, worm-like tentacles writhing and tangling together beneath the skin to form a giant maw.
The maw was a deep, dark void, as if it were a gateway to the Endless Abyss.
THOOM, THOOM...
As Captain Henrik’s body mutated, dozens of waterspouts erupted around the Storm Hunter, swirling on all sides. Thick, dark clouds gathered in the dusky sky, blocking the afterglow of the setting sun and plunging the area into a sudden darkness, as if night had fallen prematurely.
Wei’en watched him calmly. Neither the ethereal blue flames, the mutating body that swelled and then condensed into a lean, powerful form, nor the towering waterspouts around them could elicit any reaction from him.
"Perhaps, from the very beginning... you only had one choice..."
"Screee—"
Captain Henrik’s hoarse, bellowing laughter turned into a high-pitched shriek, forcing all the surrounding pirates to clap their hands over their ears in agony.
The piercing sound wave instantly ruptured Wei’en’s eardrums, sending two trickles of blood running from his ears.
"You red-haired punk, you’ve really pissed me off now!!"
"Hmph." Wei’en grunted softly, and his eardrums instantly healed under the effects of the Calamity Seed Contract.
Down below, the pirates gulped, staring at Captain Henrik’s terrifying form before scrambling toward the bow.
Hassge First Officer had already darted onto the Deep Sea Giant Beast Rashim figurehead and shouted grimly to the pirates, "Yair, activate the Rune Array! Highest level defense!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Casanova, the time!"
"First Officer, it’s 5:55! Five minutes until nightfall—"
"Squad leaders, prepare your defenses! Be ready to light the lanterns if necessary!"
"Aye!"
"Box, you..."
Hassge First Officer might have spoken with disdain, but as the first officer of the Storm Hunter, he always made thorough preparations whenever the captain himself stepped in.
Besides—
’That red-haired kid might seem like a fool, but how could anyone who remains calm under Captain Henrik’s terrifying pressure be a simple character?’
At this point, he was already starting to regret his earlier response.
A long life of smooth sailing had made him lose his reverence for the Cordo Sea. Thankfully, it wasn’t too late...
「Aboard the Ronan.」
"It’s starting!"
Ronan’s eyes widened as he stared at the towering waterspouts, his body trembling uncontrollably. "F-First Officer, the captain... he’ll be okay, right?"
"Just relax and watch. This is nothing." A smile played on Clelia’s lips. "If he wanted to, there wouldn’t be a single person left alive on that ship."
She recalled the scene on that main street in the Dumitru District, where piles of bloody corpses had been devoured in an instant. ’Not even a trace,’ she added silently in her mind.
The pirates in the cabin, peering toward the commotion, also stared wide-eyed, their gazes fixed in terror on the Storm Hunter.
"I... I mean, our Red-haired Captain can handle this, right?"
After a long moment, a pirate finally asked, his voice strained, "I feel like my heart’s about to stop."
"If he can handle it, we live. If he can’t..."
"So what if we die! Getting to see a sight like this makes my life as a pirate worth it!"
"That’s right. It’s better than robbing those small merchant ships that fold after a few cannonballs..."
Hearing this, a subtle change flickered in the pirates’ eyes. A spark ignited within them, reminiscent of the fire they’d had when they first set sail.
Meanwhile, aboard the Storm Hunter, Wei’en glanced at the slowly materializing Rune Light Shield. A thought flashed through his mind: ’The *Ronan* doesn’t have one of these. I should get one...’
"Your name?"
Captain Henrik clenched his fists, ethereal blue flames gathering around them. The maw on his face widened, its countless tentacles rubbing together to grate out a complete sentence in the Oldes tongue.
"I will kill you and carve my name upon your skull—a gift, for daring to provoke me!"
Wei’en’s gaze returned to him. "Is that your final question? Marco Nascimento. And, hmm... Red-hair."
"I hope you remember that name when you get to the other side..."
His mental perception had already enveloped the entire Storm Hunter, and a clear image of everything aboard formed in his mind: the pirates on deck, the dozens of women with faint life-signs lying in the cabins, the mountain of gold and treasure in the hold, and the tortured souls locked in cages...
"Die!!"
BOOM!
The deck beneath Henrik’s feet shattered as he instantly appeared before Wei’en. "Dark Mirage!"
As his fist descended, the terrifying maw on his head spewed an illusory black beam wreathed in ethereal blue flames that shot toward Wei’en.
Having spent years on the Cordo Sea, he knew that monsters mutated by the Deep Sea rarely gave one a second chance. No matter the enemy, going all out was always the best option!
Wei’en glanced at him and said coolly, "Blink."
"Nico, Ruke."
Eight phantom clones appeared in the crow’s nest. Each was a perfect image of Wei’en’s true form, unaffected by the Illusion Potion.