CH 103

Chapter 103

"Everyone, come over!"

"It’s just one guy!"

Dozens of pirates jumped up on the deck.

It was an overwhelming difference in numbers. And yet, Pinch opened his subspace with a very calm face.

He took out a small vial the length of his finger, removed the cork, and drank the contents.

Buuurrp.

As he burped, the skin on his back started to boil.

"Kill him!"

Just as the pirate rushing in first was about to swing his sword, green tentacles spewed out from Pinch's back before grabbing the pirate by the face, and slamming him into the deck with a bang!

"......!"

"What?"

Wiggle wiggle.

The pirates stopped in their tracks. Light-green tentacles reminiscent of a jellyfish’s were rising from Pinch’s back.

"Oh my…"

Pinch gave a creepy smile.

"Is this your first time fighting a necromancer?"

"You bastard…!"

"Get him!"

The pirates jumped in at the same time. Several tentacles lurched forth in response.

Pow!

Wham!

Crash!

It was a one-sided massacre.

The tentacles were elastic, and he could freely control their length. While dealing with dozens of people on his own, Pinch stood relaxed, not having to move a single step.

'His guard is down!'

A pirate who broke through the side of the tentacles aimed his crossbow at the back of Pinch's head and fired.

Thud!

The crossbow bolt struck its target.

"There we go! Got him!"

The pirate shouted in joy.

"Bwahaha! Serves you right. Show o— Hm?"

Pinch moved his arm. He grabbed the end of the bolt—it had pierced through his skull and come out the other end between his eyes—and he pulled it out as it was, tossing it to the ground.

A few drops of a green substance fell on the deck where there should’ve been blood.

Before anyone realised, Pinch's face had turned into a green liquid.

"You thought you got me?"

Tap.

Pinch, who had thrown the bolt on the floor, restored to his original state as the liquid rushed together to form his face.

"Y-You’re crazy!"

"What kind of monster is this bastard?!"

Fwip!

Pinch’s tentacles flew in like whips and grabbed the crossbow pirate's legs, throwing him overboard. The terrible scream of the pirate echoed in the distance, and soon, the sound of him splashing into the water could be heard.

In the meantime, a pirate ran in from the side and cut Pinch's waist, but what seeped out of the wound was green, not red, and Pinch didn't look like he took any damage.

"What in the fuck are y— Kuhugh!"

Pinch shot his arm out and grabbed the pirate's face.

"K-Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

Fizzle!

You could hear the terrible sound of smoke rising and flesh melting. After a while, the pirate’s entire head had melted, and only the body fell to the floor.

The pirates who saw that scene started backing in fright.

"Are you getting the hang of it now?"

Pinch made a crooked smile.

"That’s who you bastards turned against."

Pinch was overwhelmingly strong. He took all his opponents' attacks like they were nothing and used his tentacles to throw dozens of people into the sea or wrapped them around their necks to break their bones. He even scattered poison smoke while fighting.

From physical attacks to wide-range chemical attacks, the pirates couldn't stand a chance and started to fall.

"C-Captain!"

One pirate tried to read Guile's countenance through his own terror.

"We're no match! I think you'll have to take action, Capt—!"

"Shut up, you bastard!"

Said Guild as he kicked the pirate's ass.

"Hurry up and fight! Or shall I kill you first?"

"N-No Captain!"

While cornering the pirates into this deadly situation, Guile, no, Elizabeth—who had turned into Guile—was sweating profusely.

'What kind of body does he have?'

Pinch's body turned to liquid and flowed around any attack he recieved. Elizabeth's spider web bind and wide-range penetrating attacks probably wouldn’t work.

It wouldn't just be a dark magic spell that turned the body into a liquid. He would have paid a huge price to have that body. Elizabeth could feel it.

'For now, if I let the Count escape and run… Huh?'

It was then. Suddenly, Elizabeth felt her vision spinning violently, and she felt a terrible dizziness.

She fell to a knee. Yet the pirates seemed fine.

"It finally worked."

Step. Step.

Pinch was walking towards her, taking down the small fry.

"How does it feel? Undead."

Elizabeth was surprised. In addition to being discovered as a fake, he also figured out that she's an undead.

"I have a good nose, you see."

Sniff sniff.

"Undeads got this distinct smell. And I know you're a strong one who's incomparable to Guile."

"......"

"That potion is a reagent that I've developed myself that only works on Undead. I mixed it into this poison mist and sea fog and spread it around in the form of a gas. It's colorless, odorless, and has no effect in small doses. Still, it gradually accumulates in the body, and the moment it exceeds a certain threshold, the effect appears all at once."

Elizabeth stood up. She staggered, but firmly held her stance.

"This won't do, this won't do."

Pinch frowned.

"In my thesis, I wrote that if an amount of 4,760ppm or more is injected into an undead, they can be completely neutralized, but to see an outlier right in front of me?

Fwip!

Tentacles rose wildly from Pinch's back.

"You'll have to die for the integrity of my research. And I'd like to dissect you, outlier!"

A cobweb was formed on her fingers, along with dark-blue jet-black rising up.

Just when the two were about to clash…

Thuuuuuuump!

Once again, there was a huge impact on the hull. It was because another pirate ship had appeared through the sea fog and rammed Pinch’s.

"Uwaaaaaaah!"

"I-I'm gonna fall!"

The defenseless pirates bounced off the deck and fell into the sea, but Pinch and Elizabeth endured with jet-black. She fired her spider web and safely fixed Shun to the pillar.

"What is it this time?!!"

Pinch turned roughly.

Three large, ruined pirate ships were huddled together, and two silhouettes could be seen walking through the fog onto the ship's deck.

'Ah, Commander!'

Elizabeth's face turned bright. Shun, who was tied up, also shouted out,

"Big brother Simon!!"

It was none other than Simon and Pier. Pinch clicked his tongue.

"To come all the way here… You want to get yourself killed, huh?"

"We'll see about that."

* * *

Reaper Scans

Translator - Ramen

Proofreader - Artethrax

* * *

Simon gave a crooked smile.

"Eliza, step back with Shun."

"Okay!"

[Kuhehehehe! This is great! Finally, it's time for me to shine!]

As Pier was about to step forward with his greatsword on his shoulder, Elizabeth stepped in front of him, arms raised.

"Pier! You shouldn't be going near him."

[What is it?]

"Reagents that work on undead are spread everywhere. It's hard to even keep your footing after even a small amount of exposure."

Fwip!

Not even giving them time to talk, more than twenty tentacles flew in at once.

The party all jumped in different directions to dodge them. Holes were drilled into the deck wherever the tentacles struck.

"Oh junior, you're carrying quite the intriguing undead!"

Pinch flicked out his arm. The tentacles changed direction and all flew at Simon.

"Kugh!"

[Move!]

Pier stepped forward and stopped them with his greatsword. The tentacles that bounced back after hitting the greatsword turned in the air and flew at Simon once more.

As Simon jumped up using jet-black, a hole was pierced in an oar on the floor.

"Big brother Simon!"

"I'm fine!"

Simon made a gesture and signaled Elizabeth. She nodded and ran toward Shun.

[Mm, that’s actually true!]

Pier frowned.

[There's that strange drug spread throughout the ship! The space is narrow, so at this rate, we'll have to fight while taking the effects of this poison!]

"Then what should we do, Pier?"

[There's one method. Though, to be honest, it's the last thing I'd want to do!]

Fwip!

Pinch continued to send tentacles, interrupting the conversation.

His back kept boiling, and the number of tentacles grew.

'This is crazy!'

Simon jumped away, twisting his limbs in strange directions to avoid the attacks. However, a light-green tentacle barely managed to graze him.

Fizzle!

It was even acidic. Fortunately, the defense magic on the Kizen uniform was holding up, stopping his body from melting down.

As Simon landed on the deck…

Clunk!

"......!"

The deck, corroded by acid, collapsed down to the hull below. It was like a dusty warehouse. The stench of rum emanated from the barrels.

Thump!

Bang!

Crush!

Holes were punched all across the walls and portholes, and tentacles stubbornly followed behind.

Simon ran frantically. When he faced a dead end, he ran on the wall itself. The tentacles came down after down and pierced a hole in the wall right beneath him.

"Huff!"

Simon stepped on jet-black and grabbed a ladder connected to the ceiling. Then, he immediately climbed up on the deck.

"Pier!"

Pier and Pinch were fighting.

Pier was frowning as though he wasn't in good condition due to the reagent, and Pinch looked quite surprised, too. The tentacles cut by Pier's greatsword weren't regenerating.

"This is my first time seeing such a powerful undead with intelligence. How interesting!"

Pinch, muttering this, saw Simon just coming up to the deck, and sent tentacles after him. Pier quickly jumped in front of Simon and scattered the tentacles with his greatsword.

"I don't understand this! Why is an undead like you serving this… this brat?!"

Pier giggled and said in Simon's head,

[This guy’s full of inferiority complexes!]

'Pier! Ignoring all that, what's that method you mentioned before?'

Pier replied while breaking out into a grin,

[Boy, wear me!]

'......!'

Tentacles flew in again. Pier swung his greatsword, and Simon lowered his stance to dodge them.

'You could do that?'

Bone Armor using Pier.

If you had to classify Pier, he was also a skeleton-type undead.

[I can't control my body properly because of the reagent! It's impossible for me to protect you in this state! So you take him down using this strength!]

Simon's heart began to beat frantically with excitement.

The priest he had met in the forbidden forest.

Elizabeth.

Ellen Zile.

Serene Aindark.

The strong enemies in the past that Simon struggled to handle with his own power were all defeated with the assistance of Pier. To be precise, he only watched on from Pier’s back.

In fact, such a position was natural as the Commander of the Legion. But Simon always felt a sense of frustration and hunger at not being able to play a leading role in settling these situations.

But now, it could be different.

He could fight with the power of Pier.

[But I'm an ancient undead!! Connecting to my thoughts would be tougher than you imagine. The slightest mistake will make your mind collapse first, and you could fall into a vegetative state. Will you still do it?]

Simon nodded without any hesitation.

'Of course. I'll manage it, no matter what!'

[Get ready! Wear me the moment I give the signal!]

Simon and Pier ran toward each other

[One!]

Fwip!

Pinch’s tentacles rained down from every angle all at once.

[Two!]

Pier jumped out to protect Simon.

[Three! Now!]

Craaaack!

As Pier's body was hit by the tentacles, it shattered.

Pinch's face turned bright as he thought that his attack had finally worked. But that was nothing more than a delusion.

Everything was exactly as intended.

Simon, concentrating with closed eyes, shot them open.

'Bone Armor!'

Pier's body broke into pieces and flew toward Simon. Simultaneously, the mental link between the two was activated, and Simon succeeded in accessing Pier's thoughts.

'......!'

Drip.

It was like a water droplet fell into a pond.

Simon was just a small drop of water, and Pier was a massive pond.

The water droplet was starting to get swallowed in the pond, and the presence of Simon slowly blurred.

[Focus, Boy.]

Pier's voice could be heard.

[Don't get swallowed by my thoughts. Focus on your mind. Keep your will when in the will of others.]

'Yes.'

Before his consciousness could be swallowed, Simon quickly tried to restore his mind and recognize himself.

'Focus. Focus. Focus.'

On the calm and clear surface of the pond, the falling water droplet caused a ripple.

The growing ripple soon became a wave, the wave became a torrent, and the torrent became a new tide.

The pond began to swirl like a whirlpool.

Pier beamed ear to ear.

[Kuhehehehe! As expected from the son of Richard! Perfect!]

Whaaaaaaaaaaap!

Simon had left the mindscape and returned to the original world.

Countless bones forming the huge body of Pier that stood taller than 2 meters were broken in the air and began to stick to Simon's body one after another.

Tatap!

Clink! Clank!

The bones of Pier embraced the body of Simon and started forming the upper body and lower body.

On his back was the shapeless cape that Pier wore, and one half of Pier's skull sat on Simon's face and turned into a skull helmet.

The eye socket of the skull helmet fell over Simon’s right eye, and the dark-blue flame inside burned.

Flap!

The large, shapeless cape had completely settled on Simon's shoulders.

Pier's hand bones covered Simon's palms and turned into his gloves. But only his right arm was covered in Pier's bones, leaving Simon's left hand empty.

Bone Armor was made out of two sets of skeletons. As such, the number of bones was lacking with the body of Pier alone, so only the right side of the head and arms were covered.

Nevertheless…

Ba-bump ba-bump

Simon felt a thrilling power he had never before experienced in his life.

Fwiiiiip!

As tentacles rushed in from all directions, Simon walked forward and grabbed the handle of Pier's greatsword that was stabbed on the floor.

Shing.

As though welcoming the owner, the greatsword that he once couldn't even lift could now be carried with ease.

Pier's voice was heard.

[Let's do this, Boy!]

Simon smiled and raised the Greatsword of Destruction.