Water Ghosts

Seeing the two crew members lying unconscious on the deck below the mainmast, Roy and Klayr immediately rushed to their side and splashed the little remaining water, imbued with Holy Light Power, onto their faces.

Before Roy could wake the crew members sleeping soundly on the deck, he heard Klayr, who was standing nearby, say something that sounded strange:

"Roy, look what's that?"

Klayr stared intently at the bow of the ship.

A light, veil-like Black Mist filled the ship...

Roy followed Klayr's gaze and saw a dark figure lying on top of a sailor on the deck, the figure's body trembling uncontrollably...

He mustered his courage and took two steps toward the shadowy figure. The figure seemed to sense something and suddenly raised its head.

It was a Water Ghost, soaking wet, with blood all over its mouth, its head covered in rotten flesh, and its clothes tattered and torn. White bones were exposed on its arms and legs, and seaweed was hanging all over its tattered clothes.

His face was mangled and bloodied. He spotted Roy, Klayr, and the elven servant and immediately abandoned the crew members who were being gnawed to pieces.

Without hesitation, it crawled towards Roy, its face contorted in a ferocious grimace, a trail of viscous blood still clinging to the corner of its mouth.

It had no eyes at all, nor could one see the Soul Fire in its eye sockets. Roy had flipped through some books in the Study Room of the Goddess of Freedom Temple and had seen one about alien creatures.

The Priest at the Goddess of Freedom Temple believed that these Water Ghost often appeared in some rivers and were considered the lowest level of undead, not even worthy of being called undead creatures.

The elven waiter cried out in terror and despair; he had collapsed the moment he saw the Water Ghost.

The crew member, who had been dozing against the mainmast, would occasionally rouse himself...

Klayr had already drawn the Long Dagger from his waist. This dagger was not the unsharpened one he used to spar with Roy in the Training Ground, but a sharp, silver-plated Long Dagger with Phoenix Tail Flower patterns engraved on it. When he held it in his hand, a faint Wind Element surrounded the dagger's blade.

The Nautilus is currently in the Outer Sea, Roy can't understand how Water Ghost could appear here.

"Water Ghost, be careful of the Corpse Poison in its teeth and fingernails. This guy has no mind and acts entirely on the instincts of a living corpse. To kill it, you have to cut off its head. Also, this guy has no sight. It relies on recognizing the surrounding temperature and smell to sense its opponents," Roy said quickly.

This time, he directly pulled out the scepter exuding a holy aura from his Magic Pouch, glanced at the elven servant who was already paralyzed with fear, exchanged a look with Klayr, and the two of them rushed towards the Water Ghost from the left and right sides in perfect unison.

The blood-soaked Water Ghost rose from the deck, its body seemingly revitalized after drinking the blood of a crew member...

Its wet body gained strength, and perhaps sensing the danger in the air, the Water Ghost suddenly lunged towards Roy's direction.

A wisp of Divine Light floated on the deck, illuminating the Water Ghost's movements clearly.

Roy had no intention of getting entangled with a mindless Water Ghost. He charged at the Water Ghost with his shield raised and smashed the Holy Scepter in his hand hard against the Water Ghost's head.

The Water Ghost used one arm covered in rotting flesh to block Roy's scepter, while its other hand reached for Roy's shield, its stinking body lunging at Roy.

The Holy Scepter struck the Water Ghost's arm, unleashing a surge of holy light that instantly burned away a large chunk of the Water Ghost's mangled arm, while the remaining rotten flesh continued to emit blue smoke.

The Water Ghost crashed into Roy's shield, the immense force sending Roy staggering back several steps.

A skeletal hand covered in rotting flesh gripped the edge of Roy's shield tightly. As Roy took a few steps back, the Water Ghost was dragged along and followed...

The rotting face, pale and bluish-white from being submerged in water, also had its mouth wide open, as if it wanted to take a bite out of Roy.

Before it could even stick its neck out, Klayr emerged from behind the Water Ghost, holding a Long Dagger that she plunged into the Water Ghost's throat almost touching it.

Then, Klayr forcefully pulled the dagger into her clothes and severed the Water Ghost's head.

The foul-smelling head rolled onto the deck with a 'glug'. The headless Water Ghost instantly turned into a pile of stinking mud, with all the rotten flesh separated from the bones, and some bones protruding, making it look disgusting.

After killing a Water Ghost that had climbed onto the Nautilus, Roy and Klayr rushed to the crew member who was covered in blood from being bitten by the Water Ghost.

Blood flowed onto the deck; the crew member's throat had been bitten open by the Water Ghost, his pupils dilated, and he was completely dead.

Klayr reached out and covered the crew member's wide-open eyes, making him close them.

The two sailors lying beside the mainmast had regained consciousness, and they were both pale with fright at the horrific events that had transpired on the ship...

Klayr, gripping a blood-stained Long Dagger, instructed the two sailors, "Do you two still have the strength to wake the rest of the crew?"

The two crew members, clearly much stronger than the elven servants, quickly helped each other to their feet and replied:

"We can do it..."

"Then hurry and wake up the captain and the other elves on board!"

Klayr gave the two crew members a serious instruction.

The two crew members immediately stood up straight and replied, "Yes!"

After saying that, he ran towards the Ship Building. Roy, who was standing to the side, poured holy light into the water jug and shouted to the two crew members:

"Wait, take this! Pour this water on their faces, they should wake up..."

Roy handed over the water bottle.

A crew member quickly gripped the water bottle tightly in his hand and ran unsteadily toward the Ship Building. The first people they needed to wake up were, of course, the captain and the guards on board.

Roy strode toward the other two unconscious crew members. A large, skeletal hand rested on the gunwale, and then a Water Ghost emerged, its face like a melted candle, with an eyeball hanging out of its socket.

As the Water Ghost climbed onto the boat, Klayr rushed forward and nimbly moved to the Water Ghost Water Ghost's side, intending to cut off its head with her Long Dagger.

The Water Ghost used one arm to precisely block Klayr's Long Dagger, while using the other to grab Klayr's wrist.

Klayr flipped the dagger in her hand and sliced off one of the Water Ghost's arms.

But Klayr's arm was also grabbed by the Water Ghost, and Roy pulled out a dagger with his left hand, quickly slashing it across the Water Ghost's neck.

The second Water Ghost's head fell off with a thud, and the Water Ghost that had just been as Steel Bar collapsed like a pile of mud.

Klayr turned around triumphantly and made a gesture to Roy...

Roy pointed to Klayr's side.

He then condensed a ball of holy light and sent it into the body of the crew member trapped in a nightmare. Sure enough, the power of the holy light was able to awaken them from the nightmare.

Klayr looked at the heads of the Water Ghost peeking out from the edge of the ship's gunwale and finally understood Roy's gesture...

A dozen or so Water Ghost swam over the gunwale and staggered toward Klayr.

There was little light on the ship, so Roy raised the Divine Light a little higher and used this faint light to observe the situation around the Nautilus.

It was unclear how many Water Ghost had gathered around, but these Water Ghost climbed onto the deck and quickly found their target.

When Klayr deals with a Water Ghost, she can easily kill Water Ghost by relying on her speed and agility.

But when Klayr encounters two Water Ghost Water Ghost huddled together, she doesn't know how to deal with them.

Several sneak attacks nearly resulted in Klayr injuring herself.

A large number of Water Ghost also appeared on the other side of the Nautilus, and it was impossible to see exactly how many of Water Ghost had climbed aboard...

This was the first time Roy had encountered this situation.

As the Water Ghost drew ever closer, he hesitated between fighting Water Ghost and saving the people.

Under a veil of dark Black Mist, Klayr was driven into peril by three Water Ghost.

Roy immediately raised his shield and rushed forward, standing in front of Klayr. His scepter, radiating holy light, smashed into a Water Ghost, the faint holy light scorching a large area of Water Ghost's body.

The Water Ghost let out a low growl. Klayr, who had just escaped from the pursuit of three Water Ghost, rushed over and, taking advantage of the Water Ghost's screams in front of Roy, once again severed its head with her Long Dagger.

Klayr and Roy often sparred together during martial arts classes at the Elf Academy, which is why they had such good teamwork...

Roy held up his shield in front, while Klayr lurked behind and launched a sneak attack.

They quickly severed the heads of six Water Ghost, but to their dismay, the number of Water Ghost that had climbed onto the boat had increased to several dozen.

Roy and Klayr were unable to attend to the crew members who were sleeping on deck at that moment.

Several screams followed, accompanied by the howls of demons; without even looking, it was clear that the spirits on the ship had been killed.

Roy and Klayr were forced to retreat by a group of Water Ghost.

The two dared not let the Water Ghost surround them, fearing that they wouldn't even be able to escape...

They could only fight and retreat, all the way to the entrance of the Ship Building.

The elven waiter had vanished without a trace; he was nowhere to be seen by now.

Water Ghost will never die unless their heads are cut off, and they are not afraid of getting hurt.

Roy was wearing Thick Leather Armor, so his situation was somewhat better.

Klayr was wearing Light Leather Armor. Although she was light and agile, a single scratch from the Water Ghost could cause Klayr pain for half a day.

"Where did these Water Ghost come from?!" Klayr couldn't help but complain.

Roy used his shield to block an attack from a Water Ghost, then began chanting some prayers, after which a divine mark lit up on Roy's chest.

Perhaps the holy light was too dazzling, because some of the Water Ghost who had squeezed to the front saw the divine runes appear and their bodies began to emit wisps of blue smoke...

Roy completed the divine rune.

As the prayers were being chanted, the divine patterns dissipated.

A beam of holy light descended straight down from above Roy's head, the rich holy aura almost conjuring up feathers of light that fluttered haphazardly in the air.

The beam of light fell upon the Water Ghost...

'purification'

Any Water Ghost that is touched by the pillar of holy light will be quickly melted by it.

Within the beam of light, several Water Ghost quickly dissolved.

To Roy's surprise, after Roy purified the Water Ghost, a faint wisp of soul power flew out from Water Ghost bodies and was absorbed into the Holy Light Sapling's body by its tentacles...

Although the soul power of each Water Ghost was barely perceptible, Roy and Klayr had already taken care of more than a dozen Water Ghost in a short time.

As a wisp of soul power surged into his body, Roy felt an unusual excitement.

More and more Water Ghost crowded onto the deck of the Nautilus, looking like they couldn't be killed off...

Suddenly, a Water Ghost pounced on Roy's shield, using its body to hold Roy down. Klayr, standing nearby, used her dagger to slash a huge wound on the ghost's neck, but unfortunately, its head didn't fall onto the deck; its cervical vertebrae remained attached.

This evil spirit didn't immediately turn into a pile of mud; instead, the other evil spirits behind it surged forward without warning...

Roy and Klayr were no match for these Water Ghost.

The Water Ghost that rushed up from behind even had some rusty weapons in their hands.

Two stinky, large hands slammed onto Roy's Ironclad Square Shield almost simultaneously, slamming Roy against the Ship Building with tremendous force.

Klayr was also entangled by two other Water Ghost, and in an instant, the Water Ghost behind stretched their heads over and bit Roy's wrist...

Roy had no way to avoid it!

He couldn't retreat back into the corridor alone and leave Klayr outside.

He tried to use the Holy Scepter to push away the Water Ghost's head that was leaning towards him, but although the Water Ghost's head was emitting blue smoke, it still kept getting closer and closer to Roy's wrist...

Just behind Roy and Klayr, through the Ship Building, a Elf Long Sword, gleaming blade piercing the Water Ghost's mouth and protruding from the back of its head.

With Elf Long Sword, the Water Ghost's head split open like a water bag, and its body immediately turned into a puddle of soft mud.

Edith appeared from the Ship Building's entrance. She looked somewhat disheveled, wearing only a leather armor and holding Elf Long Sword, yet she exuded a murderous aura.

Once she spotted the gathering Water Ghost, she swung her longsword, instantly slicing off the heads of three Water Ghost.

An Elf Warrior wielding Round Shield appeared beside Edith. He squeezed forward and took Roy's place, replacing Roy...

Roy unhesitatingly released 'Purification' again.

A beam of holy light descended, and Roy purified several more Water Ghost.

Edith glanced at Roy in surprise, and then several young elves in leather armor rushed out of the Ship Building.

The young elves huddled together and killed the Water Ghost that rushed to the Ship Building's entrance in one fell swoop.

As more crew members awoke and joined the battle, Edith led the young elves to regain their footing on the deck, but large numbers of Water Ghost continued to climb aboard.

When the captain of the Nautilus and a dozen fully armed crew members emerged from the Ship Building, the situation was immediately stabilized.

Although these Water Ghost were numerous, they were extremely weak, and the elves on the Nautilus quickly cleared Water Ghost off the ship.

Roy and Klayr leaned against the mainmast, finally able to rest for a bit.

Roy felt the faint soul power floating in the sky being rapidly absorbed by the Holy Light Sapling, while the Holy Light Power consumed within his body was also rapidly recovering...