What a Commotion

Blood and pale matter splattered everywhere. Rows of sharp teeth snapped shut, and the man in the white coat convulsed a few times before going limp.

The pirates nearby recoiled in fright.

Lucas lunged after the creature.

Water burst beneath his feet. Almost the instant D-03 bit into the researcher, Lucas appeared beside its shell and slashed at its neck with a short blade sheathed in a sharp gleam of water.

D-03 was ready.

It released the corpse and drew its upper body back with astonishing speed.

The blade struck the hard shell again.

This blow was clearly heavier than the last few. Fragments broke away from an already cracked section, and the force sent the entire shell sliding several meters sideways.

But D-03 had escaped a fatal strike yet again.

Lucas did not pursue it immediately. In that instant, he had sensed a distinct surge of Magic Energy.

Someone had used a skill.

Because of that skill, another researcher he had gone to such trouble to gather was dead.

His sharp gaze swept toward the source of the surge. Three people stood by the railing outside the first level of the ship's deckhouse: Karl Claude, the woman he had brought, and his bodyguard.

Huang Xiaowen had been standing there grinning as she watched the spectacle. When she noticed Lucas looking her way, her smile froze.

Huang Xiaowen: "..."

He found me.

She casually looked away while her fingers flew to open the Crew Channel.

"Captain, Lucas has his eye on us. We might need some backup..."

She had not even finished typing when a loud explosion erupted beneath her feet.

Boom!!

A section of deck not far from Huang Xiaowen blasted upward. Broken planks and splinters flew everywhere, and several nearby pirates scrambled out of the way.

Before the