Before this, Chen Qiang had worried that Lin might hesitate when she fought and end up being killed by the enemy. So before they entered the city, he had reminded her of that.
If she felt reluctant to kill when fighting, she should think about how merciless and cruel they had been when they captured her and killed the villagers. As long as she remembered those things, she wouldn't hold back.
Lin trusted Chen Qiang's words. At first, she really hadn't been used to killing people. But whenever she thought of the villagers they had killed to lure her out after capturing her, that little bit of discomfort was pushed aside. And the more she fought, the less uneasy she felt.
So when she began slaughtering the slave traders' crew, she questioned them one by one. Anyone who said they didn't know, or took too long to answer, had their life taken without mercy.
As she continued using her ability and taking lives, Lin also discovered that the life force she took could strengthen her body, making her grow stronger very quickly.
The more she did this, the more she found herself enjoying the feeling of controlling other people's lives. And the more she killed, the stronger that feeling became.
By the end, Lin had stopped asking questions altogether and simply killed her way forward.
"I-I'll talk! Please, spare me!"
Lin had just finished killing all the ordinary crew members of the slave traders' group and was turning her attention to Barque and the other senior officers aboard the ship.
The five men could no longer hold out. They dropped to their knees before Lin, kowtowing repeatedly as they begged her for mercy.
"There are too many of you. I only need one person left alive to take me to the people I'm looking for." Lin's expression didn't change as she held out her hand, which still glowed purple, and spoke without emotion.
Of the five kneeling men, Barque was the quickest to act. When he heard Lin's words, a cruel glint flashed in his pleading eyes. He stood up without hesitation.
He swung the long sword in his hand at lightning speed. Before the other four could react, he had cut their throats.
"Now I'm the only one left. Please, my lady, spare my life. I'll take you to the people you're looking for right away!"
After swiftly dealing with the other four, he hurriedly knelt before Lin again, trembling all over as he begged her.
"Lead the way."
Lin's expression remained unchanged at what Barque had done. She simply curled her fingers slightly. The purple light on the four men's bodies flew into her hand, and only then did she lower it. She glanced calmly at Barque, kneeling before her.
"Yes! Thank you for sparing my life, my lady. I'll lead the way right now!"
At Lin's words, Barque scrambled to his feet. He didn't dare look at her, keeping his head lowered as he led the way.
"What a terrifying young girl!"
"She really is terrifying. She killed dozens of people in just two or three minutes without even blinking."
Just as Barque led Lin to the entrance of a staircase going downward, a group of people suddenly came down from above and blocked their path.
At the front stood two tall men, both over two meters in height and wearing black cloaks. One was casually chewing on an apple, while the other had a cigar dangling from the corner of his mouth and one hand resting on the sword at his waist. He watched Lin with a grave expression.
"Save me, sirs!"
As soon as he saw the two men appear, Barque—who had been so obedient until then—quickly raised his head, rushed over to them, and begged them for help.
Lin's expression remained unchanged at the sudden turn of events. The light in her hand flared again, and she reached toward Barque from afar.
"Torment!"
Purple light burst across Barque's body as he ran toward the two men who had suddenly appeared. It quickly enveloped him.
The outermost layer of light swiftly transformed into a series of small knives, which sliced across Barque's body. One wound after another appeared on him.
"Ah! Ahh!"
The intense pain left Barque sprawled on the ground, his face contorted in agony. He rolled around, screaming.
The two men who had just appeared attacked as soon as Barque fell writhing to the ground. They weren't trying to save him. Lin had been in the middle of putting away her ability, leaving her open for a moment—that was the perfect chance to strike. With their extensive combat experience, the two weren't about to let it pass.
"Swish!"
The swordsman flashed past Lin, and a dazzling blade of light flashed with him.
The other man didn't stand by either. He quickly finished the apple in his hand, then punched toward Lin from where he stood.
As soon as he threw the punch, it rapidly grew larger. By the time it reached Lin, it was bigger than her entire body. The enormous fist slammed straight into her.
Lin didn't move in the face of the attack. Purple light burst from her body once more, but it wasn't aimed at the two men fighting her. It targeted the people behind them, who were blocking the entrance.
So when the two men's attacks landed on Lin, she had already formed contracts with the people behind them.
When the attacks struck Lin, one of those people was suddenly sliced in half at the waist. Another seemed to have been crushed by something, reduced to a pile of mush.
Lin, who had taken the attacks head-on, was completely unharmed. She picked up a long sword from the ground, nearly as tall as she was, and swung it at the enormous fist in front of her.
Thanks to the physical strength she had gained from Chen Qiang, Lin's fighting skills had improved greatly as well. During the battle with the two men, she was often cut or struck because of her lack of combat experience, but all the damage was transferred through her contracts to the people behind her.
So Lin wasn't injured at all during the fight. Instead, as the people bound to her by contracts died, she absorbed more life force, making her body even stronger.
The two men fighting her weren't so lucky. Since Lin made no effort to defend herself, they managed to inflict very little damage on her, partly because of her lack of experience. But their own injuries continued to pile up, and they couldn't recover.
By the time everyone Lin had bound with contracts was dead, the two men were covered in countless wounds, large and small. Blood kept pouring from them, and they had turned deathly pale from losing so much of it.
Still, there was no denying how strong people in the world of the Pirate King were. Even in that state, the two men's fighting ability was barely affected. They continued leaping around and fighting Lin as vigorously as ever.
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