Ghosts Under the Moonlit Night

Buck's corpse collapsed onto the spot where Arthur had previously stood.

Arthur did not rashly inspect the body; instead, he took a detour back to his original position to retrieve the flintlock pistol.

He spent a minute clearing away the debris, reloading the gunpowder and lead shot, and completing the necessary steps.

Then, aiming at Buck's head, he pulled the trigger. With a loud bang, the head exploded, and only then did Arthur's heart settle.

As his taut nerves finally relaxed, Arthur began to hear the sounds of shouting and killing on Blue Bay Island.

Screams erupted from the tavern in the distance, and the sounds of combat could also be heard near the Stuart Family tavern.

Arthur searched Buck's body and found a peculiar animal bone necklace around his neck, the material appearing to be the teeth of a wild beast.

Buck carried a single silver coin on his person, and his shoulder was branded with a slave mark.

The people of the Black Devil Order were rather poor.

Closing his eyes to feel the night sea breeze, Arthur pinched a bit of sand and tossed it upward, opening his eyes to watch the direction in which the grains drifted.

"Follow the wind's guidance."

He strode off in the direction the wind had indicated!

On the beach a hundred paces from the Stuart Family tavern, a painter blocked Arena's path.

"Daughter of the Night Griffin of the Stuart Family, just stand there and watch quietly~"

"A great existence shall cast Its gaze, and you shall all become Its offerings!"

Arena remained silent, raising her sword to strike at the man blocking her way.

Moonlight fell upon the blade of Arena's sword, blooming with a brilliant white light that obscured her true position.

Raphael smiled with disdain, a linen drawing board and a folding sable brush appearing in his hands as he quickly sketched a swordsman onto the board.

He tore the pulp paper from the board and blew on it gently; the Dark Swordsman flew off the paper, landing on the ground and growing to full size.

"Silver! Moon!"

Arena chanted in the Ancient Hermetic Language, piercing through the swordsman Raphael had drawn.

Raphael retreated as he walked, his folding sable brush dancing to create afterimages as he burned through sheet after sheet of pulp paper from his board.

Suddenly!

Arena vanished from before Raphael's eyes.

Raphael's vision turned pitch black, the Silver Moon in the sky completely obscured, yet he remained unhurried, sketching a suit of armor onto his board.

A giant suit of armor manifested, blocking Arena's sword.

The ritual had already begun, and no one could stop it; he only needed to stall for enough time.

Arena's brows furrowed slightly; her opponent relied on extraordinary abilities to constantly drain her, but her swordsmanship did not necessarily require the enhancement of extraordinary power.

If this war of attrition continued, the one to fail would inevitably be her opponent.

The enemy was stalling, but if they dragged this out until the Church of Night arrived, the members of the Black Devil Order would have no way to return.

Did they seem to have enough confidence to retreat unscathed after causing chaos on Blue Bay Island?

The two remained deadlocked on the beach.

By the shore, Baker killed the pirates attempting to flee one by one, hanging their corpses from the masts of the ships.

He was extremely cautious, blocking fleeing pirates but never stopping more than three at a time.

True to his personality, he knew that if this sinful ritual held on Blue Bay Island failed, he needed to be able to escape at the fastest possible speed.

At this moment, a single-masted sailboat drifted in from the distance.

A sailor alerted Baker that outsiders had arrived. The cautious Baker frowned; seeing three people on the boat, a sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

"Fire a shot over there to test the waters."

Controlling the port, Baker ordered the sailor to man the ship's cannons, and at his command, the artillery roared, firing toward the distant skiff.

The distance was a bit far, and Baker could not see clearly, but he sensed extraordinary power.

The three people on the boat were suspected to be extraordinary beings.

"Three against one is not an advantage, and anyway, with 1, 2... so many people already hanged, the ritual won't fall on me."

Baker did not alert the sailors; he turned and fled toward the tavern, where Simon was setting up the ritual—it was the safest place for now.

The three people on the small boat were the law enforcement squad sent by the Church of Night after being notified by Arena—the Ghosts Under the Moonlit Night.

Leading them was a Priest of Night, a cleric who worshipped the Goddess of Night, equivalent to a Sequence 7 in the extraordinary path.

"The night shrouds the earth, the Silver Moon blooms with pure light—Moonlight Illumination!"

The ancient words of the Ancient Hermetic Language rang out from the mouth of the Priest of Night, echoing across the port of Blue Bay Island.

The Silver Moon cast down a pillar of light, shining upon the fleeing Baker and exposing his position.

"Pursue!"

The two swordsmen accompanying him leaped from the boat, their toes lightly touching the surface of the sea to create ripples as they charged toward Baker.

Corpses lay strewn across the Battleaxe Tavern, and the Scimitar Bar was in complete shambles.

Simon hung the bodies up, using their blood to paint on the ground, drawing a ritual sacrifice for a Great Existence.

Things were progressing unusually smoothly; the smuggling hub of Blue Bay Island lacked any significant capacity to resist, and he had taken out over thirty pirates all by himself.

The bartender of the Battleaxe Tavern and the bartender of the Scimitar Bar had their corpses hung at the entrance of the snack shop.

Arthur hid in a dark corner, watching Simon focus intently on drawing the ritual, the dark red blood congealing on the ground.

He lowered his voice and kept his movements as minimal as possible, using cover to approach the site of the ritual.

Lying behind an overturned wooden board, he carefully extended the Whale Herder Sword to nudge the ground, smearing the patterns drawn in blood.

Suddenly!

A shout rang out not far away: "Simon, an Extraordinary has arrived on Blue Bay Island! There might be complications!"

Simon kept his composure, slicing open the heel of a corpse to draw the final stroke on the ground with the dripping blood.

The ritual for the sacrifice was perfectly drawn; now, all that was needed were sufficient offerings, and by completing the sequence, he could conduct a transaction with Him.

"Baker! How many people came in total?"

"There's one more thing—Buck went to hunt that lord, why hasn't he returned yet?"

"Three! There are three people in total!"

Simon saw Baker running toward him under the Pillar of Moonlight and could not suppress the anger in his heart:

"You damn stupid fish! My work here is so critical! Couldn't you have gone to find Raphael?"

Baker muttered in dissatisfaction: "What if Raphael's opponent kills me?"

Then he shouted loudly: "Don't worry about that, hurry up and perform the ritual! We can't wait any longer!"

Simon calmed his mind, walked to the center of the ritual, and began to chant in Old Latin.

"Devil slumbering in the ancient hell, You are the collection of desires, trading equally with all mortals."

"Your most loyal believer, Simon, hereby offers You a soul filled with desire!"

In the middle of Simon's chanting, Arthur raised the Fear Pistol, aimed at his chest, and pulled the trigger.

A sudden surge of fear interrupted Simon's prayer.

Arthur stood up and kicked sand and dirt across the ground, destroying the drawn ritual patterns.

"Holy shit! You damn pirate!"

Seeing Arthur destroy the ritual, Baker had a question mark form on his forehead as he strode toward Arthur.

This idiot dared to ruin their ritual!

Simon reminded Baker: "Use his blood to cover the gaps."

He then continued to chant the ritual, reciting Old Latin while brandishing a scimitar against the ground.

Arthur heard Simon's reminder—his blood could cover the ritual?

If his blood could do it, couldn't Baker's blood do the same?

The battle could not start here; Arthur turned and ducked into the Scimitar Bar, shifting the battlefield to a narrow space.

Baker snorted coldly, then suddenly stopped and stepped back; he had just realized that this was supposed to be Buck's target.

That madman Buck must have died at Arthur's hands!

"Damn pirate, trying to lure me away—what a pipe dream!"

He wore a twisted expression as he took out a small knife, sliced his palm open, and let his blood drip onto the gaps in the ritual.

Baker was using his own blood to mend the flaws in the ritual!