Vicious Hound Nosk

Jack lightly tapped off the ground. Despite his seemingly bloated body, he nimbly leaped backward and disappeared into the horde of Walking Corpses. The attacking hounds crashed straight into the mass of corpses.

On one side were Walking Corpses with no instinctive restraints, immense strength, no fear of pain, and no fear of death. On the other were clearly abnormal hounds, perhaps supernatural creatures.

The two sides immediately began tearing into each other, and Jack pulled Higgs to his feet.

"Kid, do you understand now that there are always greater people beyond people, and greater heavens beyond heaven? You're still far too green. Be careful."

Higgs lowered his head in embarrassment. He had indeed gotten a little carried away, though anyone who gained such power would have reacted the same way.

Jack had once been the same, so after making that joking remark, he stopped lecturing Higgs and looked up at the two men emerging from the cabin.

Both men were extremely tall, but one of them had clearly distorted proportions. His legs were very short, while his arms were exceptionally long and thick. Standing there, he looked like a gorilla.

"Vicious Hound Nosk. So it really is you. Is this the newly promoted major?"

Seeing the two men, Jack spoke with a relaxed expression. Nosk's hounds might have been vicious, but facing nearly ten times their number in Walking Corpses and Skeleton Warriors was no easy task. If this continued, casualties would inevitably appear.

Every hound that died would be enough to make Nosk's heart bleed.

"Bloodhand Jack? Why are you here? Didn't you retire? And what's with that red glow around you?"

"Heh heh, I got lucky. Found myself a good captain, so I went back to sea. How about it? Jump into the ocean yourself, and I'll spare your life."

Old Jack grinned wickedly, his face full of savagery.

"Hmph. You think siding with the sea monster Abel means you can defeat me?"

Obviously, Nosk had mistaken Higgs for Abel. With tentacles wreaking havoc all over the ship and Higgs looking like a Fishman, it was perfectly reasonable for him to think so.

"Lieutenant Colonel, why waste words with them? Kill them. If this keeps up, our ship is going to sink."

The major beside him, whose arms nearly hung to the ground, watched Nosk continue chatting with the enemy and spoke anxiously.

Nosk was speechless. My hounds are fighting up front while you're standing here. What the hell are you talking about? Why don't you get in there? Why do you think I'm wasting time talking to them?

As though he had heard Nosk's thoughts, the major grabbed a massive hammer and charged out. Everywhere he went, every Walking Corpse he encountered exploded apart, dead beyond dead.

Clearly, those thick arms possessed strength to match their appearance.

"You and the Undead Servants deal with those hounds. I'll handle that guy."

After giving the instruction, Jack charged at the naval major with twin blades in hand. If he let the man keep killing like this, they would soon have to call for the captain again.

The captain had not been in a good mood lately, and Jack did not want a scolding.

Clang! Jack's twin blades caught the iron shaft of the hammer with a deafening crash. His body was forced backward by the overwhelming strength.

But Jack's combat experience was incredibly rich. He used the momentum to fall backward and kicked the man in the crotch at the same time. The major's eyes immediately bulged, and bloodshot veins rapidly spread across his eyeballs.

Jack rolled aside, avoiding the major's punch as he fell into a berserk state.

Wood chips flew everywhere. A hole appeared in the deck where Jack's head had just been, and a massive fist had sunk completely into it.

Jack got up with a grin. Rather than approach his opponent, he simply dodged the hammer swings and wore down the man's stamina.

Once the man's strength dropped, killing him would be effortless.

On the other side, Higgs, covered in bite marks left by the hounds, wielded a curved blade suited to his size and charged at them alongside the Walking Corpses.

Nosk was not idle either. He held a pistol with a flared muzzle in one hand and a saber in the other as he charged into the Walking Corpses and Skeleton Warriors.

The Undead's tentacles deliberately avoided the area where they were fighting, even as many navy soldiers screamed while being swept into the sea by the tentacles or having their heads bitten off outright.

Yet this area received no interference at all. Still, no navy soldiers dared run over here, because it was even more dangerous than the other areas. When facing tentacles, they could at worst jump into the sea themselves. If they ran here, they would only be waiting to be cut down by skeletons or bitten to death by Walking Corpses.

By now, Nosk's seven hounds were covered in wounds, blood streaming from injuries inflicted by the Walking Corpses' tearing claws and the Skeleton Warriors' blades.

Yet they had only killed a dozen or so Walking Corpses and Skeleton Warriors. There was no helping it. Unless their necks were bitten through or their heads smashed apart, these Walking Corpses would not stop attacking.

And unlike Yang Mu, who could not be bothered to move the cores of undead-like creatures because they were merely cannon fodder and he could not be bothered with the effort—

Jack moved the cores of some Walking Corpses to different parts of their bodies. Some were in their hearts, some in their buttocks, and some were even in their legs.

This caused many undead to continue attacking even after losing their heads.

After several minutes of fighting, one hound suffered an injury to its leg. Its agility dropped, and several Walking Corpses pounced on it and brought it to the ground.

Higgs immediately appeared beside the hound and, amid Nosk's anguished roar, drove his blade through its throat.

Scarlet blood sprayed across Higgs's body, making his already ugly and savage Fishman face even more terrifying.

The hound's death was like the first domino to fall. Soon, a second and then a third hound died.

In the end, when only eighteen Walking Corpses and two Skeleton Warriors remained, Higgs twisted off Nosk's head.

On the other side, the major wielding the massive hammer was panting heavily, his stamina clearly greatly depleted. Jack, standing opposite him, still looked relaxed as he watched with a faint smile.

When he saw the man stop attacking, Jack immediately closed in. One blade knocked aside the hammer, while the other curved blade swept across his neck. Blood did not spray out until they had passed each other.

His combat experience was terrible, and he had almost no fighting instincts. Once enraged, he had nearly lost all reason. He had not even used Bone Shield. After leading him around for a few minutes, Jack had killed him with ease.

Jack sheathed his blades, seized the man's soul in his hand, and walked toward Higgs.

"Give me the souls and bodies of five hounds. The rest are yours. It's your first time adding fuel, so you can't burn too much, or there'll be problems."

Higgs did not object. He handed over the souls in his hand, keeping only two hounds and Nosk's soul.

Those who ignored their elders' advice suffered for it. He had seen Jack clutching his head and rolling on the ground after his first burning, so naturally he accepted the advice without hesitation.

The two piled together the souls and corpses they intended to burn, then incinerated them all at once. Black flames enveloped the corpses and souls, only returning to their bodies after reducing everything to nothingness.