Guns and Swords

Amid the scorching muzzle flashes, a streak of cold, ruthless sword light suddenly burst forth!

Xia Lun's wrist twitched slightly, and the sharp short sword instantly pierced the first mate Walking Corpse's throat. The blade burst out through its body along with shredded flesh. Before the Walking Corpse could react, he immediately bent his knees and surged upward, using the momentum to slash viciously to the side!

Crack!

Amid the teeth-grinding sound of bones breaking, the blade carved a huge crimson arc through the air, trailing blood!

Bang!

Half a head crashed to the ground amid a rain of blood, and the headless corpse swayed before collapsing once more.

A single strike beheaded it!

With a slight twist of the blade, Xia Lun shifted his grip from reverse to standard. Round drops of blood slid down the cold, hard sword, pattering onto his boots.

He raised his head, his icy gaze snapping toward the corpse horde in the distance.

At that moment, he no longer concealed his desire to kill. Savage hostility mixed with the frigid stench of blood and erupted without restraint!

Though he did not turn around, he vaguely sensed that the pirates' shaken morale, weakened by their sudden encounter with supernatural Monsters, had recovered somewhat under his encouragement.

Bang! Bang! Bang! From within the churning mist came a dull pounding against a wooden door, accompanied by the overburdened creaking of warping planks.

"What's that sound?!" the priest asked from behind him, his voice slightly panicked.

Xia Lun did not even turn his head. In a low voice, he said, "The Monster is smashing the door."

The Monster's actions clearly followed a plan. Its original plan had likely been to use the Walking Corpses and its undercover agent, its two trump cards, to eliminate them directly.

But now that its plan had failed, it could only force its way through.

The Monster was about to break through the door at the forecastle stairway!

Because they had anticipated this in advance, the pirates had spent the past few days heavily reinforcing the door at the forecastle stairway with planks and nails.

But such reinforcement could only delay the Monster. It was unlikely to seal it in completely.

Optimistically, the reinforced door could hold for another five minutes.

Xia Lun's heart tightened slightly as a sense of urgency quietly rose within him.

Once the Monster broke through the blockade and returned to the deck, the situation would collapse instantly when combined with the suddenly appearing mass of Walking Corpses!

They had to act immediately, rush to the cargo hatch, and ignite the whale oil in the cabin!

Xia Lun's thoughts raced as he took the initiative to walk forward.

At that moment, the Walking Corpses' groans intertwined with the pirates' heavy breathing. Thunderous gunshots mixed with the sounds of lead balls tearing through flesh, while the low-visibility fog made everything seem even more chaotic and terrifying!

The pirates did not know how many enemies there were, nor did they know what effect their attacks had achieved. All they could see were seemingly endless, horrifying Walking Corpses.

If Xia Lun had not cleanly executed a Walking Corpse and proven that those undead were not immortal, the pirates' morale would likely have already collapsed.

Even so, the pirates remained terrified. After all, they were at an overwhelming numerical disadvantage.

Because of the shift rotation, only seven people were currently following Xia Lun.

And with just a cursory glance, they could see that they faced more than twenty opponents!

"Where are you going?!" the priest asked, his voice trembling slightly. "Don't be impulsive. We need to hold formation. With muskets and polearms, we can deal with those undead. We should wait for reinforcements!"

"Proceed according to the original plan. Ignite the whale oil." Xia Lun's tone remained calm, without even a change in pitch, as though he did not take the horrifying Walking Corpses seriously at all. "Come with me. We can't wait here to die. Once the Monster comes out, it's all over."

"But there are too many of them!" the priest shouted as he fired. "Calm down, Xia Lun! We're already struggling just to protect ourselves!"

Xia Lun did not respond again. He sneered, and rather than slowing down, he accelerated even more!

Sometimes, not only fear and cowardice were contagious. Courage and recklessness were as well.

And all that was needed was someone with enough determination!

Though they had not known each other long, most of the pirates greatly approved of Xia Lun. Seeing him act with such resolute determination, several pirates who were already naturally reckless howled and charged after him.

The priest gritted his teeth, threw aside the spear in his hand, replaced it with a long-handled harpoon, and followed with a ferocious expression.

There had long been nothing left to fear. Ever since the day he had been falsely accused and stripped of his priesthood, personally slain the bishop for revenge, and become a fugitive, he had had nothing left to lose.

"Death is all it is!" The priest licked his lips, completely casting aside his doubts and fear. A murderous, brutal exhilaration rose with his hot blood. "The Undying Sacred Flame is with us! Purge them!"

"Kill!" A thin, pockmarked pirate raised a short-handled axe and shouted excitedly in response.

Following Xia Lun, the pirates launched a countercharge into the endless tide of corpses!

The mist churned. As the distance rapidly closed, the shadowy mass of Walking Corpses finally revealed its true appearance.

The Walking Corpses were hunched, their flesh rotten, and they carried all kinds of weapons—short knives, wooden clubs, flintlock guns, and more.

Their exposed blue-gray skin resembled fish skin, while barnacles clung to their bodies like parasites. As the pirates approached, those barnacles all turned toward the crowd like eyeballs!

"Urgh!" As if they had discovered living humans, the Walking Corpses' sluggish, stiff movements suddenly accelerated. In an instant, the revived dead lunged forward like hyenas pouncing on prey!

Closer, even closer. Xia Lun could practically smell the stench of spoiled protein from the Walking Corpses' bodies...

The next moment, Xia Lun suddenly raised his flintlock and activated Heightened Focus.

Time slowed once again. In an instant, Xia Lun felt as though he had sunk into the deep sea, and every sound around him rapidly faded away.

He aimed deliberately, yet fired instinctively—

Click, bang!

A Walking Corpse carrying a flintlock was instantly blown apart at the head. Its remaining body spun backward under the impact, crashing into and knocking over a group of Walking Corpses.

This was only the beginning.

Xia Lun casually tossed aside the flintlock, drew a second one from his weapons belt, then flicked his wrist upward, aimed, and fired.

Click, bang!

The lead ball spun through the air. A stocky Walking Corpse's head burst open like a watermelon, and the bullet did not lose momentum as it blasted into the head of a second Walking Corpse behind it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

From the priest's perspective, Xia Lun changed guns so quickly that it looked like a magic trick. He caught only a few afterimages of firearms, followed by a relentless series of terrifying detonations!

Muzzle flashes flickered in rapid succession. The packed corpse horde seemed to have been struck by a spinning millstone, directly ground into pools of red-and-white pulp.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Just yesterday, the priest had wondered why Xia Lun carried so many flintlocks.

Now, he completely understood...

By himself, Xia Lun had created a storm of bullets!

Scorching metal slammed into cold corpses. Splinters from the deck and undead bodies alike were pulverized by the projectiles, while the Walking Corpses' chilling groans were utterly drowned out by the deafening gunfire!

The corpse tide that had been charging so menacingly moments ago seemed to have struck an invisible wall, collapsing like harvested wheat.

Bang!

Xia Lun's cold face was illuminated, his black eyes calmly sweeping every corner of his firing line like the eyes of death itself.

Bang!

Amid the flashing muzzle fire, the priest gripped his holy emblem in shock and unease. The shrill whistle of bullets cutting through the air, the dull sound of metal tearing flesh, the horrifying howls of dying undead, and the precise, clockwork-like clicks all made his worldview crumble further...

He knew Xia Lun was a good shot, but being this good made him wonder whether he was dreaming.

Could a human really do this?

Bang! Crack.

The terrifying bullet storm came to an abrupt halt, accompanied by the crisp sound of Xia Lun flicking away a gun.

Xia Lun let out a long breath and exited Heightened Focus.

Eleven bullets, fifteen undead. An acceptable level of efficiency. The seemingly endless corpse tide could now be counted after that barrage of suppressive fire.

He nodded slightly.

The significance of controlling the pirate group was not merely reducing potential enemies and gaining usable allies.

More importantly, once he controlled the pirate group, he could make full use of the resources already aboard the ship.

These flintlocks he had forcibly confiscated were the best proof of that.

Reloading a flintlock was extremely complicated. Time was pressing, and he had no intention of picking up the guns to reload them—he still had three flintlocks in reserve.

[Kill! You killed 16 Deep-Sea Walking Corpses and obtained 160 Memory Points!]

Fifteen Walking Corpses, plus the first mate Walking Corpse he had killed at the beginning, made sixteen in total.

Xia Lun waved at the pirates behind him, signaling them to charge toward the remaining corpse horde, but no one moved.

Xia Lun's marksmanship had been far too terrifying. The pirates had all been left dumbstruck!

With no other choice, Xia Lun could only say, "Charge!"

The pirates snapped out of it as though waking from a dream. At Xia Lun's command, they howled and rushed toward the remaining undead like fanatical crusaders!

Their morale soared!

The instant the melee began, it immediately reached a fever pitch.

Amid frenzied shouts, cold blades mercilessly tore through the Walking Corpses' soft bodies. Yet the Walking Corpses possessed incredible endurance; even with their bones and flesh broken and their guts spilling out, they still attacked the pirates madly.

Both sides fought with utter savagery, making even Xia Lun's eyelids twitch.

One pirate had his nose bitten off by a Walking Corpse, and he immediately went mad, opening his mouth to bite through the Walking Corpse's throat.

Another pirate had his lung pierced by a short spear, so he simply rammed himself into the corpse horde to disrupt their formation...

These mad actions further intensified the pirates' fanaticism, and their killing speed abruptly increased!

In a sense, the pirates were even more terrifying than the Walking Corpses. These desperadoes did not care about trading wounds for lives, or even trading their own lives for the enemy's.

Xia Lun wiped away his nosebleed, spun his sword in his right hand, stepped over the piled corpses on the ground, and then leaped into the battle.

Amid the chaos, a Walking Corpse opened its mouth and bit toward his throat. Without even looking, he relied on instincts forged through countless hours of training to stab backward into its temple and twist slightly.

Rotten skin and flesh parted like butter beneath the blade.

Xia Lun did not stop moving. The short sword in his hand slashed diagonally from the Walking Corpse's temple into its jaw. Amid flying drops of blood, he drifted past, flicked his wrist, and drove another slash into a second Walking Corpse's shoulder blade.

Crack!

Flesh and bone burst apart. Accompanied by the cold hum of the blade, a bloody line slid straight from the Walking Corpse's right shoulder to its waist, blood spraying out like a crimson ribbon.

His heartbeat accelerated, hot blood surged, and the stench of rotten blood lingered around his nose. The grotesque sight before him and the constant faint resistance transmitted through his blade made Xia Lun increasingly focused.

At that moment, time seemed to slow, as though he had entered some inferior version of Heightened Focus.

Unlike sword fights in his dreams, this fresh slaughter experienced firsthand, together with the terrifying pressure of dancing on a blade's edge, sent his adrenaline soaring.

All his fatigue vanished. Strength and exhilaration flooded his mind.

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!

Xia Lun sharply drew in a breath, kicked off the ground, twisted his waist, and sent the sword in his hand sweeping in a circle. The humming blade was unstoppable, slicing through the throats of three Walking Corpses in an instant. Flesh and blood filled the air, and the sound of bones and meat shattering rang without end!

Hummm~

The cold hum of the blade came from afar and rapidly drew near. Xia Lun reflexively bent his knees and raised his sword to catch it.

The next moment, his wrist jolted. Without even looking, he stepped forward and pulled sideways to redirect the force. In an instant, the Walking Corpse's head soared into the air amid a pillar of blood!

"Long live Xia Lun!" a pirate shouted.

Another pirate casually chopped down a Walking Corpse, then threw his head back and howled hysterically at the sky like a werewolf. "Heads for Xia Lun, blood for us!"

"Kill!" the pirates roared in unison.

Though the Walking Corpses kept coming without end, they could not stop the pirates' advance. Led by Xia Lun, the fanatical pirates were unstoppable, crashing through the Walking Corpses' resistance like a flood.

As the slaughter continued, Xia Lun and the pirates quickly advanced to the middle of the ship. The cargo hatch was already within reach!

At that moment, the Monster was still smashing the door with all its strength, but the reinforced main stairway door remained firm.

These Walking Corpses all seemed to be controlled by the Monster. As the pirates approached the cargo hatch, a group of Walking Corpses that had been helping the Monster break open the door on deck turned around and charged back toward them.

Xia Lun narrowed his eyes slightly.

There were five Walking Corpses in this group. Unlike the others, these newly reinforced Walking Corpses were all "sacrifices" Xia Lun had thrown overboard before. Perhaps because they were fresher, their movements were swifter and smoother.

"Another group here to die!" one pirate laughed loudly.

But in the next moment, a familiar and scalp-prickling sound suddenly came from afar—click.

Xia Lun was startled. Every one of those Walking Corpses had a flintlock!

"Get down!" In that lightning-fast instant, he immediately shouted a warning and threw himself to the ground.

The instant he hit the deck, deafening flintlock shots exploded, followed by a series of dull impacts as bullets pierced flesh.

The smell of gunpowder mixed with blood rushed into his nose. Xia Lun glanced to the side and saw that the pirates who had charged here with him had instantly fallen in a heap!

Anger surged in Xia Lun's heart, and his desire to kill grew ever fiercer. He was just about to rise and return fire when another dense volley erupted!

These Walking Corpses also carried a pile of flintlocks. Every time they fired one, they switched to another!

Amid the unceasing gunfire, the pirates could only lie prone and use planks and corpses as cover, desperately avoiding the constant hail of bullets—they were actually being suppressed by firepower!

Boom! The door at the forecastle was on the verge of collapse. With another dull impact, a thick reinforcing beam suddenly shattered into two pieces.

A skinny pirate seemed to have had enough of being pinned down. He tried to move during the gap between the enemy's shots, but the instant he rose and exposed his head, a lead ball blasted straight into it!

Splat!

A rain of blood drizzled onto the deck. The headless corpse collapsed, its legs still twitching slightly.

Xia Lun's eyelids twitched. There was actually a sharpshooter among those Walking Corpses!

"What do we do?" the priest asked loudly, lying on his side.

"Wait," Xia Lun shouted. "They have a limited number of guns. Wait until they finish this round!"

"Then the Monster will break through the door!" the priest warned. "There's no time. Listen, I have an idea..."

But in the next moment, another burst of dense gunfire rang out, only this time it came from the side of the ship.

Xia Lun raised his head and looked ahead, only to find that the group of Walking Corpses had all been brought down by a volley.

"It's the captain!" a pirate shouted excitedly. "Our reinforcements are here!"