Who Said Hiding in the Back Was Safe!

Only when Elvin's corpse, carelessly tossed aside by Jaeger, hit the ground with a heavy thud did the sound draw the pirates' attention.

The sight finally put an end to their discussion of the whispers.

When Dunn looked toward Jaeger, Jaeger was bringing the shriveled hand clutching the tentacle toward his mouth.

At the sight, Dunn's heart suddenly began to pound, and a bad feeling welled up inside him. "Stop him, now!!"

Although Dunn had no idea what Jaeger meant to accomplish, his instincts told him that if Jaeger really ate that tentacle, they would be in serious trouble.

At Dunn's command, Engels instinctively nocked an arrow and drew his bow. At this distance, with so little time, only Engels could do anything.

An arrow shot straight toward the tentacle in Jaeger's hand. Although Dunn had not explicitly said so, Engels also instinctively felt that they could not let Jaeger eat it unhindered.

Engels reacted quickly, so quickly that the arrow had already flown before the other pirates could react. But he was still too late.

By the time Dunn shouted his warning, Jaeger had already brought the tentacle to his mouth. Although it struggled desperately, Jaeger's withered arm held it fast like an iron clamp.

Its resistance accomplished nothing at all. By the time the arrow pierced Jaeger's palm, the fist-thick tentacle had already squirmed laboriously down his throat and into his stomach.

Looking at the arrow lodged in his hand, Jaeger's lips curled into a mocking smile. Paired with his shriveled face, it looked utterly sinister and terrifying.

Anyone a little less courageous might have fainted from fright at the sight.

The pirates had also reacted by then, drawing their weapons and watching Jaeger warily. Although they did not know what the tentacle he had eaten did, there was no doubt that it benefited him in his current state.

And anything that benefited Jaeger was terrible news for the pirates.

Casting a contemptuous glance at the tense pirates, Jaeger raised his hand, pulled out the arrow lodged in it, and casually tossed it aside. Not even a trace of blood flowed from his pierced palm.

Jaeger tilted his head slightly and gave them a savage smile, as though he might attack them at any moment.

The already tense group could not help growing even more flustered.

After all, the man before them was a renowned third-tier Great Pirate. Most of those present had heard Jaeger's name. Although they all claimed not to care, they could not help feeling uneasy when actually facing him.

Suddenly, Jaeger's expression changed drastically. He clutched his head in agony, bulging veins faintly visible across his shriveled skull. His mouth hung wide open, saliva streaming uncontrollably as disbelief filled his face. "Damn... it, what... is happening? This Career Ability... is poisonous??"

The sudden turn of events left the pirates bewildered as well. Jaeger, who had looked so superior just moments ago and seemed ready to attack at any time, suddenly went mad as though he had suffered a devastating blow. No one could make sense of it.

Now Jaeger's shriveled body knelt on the ground, his head lowered in silence. His shoulders heaved, his breathing grew increasingly labored, and saliva dripped onto the ground with each heavy breath.

Keenly noticing Jaeger's abnormal state, Dunn cautiously led his men a few slow steps back, placing the other pirates in front of them as a shield.

The other pirates were all focused on guarding against Jaeger, while those with perception-based classes were still deeply troubled by the eerie whispers, so no one noticed Dunn's little maneuver.

Even the air seemed to have frozen. In the vast underground space, the only sound was Jaeger's heavy breathing, which was on the verge of becoming a roar.

After the two sides remained at this impasse for a short while, Jaeger abruptly raised his head and opened his mouth, exhaling a cloud of scalding white vapor.

With that movement, his shriveled body suddenly began to swell like a balloon being inflated.

His sickly yellow slit pupils stared fixedly toward the only living creatures in the underground space-the direction where everyone stood. His gaze held savagery, madness, and cruelty, but not a single trace of reason, sending an involuntary chill through anyone who met it.

"ROAR!!!"

With a deafening roar, Jaeger's entire body swelled and mutated into several enormous tentacles, each over a meter in diameter.

Then all the tentacles spread out, writhing wildly, each looking at least several dozen meters long.

Interlocking fangs lined the end of each tentacle, hideous and terrifying, while sickly yellow slit-pupiled eyes densely covered their lengths.

Even these pirates, notorious for their brutality on the seas, could not help being utterly horrified by the sight.

Cold sweat poured from them, their hearts pounding as though they had leaped into their throats.

The legs of several pirates who had no class trembled so badly that they could barely stand.

What kind of Lovecraftian ability is this? It's draining my sanity like crazy, damn it.

Even Dunn could not help swallowing nervously at the sight, furiously complaining to himself.

"Damn it, get out of the way!"

The shout from up ahead startled Dunn at the rear. But because he was hiding behind the crowd, the pirates in front blocked his view, leaving him unable to see what had happened.

The next instant, the pirates in front of Dunn scattered in all directions.

Dunn finally saw what was happening. One of Jaeger's tentacles had suddenly shot straight toward them, and a pirate in front of Dunn who failed to dodge in time was instantly smashed into a cloud of blood.

Dunn recognized him. He was a [Navigator], and had probably failed to react because of the eerie whispers.

Several pirates without classes were merely grazed, yet they were all sent flying, their fates unknown.

It was already too late for Dunn to dodge, and his own men were behind him besides. Gritting his teeth, Dunn crossed his arms in front of himself.

He activated Rokushiki: Tekkai.

Bang!

The next instant, the tentacle slammed into Dunn with a dull thud. Its momentum slowed, stopping for an instant.

But only for an instant.

The next second.

Bang!

That was the sound of Dunn being sent flying.

Fortunately, in the instant Dunn held it back, Green and the others reacted in time and had already scattered out of the way.

The instant he was sent flying, Dunn had only one thought:

Novels lied to me! Who said hiding behind the crowd was safe!