Chapter 573: Action
During the night, in the outskirts of Montcalo shrouded in mist, on the battlefield left in ruins, the battle between the lord of Montcalo, the former sea pirate Edward, and the Black Dream Hunter Group’s Moth Chaser, Kuchiba, continued. Due to Edward’s home advantage and his intelligence superiority, he held significant control over the entire battle situation, and by this time, he had gained a substantial upper hand.
“Cough… Cough…”
Holding his chest, Kuchiba spat out large amounts of bl**d, his face pale as a sheet, trembling uncontrollably. Just now, he was attacked by Edward using hidden spirituality targeting his body from within. Although Kuchiba promptly used the pseudomoth’s tentacles to clear the abnormal spirituality inside his body, his internal organs were still severely damaged. His entire body was almost turned into a mess, with not only his lungs and intestines torn into pieces but even his heart damaged. If Kuchiba hadn’t activated the Frenzied Banquet Sigil hidden in his ring at the critical moment, significantly enhancing his constitution to buy some more time, he would have been dead by now.
However, even with the damage sustained, the Frenzied Banquet Sigil, representing the power of the second-tier “Cup,” could only last so long. He had to act immediately; otherwise, once the effect of the sigil weakened or if Edward launched a massive attack, he would be done for.
Clearly, Edward was unwilling to let go of this golden opportunity. The moment Kuchiba was severely injured, he immediately launched another offensive. With a wave of his hand, countless thick water arrows rapidly shot towards Kuchiba from the space around him. At the same time, Edward himself wielded a water sword blade, propelling himself forward like a rocket by spraying high-pressure water from his elementalized feet, rushing toward Kuchiba to strike.
Under Edward’s fierce assault, the numerous giant dream body tentacles protecting Kuchiba scattered and broke apart, dissipating into thin air. Had Kuchiba not sensed something amiss and retracted most of his tentacles used for offense before Edward could unleash his hidden spiritual attack, Edward’s advance might have penetrated all of Kuchiba’s defenses.
As Edward almost completely shattered Kuchiba’s defensive spiritual tendrils and charged directly in front of him, Kuchiba finally completed his countermeasure. After using a sigil to barely sustain his life, he swiftly retrieved a small, intricately carved silver hollow ball from his clothes. This hollow metal ball was adorned with dense, colorful tiny gems. Peering through the hollow parts, one could see multiple layers nested within, seemingly endless, with no clue about what lay at its center.
The moment Kuchiba brought out the hollow silver ball, smoke began to rise rapidly from its hollow sections. This smoke quickly spread around Kuchiba, gradually enveloping his entire body. When Edward broke through all defenses and reached Kuchiba’s front, he saw that Kuchiba was already enveloped by an ethereal smoke. Seeing this, Edward frowned slightly and accelerated his attack, slicing his water sword towards the concentrated smoke.
However, at that moment, an unexpected event occurred. As Edward’s water sword blade touched the smoke, it became hazy and more transparent, shimmering with colorful lights, reminiscent of Kuchiba’s dream body tendrils. This smoke had an erosive effect!
Upon witnessing this, Edward immediately judged this strange phenomenon in his mind. He then saw his water sword blade, which had been transformed into a dream body, slip out of his control, breaking off from his hand, and the spirituality attached to it dispersed. The peculiar smoke surrounding Kuchiba began to rapidly expand outward, as if attempting to engulf Edward.
Seeing this scene, Edward immediately retreated. The powerful high-pressure water sprayed from his elemental limbs propelled him backward at an extremely high speed, narrowly avoiding being affected by the spreading smoke.
After pulling away from Kuchiba again, Edward stood firmly, observing the enemy situation with great caution. The expanding smoke did not last long before it gradually dissipated into the space. Once the smoke cleared, Kuchiba appeared once again before Edward’s eyes, but Kuchiba had undergone a significant transformation.
Semi-transparent body, blurred face, flowing colors — after being surrounded by the smoke, Kuchiba had transformed into a dream body, temporarily freeing himself from physical constraints and becoming a semi-dream realm being.
“It’s… Inner Realm Transformation…”
Edward couldn’t help but murmur upon seeing Kuchiba’s change. However, the transformed Kuchiba did not stop there; he immediately initiated his next action.
“Moth… descend upon me…”
With his hands open, Kuchiba spoke in a distant voice. Soon, his body began to undergo drastic changes.
Kuchiba, who was originally standing on the ground, started to levitate. The illusory wings behind him suddenly expanded dramatically, and the spiritual outer garment’s tendrils began to wildly dance and grow rapidly. The dream body’s spiritual outer garment started to deform, rapidly extending forward and backward.
Seeing this, Edward’s expression darkened. He waved his hand, causing water mist to condense into water arrows and sh**t towards Kuchiba, creating a rain of thousands of thick water arrows from all directions. These arrows struck and shattered Kuchiba’s rapidly growing dream body, but their disintegration speed was no match for the growth rate of Kuchiba’s dream body outer garment.
Finally, after rapid growth, Kuchiba’s dream body outer garment gradually took shape, transforming into a gigantic fantastical creature flying above Montcalo. It was a massive semi-transparent bizarre flying insect, with enormous, tattered insect wings that flowed with countless colors, swirling patterns that mesmerized the senses. Its swollen abdomen was densely covered with countless glowing, tiny cocoon-like structures. Instead of insect limbs, numerous writhing tendrils extended from the middle segments. There were no mouthparts or eyes on the insect’s head; instead, it was smooth with two protruding antennae.
This was a powerful semi-dream realm being, a pseudomoth, cultivated from the scales of Panmoth, the deity worshiped by the Black Dream Hunter Group. The group members could obtain extraordinary abilities by symbiotically living with the pseudomoth. One pseudomoth could host numerous Black Dream members, and the member acting as the symbiotic host had dominion over the pseudomoth’s actions.
A fully developed pseudomoth possessed Red Tier strength. The Black Dream member hosting such a mature pseudomoth was called a Red Tier member. Kuchiba was such an existence, having summoned his symbiotic entity from the Dream Realm to the real world, manifesting it above Montcalo.
“This is… the Black Dream’s Symbiotic Dream Moth?”
Looking up at the hovering giant hallucinatory moth, about thirty meters long, Edward murmured softly. At this moment, Kuchiba inside the pseudomoth began to use the symbiotic entity’s power to heal his injuries. Although Kuchiba lacked the ability to heal such severe physical damage, he could temporarily transform into a dream body and let the pseudomoth, which shares his symbiosis, heal him. The pseudomoth’s self-healing capabilities could be transmitted to him, rapidly restoring his wounds. Once healed, Kuchiba controlled the pseudomoth to take new actions.
“”
Gently flapping his wings, the massive pseudomoth hovering in the sky released an invisible wave of energy. This wave radiated outward from the pseudomoth, rapidly sweeping across Montcalo. Suddenly, the hundreds of thousands of people on Montcalo Island, who had been marveling at the fog, felt an unprecedented drowsiness and fell asleep instantly. Within moments, except for Kuchiba and Edward, everyone else on Montcalo Island was asleep.
This was a hypnotic wave, a powerful one released by a complete pseudomoth. Previously, the wave Kuchiba had released only covered a few kilometers and had no effect on Edward, who had mental anchoring. But this time, the hypnotic wave released by the pseudomoth covered the entire island of Montcalo, causing everyone to fall asleep instantly, even causing Edward’s mental anchoring to waver momentarily, making his consciousness somewhat unclear.
“Ugh…”
Influenced by the pseudomoth’s hypnotic wave, Edward staggered slightly due to sudden drowsiness, even covering his temples. Seeing this, Kuchiba inside the pseudomoth immediately activated another ability.
“Heart Nightmare Illusion…”
Accompanied by Kuchiba’s muttering, four shadowy figures suddenly appeared around the somewhat confused Edward. These four shadows quickly writhed and transformed, soon forming four black dream bodies!
Each of these four dream bodies had their own form: a fat, glowing judge holding a sacred text with a stern face, a bl**d-covered sailor, a female pirate native wearing a snake-patterned robe, carrying a snake-tail braid and a scale sword, and an elderly Edward, leaning on a cane with no teeth.
“This village is all suspected of secretly communicating with heretics! All shall be punished by fire!”
The obese judge held the sacred text and declared the judgment while burning semi-transparent flames towards Edward.
“Captain… Save us! Please don’t leave us here!” The bl**d-covered sailor cried out, brandishing his curved kn*fe towards Edward.
“bl**d Wave… You will pay for what you’ve done!” The woman with the snake braid fiercely slashed at Edward with the snake-scale sword.
“It’s useless… nothing works… everything is futile… all efforts are in vain…” The much older Edward stumbled towards Edward’s body.
“This…”
Facing the four dream bodies charging towards him, Edward widened his eyes and stepped back several steps. While dodging their attacks, he condensed water swords and knives, continuously countering them. Unlike when dealing with the pseudomoth’s tendrils, these four dream bodies reappeared around Edward almost instantly after being dispersed, continuing their assault. Even if Edward moved at high speeds, the four black dream bodies would instantaneously appear beside him, relentlessly pursuing him. Their attacks genuinely harmed Edward’s spirit.
Finally, after dodging for a while, Edward seemed to grasp something, standing still and once again condensing water arrows. This time, the water arrows were aimed not at the dream bodies around him but at himself.
“Disappear… Illusion!”
With a sharp command, Edward controlled the water arrows to rapidly sh**t towards his own body, simultaneously deactivating his elemental state. Immediately, Edward’s withered flesh was pierced by several tiny water arrows, and dark bl**d gushed from the wounds. Amidst the intense pain, Edward’s previously muddled spirit became much clearer, and his shaken mental anchoring stabilized once more. The black dream bodies attacking him vanished into thin air.
“Huff… Huff… Huff…”
Breathing heavily, after dispelling the black dream bodies’ assault, the old pirate slowly straightened up and looked up at the sky again. His gaze pierced through the fog, and what he saw was a black night sky with the giant hallucinatory moth flying away.
Kuchiba knew that fighting Edward on his territory was hopeless. Therefore, after releasing the Heart Nightmare Illusion on Edward, Kuchiba immediately controlled the pseudomoth to escape. During the brief moment when Edward was entangled by the black dream bodies, the pseudomoth had already flown a considerable distance, reaching the edge of Montcalo Island, just about to fly out of its range.
During this process, the pseudomoth’s semi-transparent body became increasingly transparent, seemingly on the verge of disappearing. This was because Kuchiba was using the pseudomoth to temporarily escape by entering the Dream Realm. The pervasive fog on Montcalo Island hindered the pseudomoth’s complete entry into the Inner Realm; he needed to leave the island to successfully enter the Inner Realm.
“You won’t get away…”
Facing this situation, Edward coldly said. He watched the pseudomoth trying to escape in the distance while pulling out a broken copper short staff from his body. Then, Edward tightly gripped the staff, and immediately, faint light marks appeared on it.
As Edward acted again, the sea around Montcalo Island suddenly surged, waves and huge waves rising and falling, the roar of the sea currents deafening.
Then, on the turbulent sea, several large water snakes, each about seven to eight meters in diameter, leaped out of the sea, directly charging towards the pseudomoth just flying out of Montcalo Island. They were extremely fast, quickly reaching the height of the pseudomoth. Seeing this, Kuchiba immediately manipulated the pseudomoth’s tendrils to attack the water snakes. However, due to the multitude and size of the water snakes, the pseudomoth could not resolve them all at once.
Suddenly, more than ten water snakes simultaneously reached the height of the pseudomoth. These water snakes opened their huge mouths and bit the pseudomoth all at once. The pseudomoth was bitten in various parts of its body by dozens of mouths, unable to continue flying forward.
“What…”
Seeing the pseudomoth being bitten by the water snakes, Kuchiba’s heart panicked, trying to control the pseudomoth to break free from the entanglement. However, due to the sheer number of water snakes biting the pseudomoth, he could not free it no matter how hard he tried. Instead, the pseudomoth faced the risk of being dragged down by these water snakes.
“You can’t escape… This is my sea…”
Watching the struggling pseudomoth in the distance, Edward tightened his grip, and more water snakes emerged from the sea, biting the pseudomoth in the sky. As he said, on this territory he had managed for centuries, he had an absolute home-field advantage. As long as he exerted his full strength, Kuchiba could not escape from Montcalo.
Seeing more large water snakes approaching from the sea, Kuchiba felt a sense of despair. Even with the complete pseudomoth summoned, he still could not escape from Edward’s grasp. On Montcalo Island, he could not enter the Dream Realm, and in the sea outside the island, Edward had set up deadly traps. The sea was his home field, and under these circumstances, Kuchiba’s escape was nearly impossible.
“Boom!!”
Just as Kuchiba felt desperate, one of the large water snakes biting the pseudomoth suddenly exploded violently. Intense light and shockwaves burst in mid-air, scattering a large portion of the water snake’s body. The upper and lower halves of the snake were only connected by a thin stream of water, swaying precariously.
Seeing this, both Edward and Kuchiba were stunned, wondering what had happened. Where did this explosion come from? Neither side should have such capabilities.
Just as Edward suspected that this might be another sigil used by Kuchiba, he suddenly heard a faint rumbling sound from the island. Moments later, another explosion echoed, this time at the location of the previously exploded giant water snake. The thin stream of water connecting the upper and lower parts of the snake was severed in this explosion, and the head of the giant water snake, losing contact with the sea surface, turned into ordinary seawater and fell into the sea.
“This is… artillery fire!”
After hearing the sound clearly, Edward immediately realized what was happening. Someone had fired artillery shells at the water snakes he had summoned! And judging by the sound, it came from the coastal fortifications he had built on Montcalo Island!
“That guy… when did he remotely control the troops in the shore defense fortresses?! Does he have such abilities?!”
Realizing the truth, Edward immediately thought that his troops had been manipulated by Kuchiba. At this moment, Kuchiba himself was also puzzled about where the explosion came from and hadn’t even recognized it as artillery fire.
“What’s going on…”
At this very moment, on the strategic locations and surrounding reefs at the edge of Montcalo Island, inside one of the many fortified shore defense fortresses established by Edward and his descendants, the city guards were sleeping soundly outside the fortress. Inside the fortress, several men in different attire were skillfully operating heavy cannons, aiming at the giant sea snakes emerging from the sea.
Near the gunners, several men were handling the ammunition. Some of them expertly removed the warheads from the shells, placed a small amount of explosive into a bug, and then reassembled the warhead. They then carried the shell heads and propellant to the heavy shore guns for loading. Such scenes could be seen in many shore defense fortresses on Montcalo Island.
Over the sea near Montcalo, Dorothy hovered above the water surface, using excessive spirituality to control dozens of zombie puppets to perform similar operations. Under his control, countless black cannon muzzles were aimed at the sea snakes.
“Sorry… Captain… This moth is my prey, and I can’t let it fall here.”
With a smile, Dorothy muttered, then silently issued an order. Immediately afterward, a barrage of cannon fire erupted.
