Chapter 42: Swamp King
In the night sky, the stars twinkled.
For some unknown reason, the stars in the sky had begun to dim recently, which made many people feel anxious. In this world, the stars represented the deities, each connected to the Astral Realm and reflecting their light back to the Material Plane. The entire Multiverse could be connected through the Astral Realm; a few dim stars might indicate conflicts between deities, but now that all the stars were fading, it caused a sense of panic.
However, only special beings noticed this; ordinary people continued living their normal lives.
“Your Excellency!”
The first mate of the pirate ship approached, looking somewhat anxious, and whispered, “We have entered the deep sea region; this is the territory of the Swamp King. I’m worried he might attack us for entering his waters!”
Soren glanced coldly at him and said, “Continue sailing.”
The first mate jumped in surprise at his gaze, quickly ordering the others to keep sailing while silently praying they wouldn’t encounter the Swamp King’s pirate ship. The Swamp King had existed for a long time; with their strength, they were no match for him, let alone the rumored monsters under his command.
“Ship ahoy!”
The lookout suddenly exclaimed under the night sky and shouted, “There’s a ship nearby!… It’s a pirate ship!… Three of them!… No!… Five!… Ah!… It’s the Swamp King!… He’s surrounding us!”
Panic erupted on the deck.
Meanwhile, Soren narrowed his eyes at this moment, glanced at Vivian beside him, and quietly said, “Finally appeared!”
His purpose for this trip was to draw out the Swamp King.
It wasn’t Soren’s habit to passively endure assaults, especially since he had several trump cards up his sleeve. Defeating the Swamp King would completely open up the route to the Overseas Islands, and he would also qualify to become the new Pirate King. Although the Southern Coast was merely a corner of the world, it represented a stepping stone for him to formally compete with the major forces and the Church of the Deity.
“Prepare for battle!”
Soren shouted, startling the other pirates. They quickly scrambled to action. It seemed his accumulated authority had worked well, as he managed to stabilize their panic. The legends of the Pirate King spread across the Southern Coast; they were no ordinary individuals—either monsters or half-breeds, or legendary professionists. Ordinary pirates didn’t even have the courage to fight them.
“Vivian!”
Soren looked at the slightly nervous little girl beside him. Perhaps it was his illusion, but within seconds, her expression became calm, and a slight excited smile appeared at the corner of her lips, as if she couldn’t wait for the enemy to appear.
Her petite body floated up, and she chuckled, “Don’t worry, big brother. I’ll handle these trash!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Continuous cannon fire erupted, sending towering waves crashing around the pirate ship. The enemy only hit the hull once, merely grazing the deck. The pirates still appeared quite chaotic; these fools were terrible at commands. The lookout had climbed down, and someone nearby shouted in terror, “In the water!… There are monsters in the water!”
Soren slightly squinted his eyes. He looked around the sea and suddenly issued an order.
Then, they saw a fog rising in the surrounding waters!
………………
Not far from Soren, on a massive Dragon Head Warship, the Swamp King wore a twisted smile. He was a half-breed giant monster, possessing half the bloodline of a marsh giant and half of a lizardman. Thus, he appeared as a giant version of a lizard monster, maintaining a humanoid shape while covered with numerous scales. Surrounding him were a group of bizarre lizardmen and various unrecognizable marine creatures.
The deep-sea demon, Dagon, enjoyed cultivating believers by defiling bloodlines, so many of his minions were bizarrely shaped creatures.
However, these creatures were all very dangerous!
“Just a bunch of useless waste!”
The Swamp King picked up a heavy ship anchor, an exotic weapon he wielded. His body was so strong, granted by the powers of the Demon Lord, and he possessed some portion of a demon bloodline. The strength bonus from the giant sub-type, the agility and defense bonuses from the lizardman bloodline, and the skin and resistance bonuses from the demon bloodline meant that even without any armor, he had protection equivalent to scale armor. His weapon, the heavy anchor, had a crushing effect against any warrior.
Throughout the Southern Coast!
Even the most elite royal Naga Guards of the Naga Tribe would not dare to take a single attack from him head-on.
He was a fallen warrior.
But he was not devoid of magical abilities; he possessed unique combat skills and could also utilize some demon-like spell-like abilities. He was a very dangerous enemy, with only one weakness—his madness. He inherited the chaotic evil of demons, and the act of killing drove him even more insane, causing even his subordinates to keep their distance. That terrifying weapon, when swung, had previously taken down many of his own minions.
“Lizardmen, into the sea!”
The Swamp King was not a mindless brute without tactics. He glanced at the bizarre fog that had emerged and said in a deep voice, “Release the Devilfish and Deep Sea Stealth Assassins!”
These were the offspring cultivated by the deep-sea demon lord, Dagon.
Of course, they were not divine in nature, merely mutated ocean demon monsters that the Swamp King could control to obey his commands. With a series of splashes, the lizardmen cackled as they plunged into the depths of the sea. They were amphibians and had adapted to the marine environment. The lizardmen, stronger than their inland counterparts, were the Swamp King’s important subordinates, along with their own offspring, even if it meant he had killed many lizardman mates to breed them.
“Sea Bandit Fishmen!”
The Swamp King glanced at the other battlefield and said sternly, “Why haven’t these trash attacked? Don’t they fear that I’ll eat them after dealing with those clowns?”
This pirate king enjoyed devouring living creatures, including sentient beings.
“Ah! Ah! Ah!”
A series of screams erupted, but they did not come from the enemy pirate ship, rather from the lizardmen he had just sent out. One lizardman crawled up from the water, shaking all over, making its way up the ship’s hull to the deck, trembling, “Below!… There’s something!… Monster!… Some monster!… ”
A creature that could terrify them like this was naturally no simple matter.
………………
On the other side, on Soren’s ship, a group of terrified pirates shouted intermittently, “Lizardmen!… It’s lizardmen!… Ah!… Sea Bandit Fishmen!… Be careful!… They’re getting closer!”
“What is this!… ”
A stuttering voice rang out. Suddenly, beside the pirate ship, the seawater parted, and an ominous black mast shot out of the depths, instantly revealing a warship exuding an aura of death on Soren’s right side, blocking part of the incoming attacks. Some creatures, more grotesque and bizarre than lizardmen, covered in sea weeds and the aura of death, appeared, attacking the surrounding pirate ships, sinking one warship with a loud cannon blast.
“Ghost… Ghost Ship~!”
All the pirates on deck froze momentarily. When they realized the ghost ship was actually attacking the enemy, they all turned their gaze to Soren.
Soren nodded slightly and then lifted Vivian onto the ghost ship across from them.
Cheers erupted!
The first mate’s face turned beet red, his eyes filled with uncontainable exhilaration, as he roared at the other pirates, “Prepare for battle! Get ready to fight back! You bunch of trash!… ”
“Eliminate them!”
“Starting today, we are the strongest pirates in this sea region!… Your Excellency will become the new Pirate King!!!…”
………………(To be continued ~^~)
