*Chapter 31: Deathmatch*

From the battleship's lookout tower, a marine's mouth dropped open in shock, as if he'd seen a ghost.

"A-a giant sea king octopus!"

Every marine who heard the shout wore a puzzled expression. Why was a sea king suddenly attacking the battleship? There had been no reports of large creatures living in these waters before.

“What’s there to panic about?” At this critical moment, Monka the Axe Emperor appeared, roaring to restore order. “Lower the sails and load the cannons. If that thing dares to show its head, blast it to pieces!”

So what if it’s a sea king? Against a large battleship, it’s just a moving target. A few rounds of cannon fire would turn it into the soldiers’ lunch.

The navy was full of confidence, not taking the sudden appearance of the sea king seriously. But that didn’t mean the Sound Nest Squad couldn’t see the danger.

“Something’s wrong,” the girl instinctively sensed danger. Even without her full awareness kicking in, she still warned everyone to stay alert.

With a major battle imminent, any small disturbance could have unknown consequences. The team was fully prepared for a fight.

If the other marines didn’t want to believe it, that was their problem.

As it turned out, the girl’s instincts were spot on. This attack was no accident.

When a massive number of life signatures appeared within her perception range, the girl’s voice trembled with near despair. “Those people… they’re… they’re hiding inside the giant octopus!”

That’s how they avoided detection by the strong. The vibrations they felt were because the pirates were attacking the ship’s hull from below.

Why was she so terrified? The reason was simple: an enemy capable of pulling off a tactic like this was going to be extremely difficult to deal with.

If they didn’t factor in the enemy’s cunning, this battle could end in disaster. And who knew if their foes had already revealed all their tricks?

As she was pondering this, the situation changed again. The giant octopus stopped ramming the ship and instead wrapped its tentacles tightly around the hull, anchoring the ship in place.

A large number of pirates began climbing up the tentacles’ backs, making it impossible for the navy to attack them.

To make matters worse, cannonballs were being passed along the tentacles. When they reached the top, the pirates immediately threw them down onto the crowded deck.

In an instant, the deck was engulfed in flames. Fortunately, the ship had been treated with a special coating during construction, preventing the fire from spreading rapidly to the interior.

The navy tried to retaliate, but the pirates skillfully used the octopus’s tentacles as cover. The thick, rubbery tentacles absorbed the bullets, rendering them ineffective.

Unable to attack the enemies on the other side, the navy could only counterattack when the pirates exposed themselves. But fighting this way, no matter how many soldiers they had, wouldn’t be enough.

Seeing the situation spiraling out of control, the girl urgently spoke up, “We have to deal with those tentacles, or this battle is over.”

“Leave it to me,” the sniper Owl stepped forward, setting up his rifle in a strategic position. His shots could ignore defenses, making him the perfect person to deal with this kind of enemy.

After a brief aim, a muffled shot rang out, and one of the giant octopus’s tentacles was severed.

The pirates, caught off guard, fell like dumplings. Although they were out of formation, they could still engage the nearby marines on the deck.

Only a few unlucky ones fell directly into the midst of the marines and were quickly hacked to death.

Ten seconds later, a second shot was fired, and another tentacle was severed.

This time, however, the pirates had learned their lesson. They jumped down from the deck, avoiding the embarrassing situation of being surrounded by the enemy.

Even without their biggest advantage, they could still fight the marines. The numerical advantage the marines initially had wasn’t as significant now.

“Does having more people really help?” Captain Kuro leaped lightly onto the deck, clearly targeting the sniper who had been repeatedly shooting at his men. “More people just means more to worry about. Besides, you still have to follow that nonsense about justice.”

Before the words had fully left his mouth, he silently appeared behind the sniper, his cat claw blades easily tearing through the man’s armor.

“Ugh.” The sniper grunted, instinctively rolling forward into a tactical dodge.

As expected of a boss-level character, Kuro’s speed was even more outrageous than Olson’s. With a casual strike, he had knocked 75% of the sniper’s health.

In a one-on-one situation, lasting more than three seconds would be considered a feat for the sniper. But, fortunately for him, Owl was never alone.

As the sniper got back to his feet, he couldn’t find any trace of the enemy in front of him. This wasn’t surprising, as Kuro had already used his unimaginable speed to get behind him.

This was his signature move, Silent Step, which granted him movement speed equivalent to the “Shave” technique of the Six Powers.

In the East Blue, this was nearly an unbeatable combat method.

If this attack hit, the sniper would be instantly killed, but his expression showed no sign of worry.

“Hold on!” A loud shout came, and MT Randy, holding his tower shield, charged forward like a locomotive.

Anything in his path was smashed to pieces, a terrifying display of power that even made Kuro frown.

He was renowned for his cunning, often praised for his strategic genius. However, clever people often shared a common flaw: a lack of the all-or-nothing courage in critical moments.

Faced with the choice between attacking or dodging, Kuro made the correct decision within a tenth of a second.

---

He jumped back, trying to avoid Randy's charge.

There's always time to kill the gunman, so taking such a violent hit is clearly unwise.

But Crow underestimated Randy's determination and didn’t understand the enemy’s skill mechanics. Once targeted by the charge, no matter how fast he moved, the attack would hit him.

Boom! The tower shield slammed heavily into Captain Crow, while the gunman, ignoring the steamed bun handed to him, set up his sniper rifle and delivered a devastating blow to the target.

Seeing the blood splatter from the boss, all the Reincarnators present began to laugh.

This is the power of teamwork; even a character with attributes far beyond theirs had no choice but to fall under their combined assault.

"Owl, how much health did we just take off?"

"About a third."

"Good, two more shots and this fight is over."

The plan sounded great, but unfortunately, there was one unpredictable factor in this battle: the Reincarnator from the pirate faction.

The girl hadn't made a move yet because she was desperately trying to sense his presence. No matter what the attack method, she would do her best to stop it immediately.

A faint blue light shone in her palm as her eyes narrowed, and she turned to look towards the restaurant behind her.

"Found you!"

Bang! A piercing bullet headed straight for her face, but it was blocked by a layer of light blue ice crystals.

She frowned slightly; the power of that shot was clearly more than she had anticipated.

"Another gunman, huh?" she thought.

As the team's mental specialist, she had terrifying ice manipulation abilities, thanks to her experience in the King of Fighters world.

Other types might be tricky, but when it came to gunmen, she could render their attacks completely ineffective.

Unable to pierce her ice barrier, a gunman was nothing more than a mobile minion.

Crow’s allies were closing in on him, and it was only a matter of time before Owl's terrifying attack would take him down.

Once they got what they wanted, whether the navy won didn’t matter at all.

As she thought about it, a figure approached her as fast as lightning. It was Paul, wielding his demonic sword.

"One Sword Style: Swift!"

Now that Paul had acquired a famous blade, his attributes had significantly increased, putting him on par with an elite enemy.

[Paul (Swordsman), Strength 12, Constitution 14, Agility 12, Spirit 7, Perception 12, Trait: Mind's Eye]

Using Mind's Eye to see through her weak point, Paul swiftly broke the ice and then delivered a fierce slash to the female Reincarnator.

Even though he hadn’t completed the Destiny Quest yet, Kiba could still make her obey his commands.

To hypnotize this giant beast, Zango had temporarily lost his mobility, and the other two fighters didn’t follow his orders, so only Paul could act as his backup.

An unexpected ambush worked right away, helping him break free from the mental Reincarnator’s entanglement.

Captain Crow, on the other hand, was being besieged by Lieutenant Ripa, Olsen, Owl, Randy, and the situation wasn’t looking good. Kiba needed to get there quickly to help.

All he had to do was give a little assistance so the captain could prioritize taking out one of the enemies. Without overwhelming force, Crow's power was enough to strike fear into anyone.

Kiba’s plan was simple: deal with the gunman first. Without the sniper rifle threat, taking down the remaining enemies was just a matter of time.

"Hey, hey, don't ignore me!"

The cry from beside him made Kiba’s eyes widen. He hadn’t sensed anyone else’s presence at all.

That could only mean one thing: the enemy had either a perception attribute higher than his or some kind of stealth ability.

Finally spotting the young man, Kiba immediately sent a scan his way.

[ID 14580, Strength 6, Constitution 8, Agility 6, Spirit **, Perception *, Trait: **]

"This trash gear can’t even scan traits."

The information he got was useless, and it wasted a valuable point of spirit. Frustrated, Kiba resolved that even if it meant altering the original effect of his equipment, he would try to repair it in the pirate world.

Seeing the young man gathering a ball of energy, Kiba sighed, knowing there was no way he could pass this trial unscathed.

Golden lightning flashed in midair as three Abnormal Titans landed around the boy.

It seemed like they were about to tear him apart and devour him in the next second.

(End of Chapter)