A Hundred Times: Ascending With The Strongest System
Chapter 90 - 89: Crimson Waves and Burning Steel

Chapter 90: Chapter 89: Crimson Waves and Burning Steel

Zoey grinned maliciously as she dashed forward with insane speeds, appearing infront of the Thunder Hook immediately, her sword ready to strike.

"!!!" The Thunder Hook reacted quickly last second, using his hook to block Zoey’s slash as he was pushed back her immense strength, falling onto his back.

’He’s so weak, or maybe I’m just too strong~’ The thought only made her grin wider, her eyes gleaming with sadistic cruelty as she took slow steps toward the Thunder Hook, her water enchanted sword glowing softly.

’You bastard! What have you done to achieve such a monstrous level of strength!?’ Thunder Hook exclaimed inwardly, scrambling up urgently go get back into the fight.

But just as he got up, Zoey quickly appeared infront of him again, and with a brutal shield bash to the face, Thunder Hook was sent flying once more, crashing into some of the large barrels on the ship, knocking some into the sea.

’Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have done that.’ Zoey winced a bit as she observed the barrels which contained fine wine, get plummeted into the ocean by her carelessness. She would get those back later though, after the fight.

A pirate sneaked up on Zoey as he pointed a pistol at her and fired the weapon, a loud bang resounding from the impact.

Zoey smoothly blocked the attack, letting her [Stone Carved Shield] bare the impact as she felt a slight sting from the power of the bullet, it wasn’t a normal gun, that’s for sure.

"Things would’ve been done here much faster if I could just use my [Fireball] Skill to get everything over with, but If I do that, then I’d risk setting my ship on fire, and that could lead to my Task failing....leading to my death in the process."

She muttered under her breath, pushing a stray lock of her hair out of her face as she turned back to look at Thunder Hook, his body crackling with thunder madly.

"I’ll kill you! And then I’ll take your head and feed it to the sharks!" Thunder Hook roared ,charging forward with renewed vigor and determination, the rage in his voice clear as his aura flared up intensely.

Zoey narrowed her eyes as she prepared herself, dodging a swing from Thunder Hook, sidestepping to the side.

She observed his movements, after being trained by one of the strongest Elite’s in the Raging Phoenix Guild, her abilities to observe and strategize has been increased greatly.

’I’m not sure whether or not I could hit him with my sword, I might seriously get electrocuted.’ She thought, avoiding another attack as she leaped backward a bit.

The fight raged on, the ship surrounded in chaos as the pirates fought each other to the death brutally, blood spilling the air.

"What’s wrong!? You can’t be scared right now, right? Too afraid of a little shock?" Thunder Hook laughed like a madman, continuing the offensive as Zoey continued to dodge.

’He’s using the lightning to increase his movement speed, impressive.’ Zoey thought with a slight grin.

’Since I can’t hit him directly, I’ll just...’

Just as Thunder Hook was about to land a solid strike on her, Zoey suddenly vanished as she appeared right behind him, her movement speed dwarfing his as she appeared like a shadow of death, looming heavily over their prey.

"Wha-" Just as Thunder Hook looked back, Zoey brutally hit him with a hard swing of her [Stone Carved Shield], knocking him back as a splurge of blood left his mouth.

He regained his footing, looking at Zoey with rage in his eyes as he covered his bleeding mouth with his hand, he could swear that he lost a few teeth with that hit earlier.

"Scared? Me? You’re going to be the one begging for their life after I’m done with you." Zoey said, her voice dripping with malice as she glared at him with the look of superiority, her aura flaring up as the atmosphere shifted to one of dread and fear.

"Captain Thunder Hook! Our men are-Kaugh!!" A pirate from Thunder Hook’s forces yelled, as their men were startling to dwindle down to nothing, even their strongest fighters couldn’t last long under the numbers of Felicia’s pirates.

Before he could complete his sentence however, a sharp blade pierced his back, effectively killing him as he was kicked away by the same man that had called for Zoey’s attention earlier in the Trial, a man named Evan, Felicia’s right hand man.

"Captain! Finish him off! We’ll take care of everyone here!" Evan yelled, his voice full of spirit as he raised his sword high.

Zoey looked at him for a moment, nodding her head as she turned her attention back to Thunder Hook. Zoey grabbed her sword, walking toward Thunder Hook with slow intimidating steps, each one feeling more and more dangerous than the last.

"Y-you monster! All men! Abandon ship!" Thunder Hook’s panicked voice sent a frightening chill of fear through the hearts of his men, as they saw him desperately trying to make a break for it.

If their captain, the strongest man they had, couldn’t win against Felicia, then it meant that neither could they.

Thunder Hook leaped into the air, jumping from Felicia’s ship and making his way towards his. As he was midair, he noticed how some of his men immediately started leaping back to the ships as well, panic surging through them all, including him.

"Not so fast." Her chilling voice came from right behind him, as he looked behind in shock and terror, only to be met with a brutal kick that sent him flying hard through the air, a powerful shockwave blasting from the impact.

Thunder Hook’s body crashed hard into his ship, breaking apart the floors of wood as he through the floor, his body thriving with pain as he coughed blood violently, he appeared to have landed straight into their wine cellar.

"No...this can’t be the end..." Thunder Hook whispered against his raspy, and quiet voice, crawling across the floor as he felt multiple parts of his bones break from Zoey’s kick alone.

’Did I kill him?’ She thought, landing onto the floor of the ship, looking at the massive hole that Thunder Hook’s body crashed through.

She approached the hole, landing inside the cellar as she appeared right before Thunder Hook, a terrified, weak, and fragile scream leaving his body as he saw her.

"Wait! Cough! Stop!" Thunder Hook begged, his eyes full of fear.

"What did I say? You’re begging for your life, just like I said you would." Zoey told him, her voice full of mockery as she laughed under her breath.

"Spare me! Please! I’ll give you anything! This ship! My maps! Everything!" Thunder Hook tried to convinced Zoey, but she wasn’t interested in the slightest.

’I need to complete this Trial, and take my crew to that town successfully, so I can’t afford to be exploring right now.’ Zoey thought, looking down of Thunder Hook.

"Aren’t you feared across the seven sea’s? One of the most dangerous pirate captains out there, is actually begging for their life right now. How pathetic." Zoey sneered, her face contorting in disgust.

Thunder Hook felt insulted, utterly humiliated by her words. He wanted to kill her, tear her apart, but he couldn’t do that in his current condition, as he was rapidly losing his life due to blood loss, and he needed treatment immediately.

"And no, I’m not interested. You’re going to die right here," Zoey said, snapping her fingers as a bright crackling flame appeared in her hands, "Inside of this sinking ship."

With that, Zoey dropped the fireball onto the wooden floor, observing the max-levelled flame devouring the planks eagerly, it’s fire spreading quickly as everything started to be engulfed by fire.

"No!!!!" Thunder Hook roared, watching Zoey calmly walk away amidst the chaos. The smoke was starting to suffocate him, water started to enter the ship through burnt cracks and destroyed wood, the ship was sinking, and it frightened him to no end.

Zoey cast him one last glance, before jumping out of the burning ship and landing on the dock of her ship.

Her crewmates looked at her with surprised eyes and a bit of curiosity as they felt like she was a whole different person all together.

"C-captain! Are you all right?" Evan asked.

’This is bad...I’ve lost a few men already while I was unconscious, If I lose them all, I’ll die.’ Zoey thought, her fist clenching subconsciously as she thought about this.

"I’m fine, don’t worry about me." Zoey said.

"I feared that you were dead as soon as you were hit with one of their cannons, I’m really glad you’re okay captain.

But, as you can see here, some of our men didn’t make it unfortunately, Thunder Hook caught us off guard and surprised us." Evan sighed, his eyes looking down with sadness.

’....’ Zoey looked at the dead bodies of her crewmates, a small tinge of guilt piercing her heart as she thought of the lives she could’ve possibly saved.

’I’m going to have to give them a proper burial, that’s what Felicia would want for them.’

Just as Zoey was about to ponder on how to move forward, a frightening roar startled her as she jerked slightly in place, her eyes widened as she snapped her head backwards, looking towards the sea bed.

Something was coming.