Black Sail
Chapter 330: CCCXXX. The Day of the Reforged Old Sword

Chapter 330: CCCXXX. The Day of the Reforged Old Sword

Shadi didn’t reply, instead, he gazed at the deck filled with Merfolk, who varied in skin tone.

Unlike Ox, they all had fins on their backs which allowed them free movement even in the deep sea. Although Ox could still swim, he was effectively crippled, unable to dive deep or maintain balance, consuming a huge amount of energy for each movement compared to his kin.

These Merfolk were highly recognizable, their various traits and skin tones distinct, marked as criminals from Mirror Sea, a place exceedingly fond of tattoos—each Merfolk was elaborately inked with dragons and tigers.

Ox did not partake in the train heist, but understood the significance of this period for Black Sail, as well as the weight of future influence. After Morison and others returned, he was also organizing personnel, deploying troops, and almost immediately, he sent the fully militarized Dead Man Bay to participate in the battle at Heaven Port.

These Merfolk, too, intercepted the interceptors during their return voyage. A Merfolk scout on duty noticed the situation here and immediately left the ship, approaching the Sea God Ship from underwater. With their webbed fins sticking to the Sea God Ship wall and holding weapons in their mouths, they could climb up.

On Sea God, most were technical workers unskilled in combat, taken forcibly by Doringger. Kolon and Hanno, as main combat personnel, were aboard; their fighters were decent but still not enough.

Thousands of Merfolk criminals, many with military backgrounds, some formerly regular army-level, were led by Ox, who also brought a former war hero from an external conflict at Mirror Sea. Despite his old age, his presence was formidable, disarming both the captain and vice-captain of Sea God.

They slaughtered brutally, the rumors were true—they chopped and swallowed, terrifying everyone on the Sea God.

They even commandeered the cannons, taking a few scholarly gunners hostage. Using the Magic Ship Cannon, they obliterated the one called Kolon, sending him and his ship to paradise.

Onboard Fuma Keqing, Hanno and a Demon Hunter, along with many skilled subordinates, engaged in desperate combat as Liszt was on the brink of death. Celeste used a Curse Artifact that restrained dragons to control the Demon Hunter. Firepower was unleashed in full force, and an invigorated Haywood fought fiercely.

Hanno and many of his subordinates also died, launching a fierce counterattack at the end. If not for the remarkable Haywood, no one could have defeated Hanno, once known as one of the East Sea Three Heroes, despite being out of shape, his muscle memory and instinct for killing remained intact, making him a humanoid Magic Beast.

One could hardly imagine what kind of monster Doringger was, aided by some drug.

The peculiar Golden-eyed Demon Hunter, incredibly powerful with a bizarre bodily constitution, saw the changing situation and chose not to escalate conflicts. Facing the endlessly regenerating, undying Haywood, he used Magic Technique-like magic, leaving only a large pile of Spell Paper on the spot and disappeared without a trace.

Now Sea God was under their control, but they didn’t return to Heaven Port because of Liszt.

At this moment, the highest authority on the ship was Ox.

Because of Liszt’s condition, he made a decision—returning to Heaven Port now would seal their doom if the news of Liszt’s death spread. Without a definitive conclusion, they could not return.

The so-called Seventh Amendment and the support from Cangshan Tobacco Company were largely due to Liszt’s influence, but also because they saw a profit to be made, which was the main reason they would fight after arriving.

In terms of connections, no matter who you know, even if it’s a ruler of a country, if you don’t have the capability to capitalize on these connections, it’s not networking, it’s just having a contact, like Zhou Ke’er.

Thus, if Liszt died, both face and substance were gone.

He obviously wasn’t close enough with those people, for them to seek revenge for him, that was impossible.

Shadi went out for air solely because he couldn’t stand the atmosphere in the medical room.

Because...

Liszt really was dying, not having woken up for nearly half a month, severely weakened.

Fortunately, Sea God had quite well-equipped medical facilities where they could use IV drips to supply Liszt with nutrients, but that wouldn’t sustain him for long.

The strange Curse Artifact hosted in his body could heal injuries, but was limited by his own physical strength. The extent of his injury left no chance of survival, and with his extremely weak body and damaged heart and lungs, there was no power left for recovery.

His heart and lungs emitted a constant dark-red smoke but failed to heal, and his condition worsened by the day.

Now, nearly half a month had passed, and Liszt had withered away to something akin to a dried corpse, devoid of all blood. Today, he was merely clinging to his last breath.

"Fuck, Liszt is making too much noise,"

said Shadi, unable to bear it anymore, hence he ran outside.

Liszt, who would enter the Main God Space in his sleep, had mild somnambulism, and now, even more restless, his hand twitched continuously in his coma, it was unclear whether he was trying to hit someone or doing something else.

"Shit, maybe he’s really about to enter the Main God Space now."

Rein took a deep drag of his cigarette, as that was the rule: one had to be dead to enter.

"This isn’t the kind of thing you say aloud."

Shadi said this, but he had already prepared himself for the possibility that Liszt might die at any moment.

The construction of the Sea God was extremely unique; its hundreds of sails were welded onto automatically lifting steel frames, and the space beneath the deck was primarily used for various functional cargo holds, fuel storage rooms, and boiler rooms.

On the deck, there was also a tiered wooden cabin structure, which Doringger had evidently also intended to be a strategic headquarters. It was quite ambitious, more so than the Emperor’s bridgehead for his eastern campaign, as he wanted even more.

Inside the building at the stern end of the Sea God, in the medical room,

Mika and Haywood both wore stern expressions, Ox was sitting on the ground, and Celeste was watching the movements on the bed.

The situation was getting worse by the minute.

Now, Liszt’s breathing was growing more and more rapid, his already sallow and sickly skin was covered in sweat, and it seemed as though he was having a nightmare; his body remained in a highly tense state, once again yanking off the IV needle.

"Take it easy, you’ll only die faster this way."

Mika reinserted the needle into his arm, this time securing it directly with a belt.

Celeste frowned; these pirates were tactless in their speech.

Haywood crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, helmet on. He was undoubtedly the last person who wanted to see Liszt die—the man was a critical pivot for all their intersecting interests, and his death would cause a chain reaction collapse.

"He’s as good as dead now; he shouldn’t have to die like this, I’ll make it quick for him."

Ox made a decision; waiting further wasn’t a solution, Liszt was beyond saving. Heaven Port was probably in chaos by now, and they couldn’t keep dragging this out.

"Bring Rein and Shadi here."

Ox wanted to get the others’ agreement before giving Liszt a dignified end.

"Hold on a moment..."

Mika took out a vial of blood from a box on the side, which Dreya had once provided. According to the research from the Northern Prison, the chances of being transformed by this substance were even lower than the failure rate of using a musket ball to commit suicide, but it was still worth a try.

He too thought Liszt was beyond saving.

"No, we should wait a bit longer."

Celeste immediately stopped these absurd actions; this group of madmen was gambling too heavily, and if not stopped, they would truly end Liszt’s life.

In fact, if Liszt were brought back to Lostra, with the government’s equipment and medical techniques, there was a good chance he could be healed, though it wasn’t really necessary.

"No, none of you move, let me do it."

Haywood was already planning to use a forbidden ritual to transform Liszt into a demon.

And Liszt suddenly woke up, startled; the Junlin Sword had by this time completely melted into molten metal, pooling in his heart and then flowing to his limbs and finally piercing through his crown.

At that moment,

Liszt suddenly disappeared from the bed,

vanished without a trace, as if evaporated from the human world, but his presence could still be sensed, a faint fluctuation in the air, as if existing in a crevice between reality and somewhere else.

Mika was shocked.

Back when leaving Duguli, Liszt had found a second Junlin Sword, and the situation was just like it was now.

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