Chapter Fifty: The Ghost Ship (2)

"Ugh, what an awful feeling. This is what it’s like entering someone else’s territory... It reminds me of when that crazy woman barged into mine... Was I too harsh back then?" Elai grumbled in clear annoyance, her mind drifting back to the time she exploited the goddess of the heavens, Ishtar.

As the goddess of the underworld, she too once had her own ‘domain’—and it was nothing less than the entire realm of death! Elai was only affected now because she was no longer that underworld goddess. If her original self were here, the mere aura she gave off would have been enough to make these lesser evil spirits surrender, prostrating themselves in terror.

"This is troublesome. Domains always take precedence—my passive healing and equipment regeneration are both suppressed," Jeros sighed. "We need to be very careful. Why not summon Lady Artoria? If I recall, she’s especially skilled at dealing with the undead, isn’t she?"

"Actually... Elai is even better suited for this," Zhao Tianhe replied with a sigh. "But she only has ten minutes left before she has to leave. Even so, we could still draw a wave of monsters and let Artoria blast them, right? We shouldn’t waste the power of the Wind King’s Barrier!"

"Hmm... That works," Jeros considered, then nodded. ‘We should be cautious, but with me holding the rear, nothing too serious should happen.’

With that, Zhao Tianhe and Elai entered the ship’s cabin.

Inside, the lighting was oppressively dim, but for someone as attuned as Zhao Tianhe, it posed no obstacle at all.

‘There’s a sound, but it’s subtle—almost like the wind... Are these phantoms? That’s troublesome...’ Zhao Tianhe cycled through his senses, stretching his perception as far as possible, but could not pin down the situation around them. That could only mean one thing: the crew on this ship were likely the most troublesome kind of the undead—phantoms.

After explaining the situation to Elai, she nodded, and the shaft of her spear shimmered with a searing glow. Phantoms, much like elementals, had high resistance to physical attacks, but magical and soul-based damage was especially effective against them.

Suddenly, the wind intensified. Zhao Tianhe quickly pointed to the left.

Seeing this, Elai thrust her spear straight ahead.

A translucent creature, dressed much like a crewman, was pierced through by the spear. The intense heat radiated from the wound in its chest, burning it red-hot, the energy making an ear-splitting hum.

"Intruders..." The ghostly crewman stared at the two in agony, flinging its spectral scimitar at Elai with a sudden burst.

Elai tried to dodge, but the weapon homed in, forcing her to raise her hand in defense.

"Ugh!" Elai grunted as the scimitar struck, exploding on contact and leaving a faint red burn on her palm.

Zhao Tianhe anxiously checked the status panel and saw that Elai had only lost five health points; even the curse effect attached to the scimitar had been negated.

The ghostly crewman, witnessing this, began to doubt its own ghostly existence. That attack had been its trump card, loaded with psychic damage and several layered curses—yet all it managed was a mild cut on her hand...

"Die!" Enraged by the sight of Elai’s wound, Zhao Tianhe conjured a longsword, enchanting it with a low-level holy light spell, and slashed at the phantom.

The ghost crewman struggled to escape the spear, but Zhao Tianhe severed its head with a single stroke.

Decapitation was hardly fatal for a phantom, but reattaching the body still required mana, and it had none to spare while resisting Elai’s spear.

Elai had considered finishing it off with a surge of power, but seeing Zhao Tianhe’s determination, she decided to let him have the honor.

After more than twenty furious strikes from Zhao Tianhe, the phantom finally dissipated completely.

This showed just how tough it was—if Zhao Tianhe had faced this elite alone, he might have needed a hundred blows to finish it, exhausting himself as if battling a boss.

"Phew, that’s done..." Zhao Tianhe listened intently to the rush of wind and the creak of wood—the telltale sign of phantoms phasing through the hull—and then shouted, "Run!"

On the deck, Jeros hovered in the air, wielding a greatsword of pure light. Several phantoms around him faded into nothingness.

"Hmm?" A flurry of footsteps and thuds echoed.

After Zhao Tianhe and Elai entered the cabin, the door had slowly shut behind them. Now, more phantom crewmen phased through the hull, attempting to ambush Jeros.

Boom!

Elai kicked down the heavily reinforced, enchanted wooden door, holding Zhao Tianhe in her left hand. On her right, her spear was skewering a fading phantom crewman.

"Ha! Looks like you two are quite popular," Jeros laughed heartily, his sword of light splitting into dozens of glowing arrows that hovered around him.

"Come forth, Artoria!" Zhao Tianhe bellowed to the wave of phantoms in pursuit.

A petite, golden-haired girl descended with a raging gale, her air cannon obliterating the entire corridor beyond the shattered doorway!

The magical storm tore the phantoms to shreds, as if Zhao Tianhe had hacked at them with a hundred swords.

A few lingering in the corners or with bodies still in the hall were spared, but all were rooted in shock.

Suddenly, an ear-splitting shriek reverberated. Zhao Tianhe resisted the urge to shut his senses, instead amplifying them to pinpoint the source—only to black out on the spot.

While enhancing one’s senses sharpens perception, those very organs are frail and easily damaged, especially when probing phenomena that are inherently destructive, like blinding flashes or piercing noise.

"Hey, are you alright?!" Elai asked anxiously, seeing Zhao Tianhe collapse.

Meanwhile, the few phantoms that had cowered moments before now seemed possessed, eyes blazing red as they charged at Artoria in a frenzy.

Though their movements were more frenzied, these battered remnants were no match for Artoria—she dispatched them with a few casual swings.

"Hey, up there! Zhao Tianhe’s out cold!" Elai shouted, pointing to the blood trickling from his ears. "You can heal, can’t you?"

"I am, of course, a man of many talents," Jeros replied confidently as he floated down. "But healing magic isn’t one of them."

"Then what good are you?!" Elai couldn’t help but retort.

"But I do have healing items." Jeros produced a small crystal vial, uncorked it, and dripped a few drops into Zhao Tianhe’s ears.

"Ah!" Zhao Tianhe jerked awake, clutching his ears as blood and pus gushed out. "That sound... it came from the very bottom of the ship. It’s... it’s alive! That monster is alive!"