Peale turned to face Wilder, stomped his feet hard on the muddy ground, and shot toward him.
"Cover him!" A sharp glint flashed in Soria's eyes as he cut down a monster attempting to block Peale's path. The others also moved, tearing open a path for him.
"Gyahahaha! To catch the thief, you must first catch the king! This is the only way!" Peale shouted as he ran, viciously swatting aside any monsters that pounced on him. He was getting closer and closer to Wilder.
"My, my." Wilder calmly raised a hand, palm facing the rapidly approaching Peale. A drop of swamp oozed from his palm and fell to his feet. A dark, gaping hole appeared in the center of his palm, and then, with a flash, a sharp spike shot out, heading straight for Peale!
"Heh…" Peale let out a low chuckle and didn't even bother to dodge. In that instant, his body seemed to both disappear and reappear. The spike passed through him without any resistance and struck a broken wall far in the distance. The impact was comparable to a cannonball, shattering the wall to pieces!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
A dense series of sharp whooshes filled the air. Wilder didn't lower his hand; instead, he fired several more spikes from his palm in rapid succession, all of them aimed at Peale.
But without exception, all of the spikes passed harmlessly through Peale's body, unable to hurt him in the slightest.
"Useless," Peale sneered, his pace never slowing.
Wilder lowered his hand and muttered to himself, "Is there no time limit on maintaining that state of ignoring attacks? Or is there no limit for a short period? But in that state, the user also can't touch physical objects unless they deactivate it. Deactivating it also has no time limit. But combining this with my previous observations, it takes a certain amount of preparation time to go from a normal state to the attack-ignoring state. This time is probably between one and two seconds."
Wilder looked up. "In other words, he will maintain this attack-ignoring state throughout his approach, right up until he's in front of me. The moment he deactivates it to attack will be my only chance. Judging by his performance against the Hundred Demons earlier, maintaining that state probably isn't easy. Perhaps it consumes a lot of stamina, or… there's a limit to what his own body can endure. For example, does he need to hold his breath to maintain that state?"
"Whatever… none of that matters. What's important is that I just need to kill him the moment he attacks me," Wilder said calmly. By now, Peale was close, only a few steps away. Before he had even arrived, he had already raised the sharp, poison-laced dagger and was thrusting it at Wilder.
SPLAT!
A soldier in ancient armor, holding a cleaver and with a somewhat strange body shape, expressionlessly emerged from the swamp on the ground, blocking Peale's path and swinging its blade down at him!
The two were extremely close, almost face to face. In such a short reaction time, Peale's only goal was to kill Wilder. For a moment, he couldn't figure out what was so strange about the soldier's body.
His body passed straight through the soldier. A bloodthirsty sneer on his face, he emerged from the other side. The scene looked like two intersecting afterimages. The soldier remained in place, maintaining its forward chopping motion, while Peale passed through its back—first his head, then his torso, then his legs. By the time his entire body had passed through the soldier, Peale was right in front of Wilder. Armament Haki instantly coated the dagger, and in a flash, the jet-black, ice-cold tip shot toward Wilder's heart.
Squelch!
The sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh rang out. Peale's entire body went rigid, as if struck by lightning. His face was a mask of confusion and disbelief. Blood gushed from his back and chest, his life force draining away at an alarming rate.
His strength was being siphoned away, bit by bit, as if a great, all-powerful hand in the air had seized him, greedily draining everything from his body.
"You seem to have underestimated what I so carefully prepared," Wilder's calm voice reached his ears. In the moment his consciousness blurred, he saw Wilder's face, so close and yet so unnervingly calm. Before the last shred of his consciousness was stripped away, his Observation Haki saw the scene behind him.
I see…
It has two bodies, attached back-to-back…
The moment I passed through the first body and deactivated my state, my fate was sealed…
Through his Observation Haki, Peale saw the soldier's true form. Only then did he understand where that strange feeling had come from. It was thicker…
A normal body wouldn't be that thick…
So… it was two bodies… a front and a back…
"Peale!" Soria and the others, watching from a distance, were shaken to the core when they saw Peale fall! They charged over, heedless of everything else!
"It's time to end this. Although it's a hasty conclusion, and the practical application of this ability is far from what I envisioned, with a few more tries, I'm sure my experience with coordination and strategy will greatly improve. But let's end it here for today. To catch the thief, you must first catch the king. You were right about that. But I wonder if you've heard another saying: an army in defeat is like a collapsing mountain. You probably haven't. Well, you won't be able to hear it now anyway."
Wilder muttered to himself, looking down at the corpse at his feet. When he finished, he slowly raised his head to face the charging Soria and the others. His eyes turned as cold as an abyss. He raised a hand and made a grasping motion in the empty air!
It was as if an invisible giant hand had seized the strings controlling this world!
The calm ground suddenly began to move—or rather, the thick layer of swamp covering the ground began to move. It rolled and churned like the waves of the sea. At the same time, all the monsters sank into the swamp, and the churning grew even more violent.
"Aargh!" Luda the Gunslinger let out a blood-curdling scream. He looked down at his feet in horror. As he was running, his feet had been instantly sucked into the suddenly surging swamp. Then, an unbearable, sharp pain shot up from his submerged legs.
He didn't know what was happening underneath, only that he felt something sharp severing his feet.
Terrified, Luda propped himself up with his hands, his body off-balance, and scrambled backward, screaming, "My feet! My feet are gone!"
But in the process, his body began to sink into the swamp, deeper and deeper.
"Dammit! What's happening?" Hearing Luda's screams and seeing the swamp churning without reason, Soria and the others turned their heads, their expressions changing drastically. When they saw the bloody stumps where Luda's feet had been, their faces instantly turned pale. They had no idea how to deal with this bizarre and dangerous scene.
"The scent of fear. I can smell it." Wilder tilted his head slightly, his nose twitching as if he had caught a scent. A wicked arc pulled at the corner of his mouth. The next second, he vanished without a sound.
Luda's screams grew weaker. His body was sinking, and the swamp was mercilessly forcing its way into his nostrils. In that moment, he went limp. Several blossoms of blood bloomed on his body. Then, to the horror of Soria and the others, several hands shot out from beneath the swamp and instantly dragged him under.
Seeing this, the remaining men felt their hair stand on end. They turned and fled in terror. As for their comrades, they were long forgotten. Their own lives were what mattered most. Driven by fear, even the most beautiful and heartwarming of bonds can rot.
One moment, they could disregard danger for their comrades; the next, they could choose to flee out of a fear they couldn't bear.
"Got you. The first one," Wilder's low voice sounded in Hoss's ear. The moment he heard it, his face changed. He tried to dodge, but it was too late. The swamp beneath his feet suddenly surged, binding his legs tightly. A few flashes of blood, and Hoss's head was separated from his body. Then, his entire body was dragged into the swamp by countless hands.
"The second one." Wilder appeared above Bronze Tree. A sharp spike descended from above his head. He tried to block it with his belts, but several long spears shot out from beneath his feet, impaling his body.
"The third one…"
Wilder's icy voice echoed across this swampy hell. Each word represented a life being taken. Soon, all the main members, including Soria of the Greatsword, had vanished from this world.
But Wilder's actions didn't stop there. Although the main figures were dealt with, there were still more pieces of trash to accompany them.
"The sixth!"
"The seventh!"
"The eighth!"
"The tenth!"
Like a reaper of lives, wherever Wilder's voice sounded, a life was taken.
Screams of terror filled the air as the remaining thugs scattered and fled. Their masters' choices had utterly broken them. They cried and screamed as they ran for their lives.
But it was all useless. From the very beginning, Wilder had covered this world in swamp. There was no escape. They could only sink into it as they ran, or be dragged under by the hands that reached out from below.
When the last scream died down, the night fell silent.
The chirping of insects and the faint crackle of wood burning in the fire became the night's solo performance. They intertwined, as if to applaud the spectacular show that had just concluded.
The young Marine, hidden in a corner, trembled as he watched the figure standing in the swamp, a look of enjoyment on his face, as if savoring the aftertaste.
"Five hundred chests of gold… three thousand guns, sixty-one cannons, eighteen machine guns, one billion, twenty-eight million belly… and… this place is ridiculously wealthy." His Observation Haki enveloped the small town. As the treasures he discovered grew more and more abundant, the smile on Wilder's face widened, and his expression naturally became one of enjoyment.
The smile slowly faded. Wilder glanced toward a certain corner, a cryptic smile on his face.
The young Marine, still hiding and observing, met Wilder's gaze. When he saw that strange smile, his body instantly went rigid.
Oh…! Oh no! He found me! I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die…! When he came to his senses, he was in a complete panic. His expression was like he had just eaten a moldy chicken leg. He prayed that someone from HQ or another branch would show up right at that moment.
But just then, Wilder turned and began walking toward him, step by step. The process was an agonizing torment for him, like waiting for an execution. In the end, he simply closed his eyes, waiting for death to claim him.
But strangely, a long time passed with no movement. He slowly opened his eyes, only for his scalp to tingle in an instant. Wilder was standing right in front of him, his gaze as sharp as a blade, looking down on him silently.
"Heh… heheh…" The young Marine's mouth twitched, and he forced a smile that looked like he had just lost his parents. "H-hello, Mr. Wilder. You're amazing!" He gave Wilder a thumbs-up, but he only dared to look away, not meeting Wilder's gaze.
"You have no reason to be afraid, do you?"
"Right, right, Mr. Wilder is absolutely right… Huh?! Wh-what?"
"The Marines and Morass have always been friendly partners, haven't we?"
At that, the young Marine finally understood. Tears of excitement welled up in his eyes, and he nodded vigorously. "Yes! You're absolutely right, Mr. Wilder! I think what you're saying makes perfect sense…"
"The Marines… that is, your colleagues, have arrived. Next, I hope that you, as a partner, will be on my side," Wilder interrupted his rambling, looking at him with a gentle smile.
"Heh… heheh…" The young Marine smiled stiffly and couldn't help but take a few steps back. "What are you talking about, Mr. Wilder?"
"Oh… I don't mean anything by it. It's just that, for example, I will be taking over this island, and you Marines might have a different opinion on the matter. Yes, as a partner, you should support my idea. That's the logic, right?"
"Are you asking me to say something to give you an advantage, Mr. Wilder?" The young Marine's reaction was different now. He fell silent after hearing Wilder's words, then looked up and stared straight at him.
"Hahaha! Do you think you have that kind of influence?" Wilder looked at him as if he had just heard the world's biggest joke. The young Marine looked a little embarrassed and scratched his head. "Then… then what do you mean, Mr. Wilder?"
Wilder's smile vanished, and his gaze turned dangerous. "You saw the entire battle just now, didn't you? As the only living witness… of course, nothing is certain. But I still hope that you… Mr. Witness, I hope you can maintain an impartial attitude. The battle just now caused the deaths of many innocent civilians. I am deeply saddened by this. But you know, I was fighting for this island. To that end, some sacrifices were unavoidable. Yes, now that I've said this, you probably understand my meaning. Morass and the Marines have always been friendly collaborators. I don't want this incident to ruin the friendly relationship between us. If the Marines insist on pursuing this matter and pinning the crime of wantonly killing civilians on Morass… I will go crazy. So I don't want this to become one of the conditions in the upcoming negotiations. Yes, for the sake of our friendly relationship, it should not appear in the negotiations as a condition."
"I know. This incident can't be blamed on you, Mr. Wilder. But what are these upcoming negotiations?" The young Marine felt like he was being talked in circles.
Wilder smiled. "The negotiations. I can already hear their voices. You'll find out soon enough."