Having lived on the edge of a knife for years and being well-versed in the fighting styles of thugs, Abis was already on guard when Merlin approached.
And at this moment,
Detecting this kind of underhanded trick that he rarely used nowadays.
Abis's pupils still constricted sharply. He hurriedly raised his left leg, and with a thud, it collided with Merlin's left knee.
Anger rose in Abis's eyes, and he cursed furiously: "Damn bastard!"
The look in Merlin's eyes remained unchanged. The dagger in his left hand rubbed violently against Abis's large machete, but because Merlin's dagger was blocking the handle of the machete, the recoil force Merlin received was relatively small for the moment.
Abis glared at Merlin, suddenly clenched his left fist, and swung it at Merlin's head, trying to force Merlin back.
However, at this time, Merlin's gaze remained steady, and the tip of the katana held in a reverse grip in his right hand suddenly stabbed downward.
Squelch!
The sharp tip of the blade pierced through the shoe upper incredibly smoothly, stabbing into the instep of Abis's left foot.
The excruciating pain connected to the nerves made Abis unable to hold back a muffled groan. His eyes flashed with ferocity and madness, and the left fist that was swinging forward paused for a moment before smashing forward again.
Should I use my ability?
This guy Abis can be used as a whetstone to hone my combat skills.
But Merlin hesitated for only an instant. Immediately after, his gaze focused, and black flames rose in his right hand, spreading along the hilt to Abis's foot in the blink of an eye.
Calamity: Crimson Pain.
At the same time, Merlin suddenly lowered his head and headbutted Abis's abdomen.
With a muffled thud, Abis's fist swung past the top of Merlin's head, while Abis opened his mouth wide in pain.
And at this moment.
The black flames instantly spread to Abis's body.
In a split second.
Hideous puncture wounds abruptly appeared on various parts of his body.
Puncture wounds on his arms and legs.
A gash on his neck.
Dense breaks on his chest and abdomen.
In the blink of an eye, Abis, spurting blood all over, became a man made of blood.
Incredibly miserable howls squeezed out of his throat. Merlin noticed at this time that the strength in Abis's machete was gone.
His left arm exerted force abruptly to flick away the machete, then a cold light slashed upward, cutting smoothly across Abis's neck.
In an instant,
Most of Abis's neck was sliced open.
His body instantly went limp and tipped forward. Merlin pulled back his blade and flashed past Abis's side.
As Abis fell to the ground, Merlin swung his blade with his right hand, slicing across the back of Abis's neck.
Squelch! With a sound, a head with thick hair and beard, spraying blood, rolled to the side.
The confrontation between the two lasted less than a minute.
And as Abis's screams just now had attracted the attention of people from both sides on the deck, now that his head was cut off by Merlin, the battle on the field came to a standstill.
A wisp of black flame flashed in Merlin's eyes. He turned his head slightly to scan the surroundings, then stomped on the deck, his figure quickly approaching the nearest pirate on the right.
"Kill them all!"
With Merlin's shout, the morale of the sailors on the passenger ship soared, while the pirates became panicked.
No one expected that the captain, who usually had heavy prestige, would die so cleanly.
And what were those black flames?
Those on the ship with some knowledge roared a word in their hearts: Ability User.
And at this moment, before Merlin even got close, that pirate was already frightened out of his wits, screamed, and hurriedly turned to run.
Unfortunately, Merlin was faster. Just as the pirate climbed onto the railing connected to the rope, Merlin's katana smoothly stabbed into his lower back.
At this time, Guard Captain Reiner shouted excitedly at Merlin: "Young man, let's take out this second mate together?"
Arthur's eyes were desperate yet somewhat manic. The boss was dead, and the battle situation had become one-sided. He probably wouldn't survive.
However, his gaze still glared fiercely, scanning between Merlin and Reiner.
Merlin saw it but didn't respond. Instead, he jumped onto the railing and pushed off with force, his whole body tracing a parabola in mid-air.
Accurately landing on the pirate ship's deck four meters away on the opposite side.
Seeing this, despair flashed in Arthur's eyes again. The escape route was gone. Then, gnashing his teeth, he charged madly at Reiner:
"Bastard piece of shit, even if I die, I'm taking you down with me today."
Roaring, he danced with his twin axes.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
A series of dazzling sparks appeared from the collision point of their weapons.
Seeing Merlin ignore him, Reiner tasted bitterness in his mouth. He admitted he had somewhat pitted Merlin just now, but now he was reaping what he sowed.
He found that although this second mate's axe skills were terrible, like a "Three-Axe Strike" (only knowing a few moves), going back and forth with just those few strikes, this guy's brute force was even greater than Abis's.
For a moment, his vigilance was maxed out.
Defending with all his might, and shouting loudly for the surrounding sailors to come help.
However, at this time.
The few pirates remaining on the pirate ship looked horrified when they saw Merlin rushing over. One of them raised a flintlock pistol and pulled the trigger. Bang!
A scorching lead bullet left the chamber.
But Merlin had already been paying attention to this pirate with the gun.
Also, the moment he raised the gun and pulled the trigger, Merlin suddenly rolled forward to dodge the bullet and rushed in front of him.
Immediately after, springing up, the dagger boldly stabbed into his throat from under his chin.
Instantly killed one person.
Seeing Merlin so fierce, the remaining three pirates looked fearful and ran in different directions without hesitation.
Merlin chased after one at random, while noticing the other two running towards the side of the ship.
Two breaths later, catching up and killing the target with a clean slash. At this time, a splash of falling water and a muffled sound appeared.
Merlin went to where the muffled sound came from and looked. He saw that pirate had already boarded a small boat tied to the stern of the ship.
Must be the ship's navigator.
Merlin just glanced at him, then ignored him, turned around, and trotted quickly towards the cabin.
At this moment, the cabin was quiet.
But because of the quietness at this moment, Merlin heard a somewhat intense heartbeat.
Merlin's hearing was now extremely acute; at close range, he could hear the heartbeat of living creatures.
Therefore, shifting his gaze, he slowed his steps and came to the door of a half-open cabin. Pushing the door open, Merlin found it was the first mate he had crippled with the grenade.
At this moment, he was struggling to get up from a wooden bed.
Merlin's gaze was calm. He walked up and delivered a clean stab through the heart.
Quietly watching him die.
Before long, Merlin arrived at the door of a cabin inside the ship, looking at the words "Captain's Quarters" carved on the doorplate.
Pushing open the tightly closed door.
A smell of sweat, smoke, and foot odor rushed straight into his nose. Merlin's brows inevitably furrowed slightly, "Dirty and messy! Doesn't even clean his own nest. Bad review!"
Of course, Merlin had no intention of cleaning up for him. At this moment, his sharp gaze scanned the layout of the cabin.
A 2.5-meter large bed by the window, a three-meter-high wine rack with only a few bottles of wine on it, an open wardrobe, a small round table, and three backrest chairs.
On the small round table, there was an open box of cigarettes and an exquisite gold-cased lighter.
However, at this time, Merlin's attention was attracted by a half-meter-long reddish-brown wooden chest at the head of the bed.
With a shift in his gaze, he went to the head of the bed and looked at the locked wooden chest. But it wasn't a big problem. Jumping onto the head of the bed, stepping on the wooden chest with his left foot, he stabbed the tip of his knife into the lock buckle.
Prying hard, with a crack!
The entire lock was pried off.
At this time, Merlin moved his body away from the wooden chest and extended his arm to flip open the lid with the tip of his knife.
Seeing no movement, Merlin moved closer to look inside.
Frowning slightly, he saw a layer of silk cloth inside, on top of which was placed a small white skull. Judging by the lustrous appearance of the skull, it even had some patina.
"Polishing skulls?"
Merlin frowned.
Respectfully declining his hobby,
"However, no treasure?"
Merlin's eyes scanned the circle again:
"Places where treasures can be hidden seem to be only the wardrobe and under the bed."
Merlin jumped off the bed, lifted the bedding, and immediately found a strip-shaped part connected to a rope on the bed board.
Pulling the rope, a wooden board opened, revealing a suitcase stored inside.
Merlin took out the suitcase. Upon opening it, a smile appeared in his eyes:
"Sure enough, how could a pirate captain have no savings?"
Looking at the stacks of Berries of various denominations neatly arranged in the box,
And a straight short sword with an exquisitely shaped scabbard. After counting the Berries, Merlin chuckled lightly:
"Thirteen million Berries."
Clang! After drawing the short sword, a cold glint entered his eyes.
Total length forty-two centimeters, two and a half fingers thick.
The edge looked prickly sharp just by looking at it, but the blade had a dull, dark luster.
Merlin flicked his finger on the blade. Ding! A crisp tremor appeared. A look of surprise appeared in his eyes, along with two beautiful glyph-like characters near the hilt:
"Better quality than that rapier 'Fine Snow'? Ryo Wazamono (Skillful Grade) quality?
"And the sword name, 'Severing Steel' (Dan-Gang)."
Seeing this, Merlin couldn't help but look at his family heirloom dagger on his right leg.
His Equipment Slot could [Synthesize] equipment, so in the future... such a synthesis idea formed in his mind.
However, that would have to wait until he had enough free slots in his Equipment Slot in the future.
Merlin closed the suitcase, picked it up, stood up, then took down the few remaining bottles of wine from the rack and smashed them. He picked up the lighter on the table and ignited the bedding.
Soon, seeing the flames rising in the cabin, Merlin turned and left.
Coming out onto the deck, Merlin saw that the battle on the passenger ship had ended.
Then he leaped from the ship's railing back to the passenger ship. At this time, seeing Merlin return, the sailors cleaning up the corpses on the deck looked at Merlin with respect in their eyes one by one.
Guard Captain Reiner walked up with admiration on his face. There was some apprehension in his eyes, but no sign of dissatisfaction. He spoke to Merlin at this time:
"On behalf of our passenger ship, I thank you very much for your help this time, Mr. Merlin.
"Abis's head has been stored. This is your trophy. I will personally bring it to you after it is processed.
"Also, to thank you for your assistance this time, we will refund your boat fare in full later. And if you are willing, we can arrange more comfortable accommodation for you right now."
Merlin glanced at him, making no comment on his ingratiation. After all, he had pitted him earlier. Merlin didn't know if it was intentional, but he couldn't be bothered to give him a friendly face anyway.
At this moment, he said lightly: "No need, I'm just an ordinary passenger. If you really want to thank me, then just give me Abis's bounty directly.
"I'll round it down for you; just give me 10 million Berries."
Reiner smiled awkwardly, knowing that what he did just now was indeed a bit unethical. He nodded hurriedly and said:
"Don't worry, I'll go prepare it for you later. Also, I apologize to you for what happened just now. I really didn't mean it."
Merlin nodded. Seeing him being so sensible, he had no intention of pursuing the matter further. He still spoke lightly:
"I'm tired. I'm going back to my room to rest."