Chapter 64: The Adventurous Encounter with the Ghost Ship

Larry and Ellis were both quite surprised.

The legend of the ghost ship was a notorious tale on the seas.

Regardless of whether one had personally encountered it, anyone with even a slight interest in maritime affairs would have heard this legend.

The rumor claimed that fleets lost at sea, their grievances lingering, had their crew’s ghosts command spectral ships.

These phantom vessels would drift aimlessly across the waves, destroying any ship they encountered.

Even the well-traveled Larry and Ellis were seeing such a renowned phenomenon for the first time.

Their initial reaction was neither fear nor tension, but rather exhilaration.

Recalling how they had once traveled all the way from the Eastern Continent to the Western Continent just to challenge an A-rank Demon King, it was evident that these two thrived on excitement and never shied away from trouble.

Ellis was practically dancing with glee, urging Larry beside her. “Hey, Larry! Hurry up and grab the magic recorder! It’s a ghost ship! This is incredibly rare, especially a cruise ship appearing on a safe shipping lane. When did our luck get so good?”

Ellis didn’t even need to remind him. Larry had already sprinted back to their room at full speed, then rushed back to the deck, taking less than three seconds in total.

In his hand, he now held a magic recorder.

The magic recorder was akin to an otherworldly version of a camera.

This particular one was a top-tier model that Ellis and Larry had purchased at a high price, specifically for documenting every ‘first’ in their adventures.

Ellis had always dreamed of encountering a ghost ship since her very first voyage, but such phenomena were exceedingly rare.

Safe shipping lanes were regularly cleared, and to seek out a ghost ship, one would likely have to venture into uncharted waters, a perilous endeavor with no guarantee of success.

“Hey, both of you guests, hurry and find a safe place to hide!”

The captain, witnessing Ellis and Larry still standing on deck like dazed fools from the bridge, couldn’t help but shout.

“It’s fine! We’re from the Adventurer’s Guild. How dare a mere ghost ship show its face in broad daylight? Captain, we’ll help you deal with them! The light of righteousness shall never be extinguished!”

If Ellis hadn’t been grinning so exaggeratedly while saying those words, her declaration might have actually sounded quite moving.

The captain then watched as the two of them posed for pictures with the magic recorder, their busy antics leaving him utterly bewildered.

“Captain, this…”

A crew member beside him, equally perplexed, looked towards the captain.

“They seem quite composed. Since they’re from the Adventurer’s Guild, they should possess some ability. Let them stay there, but have the crew keep an eye on them and be ready to provide support at any moment.”

“Understood!”

The captain, judging the ghost ship’s speed, knew there was no escaping it. He immediately began active preparations for battle.

The dilapidated ghost ship and the sturdy, massive cruise liner collided.

Though it looked as if the ghost ship would shatter on impact, it remained completely unharmed.

The cruise liner, protected by a barrier, also sustained no damage.

True to Ellis and Larry’s expectations, the ghost ship’s flickering will-o’-the-wisps transformed into skeletal crew members.

Wielding various menacing weapons, they began to scale the cruise liner, using makeshift bridges of broken planks and grappling hooks.

“Larry, quick, take a picture of me!”

Ellis jogged to the edge of the deck where the skeletal crew members were preparing to climb, flashing a peace sign towards Larry.

Larry, in turn, used the magic recorder to capture Ellis and the skeletal crew member behind her, who was about to reach out a bony hand towards him.

After Larry finished taking the photo, Ellis grabbed the skeleton that was about to attack her.

She restrained it with immense strength, intending to have Larry take another joint photo.

The skeleton was utterly unwilling. It had come to do serious business. Not only were these two not screaming in terror upon seeing them, but they were also forcing photos!

Did it have no dignity? Couldn’t they show a little respect? Even ghosts had their pride.

Honestly, the sight of Larry and Ellis casually posing for photos while fending off the formidable-looking skeletal crew members left the cruise liner’s sailors, who were preparing to offer assistance, completely dumbfounded.

Equally dumbfounded was the mountain-like creature observing from beneath the distant sea.

‘What the hell? Is this thing really that weak?’

When she had learned from that scoundrel that Larry and Ellis were doing well, she had wanted to find a way to test their strength.

Coincidentally, a dilapidated ship of unknown origin had drifted into her territory. She found it quite intimidating in appearance, and her subordinates couldn’t destroy it, so she thought of using it for her purpose.

Though the ghost ship was eerie, its existence was vastly inferior to hers. She had simply transported it here.

Who knew it would be so utterly useless?

She was furious, cursing inwardly. If this ghost ship continued to be so pathetic, even if it managed to retreat, she was prepared to smack it into a pile of worthless with a single palm.

Perhaps her resentment reached the ghost ship, or perhaps they simply couldn’t tolerate Ellis and Larry’s relentless insults any longer.

A piercing horn blast suddenly emanated from the ghost ship.

All the skeletal soldiers paused, their forms momentarily stiffening.

Then, the will-o’-the-wisps burning in their eye sockets abruptly shifted from an eerie blue to a scorching red.

A ferocious ghost, wielding a massive scimitar, its form ethereal and its face sinister, slowly ascended from the ghost ship’s deck.

Its aura was on an entirely different level from the surrounding skeletal soldiers. It wore a tall, captain-style hat, indicating that this was likely the master of this ghost ship.

“An A-rank magical beast? How could something so dangerous infiltrate a safe sea zone?”

Seeing this, Ellis and Larry no longer had any inclination to joke around.

The skeletal soldiers’ morale clearly surged, and the two adventurers also noticed that ordinary swords and elemental energy had no effect on these skeletal soldiers.

Of course, they weren’t referring to themselves, but to the sailors currently engaging the skeletal soldiers.

The two of them ignored these minor enemies and directly leaped onto the ghost ship.

While the other skeletal soldiers were manageable, they absolutely could not allow this A-rank ghost captain to board the cruise liner.

There was no one on board capable of handling him.

Any normal villain, upon realizing their enemy was standing right before them, would typically react by immediately attacking.

This ghost captain clearly wasn’t foolish enough to waste time with idle chatter. He understood that only Ellis and Larry could stop them.

Having become a ghost, he had lost the emotion of fear. Regardless of the disparity in numbers and strength, he raised his great scimitar and swung it towards the area where Ellis and Larry stood.

Even amidst the dense fog, they could see the cold glint off the massive scimitar. It carried an eerie, chilling spectral energy that surged towards them.

As it drew closer, Ellis could even hear faint ghostly wails, but she had no intention of dodging.

With a resounding ‘clang,’ a longsword met the great scimitar, and sword energy and spectral energy rippled outwards, even dispersing the ghostly mist covering the ghost ship.

Larry leaped directly to the ghost captain’s side, engaging him in a fierce close-quarters battle.

The ghost captain’s strength was considerable, and his martial arts skills were clearly honed. For a time, he and Larry fought to a standstill.

However, with each continuous clash, the sword energy released by Larry steadily eroded the spectral energy surrounding the ghost captain. Victory for Larry was only a matter of time.

Larry, for his part, rarely encountered an opponent with such high combat skill, one who could even match him. He was thoroughly enjoying the fight.

Meanwhile, Ellis pulled out her staff. Of course, it wasn’t for that perverted Mitchell; divine elemental arts were the most effective against creatures like ghosts.

Just as she was about to unceremoniously team up with Larry to gang up on the ghost captain, Larry quickly stopped her, saying, “Hold on, I’m having too much fun. Can’t you women go be bothersome somewhere else? Shoo, shoo! Men are handling serious business here.”

‘I swear to God.’

Ellis was so enraged that she nearly pulled out Mitchell and applied a debuff to Larry, just to let him ‘enjoy’ himself properly.

However, when it came to serious matters like combat, Ellis was quite capable of restraining her mischievous impulses.

She immediately jumped back onto the cruise liner and unleashed a large-scale Divine Purification upon the red-eyed skeletons.

The effect was akin to mosquitoes encountering DDT. The ghost flames above the heads of the previously excited skeletal soldiers instantly dwindled into pitiful, fingertip-sized flickers.

The skeletal soldiers, in turn, became like wilted eggplants, struggling even to lift their swords.

Conversely, the cruise liner’s sailors experienced a completely different reaction. The wounds on their bodies, previously infected by spectral energy, rapidly healed, and the chilling cold within them dissipated as if touched by warm sunlight.

Just as Ellis was preparing to continue venting her frustration on these skeletal soldiers, a loud roar from the ghost captain on the ghost ship echoed.

Surprisingly, the skeletal soldiers themselves dissolved into wisps of blue smoke, converging back towards the ghost ship.

“Hey, are you alright?”

Ellis had just turned to check on Larry’s situation when she saw a figure flying towards her, shouting, “Catch me!”

Ellis smiled faintly and replied, “Alright.”

She then casually cast a barrier, separating the ghost ship from the cruise liner.

The figure, Larry, crashed directly into the barrier. The sound was so jarring that even the sailors inside couldn’t help but touch their own faces.

Larry’s face was pressed against the barrier, almost squeezed from 3D into 2D. His face was filled with a wronged expression as he accused, “You said you’d catch me!”

Ellis scoffed, “Did I say with my hands, you idiot?”

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