Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 256 Demon Buster (Thanks to the silly beast on the roadside for the Qidian Coins donation)
As Lupin led his crew of sailors, armed with melee weapons and various firearms, aboard the Sunset and engaged in battle with the sailors aboard, Philip and Lindsay finally stood shoulder to shoulder with Roger.

Because of the effect of the "Concerto of Light and Shadow," extraordinary changes in power occasionally occur on the deck, giving the entire ship's surface a bizarre sense of reality intertwined with absurdity.

"Blatov, Julius."

The baby-faced young man, Philip, gritted his teeth and looked at Bratov and the young man in black, saying their names.

"Julius? Julius Kruger?"

Roger suddenly realized that the young man in black must be Julius Kluge, the second mate under Bulatov, who was as famous as Ludwig Sergei the Executioner!

This explains a lot.

Previously, during his secret interrogation of Ludwig's soul, the "Executioner" revealed a great deal of information about Julius, including his frequent display of extraordinary abilities similar to those of a "Hidden Man," and his possession of a sealed artifact of unknown pathway and sequence level.

"If that's the case, Julius's sequence level can be basically determined; he's a Sequence 5 'Astrologer,' but the status of the sealed artifact in his possession remains unclear..."

As Roger was thinking rapidly, he suddenly heard Julius ask:
"You know my name? You look familiar. Have we met somewhere before?"

Upon hearing this, Philip, who had been relatively restrained, instantly erupted into fury:

"You piece of trash, how dare you say that!"

As he spoke, Philip's right arm, transformed into a bone and blood dagger, suddenly thrust forward, aiming straight for Julius's face.

“When you slaughtered all the soldiers on the ‘Iron Gate’, I swore that I would see you and Bulatov die before I die!”

At his shout, flesh and starlight exploded simultaneously!

A moment later, a blue star quickly appeared above the "Sunset," and Julius's body leaped out of the dust, seemingly pulled upwards by the blue star. At the same time, he changed his previous indifference and let out a wild laugh.

"I wondered what was going on, but it turns out they were deserters from the Rune Navy."

"Speaking of the 'Iron Gate,' those soldiers were tough nuts to crack. Even when Ludwig beheaded them all, they didn't betray your whereabouts."

"However, the matter was left unresolved. Now, we've finally got a pirate like you to come seeking revenge. Are all the Rune people so spineless? Hahaha..."

Upon hearing Julius's words, Philip's back teeth nearly ground to powder, but he couldn't utter a single word.

After Bratov hijacked and killed all the crew members on the "Iron Gate," the government of the Kingdom of Rune conducted a large-scale manhunt for a period of time for this notorious pirate leader. However, for some reason, the campaign quickly came to a halt, with only the bounty on him remaining, without taking any further substantive action.

This greatly puzzled Philip, and in fact, it was closely related to his withdrawal from the military – the stark contrast between the daily drills and the hopeless desire for revenge left the soldier feeling extremely frustrated.

It wasn't until he joined Roger's fleet and learned more that he gradually realized that the reason the Kingdom of Rune temporarily stopped the manhunt for Bratov was likely because Bratov had the support of the Church of the God of War and even the Fusak Empire.

If it were just a matter of suppressing bandits, things wouldn't be so complicated. But when it involves the strategic and diplomatic game between two countries, it becomes much more complicated.

The "Iron Gate" eventually sank completely amidst political compromise and diplomatic silence, leaving only its naval comrades who shared life and death with it to remember it in their hearts.

"Shut your mouth and get down here!"

At that moment, Linssaya's voice suddenly rang out.

Her face was so cold it seemed to drip water, and she had appeared not far below Julius Kruger without anyone noticing.

In an instant, countless black spider silks rose rapidly from Linssaya's body and, to Julius Kruger's astonishment, quickly wrapped around his ankles.

"Only I can bully little Philip. Who do you think you are?"

At Linssaya's angry shout, all the spider silk suddenly plummeted.

Dust mixed with sawdust and bits of meat rose again above the deck of the Sunset!

Meanwhile, the "Sunset" was once again bathed in golden light.

The golden light immediately caught Roger's attention, and he watched as it quickly spread across the numerous crew members of the "Sunset".

The moment they came into contact with the golden light, the crew members' speed and strength increased significantly.

More golden light fell in a fixed direction, eventually converging around Blatov and attaching itself to his empty left hand.

Soon, as the golden light gathered and took shape, a strange broken sword engraved with bizarre runes and radiating a silvery-white color appeared out of thin air in Bulatov's left hand.

The broken sword and the "Sword of Dawn" in his right hand, one long and one short, one real and one illusory, formed a strange "pair" in the present moment.

Although it looked tattered and broken, that silver-white broken sword gave Roger a sense of danger far exceeding that of the "Sword of Dawn"!
"Is this the thing that injured the 'Undying King' Agaritu?"

Roger looked at Bratov, whose eyes had turned dark green and faintly revealed a pair of strange runes, and asked in a deep voice.

"I didn't want to take it out because it's very dangerous."

Bratov shook his head: "But even if your sense of danger isn't as strong as Agarito's, it's at least on par with it."

"To be honest, it's probably because I've kept a low profile for too long that I really didn't know when such a powerful pirate appeared at sea."

His words made it clear that he had to give it his all, or he might end up as a fish today.

After speaking, Blatov crossed his two swords, stepped his right foot back slightly, and assumed an offensive starting stance.

Suddenly, his aura surged rapidly, reaching a level close to that of a demigod in an instant!
"You must be mistaken."

Beside Roger, the figure of Chunas Korg quickly appeared, almost tangible.

He laughed loudly:
"I'm not some pirate, I'm an adventurer!"

As he spoke, Roger's right arm swiftly transformed into a bone and blood longsword, which he used to charge toward Blatov and simultaneously slash forward with the greatsword.

Bratov frowned immediately, because the strike looked too weak and feeble, almost like a joke.

However, as Chunus Colger raised his left hand not far away, Roger's sword speed and destructive power were instantly multiplied!
This is an "enlarged" version of "The Fallen Earl"!
Under the influence of the "amplified" power, even an ordinary punch can be amplified to become an "execution," let alone something as destructive as the Bone and Blood Longsword.

Although Blatov was startled, he remained calm and composed.

He raised the broken sword in his left hand, and a golden light suddenly appeared around his body. Although the light seemed somewhat ephemeral, it was extremely strong and covered an area of ​​about half a meter around Bratov as soon as it appeared.

When Roger's Bone and Blood Sword collided with the light that had clearly reached Sequence 4, it suddenly shattered into pieces.

This made his pupils shrink and he immediately retreated.

"The 'Concerto of Light and Shadow' has already blocked the barrier, so what's going on?"

Bratov, however, seemed to have no intention of letting Roger go. He charged toward Roger with tremendous kinetic energy, his entire body almost creating a hurricane-like wind pressure.

However, halfway through his sprint, he suddenly found himself stuck in some kind of quagmire, and his speed decreased dramatically.

Not far away, Chunas Kolger's eyes gleamed. In his field of vision, the battle zone between Roger and Bratov had been divided into several different areas.

Many of these areas are in a state of chaotic space, and Blatov has clearly just rushed into one of them.

However, just as Chunas Korg was about to use the spatial displacement to cut Bratov apart, the distorted space suddenly underwent a strange change.

A chilling aura emanated from Blatov, instantly forming a massive ice sculpture that trapped him inside.

The "Concerto of Light and Shadow" is back in action!

Because there are too many people fighting on the "Sunset", the random mutations caused by the "Concerto of Light and Shadow" are distributed less frequently to each person. Right now, it seems to have just chosen Roger and Bratov.

However, this freeze did not last long. Less than a second later, the golden light that had shattered Roger's Bone and Blood Sword shone again inside the ice sculpture.

As the golden light exploded, the ice sculpture was completely shattered and turned into ice shards!

This time, Roger finally saw what the golden light was.

That was not a barrier, but countless tiny sword lights.

This sword light seems to be connected to the defense mechanism of the "Sunset", similar to the "Light Storm" of the "Dawn Sword", but also different.

Compared to the "Storm of Light" which can cut through all shadows and evil, the effect of this tiny sword light is more focused on forcibly helping Bratov remove all physical restrictions and control-type extraordinary abilities within the entire radiation range of the "Sunset".

This ability reminded Roger of the "absolute defense" from a certain anime he had seen in his previous life, and it was even better!
The most terrifying thing is that most of Bratov's extraordinary abilities in this state do not come from himself, but from the "Sunset". Even the broken sword in his hand should be the result of the power projection of the demigod-level sealed artifact at the core of the "Sunset".

Even if Roger could strip Bratov of some of his extraordinary abilities as a "Guardian," the projection of that demigod-level sealed artifact could make up for the corresponding deficiencies.

This is the enhancement that demigod-level sealed artifacts provide to extraordinary individuals of the same path. Although their shortcomings are obvious, their advantages are equally clear!
It can withstand attacks, fight back, and automatically deactivate its control abilities.

Even Roger felt extremely troubled by the current situation in Bratov.

"In that case..."

Roger extended his "parasitic glove" and said, "Steal sight!"

At the same time, Chunas Korg, who was not far away, also reached out and activated "Twisting".

The collaboration between the two parties distorted the effect of Roger's "stealing"!

In an instant, Blatov was enveloped in a dense darkness.

With him at the core, a visual interface seemed to have been completely formed, from which even light could not escape. Not only could Roger not see Bratov, but even Bratov could not see outside.

Under the clear blue sky, a Sequence 4 "Parasitic Glove" would certainly be unable to steal light over a large area, but when combined with the "Fallen Earl's" "Twisting," it's a different story!

Roger only needs to steal Bratov's "vision" and then distort the meaning of this representation so that the object of the theft can be changed from vision to light within a certain range.

This action caught Bratov completely off guard; he seemed utterly unprepared for Roger to unleash such a bizarre and strange ability.

The tricky thing about this ability is that it cannot be eliminated through physical intervention.

If that were all, Roger would have been fine, but then he suddenly stretched out his left hand and grabbed at the darkness-shrouded Bratov in mid-air.

The dense darkness that enveloped Bratov suddenly became tangible, transforming into a cold, moist, and slippery texture.

These shadows crept into Bratov's mouth, nose, and ears, binding him from the inside out, like mosquitoes trapped in amber.

This constraint does not originate from the physical realm, but rather from the "shepherd's" control over the shadows and the power of corruption!

Because Roger had many methods, whether it was the power of the "Leaksman," the souls he enslaved, or the power of the demigod-level sealed artifacts he possessed, they were all very useful. He had at least four or five methods of hard control alone. Therefore, compared to these, the ability to use shadows to bind opponents seemed somewhat useless in normal times.

Looking at the solidified darkness, Roger breathed heavily, but his eyes remained alert.

Not for any other reason than that even though he had controlled Blatov with his shadow, the sense of danger he felt from the other party had not disappeared.

On the contrary, that premonition grew stronger and stronger.

Two breaths later, Roger felt a jolt and immediately retreated.

The dense darkness that enveloped Bratov first cracked open with fine fissures, and moments later, a "storm of light" with an overwhelming force completely shredded the shadow into pieces.

After breaking through, the storm still had considerable force, transforming into a hurricane that rushed straight towards Roger!

Roger's gaze sharpened, and he immediately used "Steal" to teleport to Chunus Korg's side, dodging the storm's impact.

As the morning light faded, Bratov's figure reappeared on the deck of the "Sunset".

Blood seeped slightly from his mouth and nose, and the ends of his hair turned slightly white. The "Sword of Dawn" in his right hand had disappeared, leaving only the broken sword in his left hand.

He had clearly sacrificed his "Sword of Dawn" and activated the "Storm of Light" at Sequence 5, thus breaking through Roger's control.

However, doing so comes at a significant cost.

In Roger's view, Bratov seemed to have lost some of his vitality!
The basis for this discovery was not only the latter's hair ends that had turned somewhat white, but also the fact that Blatov's complexion had deteriorated considerably.

This worsening complexion is not due to a deficiency of qi and blood, but rather more like the effect of keratinization of the skin and the formation of fine wrinkles.

In other words, right after Bratov shattered the "Sword of Dawn" and used the "Storm of Light," he began to age!
"Could this be the side effect of that Level 1 sealed artifact?"

Roger's heart moved.

The next second, he saw the broken silver sword in Blatov's right hand suddenly begin to come back to life.

With each bit of growth, Bratov's hair turned a little whiter. By the time the silver-white broken sword was completely restored to a complete greatsword, Bratov's hair was almost half white!
Immediately afterwards, a rich beam of morning light burst forth from the sword.

With a roar, Bratov instantly appeared in front of Roger.

This instant step looks fast, but it is actually very delicate. With his current demigod-level combat intuition, Bratov accurately avoided all the distorted spatial areas!

"Fuck."

This startled even a seasoned veteran like Roger.

Without a second thought, he exploded into a large pile of bloody fragments with a "crack" and fled in all directions.

At the same time, a dense array of sword lights, as fine as snowflakes, burst forth within the blood mist created by Roger's explosion.

These sword lights all contained a sacred aura, seemingly possessing extremely strong destructive power against all kinds of evil and filth.

They instantly shredded and burned most of the flesh and blood that Roger had transformed into, leaving only a small portion that fell into the flesh and blood of the "Sunset" crew members on the ground and began to wriggle and reassemble.

However, at this moment, Blatov was gambling with his life.

Originally, he was only using the "Demon Slayer" weapon on his left hand to strengthen his connection with the "Sunset" defense system and enhance his defense and strength by taking advantage of its special properties. However, in terms of combat, he did not rely on it too much, but relied more on his own strength.

However, Roger's move and the "Shadow Binding" technique, which had almost reached the level of a demigod, forced him to shatter his Dawn Sword in advance, thus giving him a chance to escape.

At that moment, the fragile balance between the "Sword of Dawn" and the "Demon Slayer" was broken, and he could no longer resist the negative effects of the "Demon Slayer" draining his lifespan.

However, in return, he also fully gained the blessing of this powerful seal artifact, which corresponds to the "Warrior" pathway sequence 4 "Demon Hunter" characteristic, and for a short period of time possessed the strength of a demigod.

Therefore, he has no intention of giving Roger a chance to be resurrected at the moment.

The "Twilight Admiral" used another Instant Step, arriving at the spot where Roger's small piece of flesh had fallen in the blink of an eye, and his sword flashed once more.

He wanted to kill the elusive "shepherd" once again before Roger's flesh and blood could be dispersed and reassembled!
However, his sword light suddenly deviated and twisted, as if by magic, slicing a crew member from the "Sunset" not far away into pieces.

Taking this opportunity, Roger finally completed his reorganization and launched "Flame Leap".

However, this "flame leap" was once again distorted by the "concert of light and shadow," and a curtain of water inexplicably rose between Roger and Bratov, separating them.

Under the cover of the water curtain, Bulatov narrowed his eyes, his dark green pupils darting around rapidly.

"found it."

He quickly pinpointed the location of Chunas Korg's soul, which had somehow moved to the vicinity of the mast.

After numerous attacks and spatial distortions and interference, combined with the various characteristics of this soul, Bratov had deduced that the soul was likely an extraordinary being of the "Lawyer" pathway, only enslaved by Roger.

If Bratov can use the "Demon Slayer" to kill that soul, he will greatly weaken Roger's power!
However, before Blatov could act, he instinctively performed two consecutive forward rolls to dodge a lightning arrow that flashed with intense electric light, which flew out from the dissipating water curtain.

"You're not quite up to the task of slaying the souls I've enslaved."

Roger sneered, and at the same time, he stomped his right foot on the ground.

With a loud bang, dozens of wooden crates piled on the deck of the "Sunset" shattered in an instant, like glass struck by a shock wave!
The broken pieces of wood quickly merged with the many swords, ironware, and other items that had fallen onto the deck. Accompanied by two waves rising from the sea, they instantly transformed into a gigantic dragon, full of Chinese cultural characteristics, glaring angrily at Bulatov!

Roger also leaped up and landed on the dragon's head, coldly gazing down at the golden light and divine aura emanating from Bratov.

Dark clouds quickly gathered above the "Sunset," Roger's long hair stood on end, and his entire body was covered in tiny electric snakes.

Soon, these electric snakes began to resonate with the electrical charges in the dark clouds, and more charges began to gather on the dragon formed from inanimate matter that Roger had summoned, emitting a loud "crackling" sound, while its momentum began to rise rapidly.

The commotion was so great that many people who were fighting couldn't help but look over, including Julius Kruger.

"Don't be distracted!"

Linssaya seized the opportunity and immediately used a mirror she carried with her to lock onto Julius, who had stopped moving. Using the mirror as a medium, she successfully "cursed" him!

A large ball of black flame quickly ignited on Julius's body, while Philip, seizing the opportunity, swiftly unleashed a barrage of flesh-and-blood explosives that flew toward his opponent!

On this battlefield of collective combat, Philip, who possesses the "Crimson Gem of Pantax," almost has the advantage of home ground, as the various corpses and flesh on the ground can become a source of replenishment for him.

However, the former naval officer remained restrained, merely absorbing the flesh and blood of the dead on the Sunset like Roger did, without touching his own fallen or wounded comrades.

"Boom!"

As the flesh-and-blood bomb exploded and blood mist spread, Linssaya and Philip both squinted and looked expectantly at the spot where the other had last appeared.

But there was nothing there except a cluster of blue starlight.

"You don't really think my starlight is such a simple thing, do you?"

Julius's indifferent voice rang out once again, and Philip and Lindsay turned around sharply, only to find that the former's figure had once again emerged from a ball of blue starlight and appeared on the deck.

"That's true, you people clearly don't understand what knowledge is... nor do you understand what astronomy is."

Julius chuckled and then said:
"Now I'll show you the power that comes from the fusion of knowledge and mystery!"

(End of this chapter)