A Villain's Journey Begins in the Type-Moon World

Although Artemis was also shaken off her feet by the violent impact, she was pleasantly surprised to find that this sudden change had become her lifeline!

Despite her dizziness, she relied on the hunting goddess's innate control of balance to be the first to regain her footing on the swaying deck. Seizing the fleeting opportunity, she rolled sharply to the side like a startled antelope, narrowly escaping Eric's axe blade.

"Damn it!!!" Eric roared furiously. The prey that was about to be caught slipped away right before his eyes, and the huge sense of frustration made him furious: "Which idiot steered the boat onto the reef?!"

A hint of surprise and uncertainty flashed in Hector's eyes. This sea area was the Blackbeard Pirates' long-established stronghold, and they knew every inch of the waters like the back of their hand.

This is clearly a deep-sea area; there are absolutely no reefs here! Moreover, given the experienced sailors on board, even if there were obstacles, they would never have run into them without noticing!

Below, in the dark depths of the unnoticed sea, several huge black source stones, exuding an ominous aura, were tightly enveloped by enormous transparent bubbles.

Like the shadows cast silently by deep-sea monsters, they subtly adjusted their course, poised to strike Queen Anne's Revenge once more.

This was Wang Chong's doing. While the fierce battle on the deck attracted the attention of everyone on the enemy side, no one noticed the commotion underwater. He had already quietly activated his [Sea God's Blessing A+] ability and Originium abilities.

In the dark sea, Wang Chong moved his mind slightly, and huge transparent bubbles appeared out of thin air. These bubbles were no ordinary things; they were flexible yet tough, perfectly enveloping the huge black source stones that had been pre-formed and were radiating ominous energy.

These giant Originium stones, tightly encased in bubbles, were like shadows cast silently by deep-sea monsters. They adjusted their course quietly in the cold water and continued to move rapidly toward the Blackbeard Pirates.

Their target was the massive Queen Anne's Revenge, which they planned to deliver a heavy blow at a crucial moment to support Artemis, who was struggling in battle.

However, Wang Chong knew very well that this method of creating chaos by underwater impact could only be used as a surprise tactic once or twice. Once it was used too many times, it would be difficult to maintain its effectiveness.

After all, the other party was by no means stupid. After being hit twice, they would surely have noticed the unusual activity beneath the surface of the sea and taken precautions.

Therefore, Wang Chong never intended to rely on this tactic to repeatedly resolve crises for Artemis. The core of his tactics lay in creating crucial disruptions.

The Originium that successfully struck the Queen Anne's Revenge disintegrated rapidly after completing its impact mission, transforming into a pure stream of Originium energy that was imperceptible to the naked eye.

This energy flow, as if it possessed a life of its own, skillfully avoided any possible obstacles on the ship's hull and silently and rapidly moved towards Artemis's location.

Wang Chong's intention was clear: to use this energy flow to transmit a message, reminding Artemis to seize the opportunity during the chaos and jump directly into the sea. Then, with the power of the Sea God's Blessing, he could reach her underwater and safely bring her away from danger.

However, the fact that the plan was progressing so smoothly made Wang Chong feel a sense of unease and surprise.

Logically speaking, given that the Queen Anne's Revenge is a powerful Noble Phantasm materialized by Edward Teach, Blackbeard, as its master, should have noticed the anomaly immediately after the ship was struck by an underwater impact.

Wang Chong had even prepared a contingency plan for this, which is why he specially prepared a sufficient number of Originium crystals, in order to launch a fierce underwater salvo if necessary, forcing Blackbeard to focus on defending his Noble Phantasm, thus leaving him no time to attend to other matters and unable to intervene in the battle on the deck.

To his surprise, the pirate captain, who should have been in the cabin overseeing everything, remained completely still. Although Blackbeard's aura was still present, it carried an indescribable sense of disorder as it emanated from the cabin.

"Blackbeard's magical energy reaction... why is it so chaotic and unstable?" Wang Chong narrowed his eyes, keenly catching this anomaly. "Could something have happened in the cabin?... Or is this strange feeling related to the eerie fluctuations from the 'Dark-Dark Fruit' earlier?"

He quickly connected the two events and had a vague guess in his mind.

Meanwhile, the battle on the deck of the Queen Anne's Revenge did not stop because of the earlier collision; instead, it escalated to a fever pitch.

Although Artemis narrowly escaped a deadly ambush thanks to the chaos created by Wang Chong, she was still in a precarious situation facing the renewed tight encirclement by Hector, Mary, Eric, and the mysterious gunman, and was once again forced into a passive defensive posture.

At this critical moment, the source stone energy flow that Wang Chong was controlling finally found a gap and quietly climbed onto Artemis's back like a serpent.

"Huh? What is that—Eek!!" Artemis's delicate body suddenly stiffened.

She felt a slight, extremely uncomfortable wriggling sensation on her back, as if something alive was crawling rapidly along her spine!

Even as a goddess of the hunt, the girl's innate aversion to the strange and terrifying touch of these "insects" was hard to suppress.

That moment of panic and distraction was almost fatal. If she hadn't instinctively dodged backward, Hector's lightning-fast shot, seizing the opportunity and cunningly aimed at her abdomen, would probably have succeeded!

"Don't panic, Artemis, listen carefully!" At this critical moment, from the source of the strange "crawling sensation," a clear and calm voice rang directly in her ears, "Make it quick! Now find a chance to jump into the sea! We have a way to rescue you underwater!"

The sudden telepathic transmission startled Artemis, but she reacted quickly and immediately grasped the key information in the words.

"Could it be the people from the ship that saved Darling? Who made me jump into the sea... Ah! Could it be that the violent impact on the ship just now wasn't a coincidence!"

Almost instantly, the wise goddess connected the impact behind her with the sound she was hearing.

She immediately understood the key: there was a secret hidden beneath the surface of the sea, and this might be her only way out.

Artemis then made a quick decision to change the pace of the battle, maneuvering and resisting while desperately moving towards the edge of the ship's side.

However, Hector and the other three were clearly prepared for this. Their attacks became increasingly fierce and their coordination more closely, like an invisible net that tightly blocked all paths to the ship's side, not allowing her the slightest chance to get close to the ship or jump into the sea to escape.

"This won't do... We simply can't get through..."

Artemis was extremely anxious, her mind racing:

"Unless... unless we can recreate the chaotic situation when the ship suddenly lost its balance and everyone was off-balance! That might give us a chance to escape... Tsk! When we were trying to escape, we were only focused on establishing a favorable position. Why didn't we think of taking the opportunity to jump into the sea immediately!"

A pang of regret swept through her mind. But it was precisely this regret that, like a spark ignited in the darkness, instantly illuminated her thoughts!

"That's it! This is it!"

A glint flashed in Artemis's eyes:

"Since that mysterious man was able to precisely time the collision to help me out of trouble, it means he must be able to observe the battle situation on the deck in real time! As long as I deliberately create a fatal opening again, I can lure the enemy into a full-scale attack!"

"At that time, as long as he can cooperate with me and ram the ship again to create chaos and make them lose their balance, that will be the best time for me to escape!"

It must be said that Artemis was indeed quick-witted in the critical moment, and she found a way to escape in the blink of an eye.

Chapter 560 Showdown Between Two Sides (Part 2)

As if to confirm her bold conjecture, that mysterious voice rang in her ears again at that very moment:

“Artemis, if you can’t escape, create another opening. I’ll seize the opportunity to ram the pirate ship again and cause them to lose their balance. While they’re falling, you immediately jump into the sea and escape!”

"Just as I thought! There's definitely something fishy going on underwater, and he can observe the situation here... But how did he manage to stay at such a great distance? Could it be that someone else on Blackbeard's side is playing tricks?"

Perhaps it was too coincidental, but Artemis became somewhat suspicious and began to doubt the motives and identity of the voice.

"Hey, why think so much? If we keep going like this, we'll just get caught anyway. We might as well take a gamble!"

However, despite her lingering doubts, Artemis was surrounded by formidable enemies who were pressing her aggressively. She had no choice but to gamble on believing in the mysterious voice.

Having made up her mind, Artemis immediately put it into action. Seeing Eric's powerful axe strike coming down, she deliberately feigned weakness after blocking, staggering backward and leaving herself wide open, seemingly defenseless, exposing a fatal vulnerability to Hector and Mary!

With such an obvious "weakness," how could Hector and Marie let it go? A fierce glint flashed in their eyes, and they launched their deadly charge almost simultaneously!

Hector's sharp spear tip was aimed directly at her legs, while Mary's cold blade slashed towards her waist and abdomen, aiming to completely eliminate Artemis's possibility of moving and escaping.

Boom!!!

Almost at the same instant Hector and Mary started the engine, a louder and more deafening roar than before suddenly erupted from the bottom of the ship!

The entire Queen Anne's Revenge was as if it had been violently rammed by a deep-sea monster. The ship emitted a terrifying groan, and the extremely violent shaking, accompanied by a horrifying tilt, instantly swept across the entire ship!

The impact was far greater than the first one! Even Eric, who had just regained his footing and was preparing to launch another attack, was struck as if by a giant hammer, lost his balance, and fell heavily onto the slippery deck with a "thud".

Hector and Mary, who were fully focused on launching their attack and channeling all their strength into it, were in even worse shape.

The sudden and violent loss of balance completely disrupted their center of gravity and exertion of force. The two cried out and tumbled out in a disheveled state, almost dropping their weapons!

Even Artemis, who was mentally prepared, couldn't help but stumble and fall amidst the unexpected and earth-shattering turbulence.

But at this moment, she had no time to complain about the brutality of the "rescue." The instinct for survival overwhelmed everything. She endured the dizziness and, using the force of the turbulence, desperately lunged towards the ship's side that was so close at hand!

"Oh no! She's aiming to jump into the sea! Stop her!"

The experienced Hector was the first to recover from the chaos. He caught sight of Artemis's movements and immediately roared a warning.

However, it was all too late! In the violent shaking and the chaos of everyone struggling to save themselves, no one could cross that distance in an instant to stop her.

"See you later, everyone!"

Artemis gracefully spun around and stood atop the ship's railing, leaving behind these slightly teasing yet resolute words. Without hesitation, she leaned back and, with a clean and crisp backflip, leaped into the surging, deep blue sea below!

If Wang Chong were to comment on the posture of this leap, he might mutter to himself, "The fluidity is alright, but the visual appeal is still a bit lacking compared to Arcueid's backflip."

"You bunch of bastards! Don't you think you're taking me seriously at all?!"

Just as Wang Chong was still frowning because the plan had been achieved too smoothly, a violent, twisted and devouring strange wave suddenly erupted from the cabin location representing Blackbeard Edward Teach in his mind network perception!

"So he finally couldn't hold back anymore?" Wang Chong's eyes sharpened. His previous suspicions were confirmed in an instant by the unique fluctuations generated by Blackbeard.

A dark shadow moved with ghostly speed, completely ignoring the physical obstacles of the ship itself, and burst out of the cabin with a "whoosh"!

The other party was none other than Blackbeard Edward Teach, who had remained hidden for unknown reasons. He hovered in mid-air, looking down at Artemis as she plummeted towards the sea, a mocking and cruel smile spreading across his fierce face.

"Hehehe! Although I don't understand what tricks you and those bastards are playing, now! I'll show you ungrateful fools the new power I've just mastered, a power that can conquer all!"

"Suck it over here, you son of a bitch!"

Teach laughed wildly and suddenly grabbed Artemis's right hand hard!

In an instant, an incredibly deep, dark vortex that seemed capable of swallowing all light appeared out of thin air in his palm!

The vortex spun rapidly, unleashing an overwhelming and terrifying gravitational force!

The gravitational pull was so strong that it forcefully pulled a large area of ​​seawater below back up like a giant whale sucking in water, forming an upward waterspout!

Artemis, who should have fallen into the sea due to gravity, suddenly froze and then flew upwards against gravity.

At this moment, Artemis was as if she were being grabbed by an invisible giant hand, and was irresistibly flying towards the source of the dark vortex in the sky.

"What on earth is going on?!"

Artemis was clearly startled, her body involuntarily pulled upwards by the terrifying suction force. Her heart was filled with astonishment and doubt:

“I have clearly fought Blackbeard Teach before, and he never displayed such unpredictable power back then!”

She tried to recall the details of the previous battle, becoming increasingly confused:

"Among all the Servants present, Blackbeard's close combat ability is undoubtedly the worst. After all, all his skills are from that ship, and his close combat ability is at most only slightly stronger than some special classes."

"That's why I dared to adopt the tactic of trading injury for injury and risking my life, fighting desperately so that he couldn't take me down for a while and would eventually have no choice but to despicably use my darling as a hostage to force me to submit..."

Artemis's mind raced: "If he had used such a bizarre ability before, wouldn't I have already surrendered? Why would he have needed to resort to such despicable methods as coercing hostages? What exactly is going on?..."

Just as Artemis was bewildered by this sudden turn of events, the sea below suddenly burst open!

Dozens of thick water columns shot into the sky like angry sea dragons, carrying a large amount of Originium, and with astonishing speed and immense force, they crashed precisely into Blackbeard Teach's hand that was manipulating gravity!

"Haha! Just in time!" Blackbeard Teach, witnessing this scene, showed no fear whatsoever, but instead his eyes gleamed with a fierce and excited light. "Let me see whether these ignorant broken rocks are harder, or whether my new power is harder!"

He laughed wildly, not only refusing to dodge, but instead suddenly opened his right palm, which was activating "gravity," again, intending to absorb these things, which he considered nothing more than ordinary boulders, all at once, and then use his newly acquired power to completely crush them into dust.

It seems that Blackbeard is not only going to show off his "One Piece" technique, but also his "Naruto" technique, Chibaku Tensei, to bury the incoming boulder along with the enemy.

However, these seemingly ordinary "stones" emerging from the water were destined to exceed the limits of his understanding—

"White Luo Extinguishes Essence!"

As Wang Chong silently recited the command, in an instant, those giant source stones that were about to be captured by gravity exploded violently in mid-air without warning!

The solid stone instantly crumbled into countless sharp fragments. At the same time, the enormous energy stored within the Originium erupted like a flood bursting its banks!

These violent energy flows precisely carried the flying Originium fragments, forming a larger, more powerful, and more violently rotating destructive energy vortex centered on Blackbeard Teach in an instant, which collided fiercely with the Dark Gravity Vortex in Teach's palm!

The power unleashed by Wang Chong was incredibly domineering, almost instantly negating the gravitational field created by Blackbeard Teach upon contact.

Moreover, the violently spinning energy turbulence and the high-speed flying Originium fragments formed countless terrifying cutting and tearing forces, like countless invisible blades, which began to frantically tear and cut Blackbeard Teach's body and clothes!

"Gahhh—what...what on earth is going on?!"

The sudden, intense pain and the backlash from the power caused Blackbeard Teach to let out a strange cry.

The terrifying tearing sensation, far exceeding his expectations, forced him to abandon his attempt to capture Artemis. He hastily retracted the released gravitational energy and concentrated it around himself, forming a barely holding-up protective barrier to desperately resist the omnipresent tearing and cutting forces all over his body.

Because Blackbeard had to concentrate all his power to protect himself, the gravitational pull that had been locking onto Artemis vanished instantly.

Having lost that irresistible pulling force, Artemis, who had been forcibly suspended in the air, finally resumed free fall.

She felt her body lighten, and then she plummeted unstoppably towards the deep blue sea below.

A few breaths later, with a small splash, Artemis's figure completely disappeared into the surging waves.

When Blackbeard finally exhausted all the tearing Originium energy around him after expending tremendous effort, the sea had already returned to its normal undulating state, with only a few ripples slowly spreading outwards.

Looking down at the calm, deep blue sea that seemed as if nothing had happened, Blackbeard understood perfectly well. Artemis, the important prey that should have been his, had been successfully snatched away by a mysterious adversary lurking beneath the sea!

Chapter 561 Blackbeard's Scheme

"Damn it! This is outrageous!! I, Blackbeard Edward Teach, have always been the one to rob others! When did it become someone else's turn to steal from me!"

The inexplicable defeat and the feeling of being mocked immediately ignited Blackbeard's fury. Veins bulged on his forehead as he unleashed a deafening roar at his terrified subordinates on deck:

"Listen up, all of you! Full speed ahead! Full sails! Our target is those three reckless pirate ships ahead! Don't let a single one of them get away!"

The pirates, who had originally planned to wait in comfort for their prey to run into them, were so frightened by their captain’s terrifying rage that they dared not be negligent.

They immediately and frantically carried out the order. The huge sails were raised with a "whoosh," filling the wind. The massive "Queen Anne's Revenge" let out a heavy groan and began to accelerate suddenly, cutting through the waves like an arrow released from a bow, and rushing toward the direction of Wang Chong's fleet.

Blackbeard Teach, looking visibly angry, landed back on the deck. Looking at the Servants who had just gotten up from the floor, Teach snorted and said:

“I’ve said it before, I’m not the same person I was before, but you all insisted that I would be entangled with that woman again and hold you back. Now do you know who’s right and who’s wrong? You should know that I almost caught that woman all by myself just now.”

It turns out that the reason Blackbeard didn't appear at first was because Hector and the others were afraid that Teach would become a weakness in their attack on Artemis, just like last time, so they deliberately kept Teach in the cabin.