Chapter 128 - Killing Another Prey

“We killed Pang Ja-Kyung, but the battle isn’t over yet. Old Tohyon, take us where the Pirate Generals and their officers are fighting. Let's see if we can take out other spirit soldiers."

It was what Hei said as he kneeled down before Pang Ja-Kyung's lifeless body and took his space ring. He wouldn’t let go of the spoils of war he had earned with his forces and his family’s.

Upon hearing his words, Ho Yeon-Hong's eyes widened. She couldn’t believe that after fighting Pang Ja-Kyung, Hei still had the desire to challenge other spirit soldiers, considering that the remaining spirit soldiers of Hong Shin’s crew were stronger than that beast tamer.

"Hei, are you sure? Isn't it better to support the others and bring down the enemies that are within our reach?” Ho Yeon-Hong asked in a worried voice.

What she said was logical enough to think of, and it wasn't wrong at all. Even though Hei had won against Pang Ja-Kyung, it was only thanks to several factors that had chained to each other. There was no way of knowing that he could kill another spirit soldier. It was more logical to take down the enemies who were fighting on the ships and help their companions.

“I understand what you mean, but I won't change my mind. If only one of the enemy spirit soldiers were to win their fights, the situation would become bad for us. That spirit soldier could go to help one of his companions, and eventually, your sister could lose against Hong Shin. If that happens, it will be the end of all of us. It will be so even if we manage to wipe out all the enemies on the ships.” Hei quickly explained his point of view to Ho Yeon-Hong.

It wasn't as if he didn't know that by doing so, he would condemn many of the pirates who were fighting on the ships. However, if what he had just said happened, it would have been the end for all of them. Between the death of a dozen more pirates and total annihilation, he would have chosen the path that had the most chances of victory for himself and his family. Even though he didn’t feel bad at staying in the Steam City, in the end, they weren't his companions, and he didn't feel such a deep attachment for them to compromise the victory itself.

Ho Yeon-Hong listened to Hei's words and bit her lips. What he said was right, and there was no way in which she could reply. Even though she felt sorry for the other pirates, she couldn't compromise her older sister's life itself.

“However, it isn’t said that we could not do both. Only Ye and Xing will be enough for what I have in mind. Lian, you go with Ho Yeon-Hong and kill the enemies on the ships. Be careful, though, in any case. Even if you aren’t facing spirit soldiers, you must not let your guard down.”

Hearing Hei, Ho Yeon-Hong made a big smile. It was evident that she was delighted with the alternative Hei had found. However, she tried to contain her joy and asked, “Is it really okay? If you want, I can go alone to help the others. After all, Lian is a half-step spirit soldier. Her support will certainly help you more than mine."

"No, there is no need. Only my spirit beasts will be enough. Besides, I can't risk you running into danger. So Lian will also function as your personal guard if there are any enemies of the seventh stage. Lian, please, be careful and be prepared for any eventuality.”

Lian nodded her head to indicate Hei that she had understood what he had said while Ho Yeon-Hong blushed at Hei's statement that he wanted to protect her so much that he assigned Lian as her personal guard.

“Old Tohyon, then approach one of the ships first so as to leave Lian and Ho Yeon-Hong. Then we'll go where I point you."

"Roger, Master Hei, let's go!" Old Tohyon turned the helm quickly, leaving the place where they were. Since they had followed the flock of seagulls, they had gone quite a distance from the rest of the ships.

In a short time, they came to the side of one of the three allied war galleons, specifically the one under the direct command of Ho Ri-Na. On the deck, there was a close battle between the pirates of the two crews. Fortunately, the ship was sturdy enough to easily withstand, without sinking, due to the damage the battle was causing.

“Lian, Ho Yeon-Hong, go. Remember what I told you.” Hei quickly greeted the two as he helped them hook onto the side of the ship.

"Yes, don't worry, Hei. We'll get by.” Ho Yeon-Hong hurriedly replied cheerfully before returning to be serious as she prepared herself for the battle. Lian just nodded her head; however she and Hei exchanged a look of understanding containing meanings that were hidden from everyone else except them.

“Old Tohyon, let’s go. We've already wasted a lot of time. We have to hurry before the worst situation happens.”

Old Tohyon operated the propulsion system while driving the ship to the place Hei was pointing to.

*

A few meters above the ocean level, two men were suspended in midair, panting visibly. However, there was a clear difference between them because one of the two was seriously injured on his right side and was blocking the flow of blood by placing his hand over the wound.

“Sok Yeong-Gi, I must admit that you surprised me. I didn't think you would have put me in such troubles. But for you, the end has now come." Said the man without wounds while looking at his opponent.

The other person, wounded in the hip, was none other than Sok Yeong-Gi. Ho Ri-Na had assigned him to face against one of Hong Shin's spirit soldiers. However, the enemy was a second stage spirit soldier while he was only in the first stage. Although it had been a fair fight until recently, a moment of distraction had led him to suffer a severe injury. Now the tip of the scale hung on the spirit soldier of Hong Shin’s crew.

“You won’t say anything, Sok Yeong-Gi? Not even a few last words before you die?"

"Kim Seon, don't flatter yourself so much. Even if you have an advantage of cultivation, your spirit power is almost completely exhausted. If it weren't because your cultivation is superior, you would have already lost. The mere fact of being reduced to this state should make you ashamed of yourself.”

Despite being in that situation, Sok Yeong-Gi still mocked his enemy. He knew it would be a difficult fight due to the difference in cultivation. Nonetheless, he believed that a genius like him could do it even in those conditions. After all, didn’t those who were destined for great things always be disadvantaged?

Kim Seon, the spirit soldier of Hong Shin, smiled coldly. He didn't like Sok Yeong-Gi's words at all since they weren't false. Although he had the advantage of both experience and cultivation, he ended up drawing and draining almost all of his spirit power. If it weren't for that moment of Sok Yeong-Gi's distraction, it was hard to say he would have emerged victorious from that fight. Yet Sok Yeong-Gi had made that mistake, and victory was now within reach of his hand.

"Sok Yeong-Gi. There is no point in continuing to play the big man. Now the end has come for you.”

While Kim Seon was preparing to charge against Sok Yeong-Gi, from afar, the shape of a ship could be seen quickly approaching them, producing a series of roars. In a short time, it arrived about 5 meters away from them and stopped at that point. A young man with brown skin and raven black hair came down from the ship. His feet were still on the surface of the ocean as if they were touching solid ground.

Looking at that young man, both Sok Yeong-Gi and Kim Seon opened their eyes wide. It wasn’t for the fact that that young man could walk on water without problems, but for what he was holding in his right hand.

The newly arrived young man was Hei, and he was holding nothing but Pang Ja-Kyung's severed head on his right hand. The rest of the beast tamer's body had been thrown into the sea as food for the creatures that lived in that part of the ocean.

"Pang Ja-Kyung? How is that possible?!”Kim Seon instantly recognized who the severed head belonged to, and quickly, his heart was flooded with questions. Pang Ja-Kyung was a first stage spirit soldier and commanded a second level spirit beast as well as a flock of first-level spirit beast gulls. According to the information they had, there should be no one in Ho Ri-Na's crew capable of fighting him or killing him. Yet reality had been brutally projected before his eyes.

Sok Yeong-Gi also had an incredulous expression. He knew that Hei was facing Pang Ja-Kyung and was in charge of blocking him. Although he knew that Hei could use a battle formation with his spirit beasts and his female partner, he thought they would be able to stall Pang Ja-Kyung and his new second-level spirit beast at best. It was far from him to believe that the brat who was still a spirit apprentice could manage to kill Pang Ja-Kyung. It was because it was necessary to kill the second level spirit beast and the entire flock of first level seagulls if you wanted to face Pang Ja-Kyung, not to mention that the beast tamer was capable enough to fight one vs. one against him. So it was natural that he absolutely didn’t think that Hei would kill his opponent.

"Hei? Were you able to kill Pang Ja-Kyung?” Sok Yeong-Gi asked in a shaky voice.

Hei didn’t reply but turned his gaze instead to Kim Seon, who felt a slight shiver on his back as if he was being observed by a lethal beast on the verge to attack.

“Brat, what the fuck are you looking at? Do you think you can attack me? Do you believe that just because you killed that trash of Pang Ja-Kyung, you can kill me? Me, Kim Seon, one of the spirit soldiers of Pirate General Hong Shin?"

"If I'm not mistaken, was Pang Ja-Kyung also one of the spirit soldiers of Hong Shin and yet wasn’t he killed by my hand? Do you think your stupid threats can impress me?” Hei replied scornfully. His tone was arrogant and fearless, and his eyes gave the feeling that he didn't put Kim Seon in his eyes at all. It was as if he wasn't worried that his opponent was a second-stage spirit soldier.

“Bratty bastard! Who the fuck do you think you are? I'll show you. I will make you feel a terror you have never experienced.” Kim Seon quickly made his spirit power resound through his whole body. Sok Yeong-Gi's words had already angered him earlier, but with the arrival of Hei and what he had just said, the anger of the second-stage spirit soldier had exceeded the endurance limit.

With a fierce momentum, Kim Seon flew in the direction of Hei, who was standing in his place and had no intention of running away. Hei just grabbed his spear with both hands and waited for the arrival of his enemy.

"Cheeky! Don't be presumptuous. Do you really think you can resist my assault?"

"You're just trash. It is you who shouldn’t flatter yourself. You are just a walking corpse."

"Bastard! Take this, die!”

Kim Seon concentrated his spirit power on his sword and waved his weapon toward Hei. His strike contained all his anger and energy, completely ignoring the defense to focus on tearing Hei to pieces. But that choice did nothing but cost him his life.

Before he could even graze Hei, from beneath the ocean's water surface, the figure of a huge snake popped out. Its mouth was wide open just where Kim Seon was. At the same time, another silhouette flew from Hei's head at high speed, heading towards Kim Seon's face.

Crunch! Thump!

It all happened in an instant. The lower part of Kim Seon's body, from the waist down, was detached from the upper part while the head of the unfortunate man was severed and made to fly in the air until it landed in front of Sok Yeong-Gi. All that was left was the upper body without a head and legs.

The reason Hei had acted so boldly earlier was to distract Kim Seon. By completely drawing the enemy's attention to himself, he caused Kim Seon's reflexes to weaken. This allowed Ye and Xing to attack, taking the spirit soldier by surprise, who didn’t expect such a surprise attack at all.

With cold, calm eyes, Hei grabbed the torso that was falling on the water. He quickly picked up the space ring on the hand of the lifeless body before letting it go. Meanwhile, Xing had gone back over his head while Ye spat Kim Seon's legs out of her mouth and shrunk to return to her big brother's body.

Although apparently, it seemed like it was a piece of cake for them, Ye and Xing had used all their spirit power in that blow to be sure of killing the enemy on the spot and avoiding unnecessary surprises. Additionally, they had previously spent a lot of spirit power against the second-level seagull. As a result, they were now almost without energy.

Hei, although better off, had also consumed much of his spirit power against Pang Ja-Kyung while holding him immobilized and breaking through his defense of spirit power with Spider Bite. Therefore the hunt for spirit soldiers could be said to have ended here for them.

“You can still move, can you? If so, join another of your companions and help him. Bring the heads of Pang Ja-Kyung and Kim Seon with you. Even if you are injured, just seeing you bringing the heads of two of their companions will put the enemies under pressure. I advise you to hurry up because the remaining fighters should be in the final stages by now.” Hei said without emotions as if it were a commonplace everyday topic while he threw Pang Ja-Kyung's head towards Sok Yeong-Gi.

Hei knew when to stop and not be greedy. With his little sisters who had consumed almost all their energy, it was dangerous to persist fighting. Having earned the space rings of two spirit soldiers was more than enough. He also wanted to retain as much spirit power as possible at the moment, not to mention that by helping Sok Yeong-Gi, he had practically achieved his intended purpose. Before long, the other battlegrounds would also end thanks to the intervention of Hei, who had freed Sok Yeong-Gi from his situation.

Without waiting for the spirit soldier's response, Hei turned and went back on the ship. Old Tohyon quickly restarted the artifact ship and returned to where the other ships were fighting, leaving Sok Yeong-Gi alone with the heads of the two enemy spirit soldiers killed by Hei.

"Bastard!!! How the fuck do you dare! Treating me as if I were rubbish and giving me orders as if I were a simple stooge. I'll make you pay. I'll make you pay. I swear to you on my name!”

Sok Yeong-Gi exploded into a series of curses, and yet there was nothing else he could do at the moment. What Hei had said made sense, and if he delayed further, he would endanger himself as well. So, although reluctantly, he did what Hei had told him and flew away from there, taking the heads of the two enemies, in the direction of one of his companions.