D.I.O

Of course, the Kraken wasn’t totally unaffected. If that were the case, it wouldn’t have reacted in such a violent manner. Nevertheless, the Kraken’s size meant that Merlin’s hand skills wouldn’t be capable of severely injuring it. It was like sticking a needle into someone, with the Kraken being the person in this example and Merlin’s attack being the needle. Although being stuck would hurt and anger the target, it wouldn’t be enough to kill them.

“Even if that guy stays still and doesn’t counterattack, it would at least one week of internal energy attacks to defeat it.”

The Kraken didn’t utilize any specific energy or power, but its overwhelming size gave it abundant life force. So, its mass was essentially a source of energy and power in and of itself, and the Kraken could be treated as a life force-based monster. And, generally…

“Life force practitioners typically have large health bars. I don’t think I can catch that thing.”

While it was difficult for the Kraken to land any attack on Merlin, if it were successful, the player would sustain considerable, critical damage. Yet, on the other hand, Merlin could easily hit the Kraken, but it would take him forever to win. Merlin considered himself reasonably powerful, so he couldn’t help but see the Kraken as a being on a whole new level. And to be honest, their levels were indeed vastly different.

‘It’s too bad. I would’ve gotten a monstrous amount of experience points.’

As he mumbled, Merlin continued moving. He had already traveled five kilometers away from the Kraken, and once the monster sensed that Merlin had escaped to a certain distance outside of its operating zone, it moved a few more times before diving down into the deep sea.

“Let’s take a break.”

Merlin rested for a moment to recover his internal energy and magic power. Other than the small amount of magic power that he fed the egg, Merlin hadn’t used any yet. However, after using his Golden Pill Immortal Technique, Merlin had depleted a considerable amount of his internal energy. His limits had dramatically increased when he reached Level 5 and gained additional spiritual power, and he’d also spent eight hours of real-time in the Training Room, which was two days in DIO time. After a month in the Training Room, Merlin couldn’t increase his spiritual power anymore, so his internal energy limits also reached their peak.

“Phew.”

His recovery speed had quickened, though. Despite the slow circulation speed of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique, once he reached Level 7 in the technique, things changed. If others were to see him right now, they’d mistakenly think that his recovery speed was incredibly fast.

“Anyway, I’m here.”

Merlin popped his head above the surface of the water to observe the target, still considerably far from it. It was a single ship, but this wasn’t a typical vessel. It was 400 meters long, 30 meters wide, and ten stories tall. It was a gigantic ship that seemed to be in the 40,000-ton class.

Dead Man’s Chest.

“Wow, is that ship carrying the entirety of the 10,000 monsters coming from Dead Land?”

The ship was colossal. It was comparable to the massive cruise ships that Merlin often saw on television and in movies. The vessel was painted all black, giving it an air of mystery and making it hard to decipher its material. In addition, the ship didn’t even have one sail. It seemed to propel itself through a non-traditional method.

“Let’s see… it doesn’t seem like this’ll be easy or simple.”

Merlin used Aura Vision to try and see inside the ship, but he wasn’t able to find the monsters’ exact location; it seemed like they’d implemented some sort of magic resistance spell to block any such approach. Yet, Merlin could still spot 1,000 or so undead that was on the deck. Most of them were Zombies, Ghouls, Skeletons, and other low-level monsters, usually with a species level of Level 2. However, there were also some mid-level Skeleton Mages and Death Warriors.

“Should I try pissing them off?”

When he was about one kilometer from the Dead Man’s Chest, Merlin took out his Decian Great Bow. He was going to use the metal arrows that he purchased at the weapon shop.

Whoosh!

Merlin effortlessly pulled back the bowstring, aimed at his target, and then loosed the arrow. Actually, he hadn’t really taken the time to aim. Using Mercury and Venus, Merlin briefly caused his internal energy to explode, reinforcing parts of his body to shoot the arrow. This was all completed within the one-second limit on his reinforcement. It was absurd to expect such a quick movement to hit a target, but Merlin didn’t miss. He had already aimed before pulling the bowstring.

Bam!

A Skeleton Mage was hit by an arrow and instantly collapsed. While skeletons were known to be capable of resisting any attack on their skeletal structure, Merlin had aimed at the Skeleton Mage’s core, and when the core exploded from his arrow, there was no time for it to act or regenerate.

“$$!#!@!”

“#$@#!”

The deck soon fell into disarray as undead started running mindlessly across the deck. Merlin was able to see this with his Enhanced Eyesight, but he wasn’t able to hear anything, as he lacked a long-range hearing skill like Thousand Li Ears. It didn’t matter either way; Merlin ignored the commotion. He’d anticipated that this would happen.

Bam! Bam!

An additional two Skeleton Mages fell. Merlin was aiming to bring down the highest-level monsters with relatively low defensive abilities. Since the Skeleton Mages couldn’t prepare their defensive spells beforehand, they weren’t a match for Merlin’s arrows.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

When the sixth Skeleton Mage fell, ten or so Ghouls moved in front of the Skeleton Mages to form a frontline, with a significant number of undead taking defensive positions behind them. The sizable Ghouls were about two meters tall; a standard metal arrow would have no chance of piercing them.

“So obvious.”

Yet, Merlin didn’t concern himself with this development and started releasing more arrows. Actually, he wasn’t using arrows this time. He was shooting the short spears that he’d enchanted with explosion spells.

Boom!

When a short spear pierced and struck a Ghoul, it blew apart everything in a five-meter radius around the monster, clearing everything away. Along with the frontline Ghouls, Skeleton Mages were seen in the growing pile of rubble that was left. Furthermore, those Skeleton Mages all had metal arrows piercing their cores. The precision of this attack was unbelievable, and this was even truer considering this was done from a kilometer away.

“Damn it. It’s nice not being counterattacked, but I can’t get to the drops.”

As he complained under his breath, Merlin continued to launch attack after attack like a machine. With this, Merlin expected to down at least a hundred more undead, but the monsters reacted much quicker than he’d expected.

Ting!

The more vulnerable undead started taking cover behind various objects and structures atop the deck while the Death Warriors, which were able to endure the metal arrows, moved to the frontline. While there were many defenseless Ghouls and Zombies remaining, Merlin didn’t even target these lowly undead, as they’d be a waste of arrows.

Creak.

Additionally, the undead didn’t just move into a defensive formation. At some point, the gun slots on the ship’s side had opened.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As the cannons fired, Merlin could see columns of water rising around him where the cannonballs landed. It was clear that Merlin wouldn’t be affected by these water columns, and the only way he’d be hurt by the cannons was if he stood in front of one and let it hit him. However, Merlin was a kilometer away from the ship, so he could easily see when the ship fired, the path the cannonballs took, and how fast they were. There was no way Merlin would get hit, especially with his agile movements in the water.

“They’re like medieval cannonballs, but they can go as far as a kilometer? Those cannons should only have a range of 200 to 300 meters.”

‘They probably had a magic spell placed on them to have such a range. It’s either that or their quality is higher than I anticipated.’

After mumbling, Merlin raised his Decian Great Bow once more. The ship’s decision to defend itself was cute. All they did was reveal the location of their cannons, making a critical mistake.

Bam! Boom!

Merlin’s arrows and short spears shot into the cannons, and soon, they exploded. This caused a chain reaction, starting with Merlin’s explosive short spear before moving to the cannonball and the material used to launch the cannonball. Naturally, the causalities and damage were massive. Due to the chain reaction, a significant portion of one side of the ship burst outward.

“Oh, cha-ching!”

Seeing the devastation from his attacks, Merlin enthusiastically took out another arrow. Since the undead on the deck had been surprised by the unexpected blast, they were essentially sitting ducks.

“Good. If I keep this up and lower their defenses, I can move towards the ship and sink it using my Great Strength Vajra Hand skill attacks. The ship does look quite sturdy, so I might not be able to sink it, but I’ll at least make it a sitting duck for further attacks!”

If this were occurring on land, the undead would have been able to do something, but in the water, Merlin was nearly undefeatable. Obviously, the ship could’ve also changed course to approach Merlin, but he was much quicker in the water, which would’ve made their efforts futile. Even if he used up his stamina and could no longer boost himself, Merlin could just dive deep underwater and recover.

Kyak!

However, Merlin was overlooking one vital factor. He had miscalculated a critical point.

“W-what the hell?”