Chapter 247: Overlapping Worlds

The sky remained cloudless, without a single ray of light.

Only the ghostly green flames flickered on the spectral ship, and the banner with the ram's head burned brightly, illuminating a small part of the sea.

"Hard to port! Turn! Turn!"

Captain Morodo's voice cut through the silence, followed by the creaking of the rudder. But even after a while, there was no sense of the swift sloop turning around.

"We're bewitched, Captain, we can't turn!"

"There's no wind, no waves, and we can't row either!"

"It's over, it's really the Devil's Cloud, it's Marquis Cohen's ghost ship, come to take revenge on us!"

"I shouldn't have peeked at Lady Gaia in the tavern while she was bathing, I knew this would be my retribution!"

The sailors were already terrified.

Captain Morodo was also at a loss, the swift sloop seemed to have been cast under a spell, motionless, waiting for the ghost ship to collide.

"Hiddleston, Multiple Rock Spikes!" Seeing the captain's helplessness, Liszt suddenly decided to strike first, pointing at the ghost ship and giving Hiddleston the command.

Hiddleston's nervousness was largely due to the atmosphere, in fact, it had no idea what the ghost ship was. Hearing Liszt's command, it opened its mouth and spat out magic.

Pfft!

Pfft!

Pfft!

Several rock spikes shot out from the deck of the ghost ship, but surprisingly, these rock spikes did not damage the ghost ship at all; instead, they fell directly off the deck, even hearing the sound of them hitting the water, plop, plop.

"This..."

Liszt wanted to say that this was unscientific.

But since he had seen dragons, elves, ghosts, and black dragons, what was left that could be considered scientific? Perhaps in this fantastical world, the existence of such things was science, just not explainable by science.

While he was lost in thought,

Some sailors were already clutching their heads and screaming, even wetting their pants; the captain slumped in the captain's cabin, his wine flask swinging back and forth, unable to bring it to his mouth; even Lvera, who usually showed great bravery, gripped her longsword tightly and shouted with a trembling voice, "No!"

There was no way to stop it!

Everyone watched helplessly as the ghost ship approached the swift sloop bow-to-bow, inch by inch, in an inevitable collision.

"Hold on tight!"

"A boarding action is coming!" Captain Leiden raised his knight's sword and roared, "Knights, show your courage and charge with me!"

His demeanor lived up to his status as a knight, brave and fearless.

However, the atmosphere was different from what he imagined; the collision never came. The decaying ghost ship simply passed through the swift sloop like a mist, with no substantial presence.

"Uh..."

Captain Leiden held his knight's sword, a bit dazed.

At this moment, Levis, who had been tense, suddenly burst with courage: "Liszt, Lvera, come closer to me! Captain Leo, organize the knights to defend the deck. We will stand here and clash with these damned ghosts; knights with battle aura are invincible!"

Liszt gripped his red-blooded sword and quickly joined Levis, gathering together: "I was just thinking of fighting alongside my brother and sister!"

As he spoke, he activated his Magic Eye.

He could see the ghost ship, burning with green ghostly flames, its magical outline gradually engulfing the swift sloop. Or rather, it wasn't engulfing, but passing through like a phantom. In the blink of an eye, the decaying hull was right before him.

The decayed wooden hull was broken and worn, and one could even smell the rot.

It looked very real, yet this ghost ship had already "engulfed" several sailors who couldn't dodge in time, and he could still hear their cries for help, shouting from the deck.

Creak!

The piercing sound pierced his eardrums, and the overused Magic Eye instantly collapsed.

Liszt and the others were also engulfed by the ghost ship, and everything before his eyes seemed to change instantly. He was no longer standing on the deck of the swift sloop but on the decaying deck of the ghost ship. Everything around was shrouded in mist, and he couldn't see Parris, Levis, or anyone else who had been with him just moments ago.

But this was only what his eyes could see.

It was as if he was trapped on the ghost ship. He even extended his foot to probe the holes in the deck, and he could indeed stick his foot through, meaning he was truly standing on the deck of the ghost ship.

"Why is this happening?"

Suppressing his tension, he thought quickly but couldn't understand why he had been standing solidly on the deck of the swift sloop one moment and then on the deck of the ghost ship the next, feeling the creaking wood as if it might break at any moment, very real, not an illusion.

"Levis!"

"Lvera!"

He called out, but no one answered, only the creaking of the wooden deck.

"Hiddleston!"

"Parris!"

No response, the mist swirled, the light was dim, and he couldn't even see the ghostly flames he had seen earlier: "Am I trapped on the ghost ship? Why is this happening? Is my perception deceiving me, or has matter and spirit twisted at this moment?"

The triangular theory of magic, which magicians believed in, flashed through his mind. He remembered the theories and principles Glanny had spoken about: matter, magic, and spirit were constantly transforming.

But the red-blooded sword was still in his hand, and he didn't believe that so many people and such a large swift sloop could be transformed so quickly.

"I must be hallucinating!"

"Yes, hallucinating!"

He rubbed his eyes vigorously, feeling the fatigue lessen, and immediately cast the Eye of Magic again. In an instant, everything around him changed dramatically once more. He saw where the people around him had gone, their forms outlined by magic, not straying too far.

They were simply circling in place, even brandishing weapons and fighting, turning on each other.

He saw Levis, slashing desperately at the air in front of him. He saw Lvera, trembling as she held her sword. He saw Captain Leiden, felling a novice knight with one strike.

Then, he noticed Parris, just behind him, less than a meter away.

Hiddleston was there too, but Parris and Hiddleston seemed unaware of each other. Parris gripped her greatsword and nervously scanned the surroundings, while Hiddleston kept opening its mouth, as if barking.

At that moment, the movement of a magical figure alerted Liszt. The figure had fallen off the deck and into the hold of the ghost ship.

This meant that even though these people, including himself, were trapped in an illusion, their location was no longer the swift sailing ship but truly on a ghost ship, one with a deck riddled with large holes.

Without time to ponder the reasons, Liszt moved directly toward Hiddleston and slapped the dog's back hard: "Hiddleston!"

Hiddleston turned and opened its mouth, spitting out a rock spike.

Fortunately, Liszt was prepared, twisting to avoid it, and continued to pat Hiddleston, calling out: "Hiddleston! You've forgotten your master!"

Hiddleston showed no reaction, its eyes vacant, continuing to release rock spikes randomly.

It wasn't until Liszt pulled out a piece of jerky and found an opportunity to stuff it into Hiddleston's mouth that the dog snapped it up, shook its head, and its eyes cleared.

Seeing the person in front of it clearly, it recognized Liszt, and with the jerky in its mouth, it barked joyfully: "Woof woof!"