He was instantly stunned as he looked up.There was a fiery hole blazing in the ship’s lower deck ceiling, and the moonlight reflected in Marcus’s wide, shocked eyes.His astonishment didn’t last long. A strange sound snapped him out of it. He lowered his head and looked down.A strange capsule rolled across the floor, making a metallic clinking sound. It hit the bars of his cage, then slowly opened, releasing a white mist.At the center of the capsule was an ethereal bracelet glowing blue and green, pulsing as if it were alive.Marcus stared at it, mind clouded, then almost unconsciously reached out a cautious hand.The moment he touched it, it latched onto his wrist like a parasite.He felt a sudden heat , and then sharp pinpricks like tiny needles drilling into his bones. A shiver shot through his entire body. He snapped out of his daze and screamed in fear:“W-What is this…?!”He shook his hand, frantically trying to tear it off, but it began to coil tighter around his wrist as if

The maritime region under the Eastern Archipelago... inside a merchant ship under attack."Uugh... water..."Marcus opened his heavy eyelids to a flickering oily light."Hmm... I'm alive..."He whispered with a hoarse voice due to his dry throat. He had not expected to ever open his eyes again. He thought that was the end, but clearly fate had other plans."Thank God..."He muttered, then looked around. His eyes narrowed when he found himself back in the same situation, inside a metal cage with many people of different races and ages."Damn it... don't tell me it was all just a dream..." he thought with fear and anxiety."The bracelet..." his eyes lit up. He ignored everything else and quickly lifted his right hand to see the one thing that could confirm whether what he went through was just a dream."Haah...!""Whoaa... damn it... what is happening..." Marcus yelled in a hoarse, hysterical voice, waking up the other captives."Who the hell is that?!""This kid has gone insane!!!""Sh

Boom!!"Hmm, damn it... still alive!"Marcus muttered gloomily when he saw that he had failed to kill the sniper with the cannonball he had hurled. The sniper had dodged it by leaping off the mast.Marcus ignored him and moved to finish off the others who were trying to flee by jumping into the sea, but he was faster. He cut them off and swung the sword he had picked up again.Like a wolf among sheep, he slaughtered them effortlessly. After all, they were pathetically weak, just human traffickers and mercenaries in name only, their heads worth nothing."I've taken so many lives..." he whispered bitterly as he looked between the blood-dripping sword and the bodies, most of them headless, blood gushing from their necks."They were evil..." he muttered, trying to console himself. He sighed and flicked the sword to clear off the blood. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Elia who had climbed up to the deck, staring in awe at him and the scattered corpses.Marcus ignored it and ordered, "G

The Open Sea, on the deck of the ship Marcus had seized after killing its crew."Hmm... someone’s here."Erin said this quietly, sitting atop the ship’s mast with his legs dangling in the air, his eyes fixed in surprise on the young man sleeping in the worn-out chair at the center of the deck.The young man stirred slowly, then opened his eyes with a groan and a scowl."Man... it’s pretty rude to barge into someone else’s place without asking."Marcus spoke in a heavy tone as he sat up straight, stretched out his arms, and yawned before lifting his head to look at the unexpected visitor.Marcus studied this stranger with unusual features, a face sprinkled with freckles, a wide hat being slapped back and forth by the wind, and a confident gaze unlike any ordinary adventurer’s.He whispered with a touch of amazement as he examined him closely."You’ve got to be kidding me, right?"He cast a quick glance around, as if something in his memory had just been triggered.Above, Erin watched h

"Hmm, what is it? What do you see?"Both Erin and Dice asked when they noticed Marcus’s expression change. He lowered the spyglass from his eyes and tossed it back to Dice."This definitely isn’t a coincidence..." Marcus thought grimly. "Their ship’s course is headed straight here, which means they’ve found out I’m the one who killed the Celestial Lord. But how? How did they figure it out..." His mind was crowded with questions that had no logical answers.Three days had already passed since the Celestial Lord was killed, yet somehow the Grand Council of Unions had managed to pinpoint the killer’s location. Marcus couldn’t help but feel a cold fear at the terrifying reach of that council.He ignored both Dice and Erin, who were bombarding him with questions."It’s better to take the fight to them than wait for them to get close..." Marcus muttered bleakly as he prepared to transform."Hey man, what’s wrong with you? What nonsense are you talking about?" Erin asked, stepping closer and