Chương 17

"A ghost ship?"

"That's what I said."

"Just over there?"

"Your gesture is a bit off, but close enough."

"Can we kill the ghosts?"

"I just destroyed one of them. Look at the pile of ectoplasm if you want evidence of that."

"Can I kill the ghosts?"

"Yeah. I did it without my specialized class for years. It's rare that spirits can go invisible for longer than a few seconds while nearby. And it's just invisibility. You can still guess at where they'll be and kill them."

"Interesting." Oliver massaged his arm. It was slowly returning to his usual pale shade, rather than the stark white it had been from the effects of the phantom's touch. His shoulder also had a gash that leaked out a thick, purple liquid from the gun's phantom bullet. But it was only a grazing hit and he decided it wasn't deep enough to be concerned about. Ben's communication device had fully exploded soon after Oliver had begun his conflict with the phantom.

The rest of the bag was unharmed as were the other contents, the bag apparently having been received by Kiki as a quest reward. Despite Oliver's prodding, the charred mechanical device remained unresponsive.

"Any idea what happened to Ben?" he asked Kiki as she snatched her bag from him.

"His drones should be here by now."

"[Technomancer]'s drones are likely jammed. I've seen it happen a couple times before the merge. Occasionally, he encountered interference in my version of Neo Nova City and lost contact with me. This is likely similar. The longer the distance, the more difficult for him to maintain control. Something to do with his skill."

"That makes sense in a city full of technology. But what's jamming them out here? We're on an island at sea." Kiki pointed at the ship. Well, a bit to the right of the ship, but Oliver got the point.

"There are myths about ghosts interfering with technology and causing it to go wonky. I imagine that's what's happening now." Oliver stared out at the ghost ship. It flickered slightly in the sunlight, but now that it was closer it appeared fairly solid. Like normal spirits, it probably had a harder time maintaining invisibility the closer it was to onlookers.

"Let's walk a bit closer to the ship," Oliver suggested. He started off in that direction. Kiki looked longingly back at the half-boiled crab in her spilled coconut pot. Then she followed after him. The ghost ship solidified the closer they approached. It was only about 30 feet off shore, meaning that the water must dip fast. It had been a long time since his last geology class, but he thought he remembered underwater cliffs like these being called 'seamounts.' As in, mountains under seas.

Which made logical sense for a biome called the Deep Sea Biome. The drop off must be considerable.

"Ah, fuck. My shovel." Oliver turned back to the spot it had sunk in the water earlier. It might very well be a mile deep now. He held on to the hope that maybe it hadn't gone over the edge of the underwater cliff.

"Nothing we can do about it if it went deep," Kiki said.

"Better to not think about it." She gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Oliver sighed and they took a few more steps in the direction of the boat. Kiki stopped in place, staring up at the vessel. Her eyes went wide at the sight.

"That was here this entire time?"

"It arrived a minute before our fight earlier. So not the entire time."

"I understand now why [Technomancer] wished to enlist your help. If you're able to spot things like this, you're worth the trouble to have as a scout. Even considering your idiotic blunders."

"Thanks."

"What do you want to do about it? Climb on board and get to fighting?" Kiki sounded eager as she unsheathed her blade. Oliver might have passed her in levels as a result of the fight in Neo Nova City, but nobody got to level 50 as a pacifist.

"I have a better idea." Oliver first activated his fairy ring. The creature of light winked into existence on his shoulder. Kiki raised an eyebrow but didn't question him. She watched as Oliver directed his summoned fairy over to the ship's deck. It simply hovered there, peering down at the deck. While, at their current angle, they couldn't see the ghosts drawing close to investigate, Oliver did feel the shift in temperature. He needed to act quickly.

Next, he reached into his bag and fumbled around, searching for something specific. Most of the items inside wouldn't even touch an incorporeal spirit. But there was one tool essential for his plan. He withdrew his last silver grenade.

"Ah, I see," Kiki said, examining the weapon in his hand. Oliver nodded sadly. This was it, the end of this resource. With a heavy heart, he pulled the pin and chucked it. It landed on the deck with a soft thud. One second passed. Then another. His little light fairy looked back at him, confused when the third second passed. It placed its hands on its hips, as if about to scold him for littering. BOOM! The ship rocked in the water and several kill notifications flashed in front of Oliver's eyes.

At least the final grenade had accomplished its task.

"Get ready," Oliver said, blunderbuss in hand.

"That wasn't all of them. Do you know if your sword can cut them?"

"My skills let me cut anything," Kiki replied smugly. She readied her stance, the illuminated pink eyes on her helmet pointing up at the gunwales of the ghost ship. Oliver wished that the baseball bat he'd looted earlier was a nice, solid iron instead of steel. He might not have proficiency with bats, but he could swing one as well as any other person. Better, really. His Strength made him hit like a truck. Not to mention those boosts the enchanted bat offered.

Alas, all the strength in the world wouldn't help a steel bat penetrate an incorporeal phantom. The ghosts crawled out over the gunwales. They didn't float down like the wraiths Oliver was accustomed to. No, they crawled like geckos, heads bent backwards and watching Oliver with hatefilled eyes. Bang! One of them dropped and dissolved into ectoplasm goop that mixed in with the sea water. Oliver reloaded. His high Dexterity was making his reload speed faster and faster. He fired another shot. And another.

Kiki positioned herself in front of him, blocking the path of the phantoms to their target. They'd need to go through her to get to him. When the first phantom reached her, she sliced it in a rapid double chop. Her blade hummed as it made contact with the enemies. As promised, her skills allowed her to slice through their incorporeal bodies, severing them with ease. As Oliver continued his cycle of firing and reloading, he admired Kiki's effectiveness.

Before, when they'd fought together they'd each had their own opponent to worry about, now that he saw her in action, he found her movements almost beautiful in their grace. The perfection of each cut showcased an unrivaled control over her katana. Nothing stood in the [Neon Samurai]'s path. The enemy phantoms each carried weapons of their own, mostly cutlasses and knives, and occasionally enough of the foe would swarm forward that they'd be able to mob Kiki.

Even when they managed to get a swing off with their attacks, they still fell. Not one of them so much as touched her. Their attacks were basically slow motion when set against Kiki. While awe-inspiring to witness, it wasn't actually a surprising turn of events. The highest phantom Oliver had used Appraisal on had been mid 30's. Most were in their 20's and a few even as low as high teens. These weren't the same level of challenge as the first mate had been.

These ghostly crew members were fodder, likely sent out in an effort to wear them down. Which begged the question. If they fought the first mate already, where was the captain?