The Almighty Ring

“Adventurer. Calm ye boots. We mean yer no ‘arm. Dis but ourrr island. Outsiders rr not welcome ere!” said the leader of the pirates. When Jiang Fei attacked once, he understood how strong Jiang Fei was and immediately took steps to protect himself and his crew.

“Cap…” said one of the pirate underlings next to him.

“Ain’t nothin’ to worry bout… the night tis nigh…” whispered the leader.

“I see…”

Once the underlings understood the leader’s words, they calmed down and sheathed their swords.

“The night is nigh? What does that mean?” wondered Jiang Fei. Something was up but Jiang Fei could not tell. It was better to take precaution.

When Jiang Fei encountered the band of pirates, the sky was going dark. The sun was already at the horizon, setting slowly, giving way to the moon. Even though the total time of Jiang Fei being in the game was eight hours, the in-game time concept was slowed down by three times, stretching the total time in the game to twenty-four hours. Day and night mimicked the real world.

“Adventurer. Dis but ourrr base. We cannot just let yer go! Perhaps if we calm our boots and sit!” said the leader when he noticed Jiang Fei had immediately picked something up. He quickly tried to diffuse the tension by offering a drink.

“Bring the rum!” cried the pirate leader.

“Very well,” said Jiang Fei confidently. Even if there was something wrong, Jiang Fei was sure that he could handle it fine. He continued his high-and-mighty act and followed them to their hideout.

Even though Jiang Fei was extremely suspicious of the pirates, his mission was to find the treasure on this map, hence, it would be wise to just follow the band of pirates. Perhaps they would have the treasure. Perhaps they would drop hints of it. How knew?

The safest way was to follow the quest script until something turned up. If they did turn on him, Jiang Fei would kill them all.

After following the pirates, Jiang Fei realized that he had been walking blindly in the forest earlier. There was a pathway in the forest that had been made. In no time at all, Jiang Fei and the rest of the band of pirates reached their hideout. The sky was completely dark by then and the moon had already risen up from the eastern horizon.

“Glider. The miasma of Specter is getting stronger here! We need to leave at once!” said Isabella quietly behind Jiang Fei.

“Huh?”

Ever since they arrived at this island, Isabella had been reporting the presence of a Specter. Jiang Fei had never doubted the girl’s ability. Now that she had reported that the miasma was getting stronger as they reached the pirate’s hideout, Jiang Fei was sure that they were planning something for him. Something sinister…

“Tsk… How troublesome,” thought Jiang Fei. Even though he knew that the pirates were up to no good, he had to play along with the pirates. But in the end, he felt that the trouble was… not worth it? If he killed the pirates, who would lead him to the treasure?

“I think I should just leave one alive. The rest could die for all I care,” thought Jiang Fei. Jiang Fei finally decided on a brutal path. He was sure that he could defeat all the pirates there but he could not help but feel wary about the situation since Isabella kept warning him about the miasma in the air.

“Please, take’er seat matey,” said the leader of the pirates as he sat down.

“No need, the time is nigh,” said Jiang Fei as he cracked a smile.

“Matey? What do yer mean?” asked the leader of the pirates with a fake smile. His eyes were on the rising moon.

“Hoho… You think you’re smart. But you’re not as smart as you think you are. Right now, I only need one man to talk. The rest of you will be feeds to the fish!” said Jiang Fei as he took out his hammer.

“Matey! If there’s anything yer didn’t like, let us talk bout it!” cried the leader as he continued to look at the moon. At this point, the moon was almost coming out of the horizon.

“He’s stalling!” thought Jiang Fei. He had finally understood the reason why he had been eyeing on the moon. Something would happen once the moon got higher. It was best to act now than later!

“Bella, take out the pirates!” said Jiang Fei as he too hurled his hammer to one of the pirates.

WHAM! BHAM!

Jiang Fei’s attack landed first, Isabella’s fireball landed in the next second, which instantly killed one of the pirates.

The attacks continued and two more pirates were killed. At this point, the leader of the pirates stopped his acts.

“By Poseidon’s beard, hold on! It is soon our time to attack!” roared the leader. The underlings then took out their weapons and charged toward Jiang Fei.

Them rushing toward Jiang Fei had only made Jiang Fei’s killing more efficient. They were only Level 60 Elite tier monsters. In less than thirty seconds, both of them had killed more than thirty pirates. They were slightly smarter in fighting since they knew how to split up and attack from all directions. If they were monsters in a dungeon, Jiang Fei could have killed them faster by kiting and grouping them together. The pirates knew when to retreat and when to attack, making it slightly longer to kill them.

“Rejoice lads! It is our time to show this adventurer what death is!”

Jiang Fei had only started to fight for half a minute but it was enough for the moon to fully emerge from the horizon.

Crack… Clack…

“What the hell is that sound?” cried Jiang Fei in shock. It was the sound of bones hitting each other.

“Specters!” cried Isabella.

“Oh my god…” It was then when Jiang Fei saw something horrible that was happening to the pirates.

The pirates looked like any other human when Jiang Fei met them. However, when the light of the moon touched their skin, it revealed their true form. The pirates were masked in human skin and the moonlight had dispelled the magic, revealing their true selves. Rotten flesh and broken bones, those were the makings of the pirates that Jiang Fei was fighting. Their appearance was not the only thing that had changed. Even though there were nothing but bones and rotten flesh, their stats had increased.

Cursed Pirates (Specter, Advanced Elite)

Level: 65

Health Points: 100,000

Attack Power: 8,800

Note: Under the bask of moonlight, the cursed pirates reject death!

“What the hell is that monster…”

Although it was not his first time seeing a bone monster, it was Jiang Fei first time seeing the transition of a human becoming one. The pirates had gained five levels as well as one tier. Their health points and attack power were greatly increased. That was not the problem, however. The main problem was the fact that these monsters could not die.