Chapter 28: A Bloodshed Triggered by a Stone – Section 9

Utterances of despair filled the air, while furious roars echoed like thunder. Both sounds were crystal clear, sudden, and spread at incredible speed—almost like an epidemic. Starting from the black-haired landing ship, these sounds arose in all directions. Upon closer listening, the Blood Wolf pirates could even distinguish the cries of women and children among those wails.

“What’s that?” One of the Blood Wolf pirates, less brave, turned pale with fear. The reminder from the black-haired man, combined with the strange noises, created an eerie atmosphere that made him scream out in terror.

“No, I don’t know…” The pirate next to him wasn’t much better off. Though they were all tough men accustomed to fighting to the death, such ghostly phenomena… that wasn’t something pirates should deal with… Please, send for a shaman…

Yet their panic was merely emotional. Their actions didn’t slow down at all. In just a few words, one pirate had completed the biological scan of the dead city. Raising his head abruptly, he stared at the black-haired man with eyes filled with fear.

“Captain… no… no signs of life!”

“No life?” Glancing at his subordinate’s terrified expression, the black-haired man patted the pirate’s shoulder. His warm hand felt like a solid support, improving the pirate’s complexion significantly. Turning his head, he glanced at Blood Pupil beside him.

“What do you see?”

“Nothing. The sounds haven’t reached us yet.” Blood Pupil focused intently on the window. Though his face was pale, he remained calm.

“But it’s coming soon… very soon…”

Indeed, the sound was spreading at an astonishing pace. At first, it could only be heard in the distance of the dead city, but in just a short while, it seemed to envelop everything. The landing ship was now less than a hundred meters away. At such a distance, coupled with the ship’s specialized sound-collecting devices, the black-haired man and the others could even hear the rustling sound of creatures moving across the ground.

What they were facing was exactly in the direction where the sounds were closest… Everyone’s eyes were wide open, trying not to miss any detail.

It was a small alley beside the street, though it was still several dozen meters wide—wide enough to be considered a street in the human world. The alley was very dark; people couldn’t see far. But under the light from the landing ship, everything was clearly visible. The problem was that this alley was actually a… dead end.

Through the light from the landing ship, people were horrified to discover that there was no way out at all—they could even see the high stone wall at the end. How could those sounds be coming from that direction? Could it really be ghosts?

They didn’t need to guess anymore. Because at that very moment, shrill wails and furious roars had spread throughout the city. Something also changed in that alley—seven or eight figures appeared.

Just as Blackhair had seen in Miss Veri’s star chart, these figures were tall and muscular, with bodies made of stone. Each of them was about five meters tall, their rocky surfaces hard and sharp, like armor. Their faces were covered by strange stone helmets, making it impossible to see their expressions. In a flash, the pirates saw them suddenly appear at the end of the alley, waving their huge weapons and charging at them with furious roars. With each step they took, the ground trembled as if an earthquake had struck.

Even those on the landing ship could clearly feel this tremor.

“So… those roars are coming from them…” Blackhair watched the giant figures charging toward them calmly, surprisingly unperturbed. Without giving any orders to attack or defend, he simply sat in his seat, tapping his temple gently while muttering to himself.

“What about the wails?”

“Captain, ignore the wails! Order an attack now—they’re coming!!” A Bloodwolf pirate rushed to warn him, shocked that Blackhair was still pondering things at such a critical moment.

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Bloodpupil snapped coldly, cutting off the Bloodwolf pirate’s words. The cabin fell silent instantly.

No one dared to defy Bloodpupil’s anger. Even these pirates, who lived in constant chaos, were afraid of him. Perhaps only the even more extreme Blackhair could ignore his fury?

Of course, if Blackhair still cared at all.

The earthquakes grew more intense by the moment. In just an instant, those seven or eight Rockmen had rushed a full hundred meters away, arriving beside the landing ship. They held up their massive stone axes high, and one could even clearly see the bloodstains on those axes! Yet Hei Fa seemed unable to see them at all. His fingers continued to tap rhythmically against his temples. “Cries… Where are the cries?” “Over there!” A blood-red eye gazing out of the window suddenly shouted loudly, pointing sharply in a certain direction. When the Blood Wolf Pirates looked in that direction in shock, they found several eerily similar figures had appeared on the ruins next to their landing ship at some unknown time. But unlike the previous muscular Rockmen, these newly appeared figures were rather slender, clearly resembling women. Each of them held a smaller Rockchild in their arms. They stared blankly at the sky, and it was from their mouths that the cries came—without even glancing at the landing ship right beside them. Seeing this scene, all the Blood Wolf Pirates were stunned. What was this? What kind of creatures were these, and how had they appeared so silently? Not a single person on the entire landing ship, except for Blood Eye, seemed able to detect them! So, where was the captain? Had he noticed anything? Hei Fa also hadn’t noticed, but he reacted the fastest. Almost the moment Blood Eye spoke, he had already seen those particularly slender figures, his eyes flashing with insight. “That’s it. The cries come from them.” “Boom!!” A loud shockwave erupted as the landing ship suddenly shook violently. The Blood Wolf Pirates were horrified to discover that those massive Rockmen had already reached the side of the landing ship. Their huge stone axes, heavy as mountains, weren’t swung at them but thrown straight ahead. At the same time, it seemed they couldn’t even see the landing ship at all—they simply charged straight toward the ruins behind. Their huge bodies, seemingly devoid of substance, passed through the hull of the landing ship silently! “Ghosts!!” At this astonishing sight, the Blood Wolf Pirates were terrified. Staring at those massive silhouettes that had passed through the landing ship yet continued to move forward, they trembled too much to speak.

Yes, they could ignore the hull defenses of the landing ship and pass through as if it didn’t exist at all. What else could this be but a ghost? At least in the understanding of this world, aside from ghosts, nothing else could do such a thing. And unfortunately, though the Blood Wolf Pirates were fearless warriors, they still felt awe in the face of such an existence that couldn’t be understood by ordinary logic.
Legends of gods and spirits are not something humans can shake.
Fortunately, so far, the ghosts that had appeared seemed not to have seen them—or perhaps they simply didn’t care about them? Then, against whom were these ghosts fighting?
Thinking of this, the Blood Wolf Pirates hurriedly looked in the direction of those giant rock-like figures, only to gasp in shock.
What did they see?
Those enormous figures descending slowly from the sky, constantly emitting dazzling blue light—what were those?
“Moor… Moor giants?” one pirate moaned softly, his face turning as pale as paper.
“Is that our fleet? Have they come here?” The other Blood Wolf Pirates immediately became agitated. They really couldn’t stay in this eerie place any longer. The arrival of their own fleet was more exciting than any news. Although these ghosts strangely hadn’t noticed them, the sturdy and massive Moor giants surely provided more comfort compared to that landing ship.
But sadly, just a second later, Hei Fa mercilessly shattered their illusions.
“They are Moor giants. But not ours.”
“That’s right. The ship insignias are different. Also, these Moor giants are slightly smaller than ours, and the numbers don’t match either,” Blood Eye nodded in agreement. Though his face was pale too, he was clearly much calmer than the other pirates.
In truly critical moments, a warrior’s true character is revealed. In this regard, Blood Eye’s performance satisfied Hei Fa greatly.
“If not ours, then… are they the Black Hand Duke’s?” The Blood Wolf Pirates still held onto hope. To them, even if it were the Black Hand Duke’s fleet, it would be better. Though relations between the two sides were tense, it was still better than those eerie ghosts.
“Nor are they. The Black Hand Duke’s fleet wouldn’t use such old Moor giants…” Blood Eye observed for a while longer, once again breaking the pirates’ illusions.

“The hulls of these Moth giant ships are heavily damaged. Their firepower is not as strong as it is now either. I guess they must be all models that have been retired. See that one? It has a huge hexagonal protrusion on its hull—probably the active scanning system. But nowadays, scanning systems are built in. This design must be from a long time ago.” Bloodshot Eyes analyzed calmly, then glanced at the black-haired person beside him.
“This is… war…”
“A war from countless years ago.”