"You, guy, are really idle... are all Admirals this idle?" Sage asked.
"Of course not, mainly because this is important, I need to make some appearances, so I'm here."
Kuzan scratched his head, "After all, vying for Fleet Marshal, can't you just leave, save me the trouble of acting."
"That won't do... I have my eye on that thing too!"
Sage's face contorted into a grim smile, "Why don't you leave? This place... you seem somewhat absent-minded."
"We can't negotiate."
Kuzan sighed, "Then we'll have to fight."
"I'm thinking the same."
Sage's body twisted and crackled, exhaling white breath from his nose, his cape fluttering away, his figure rapidly expanding at this moment.
"When disputes can't be solved, that's when force comes in, I'll be the winner in the end!"
"Hard to say..."
Kuzan looked at the gradually grotesque, towering figure, saying, "Underestimating this company would be unwise, Sage."
...
"Lightning Waltz!"
Inside the city walls, a spark of electricity sprang up among a group of black-clad guards wielding weapons, igniting around them, opening wounds on their bodies, casting out blood flowers as they fell to the ground.
Lily appeared in the middle of the crowd, the sword flower casting from her white lightning in hand, flicking blood from the sword before sheathing it.
"You!"
A group of guards charged from the side, Lily unchanged in stance, not even looking that way, just said to Robby behind her: "Where's the location."
Hiss hiss hiss!
"Hair Binding Finger Spear."
As soon as the words fell, hair like a swarm of snakes pierced through the group of people, forming spikes at the tips, piercing one black-clad guard after another.
Marika walked out from the back with a smile, saying, "Quick fight and clear it."
The buildings inside the walls were standard mining structures, with tracks and guard posts, but no iconic items visible, the Mother Steel must not be here, only underground remains.
"This way."
Robby found the direction, leading everyone towards the center inside the walls...
"Keh keh keh..."
Deep underground, in a room resembling a control center, an old man in a white coat laughed strangely:
"Someone actually broke in here, hey, Kappa, go handle it... wait!"
He spoke, suddenly fixed his gaze, staring at the running people in the surveillance, focusing on those behind the wavy golden-haired individual.
"Eyes so dark they lack whites... hmm... marked with black-gold striped tattoos, such an ancient race, they still exist!"
"Good! Wonderful! They are top-notch labor; with this batch, my experiment will be perfected! Kappa, Gaurus, go capture them! Keh keh keh!"
Behind him in the spacious area, a round container with water wrapped in iron ore rock continuously bubbled, seemingly constantly forming...
Beside the container, stood two people, one as burly as a bear, the other wearing glasses, slim in stature.
"I recognize them!"
The bear-like person bared teeth, "It's the Disaster Pirates in the limelight, too bad, didn't see the Disaster... otherwise, I want to defeat him and prove myself!"
"Let's defeat these folks first." The slim person adjusted glasses, curling the corners of the mouth into a confident smile, "The underground can set up lots of things, eager to see their desperate faces."
"Keh keh keh, all will be seen... I see them all coming!"
The old man's eyes emitted mechanical red light, raising a hand, pressing the red button on the console.
"Capture them all, these coming folks... are excellent experimental material too!"
Splish splash!
Where the ship docked on the sea, in this storm, larger waves surged, out of the waves came mechanical creatures merging fish and human forms, densely crawling like insects.
"What are those!"
Hawkins' eyelids trembled, shocked at the sea.
"Too many!"
Urouge hugged the pencil pillar, sweat rolling from his forehead.
These things swarmed, pinning ship hull like needles, quickly scaling the deck, upper bodies forming fish shapes baring sharp teeth, lunging at them.
"Demon-Subduing Aspect!"
Hawkins instantly transformed, spewing nails from the mouth onto these fish creatures, but aside from piercing through, didn't slow them at all.
"Exorcism and Righteousness!"
As those fish creatures pounced on Hawkins, a pencil pillar swung hard from side, blowing them away into the sea.
Urouge swung the pencil pillar in a wide circle, stirring wind, driving the fish creatures away as they collided, wind momentum also blowing them away.
But the quantity... too overwhelming!
No matter how Urouge smashed, many fish creatures still rushed in, even those struck, with no lower mechanics left, continued moving, gradually overtaking the deck.
"Scattering Bats!"
Seeing the pair about to be overwhelmed by the fish creatures, tiny bats swooped from behind, gnawing on them, dragging them away, clearing some space.
On the second tier helm platform of the rear deck, Moriah frowned, looking at the dense fish creatures, "What are these things?"