Mystery: I Married the Queen of Mystery

Odysseus hadn't expected that the Byron Empire's military station from the Fourth Epoch had sunk to the bottom of the sea.

When he saw the pale white walls, he knew that part of the station was still functioning.

Immediately afterward, he first ordered the "Annihilation Cannon" to charge, in case something suddenly rushed out from inside. Then, he immediately ascended, moving as far away from the station as possible.

However, after the "Argo" surfaced, Odysseus and the others saw a person standing steadily on the turbulent sea.

The staff in his hand was about a meter long, with a circular shape at the top, and a deep blue gem in the center of the circle.

This time, because they were closer, they finally saw the other party's face clearly.

He stared at the "Argo" with cold eyes, but it wasn't the face of a living person; several patches of black, bone-revealing rot had appeared on his cheeks.

At the same time, Odysseus noticed that the other party had pointed ears, suggesting he was an elf in life.

But there was no time to ask about the other party's race. Seeing the "quality" of the gem on the staff in his hand, Odysseus knew that this guy was a demigod-level enemy.

"Annihilation Cannon! Fire!" Before the others could react, Odysseus decisively issued the order.

If the distance was too great, the enemy might have a chance to dodge, but at such close range, the "Annihilation Cannon" arrived instantly, continuously firing "shells" that pushed the "Elf" far away.

Under the continuous barrage of the "Annihilation Cannon," the "Elf" was blasted apart, but Odysseus noticed that every piece of flesh rolled on the surface of the sea, as if rolling down a hillside, with not a single piece falling into the water.

"Turn the helm! Turn the helm!" The moment the "Annihilation Cannon" went silent, Odysseus almost shouted: "At full speed, get away from the 'Danger Zone'!"

The "Argo" quickly turned its helm, cutting through the waves, fleeing the area.

Only then did the others react one after another. Bazel reminded him, "Captain! That staff... that staff... if we had captured it..."

"I saw it!" Odysseus clenched his fists and said, "But you also need to know that fighting a demigod of the 'Sailor' pathway at sea is courting death!

Even if the other party's condition is off and they can't display the true strength of a demigod, it's still courting death!"

Long ago, Odysseus had warned himself not to be overly greedy on this sea.

Like now, don't even think about that staff; a little slowness could mean being buried at sea.

As Odysseus spoke, he quickly went to the rear window, observing the "Elf" with a telescope.

Just as he had expected, the Elf's shattered flesh rolled to the bottom of the waves, began to reassemble, and quickly pieced itself together, riding the waves and gale to catch up.

Odysseus's scalp tingled. He now understood how Balk had felt earlier.

The others also saw that the "Elf" was chasing again.

Leonard asked, "Should we use the 'Annihilation Cannon' again?"

"It needs two minutes to cool down. Well, now it only needs 80 seconds," Odysseus said. "Stern 'Extraordinary Gatling Gun,' prepare ice bullets, fire!"

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang~

The "Extraordinary Gatling Gun's" firing made the sea behind them frigid. Although the "Elf" wasn't afraid of such bullets, every time it lifted its foot, its legs would be frozen by solid ice, severely affecting its speed.

So the "Elf" raised its staff high, and streams of fish formed from seawater appeared on the surface, helping it block the "Extraordinary Gatling Gun's" bullets.

Odysseus ordered, "'Electromagnetic Cannon,' charge!"

After the "Elf" caught up, it was about to raise its staff to attack, but it took a hit from the "Electromagnetic Cannon" first.

It wasn't afraid of electricity. The electric current generated by the "Electromagnetic Cannon" was all channeled into the sea, but the silver-white flames brought by the current restrained undead creatures to some extent, requiring it to spend time extinguishing them.

Just as the "Elf" dealt with the flames on its body, the "Annihilation Cannon's" cooldown ended, and it blasted the "Elf" apart again, pushing it far away.

...

In the distance, the "Skull" ship, battered but still afloat, was leaving this sea at its fastest speed.

The "Skull" ship's captain, Balk, was carefully watching the "Argo's" battle with the "Elf" through a telescope.

He knew very well that the living corpse-like "Elf" was a "Demigod Soldier" of the Byron Empire, personally transformed by His Majesty "Nether Emperor" back then.

It's just that after the "Nether Emperor" fell, they also suffered a huge impact, and most of them could no longer move.

Although this "Elf" could still chase seagoing ships, its retained "wisdom" was far lower than in the Fourth Epoch, and it could only use part of its demigod-level abilities.

Otherwise, if the "Elf" had created a few whirlpools in front of the "Skull" ship just now, or blocked it with huge waves, the "Skull" ship would have sunk long ago.

To be precise, the "Skull" ship was almost sunk just now, but fortunately, the "Argo" attracted the "Elf's" attention at a critical moment.

At this time, Balk noticed that the "Elf" had chased up for the third time, risking being shattered again, and plunging the "Argo" into a pale white "Lightning Forest."

The "Argo" was immediately injured, but Balk saw that the speed at which the "Elf's" shattered flesh gathered together this time had also slowed down significantly.

...

Inside the "Argo's" cockpit.

The crew watched as the entire ship was swallowed by the "Lightning Forest." Everyone seemed to instantly feel the power of the sea, becoming very helpless and bewildered for a time.

At this moment, everyone seemed to have one thought: This is not a power that humans can contend with!

A dozen lightning bolts struck, and the "Argo's" "shield" immediately shattered. Odysseus quickly opened the door of the cockpit and continuously threw "Defense Scrolls" towards the "Annihilation Cannon."

Because this was the only thing that could hold back that "Elf."

Until he threw out all the "Defense Scrolls," he finally managed to protect the "Annihilation Cannon."

But the "Argo's" mast was broken by lightning, and the broken part fell on the deck. The "Extraordinary Gatling Gun" at the stern was also struck by lightning and malfunctioned, rendering it unusable.

In addition, a lightning bolt split open the wall of the cockpit, and the boatswain, Sarina, and a "Red Glove" member were injured.

A large hole was opened in the wall, and the sea breeze poured in, and rainwater also flowed in. Everyone was in a flurry, using leak-stopping blankets to block the hole.

For a moment, everyone finally felt the power of a demigod of the "Sailor" pathway at sea.

But this was not the end, because the "Elf" was chasing again.

However, Odysseus, who had been observing the rear with a telescope, said: "One more shot, and we should be able to escape danger."

He also noticed that the "Elf's" recovery time this time was longer than before, and its entire body was crooked, as if it could shatter again at any time.

The "Annihilation Cannon" was originally a weapon that Odysseus invented to deal with undead creatures. It was extremely aggressive to spiritual bodies. After a few shots, the accumulated effect finally manifested.

Even if the "Elf" was a "living corpse" transformed by the "Nether Emperor," the "Nether Emperor" had fallen for so long, and its combat power could no longer be compared to that of more than a thousand years ago.

This time, the "Elf" still used a wound-for-wound approach, risking taking a shot to allow a tornado with a drill-like tip to hit the "Annihilation Cannon."

Although Odysseus no longer had "Defense Scrolls," he still had three "Scale Armor Scrolls." He quickly used one of them, allowing the "Annihilation Cannon" to only be "twisted" a bit, without being directly destroyed.

However, the "Annihilation Cannon" and "Spirit Wave Cannon" could no longer be used, firstly because they could not be aimed again, and secondly because they were prone to "exploding."

Fortunately, the "Elf's" recovery speed became slower, but Odysseus noticed that the "Elf's" shattered flesh still rolled on the surface of the water, with not a single piece sinking to the bottom.

In other words, as long as one got close to it, it would still be very aggressive. Odysseus immediately gave up the idea of picking up the staff.

The "Argo" continued to travel at its fastest speed, finally leaving the "Elf" far behind, and the surrounding storm gradually subsided.

After driving for another half an hour, the storm gradually disappeared. When everyone saw the starry sky, they realized that they had finally escaped danger.

The experience of this battle gave everyone a feeling of surviving a disaster.

At this time, Odysseus went to check the injuries of the crew. Fortunately, they were all fine. They were just electrocuted just now, and some of their skin was burned.

Odysseus took out the "Biological Waistband" from the "Knowledge Wilderness" and performed a small surgery on them, and they were fine.

Just as Odysseus was about to have a beer to relax, Bazel on duty sounded the alarm.

Odysseus quickly came to the cockpit and found the "Skull" ship.

This ghost ship looked even worse than the "Argo," with two of its three masts broken and a large part of its hull lost.

At this time, two large fish corpses were dragging the ghost ship forward.

The two ships were sailing on a calm sea, giving Odysseus a feeling of being in the same boat.

Odysseus carefully observed for a while before ordering: "Approach the 'Skull' ship."

The crew were all stunned, and even Leonard said: "We have tried our best."

Odysseus smiled and said: "The 'Argo' has been so badly damaged, someone has to bear our losses."

Of course, he was only half-joking when he said that. The reason for making such a decision was because the *Argo* still had a *Extraordinary Gatling Gun* that could be used, the ship's *Shield* had been restored, and Audis could directly attack the opponent with scrolls.

The key was that the other party was even more exhausted than the crew of the *Argo*, especially Burke. He had summoned many undead and corpses to resist the *Elves* before, which should have consumed a lot of his spirituality. Now was a good time to eliminate them.

Since the captain had given the order, the crew immediately entered battle mode.

When the *Skull* saw that the *Argo* was chasing after them, it immediately turned its course and fled.

But the *Argo* pursued relentlessly and soon entered the range of the *Extraordinary Gatling Gun*.

Audis immediately ordered, "Fire!"

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang~

The ejected flame shells instantly plunged the stern of the *Skull* into a sea of fire.

But then, a huge octopus corpse climbed onto the stern of the *Skull*, using its already decaying body to block the artillery fire.

Seeing the *Skull's* response, Audis was immediately relieved. This meant that the other party was unable to attack. After getting close later, the other party would at most have a desperate blow.

The *Extraordinary Gatling Gun* fired continuously for three minutes before entering a state of rest.

During these three minutes, it shattered several large marine creatures' corpses and riddled the stern of the *Skull*, which was already showing a tendency to sink from the rear half.

At this time, Cleveland, the combat captain responsible for lookout on the deck, reported, "Captain, the *Skull's* speed has suddenly slowed down."

Audis put down his telescope and ordered, "Noy guards the cockpit, all other crew members go on deck and prepare for battle!"

Arriving on the deck, First Mate Bazell directed the *Extraordinary Puppets* to throw the broken mast into the sea.

However, iron chains had already been tied to the mast, which would be dragged forward by the *Argo*, because this mast still had many extraordinary designs and could not be easily discarded.

As Audis had expected, the *Skull* slowed down in order to engage in close combat with the *Argo*.

When the distance between the two sides was close enough, the giant wraith that had previously split the waves, lightning, and hurricanes appeared on one side of the *Skull*.

However, this time, the wraith was not as solid as before.

The giant wraith raised its axe and charged towards the *Argo*. The crew prepared for the *Shield* to break again, because the *Extraordinary Gatling Gun* was not very effective against wraiths.

But Audis calmly threw a *Sea Serpent Scroll* into the sea.

Whoosh~

Leonard and the others saw a surge of seawater, transforming into a huge sea serpent.

This sea serpent had scales made of water and spat out a tongue made of water. It rushed over to entangle the giant wraith and bit the opponent's axe, completely trapping the giant wraith.

Leonard glanced at *Captain Gahr* next to him. He had heard something about the *Scroll Professor's* abilities, but he had never heard of such scrolls and abilities.

At this moment, he deeply realized that Bishop Dean's evaluation was correct. Although Captain Gahr was only a Sequence 6, he already had the strength of a *Pirate General*.

Burke, whose left hand was an iron prosthetic, had taken advantage of the giant wraith's cover and, with the help of wraiths or large sea fish corpses, had rushed close to the *Argo*.

Burke's arrangement was wise, because he found that the *Argo* was a small sea ship, with not many crew members and not many combat personnel.

So, after the *Skull's* spirituality was almost exhausted, Burke chose close combat.

What greeted them first were the *Extraordinary Gatling Gun* and the *Extraordinary Machine Gun*. Burke had long been prepared for this, using the corpses of large fish as cover. These two weapons did not kill many people.

However, the attack of the *Extraordinary Mortar* caught them somewhat off guard.

Especially when used in conjunction with the *Explosion Scroll*, it exploded a large area with each blast.

As the giant wraith became increasingly dim and gradually disappeared, the sea serpent summoned by Audis also turned back into seawater and scattered into the sea.

At this moment, the pirates of the *Skull* pirate group successfully boarded the deck of the *Argo*.

At this time, extraordinary weapons such as Gatling guns could easily injure their own people and could not be used. However, what awaited them were *Extraordinary Puppets* wielding swords and steel bones who were not afraid of death.

Almost at the same time, Audis used a *Scale Armor Scroll* and rushed towards the enemy, kicking one of them back into the sea.

At this moment, two huge tentacles suddenly stretched out from the sea, and a stench came. Burke once again summoned a huge sea beast corpse, wanting to drag the *Argo* into the water.

Audis quickly used another *Sea Serpent Scroll*, dived into the sea, and fought with the sea beast's corpse.

After searching around, he quickly found Burke standing on the corpse of a large sea fish.

Audis grabbed a *Flight Scroll* and rushed over, but at the moment the scroll exploded, a strong light flashed.

It was only when Audis was about to fall that he realized that he had made a low-level mistake and used the *Sunfire Scroll* as the *Flight Scroll*.

Just as he was about to fall into the water, he opened the second scroll. This time it was finally the *Flight Scroll*.

Audis quickly flew away for a distance, threw a *Flight Scroll* to Leonard, and shouted, "The one hiding on the Skull!"

The reason why he made such a low-level mistake just now should be the ability of the *Skull's* first mate, which made him very unlucky.

Leonard, who was fighting the pirates, kicked his opponent away and caught the scroll. At the same time, he saw the target indicated by Audis.

That was the first mate of the *Skull* pirate group, a *Calamity Cleric*.

Leonard used the *Flight Scroll* and quickly rushed towards the opponent to entangle him.

Audis then used *Travel* to appear next to Burke: "Reap!"

Burke quickly dodged, but this ability could not be avoided at all. He had to quickly summon a wraith to block in front of him, and was punched by Audis, sending both the man and the wraith into the water.

Although there was a wraith to block, Burke was not seriously injured, but he was injured after all.

He quickly summoned a skeleton more than three meters high on the sea. The opponent held a two-handed greatsword and slashed heavily at Audis.

Audis ignored this attack at all, but raised the hand with the glove: "Imprison!"

The greatsword hit Audis, but a layer of illusory dark blue scales appeared at the hit position.

The giant sword slid and fell into the sea.

Audis was unharmed.

"Death!" Audis used a combo, flew over and knocked Burke away.

This blow seriously injured Burke. He was about to summon the help of the undead again, but Audis used the *Reap* ability again, hitting Burke's abdomen and breaking all his internal organs.

This *Great Pirate* twitched a few times and died in the cold sea.

Audis took a deep breath. Although the *Reap* ability can be used continuously, using it a second time in a row consumes a lot of spirituality!

He carried Burke's body and shouted in mid-air, "Burke is dead!"

The pirates were immediately shaken, and some people were already preparing to run back.

After Audis threw Burke's body on the deck, he went to besiege the *Calamity Cleric* with Leonard.

Leonard was resolving his bad luck while launching an offensive, and had gradually gained the upper hand.

Audis's addition immediately expanded the advantage and quickly killed the first mate as well.

With the successive deaths of the captain and first mate of the *Skull* pirate group, they completely lost their morale and finally began to flee back. But at this time, they saw that the *Skull* had actually sailed away by itself, and was sailing towards the *Dangerous Waters*.

Not only were they surprised, but Audis was also very surprised.

However, he considered it and did not pursue it.

This ghost ship was obviously more powerful than the *Ghost*. After Burke's death, there may already be a crew member left behind, whether unlucky or lucky, who has become the new captain.

The reason for saying it may be an unlucky person is because this ship has some *negative effects*. If it is below Sequence 6, and not an extraordinary person of the *Death* pathway, it is likely to be *reverse controlled* by this ship.

In any case, since there is a new captain, the *Skull* may regain some combat power, and the *Argo* is unable to pursue it.

The battle was no longer suspenseful. As the pirates who boarded the deck were all resolved, the *Extraordinary Puppets* began to sweep the sea with *Extraordinary Machine Guns*, and the remaining pirates immediately surrendered.

Leonard flew back to the deck, glanced at Burke's body, and said to Audis, "We need an undisturbed environment."

"Go to my studio." Audis reiterated, "But his head and extraordinary characteristics belong to me."

Leonard immediately said, "No problem."

After speaking, he and three members of the *Red Gloves* quickly went below deck with Burke's body.

Audis was not interested in the secrets of the Church of the Night Goddess. He asked Bazell to tie the prisoners around the mast, and Rupert to clean up the battlefield.

More than half an hour later, the prisoners were tied to the deck. Audis asked, "Are there any pirates among them with bounties on their heads?"

"There are three." Bazell had already noticed this when he received the prisoners.

"Kill them," Audis said.

Amidst pleas for mercy, Bazel fired three shots, killing the three pirates.

Meanwhile, the spoils were also recovered. These spoils mainly consisted of extraordinary characteristics, heads with bounties, and two sealed artifacts.

Because close combat occurred this time, the bounties of the 'Skeleton' pirate crew were mostly seized.

After the battlefield was cleared, the 'Argo' set sail again, heading towards Nouse Island, where Audis planned to repair the 'Argo'.

Leonard and the others had also completed the 'Spirituality', handing over Burke's extraordinary characteristics and corpse to Audis.

Leonard then said, "I hope to buy Burke's extraordinary characteristics, as well as other 'Death' pathway extraordinary characteristics seized in this battle."

"No problem," Audis said with a smile, "But we have to divide the spoils first. I'll discuss the price of these extraordinary characteristics with you tomorrow."

Leonard smiled and said, "Okay."

Then, Audis had the "Extraordinary Puppet" watch over the pirates, while the other crew members entered the captain's cabin to divide the spoils.

"The bonus for this round of battle depends on how much bounty we can get," Audis said. "However, the 'Argo's' repair costs will be taken from the bounty, and then we will divide the remaining bounty."

No one had any objections. If the 'Argo' hadn't been so reliable today, they would have been buried at the bottom of the sea long ago.

Then Audis said, "Just like last time, I have also prepared spoils for you.

"You can choose to select from the spoils according to your contributions, or choose the spoils I have prepared for you."

He paused slightly and said, "First Mate, in the last battle, you have already obtained a quarter of the extraordinary characteristics. Adding the contributions made in this battle, you can completely obtain the complete characteristics.

"Second Mate, you chose to accumulate merits in the last battle. Adding this time's merits, you can also exchange for complete characteristics."

First Mate Bazel and Second Mate Rupert smiled slightly: "Thank you, Captain!"

"I want to remind you," Audis said, "Because the characteristics you need all come from the spoils of battle, it is relatively easy to obtain the extraordinary characteristics needed for promotion.

"If you use merits to exchange for corresponding characteristics, it won't be so easy."

Then he said to the other members: "For example, Cleveland, this time you have obtained one-third of the 'Weapon Master's' extraordinary characteristics.

"In this case, although you can apply for early promotion, you will still owe one-third of the characteristics' debt."

Cleveland nodded and said, "I understand."

Audis began to announce the spoils that others would receive: "Boris gets one-third of the 'Arsonist' characteristics, and Selena and Noi can both obtain complete promotion characteristics."

Without exception, they all chose the spoils prepared by the captain for them.

At the same time, they also gave up the opportunity to choose spoils from the seizures, and those spoils once again belonged to Audis.

Everyone consumed a lot of energy in today's battle, so the promotion matters will be discussed tomorrow.

Leonard's mission had been completed, so Audis directly used 'Travel' to send the 'Red Gloves' members back to Bayam, and also brought the wanted heads, handing them over to Bishop Dean.

Bishop Dean promised to come and collect the bounty tomorrow morning, and it would be the full amount.

Then, Audis returned to the 'Argo' to rest. At around ten o'clock in the evening, the 'Argo' finally arrived at the port of Nouse Island.

Audis first threw the captives on the pier, and then sailed into the island's dry dock.

There was someone on duty in the dry dock to deal with sudden situations where someone came to repair a ship at night.

It's just that the duty officer had drunk a lot of wine, and thought he was seeing things because he had drunk too much, otherwise, how could this ship sail into the dry dock without sails?

The ship will be docked in the dry dock first, and the repairs will have to wait until tomorrow.

So, Audis arranged the order for everyone to be on night watch, and then returned to the captain's cabin to rest.

The next morning, after the crew had breakfast, Audis handed over the extraordinary characteristics promised last night to the crew members.

However, these were all characteristics that had been 'processed', only the part needed for promotion.

Bazel and Rupert still lacked the main auxiliary materials, so they had to wait for the materials before they could be promoted.

Audis had all the auxiliary materials needed by Selena and Noi, but Selena was injured and could not be promoted for the time being. On this morning, only Noi successfully completed the promotion and became Sequence 8 'Clown'.

Then, Audis began to arrange tasks. After a while, Bazel had to return to Bayam to continue completing the previously arranged tasks.

Rupert was to replace Bives, and the Third Mate and Noi would be Audis' assistants in repairing the 'Argo'.

But before that, Audis went to discuss the ship repair with the dry dock.

After the other party's marine engineer boarded the ship and looked around, he found that the 'Argo' was not badly damaged. It only needed to repair the mast and a few holes in the deck and walls.

The mast can still be made from the broken section, and the repair plan is to drill holes in the middle of the mast and connect it with steel.

Then fix it with steel nails on the outside, and then put on a layer of steel hoops.

As for repairing the deck and walls, it is even simpler and can be repaired in about two days.

However, Audis gave more money, so the dry dock promised to repair it in one day.

Audis had to repair the other damages himself. After he let Rupert replace Bives, he gave priority to repairing the 'Spirit Wave Cannon'.

Last night, Audis' scrolls were not wasted. The main structure of the 'Spirit Wave Cannon' was not damaged, only some parts that fixed the gun body and adjusted the direction were broken.

The machine gun at the stern was more severely damaged. A hole needs to be patched on the shield, and many main parts and magic circles are broken.

Audis first made the parts that needed to be carved, and gave Bives and Noi blueprints, asking them to carve them in the workshop.

Audis then took Bazel back to Bayam. First, Bazel went to collect the bounty previously obtained by the 'Deep Blue' pirate crew.

A total of 8,100 pounds of bounty was obtained. The crew's bonus was 3,350 pounds, and the rest was all Audis'.

After chatting with Bazel briefly, Audis used 'Travel' to come to a corner around the Church of Serenity, and then entered the church to meet with Bishop Dean.

The two people came to the reception room where they first met again.

Bishop Dean, wearing a bishop's robe, said with a smile: "Leonard has already embarked on his return journey last night.

"They took an airship back, and may have already reached Backlund by now."

Audis nodded and thought: This pathway seems to be full of workaholics, not waiting even one more night.

"Leonard asked me to say goodbye to you on his behalf," Bishop Dean added: "He said it was a pleasure to cooperate with you."

Audis smiled and said: "It was also a pleasure to cooperate with him."

Bishop Dean sighed: "I really envy the friendship of you young people."

He paused and then said: "Okay, let's get down to business. Leonard should have told you that we hope to acquire some of the characteristics you seized.

"How about we talk about the price of those characteristics?"