Chapter 444 - 189: Black-hearted Wei’en 2

"Boss, are you sure you want to follow Black Jack and his men to join the Black Pearl?" Moskra asked, sneaking a peek at the guards cleaning the deck in the distance and periodically wiping drool from the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah, Boss. I’m suddenly realizing following Boss Wei’en isn’t a bad idea at all," another, heavyset man chimed in.

"I agree. Let’s join the Queen’s Guard... I mean, Boss Wei’en."

"..." Marco fought the urge to roll his eyes and gritted his teeth. "You guys are just in it for the girls, aren’t you?"

"Boss, how can you be so blunt? It’s obviously for the sake of justice. We can’t bear to let Boss Wei’en face the Dawn Church alone."

Moskra nodded in agreement. "That’s right, that’s right! Boss, we should stay. They’re in desperate need of our protection..."

"Hmph! Forget about it. First thing tomorrow morning, we follow Boss Black Jack to Avad Island!"

"Noooo..."

Just then, an aberration twenty meters long—nearly half the length of a Five-Masted Sailing Ship—leapt violently from the sea. Its body was covered in black scales that parted as it flew into the air, revealing countless writhing mouthparts. Each tipped with a maw full of sharp teeth, they shot out toward the surrounding pirates.

"ROAR—"

A series of roars followed, as if announcing the deaths of the pirates it had targeted.

"Oh? We’ve got a big one. Mirus, show them your marksmanship!"

The middle-aged pirate tossed aside the bone in his hand, his hands flashing to his waist. He drew two flintlocks and pulled the triggers, firing at the aberration.

BANG, BANG!

As gunpowder smoke filled the air, the two bullets swelled to the size of fists, slamming into the aberration’s body like a pair of rockets. They exploded violently, ripping away a huge chunk of flesh.

"It’s not dead yet, keep—huh?"

Before Black Jack could finish, Wei’en wiped his hands, pulled out that very conspicuous sniper rifle, and casually pulled the trigger.

’Activate Feat: Rapid Fire!’

’Activating Swiftness and Blast Rune.’

BANG!

The sound of more than ten bullets merged into one as they traced a dozen dazzling arcs through the air, hitting the aberration in the blink of an eye.

BOOM!

The Blast Runes triggered, and the bullets exploded.

The aberration was instantly reduced to a shower of gore. The flying chunks of flesh turned to ash and vanished, leaving only its octopus-like head, mouth agape in silence.

"..."

For a moment, the onlooking pirates were dead silent, as if someone had cast a silencing spell. They stared dumbfounded at the corpse of the Director-class aberration.

The middle-aged pirate was the first to snap out of it. He looked at Wei’en... at the sniper rifle in his hands, his eyes flashing with excitement. "You... Captain Wei’en, may I ask what that gun in your hand is?"

"A sniper rifle." Wei’en calmly put the rifle away, then thought for a moment and added, "A Burst Sniper Rifle!"

’Just calling it a "sniper rifle" isn’t badass enough. I should give it a proper name.’

"’Burst Sniper Rifle...’" Mirus asked eagerly, "May I know who made it? Or where I can buy one?"

Wei’en was a little surprised. "You want to buy one?"

"I..."

Black Jack, who was standing nearby, also came to his senses. Seeing Mirus’s excitement, he raised a hand to interrupt him. "Mirus, you lost. Hurry up and drink your booze. We can talk about the gun later. It’s not like Wei’en is going anywhere."

"Yes, yes..." Mirus picked up the keg on the table and started chugging.

Black Jack nodded in satisfaction, then turned to Wei’en. "You must have made that rifle yourself, right? How much are you selling them for?"

Wei’en glanced at Menor. Seeing no reaction from him, he knew the decision to sell the gun was his to make. He nodded and said, "I made it."

"Name your price. How much for one?" Black Jack scanned the crowd and saw many other pirates besides Mirus who were eyeing the sniper rifle with desire. "I want to buy ten... no, twenty of them!"

"Twenty?"

Wei’en subconsciously stroked his chin. ’The cost of one is fifteen gold pounds, so twenty sniper rifles would only be three hundred gold pounds.’

’But to achieve that kind of power, it relies on the death attribute imbued by the Mechanical Gate, as well as special bullets.’

’If I’m really going to sell them, the price... I’ll have to think carefully about that!’

"So, can you sell them?" Black Jack asked again, his expression serious.

He was no fool. He knew that the Rune Power and the rare Extraordinary attribute imbued in the sniper rifle were the key to Wei’en killing the aberration. The marksmanship was just to ensure it hit the target.

Yuan looked at the expressions on both their faces, then fixed their gaze on Wei’en. "If it’s inconvenient, it’s fine to refuse this bastard."

"That’s right," Menor also put down his cup and chuckled. "You’re one of us in the Eternal Life Association now. If you don’t want to sell, no one can force you."

"..." Black Jack glared at them and snorted. "You two bastards can cut the crap. I don’t believe for a second you can’t see how powerful that rifle is. If we were equipped with those, even an ordinary Extraordinary’s chances of survival at sea would increase dramatically."

"You’re right," Menor nodded agreeably. But before Black Jack could even smile, his tone shifted. "Actually, the Eternal Life Association has plenty of Sharpshooters ourselves. If you’re selling, you should prioritize your own people, right, Wei’en?"

"You bastard, why didn’t you say so earlier?"

"It’s not too late to say it now..."

Wei’en didn’t interrupt their bickering. He lowered his head and fell into thought.

’He would need a lot of gold pounds for what came next. Besides the upkeep for the Zero-Shawas, he also needed to raise his Wizard level and study Magic, Runes, and Magic Potions.’