The Pirate Captain's sword cut through the wind, approaching the man's neck. The man clenched his fist, prepared for death.
Just as the Pirate Captain's sword was about to strike the well-dressed man, a blur of movement caught everyone's attention.
In an instant, Karyk appeared next to the well-dressed man, grabbing the man's wrist to stop the sword movement.
The Pirate Captain's eyes widened in disbelief as he saw Karyk's masked face.
"Who are you?!" he demanded, his voice laced with anger and surprise.
Karyk didn't respond, instead, he tightened his grip. The Pirate Captain reeled under pain, his grip weakening as the sword fell from his hand.
Karyk grabbed the sword's hint, gracefully controlling the sword's movement.
With a single swing, he sent a powerful arc of energy that sliced through the Pirate Captain and the men who were behind him.
Even after cutting through them, the attack didn't stop and continued on its trajectory before exploding above the distant sea, sending tremors through the ocean.
The impact sent a shockwave through the ship, causing many pirates to stumble and lose their footing.
The well-dressed man stared at Karyk, his eyes filled with equal parts awe and confusion.
"Who are you?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Karyk looked at him, his eyes filled with calmness.
"I am just a passerby," he replied cryptically. "But it seems like you're in need of some help."
He grabbed the man's shoulder, pulling him closer to move him away from the Pirates in the back.
He had already taken care of the pirates on one side, but the other side still remained.
With a flick of his wrist, Karyk summoned a gust of wind that disarmed the remaining pirates on the ship. They fell to the ground, their weapons scattered around them.
The well-dressed man couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"How... how are you doing this?" he asked, his voice trembling.
This was the Essence Control. He was certain that he wasn't mistaken about this. However, that also caused him to be shocked. Essence Control was something that only the closest people to the Emperor could use.
It was a special ability that was hard to learn. Only the Emperor's family members and his most trusted people in the Capital City could use it.
Although the Celestial City was far away from the Capital City, he was certain that he wasn't wrong.
There were many books regarding the Royal Capital in the Celestial City. He had also met someone who was from the Capital, passing through the Celestial City.
He still couldn't forget the moment when some people tried to rob that person, thinking he was a weak man. However in the next moment, the man had used the Essence Control to remove the weapons from the other side, crushing them without any effort.
At that time, he was just a little boy who was amazed by the skill. Unfortunately before he could react, the man had disappeared. That battle was the most beautiful sight for him. And after so many years, he was seeing this skill again?
Karyk didn't realize what he had done. The few skills that he had copied after experiencing them be used in battle were all from the Capital. Even more complicated was the fact that the skills were used by the Princess and her trusted people.
Karyk wanted to show that he was an Elzerian to win some trust while saving the man. However he hadn't expected the misunderstanding to become so big as he thought these were normal skills.
The well dressed man watched Karyk's every movement with fascination. It wasn't just the essence control that Karyk was using but even the sword skills were the same from the Capital.
It was impossible for these sword skills to be taught to anyone outside the Capital. Although there were some copied versions of these skills, he was sure this wasn't a clone skill. It was too perfect for it to be a copied version of the skill!
One after another, Karyk killed the Pirates. Although he didn't know much about the pirates of this world, through their conversation, he knew there was a Pirate King behind their back, who was possibly closer in strength to the City Lord.
Since he didn't know how strong these people were, he didn't want to take the risk. He didn't want to be chased by the Pirate King.
If the Pirate King was too strong, he couldn't deal with him with these copied skills. He had to use his mail abilities, which could expose his outsider identity. If possible, he wanted to avoid that possibility.
One after another, he killed the Pirates on the ship, erasing all the risks.
"They are about to attack! We need to get off this ship!" Just as Karyk finished the pirates on the ship, he heard the scholarly man exclaiming with panic.
"What?" Karyk frowned. However, before he could even turn around, he watched the Scholarly Man grab his hand, trying to jump off the ship.
Unfortunately for him, he couldn't even move Karyk. It was as if he was a child trying to move a stone. Instead, it was the Scholarly man who was pulled back.
"Stop resisting! We need to get off the ship now! Or we'll die!" the man exclaimed.
Karyk, although still confused, stopped resisting. He jumped off the ship.
As if walking on the air, the scholarly man ran away from the ship, creating distance. Karyk watched the man run, finding his reaction weird.
Although he was faster than the man, he kept up with him, only using a comparable speed.
With Karyk's back towards the ship, he sensed a powerful energy pulse that reminded him of a very familiar attack. It was a similar level of disturbance when the Princess had used her strongest attack against him in the battle at the sealed forest.
Frowning, he turned around, watching all the Pirate Ships in the distance, their cannons aimed towards the ship. The Cannons fired at the same time, an attack that wasn't weak in the least.
