06. Magic, Visitors(3)

While Zen was studying magic, a ship flew across the sky, heading towards the town where Zen was located - Frincaal town.

The skull emblem wearing a red bandana with a pair of crossed dags underneath is sewn on the large sail of the flying ship.

This is the ship of the Red Trickerss pirate group.

A man with a large scar on his face climbed onto the ship's sail net.

This man was named Clark.

He possessed an Innate Skill – a special ability that would sometimes be awakened by the people of this world – that was able to make him see something miles away.

Innate Skill - Distant Eyes.

He narrowed his eyes forward to see the faint silhouette of a town in the distance.

He looked down to report what he had seen to a red-haired woman in ponytails.

"A few kilometers ahead is an abandoned town. Shall we enter it?"

The red-haired woman was certainly Martha. Hearing Clark's report, Martha smiled and instructed the driver of her ship to drive towards the town.

Martha could barely erase the big smile on her face. She thought about how she would accumulate a lot of treasures in this town.

When she remembers the figure of her younger sister who is not currently with them, Martha becomes even more determined to plunder this abandoned town.

Under the orders of their captain, the crew began to work here and there to prepare the ship for battle and landing.

Quickly, the ship flew to Frincaal town.

***

After getting used to it for a while, Zen finally mastered how to release and draw magic energy.

Some of his magic energy would be left behind and dissolve into the magic in the atmosphere every time he spread his magic energy, but as long as Zen was a little careful and continued to hone his control over magic, he was confident that he would eventually be able to spread magic energy without the risk of losing magic energy at all.

Then again, Zen also began to change his magic energy according to the wind element that he could sense by spreading his magic energy.

The wisps of magic energy in Zen's palm gradually began to undergo changes.

From what was initially just a plain cyan magic energy that was lying steadily on top of Zen's palm, now that wisp of magic energy began to lose its original shape and color.

Its shape became shattered and scattered, while its color became faint like air.

Although it became difficult to see, Zen knew that his wisps of magic energy were not gone. The wisp of magic energy turned into wind-elemental magic energy.

Through the magic energy he deployed, Zen could sense the movement of this wind-elemental magic energy.

The wind-elemental magic energy swayed back and forth on Zen's palm, as if, it would spill out and merge with the surrounding air, at any moment.

Zen knew the cause.

"My control over the wind element is still lacking, huh?"

According to what the books he read said, the control of neutral and elemental magic energy was indeed different because they had considerable differences in characteristics.

However, as long as Zen often practiced and honed certain elements, as long as he had an affinity for them, then he woul, at least, be proficient in using and controlling them eventually.

And since he had made it to this stage, it proved that he had an affinity towards the wind element.

For a cultivator like Zen, who had experienced how difficult and bitter the process of cultivating Magical arts was, this kind of lack of control was extremely trivial.

After trying a few more times, Zen roughly began to understand the key point in wind-elemental control.

Delighted with his growth, Zen began to form the basic wind-elemental magic attack spell he remembered.

However, just as the wisps of magic energy in Zen's hand began to change once again, the ground beneath Zen's feet shook violently.

"What!?"

Zen stopped his magic training and quickly stepped away from a nearby building in anticipation of the building's collapse.

He was confused by the sudden shock.

Zen looked around, but he couldn't find anything that could cause such a violent shock to the ground. This was already equivalent to the level of an earthquake!

But when Zen looked up towards the sky, he was instantly stunned.

Much of the town's sky was gradually covered in shadows as thousands of dark tendrils rose from the perimeter of the town and covered the town like a dome.

In an instant, the place where Zen was standing had also been covered in shadows.

Zen fell silent.

What the hell?

However, he became even more astonished when he saw the silhouette of an flying ship that shot towards the hole in the middle of the dome that was gradually starting to close.

Anything that covered this town must have intended to trap the flying ship inside.

As Zen watched the ship and the dark tendrils clash at speed, he gasped in realization.

"Wait, are there any living humans there?"

After encountering a lot of Zombies who lack in terms of intelligence, Zen suspects that of course, the Zombies will not be able to steer an flying ship with such agility.

In this case, Zen could only think of one other candidate, namely: Human!

Seeing the crisis faced by the flying ship crew, Zen felt both joy and worry.

Zen was delighted to finally be able to confirm that in this world, humans have not become fully extinct.

Then, of course, he was worried that these humans would be killed by anything that controlled these giant tendrils.

Without further ado, Zen ran as fast as he could in the direction of the flying ship.

Zen's running speed certainly couldn't be compared to the growth speed of the dark tendrils and the flying speed of the flying ship, but with the help of an explosion of fire with each step, Zen ran at a speed of more than 30 meters per second.

Come on, don't get killed!

Zen was never a kind figure who would save everyone's lives.

However, he clearly didn't want the first group of humans he met in this world to be killed in just a few moments after he found them.

At least, Zen is determined to save one of the many lives that inhabit the ship!

***

-A few minutes ago.

Martha was in a very good mood from the moment her ship entered the town area.

With the help of her magicians, she had confirmed that the town was indeed not inhabited by a single powerful Zombie.

She was so overjoyed that she almost cried happily.

Tiony, wait for me.

A little more. Just a little more, and I'll be able to take you out of that man's hands!

The rest of the crew also shared their Captain's happiness.

After all, they would soon be plundering an abandoned town that had never been looted by anyone before.

Even the stupidest crew on this ship understood that they would easily obtain a lot of treasure here.

Moreover, they were also aware of what happened to their Captain's younger sister, so they also hoped to take back Tiony with what they could obtain in this town.

When anticipation had filled the faces of all the crew of the ship, Clark, the man who was standing guard on the ship's sailing net, noticed the existence of a strangely thin tall dark pillar that had somehow grown near Frincaal town.

Clark frowned.

He rubbed his eyes when he felt that he had seen that the strange pillar was growing taller and taller.

Clark thought about reporting what he saw to his Captain. However, he was late.

The ground shook as the dome knitted by countless dark tendrils rose to cover Frincaal town, and of course, including the Red Trickerss' ship, too.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

A smile was still clearly displayed on the faces of the crew when the dome had risen high enough to cover half of the hull of the ship with its shadow.

Clark quickly turned his head towards Martha. His face was very pale.

"Boss!"

Martha came to her senses when she heard Clark.

After thinking for a moment, she immediately turned to the driver of their boat - a man named Ben.

"Ben!"

The thin man's gaze immediately met Martha's when he heard his Captain calling him.

He immediately calmed down and understood what to do.

Ben placed his hand on the steering wheel of the boat, then pushed the speed control to the maximum parameters!

The propellers mounted on both sides of the ship quickly rotated hundreds of times faster than before.

In this full-speed mode, the sail is no longer needed, so Ben presses the controls to lower it.

When Clark jumped down from the sail net, the sail suddenly folded before sinking into the hull of the ship.

Once the sail are stored, the speed of the ship becomes even faster as the ability to break through the wind barrier from the ship becomes stronger.

Under Ben's control, the ship drove straight ahead.

The ship's speed almost rivaled the growth speed of the dark tendrils dome when they pitted their speed.

The ship tried to precede the dome and exit through the uncovered part of the sky of Frincaal town, while the dome aimed to trap the ship and its inhabitants there.

Red Trickerss' ship could barely rival the growth speed of the dome, but remained behind due to late acceleration.

Martha and the crew there had mostly taken refuge in the cabin.

It was very frustrating, yet they didn't have any role in this situation.

Only the technicians can help a little. Even so, only in terms of constantly monitoring the condition of the engine and to continue supplying fuel to the engine so that it can continue to work in full speed mode.

Cold sweat was running down everyone's faces.

Their faces were deathly pale.

Among them, Martha was the one who suffered the most.

Looking at the unexpected encounter they encountered, she tried to figure out the cause of the appearance of this variable that she did not expect.

She checked all the books and articles of record that recorded information about Frincaal town and the surrounding area.

And sure enough. Easily, she found the identity of the tendril dome after checking quickly.

With a look of utter despair, Martha read what she had found.

"Frincaal town itself is not very dangerous. A level 4 warrior alone was enough to explore the town safely without any threat. However, the danger does not come from within, but from outside the town. After consuming thousands of human corpses and Zombies, a Kraken Pouch living outside the town has evolved into a Z-Emperor Pouch..."

Z-Emperor Pouch was not the pinnacle power of this world, but this Monster was included in the category of high-level living threats since the appearance of the Zombie Plague.

Judging from its ability to form a giant dome that was able to cover the entire Frincaal town, it was enough to prove how terrifying the power of this Monster was.

When considering the real threat that would be posed by it once this Monster actually intended to act offensively against the other party, then the power that would be generated would obviously be extremely explosive.

***

In less than 1 minute, the ship and the dome scope were almost at the center of the town.

Ben was already drenched in sweat when he gritted his teeth to keep going.

With his piloting skills and the help of the technicians who keep the engines running as healthy as possible, the ship has slightly exceeded the growth speed of the dome.

Unfortunately, the dome almost covered the entire town, so their time was running out.

Settling his heart, the thin body of a man named Ben let out a roar full of every drop of adrenaline he had.

He took the ship to swoop upwards as fast as possible while maintaining the ship's flight speed.

The front end of the ship emerged from an unsealed hole in the dome.

Due to the change in the ship's point of gravity, Ben loses his footing and his body becomes hanging.

However, he still maintains his focus.

A hint of hope flashed in the thin man's eyes.

Time moves slowly.

Things seemed optimistic to Ben.

It seems that they will be able to survive.

The ship almost came out of the dome.

However, at that moment, the glass of the cockpit shattered with a loud bang.

Ben's eyes trembled as he saw a meter-thick dark tendril shooting towards him.

In less than a fraction of a second, his heart and chest were hollowed out by dark tendrils.

Ben knew he was going to die.

However, he still maintained a smile on his face.

After all, even if he was killed, the ship would at least still continue to fly forward.

Although he wasn't too confident, maybe his captain and his Red Trickerss friends would be safe.

Just thinking about that makes Ben a little grateful to have fought hard before.

Ben breathed his last with that thought in his head.

However, he didn't know that even their fate had been sealed.

Not only was the cockpit attacked by dark tendrils, but dark tendrils also penetrated the hull of the ship and destroyed most of the ship's engines.

The ship soon lost its propulsive power, while the technicians were terrified to death because they were almost killed.

With pale faces, Martha and the fighters from the Red Trickerss group moved quickly to drag the frightened Technicians into the unspoiled part of the cabin.

Although they hadn't been killed yet, their faces all sank when they felt the ship start to fall.

Holding a short-haired blonde technician girl, Martha fell to her knees.

"It's over... We're over!!"

Thinking that their deaths were inextricably linked to her negligence, Martha's heart was torn apart by guilt.

"It's all my fault!"