Chapter 501 - 206: Your Strength!?

Hmm?

Clelia was lounging lazily on a deck chair, watching the Guards train, when she sensed the external warning she had set being triggered. Her brow furrowed slightly.

’Are we in trouble again?’ she wondered.

She rose quietly, trying not to distract the Guards. She walked to the door and opened it a crack, only to see Wei’en sitting at the dining table, wolfing down some food. She couldn’t help but pout.

’He didn’t even call me to eat...’

But she knew Wei’en had been busy in his workshop all day. ’He must have just finished, right?’

’Whatever. I won’t disturb the little rascal’s rest for now.’

Clelia quietly closed the door. She decided to go check things out herself first. If she ran into trouble she couldn’t handle, it wouldn’t be too late to notify Wei’en then.

With that thought, her consciousness returned to her body outside.

"WOOOO—"

The moment her consciousness returned to the bottom of the Leonard, Clelia heard the sound of a horn from outside. Her brow furrowed as she looked at the person who had arrived and asked coolly, "What’s happening?"

"First Officer, a ship has appeared. The Second Officer says it’s a pirate ship from the Golden Dis..." The pirate gulped, terrified as he looked at the burly, rough-faced figure who spoke with a delicate voice.

"Oh? Golden Dis? If I recall correctly, that’s the Pirate Gang you were from before?"

Clelia thought for a moment and finally remembered hearing the man with the triangular eyes say he belonged to a pirate ship of the Golden Dis.

"Y-yes."

"Let’s go take a look."

With that, the two of them returned to the deck.

"First Officer," Ronan said, somewhat disappointed to see only Clelia. Still, he walked up to her and bowed. "My apologies for troubling you."

"Situation."

Clelia glanced at him, her gaze falling on the three-masted sailing ship drifting toward them in the distance. Its golden paint job glittered with an eerie red glow under the crimson moon.

At the same time, she noticed a swarm of roaring, writhing Deep Sea aberrations following beneath the ship, like guards, escorting the three-masted vessel as it sailed toward them.

"That’s the *Golden Orchid*. The captain is Stacy Bonilla, famously crazy and bloodthirsty in the Golden Dis." The man with the triangular eyes gritted his teeth. "She must be here because I deserted..."

"Oh? So she’s the enemy?"

Clelia’s gaze turned cold. "Her strength?"

"Director Level! She was promoted to Director Level a long time ago. Her ability is a control-type, rare in the Cordo Sea—she can command aberrations."

"Like a puppeteer?"

"Something like that, but the aberrations she controls aren’t that strong. At most, they’re Captain-level."

Clelia nodded. She knew that puppet-type Extraordinary abilities could generally only control Extraordinaries slightly weaker than the user.

However, the ability to control Deep Sea aberrations, while manageable on land, could be immensely powerful here in the deep sea.

There’s no shortage of those aberrations in the deep sea...

"Anything else?"

"That’s it," Ronan said, shaking his head. "Ever since she joined the Golden Dis, she’s been known to throw people from the ship into the sea to feed her aberrations, so she doesn’t have many crew members. There was even a time she went through so many crewmen that no pirate dared to set foot on the *Golden Orchid*."

’Not many crew members?’

Clelia frowned. She had been hoping to use the puppets on that ship to drain some of the captain’s strength, but now it seemed that plan was off the table.

’Still, a Director Level... isn’t impossible to deal with!’

"They’re here!"

On the Leonard, the pirates were already on high alert. Even the "new recruits" who had just joined grabbed their weapons and mimicked the other pirates, watching the slowly approaching *Golden Orchid* from standing or crouching positions.

"Ronan!!"

Just then, a tall, sturdy woman in a yellow leather jacket that exposed her two powerful pectoral muscles shouted fiercely, "You should know why I’m here, shouldn’t you?"

Behind her stood five figures cloaked in black robes. Their faces were also covered with black cloth, revealing only a pair of blood-red eyes that stared silently at the Leonard.

"Captain Stacy," Ronan said, gritting his teeth. He glared with his triangular eyes and shouted, "I’ve already decided to join the Leonard! Please leave, and help me tell Captain Dis that I’m very sorry..."

"Hmph! You say you’re sorry?" One side of Stacy’s face was devoid of flesh, a gruesome scar revealing two rows of bone-white teeth. She snorted. "If you dare to betray us, you’d better be ready to face the consequences!"

"Oh? And what consequences might those be~"

Clelia was standing outside the ship’s railing. Her gaze swept past Stacy to the five robed figures behind her. She extended her spiritual perception toward them, but sensed nothing at all.

If she closed her eyes, she wouldn’t even be able to perceive anyone other than Stacy.

It was as if no one was there—or perhaps those five figures in black robes... weren’t human?

"Who are you?"

Stacy looked at Clelia, her eyes flaring with intense killing intent. ’A beautiful woman!’

"Me? I’m this ship’s First Officer." Clelia glanced at the muscles on Stacy’s chest, which were so strong they didn’t resemble breasts, and gave a charming laugh. "The Ronan you’re looking for is the Second Officer of our Leonard!"

"The Leonard? Since when did trash like you appear? You really think you can run wild in the Cordo Sea just because you stole a Five-Masted Sailing Ship from the Dawn Church?" A cruel smile tugged at Stacy’s lips.

"Oh?"

Clelia was a little surprised. So she already knew about Wei’en’s previous victory and still dared to show up...

’It seems she’s confident she can take us down!’