Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

Elsa found the merchant ship that Sophia mentioned at a glance. It was floating quietly on the dark sea. Upon closer inspection, the mast had already been broken, and several chains were nailed to the hull. The chains were submerged in the water, and no one knew what was underneath, but it was obvious that it was difficult for this merchant ship to escape from the beginning.

Elsa also saw some kind of humanoid marine creature with a dorsal fin crawling up the hull. The splashing sea water seemed to have no effect on it. Its limbs were not as slender and flexible as those of humans, but they were able to hold its body firmly in place.

This kind of sea creature has never been seen outside the Temple of Poseidon before.

What is worth noting is that Elsa also discovered that there seemed to be something hidden under the water.

Some crew members supported each other and staggered back to the cabin, leaving only a few unconscious companions on the deck. They seemed to intend to return to the cabin to hold on, but Elsa knew that this would only be a slow death - once the deck was lost, those sea creatures would have plenty of ways to capture the cabin.

But what interested Elsa was that she saw muskets among these people's weapons.

Gunpowder exists in this world, and of course there are cannons developed from gunpowder, but they are rare. Magic and magical technology have unique advantages in this world, and gunpowder weapons have not been widely developed. To be honest, this is the first time Elsa has seen a musket. Unfortunately, she doesn't know much about firearms, and doesn't know what specific category this musket belongs to. She can only see its obvious shortcomings - slow reloading and poor accuracy, which are not enough to play a decisive role in this battle.

"I'll go over there."

Elsa threw down a few words and jumped directly from the sky island.

The sky island is covered with a faint light curtain, which blocks the airflow inside and outside the sky island and refracts the light to hide itself.

When Elsa passed through the light curtain, the light curtain opened a window for her that was large enough for her to pass through easily.

It was obvious that Mira had been watching here.

Passing through the light curtain, the biting cold sea breeze suddenly hit her face. The nun's robe clung to her body, rustling. Elsa fell straight into the sea, exploding into waves nearly ten meters high. The rich magic element was compressed and exploded, and a huge gap was torn in the next moment. Elsa was already running towards the merchant ship.

No one noticed that a corner of a city appeared in the sky for a moment, and no one discovered that there was a figure moving at high speed on the dark sea.

At this time, the merchant ship was in chaos.

The captain of the merchant ship was a burly middle-aged man named Dubot. He fled back from the deck in a panic, covering his injured arm, and felt that he had saved his life - the creatures in the sea were too terrifying, and the night posed no obstacle to them at all. Dubot's men could only fight passively. Torches and light magic were completely ineffective in facing the dark and boundless sea. The weak light made it difficult to see the enemy clearly, and they could rarely put up any useful resistance. The originally brave and warlike crew members were unilaterally suppressed, which of course made them completely hopeless.

Continuing to fight those things on the deck would only lead to death, so he had no choice but to decide to retreat to the cabin - but he also understood that the situation was hopeless.

He just felt regretful that he really shouldn't have come here.

Dubot was once an adventurer, specializing in escorting the black ships. Their rewards were always higher, and their requirements were few; all they had to do was keep their mouth shut and do their job. Later, as he traveled more and more with the black ships, Dubot gained some connections and a lot of money, and he began to think about becoming a captain himself.

It is true that money can be made quickly in this line of work, but it is also dangerous. After all, it is not a clean job. Not to mention smuggling goods, as long as there is business, he will even transport people.

This time, the cargo was not a human, but it looked very much like a human. He only knew that it was a rare species living in the sea and was very valuable.

Normally he only did business between the Empire and the Southwest Federation, but this time was different. It seemed that there was a conflict between the Empire and the Federation because of something. It was said that the brave man almost died there. The undercurrent between the two major forces directly led to the severance of his original channels. He simply ran a long way to Yekasa in the Western Continent, where he also knew people.

As a result, after only a dozen days of sailing, they were suddenly chased by those creatures in the sea.

This was not his first time doing transoceanic business, but it was indeed his first time facing those terrifying sea monsters.

But it was too late to regret now. Seeing the shadow of the monster appearing on the deck at the stern, Dubot felt as if his soul was about to be shaken. He took two steps at a time and rushed into the cabin headfirst, falling heavily and looking up and shouting.

"Seal the hatch! Quickly! Don't let those things get in!"

The crew members ran down from the deck one by one. The hatch opened outwards, and they could only frantically lock the iron bolts and use everything they could find to try to block the narrow space leading from the hatch into the cabin. Most of them were injured, fighting on the deck, unable to even see the enemy, but were beaten without any ability to fight back.

Dubot was not in much better condition. He tore open the sleeve of his right arm, revealing his injured arm. His arm was covered with terrible red rashes and large patches of blood blisters, which was a shocking sight. He was accidentally stained by the sticky and dirty stuff thrown up by those underwater enemies. He had never dealt with this kind of sea creatures and had no idea what it was. But it didn't take long before he felt his whole arm begin to numb, then itchy, and finally it was as painful as if it was full of thorns. He realized that he was poisoned.

The other crew members were in a worse situation than him. There were wailings in the cabin. Some of them had blood and fluid oozing from their faces as if they had been stuffed into a furnace and burned. They rolled on the ground in pain and begged for help. Some of them had fainted at some point and might have already died.

Dubot was lucky. At least, he only lost one arm and his life was not in danger.

His eyes swept through these people fiercely, and then fixed on a man who was hiding behind the crowd and trembling. He was immediately furious. Enduring the great pain, he struggled to get up and took two steps to stand in front of the man.

"Love! You damned bastard, why are you still here? It's all your fault! The person you introduced sold me that thing, and he promised me that there would be no accidents. But what's going on now? Tell me! You damned bastard!"

Love is Dubot's helmsman. Although he is not very strong, he has a lot of sailing experience. Faced with Dubot's angry questioning, he seemed panicked and timid, and could not say a word.

Moreover, compared to Dubot, he was clean without any injuries on his body, which made Dubot even more furious. He kicked Love hard on the waist. Love immediately let out a wail, and the severe pain made him curl up like a cooked shrimp.

"Why are you okay? Damn it, you left me and my brothers out there to face those damn guys while you were hiding in here?"

"I'm sorry, Captain... I'm so scared... I really don't know why this happened..."

Luo Fu was so desperate that he almost cried.

"Cowardly coward!"

Dubot kicked Love away again.

Of course he guessed that Love had been deceived just like himself, otherwise Love would not be waiting to die here like himself, but he was really furious now.

"stand up!"

he shouted.

"Take me to the goods!"

He guessed that all the trouble was caused by that unknown cargo, and he regretted it very much now.

Love learned from a friend that the goods were in a hurry to be sold at a low price, so he told the news to Dubot. Dubot intuitively felt that there might be something wrong with the goods, otherwise there would be no reason to sell them so cheaply.

But he was eventually tempted by money. He wanted to gamble, so he gritted his teeth and bought the goods. But now, he was in trouble and couldn't get rid of it. He could only find a way out with the goods - being trapped here would only mean death. He didn't know whether the monsters in the sea could talk, but he had to take a gamble anyway. By negotiating with those things, there was at least a little hope.

But at this moment, there was a dull crash outside the cabin. The sound was so loud that Dubot could almost feel the sturdy hull under his feet wailing. Along with it was a huge impact that almost capsized the entire merchant ship. For a moment, everyone in the cabin clearly felt the ground under their feet tilt. The wooden structure of the hull made bursts of teeth-grinding creaking sounds, and heavy wooden barrels and cargo boxes overturned and rolled to one side. Candles and torches fell to the ground, and the already dim light was left with only the last flame. Everyone lost their balance and fell to one side. Dubot also lost his balance and fell heavily to the ground.

The merchant ship swayed from side to side as if it had encountered a huge storm.

Snapped--

Wood chips flew everywhere, and the sturdy hatch was pierced. However, it was not a sharp weapon, nor a mysterious magic, but a white hand that pierced the hatch and then touched the iron bolt. In front of Dubot and the crew, they removed the door and bolt together. They were stunned. The sound of wood breaking and exploding was like a curse, making the air in the cabin still.

A person appeared there, but his face could not be seen clearly.

boom.

There was a sharp gunshot, and someone fired a shot at the cabin door, and choking smoke exploded in the cabin.

However, the figure standing at the hatch opened his hands, and the broken iron ball slipped from his palms with a click, click, and the clear sound of it falling to the ground was like a huge rock weighing tens of millions of pounds hitting their hearts.

"I'm not the enemy."

A woman's voice.

It's humans! Not those sea monsters!

Everyone held their breath. Pairs of eyes filled with fear and despair seemed to come alive when they heard these words. They stared at the direction of the cabin door, not daring to breathe.

……

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550. Cargo (5K2)

The hull was still swaying from side to side, pushing the wooden box back and forth again and again. Dubot could almost only hear the sharp friction and the low hum of the waves hitting the hull. His bloodshot eyes also gave rise to some anticipation.

Snapped.

There was a snap of fingers, and then an abnormally bright illumination illuminated the cabin as bright as day, nearly blinding everyone. After recovering, Dubot saw that the person standing at the cabin door, looking down at them, was actually a young nun who looked no more than twenty years old. Dubot swore that he had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life.

Normally, Dubot hated those nosy believers the most, but now he just felt extremely fortunate that there were people from the church here who would definitely not sit idly by and watch them die.

At this moment, the sea creatures behind Elsa stood on the deck motionless, their eyes dull, standing still - in front of Adele, their souls could not control their bodies at all, but they knew everything that was happening in the outside world. The gap between them made them extremely terrified.

Elsa frowned slightly as she looked at the miserable crew members huddled in the cabin - because Adele told her that these people might not be good people.

"Is this all of you?"

Aisha asked, her eyes fixed on Dubot with a condescending scrutiny.

Dubot was slightly stunned. His keen insight gained from years of working in this field allowed him to instinctively sense the change in Elsa's attitude in just a few seconds. He didn't know why Elsa had chosen to stare at him among so many people, nor did he understand why Elsa had stared at him at first sight and seemed to be hostile to him.

This is naturally Adele's credit.

But Dubot didn't know this. He just swallowed and answered truthfully: "Except for those on the deck... the rest are all here..."

Elsa, however, cast her gaze towards the depths of the cabin, her eyes narrowed slightly.

She felt the breath of several living creatures from there, some were very weak, while others were a little more energetic, and - although it was clearly a living creature, Aisha could not feel any heartbeat or pulse. It was a creature without a heart.

"What's there?"

Elsa's questioning immediately made everyone's heart tighten, and Dubot subconsciously tightened the weapon in his hand. He has been in this business for many years and has encountered suspicion and interrogation before. There were also some ungrateful guys who found out about him and then killed him. At that time, just like now, he did it in the cabin.

But Dubot quickly forced himself to calm down, because this time was different from any previous time.

Because this woman is extremely powerful, she was able to dismantle the hatch and catch bullets with her bare hands, and she has been there for such a long time, but the monsters in the sea have not made any movement. You can tell with your fingernails that it is abnormal.

It seems that I have really failed this time.

But at least being captured by the church was better than dying at the hands of those sea monsters. As long as he was alive, there was always a way out. Furthermore, as long as he insisted that he was simply obsessed with money and didn't know what it was, and completely denied everything he had done, there might still be room for maneuver.

However, during his brief struggle with his thoughts, he noticed that Elsa's expression was becoming increasingly gloomy. He thought that his silence had upset Elsa, so he quickly adjusted his expression and said:

“Those are the goods I brought in…”

He thought he had concealed his inner thoughts perfectly, but Adele had seen through all his thoughts.

"There are a few little sea creatures in there," Adele said in Elsa's mind. "But he himself doesn't know what tribe they are from. But he didn't lie about one thing. These are indeed 'cargo', special cargo. This guy specializes in the slave trade."

Elsa's gaze slowly shifted towards Dubot, and that cold look sent a chill down Dubot's spine.

"Just go and take a look and you will know."

Elsa took a light leap, stepped over the debris blocking her way, jumped from the deck into the cabin, and walked straight to the back of the cabin.

Dubot was immediately flustered. He hadn't expected Elsa to not deal with the monsters first, nor to inquire about the wounded, but to be so preoccupied with the special cargo. This made it impossible for him to delay for even a moment. He hurried forward and said anxiously, "Sister, please save us! We've been attacked by monsters from the ocean. They're extremely ferocious. My companions and I couldn't resist and are seriously injured. Several others are lying outside, their lives uncertain..."

As he spoke, he showed his injured arm. Aisha glanced at it but said nothing.

Dubot's arm was clearly poisoned. It wasn't a particularly deadly poison, otherwise he would have died long ago. He only had one arm crippled, and his heartbeat remained healthy and strong. Strictly speaking, it wasn't a traditional poison, as the liquid that caused the poisoning reaction in his arm contained microscopic organisms similar to fungal spores. These microorganisms had attached themselves to Dubot's skin, causing the wound. These microorganisms wouldn't actively spread, and therefore wouldn't threaten Dubot's life.

Elsa has countless ways to cure this "toxin", but she didn't do it.

"Did you see the monsters that attacked us? They were about to board our deck before we hid inside..."

Dubot couldn't stop Elsa. He was very anxious and tried every way to attract Elsa's attention, but he failed. Elsa had already walked to the goods. Dubot didn't follow her because he knew it was too late.

He now began to think about what would happen next and how he should respond.

He looked up outside the cabin door. There was no sound coming from the deck. He wondered if the monsters in the sea were still nearby.

He looked at Elsa again.

The cargo was scattered across the ground due to the ship's turbulence, but Aisha had a clear goal. She walked straight to the deepest part and stopped in front of a cargo box covered with thick plain cloth. Dubot's heart skipped a beat when he saw this scene - this was where the special cargo was, and yet it was well disguised. How did this woman find it? Why?

Wait... Could it be that the nun in front of me actually came here for this special batch of goods?

Before he could figure it out, Elsa had already torn the cloth away, and several wooden boxes appeared in front of Elsa. The boxes were square and looked quite sturdy. There were several wooden boxes, each about one meter high. From the outside, they looked no different from other goods, but Elsa could always hear subtle noises coming from the wooden boxes. After tearing off the covering cloth, the noises became more obvious.

Moreover, there was a small hole in the corner of each box with traces of food residue and water.

Elsa glanced at Dubot and immediately took action. The sturdy wooden board felt as brittle as rotten wood in her palm. The sturdy rivets were removed with her bare hands, which made Dubot, watching beside her, tremble with fear. It became increasingly clear to him that he could not plot against Elsa. No, that was not right. He glanced at his arm, which was festering from the poison, and his heart suddenly tightened. He looked at Elsa cautiously, then at the wooden boxes.

As the wooden boards fell to the ground, a square iron cage emerged from it, accompanied by an indescribable smell of corruption.

Elsa probed the lighting magic in her hand into it, and she saw two girls. One was huddled in the corner of the cage, looking at Elsa in panic, as if she had stayed in the dark for too long and the light in Elsa's hand made her unable to open her eyes. She looked a little malnourished, but generally fine. But the other one was different - on the other side of the cage, the girl lay there weakly. Elsa could feel that her breath was very weak, and her legs were already festered. It seemed that she was injured and not treated, causing the wound to become inflamed and festered.

The foul smell came from her legs, the excrement and rotten food in the cage.

The girl in the cage is not human, because her hair and skin emit a faint glow and appear translucent. Moreover, they seem to have no pulse and no red blood, which are obviously not characteristics that humans should have.

Elsa finally remembered that she had seen this race among the sea tribes outside the Temple of Poseidon before. Like mermaids, they had a similar appearance to humans, so Elsa had an impression of them.

Elsa opened several more wooden boxes, each of which contained two or three girls, a total of eleven people, four of whom were seriously injured.

Dubot sighed inwardly upon seeing this scene. He knew he was doomed. Saying anything was too late and would only anger the nun. His mind was now preoccupied with the situation on deck: had the ocean monsters been killed? Or were they still lurking in the water, lurking and waiting? And how could he escape from Elsa's clutches?

Elsa pried open the iron bars of the cage with her bare hands and performed healing magic on the girls in the cages one by one. The girls watched their injuries heal at a speed visible to the naked eye, and even their rotten legs regenerated completely, but there was no surprise in their eyes. Instead, there was a strong sense of fear besides astonishment.

They still just huddled in the corner, looking at Aisha.

"You'll be fine, come out."

Elsa opened each cage, and Adele continued to serve as Elsa's simultaneous translator, but the girls in the cages did not move.

Just then, a girl in another cage spoke.

"Don't be afraid, let's go out."

Elsa looked at the girl, and the girl was also looking at Elsa. She was the first to come out of the cage alone. It seemed that because she had been in the cage for too long, her walking was a little unsteady, but she still stood up straight stubbornly and looked at Elsa.

Her face was a little dirty, and her pink eyes were full of hostility and a will not to give in, even though she was in a terrible state.

"I'm Aisha Faris, a nun from the church. It's safe here. No one will hurt you again. You can trust what I say," Aisha said. "Also, your people have arrived here. You'll be able to see them if you go out—but they probably won't be able to communicate with you right now. I need to confirm a few things before I let you go."

Aisha pointed in the direction of the hatch.

The girl looked at the cabin door, and then at the seriously injured crew members. Those crew members were watching the scene in silence.