Quint snapped his fingers in the Second Mate's direction, and immediately, pale yellow flames, reeking of sulfur, shot up from the shadowy figures gripping Archie.
The Wraiths let out illusory hisses, loosening their grip and releasing Archie.
The Second Mate seized the opportunity to roll into the Captain's Cabin.
Quint kicked the door shut, and Archie, who had gotten back up, quickly pushed a nearby table over, temporarily blocking the Zombies.
As he caught his breath, the Second Mate panted, "Captain, do you mean these Zombies and Wraiths were created by the fellow I brought on board?"
Quint strode back into the Captain's Cabin, opened a cabinet, and took out a skull, a bottle of blood, a grayish-white box, and several other items for setting up a ritual.
"Isn't that obvious!"
Quint opened the blood bottle, dipped his finger in some, and directly outlined the ritual on the Captain's Cabin's wooden floor.
"Let's not talk about that for now; block the things outside, and don't breathe deeply. I suspect there's poisonous spirituality in this room."
Archie almost wanted to shout.
Captain, why didn't you say so sooner!
He quickly covered his mouth, untied his bandana, and tied it over his face, covering his mouth and nose.
The door kept banging, the Zombies were quite strong, and a crack had already been forced open in the door.
Archie immediately rushed over, propping up the wooden table, and wrestled with the Zombies.
But while the door could block the Zombies, it couldn't stop the Wraiths.
Those transparent shadows summoned by the 'staff of resentment' emerged from the door, walls, and floor.
They received some kind of instruction, letting out illusory hisses, and flew towards Quint.
Quint quickly drew the ritual with blood, and a Spell array gradually formed.
When some symbols filled the Spell array, the Spell array on the ground was filled with a sense of corruption.
The Captain continuously snapped his fingers, causing the pouncing Wraiths to constantly erupt with sulfur-smelling flames, making them disappear in mid-air.
At this moment, a gunshot suddenly rang out.
Archie trembled all over, feeling a burning sensation on his forehead, and his consciousness rapidly slipped into darkness.
Quint looked back and saw a bullet hole in the Second Mate's forehead.
He slowly slid down, eventually falling face down on the ground, completely lifeless.
"Damn it!"
The pirate Captain placed several candles around the already drawn Spell array and lit them, placing the skull in the center.
He drew a dagger and slid it across his palm.
Blood immediately gushed out, pouring onto the grayish-white skull.
Quint clenched his fist, accelerating the blood's coating of the skull, and continuously chanted incantations from his mouth.
These incantations were filled with a sense of defilement, as if a demon was whispering softly.
As the incantations were completed, the skull, already red with blood, suddenly transformed into a pool of viscous black liquid.
It rapidly spread, wriggled, and boiled on the floor!
Quint stood up, raised his hands high, and loudly shouted a short demonic phrase: "Come forth!"
At the same time, the table fell, the door was knocked open, and Zombies, like a putrid, turbid wave, suddenly surged in from outside the door.
They rushed towards Quint, vying for position, like hungry, thirsty dogs, wanting to tear apart the pirate Captain before them.
Just then.
The black liquid on the ground suddenly swelled, forming filthy, dwarf-like figures covered in black liquid.
Deep red light glowed in their eye sockets, they let out sharp, cackling laughter, they tripped the Zombies, they twisted the Living Corpses' heads, relieving much pressure from Quint.
Quint couldn't help but sigh in relief, when suddenly, two identical figures vaguely appeared in his eyes.
A handsome man wearing a dark hooded cloak with light gray stripes, a dark blue top paired with orange-yellow shorts, and black flames calmly burning in his eye sockets.
Clang!
Quint watched himself pick up the dagger, reverse the blade, and stab it towards his chest!
No!
A strong will suddenly erupted in the pirate Captain's mind, and two filthy figures covered in black liquid immediately grabbed his hand, causing the dagger to only pierce his skin and flesh, but not stab through his heart.
Quint's eye color suddenly turned pale yellow, and sulfur-smelling flames shot up from his body.
He endured the burning pain, trying to force out the fellow possessing him.
This was the fire of a demon.
This was fire from the abyss.
It was filled with defilement and a mysterious aura.
Lex, possessing Quint, felt the same as the Captain, and immediately leaped into an ancient bronze mirror in the room.
In that mirror, Lex reached out his left hand and made a fist towards Quint.
The ground beneath Quint's feet suddenly turned black.
The Captain, who had just regained control of his body, suddenly found himself standing in a muddy abyss.
From the black ground, twisted, blood-red vines grew out, one after another.
Each segment of these jointed plants had fangs and eyes.
They grew wildly, immediately entangling Quint and greedily sucking his blood.
Touch of death!
Quint immediately felt a wave of weakness.
He wanted to snap his fingers to summon the flames of the abyss to burn away these vines.
But at this moment, he found his arms showed signs of melting, his throat and eyes were burning, as if his windpipe and eyeballs were melting.
This was the effect of the Corrosive Mist.
Just in this slight delay, ice arrows, one after another, were pinned into Quint's chest, neck, and face.
In the blink of an eye, the Captain of the Blood Shark was impaled with ice arrows, turning him into a 'hedgehog'.
Quint's body quickly stiffened, his blood froze, and his consciousness dissipated.
After he lost his breath, the filthy figures he had summoned transformed back into pools of black liquid, emitting a foul odor, and congealed into black, gelatinous masses.
As for the Zombies, they had already fallen after Lex switched to his 'Wraith' state, and even the Wraiths had returned to where they originally stayed.
Lex leaped out of the mirror, released the 'staff of resentment', and stopped using this magical item.
His figure regained its substance, the black flames in his eyes dissipated, and his skin color was no longer pale, but in Lex's eyes, a wave of malice surged.
He struggled to breathe, fighting against the accumulated malevolence from using the staff.
After a moment, Lex finally let out a breath, then picked up the staff, tucked it into his belt, and avoided touching it.
Walking towards Quint, the blood-red vines had long since retracted into the ground and disappeared, but Quint's body was already frozen stiff, which kept the corpse in a standing posture.
Tiny pale yellow specks of light began to separate from the pirate Captain's corpse.
They slowly condensed, with Quint's left eye as the core.
Quint's beyonder characteristics were forming.
"Possessing knowledge and rituals related to demons, capable of using demon-like Spell abilities, is this fellow a 'Serial Killer'?"
Lex recalled the information about this type of Beyonder, and the words 'likes to please demons with special Serial Killer cases' appeared in his mind.
He sneered, looking at Quint's corpse, and said indifferently, "He deserved to die!"