Dracotitán

"I've figured it out too," Caslana replied with a smile, understanding the undead first mate's off-topic conversation.

"I've already fought them both, and they lost, so now they're under me," Muria communicated with the golden dragoness while responding to the undead first mate.

"Where is Captain Barbossa?"

"The captain is, of course, with the main fleet," the undead first mate replied matter-of-factly.

"The main fleet?" Muria raised an eyebrow in surprise, looking at the ghost ships surrounding them and some curious undead sailors peering over the edges at them.

"All these ships are just a division of the fleet?" Muria expressed his doubt to Caslana, "How large is Barbossa's ghost fleet?"

"The legend of the undead captain has been told for nearly ten thousand years in coastal cities and ports."

"So, does this mean Captain Barbossa has been around for nearly ten thousand years?"

"Perhaps even longer. A legendary lich who's lived for millennia and has an incomprehensible obsession with collecting ghost ships. Apart from himself, who knows how many he has amassed."

"A legendary lich who loves collecting ghost ships," Muria smirked slightly.

"It's said Barbossa was a fearsome pirate captain before becoming a lich, obsessed with collecting ships. Even after turning into a lich, he kept this quirk."

"A pirate?" Muria was puzzled, struggling to understand, "How did a marauding pirate become a lich?"

As everyone knows, pirates are a despised profession, high-risk and close combat-oriented. Even mages gone mad or brain-damaged wouldn't stoop to piracy, as it's considered degrading.

Becoming a high-level undead like a lich isn't something one can achieve on a whim. The basic requirement is to be a magic user with soul-level spiritual power. Thus, even the weakest lich has the power of at least a first-tier soul spirit.

"I'm not sure about that, but there are many ways to become one. With enough resources, even a warrior can be forcibly transformed into a lich, though they would only be pseudo-liches and the cost would be immense."

"First mate, I wish to meet the legendary ghost ship captain Barbossa. Could you take me to him?"

"Ha ha ha, this gold dragon says he wants to meet Captain Barbossa."

Laughter erupted from the thousand-meter-long flagship ghost ship in front of Muria:

"Of course, your request can be granted, gold dragon."

As he spoke, countless green-glowing ropes shot out from all the ghost ships, entangling towards Muria and the four dragons.

"Hmph!" Seeing the ropes writhing like living creatures towards him, Muria didn't hesitate to swing his staff of ultimate magic, unleashing an attack he'd prepared in advance.

Eight-ring spell, Sunburst!

A thick, scorching ray shot from Muria's staff, guided by his mental power and enhanced through his bloodline and staff, almost doubling its power. The spell vaporized the sinister ropes in front of him.

The still potent Sunburst then struck the ghost ship in front of Muria, instantly disintegrating the souls cursed to the ship in its anti-undead light.

Even as they were annihilated, the souls showed relief on their faces. This end was more liberating than the endless torment of being drained by the ghost ship.

"Boom!" A loud explosion followed by another – as Muria's Sunburst hit the ghost ship, a slightly smaller but equally intense ray struck the ironclad ghost ship, courtesy of the golden dragoness.

"You said you wanted to see the captain. Why resist?" Despite two large holes in the ship, the legendary undead first mate didn't get angry but spoke to Muria in a teasing tone.

"I do want to meet Captain Barbossa, but not while bound," Muria raised his staff, surprised by the first mate's calm demeanor despite his ship being blasted.

But Muria's gaze sharpened as he watched the ironclad ghost ship. The holes, which he and the golden dragoness had blasted, were rapidly healing, with undead death energy slithering into them like black pythons. The Sunburst fire was extinguished, and the gaps... were mending!

"This ship, it's alive!" Muria was slightly surprised at the rapidly healing ghost ship but not overly shocked, having seen similar phenomena before.

"Ghost ships are semi-spiritual undead creations. In a way, you can think of them as undead beings without souls. One of their features, as you can see, is rapid regeneration with enough death energy."

As the golden dragoness shared knowledge unknown to Muria, the proud laughter of the undead first mate rang out.

"Don't want to be bound? That's not up to you!"

The ropes, just shattered and burned by Muria, the golden dragoness, Fiona, and Otleyes, regrew at a visible rate under the nourishing undead miasma, snapping through the air like whips and entangling towards Muria again.

"Swoosh!" A bright white blade flashed, effortlessly slicing the reanimated ropes, then continuing its path, cutting through a five-masted ghost ship.

The hundred-meter-long ghost ship was cleaved in two by the blade, the cut clean and precise.

"Tsk, boy, that's a sharp blade!" A voice full of admiration came, quickly turning into mockery, "But what good does it do?"

Holding the staff in one hand and the Seven Sins Blade, radiating sharpness, in the other, Muria's expression darkened as the bisected ghost ship began to repair under the death energy.

"Unless you have the power to destroy half of this fleet in an instant, you'll eventually be worn down!" Fiona, back in her true form, spoke seriously as she broke the ropes entangling her.

"We won't be worn down; there's a legendary undead in this fleet. Once it acts, we're finished."

...Muria swung the Seven Sins Blade, slicing more glowing ropes and a ghost ship, then brandished his staff, unleashing golden thunderbolts to clear the surrounding space of death energy.

"We've delayed long enough. With such commotion from this ghost fleet's arrival, even if Caslana didn't send a message, those ancient dragons should have sensed it by now!"

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