Chapter 464: Doomed Hobert
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Hobert almost broke even in this gathering. He spent 4,000 pounds to buy the 'Faceless' Beyonder characteristic and sold information for 4,300 pounds.
Of course, this includes the Little Sun's two Beyonder materials and Emlyn's 1,000-pound potion. The total immediate income is only 2,800 pounds.
So, Hobert sacrificed 700 pounds to pay Klein for the Beyonder characteristic.
After a short rest, Hobert used 'Travel' to come to Conant City and discussed with Upton the matter of the Southern Continent's Blessed learning delegation.
Upton will be responsible for the reception and learning matters. The expenses required will, of course, be paid by Hobert first, and after calculating the total expenses, an additional eight or nine percent will be reimbursed by the Balk family.
Although this is a matter for the Blessed, Hobert has been busy and used many of his own channels. Adding a 10% markup is already a very fair charge.
For this reason, Hobert first paid Upton 2,000 pounds as a fee for learning matters, with refunds for any surplus and additional charges for any deficiency.
Then, he discussed with Upton the matter of customizing a train and carriages. Hobert paid Upton another 2,000 pounds as a deposit for the train and modification costs, also with refunds for any surplus and additional charges for any deficiency.
As for Upton's remuneration for these two tasks, there are two options: one-sixth of a 'Baron of Corruption' Beyonder characteristic, or a 600-pound reward.
Upton, of course, chose to accumulate Beyonder characteristics. 3,600 pounds cannot buy a Sequence 6 Beyonder characteristic.
Finally, Hobert talked to Upton about the spoils of war: "According to convention, if you obtain spoils of war such as Beyonder characteristics above Sequence 9, you must hand them over to me for processing.
"Common curses, corruption from loss of control, etc., can be dealt with. Most importantly, Beyonder characteristics that have been processed can reduce the burden of potions on Beyonders."
Upton was stunned, not expecting such a good thing: "Do I need to pay any fees?"
"No," Hobert said, "This is a benefit for the Blessed."
He was also concerned about the Blessed. Otherwise, taking too many potions would definitely bring a considerable burden to the Blessed.
As for the fees, the Blessed don't need to worry. As long as they send the Beyonder characteristics, it is equivalent to having already paid the fee.
Amid Upton's constant exclamations of "The benefits for the Blessed are really too good," Hobert left his office and came to the warehouse where building materials were stored.
Seeing the building materials piled high, Hobert smiled wryly, leaving only one word: Move!
It took a full hour and a half for Hobert to move all the materials into the 'Nation of Disorder.' After advancing to Sequence 5, he felt the first sign of spiritual exhaustion.
And in the 'Nation of Disorder,' the mountains and fields were full of building materials, as if to rebuild the mountain under Hobert's feet.
Returning to Jeffery's territory, Hobert was not in a hurry to move the building materials out. He planned to rest for a while and pile the materials in different construction sites in several batches.
Then Hobert rummaged through the pile of sundries and finally found the pair of eyeballs he had obtained during the tomb robbery. He used the 'Nation of Disorder' to confirm that it was a Sequence 5-level auxiliary material.
Then this must be the eyes of the Six-Winged Gargoyle. Enduring his fatigue, Hobert completed the transaction with Klein for 700 pounds before returning to his room to rest.
That night, Hobert fell asleep without meditation.
...
Hobert had just gotten up and was about to have breakfast when he received a letter from Edwina. He originally thought the talisman was ready, but it was just a letter.
Opening it, he found that Edwina had obtained the latest information. Yesterday, 'Vice Admiral Dusk' and 'Admiral of Blood' had a major battle in the southern waters of Capri Island.
Now is the weakest time for 'Vice Admiral Dusk's' fleet. Edwina guessed that 'Vice Admiral Dusk's' fleet might go to the nearby Pontgar Island or Lambei Island to rest.
But it is more likely to temporarily hide their tracks at sea, and after some of the wounded die and some of the wounded basically recover their combat power, they will land on an island to rest.
Regarding the current location of the fleet, Edwina gave three locations at sea. If they are not in these three locations, it means that the other party may have left relatively safe waters, in which case it will be difficult to find them.
Without delay, Hobert prepared to take action immediately.
This is not because Hobert is reckless, but because he had considered the tactics of hunting 'Vice Admiral Dusk' before.
The ocean is 'Vice Admiral Dusk's' home field, coming and going without a trace. Even if Hobert has the ability to 'Travel', the first step of finding the opponent is difficult to achieve.
So once he gets the news, he must strike immediately!
Even if he goes all the way just to let 'Vice Admiral Dusk' take a look at the oil painting, the purpose of this attack will be achieved.
As long as the oil painting marks 'Vice Admiral Dusk', then Hobert can calmly launch continuous surprise attacks, and he can exhaust 'Vice Admiral Dusk' to death.
He carried the oil painting on his back and adjusted the magical items on his body.
Now, whenever Hobert encounters a battle he is not sure about, he will carry the oil painting on his back.
And hunting a pirate admiral is a battle he is not sure about.
Although the other party is also a Sequence 5, pirate admirals are generally filthy rich, possessing at least one Sealed Artifact.
And the first mate and second mate on the ship are also difficult to deal with.
Hobert also plans to use 'Vice Admiral Dusk' as a target for practicing his skills. Even if the hunt is unsuccessful, it is good to improve his combat skills.
And in this kind of large pirate group, not only the pirate admiral and first mate have high bounties, but even the boatswain, squad leader, and captains of other ships must have bounties. Killing one at random is not a loss.
Then Hobert took the sea chart and, after transiting with 'Travel,' first came to Pontgar Island.
Hobert used 'Travel' to search the two small islands, but did not find any ships of the 'Vice Admiral Dusk' fleet.
Pirates as experienced as them would certainly not rest on an island when they are vulnerable.
So Hobert used 'Travel' to continue to check the three locations at sea given by 'Vice Admiral Iceberg.' As for the specific location, he used the 'Faceless Necklace' to navigate.
After arriving at sea, Hobert suddenly lost confidence in this operation. It was not the first time he had come to the sea, but the scene of looking out and not seeing any land or any ships was still a bit despairing.
After Hobert used 'Travel' to come to the sea, he immediately switched to using the 'Low Flight' ability to fly at sea.
However, the boundless sea also has a benefit: good visibility.
Without much effort, he could determine that the 'Vice Admiral Dusk' fleet was not nearby.
And when Hobert came to the second location, he unfortunately encountered a huge storm.
As far as the eye could see, the clouds were very low, giving people a great sense of oppression.
The sea was full of strong winds and huge waves. In the air, the waves did not feel very intense, but once on the sea, he could feel that the surrounding waves were as high as small mountains!
Flying here was like flying on a moving land, which made people feel insecure and even a little frightened.
Fortunately, he was wearing the 'Ocean Pendant,' otherwise such a strong wind would definitely blow people into the sky like a piece of paper.
Although the visibility was poor at this location, Hobert vaguely saw lights in the storm. After flying closer to observe, he determined that it was a fleet of eight ships.
The flagship among them was as long as seventy or eighty meters and eleven or twelve meters wide. In Hobert's concept, such a large ship was about the size of a warship with a displacement of three to four thousand tons.
To be honest, it was a bit unbelievable for a wooden ship to reach this length, which was about the length and width of a four-story residential building with seven or eight units.
In the hammering of the storm, Hobert finally checked the equipment on his body and then dived into the water.
Although it was in a storm, Hobert estimated that someone might have spotted him, so he prepared to attack from underwater.
Being in the turbulent waves, even Hobert, a Sequence 5, felt a little frightened. This is the power of nature.
It took him some effort to find the location of the fleet's flagship.
From a distance, Hobert saw the monster-like bottom of the flagship. For some reason, Hobert had an illusion that it was a living monster, giving people the feeling that it could open its mouth at any time and swallow him into its belly.
The closer he got, the more Hobert felt that something was wrong. This ship seemed to have extremely high spirituality, and the bottom of the ship was dark and occasionally wriggled.
This made Hobert think: A flagship at the level of a naval admiral basically has certain Beyonder characteristics.
When he came near the ship, Hobert saw several people jump into the water. He realized that his tracks had been discovered.
However, Hobert was not flustered. He moved flexibly in the sea like a fish. The people who entered the water were not as agile as him, and they almost chased him to the bottom of the flagship.
Hobert pulled out his knife and cut a hole in the bottom of the ship. He swam into the ship along the seawater.
The light in the ship's bottom hold was very dim, and the water level was not high, only up to Hobert's thighs.
As soon as he came out of the water, Hobert smelled a strong smell of blood and saw corpses hanging on the walls of the ship.
Then he discovered that the hole he had just entered the cabin was quickly 'healing,' and the water was quickly drained.
The ground was full of white bones and more corpses. It could be seen that they had died tragically, and their flesh and blood seemed to have grown on the ship.
Some of these corpses seemed to have struggled before they died, but they still did not escape the fate of merging with the ship.
Just as Hobert was preparing to use 'Blink' to enter the upper level, his spirituality sensed something and he looked warily in the direction of the stairs.
Lights and footsteps appeared, but Hobert did not hide, but instead went to meet them.
A Sequence 5 is enough to run amok at sea.
Soon, Hobert saw a pirate wearing clothes with the characteristics of the Rorsted Archipelago, carrying a lamp towards this side.
Hobert was about to attack and then conduct spirit communication, but the other party took the lead and said: "Guest, if you haven't had breakfast yet, the captain invites you to have breakfast together."
Hobert put away his knife and smiled slightly: "That's really great, please lead the way."
The upper level was a storage room with many wine barrels and food, as well as some goats, pigs, and many chickens, ducks, and geese. Of course, there were also some goods.
The second floor was where prisoners were held and goods were stored, but Hobert saw that the cages were basically filled with girls dressed in different regional styles.
Some of them had numb expressions, and some were sobbing softly.
The pirate leading the way politely said: "Guest, if you like any of the ladies, you can let her serve you in the restaurant."
"No need," Hobert said in a bad tone.
This is a pirate, the outlaw in people's mouths.
The third floor was where the crew members rested, as well as the lower-level turrets. At this time, the ship's gun ports were all closed, and the cannons were firmly fixed, but as the ship swayed, the cannons could still sway slightly with the ship.
The cabin was shaking so violently, but there were still crew members sleeping like dead pigs.
The fourth floor was some public areas such as restaurants, as well as weapon depots with heavy iron doors, and a large winch. Seven or eight people were shouting slogans and slowly turning the winch to fix the ropes on the ship.
Going out from here was the stormy deck, and many sailors were busy fighting against the huge storm.
The pirate leading the way covered his hat and walked close to the wall, for fear of being blown away.
Hobert saw that a huge wave was coming, which had swallowed the bow of the ship, and the entire ship began to tilt significantly to the front left, giving the illusion that it was about to capsize.
But the giant ship under his feet still broke through the huge waves and continued to move forward in the turbulent waves.
"You bastard fools!" A voice shouted loudly: "Turn the rudder to the left! Advance along the direction of the waves!"
The fifth floor, which was higher than the deck, had exclusive restaurants for the captain and first mate, and even entertainment venues such as bars and card rooms.
The view here was good, but Hobert found that the shaking seemed to be even greater.
There were five people sitting around the dining table in the restaurant, the leader was in his forties, with a mustache on his lips and a frighteningly pale face.
There were also seven or eight almost naked girls shuttling among them, serving these five people.
The leading man smiled and said: "Welcome to the 'Flesh and Blood Tree'! Girls, bring this guest a breakfast."
Hobert opened his mouth slightly: Do you believe me if I say I went to the wrong place?
Then he felt something was wrong. This was the second time he had gone to the wrong place recently. Last time he broke into the 'Judgment Group's' meeting room, and this time he simply came to the 'Admiral of Blood's' 'Flesh and Blood Tree'!
The first thing he thought was whether he was entangled in bad luck: Don't do this! I helped you sacrifice things to you from Farbauti, and you let me be entangled in bad luck?
But now is not the time to think about this. Hobert sat generously opposite the 'Admiral of Blood': "Sorry, I hope I didn't disturb you enjoying breakfast. I'm just here to ask for directions."
A one-eyed dragon with a scruffy beard on the left asked: "Ask for directions? The road to hell?"
"The road to the 'Vice Admiral Dusk's' flagship," Hobert thanked the girl who served him breakfast and said: "I heard from a friend that you just had a conflict with him."
"Admiral of Blood" Senor asked, "What do you want him for?"
"To hunt him down, of course!"
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