Just because she was in the navy, does that mean she has a reason to charge at pirates, frothing at the mouth?

There was no time to question it, as the enemy’s cannons fired.

Boom—!

It was clear they were targeting Abella intentionally.

Abella rowed fiercely, executing evasive maneuvers.

Though her body was old, her experience remained. With the small raft, she expertly dodged the cannonballs, showing off a smooth, veteran-like movement.

I couldn’t help but applaud.

"Hikari."

I triggered my survival instincts.

And called Hikari.

In the form of light, Hikari transferred me onto the White Bone Pirate Crew’s ship.

It was great being able to fly without wings.

"You bastard!"

As soon as I landed on the deck, the pirates charged toward me.

It seemed like they didn’t even care about me.

"So what?"

I didn’t hesitate and drew my sword.

With the golden dagger equipped, I had no fear.

Blood sprayed, and the one who had rushed in the front collapsed helplessly.

Swoosh!

The blood spray had a magical aura.

What kind of magic was it?

The moment I saw it, the excitement that had been boiling up settled down calmly. It was a spell that worked in that way.

"H-how…"

A question.

Were they wondering how I could kill a player in a single strike?

No matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem like they were genuinely curious.

I had no intention of explaining it to them.

Swoosh—!

I unleashed a strike with a heavy thrust.

Since I was wearing the golden dagger, most players couldn’t withstand it.

People keeled over.

My stats had grown that much.

‘It’s only 0.01, though.’

Why 0.01?

I still didn’t understand.

I had come up with a hypothesis, but honestly, I couldn’t believe it.

‘Does luck really affect soul absorption? Does that even make sense?’

The 2nd and 3rd floors.

Excluding environmental conditions, what had changed?

There was only one thing.

The presence or absence of players who had raised their luck.

Since there was only one visible variable, I had no choice but to consider it.

‘If that’s the truth…’

Now I understood why Jo Seohui had told me to increase my luck.

‘…So why didn’t they tell us?’

Would telling the Earthlings about this give them an advantage?

Honestly, I couldn’t see it ending well.

I had a feeling Earthlings would increase their luck and stab others in the back more often.

Jo Seohui probably had their reasons too.

"Huff, huff. You didn’t already deal with all of them, did you?"

Abella climbed aboard the ship.

With her bony, thin arms, she clung to it with surprising skill.

There was a gleam of madness in her eyes.

The White Bone Pirate Crew members flinched at the sight.

"Are you now…"

"Are you saying we should be ignored, even by an old woman?"

"...I, I..."

Some pirates growled even after losing a few of their crew members, while others were already looking for an opportunity to flee.

There were actually quite a few who were willing to act on it.

"I don’t want this! I-I want to live!"

They jumped into the sea.

One by one, pirates started deserting, and the atmosphere turned chaotic.

I could feel the morale plummeting.

"These damn bastards…!"

"Do you think you can escape from the White Bone Pirate Crew forever? Once I deal with you, you’re next! Got it?!"

The one screaming at the top of their lungs.

Maybe it was because they were wearing the pirate captain’s hat, but they were unwilling to back down.

Abella drew her sword, seeming to welcome the challenge.

"Heh heh. Pirates like you, shouting in the beautiful sea?"

It was a common longsword.

It looked like an E-rank longsword.

However, the pirates’ reactions were different.

Upon seeing her sword, they began to retreat, visibly terrified.

"Ex-expert!"

A blue aura began to bloom from the blade of Abella’s sword.

Even I, who knew nothing about it, could see that it was threatening.

The pirates, startled, began to back away.

Their reactions were completely different from when they were facing me.

‘Now that I think about it, I can’t do that.’

Up until now, I had solved situations based solely on my stats.

My plan was to overwhelm others with my overwhelming figures, creating chaos.

It was hard to gauge until I took a hit from her sword directly.

That’s why the White Bone Pirate Crew was still inching forward.

There are limits to what can be communicated with words.

‘I envy her.’

A mana expert.

The ability to control sword energy.

For Middle-Earthlings, there’s no clearer sign of power than that.

When reporting to a superior, Abella could simply say she was a mana expert, and that would be the end of it, while I had to explain in more detail.

‘…It’s clear that no matter how strong I am, if I say I’m up against someone with a rifle, it sounds different.’

The atmosphere shifted dramatically.

As soon as she showed the sword energy, the pirates began to choose the option of retreat.

"Shit!"

"Where do you think you’re running to?!"

Abella stabbed a pirate in the back.

There was no hesitation.

She was no stranger to killing.

In fact, she was better than Kim Min-seong in that regard.

‘I don’t need to step in.’

At this rate, it seemed like Abella would handle everything by herself.

‘…But I can’t let that happen.’

The White Bone Pirate Crew are bad people.

They’re the type who feel no guilt when they kill.

This is when soul absorption should be used—otherwise, when else?

‘If I’m lucky, I might even acquire a new skill.’

Watching idly would be a foolish thing to do.

I too dashed into the pirates’ midst.

"All pirates must die."

After wiping out the White Bone Pirate Crew, Abella spoke.

"Thinking about how hard it was because of these bastards..."

What had happened when she served in the navy?

Abella’s eyes burned with rage as she judged the pirates.

"Still, we shouldn’t kill them all. We should leave some for workers."

I struggled to convince her.

"There are likely some who became pirates because they had no choice in the Tower of Struggle."

"……."

She had swung her sword madly, but she wasn’t truly mad.

Abella hesitated for a moment and accepted our opinion.

Then, she whispered into my ear.

"I’ll kill them once they’re no longer useful."

"……."

It wasn’t bad that we had a brief respite. Maybe we should thank those pirates.

I thought positively.

"I-I’ll do my best!"

"Leave it to me!"

We spared a few of the White Bone Pirate Crew members.

They would operate our ship.

They couldn’t pull any funny business.

If they wanted to stay alive, that is.

"We’ll depart now!"

We had acquired slaves, not slaves, for our ship.

There was no longer a need to wait for the player gacha.

We decided to set up our base camp on Island 3.

"...I can’t believe there are pirates in this sea."

Abella’s condition had been strange since earlier.

For some reason, she had been muttering like a senile old woman.

"Why are you like this?"

"What do you think?"

"...What about it?"

"About the pirates who are ruining this beautiful sea."

A beautiful sea?

‘It’s prettier than the seas of South Korea, I guess.’

But that’s about it.

I didn’t have any particularly fond thoughts about it.

I just wanted to get to the 4th floor as soon as possible.

‘I want to reach a floor with a better theme, at least.’

For example, a floor like the 1st floor.

I wanted to relax in a modern, comfortable environment.

Being stranded on an uninhabited island for more than half a month had been mentally exhausting.

My resistance to pirate raids had lessened because of the shift in my mindset.

"I can’t just stand by and let pirates like that exist."

"……."

Abella clenched her fists.

Her sense of justice, or whatever it was, flared in anger at the pirates.

I found her reaction hard to understand.

I felt awkward, not knowing what to do other than giving a smile.

"Mm? You’re not bothered by this? Even though pirates are running amok?"

"...Me? I’m not exactly comfortable with it either."

That’s why I’ve killed so many.

I must have killed more than fifty members of the White Bone Pirate Crew by my own hand.

I thought that was enough.

‘The Earthlings should be able to come up easily now.’

But Abella was different.

She scolded me, saying that wasn’t enough.

"We have to completely destroy them. So pirates will never appear again."

"……."

The most difficult person to deal with in the world is an old person.

Especially a stubborn old person—it’s nearly impossible, even if they’re as crazy as a senile old person.

Abella was exactly like that.

‘I thought she was normal just yesterday.’

Seeing the pirates had driven her mad.

She wasn’t in her right mind.

"How about it? What do you think about wiping out all the pirates?"

"……."

Why would I bother with that?

"How are we supposed to find where the pirates are?"

The island where the White Bone Pirate Crew’s base was located.

I might become an old man trying to find the coordinates for that island.

By then, I might become an old man like Abella.

I’d be a senile old fool, muttering about pirate extermination after wasting all this time.

Just imagining it was horrifying.

"Why don’t you understand? They’re right there."

Abella pointed at the pirate slaves with a questioning expression.

"I don’t really know how coordinates work. I’ve never seen them. But I ended up here on Island 3."

I had briefly forgotten.

Abella wasn’t a typical old woman.

She was a mana expert and a player who had ascended to the 3rd floor of the Tower of Struggle.

She must have been thinking carefully about this too.

She wasn’t just some senile old woman.

"When we arrived on Island 3, the existence of the previous islands became clear. If we think about it the other way around, these slaves can probably see where the pirate base is."

"...Ah!"

"The 3rd floor follows the path of the beetle, Dolph. But we took the ship, and we’ve found a guide. Do we really need to follow all the small steps?"

"Grandma is right."

"We should head straight to the pirate base and kill them all. If we find a good ship, we’ll take it. Kill the trash and cleanse the sea."

Listening to Abella, I couldn’t help but feel one question form in my mind.

‘What exactly is the difference between this old woman and a pirate?’

Except that she once had power behind her when she was young, she sounded just like one of them…

Of course, I didn’t voice this question out loud.