The Oracle Paths

Inside the invaders' ship, the atmosphere had taken a turn that Jake and the others had never imagined. After neutralizing the first wave of attackers in a matter of seconds, the numerous survivors had suddenly retreated, leaving their companions unconscious or seriously injured.

"Aaaarrgh! Please don't kill me! I just don't want to go back there! "The only remaining conscious pirate who was still impaled on one of Kevin's claws was sobbing. His face was streaming with tears and his eyes were bulging out, swaying from side to side in a chaotic manner.

He was completely terrified.

Jake, who until then had been charging headlong, was startled by his expression and finally came to a halt. Seeing his reaction, the rest of his group stopped behind him and waited patiently with a puzzled expression.

"What's wrong? "Vincent asked calmly, while wiping his rapier on the armor of his last victim. His pale blue skin and blood-red eyes gave him a weird ghostly complexion under the dim violet neon lights of the enemy ship.

Instead of immediately responding, Jake crouched down beside the defeated enemies and examined their faces with growing doubt.

"Their reactions are strange. "Kevin grunted as he put an end to his impaled opponent's pleas with a violent headbutt," Why are they so terrified? They are the attackers. Tell me... Am I that ugly ?"

"Pfft! Honest answer ?"

" Go fuck yourself Vincent! "Kevin suddenly became enraged and gave off an ominous bear growl.

The very next second, his two cousins were fighting like cat and dog. One, although in human form, was a ferocious beast devoid of technique, as unstoppable as a bulldozer, while the second was as elusive as an eel.

Of all his cousins, Vincent was with George the one who no longer had any semblance of being human at all. Kevin and Jake were definitely abnormal, but in their resting form they were not so different from the others.

Kevin may have been excessively hairy, but if Jake was hiding his teeth and claws, he just had an exotic eye and hair color. As for Vincent, he could hardly hide his bluish skin and long pointed ears.

According to his cousin, his bloodline was that of a water elf. A Grade 5 bloodline. It gave him interesting passive abilities such as the ability to breathe underwater, and sharper senses, especially sight and hearing.

His Body Agility and Strength were also twice that of a human, with an acceptable evolutionary potential. The sub-attribute of Dexterity in particular was exceptional. Handling a weapon or shooting accurately over long distances required virtually no effort.

In terms of Aether Skills, he could detect the presence of water and naturally control it to some extent. He also recovered his strength more quickly in a watery environment.

Put in perspective, none of these capabilities rivaled those of Jake, either in evolutionary potential or pure power. For example, his limited control of water, he could do it better with his telekinesis.

The water elves, however, had an extremely handy characteristic, which in his context Jake envied quite a bit: their lightness. Where Jake was growing heavier and heavier over time, Vincent was losing weight.

Right now he weighed only 9 kilos.

This explained the choice of the rapier as his main weapon. Apparently, Vincent had tried to carry a more badass weapon, such as a broad sword or a war hammer, but even if he could lift them, they made him lose his balance.

Seeing Vincent and Kevin fight, Jake had to recognize that Vincent had the advantage, but Kevin had not transformed. Right now, they had no time for that kind of nonsense.

"Enough! "Jake shouted coldly, immobilizing them with his telekinesis. They were so focused on their fight that he had no trouble taking control of their bodies. If he had been an enemy, they would already be dead.

Meanwhile, Will had also joined them.

"Anything new? "

The businessman sighed heavily in response.

"They're pirates, but they're not here to plunder the Titan Pearl, but to escape here. Their ship has apparently been lost in this magnetic storm for several years... Yotai Shien 3 has become a cutthroat and something horrible is going on. Those who come back from there go crazy and then die. But according to the one I interviewed... It might be contagious.

"As you'd expect from a pirate ship, the atmosphere has always been anarchic and it was not uncommon for a fight to break out. Even a revenge death from time to time is commonplace. But after the return of the infected pirates, everyone went completely nuts.

"The entire crew became depressed and unstable, their negative emotions exacerbated in incomprehensible ways. The worst of each individual revealed itself and the situation soon escalated irreversibly.

"Then these same tyrants began to die, while others became stronger and developed abilities they didn't have. But in return, they lost their rationality and became completely different.

"This pirate I interviewed was terrified because he was also beginning to lose his mind. He has memory lapses and sometimes wakes up in places without understanding how he got here. Convinced that their ship had been cursed, the still sane pirates regrouped and escaped from their ship after seeing the Titan Pearl."

Jake and the others were taken aback when they learned the truth. Their first reaction to all of them was to inspect their Oracle Status to look for an anomaly, but they were perfectly fine.

Jake, who had experience with the Brain Eaters in his first Ordeal, scanned each of the unconscious pirates, but with the exception of the recently inflicted wounds and concussions they were healthy.

"I can't find anything wrong with them. They're just very stressed out." He shook his head. He didn't know what to think of these pirates.

"It's not inconsistent. "Will retorted with a grim face. "These pirates fled their ship by stealing the rescue shuttles. Assuming that the pirate was telling the truth and that they are the only sane escapees left, it's no wonder that no pathogens or abnormalities are found in them. They are just terrified."

"But the pirate himself said that he sometimes behaved abnormally. If he's not crazy, he must have been affected by something. "Daniel calmly brought his grain of wisdom.

"I didn't say that he was not... " Will shrugged with a small laugh.

"Is it just me or their Fluid gland is rather atrophied..." Enya mumbled after receiving a copy of the scan.

"Hmmm? "Jake and Will took another look at the report, but they saw nothing special. The Fluid Organ was indeed smaller than theirs, but these pirates were also very weak. Barely stronger than normal humans.

[ It's a possibility. ] Xi intervened in his mind. [But it will be necessary to find pirates who have been affected for longer, or even ideally who have already gone insane, to come to a real conclusion.]

Jake nodded subtly, and then set off again. Except this time he put on a pair of gloves and a waterproof helmet with a visor for space exploration. It was provided with his armor, but since he could survive in space, he didn't think he would be using it so soon.

His comrades did the same, except for Kevin, who only had a gas mask, but that wasn't so bad.

"I'll be waiting here. "Will chuckled awkwardly. If he could avoid taking unnecessary risks, he preferred not to.

"Lily and Tim. You wait for me there too. "Daniel also said as he removed the safety from his assault rifle.

The two children complained for a brief moment, but the father's stern look made them let go.

Jake, who was leading the way, was ready to run for a long time before catching up with the fleeing pirates, but he found them much faster than expected. The rescue shuttle was only a hundred meters long. Had it not been for the locked armored doors blocking his path, he would have reached them in an instant.

After having completely chopped in pieces the last reinforced door opening on the cockpit, a strange scene greeted him.

The space pirates had reorganized themselves into a dense line of defense and all were holding him at gunpoint with fanatical and desperate expressions.

" Don't move! If you take one more step, I'll shoot."

Jake just smirked.

"If you put down your weapons now, I promise to spare you. "He said calmly. "Let's talk like civilized people, okay?"

Pew!

A plasma projectile flew towards his torso, but was nonchalantly intercepted by his blade. Jake frowned annoyingly. So much for failed negotiations.

Whoever had just fired had bloodshot eyes and drool on his lips as if Jake had just killed his mother and father before his eyes. Recognizing the signs of insanity that Will was talking about, a glimmer of excitement flashed through his eyes.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Sadly, after this first intentional shot, the dozens of blasters pointed at him immediately started to shoot him with surgical precision. The other pirates he had almost convinced had completely lost it and decided to dump all their ammunition on him.

Jake nearly yawned as he let the plasma shots crash on him with a mocking look. With the quality of his armor and his heat resistance, these shots were no more tickling him than a massage.

A few seconds later, after a last weak shot, silence returned to the room. Apart from the sound of shallow, jerky breaths, one could also hear the dripping of a pirate peeing himself.

"We surrender! "A pirate then threw his weapon on the floor and raised his hands in the air.

Inspired by his example, the other pirates soon surrendered in turn. The only one who stupidly continued firing with his unloaded blaster was the crazy pirate who had fired first.