Chapter 452: Lucky Clover Upgrade
Seeing this scene, Zhou Ning almost lost his breath. In that instant, he felt the world's rejection of him even more intensely.
The meteors were still a distance away, but judging from their blazing descent, their diameters were absolutely massive.
What the hell was this? Heaven-Averting Starquake?
Zhou Ning might be confident, but he wasn't delusional—there was no way he could survive a meteor strike. If he was within the impact zone, no body below the demigod level could withstand it. He would be vaporized instantly.
A shudder rose from deep within his soul—this was his newly reached God-tier Observation Haki warning him that staying here meant certain death.
He could no longer afford to hide anything. The black Batman armor snapped over his body as he burst into a full sprint.
In that moment, he "saw" himself being crushed by the meteor—shattered to pieces.
Within roughly three seconds, the first wave of meteors would hit. As he sprinted, a Batarang shot out from the gauntlet, striking a tree ahead. Attached behind it was the grappling hook, pulling him forward in a slide.
But he had barely slid fifteen meters when the tree collapsed, slowing him down instead. He could already feel the falling meteor closing in behind him.
Still, Zhou Ning didn't give up. He used Shave for a burst of speed, then activated the Traveler's Ring for a max-range teleport, blinking thirty-one yards forward—barely dodging the first meteor.
Behind him, a meteor with a diameter of at least a hundred meters slammed into the earth, gouging out a massive crater. Fire-laced smoke blasted upward, the scorching heat nearly suffocating.
Though he dodged the first meteor, that bone-deep dread remained. More meteors were coming down from the sky, covering an even larger area. He didn't dare stop and could only sprint toward the cliff that faced the sea. And at that moment, in the raging waters below, a slowly expanding black void appeared. Zhou Ning's heart sank. This had to be a wormhole leading to the Astral Plane. The sea and the Astral Plane had overlapped—now of all times!
A giant deep-sea monster slowly emerged from the black void—green hair, a terrifying twisted face, a charred wound on its head yet to heal. It was two to three hundred meters tall, eyes the size of lanterns scanning the area. It held a sunken ship in its hands. Its lower body was still in the wormhole; just its upper body loomed far beyond the cliff, radiating overwhelming oppression.
Wasn't this that cowardly sea giant?
But there was no time to think. Zhou Ning didn't stop—he accelerated. As he reached the cliff's edge, he launched himself forward with Moon Step, dodging the third meteor by mere centimeters. Behind him, his serrated cape unfolded like bat wings, snapping open in the wind. He dove downward, and at that moment summoned Little Deathwing, who caught him right on time.
Under his control, Little Deathwing flapped forward toward the sea giant. Another meteor formed in the sky. The sea giant spotted him and, like swatting a mosquito with an anti-aircraft gun, swung the sunken ship at him.
A blast of wind slammed into Zhou Ning, but he didn't panic. He dismissed his mount mid-air and used Moon Step again, zigzagging forward. He slipped under the giant's arm—a blind spot in its vision—and safely used the thick limb above as cover.
Boom!
A massive meteor crashed down, striking the sea giant square on the head. It was like a coconut falling onto someone's skull beneath a palm tree. With a thunderous scream, the giant clutched its head and retreated back into the wormhole. A whirlpool formed in the sea, and moments later, the wormhole vanished.
Only then did the soul-level dread begin to fade. Hovering in the air, Zhou Ning finally exhaled. Once the waves settled, he grabbed the hilt of Triton's Sword and summoned the Ghost Ship.
This time, the Flying Dutchman surfaced—its spectral hull glowing red, manned by undead sailors draped in seaweed and barnacles, raising the sails.
Zhou Ning glided down and landed on the Flying Dutchman, ordering it toward the southwest, away from safe waters, so he could continue enduring the tribulation.
Fortunately, after the initial round of extreme misfortune, the following events—while ridiculous—were manageable. He was attacked by Naga, encountered a wild Lavides, weathered a mega-storm, and more. He managed every crisis, though the Flying Dutchman took severe damage, losing even one of its masts.
Eventually, he dismissed the Ghost Ship entirely, removed the Batman armor, and switched to Little Deathwing for transportation.
Time ticked by, and the misfortune countdown neared its end. His vision darkened again. To the south, deep within the Misty Sea, massive dark shapes approached.
Instinctively, Zhou Ning looked that way. Thanks to his extreme vision, he saw a colossal silver ship appearing in the depths of the Misty Sea. It was nearly two hundred meters long, with five masts—each a hundred meters tall—bearing more than forty sails. Its sides were armed with countless alchemical cannons.
It was far away and sailing in a different direction, but whether due to alchemy or the captain's power, it dispelled every storm in its path.
A skull wearing a silver crown was painted on the sails. Behind it trailed a fleet of dozens of large warships.
Zhou Ning drew a sharp breath, scalp tingling.
The Northern Pirate Emperor, "Lord of Weather" Valentin, aboard the flagship Sea God.
Bounty: 600,000 Vecktas!
The moment he saw the massive silver ship, Zhou Ning's first instinct was to turn and flee. He suspected that Valentin had also been dragged here by the Lucky Clover's effects.
But with his enhanced vision, he saw that although the silver-ship sailors were armed and disciplined, none of them were looking his way. They showed no signs of preparing to attack.
At the top of the deck, near the lookout tower, stood a towering man—three meters tall—wearing a silver crown and likely carrying giant blood.
And just then, Valentin lifted his head, staring straight toward the sky—toward Little Deathwing. Toward Zhou Ning.
The moment their eyes met, Zhou Ning felt a crushing pressure. Goosebumps erupted along his back instantly.
This "Lord of Weather" was even stronger than the Sea God Church cardinal Ronald Cregi on Teldron Island.
Fortunately, at that exact moment, the bad-luck timer ticked down its last second. It ended silently.
That targeted-by-the-world feeling vanished at once, replaced by an indescribable lightness.
Zhou Ning quickly looked away, avoiding further attention from Valentin.
At the same time, a system notification chimed in his ears:
[Congratulations, you have fulfilled the hidden conditions to awaken the mysterious artifact: Lucky Clover.]