Chapter 125 - The Decisive Battle Begins - 2

Twenty medium-sized ships were moored in the port of the pirate city Steam City. All of them were well-crafted combat ships and in perfect condition for sailing. They had good damage resistance and sufficient speed to avoid too heavy impacts. Furthermore, their carrying capacity was also reasonable. Ultimately, they were a standard choice as a vessel for naval battles.

Leading these twenty ships were three massive war galleons that paved the way for the fleet. Each of these war galleons was driven by a spirit soldier, while Pirate General Ho Ri-Na was in the center war galleon overseeing the status of her entire fleet.

In truth, the three war galleons had such a load capacity to embark on all the men brought by Ho Ri-Na for the battle. However, the Pirate General had decided not to opt for such a move. The reason was simple - it was a naval battle between Pirate Generals.

Usually, pirate fights mainly involved spirit apprentices. As a result, each pirate was careful not to damage too much the ship they were fighting on. If they had destroyed their ships, they would have been forced to fight while swimming. But even if they had won, they certainly couldn’t have swum the ocean when there were aquatic spirit beasts lurking.

However, this time there were nine spirit soldiers to fight - Ho Ri-Na and her three spirit soldiers; Hong Shin and his four spirit soldiers. Since they were spirit soldiers, they would move their fight into the sky, but there was no certainty that they wouldn’t harm the ships below them. As a result, Ho Ri-Na thought of dividing her troops into multiple ships so that her men had various footholds for the fight. At the same time, it was also a way of distributing the pressure of enemy attacks on multiple fronts.

Rounding out the fleet was the presence of a ship smaller than the others - Hei's artifact ship. Old Tohyon had taken charge during this period of supervising the work on the artifact ship. Under Hei's orders, he had the entire ship's structure enhanced, including the formation that propelled the propulsion system. A shield function was also added to the formation so that the ship had more chance of resisting impacts. The cost of such changes was exorbitant, at least for a regular pirate, but Hei had enough funds and paid without batting an eyelid.

"It’s finally time to sail." Hei murmured in a low voice as he looked at the inhabitants of the Steam City gathered at the port to greet the fleet.

It should be known that there weren’t only the lives of the pirates at stake but also those of all the people who lived under the jurisdiction of Ho Ri-Na. A defeat or worse, the death of the Pirate General, would not only have resulted in the loss of power and territory but also the end of those quiet days under the protection of the female pirate.

Suddenly, when all preparations had been completed, a female voice was heard echoing in the air. It was Ho Ri-Na. Before leaving, she wanted to salute her subordinates, who would stay there.

"Comrades! Whether you are pirates or not, the moment you chose to place yourself under my banner, we became one. Today we will leave to terminate an unfinished business against an old enemy. This enemy has caused so much damage to many of our comrades; for this reason, he must be punished. But you don't have to be afraid. You should rejoice and start preparing the celebrations. Because victory is already in our hands!”

Ho Ri-Na's incitement warmed the hearts of pirates but, in particular, of the citizens of her city. Seeing their sovereign so proud and confident of victory, how could they continue to doubt? Wasn't she Ho Ri-Na, one of the Four Pirate Generals? The only woman to have achieved such a position among pirates?

In that way, the fleet began to move further and further away from Steam City until it disappeared from sight, and there was only the ocean around them. The next day, many of them wouldn’t have seen such a scenario on the return.

Meanwhile, as the ships continued their journey, a bizarre scene was happening in the artifact ship. A large wooden tub filled with seawater had been set up on the bridge. Standing in the middle of the tub were two people who seemed to float. It was Hei and Lian.

The day before, Hei had received the jade slip containing the technique for walking on water. Upon returning home, he had immediately made efforts to learn it, but it wasn’t a simple technique to be learned in one day. Fortunately, both Hei and Lian were quite well versed, and it wouldn’t be long for them to master it.

"How's it going, Lian?" Hei asked as his feet were half wet in the water and half out.

“I understood the mechanism, but I'm still wrong in regulating my spirit power. But there shouldn't be much left.” Lian replied as she concentrated on looking at her feet to understand how to manage her spirit power.

At the side of the tub, wrapped in a silk blanket, were Ye and Xing, who were sleeping soundly. Having reached the second level, it hadn't taken them long to understand how the technique worked, and they had mastered it in a few hours. So Hei had given her free time to rest and reach their peak conditions. As for their flying ability, however, at the moment, the two little divine beasts weren’t yet capable of it. But, they were confident that they would understand something by observing the spirit soldiers more closely during this fight.

Besides them and the old Tohyon who was driving the ship, there was only Ho Yeon-Hong. She was looking nervously at the waves generated by the ship’s movement. Even though she was Ho Ri-Na's younger sister, it was the first time she faced such a battle. Therefore it was normal for her to be agitated, although until recently, she was full of vitality and excitement for the battle.

With such an atmosphere, Hei's ship continued to follow the fleet to their destination.

*

Whoosh!

The wind blew strongly at that section of the ocean as the two opposing fleets came from two different directions.

Son of Wind, Hong Shin. As one of the Four Pirate Generals, he also had three gigantic ships, such as Ho Ri-Na's war galleons. In addition to those, there were also other smaller ships, according to a pattern equal to that of Ho Ri-Na. Evidently, the two Pirate Generals had had the same idea about the struggle between their weaker subordinates. However, there was a big difference between the two fleets.

Keow! Keow! Keow!

Above the Hong Shin’s fleet, a large flock of seagulls was flying, following the speed of the ships below them. They weren’t ordinary seagulls but, rather, specimens of spirit beasts. It was easy to understand since the size of each seagull was around 1-2 meters in length. Leading them was an enormous 5-meter specimen carrying a man on its back.

From the bridge, Hei used the telescope he had found on the desert island along with the map fragment to look at the flock.

"Great Black-backed Gull! To be able to command such a flock, it must necessarily be a second-level spirit beast.”

Hei quickly understood the species of the flock’s leader. It was a great black-backed gull, the largest specimen of gull that could be found in nature. Snow-white head and body, pitch-black wings as the night, and a large yellow beak. Its coloring combined with its build and its dominant attitude made it a king among the seagulls, capable of governing large flocks.

Moving the telescope, Hei recognized the man who sat on top of that majestic creature - Pang Ja-Kyung. The beast tamer after his defeat, and the loss of his whale hadn’t been demoralized. Fueled by the desire for revenge, he had resorted to various types of medicines to heal his spirit wound and obtain another second-level spirit beast. Eventually, he had managed to control the king of this flock of seagulls.

As Hei finished watching the flock, the ships of both fleets had stopped on the spot. They were still too far away to be able to fight, but the mere presence of the enemy put even more tension on pirates on both sides.

"Comrades! We have finally arrived at the day when we will end once and for all that Hong Shin bastard! You know very well that not all of us will get out of this fight alive, but has this ever stopped us?” Ho Ri-Na asked as her voice rang out among all the ships in her fleet.

"No! Never! "

"Better to die than to live as cowards!"

"We will follow the Captain to the end!"

As various voices overlapped each other, Ho Ri-Na continued, "Excellent. Yes, many of you will die, but to those who remain alive, I promise wealth. The Treasure of one of the Four Pirate Generals! Don’t you think it's a nice loot? Then let's go get it like the pirates we are!”

With that sentence, the pirates let out their war cries as they stamped their feet on the ground. They were euphoric and heedless of death. Thus, the ships began to resume their march as the enemy became more visible. The Hong Shin fleet had also resumed its march and was approaching.

"Charge!"

When the two ships were at a sufficient distance, Ho Ri-Na issued the last order. Then from both fleets, eight figures rose to the sky and then collided with each other.

Boom!

The sharp noise of spirit power colliding echoed in the air. The spirit soldiers in the sky began to fight each other as they gradually moved their fight somewhere else. But from below, their subordinate pirates could clearly see how intensely they were fighting and became excited at the sight.

" For Captain Ho Ri-Na! Let's bring her the victory! "

" For Captain Hong Shin! Let's teach these bitches what terror is! ”

The ships began to collide with each other as they approached each other. Pirates drew their swords and brought chaos to a new level.

"Ye, Xing, Lian, Ho Yeon-Hong, Old Tohyon! Are you ready?! Let's get started!” Hei let out his war cry and concentrated on the task assigned to him - facing Pang Ja-Kyung.

The flock of seagulls also had begun to move, unraveling their tight formation and plummeting toward the pirates of Ho Ri-Na. From above, Pang Ja-Kyung controlled everything sitting on his second level spirit beast. From his smile, it was clear that he was relaxed.

Screech! Hiss!

Suddenly, a series of hissing and deafening sounds began to echo on the battlefield. The flying seagulls that were diving toward the ships were startled by these sounds and stopped as they tried to understand their origin. Then they identified the source - a smaller ship than the others at the end of the enemy fleet.

Since their king hadn’t said anything yet, the seagulls rushed to that small ship at full speed. Their eyes were filled with anger at what they had heard.

It was Ye and Xing who had produced those sounds, and the meaning conveyed wasn’t something very polite to say. No wonder, therefore, that it had triggered the anger of all the seagulls in the flock.

“Could you have chosen something else? It's not very nice to say.” Hei commented as he prepared to receive the flock.

'But big brother, you were the one who told us to get their attention.' (Ye)

'Yes, it was the fastest way. And then we got a good result, didn't we? ' (Xing)

“Hahaha, okay. Then, we welcome our guests with a warm hug.” Hei said while smiling.

Hei's spirit power then began to flow out of his body as he assumed the battle position. The tip of his spear shone with a lethal glow.