Chapter 125 - The Decisive Battle Begins - 2 (1/2)

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.”