Yet at this moment, Sheyan's curse-mix was hurled ferociously! An area of effect dizziness followed by a continuous poison cloud instantly plunged the marines into a state of panic. Of course, Sheyan had already blessed his pirates with 'Blessings from the East'. The area of effect of the gene mix boosted their strength and agility by 3 points each.
To these pirates whose average basic attributes hovered around 20 points, a total of 6 points in basic attributes from the genetic medicine was already rather decent. Almost every pirate could distinctly feel their strength increasing, and their agility increasing. Moreover, there was still the considerable enhancement from the 'Pirate Chieftain' title and Captain Chevalle's roar.
Without a doubt, Sheyan's plan had achieved perfection. With a good start, all the pirates successfully boarded the deck without a single casualty. This was practically a miracle in this naval battle. Personally witnessing the birth of a miracle, the morale of the pirates surged.
Facing the disrupted formation of the british marines, who were fleeing in panic within the poison cloud, the pirates brandished their rusty axes, spiked wooden clubs, fists, wooden planks, broken shackles and anything else they could pick up. Laughing maniacally, they were like howling hounds chasing after a panicked hare, as they directly pounced forward!
The battle on the deck started quickly, and ended quickly as well. It was so quick that the main force of the british marines, who had entered the pirate ship to 'suppress the pirates', couldn't even react in time as they continued attacking the pirates! Under Sheyan's command, these ferocious subordinates were like a surging tide, as they submerged the remaining marines within a blink of an eye.
Without a doubt, facing such a vile situation, those british marines would definitely turn back in a flustered and exasperated state to launch an all-out assault. After all, having one's base encircled and one's escape route severed was absolutely not a good thing. After Sheyan consecutively chopped down three of the temporary gangplanks that the british marines had constructed, he was forced to retreat behind cover by a torrential rain of bullets.
Even though the british marines were left with two gangplanks, Sheyan's pirates didn't need to wait for orders. Lacking in equipment, they had long plundered all the equipment of the british marines. Especially those experienced pirates who had been 'raped', they nimbly and skillfully dragged out partitions that were used to block lead and scattershot bullets from the side of the ship. Then, they hid behind and used their muskets to retaliate against the marines who attempted to seize the ship.
Although the low frequency muskets of muskets couldn't be compared to automatic rifles, where they could instantaneously inflict massive damages, the british marines were extremely troubled by such a strategy! In actual fact, being disorganized and undisciplined was a common flaw of pirates. Yet under the command of a leader that they wholeheartedly submitted to, these pirates who made a living out of the sea actually became orderly and orderly in battle.
The opposing british marine captain was infuriated, as he organized his men to launch several ferocious assaults. Yet because they were left with only two gangplanks, they were unable to deploy large numbers of men. Hence, most of their forces were intercepted on the deck.
If their forces could be deployed, even if Sheyan's side could achieve victory, it would definitely be a pyrrhic victory with heavy casualties. It was only slightly better than a crushing defeat. In actual fact, Sheyan's earlier act of chopping down the gangplanks was an overt scheme. Based on his current level of coarse skin and flesh, even if he were to receive a few shots, a few dozen shots wouldn't pose any threat to his life. If he was determined to chop down the remaining two gangplanks, how could it not be accomplished?
His objective was to lure the enemy to deploy their forces to this treacherous location, and create a situation where his side could outnumber the enemy. This was similar to the strategy of 'encircling three and missing one' in China's Art of War.
Truthfully speaking, after seizing the enemy ship, the initiative was now in Sheyan's hands. The british marines were stuck on the slippery deck, facing the pincer attack of the pirates from both sides. Their only path of survival was to reclaim their own ship, and there was no other option.
Sheyan was aware of this point, and in order to prevent more casualties on his side, he immediately switched from offense to defense, adopting a stance of 'slowly wearing down the enemy'.
Under such circumstances, the british marines were forced into an awkward situation of riding a tiger and not being able to dismount. They could only charge forward, and only charge forward, could they fight for a theoretical path of survival.
The two gangplanks that were less than 5 metres long were instantly dyed red with blood. Once someone stepped onto the gangplanks, they would be like dumplings in a pot, plummeting down incessantly! There was practically no way to cross the middle section of the gangplank.
After an astonishing number of deaths, the lagging matchlock muskets finally showed a gap in their firing coverage due to their sluggish reloading speed. A dozen or so lucky marines seized this opportunity and successfully boarded the deck. Yet at this moment, a partition suddenly slid open by the side, as a pitch-black cannon barrel directly aimed towards them.
The most dreaded scenario of the royal marines had occurred. Within a short span of time, those unsophisticated pirates had actually found the ship's 2-pounder cannon. (The cannon shell weighed 2 pounds, not the cannon itself.) Furthermore, they had loaded it with scattershot!
Boom! A resounding boom! Under the frenzied spray of concentrated iron shrapnel, steel beads and rusty sand, the dozens of conceited and valiant marines were instantly decimated. Even those that managed to survive, naturally, their morale had sunk to the lowest point! Very quickly, Reef led the pirates to knock them down and tie them up.
Evidently, the commander of this group of marines was a simple-minded boor who was exceedingly easily hot-headed. Under the circumstances of consecutive failed assaults, he actually led his trusted aides to roar furiously and charge forward in the next wave of attacks.
Naturally, Sheyan and the other two wouldn't let go of such a golden opportunity. When that courageous captain charged over, Mogensha shot down a footboard, causing the opposing marine's path of reinforcements to become even narrower. As for Reef and Sheyan, they directly welcomed that courageous captain … ….
According to Sheyan's probing, this captain's HP was roughly 8,000 points, and possessed the advanced ability of western sword arts. He also possessed an aura type ability called 'Summon', which boosted the nearby allies. Nevertheless, his offensive capabilities weren't bad, and appeared to be at the standard of a tier-1 legendary creature. The only threatening aspect was that this captain's stride forward was exceedingly swift and incisive, causing one to feel that it was impossible to guard against. This should be a characteristic of western sword arts.
With Sheyan and Reef's current strength, it wasn't difficult to deal with him. Both of them joined hands to trap him, while Brother Black would occasionally fire a shot from the back. Sheyan didn't even need to use his saber to finish him off.
After dying, this brat actually dropped a black grade key. However, his luck wasn't too good, and he only obtained a dark-blue grade ring with + 2 agility and + 1% blocking chance. Both Reef and Brother Black's rings were better than this one, and thus, they unquestionably handed it over to Sheyan to equip.
After the death of their captain, the remaining dozens of weary royal marines crumbled without any suspense. Most chose to surrender, while a minority directly jumped into the sea. This was the cruelty of naval warfare. Within the boundless seas, there wasn't even a chance to escape!
It was either victory, death, or surrender! The loser could choose to commit suicide with a knife, or drown to death …..
After winning this battle, Sheyan couldn't help but heave a long sigh of relief. As the saying goes, the beginning of everything is the hardest. Actually, Sheyan was similarly gambling before the battle started. It was precisely because he was exceptionally proficient in the matters of the sea, that he understood how unreliable it was for a single-masted sailboat to lead 40-50 pirates of varying quality to plunder a 3-masted 'Galen' Galley ship. At most, the probability of success was only 50%. Sheyan truly didn't have much confidence!
Besides, naval warfare and land warfare were two entirely different matters. To put it bluntly, in naval warfare, the importance of individual strength would be weakened. On the contrary, possessing a group of good sailors and a good ship was the crucial factor to victory.
If this 3-masted 'Galen' Galley ship had discovered Sheyan's fleet early on, and directly bombarded them with cannons from afar. Under such circumstances where both sides were violently rocking, Mogensha could at most act as two cannons. Without a doubt, the one to sink would definitely be Sheyan's single-masted ship!
At this moment, a monkey-like head suddenly popped out from the cabin of the opposite pirate ship. After looking around, he immediately cheered and shouted towards the inside.
"Mister Alonzo, your strategy has succeeded. We've successfully attracted the attention of those damned englishmen, and eliminated them!"
When those words were shouted out, Sheyan's crew felt exceedingly uncomfortable in their hearts! In the previous battle, 5 of the pirates that Sheyan had swindled had perished. If those cowardly pirates were truly sensible, a pincer attack from both sides would have caused the marines to crumble even faster.
Instead, many of Sheyan's pirates were seething with indignant thoughts.
"What do you mean you've successfully attracted the attention of the englishmen?"
"If we didn't come, you'd all be rats stuck in a hole. Only death awaits you!"
At this moment, a middle-aged man strolled out from within. His appearance was rather feminine and unkind, as though he was constantly squinting his eyes in scheming. He should be that Alonzo. His gaze swept past those ragged pirates of Sheyan's, and his eyes instantly leaked out a scornful look. That expression was undisguised, as though he was looking at a pile of trash. (To be continued. If you like this work, I welcome you to donate your recommendation votes or monthly votes to me. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
