"God of Black Wings" Sessi, also known as the "God of Plunder" and "God of Violence," may sound like a negative figure, but he is nevertheless one of the seven True Gods officially recognized by the nations of the continent.
He is the guardian deity of pirates and plunderers, with divine positions that include: "War of Injustice," "Violence," "Plunder," and "Theft."
In the civilized world, he hardly has any legitimate sanctuaries, but there is a strong foundation of belief among pirates, bandits, thieves, and minor national warlords.
This sect is filled with all sorts of dangerous individuals who cannot fit into the civilized world—criminals who kill without mercy, notorious fugitives, assassins, infamous great pirates, and so forth.
Perhaps as a mockery of the civilized world, this sin-filled Black Wing Order's hidden power has far surpassed what ordinary small countries can aspire to.
Even though Blood Anchor Zack is merely a regular believer, it doesn't stop him from receiving spiritual encouragement from the "God of Black Wings." Well, it's really only spiritual.
Watching the two ships slowly approach each other, when he was confident and ready to personally lead the crew to seize the ship and sweep away the streak of bad luck, he suddenly saw the previously mark-free side of the opponent's ship remove its panels, revealing twelve overly enthusiastic gun barrels.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"...
The enemy fired without hesitation, catching the pirates off guard, and even some cannonballs smashed onto the unprepared deck, plowing a bloody trail.
Zack dodged desperately while shouting, "Fight back! Fight back!"
"Ah—!! Get rid of them for me!!!"
A frenzied roar venting the frustration within his heart.
Even knowing that this time he probably hit a hard wall again, Blood Anchor Zack knew he had no choice left.
If he couldn't lead these already green-eyed thugs to victory, being exiled by the entire crew to die on a deserted island would be the best outcome.
The pirate ship retaliated while rapidly closing the distance to the Yellow Crane.
Zack felt he still had a good chance. Approaching from the upwind position, both the advantage in cannon battles and boarding fights were on his side.
"Swoosh!"
A pirate leader beside him had half of his head sheared off by a flying solid cannonball, and Zack didn't even blink, growling with a twisted face, "Follow me! Board the ship! Seize the ship!"
Bang—
The two ships quickly came alongside each other, firmly secured by pirates with thrown grappling hooks. Eager pirates didn't wait for the plank to be lowered; they were already grabbing ropes, directly swinging onto the Yellow Crane.
"Howl—!"
"Hahaha—!"
Bang—
Bang—
To greet the pirates who leapt at them was a wave of firearms in unison.
Some pirates were shot and fell directly into the sea, while more pirates relied on sheer numbers to tough out the bullets and successfully boarded the Yellow Crane.
With more and more pirates boarding the merchant ship, a brutal melee ensued.
Sitting inside the cabin, witnessing the first pirate raid of his life, Aiven felt a sense of connection with the Blood Anchor. In Leopold, it sent him dozens of heads; today, let's send a counter-gift.
With a finely crafted half-handed sword given by Lord Nabri and the short firearm seized from Black Bear Billy hanging from his waist, Aiven pushed open the cabin door and stepped out.
...
On a battlefield where flesh flew, without extraordinary skills, who dares to easily claim victory? The confident Captain Joseph at the start, upon engaging with pirates, relied only on his crew's skilled cooperation to minimize casualties.
The final victory will still depend on the hard strength of both sides; the only good news is that the merchant ship's crew far outnumber the pirates at nearly a two-to-one ratio...
But facing the bloodthirsty and death-defying pirates, the situation remains dire.
The sword in Aiven's hand flashed; the half-handed sword, which for ordinary people mostly requires a two-handed grip, he swung with one hand, and the expanded attack radius instantly decapitated a pirate that couldn't dodge.
Insiders know that when experience and swordsmanship level are similar, if you are slightly faster than your opponent, your skill becomes boundless, hence the saying that all martial arts under heaven are unbreakable when fast.
How fast is Aiven, who nearly reaches the human limit? Only the pirates lying under his sword know.
In Leopold, Aiven spent most of his time searching for scattered pirates throughout the commercial district, making the engagement process very short.
But this time, everyone squeezed onto the less-than-forty-meter deck of the Yellow Crane, no need for Aiven to hunt down; pirates were everywhere.
"The situation on the Yellow Crane's side doesn't look good!"
Even a two-to-one numerical advantage is nearly overwhelmed by the pirates.
The crazy, fearless pirates indeed possess a combat power unmatched by law-abiding citizens of the civilized world. Moreover, they use every method possible in battle, facing ordinary people with hesitation, diminishing tenfold fighting strength to only half.
Additionally, it's evident that among the boarding pirates, there are two experts wildly massacring the key resistance force on the crew side, while the Yellow Crane side has no individuals capable of countering them.
In the extraordinary world, great power returns to oneself, personal factors are infinitely magnified; just one or two experts can affect a small-scale battle.
This is the fundamental reason for the merchant ship's continuous retreat.
Captain Joseph, despite having decent command capabilities and obviously carrying a military demeanor, unfortunately had no personnel. On a sailboat with extremely complex terrain, experts won't be easily surrounded by ordinary people; no matter how good the command, it can't stop the enemy's advance.
Aiven watched for a while, deciding to first launch a sneak attack to eliminate one expert, then engage the remaining one for the Yellow Crane to have a chance at victory.
Kururu, the pirate with brown skin and little braids, wielded a scimitar, constantly roaming the deck.
When encountering stronger resistance, he directly attacked them or disrupted their formation to create opportunities for his side, or directly killed the opposing leader, reducing his own side's losses.
As the First Mate on Blood Anchor, one of the two who mastered an Extraordinary Path, Kururu always held himself in high regard.
If not for Blood Anchor's Captain possessing that "thing," he wouldn't be his opponent at all, not to mention that giant oaf Black Bear under him.
Thus, when Blood Anchor Zack led Blood Anchor in a few failed plunders, causing severe losses to Blood Anchor, Kururu immediately jumped out to compete with Zack, aiming to seize greater power on this ship.
Plus, it worked well; already, most of the crew was secretly leaning his way.
If he could take the merchant ship first this time, recruiting a batch of crew to work with him would be simple; that small, broken, single-masted ship can be left for Zack the waste.
Only he would never admit, deep down in his heart, he didn't want to face this fellow who joined the Black Wing Order with him and inherited the Sessi Scimitar Technique directly.
But immersed in his beautiful fantasy, naturally killing by instinct, he didn't notice at all a specter of death slowly approaching him.
"Display data!"
Name: Unknown
Level: Apprentice Knight
Gender: Male
Identity: Blood Anchor Pirate Ship First Mate
Attributes: Constitution 0.6
Strength 0.68
Agility 0.7
Intelligence Unknown
Skills: Unknown Scimitar Technique (Mastery)
PS: High probability of mastering Breathing Technique.
Aiven knew neither the name nor the skill name, so the data naturally couldn't display, but the other data was already very detailed.
"Sure enough, such level of experts can't all be due to exceptional talent. Only, I'm not very familiar with scimitar techniques and can only tell it's an agility-oriented enemy."
After observing quietly for a while, having a grasp of the opponent's general data, Aiven had formed a plan.
"Although there is still a gap between us, his body data has already surpassed Black Bear Billy. Indeed, one cannot gauge the sky from the well.
If he has some hidden trump card, I might still capsized; first, I'll impair his speed!"
As Kururu's scimitar cleaved the boatswain's sturdy cutlass from the opposite, he was about to follow up with a slash to take his life, when suddenly his back felt cold, and without thinking, he rolled away.
"Bang!"
The pirate First Mate Kururu's evasive action had no effect on Aiven, who had observed and predicted his behavior patterns. Already aiming at the lumbering movement rate for increased hit rate, the lead bullet still left a bloody hole in his thigh.
Instantly, blood gushed endlessly!