#130 - More than one magician

Long-range shooting at sea is much more difficult than on land.

The ship underfoot swayed with the waves, and so did the target pirate ship, not to mention the ever-changing sea breeze:

All these factors made it extremely difficult for bullets and arrows to hit their targets.

Compared to Myles' flintlock, which could only load one bullet, the crew of the Thorns had more primitive firearms, but they had a lot more of them.

Moreover, Moon's [Leg-Locking Curse] and [Petrification Curse] could control the targets to the greatest extent.

This gave the crew of the Thorns more confidence, even though their marksmanship was still terrible, the damage they inflicted on the pirates was much greater.

"Everyone down!"

After figuring out how the crew were being hit by arrows, Myles roared at all the pirates on the deck.

"Boss! Is there more than one mage on the other side?"

The ability to summon flames and lock legs, especially with such fast spellcasting.

These things made the pirates wonder about the number of mages on the opposite ship.

"I don't care how many there are. Get some people to stand in front later and buy me time to load bullets. Even if there are two mages, they'll still die!"

Moon's [Leg-Locking Curse], combined with Zalan and the veterans' archery, plus the crew's pitifully low hit rate with their muskets.

Caused the pirates on the opposite deck to lose more than fifty more men.

"Lord Scarlet, what do we do now that they're all lying down?"

Gord was currently on the deck, directing all the musketeers.

After realizing that there were no targets in sight, he anxiously shouted at Moon.

"Don't worry! Have everyone load their bullets, and I'll make them jump up."

"Roger!"

After hearing Moon's instructions, Gord issued an order to the temporary musketeers without any hesitation: "Kids, did you all hear that? As soon as those bastards jump up, you shoot!

Shoot them hard!"

Among this temporary musketeer squad, the highest hit rate did not belong to the crew of the Thorns, but to those who came out of the lower deck.

Lance, as the chief guard of the City Lord of Flowing Cloud City, was very proficient in marksmanship.

After entrusting Albert to the care of the little witch Chris, he resolutely joined the battle against the pirates.

Because there was still a safe distance between him and the pirate ship, Lance would intentionally or unintentionally look at Moon, who was being guarded by the veterans in the middle, every time he loaded gunpowder.

Lance had seen spellcasters before.

But he had never heard of a mage like Moon, who could cast spells so quickly and was so young.

"Fortunately, there is such a mage on this ship."

After this thought flashed through Lance's mind, screams appeared on the opposite pirate ship again.

However, this time the pirates were not screaming because of excitement, but because of pain.

After the pirates lay down, although they were shielded by the ship's side, their hair and clothes were inevitably exposed.

The power of the [Firestarter Curse] was revealed again.

As the range that Moon's wand pointed to gradually expanded, the pirates on the Sea Serpent's deck jumped up in a panic one by one.

"Fire! Put out the fire!"

"I'm burning to death ~"

"Save me!"

While the pirates were busy putting out the flames on their hair with their hands, a round of arrows and bullets covered them again.

Because they were prepared this time, the crew of the Thorns had greatly increased their accuracy.

The pirates had never encountered such a situation before. The double whammy of flames and arrows made them feel fear for the first time.

Some pirates chose to jump into the sea after discovering that the flames on their bodies could not be extinguished.

As for more pirates, they looked for larger shelters and fled into the cabins.

"Return! Return! Tell those bugs to row faster. There are definitely more than two mages on the other side!"

After entering the cabin, Myles closed the cabin hatch with some lingering fear.

No matter how the pirates on the deck begged, he didn't want to open this wooden door to hell again.

The pirates who followed Myles into the cabin also wanted to return to their posts and began to whip the slaves responsible for rowing the oars frantically.

"Report, Your Excellency, there are still thirty-two pirates on the deck."

Gord no longer had the fear he had when he first saw the pirates. He was now even faintly excited.

"Chase after them!"

After discovering that the pirates were preparing to escape, Moon immediately changed his strategy.

It was after the pirate ship turned that the most bizarre scene in nearly a thousand years occurred in this sea area.

A medium-sized merchant ship was actually chasing after pirates that made people shudder.

Moon didn't pay attention to the pirates hiding on the deck.

After seeing the pirates close the cabin hatch out of fear, he began to look for targets on the deck.

The explosion of the gunpowder barrels had just destroyed a lot of things on the deck, making it difficult for Moon to find a large box.

However, he still found one at the stern of the pirate ship.

This location was less affected because there were no cannons or gunpowder stored there.

[Box Movement]

This was one of the life-related auxiliary spells that Moon had originally prepared for ocean voyages.

Now, it had become a large lock that sealed off the pirates' escape route.

While Gord and Zalan were directing the muskets and archers.

Moon was also using magic to gradually move this very bulky box closer to the hatch.

Some pirates also noticed the strange movement of the box.

However, as long as they dared to come out to stop it, all that awaited them were arrows and bullets.

Clang!

The large wooden box accurately blocked the hatch, and the bolt and hinge on the door just happened to hold the wooden box firmly in place.

"Prepare to board the ship!"

After completing this super-long-distance [Box Movement], Moon issued the order again.

"Board! Board!"

Gord was extremely excited. In the past, he mostly heard pirates shout this word at them.

But today, after he tried shouting it, he realized that this was what it felt like to be comfortable!

The Sea Serpent was a three-masted sailing ship, but its sails had already been burned, and only the oarsmen were desperately rowing to maintain its speed.

However, it was still not as fast as the Thorns with the wind at its back.

After the distance between the two ships became closer and closer, Gord took the lead in throwing ropes towards the pirate ship.

Then, crew members successively threw the ropes in their hands in the same way.

This was something with a sturdy iron hook at the head and a strong hemp rope at the end.

Merchant ships generally used it to secure ships in extreme weather, while pirates used it to lock up prey that was preparing to escape.

After a dozen iron cables hooked onto the pirate ship, Moon could feel that the speed of the ship under his feet had obviously slowed down. "Locked on! Prepare to build the wooden bridge!"

With Gord's order, First Mate Karen led the men and placed the five prepared long planks in the middle of the two ships.

Then, the crew members, whose ferocity had been aroused, drew out their long knives and crossed the planks and ropes to the Sea Serpent.

Moon didn't stay on the Thorns all the time either. After helping the crew solve all the pirates on the deck.

Five veterans guarded him through the wooden bridge to the cabin entrance of the Sea Serpent.