Chapter 112 - Unexpected Mission

Arg! Uggh!

Enemy pirates tried in every way to hit Hei, who was rapidly moving on the ship's deck. It didn't matter if the ground was slippery due to water or blood, Hei's claws stuck easily into the wood, thus keeping him firmly in place.

His hair was a perfect defense that blocked his opponents' blades. Not even when he was surrounded, they managed to penetrate that defense. He was currently using his hands to maneuver his spear instead of using the full combat mode. After all, when he was in a numerically disadvantaged situation, it was preferable to leave Snake Hair as a continuous defense. In any case, when he saw the right opportunity, he would use Snake Fist with his feet.

The speed of Snake Fist, combined with the penetrating force of Best Claws, was enough to hurt the enemies around him quickly. Soon, they became less and less until they all ended up becoming lifeless bodies on the ground.

Around him, the still-living enemies and his allies were looking stunned at him.

A martial artist so young had slaughtered a dozen people as if they were flies to be crushed. Even if he had higher cultivation than his opponents, it was still a remarkable feat. But it was more the decisiveness in his attacks that surprised them.

As pirates, they had learned to become ruthless and kill their enemy without batting an eyelid. But it was something they had learned over time. None of them when they were young as Hei could have done something like this.

Regardless of the people's looks, Hei shifted his eyes to the still-living seventh stage, who was fighting against Mo Songmin. With every man who died at the hands of Hei, the enemy captain would feel the grip on his neck tightening.

He was now at the point where he could feel his breath fail as the fight against Mo Songmin consumed his energies.

"Spider Lance."

Hei's blow came from behind his back, and his arm ended up popping out of the mouth of the enemy pirate, splashing the blood and teeth of the man on Mo Songmin's face.

Mo Songmin looked at that scene in horror. A seventh stage like him, although at the limit of his strength, had been easily killed with one shot. Still incredulous, he removed the blood from his face as he watched Hei move once more towards the remaining enemies.

In the meantime, something similar was happening in the other combat ships. Lian, Xing, and Ye had easily killed the crews of the merchant ships. Then they were retrieved by the Old Tohyon and boarded the other ships.

Lian went to the most difficult battlefield, where the crews of two enemy ships were fighting against the crew of a single allied ship. However, Lian's arrival turned the tables.

The young girl, like a star fairy, elegantly fluttered over the ship's slippery red bridge. Her silk ribbons were like metal whips that crashed hard against the enemies’ bodies.

None of Hong Shin crew’s pirates knew how to catch her. They were frantically moving their blades but without making contact. The situation got even worse when Hei also arrived.

Like a ferocious beast, Hei ran on all fours on the deck. His hair was holding the spear while he attacked from that height.

Realizing Hei's presence, Lian began to act like a bait as she directed her pursuers to Hei, thus bringing them straight into the jaws of that deadly beast.

Ye and Xing were, in turn, sowing terror in both enemies and allies. Although they were seafarers with a lot of adventures and dangers in their lives, none of what they had seen was comparable to the gruesome spectacle ahead of them.

A spider and a snake, both two meters long, were tearing the bodies of Hong Shin pirates to pieces with ease. Heads, eyes, and guts were flying everywhere as scarlet blood painted the bodies of the two divine beasts that were emitting loud metallic noises, or at least that was what appeared to the ears of the spectators.

'Take this, stupid pirate. Taste the fury of the Pirate Queen Ye!'

'If you are the Pirate Queen, then I am the Empress of the Forgotten Ocean, Xing!'

The two divine beasts were communicating even though they were two separate ships. At the time, they were competing with each other to see who would kill the enemies fastest. The prize was that the winner would decide for a week which games they would play during their free time.

It was to be known that Hei would always allow a couple of hours of play a day to his little sisters, and sometimes he and Lian would participate in the game sessions of the two little divine beasts.

Eventually, Xing won, by a slight margin, though. Ye shook her head, disconsolate in defeat.

'Oh, no! I lost! Ugh, sigh.’

Seeing her sad, Xing let herself be pitied and offered to split the prize.

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‘You were unfortunate that there were a couple more of men on your ship. How about if we do fifty-fifty? I choose the game to play for the first half of the week, and the rest of the week, you will choose it, okay?’

Hearing her words, Ye rejoiced instantly.

'Really? Thanks, Xing. Then to thank you, I will help you one morning in your weaving work.’

Ye smiled to herself as she thought she had tricked Xing and managed to grab half the prize. But as she felt uncomfortable, she gave Xing one morning of help with her weaving, although Ye preferred to sleep.

Thus, the naval battle ended. Hong Shin's crews and his affiliated mercenaries had been defeated. Most had died, and the few survivors had been taken prisoner and loaded onto the ships. The drug loads were set on fire together with the merchant ships that carried them.

*

On a desert island near the battle, five ships were docked on the shore. It was the pirate groups of the Pirate General Ho Ri-Na, together with Hei and his family. At the time, they were all on the shore of the island.

The reason for this stop was to count the number of victims and the damage suffered by the ships. Furthermore, the injured ones needed to be medicated quickly. Even though they weren’t doctors, over time, some pirates had acquired medical knowledge and could roughly medicate their companions. Even if they weren't accurate, it was still better than nothing.

Those who were fine or suffered minor injuries were currently surrounding Hei, Lian, Xing, and Ye. However, it wasn’t to harm them but to toast them. If it weren't for their performance, there would have been many more victims.

I could have been the one who died.

It was what each of the surviving pirates thought as they exalted the two youths and their spirit beasts.

"Impressive. I have to admit it. I had sensed that you were strong but not so strong. Even your partner and your spirit beasts don't mess around. The captain will be delighted to hear the news."

Mo Songmin's voice peered through the crowd. On his face, there was a sincere smile of gratitude. Hei and his family hadn't only saved the lives of the men on the other ships, but also his own men. He could only be grateful to this young man.

"There is no need to thank you. I didn't do it because I wanted to help you, but because it is dangerous to prolong a fight for no reason. If I have the opportunity to kill my enemy quickly unless there is a rational reason, why should I give him more time to live?"

Hei's words broke the cheerful atmosphere that had been created. It wasn't that he did it on purpose to ruin the party for everyone, but he only said what he thought. He wasn’t a hero who fought to save people in difficulty like a knight in shining white armor. He fought for his goals and to protect his family, that's all.

If he had wanted to, he could have used all his power, that is, using the elemental laws and activating his bloodline. Yet he hadn't. The reason? It was because he didn't want to reveal all his cards if there was no need. The same was true of Lian and his little sisters. Otherwise, if they had used their full power, the battle would have ended much earlier, and there would have been fewer victims.

"You're right, but it doesn't change that you've saved a lot of us." Mo Songmin tried to break that sense of unease.

"Okay." Hei understood the meaning of his words and accepted the words of thanks, making the pirates' hearts feel comfortable.

After that small exchange, Hei judged that it was better to recover their energy immediately and pulled the flesh of the octopus they had killed out of his space rings. Fortunately, the space rings were able to stop the decay and thus could keep fresh the meat inside. Besides, in the three days of waiting, Hei had finished cutting the body of the octopus completely. The body of the manta was instead devoured, always in those three days.

He quickly pulled out the cauldron he used for alchemy. Since it was difficult for him to make pills or potions on a ship in the middle of the ocean, he had started using the cauldron as a pot to cook the meat of his prey.

He poured clean water from the bottles contained inside his space rings and turned to the pirates around.

"If you want to repay me, bring me some firewood as soon as possible."

Amazed by his request, the pirates did what Hei asked anyway, and soon brought him what he asked for. At that point, Hei lit the wood and placed the cauldron containing the water on it, waiting for it to boil. Once it started boiling, he started pouring the cut pieces of octopus into the cauldron and finally closed the lid.

“If you have pots and the like, bring them to me. I have the flesh of an octopus spirit beast. Since we are making a brief stop, I will cook the octopus for you. It won't be much of a taste, but at least let's put something under our teeth.” Hei loudly proclaimed as he moved his gaze to the pirates who surrounded him.

The pirates, listening to his words, let out shouts of joy. The meat of spirit beasts was delicious and nutritious, and a continuous consumption would benefit their cultivation, except that they were dangerous to hunt. But now Hei was offering to share it with them. How could they not be happy?

Soon, they collected all the pots they had in their ships and boiled the water to dip the pieces of octopus inside and wait for the cooking to finish.

While everyone was enjoying that amazing meal, a ship came towards them. It was a support ship sent by the pirate Ho Ri-Na to verify the consequences of the battle and bring relief to those in need.

When the rescue ship docked on the island, the ship crew immediately went to medicate the wounded. Their captain, on the contrary, went to those who were eating the octopus.

"Soo-Yeon, so the Captain sent you?" Mo Songmin asked the newcomer.

The man called Soo-Yeon looked Mo Songmin in the eye and replied.

“Yes, the Captain sent a rescue boat to each of the affected areas. As you can see, she hired several doctors and distributed them in the several rescue ships. We will take care of the wounded while you proceed to your next mission."

“Next mission? Already? Our crews are seriously compromised. If we attack another convoy, we may not be able to do it."

“Don't worry. The Captain knows this perfectly. In fact, what you are attacking aren’t ships, but an agricultural estate."

"An agricultural estate?"

"Yes, you will have to go to the Black Tea City on the Tea Leaves Island. There, you can find one of the various agricultural estates where Hong Shin grows his drugs. Your job is to attack and destroy the estate. By joining the survivors of your five crews, you will have enough members to assault the estate. We have to beat the iron while it's still hot. Hong Shin will take a while to notice the disappearance of his ships. Probably one day, a maximum of two, if we are lucky. We have to use this advantage to hit while his defenses are still down."

“Fuck, shit. Okay, we'll leave immediately then." Mo Songmin spat on the ground in annoyance. They had just finished a battle and had to dive into the conflict again. However, he wasn’t too worried. The reason for his serenity was the presence of two young martial artists and their spirit beasts. He hoped that they would create another miracle in the upcoming battle as well.

"Ye, Xing, Lian. Finish eating quickly. Apparently, the second mission arrived earlier than expected."