Chapter 216: Section 4: Why Are There Still Two Silvers?
The War Merchant’s Alchemy Factory’s Central Tower had four floors, and the first floor housed the Green Jade Gold Coffin, the second the Mermaid’s Fairy Tale, and the third contained the second Blood Core.
Jia Sha opened the Teleportation Gate for the first time, sending the Green Jade Gold Coffin to a deserted island close to Mysterious Monster Island. The Mermaid’s Fairy Tale, however, never had the chance to be sent out.
After the War Merchant was killed, the Mermaid’s Fairy Tale fell into the hands of the knight youth and his companions.
After escaping aboard the Deep Sea Monster Fish, they arranged an alchemy array as per the Tower Spirit’s hint and opened the Mermaid’s Fairy Tale.
Upon opening the large clamshell, dozens of pearls appeared.
These pearls were multicolored and uniformly sized; from the outside, they looked like soap bubbles, completely transparent and seemingly empty on the inside with just a sphere of bubbles. But in reality, these pearls could be easily picked up by hand and felt very hard to the touch.
These were the Pearl Bubbles.
The reason the War Merchant’s Mysterious Monster Island had been able to hide itself within the Main World’s seas without being discovered by others was the reliance on this Divine Artifact.
More precisely, by using the Pearl Bubbles to disguise themselves and confuse Divination, Prophecy, and other methods.
With Mysterious Monster Island destroyed, the substitute youth and his companions immediately used several Pearl Bubbles to protect themselves.
It was because of this that when Huang saw the youth and Zong Ge, he mistook them both for Black Iron Level.
Now, the youth and Zong Ge once again witnessed the power of the Pearl Bubbles.
Without the protection of the Pearl Bubbles, their names would have been put up on the pirate city’s Holy Tablet, completely exposing themselves.
However, it was Huang who ended up taking the blame for them.
“Quick, quick! You lot, get the ship moving!!” Amidst the rain of bombs, Huang urgently yelled; now was not the time for contemplation.
“Hehehe,” came a laughter from the enemy ship.
The Sea Snake Lady was dressed in revealing brownish-red leather, and her wavy long hair hung down to her waist. In her left hand she held a sea snake’s shed skin, and in her right hand a glass bottle filled with blue liquid.
She had already begun chanting, and now her chants suddenly stopped.
One tenth of the blue liquid in the glass bottle spurted out, merging into the snake’s shed skin.
The shed skin emitted a faint blue glow.
With an upward flick of her left hand, the Sea Snake Lady tossed the shed skin into mid-air.
The shed suddenly burst open and transformed into a snake-shaped stream of water, hurtling towards the Grey Rat.
Water Magic—Coiling Snake Water Arrow!
The Water Arrow tore through the sky at high speed, and within a few breaths, it was directly above the Grey Rat.
Guided by the Sea Snake Lady’s spirit, it didn’t directly attack Huang, the knight youth, or Zong Ge, nor did it strike at other pirates. Instead, it headed straight for the Grey Rat’s sails.
As it touched the sails, it drilled holes through them immediately. The ropes, barely entwined by it, instantly snapped.
“Damn it, let me go!” Huang saw this and his anger reached a boiling point.
But in the next instant, the knight youth behind him pulled out an Alchemy Crossbow, firing three arrows in rapid succession.
Two of the arrows forced the Coiling Snake Water Arrow to dodge left and right, and the third arrow struck it squarely, exploding the Water Arrow completely with a bang.
The Sea Snake Lady huffed slightly, as the knight youth’s Alchemy Arrow had obliterated the spirit she had attached to the Water Arrow.
“Nice archery!” Huang couldn’t help but exclaim.
Zong Ge’s expression remained calm; he had seen such sights many times before.
Huang immediately roared, urging the pirates to hasten their actions and get the Grey Rat moving.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, the pirates worked furiously, and the Grey Rat began to drift forward slowly.
“Grey,” the Sea Snake Lady said with a chuckle, “your subordinate has quite the skill with archery. When I kill him later and feed him to my little darling, it will surely be delighted.”
In her eyes, since the knight youth and Zong Ge both exuded Black Iron Aura and stood behind Huang, she mistook them to be his capable followers.
The Sea Snake Lady was somewhat annoyed.
They were merely “Black Iron,” yet they had broken her magic, making her, a Silver Level Mage, lose face.
The key was that she had to admit, it would be foolish to continue using Coiling Snake Water Arrow.
Her casting materials were much more expensive than the Alchemy Arrows, and once the Coiling Snake Water Arrow was damaged, she would also lose some of her spirit.
Such an exchange was undoubtedly a loss-making business.
Nonetheless, the Grey Rat had started moving slowly.
“You’re not getting away!” the Sea Snake Lady gritted her teeth and pulled out a Magic Scroll from her bosom.
The next moment, she unfurled the scroll and infused it with Magic Power.
Wind Magic—Windless Domain!
The spell took immediate effect, and within hundreds of meters centered on the Grey Rat, not a breeze was to be found.
The billowing sails of the Grey Rat hung limply.
The slight speed they had achieved quickly diminished.
The Magic Scroll turned to ashes, scattering down between the delicate fingers of the Sea Snake Lady.
The Sea Snake Lady was heartbroken.
She had spent a fortune to acquire that scroll.
“As long as I capture the treasure, all these investments will be worth it!” The Sea Snake Lady’s eyes gleamed with determination, even more firmly intent on Grey’s treasure.
Golden Chin stood proudly at the prow, laughing loudly.
He had intended to fire the cannons, using chain bombs to destroy the Grey Rat’s masts and sails, but the Sea Snake Lady’s move had cut the ground from under his feet, and Golden Chin immediately abandoned the idea of bombarding. After all, too powerful a barrage could destroy the treasure, and that would be a massive loss.
“Man the oars, charge up on them!” Golden Chin bellowed loudly.
Golden Chin’s ship was very large, with a distinctive bow. The bows of normal ships were like sharp knives, slicing through the sea with the wind, but the bow of Golden Chin’s ship resembled a trapezoid. With a flat trapezoidal slope facing the sky.
Upon their captain’s command, thirty-six long oars extended from both sides of the ship’s gunwales. Once the oars dipped into the water, they moved in unison.
Thus, Golden Chin’s ship surged directly into the Windless Domain.
“Fire the cannons, fire!!” Grey roared in panic, his expression very tense.
The cannon fire from the Grey Rat instantly intensified, some cannons aimed at the Sea Snake Lady’s two ships, most missing their mark. Some bombs landed on the Golden Chin, causing damage, but it was nothing serious.
During this period, the enemy just stopped the bombardment altogether.
The Golden Chin quickly closed the distance to the Grey Rat.
A trace of despair flickered through Ashen’s grey eyes.
The Grey Rat was unable to navigate, merely like a passive archery target. Being unable to turn the ship, the Grey Rat’s cannon fire also couldn’t reach its strongest offensive.
The situation was too passive!
“Golden Chin is best at boarding battles,” someone said.
“The Sea Snake Lady has only one ship, the other is her magic pet! It’s a Silver Level magic beast sea snake, combined with the Sea Snake Lady’s magic, forming the illusion of another ship. This is her most commonly used tactic.”
“Hurry, release me, a boarding fight is our only chance of victory!” Ashen urgently declared.
Zong Ge’s expression flickered with hesitation.
If this was a play they were orchestrating together, releasing Ashen would leave Zong Ge and the knight youth surrounded by four Silver Level enemies.
But the knight youth simply drew his thin sword, Silver Lightning, cutting open the magic ban shackles binding Ashen’s hands and feet.
“I am a knight of the Empire.”
“If we win this battle, you will earn the chance to atone for yourself.”
“Your sword is in the captain’s quarters, perform well, and perhaps you can shed your pirate identity!” the knight youth said to Ashen.
Ashen looked at the youth in surprise, nodded at him, and turned to rush towards the captain’s quarters.
“This is somewhat risky,” Zong Ge said, watching the Golden Chin approaching nearer and nearer.
“I believe he is an honorable man,” the knight youth replied.
The Golden Chin charged closer and closer, its vast hull like a towering wall, bringing a tremendous sense of oppression.
Boom!
Finally, it crashed viciously into the side of the Grey Rat.
Because of the Grey Rat’s unique trapezoidal bow structure, when it was hit, it momentarily lifted off the sea surface, almost capsizing when it fell back into the water.
“Kill!”
“Lads, charge!!”
“Kill them all, seize the treasure!!”
While the Grey Rat was still violently rocking on the sea surface, a horde of pirates surged out from the Golden Chin.
Some threw grappling hooks, latching onto the side of the Grey Rat, forcibly pulling the two ships together.
Then, plank after plank was laid out, forming temporary gangway bridges.
Many pirates swung directly onto the deck of the Grey Rat using long ropes.
The deck of the Grey Rat was already prepared for battle.
Some used long-range crossbows to shoot, while others blocked at the side of the ship, hacking with bladed weapons.
For a moment, the battlefield was a whirlwind of blades and blood, with screams, strange yells, cries for help, and the explosions of cannons and firearms all intertwined in chaos.
“Ashen, come out and fight me!” Golden Chin stood proudly at the prow, bellowing a challenge and not rushing onto the Grey Rat.
Hiss—!
At this moment, the Sea Snake Lady’s ship also pounced. The illusion was lifted, revealing its true form, just as Ashen had said, it was a giant magic beast sea snake.
The magic beast sea snake wrapped its tens of meters long body around the Grey Rat, its thick and powerful body starting to squeeze viciously.
The sides and deck of the Grey Rat emitted creaking moans, clearly struggling to withstand the serpent’s crushing force.
“Sea Snake Lady, don’t meddle!” Golden Chin called back angrily.
The Sea Snake Lady smiled without a word, she stood on the actual pirate ship, not approaching the battlefield, but commanding her magic sea snake pet to act.
“Stop!” Ashen burst out from one of the gun ports at the side of the ship, leaping onto the sea snake’s slippery body, and stabbed downward with his Sharp Sword.
The magic beast sea snake immediately roared in pain, turning its huge head, which was as large as a carriage, to find Ashen.
Ashen dodged left and right, his movements were incredibly agile, making the sea snake seem clumsy and unable to catch him no matter how many times it tried to strike.
While dodging, Ashen continued to attack.
His Stabbing Sword was infused with fighting energy, incredibly sharp, the sea snake’s scales offered no protection.
Seeing her magic pet under attack, the Sea Snake Lady urgently urged Golden Chin, “How much longer are you going to wait?”
Golden Chin laughed loudly, enjoying the spectacle.
The Sea Snake Lady continued to shout, “Hurry up, if others learn we’re after this treasure, it’ll be unpredictable.”
Golden Chin’s smiling face suddenly turned serious.
“Ashen, I am your true opponent!”
In the moment he leaped, he used his fighting energy. This allowed the bulky and heavy him to jump high into the air and then dive down towards Ashen.
Ashen had just avoided being devoured by the sea snake, and when he looked up, he saw the shadow overhead.
“Damn! No time to dodge,” Ashen’s heart sank, only able to grit his teeth and brace to take Golden Chin’s long-charged heavy blow.
But at that moment, the knight youth and Zong Ge suddenly appeared at his side.
“Now is the moment!”
The youth and Zong Ge attacked together, the Two-Handed Greatsword cleaving down like lightning while the thin sword Silver Lightning slashed through like a storm.
Golden Chin was still sneering, thinking he was about to heavily wound Ashen, but the next moment his eyes nearly popped out.
“Why are there two more Silvers!?”
Awkward!
He was midair, unable to redirect his momentum, now like a fool, heading straight into the enemy’s blades.