Chapter 269: Section 57: Brothers Combined Attack
The Little Bird, as an ordinary vessel, had already performed a minor miracle by sustaining itself this long in the naval battle.
Now, it was sinking.
The pirates aboard the Little Bird were shouting loudly, brandishing knives and Firearms in their hands as they flocked under the leadership of Sanda of the goblins toward the Silver Hook.
Within the surging crowd stood Xu Ma and Bai Ya.
“Senior, you should focus on healing,” said Bai Ya, handing over his wound medicine to Xu Ma before preparing to join the main force charging into the forefront.
But the next moment, Xu Ma snapped back to reality and grabbed Bai Ya’s arm, “Don’t follow them. Let’s go back up to the Justice.”
...
“No!” Bai Ya’s face was resolute, “I want to fight!”
Xu Ma said with a headache, “You’re not even Bronze Level. Going there is asking for death! Are you as strong as me? Look at these injuries on me.”
Yet Bai Ya’s gaze remained steadfast.
Xu Ma changed his approach, “If you want to achieve merit and help comrades, there’s no need for a pointless sacrifice. Trust me, let’s go to the Justice!”
“Look, the Little Bird is sinking now, the Rapids has fled, and all we have left is the Justice. There are enemies on the Justice too. We need to help our comrades as much as possible, which requires a broader view,” Xu Ma explained.
“With our fighting ability, our contribution on the Silver Hook would be very limited. But it’s different on the Justice. Do you understand?”
Bai Ya was persuaded by this reasoning, “As expected of you, senior!”
Xu Ma attempted a smile but winced as it aggravated his wounds, sighing in pain before he said, pulling Bai Ya along, “Come on, let’s get back up to the Justice!”
“Time to die,” Golden Hook swung the fishing rod in his hand.
Golden Fighting Skill erupted, aiming straight for Zong Ge’s life.
“Danger!” The Dragon-man youth shouted out just in time to put himself in front of Zong Ge.
Boom!
The Dragon-man youth took a heavy hit, and his body was blasted off the deck, shooting backwards like a bomb.
He flew through countless pirates before crashing into the stern of the Silver Hook, almost piercing through the entire Captain’s cabin, and then plummeting into the sea from the stern of the ship.
At the critical moment, the Dragon-man youth, acting on instinct, was fortunate enough to grab the railings of the stern’s balcony.
He strained his arms, pulling his body up to the stern gallery with difficulty.
The intense pain left him unable to stand.
For the time being, he could only kneel on the wooden planks, his body curled up, vomiting blood continuously.
With his head bowed and eyes vacant, for a moment he saw only darkness, almost believing that he was going to die!
He had lost all perception of time.
The few breaths he took felt as lengthy as years.
Huff! Huff! Huff!
The dragon-man youth’s breaths, like bellows of life desperately fighting against the edge of a cliff, slowly brought his consciousness back.
“The battle! The battle is still going on!” His memory also revived.
The Dragon-man youth hurriedly stood up, staggering and nearly falling again.
He held onto the doorframe leading to the balcony from the captain’s chamber and looked down at his chest.
His chest had caved in to a frightening degree, countless ribs broken, his heart still beating with difficulty.
Looking over his body, there was hardly a spot left intact. Nearly all his dragon scales were shattered.
The Dragon-man youth could transform into a Dragon-man form through his Blood Core, growing dragon scales all over his body. Fundamentally, this was a transformation of life form.
Injured in this form, when he reverted back to the Human Race form, his injuries would still remain, and due to the Human Race’s weaker physique compared to the Dragon-man form, his life could be in even greater danger.
On the other hand, he couldn’t use the Blood Core to heal because even if he reverted to human form before transforming back into the Dragon-man form, the injuries on his body would not lessen in the slightest.
The Dragon-man youth pulled out a potion from a pocket near his waist.
It was a Healing Potion, the liquid bright red and emitting a faint glow.
The youth downed the Healing Potion in one go, the greatest advantage of a Magic Potion being its rapid effects. A few breaths later, the Dragon-man youth regained his mobility, and after a few more, the injuries on his chest quickly healed, though a slight indentation remained.
With a shout, the Dragon-man youth charged back into the fray.
“Captain!” Seeing the Dragon-man youth rejoin the battle, everyone felt a surge of certainty in their hearts.
“You’re still alive!” Golden Hook said with a grave look in his eyes. The Dragon-man youth, directly hit by his Golden Fighting Skill, was now back and as vigorous as ever in just a moment.
This level of defensive power and recovery ability surprised Golden Hook once again.
Ever since the clash began, it was primarily the Dragon-man youth who actively bore the brunt of Golden Hook’s offensive.
The youth was truly fighting a battle to the death!
“Hmph, I want to see how many moves you can withstand!” Golden Hook once again unleashed his combat skill with explosive force.
The Dragon-man youth, fearless, sought him out immediately.
Thump.
Suddenly, Golden Hook’s momentum dissipated, his combat skill ceased, and he stepped back, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.
This mutation startled everyone.
Because nobody had just attacked Golden Hook.
“What’s happening?” Sea Snake Lady almost thought she was seeing things.
Zong Ge and others with ash-stained bodies, however, had a burst of sharpness in their eyes.
“The intelligence provided by the Empire was indeed correct!”
“Golden Hook suffered a hidden injury from a failed attempt to reach the Holy Domain level in his early years, he just hid it very well.”
“Think about it, if he were in full health, he should have made his move earlier, right? But at the onset of the battle, he constantly guarded the Silver Hook, seemingly to protect his side’s Mage, but actually it was because he had a huge internal problem.”
Golden Hook’s bloodletting gave the Justice Pirate Group a significant morale boost.
“Brother!” Silver Hook hurried to Golden Hook’s side, his face full of concern.
He knew the inside story; Golden Hook’s injury was severe.
And they had just encountered the Justice Pirate Group.
If it were an ordinary pirate group, it would have been fine, but this pirate group consisted of many freaks. Half-Beasts, Rat-men, and most crucially, that Dragon-man.
Not at Silver Peak, nor equipped with Gold Level Protective Equipment, yet he could withstand Golden Hook’s Gold Level combat skills face-to-face numerous times!
If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Silver Hook would never have believed it.
“Brother, let me share some of the burden,” said Silver Hook, supporting Golden Hook.
Golden Hook nodded and sighed, “That might be good. After this battle, I won’t be able to keep my injury secret anymore. Let’s exterminate these troublemakers and vent the hatred in my heart!”
Golden Hook, though injured, spoke with undeniable determination, his killing intent boiling over.
“Be careful!” A sudden alarm rang in the heart of the Dragon-man youth.
The next moment, Golden Hook and Silver Hook stood side by side, each placing a hand on the other’s shoulder.
Combined Attack Skill—Heart Hook!
Fighting energy surged within the brothers, surprisingly blending into one, and poured into their fishing rods simultaneously.
They flicked their rods and the fishing line spiraled, casting clumps of fighting energy from the end of the line.
These clumps of fighting energy took the shape of fish hooks, extremely agile, darting toward the Justice Pirate Group’s members like swimming fish.
The members cautiously defended themselves and discovered that these clumps of fighting energy were extremely flexible, able to freely change speed and direction in mid-air.
Once hit by a fish hook, it transformed into a sharp, cunning blast of fighting energy that would penetrate the body and strike directly at the heart, delivering a fatal blow.
For a moment, the formation of the group was thrown into chaos, and they were completely disheveled.
Even the Dragon-man youth was no exception.
His mutation was not complete. In fact, he absorbed the bloodline of the King of Flame Dragon, and if he were to mutate completely, he would transform into a Flame Dragon. Just as before, when he absorbed the bloodline of the gun scorpion, once the bloodline fully accumulated, he could transform into a gun scorpion.
The heart of the Dragon-man youth was not a Dragon Heart.
Blast Fighting Spirit roared in his palm, but he still got hit by a few fish hook fighting energies. The face of the Dragon-man youth turned grave as he maneuvered his fighting energy to fend off the internal attacks, while simultaneously dealing with the barrage of fish hook fighting energy outside.
Golden Hook and Silver Hook stood firmly on the deck, standing in place, continuing to swing their fishing rods.
With each swing, they could cast more than a dozen fish hook fighting energies, producing them much faster than they were being used up.
Magic Scroll—Demon-devouring Hummingbird!
On the Sea Snake Lady’s ship, seeing the bad turn of events, she quickly tore open a Summoning Scroll.
The scroll activated, summoning a large flock of Magic Beast hummingbirds.
“Go after those flying fish hooks,” communicated Sea Snake Lady to the flock of hummingbirds.
The hummingbirds buzzed and quickly reached the airspace above the Silver Hook. They were incredibly fast, each targeting the fish hooks to attack.
Fish hooks were but inanimate objects, however agile, they relied on Golden Hook and Silver Hook’s distant spirit control. In contrast, the Demon-devouring Hummingbird, by nature, was highly sensitive to magic-powered targets and had powerful hunting capabilities.
The fish hooks were quickly snatched and pecked one by one by the hummingbirds, and after being smashed, the scattered fighting energy became fodder for the hummingbirds.