Post-battle Review
‘That was close!’ Steve could feel some cold sweat on his palm. Only he knew how dangerous that had been.
Once he regained his senses, he glanced at Leylin. The youth now had a crossbow in his hands, and there was a merciless expression on his face. Isabel had pushed her way to stand beside him, and aside from her Jacob and a few other soldiers had rushed over in a hurry as well.
With Isabel delaying them, Leylin had enough time to defeat the enemy and even seize the pirate ship. Now, Jacob brought the rest of the soldiers and the many crossbows in the Faulen Family’s collection and surrounded the area.
The Faulen soldiers had gained the upper hand in all the other zones, and more and more soldiers gathered together. Under the light of the flames, Steve’s face turned pale as a corpse. He knew very well that after the battle was over, the Black Tigers might just be erased from history.
‘What’s going on? Why did things turn out this way?’ Steve was completely dazed.
However, his fox-like cunning that had been honed over the years told him that this was the time to escape. As long as there were some people left alive, he would be able to pull the Black Tigers back together, and bring about their rise once more. When the time came, he would exact extreme vengeance on this young wizard!
“Shoot!” But how could Leylin give him the chance to do so? With his command, the countless crossbows that Jacob directed on his own produced terrifying sounds. Numerous arrows blocked all the escape routes that Steve had.
“Damn it!” Steve cursed, his figure twisting at a strange angle in midair. A dark shield appeared, crashing into a sharp arrow.
The dark-coloured shield shattered to pieces, but the power of the arrow was greatly reduced. It could only leave a shallow cut on Steve’s body.
*Boom!* Steve’s body fell freely to the ground. He glared at Leylin venomously, and then rushed out of the camp. Once he got outside, he would definitely be able to leave with ease. He was still a rank 10 fighter after all.
At this moment, things suddenly changed! A huge white spiderweb opened up from the ground, shrouding him in darkness.
‘But when did he–?’ Steve’s expression filled with fear as he recognised this web, ‘Rank 2 spell, Web. Once it twines around me, I’ll be caught...’
He looked fierce as he raised the sword in his left hand. However, Leylin had long since set this trap. How could he give Steve the chance to escape?
“Ray of Enfeeblement! Sleep! Restrict!”
A few rank 1 spells flashed over Steve’s head. With the drain from the huge battle just prior, Steve was unable to dodge them in time. Immediately after, he felt a sense of confusion, as his body suddenly weakened.
*Clang!* His machete fell to the ground, and immediately after Steve was caught up in the web. It was extremely sticky, and even a reckless bull would not be able to escape from it.
“Take aim. Prepare to shoot! The opponent is a rank 10 warrior, so be careful!” At this moment, the soldiers holding crossbows aimed at Steve calmly. Only morons would miss an immobile target like this.
“You’re still thinking of running because you have a trump card up your sleeve, don’t you?” Leylin approached the spiderweb, watching Steve from above, eyes full of mockery.
“Don’t think you can hide the Lifesteal effect on your right hand. I’m a wizard!” When Leylin said this, he could see that Steve’s eyes were first filled with fear and despair, followed by a desperate struggle.
Leylin snickered, quickly retreating and dodging the bloody rays shooting from his hand.
“Be careful. The hook on his right hand has the Lifesteal effect. Don’t let it touch you, or your life force will be absorbed...”
Leylin smirked at Steve, causing him to pale even further The terror from being completely seen through caused the pirate to feel muddle-headed. “You’re a devil. A devil!”
“Knock him unconscious,” Leylin’s eyebrows furrowed, “And then get rid of his arms and legs!” Without the assistance of a powerful cleric, such terrifying injuries would end up crippling him.
As for how to deal with this person, Leylin did not have plans yet. As he had been at the forefront in hindering the Faulen Family, he should have made contact with Viscount Tim before, which made him a pretty good witness. But who would believe the words of a pirate? At the most, it would cause some slight trouble for the Viscount.
“His true value is in keeping him from Tim...” Leylin watched the amputated Steve who was now unconscious, his eyes profound. In his view, the pirate only had two functions. One was as bait, attracting more assassins and experts over from the other party so he could ambush them. However, things could easily go wrong that way. If an existence that Leylin could not deal with arrived, that was just shooting himself in the foot.
On the other hand, he could use Steve to negotiate with Tim, forcing the Viscount to back off. After all, the Faulen Family wasn’t the only one with land in the seas. Once his side showed their power and sent Steve back, saying that they had no plans to go to war, he could be able to achieve a period of harmony.
Of course, Leylin never counted on the benevolence and hesitation of his enemies for his own safety. However, giving himself more time was a good method. After all, his strength was still increasing by the day, and on top of that with the complete wipe-out of the probing on the Faulen Family, perhaps they would pause for a bit anyway?
Leylin stroked his chin, “Be quick about it. Bring all the slaves. Kill those who resist.”
““Understood!”” Numerous soldiers yelled together. After seeing that their leader, Steve, had been taken captive, most of the pirates had lost their morale, and with the suppression by Isabel and the crossbowmen they were utterly defeated. Even those futilely thinking of swimming across the sea were killed by the sailors on the ship, not letting any leave. Soon, a whole region of the sea was dyed red.
In this situation, even the fiercest pirate would involuntarily have thoughts of surrender. Soon enough, the sounds of weaponry being tossed to the ground sounded. The soldiers hurried to tie these people up and sent them to the ship.
“Set fire to this place before we leave,” Leylin commanded.
Following that, he returned to the double mast ship he had arrived in. At the moment, the seized pirate ship had been tied up behind theirs. It was the spoils of their battle.
Seeing the sea of red, Leylin listened as Jacob reported, “Nine soldiers are dead, fifteen critically injured. The rest have some form of light injuries...”
This was even though this was a surprise attack and they had the advantage in equipment. Jacob could not help but feel embarrassed at the results. He’d gotten a better understanding of the ferociousness of pirates today. If the Black Tigers had managed to set foot on Faulen Island, the consequences would’ve been dire.
“Mm. What have we captured?” Leylin looked calm, not minding such a tiny issue.
“We have killed 37 pirates and taken 52 prisoner. There are a few with unknown whereabouts. We have taken Steve, and the Black Tigers can be said to be completely wiped out.” At this point, Jacob began to look excited, “It’s a pity that there aren’t any spoils. There’s only some rum and jerky. We haven’t found any letters or anything...”
Leylin shook his head and laughed involuntarily, “Pirates are poor anyway. What more do you want?”
These low-ranked pirates did not have much money on them anyway, and if they were lucky enough to get a large amount, that would quickly be wasted on the bad alcohol in the harbour, barbequed meat and gambling dens. When, on the next day, they had not a single copper in their pockets, they would follow their captain to sea like wolves, roaring as they attacked other ships.
‘Even if you add up the wealth of all the prisoners, that would still be nothing compared to Steve’s own private hoard!’ Leylin chuckled.
‘I really need to interrogate Steve well. Though it’s unlikely that he has a letter from nobility, I need to know about his stash and things like that...’
If he could find evidence of a connection with Viscount Tim, Leylin would not have to be vexed. However, this was impossible.The other side would not be so foolish as to leave letters and the like behind. Hence, Leylin could only give this a try without placing too much hope in it.
As for money... that was just a consolation prize. At the very least, these soldiers would need to be rewarded amply for the deaths, else nobody would be willing to work under him.
Having taken care of everything, Leylin walked to the hold of the ship. As there were many more captives to return with, the concealed hold was very squeezy and somewhat chaotic. Leylin naturally would not imprison the group on the pirate ship behind them, that would only be creating trouble for himself.
Even in this situation, Isabel had a room of her own. This was a privilege reserved for the nobility and the strong.
“Can I come in?” Leylin asked after walking up to her door.
“Please!”
Opening the door, Leylin entered the room and cast a silencing spell. This immediately resulted in a serious look on Isabel’s face.
Leylin twitched his nose. There was a herbal smell in the air, and Isabel’s clothing was slightly in disarray. Evidently, in her hurry, she had not had everything arranged properly.