10: Bloodclaw Pirates

After the storm, the "sea wave" drifted in the boundless blue for three whole days.

The struggle against nature had consumed most of the ship's energy and supplies. Fresh water had become particularly precious. Barton had led his men to barely patch the cracks in the fresh water tank, but the remaining supply was less than half of what it had been, and most of the food had been lost. Linn was forced to order the implementation of a strict rationing system. Everyone's lips were cracked from dehydration, and in their eyes, beyond exhaustion, there was a trace of bewilderment regarding their unknown future.

Linn stood at the bow, his brows tightly locked, repeatedly checking the sea chart that had become nearly useless. The sunlight was scorching, baking the deck until it was hot, yet his heart felt heavy. Drifting off course and losing their way was one of the most fatal crises in a long voyage. He attempted to determine their general position based on the sun and stars, but his knowledge in this area was far less proficient than his pharmacy, and he could only reach a vague, unsettling conclusion—they might have been carried by ocean currents into strange waters south of the regular shipping lanes.

"Young Master, this is not a solution," Morton walked to his side, his bronze-colored face filled with worry. "Fresh water won't last more than a few days, and the Slaves have already started showing signs of unrest."

Linn nodded; he knew this well. "Old Mo, the Slaves will be under your management from now on. You may use extraordinary means when necessary." Linn revealed a trace of ruthlessness. Regarding the Slaves, Linn would not be overly kind; in special times, he must possess absolute dominance.

"Rest assured, Young Master. I will manage them well." Morton had been managed by others for decades and was highly experienced.

"We must find land as soon as possible, or... encounter other ships," Linn said in a deep voice, although the latter also carried risks.

As if in response to his words, at noon on the fourth day, the lookout sailor Hebrew at the top of the mast suddenly let out a hoarse and excited shout: "Ship! Starboard side! There's a ship!"

This shout was like a stone thrown into stagnant water, instantly rousing everyone on the ship. Everyone rushed to the starboard side, peering into the distance. There, at the junction of heaven and sea, a few small black dots were gradually enlarging as they sailed in their direction.

"How many? What kind of ships?" Linn's heart stirred, and he immediately asked.

"Three! My Lord, they are three small ships! Much smaller than ours!" Hebrew's voice carried a trace of excitement; encountering others on the vast ocean was always something that made people feel at ease.

However, the experienced Barton's expression changed drastically. He squinted his eyes to identify them for a moment, his voice trembling with terror: "No! My Lord! Those are not merchant ships! Look at their sails—they are black, and there is... a bright red withered claw mark on them! It's pirates! It's the 'Blood Claw' Pirate Group!"

"Blood Claw Pirate Group?" Linn's heart sank sharply. He had vaguely heard this name when he was in Tianhai City; it was a small pirate force active in this remote sea area. Although it was a small force, its overall strength was still much stronger than that of Linn's group.

As the distance closed, the appearance of those three fast ships became clear. Although small in size, the hulls were slender, their speed was extremely fast, and their bows were equipped with simple rams. The ships were filled with men holding scimitars, harpoons, and bows and arrows, dressed in rags but with ferocious faces, emitting howling sounds like sharks that had smelled blood.

"All crew on alert! Prepare for battle!" Linn took a deep breath, suppressed the panic in his heart, and ordered sternly. He knew that at such a time, any hesitation would lead to destruction.

"Clay! Organize the soldiers and everyone who can fight onto the deck! Morton, Carl, Angus, you take men to guard the bow and both sides! Barton, maneuver the ship, try not to let them approach easily!" Orders were issued quickly.

Instantly, the "sea wave" became busy. Clay organized twenty soldiers and more than a dozen relatively strong Slaves, including Shirei and Evan, distributing weapons—mainly standard longswords and spears issued by the kingdom. The quantity was limited, and many Slaves could only hold tools like crowbars and axes. Morton took a few soldiers with a foundation in Qi, guarding key positions on the ship's side, with the light of Qi faintly glowing on their bodies. Barton directed the sailors, trying to use the relatively tall hull of the "sea wave" to evade.

But the pirate ships were too fast and extremely flexible. They were like three cunning hyenas, quickly dispersing and approaching from both the left and right wings and the stern simultaneously.

"Fire arrows!" The pirate leader, a burly man with a ferocious scar on his face and a bare upper body revealing strong muscles, stood on the leading fast ship, waving a heavy scimitar, and issued a howling attack.

Sparse but accurate arrows flew like locusts. A few Slaves who couldn't dodge in time and one soldier screamed and fell.

"Raise shields! Pay attention to cover!" Clay roared, directing the soldiers holding simple wooden shields to block in the front.

Linn also drew his Staff, his eyes scanning the battlefield sharply, knowing he couldn't just take a beating.

"Elise!" He shouted, "Distract them! Aim for the helmsman!"

The Elf Race were natural experts with bows and arrows, and the only bow and arrow on the ship was equipped for her. A few days ago, Linn had bestowed two level two potions to Morton and Elise. Morton had reached Bronze High Rank after taking the potions twice, and Elise had broken through to Bronze Intermediate.

Elise, hiding behind the cabin door, bit her pale lips, took a deep breath, and weak magical power attached to the arrow. The arrow drew an arc and flew towards the helmsman's position of the leading pirate ship.

"Bang!" The arrow filled with magic exploded near the helmsman. Although the power was not great, the sudden attack and flying debris still caused the helmsman and the surrounding pirates to panic, and the ship's heading deviated for a moment.

At the same time, Linn's fireball spell was prepared, and a fireball was smashed out. That pirate ship was instantly submerged in the sea of fire. The pirates on the ship were not very strong, and except for a few who jumped into the sea in advance, the others were buried in the sea of fire. This blow almost drained Linn's magical energy.

"Mage? They actually have a mage!" A trace of surprise flashed in the scarred leader's eyes, and then it became even more greedy. "Damn it! Get close to me! Take them alive! That elf girl and the mage are both worth a lot of money!"

Taking advantage of this brief chaos, the "sea wave" gained a moment of respite. But the other two pirate ships had already successfully approached.

"Clang! Clang!" Cables with iron hooks were thrown up, firmly hooking the side of the "sea wave". Ferocious pirates bit scimitars in their mouths and began to climb up the cables!

"Cut the cables! Knock them down!" Morton roared, his bronze-colored Qi erupted, and the longsword in his hand danced, directly chopping a pirate who had just emerged, along with the cable, into the sea. At this moment, Morton was also fighting for his life, and amidst the flashing sword light, two more pirates screamed and fell.

Clay also led the soldiers to guard the other side, engaging in a bloody melee with the climbing pirates. The sound of longswords clashing, roars, and screams instantly rang out. Blood began to stain the deck red.

Linn roamed the deck, supporting wherever the pressure was high. Small fireballs accurately ambushed the pirates.

However, the pirates had a numerical advantage and were all fearless of death. They surged up like a tide, soldiers began to suffer casualties, and those temporarily armed Slaves suffered even heavier casualties; the defense line on the deck was precarious.

Just then, a change occurred!

That scarred leader, relying on his Silver Intermediate Rank strength, suddenly leaped from his ship and jumped directly onto the deck of the "sea wave"! The heavy scimitar in his hand carried a shrill whistling sound, slashing directly at Morton who was fighting hard against the pirates!

"Old Mo, watch out!" Linn's pupils shrank; it was too late to rescue him.

Morton felt the evil wind attacking from behind and hurriedly turned to block.

"Clang!"

A loud noise, Morton only felt a huge force coming, the tiger's mouth cracked, the longsword flew out of his hand, and he staggered back several steps, his face pale, spitting blood. The strength gap was obvious!

"Haha! Old guy, go to hell!" The scarred leader laughed wildly, raised his sword again to pounce, wanting to solve this resistor who kept cutting the cables in one fell swoop.

At the critical moment!

"Swish!"

An arrow light, faster than before, accurately shot towards the side waist of the scarred leader! It was Elise, her face even paler, obviously this blow had exhausted most of her strength.

The scarred leader snorted, his movement stalled. Unfortunately, Elise's strength was too low to cause serious damage to the scarred leader, but it caused his protective Qi to be in chaos.

Now! "Clay, do it!" Linn's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he shouted.

Clay seized the opportunity, knocked away the entangled pirate with one sword, his internal Qi operated crazily, he kicked the ground, his body shot out like an arrow from the string, and the longsword in his hand pierced directly into the gap opened by Elise!

"Puchi!"

The longsword pierced accurately, all the way to the hilt!

The scarred leader's movement froze instantly, and he looked down in disbelief at the sword tip that had pierced through his body.

"You..."

Clay twisted his wrist and pulled out the longsword violently. Hot blood splashed out.

The scarred leader's huge body fell down like a golden mountain toppling a jade pillar, twitched a few times, and then there was no sound.

"The boss is dead!"

"The leader has been killed!"

Seeing their leader die instantly, the pirates' originally fierce Aura collapsed like a punctured balloon. They looked in horror at Linn, who was holding a Staff with cold eyes, and Morton and Clay who were pressing up behind him.

"Choose to die, or become my Slaves." Linn's cold eyes scanned the remaining twenty or so pirates.

"Surrender! We surrender!" It was unknown who shouted first, and the remaining pirates threw down their weapons one after another and knelt to beg for mercy.

The battle ended quickly with the death of the leader.

After counting, of the fifty or so pirates who attacked, more than twenty were killed, and twenty-three were captured. On Linn's side, three soldiers were killed, five were seriously injured, and the casualties of the Slaves exceeded twenty, which was a heavy loss.

The deck was filled with a heavy smell of blood, the survivors were dealing with wounds, collecting the corpses of their companions, and the atmosphere was heavy and sad.

Linn walked to the group of pirate captives kneeling on the ground, his eyes cold. "Among you, besides that scarred face who was just killed, who can speak?"

The pirates looked at each other, and finally their eyes were cast on a small, flickering-eyed man hiding behind the crowd. He was betrayed by his companions' eyes and was trembling with fear.

"Spare me, my Lord! Spare me! I am Hogan, just a second-in-command! I am willing to become your slave, please spare my dog life." Hogan kowtowed like pounding garlic.

Linn looked at him, thoughts spinning in his heart. These pirates were familiar with this strange sea area, perhaps... He asked in a deep voice: "Do you want to live?"

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" Hogan answered hurriedly.

"Tell me, where are we now? How to get to Iron Sand Island?" Linn stared into his eyes and asked unquestioningly.

In order to survive, Hogan said it all like pouring beans from a bamboo tube: "Back to my Lord, this is already the southern edge of the 'Xichao Archipelago', very far from the regular shipping lanes! Iron Sand Island... I know, it's in the north-northeast direction, according to the speed of the 'sea wave', it will take about four or five days of sailing!"

To gain Linn's trust, he also took the initiative to confess that the scarred face had an older brother, who was a High Silver Rank, and a Third Chieftain, a Silver Elementary warrior. They were on the nearby Blood Claw Island. That was their old nest, and there were forty or fifty other pirates on the island. Among them, there were about twenty Apprentice Professionals left.

Linn exchanged glances with Morton and Clay. Seizing the pirates' supplies, especially fresh water and food, was crucial to them.

"Hogan," Linn said slowly, "Take us to approach Blood Claw Island quietly. After we take down Blood Claw Island, I can spare you from death, and even allow you to live as a civilian in my territory, just like them." He pointed to Barton and other former sailor Slaves who were busy.

A strong light of survival burst into Hogan's eyes, as if he had grasped the last straw: "Thank you, my Lord! Thank you, my Lord! I will definitely go all out and not refuse even death!"

According to Hogan, it was still three or four hours of sailing away from Blood Claw Island, Linn began to give orders, letting Carl and Angus drive the captured pirates to the lower deck where the Slaves lived. He told Clay to distribute medicine and adjust to prepare for a sneak attack on Blood Claw Island. The "sea wave" adjusted its direction, and under Hogan's guidance, carrying two small pirate ships (the other one was sunk by Linn), sailed towards the direction Hogan pointed.