Chapter 885: Decisive Battle
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Small matter? In the name of the Ettoman Royal Navy, anything regarding Mermaid has to be reported to me!”
The tone of this envoy wearing a wig was stubborn and arrogant, having shadows of an old, prideful Ettoman gentleman. As he spoke, he even used a white handkerchief to cover his mouth and nose, as though he was giving Orlando a lot of respect by talking to him in this manner.
“All right… This is my report!”
Orlando stepped forward, and his fist smashed into the envoy’s face.
Bang!
The envoy fell to the deck, bleeding from his mouth and nose, completely dumbfounded.
“Why do you keep buzzing like a fly around my ear? You’re truly annoying…”
His face filled with disgust and hatred, Orlando grabbed the envoy’s collar.
“I dare you… I swear upon the name of the Queen that the navy won’t let you off!”
This envoy was missing teeth but still struggled to argue.
“Who cares about her? Anyway, I’ve already made my decision to launch an armed rebellion and return to being a pirate… Which one of you is willing to lick the smelly foot of that old woman?”
Orlando’s last sentence was clearly aimed at the crew members around him.
“Of course… not!!!” A few pirates laughed out loud. They raised their blades and shouted, “We are pirates! Free pirates! Hurray!”
“Very good!”
Orlando motioned with his right hand, and a few pirates surged forward to carry the envoy to the edge of the plank.
“No! You can’t do this!”
At this point, the envoy was overflowing with tears and mucus while hugging the plank tightly. There was already an additional stain on his pants.
“The way you look… I’m starting to feel ashamed for you even though you’re my enemy now!”
Orlando shut his eyes.
Smack!
A massive tentacle extended from the ocean and curled around this Ettoman envoy, dragging him into the water without shedding a single drop of blood.
The incident on Mermaid naturally attracted the attention of others.
A few privateer ships approached and signaled with their flags to inquire more information.
“Captain, do we dive underwater now?”
These pirates were unperturbed, confident in their ability to escape even if they were surrounded.
Orlando clenched his teeth and immediately made his decision. “No! We speed up! Lure them forward!”
He had an incredible amount of faith in the system.
Since the system issued this quest and even divided the camps, this meant that the strength difference between the pirates and navy was not significant. In fact, there was an increased likelihood that the pirates would ambush them up ahead.
At the thought of this, he gave another command. “Fire!”
Kaboom!
Following the white smoke, the unsuspecting armed merchant ships that approached them suffered losses. Even though they did not sink immediately, two of the ships were severely damaged and unable to move forward.
In a region like this, this was equivalent to a death sentence if they did not receive any aid.
“After them!” A voice resounded from the navy ship bringing up the rear. “Mermaid has betrayed us!”
This caused uproar and chaos among the ships, but eventually, the majority of them pursued Mermaid.
After all, besides Mermaid, the Octopus Marauder Team still had a few other subsidiary ships.
Once the navy allowed them to leave, the hit to morale would be serious.
“Tell Old Single Eye and Cripple to follow my flagship. Once we reach the destination, we can break free and escape!”
Orlando looked even more firm.
With the octopus beneath the sea surface disturbing the longnose gudgeons, his ship was in a better position than the ships behind him.
The ships following behind were flustered and exasperated as they quickly entered a foggy region.
Seeing this, Orlando smiled. “Haha… Great job, my partner!”
As his contract partner, this octopus shared its life and consciousness with him. Its intelligence was also much higher than ordinary sea monsters.
Thus, they were able to complete many actions such as… showing the way or… informing each other about certain news!
After surmising that the pirates had an ambush ahead, he merely moved one step forward to bring these inferior troops in.
…
Bloop! Bloop!
The sea under the fog suddenly changed.
A massive whirlpool was gradually taking shape in the middle of the sea.
As this whirlpool grew larger, it began swallowing all the inferior ships within range.
Orlando’s eyes were red as he commanded loudly, “Quickly! Lower the sails! Full speed ahead!”
Mermaid quickly accelerated and brought the Octopus Marauder Team out of the periphery of the whirlpool.
Behind them, the terrifying massive whirlpool had finally fully formed. Like a massive sea monster with its mouth wide open, it started gobbling down all the lives and ships as offerings.
“Sea God!”
After breaking through the fog, Orlando immediately saw the shadow of a legendary ship.
By the ship’s side, there were a lot of strong and reputable warships. Sun was particularly outstanding, looking like a crane among a flock of chickens.
“Extraordinary ships, stay put. The rest are to attack and take care of the enemies…”
After being dragged in by such a massive whirlpool, the fleet was heavily damaged. It would not survive if the pirates attacked them.
Even the ironclad fleet might not be able to maintain their energy after an incident like this, let alone this mob of ships.
“Nymphadora, great job!” Fang Yuan did not forget to take out a seashell and give his compliments.
Nymphadora’s soft voice came from the seashell. “Master, I’ve exhausted too much of my energy. I don’t think I can execute another attack like this in the following battle.”
The fact that Sea God could control the ocean meant that it was almost invincible during ocean battles.
However, this was not without cost.
She would be fine taking on one or two ships, but to create a massive whirlpool big enough to take down an entire fleet? Nymphadora was not as strong as her father, so she could only do this once every three days.
Any more, and she would exhaust all of her energy and could possibly even die.
The reason why Fang Yuan did not use this against the ironclad fleet? First, there were simply too many people on the other side, so he might not be able to take them down altogether. Second, a navy always had special forces like the fate of a nation or the spirit of a martyr to protect them. Even though there was no effect in physical battles, extraordinary forces like these always helped to weaken the other party mentally.
Although no one could estimate the extent, Fang Yuan was aware of how remarkable Ettoman’s present sea forces were. Summoning a tsunami to attack the Invincible Steel Fleet was never going to happen. In fact, a small fry like Nymphadora might die from the backlash of attacking it.
This was unless he went out personally. In which case, he was confident of success.
However, doing something like that might incite interference from the world, especially if he really defeated the Invincible Fleet. The gains simply did not make up for the losses.
He was extremely calm and composed at this moment. In any case, he had already completed his primary objective—his breakthrough. Whatever happened next, he would handle it one issue at a time.
In other words, he had already earned back his capital. The following matters would be his winnings, so it did not matter how much he won.
While Fang Yuan was in deep thought, the battle’s outcome was already decided.
One side was well-organized and prepared, while the other side was battered and exhausted. There was naturally only one outcome.
The inferior vanguards collapsed at the first encounter while the rest started escaping.
Because Fang Yuan was concerned about the more important upcoming battle, he did not have the pirates chase after them, and they were aware of when to stop their pursuit.
Anyway, it would be impossible for this vanguard fleet to rejoin the battle.
…
Wrecked ships, wooden planks, and corpses floated toward them from the front.
Seeing this scene, Admiral Philip’s face turned extremely gloomy. “Useless fools… I was hoping they could inflict some damage on the pirates, but they were only successful in throwing their lives away.”
“Someone sent a message from the front. According to their information, we might have to consider the worst-case scenario.”
Vice Admiral Norton’s face remained stern.
After the pirates crowned their Pirate King, they actually became united, making it far more difficult than before. This was certainly beyond their expectations.
“Ettoman does not allow for failure!” Admiral Philip drew his officer’s sword. “Form up for battle!”
“Form up!”
The order quickly spread.
Not long after, fifty ironclads formed a V-shape, looking similar to a maritime fortress.
“Here we are!”
Fang Yuan stood on Sun and looked at the smoke ahead of him.
Fifty ironclads pressed forward like an iron wall with incomparable oppression.
“Sun, ready Burning Sun…” When Fang Yuan saw this, a slight smile appeared. “The fate of a nation and the spirit of a martyr might be able to protect against the extraordinary, but can they be protected from a physical attack like this?”
Ding! Target locked!
Legend ability Burning Sun, firing!
The sound of machines on Sun responded to that command.
A brilliance converged on Sun’s main cannon that suddenly turned into an intense white radiance.
Kaboom!
In the middle of the ironclad fleet, the largest ship, Fearless, was instantly turned into raging flames and exploded.
Sea waves surged, slamming against the surrounding vessels.
Even though Fang Yuan knew he could only use Burning Sun once, a force like this was truly incomparable.
To Fang Yuan’s surprise, the enemy ships were merely slightly taken aback after losing their flagship. Almost immediately, they launched their counter-attack.
Fierce cannon fire immediately fired back at the pirates.
“Sun can only fire once! Attack! Attack!” Admiral Philip shouted with all his might on another ship.
Vice Admiral Norton, who was by his side, wiped his cold sweat. “Fortunately, we received the news about Sun and formed up in time… Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been a battle to fight once our flagship was lost.”
Even so, his expression was still stunned.
What other hidden trump cards did that Pirate King have?
Bang! Bang!
At this moment, many of the ships surrounding him started to tremble as though something was exploding beneath them.
Admiral Philip was shaken and immediately asked, “What’s happening?”
Someone quickly reported the situation, “The longnose gudgeons and other sea monsters have explosives tied to them! They’re colliding and exploding under the sea surface!”
“King’s Throne… did they force the longnose gudgeons in this region into submission?” Vice Admiral Norton muttered as his heart sank…