As soon as the Pirate King Aquila returned from the envoy, he summoned all the Admirals.
In the mansion’s conference room, dozens of pirate admirals gathered.
Each of them was a leader commanding hundreds of ships and a massive alliance.
Aquila looked down at them with dignity.
“The Duke of Cariosa has refused our request for reconciliation. Now, all that remains is war. Admirals, hold your positions and defend the islands.”
‘Preparations have been made. Ultimately, if this port is held, we win; if taken, we lose. Siege is several times more difficult than defense, and the fortifications are already complete.’
His valued subordinate, Nell, stood beside him, having lost one arm, adding weight to his words.
Of course, the pirate admirals did not simply say, “Yes.”
“Our strength lies in our adaptability and free movement.”
“I am concerned that emotional judgments may weaken our advantage.”
“Shouldn’t we head out to sea and respond immediately?”
They spoke in a roundabout manner, with some more brazenly suggesting they would flee.
Aquila issued his orders regardless.
Such words should not be entertained at all.
“Admiral Tennye, General Oungula, guard the port and the fortifications. I will grant command authority to the admirals. Take the swordsmen under Admiral Tarti as well.”
The burly man with the unique hairstyle and the hook-armed general bowed their heads.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The man with the unique hairstyle, Tennye, hailed from the eastern steppes, while the hook-armed general had lived as a pure-blooded raider, alternating between bandits, thieves, pirates, and outlaws since he was seven.
“Admiral Arins, head to Wing Island and take charge of the ballista. Sink all landing crafts.”
“I will follow the headquarters’ orders.”
The handsome man, who always wore a hat pulled low, bowed his head.
He bit his lip, afraid of Aquila’s potential abruptness.
‘Please, let me survive this time. I still have things to accomplish.’
No, he feared not only Aquila but everyone.
He feared the enchanting beauty sitting beside Aquila, Feijin, the Blue Robe Priestess who always hid her true self, and the Valenciaunos, who had killed Tarti.
It was no different back home.
That’s why he picked up a bow.
His innate talent was for the sword, yet he reached for the bow.
To shoot and kill from afar.
“Alright, then lastly…”
Aquila began to look around at the admirals, starting with Arins.
It was mistaken to expect anything from pirates, but there were truly few he could trust.
On the battlefield, incompetent allies were often more frightening than strong foes.
One had to weed out such individuals to avoid being backstabbed at the most critical moments.
Bang!
Doors flew open all around, and armed subordinates entered, dragging several admirals out.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“Aquila! Aquila!”
“It’s a misunderstanding! I don’t know what you were thinking, but it’s a misunderstanding!”
The pirate admirals shouted defiantly as they were pulled out, but Aquila’s subordinates quickly subdued them and pressed daggers against their throats.
Some admirals seemed to expect this, while others glanced anxiously at the scene.
Aquila raised his cup as if nothing had happened.
“Now, let’s all raise a toast.”
The sun began to fall in the afternoon, and huge dark clouds gathered in the clear sky.
Rumble!
An uncharacteristically humid wind blew in from the distant sea, and the dark blue waves rose high.
Ordinary people would fear the ever-changing nature represented by those waves and clouds, but Admiral Arins feared a single person.
‘Cariosa.’
The White Shark of the East, head of the Asenorta clan, descendant of Summerlin, daughter of the storm, conqueror of the East…
Ever since she wielded a sword at the age of thirteen, she had been referred to by countless titles, ruling the eastern seas, and now she was coming to the Nayt Archipelago’s union port.
Just a decade ago, pirates pillaged the Empire’s eastern coast daily.
The Asenorta clan’s fleet was robust even then, but the pirates targeted ports and coastal villages, and the fleet spent its days chasing after the pirates’ rear.
Now, the fleet had become a calamity for the pirates.
Cariosa had summoned storms to block the sea route during a surge in piracy, using sea eagles and wyverns to expand her reconnaissance radius, obliterating large and small islands to eliminate their bases.
At times, she would push the Undersea People toward the pirates, plotting murder through trade.
Ten years had passed like this.
Now, Cariosa was set to target the pirate islands, and the pirates were preparing their defenses.
This meant she had pushed the pirates all the way to the edge of the sea.
‘How troubling it is for pirates to be defending against an army.’
Arins thought something was wrong as he checked the artillery allocated to him.
Rocks stretched long over the sea, and each island was equipped with massive ballistae.
Thousands of pirates scurried across the rope bridges connecting the islands, transporting large arrows and barrels of oil to the ballistae.
“Hurry, hurry!”
“Be careful! If that catches fire, it won’t go out!”
“Remove the cover and chain it down!”
Arins stood on the easternmost island among the dozens of winged islands.
To the west, he could see the port that needed to be defended, while to the east lay the endless sea.
Of course, that sea was not truly endless.
He knew the waterways of this sea like the back of his hand and could recite which city lay on which coast.
‘I didn’t set out for this kind of trouble.’
He steadily loaded ballista arrows on one side, instructed his subordinates to angle the massive ballista downward, and checked if the sights were accurate.
‘Returning now is terrifying enough.’
Similar actions were taking place at the hundreds of ballistae stretching toward the port in the west.
“Right. I’m afraid of everything.”
He muttered as he saw the sails and flags beginning to appear on the eastern horizon.
“So I’m more prepared.”
The blue shark flag and the swirling flag magnificently fluttered underneath the dark clouds.
“The Storm Fleet!”
“The Storm Fleet is coming!”
“It’s Cariosa!”
The pirates shouted, waving flags and ringing bells.
The first to reveal themselves were the armored warships, 150 meters in length.
Arins did not regard the battleships with concern.
No massive warship could approach this shallow coastline.
However, as the battleships parted to the left and right, creating a path, the broad landing vessels emerged, and the story changed.
While they were called landing vessels, each was 60 meters long, carrying over 400 soldiers.
These were the soldiers of the most notorious army in the East.
Everyone knew.
The Asenorta clan’s soldiers, even among non-commissioned officers, were overflowing with sword users, and even young soldiers boasted skills to effortlessly slay a few Undersea People.
For those pirates, it was nothing to behead someone and hang them on a pike.
Arins clenched his eyes shut and shouted.
Tension highlighted his handsome facade.
“Everyone! Prepare to fire!”
Crunch! Crunch!
The sound of gears turning echoed loudly.
“Move! You lazy fools! Move!”
“Phew, ha!”
“Ready to load!”
Four pirates rushed in, aiming the ballista, while two pirates wound the pulleys like cart wheels to draw the bowstring back, and one pirate placed an arrow longer than a jousting spear on the ballista.
A large oil jar had been hung in front of the arrowhead, filled with a low-flash point oil obtained from a plant called “fire flower.”
Woosh!
The moment the arrow was placed, the ballista radiated a soft glow.
The enchanted components enhanced the bow’s elasticity and propelled the huge arrow with incredible speed.
Though it wasn’t particularly powerful magic, the arrow itself was so large that even a slight push significantly amplified its destructive power.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Twenty landing vessels approached, cutting through the waves with sharp, wedge-like formations.
Poooom!
Arins blew into a horn to signal the pirates to stand by.
‘If we fire five to six shots onto one side, we can sink a ship.’
Originally, pirates were not a race known for waiting, but they recognized Arins’ archery skills.
If they acted rashly, their heads would surely fly from arrows sent from afar.
“Wait!”
“Bring them in!”
“They need to come further in!”
Captains shouted from all sides, cracking whips as Arins conveyed what he wanted to say.
‘Come, come closer.’
Arins gazed at the landing vessels and muttered.
At that moment, with his keen senses, he detected a massive flow of mana.
‘Cariosa? No, this isn’t… it’s fire, not wind.’
From far away, near the horizon, emanated an unbelievably massive heat from the flagship Tempesta.
Whooooooosh!
As if a giant were taking a breath, before the tsunami struck, the seawater was drawn away, and tremendous mana rushed toward that spot.
Whoooosh!
Arins saw haze rising from the Tempesta.
The space itself appeared to be consumed by something, growing increasingly red-hot as it slowly spiraled upward into the sky.
Whirl-.
The haze twisted into a spiral and soared.
Whirl-.
The dark clouds began to rotate along with the haze.
Whirl-.
A massive dark cloud began to glow a fiery red.
The blood-like red deepened and eventually burned softly, reminiscent of a sunset.
Whoosh!
“Ah.”
Arins sensed something was wrong.
“No, no, no!”
He understood why the Blue Robe Priestess had insisted on forming an alliance with the Undersea People.
Kaboom!
Eventually, a flaming storm raged in the sky filled with dark clouds.
Its diameter seemed to exceed several hundred meters, burning with hellfire.
Even from several kilometers away, the heat was palpable.
“C-Commander, what is that?!”
A trembling pirate voiced his question, managing to remain calm.
“The God of Radiance is enraged!”
“They’ve triggered an underwater volcano!”
“Cariosa has brought the demon of fire!”
Among the captains, some screamed and fled.
Arins felt an urge to flee himself.
Through his keen eyes, he saw androgynous boys, half-clothed, within the massive whirlpool.
They were laughing madly, with curved horns protruding from their heads.
“Ha, ha, ha…”
Arins briefly turned his gaze toward the eye of the storm.
Between the eye of the storm and the wall of flames, a figure floated comfortably in the center.
The figure had white hair and golden eyes and was certainly smiling.
With a sense of despair, Arins muttered that name.
“The Bandit, Bandit Crown Prince Valencius.”
The figure pointed a hand forward, and the immense firestorm began to move.
Whoosh!
A hot wind rushed down from the clouded sky.
Dry and scorching air whipped across the islands that corresponded to the ‘Wings of the Anchor.’
Moss and underbrush growing on the rocky isles withered away.
“Ahhhh!”
“Damn it! It’s hot!”
“How do we fight that…?”
“I will run! Admiral!”
“Wait, that’s an order!”
“Damn it!”
Screaming, the pirates abandoned the ballista and fled.
Arins realized that if things continued like this, he would be defeated without being able to shoot a single arrow.
Siiiiiing!
He drew the bow he always carried, aiming for a captain’s head, but ultimately did not shoot.
‘I… I have no right to tell anyone to die with me.’
The firestorm loomed over the landing fleet and approached the anchor-wing islands.
Within the storm’s whirlpool, ‘Spear of Fire’ began to rain down like a deluge.
Screeeech! Screeeech! Screeeech!
The spears of fire fell with terrifying piercing force, targeting not the pirates, but the ballista emplacements.
Boom!
The instant the spear fell, the ballista burst into flames.
The fiery magic melted even the enchanted core components.
The oil barrel attached to the arrow soared, spilling its contents, and any pirates left in the vicinity were reduced to ash or envying those who became ash.
“Ughhhh!”
“Save me!”
“Fire! Fire! Aim to hit! There’s a sorcerer over there!”
“You stupid idiots! That’s just a fireball! Shooting at it will do nothing! Run!”
“The God of Fire is enraged! Cariosa will kill us all.”
“It’s Duke Valencius. We never heard the blood royal would be coming!”
“Tell the others to fight! I initially suggested we flee!”
“Release the prisoners! They’ve been given a new life!”
Arins stared blankly at the sky.
Cold sweat rolled down his handsome face under the hood.
“Ugggh!”
Thousands of subordinates screamed as they fled.
Screeeech!
The spears of fire rained from the whirlpool.
Whoosh!
Hundreds of ballistae sent as reinforcements from the eastern royal nobles went up in flames.
Whoosh!
As Asenorta’s landing ships passed by, mocking him right before his eyes.
“Ah.”
He thought this entire situation could be the prank of something ancient.
