Chapter 88: Lin Qi’s First Naval Battle

“Bastards, bastards, bastards!” Lin Qi stood on the platform at the ship’s stern with a group of sailors, pointing at the chasing Odin Dragon Boats and cursing loudly. Cold sweat kept dripping from Lin Qi’s forehead; he was extremely nervous.

Even though Long Cheng was on the ship, he had barely escaped from the Odin Holy Guards’ siege. These religious fanatics from the Five Great Archipelagos and the Odin Ice Plain were more fanatical, extreme, and insane than the Church of the Western Continent. Fighting them was a nightmare for anyone.

Especially since there were four Temple Warlocks stationed on these four boats.

It was unclear how Long Cheng managed to kill one Temple Warlock under the protection of the Odin Holy Guards, but only the people of the Western Continent understood the terror of these Temple Warlocks. Though physically weak, they could summon wind and rain, control earth, fire, and lightning, unleash plagues and diseases, create various deadly poisons, and command countless poisonous insects and ferocious beasts. They called themselves the embodiment of all spirits, existing somewhere between humans and monsters!

These were non-human beings. There might be a chance to kill one Temple Warlock alone, but with four working together, unless a large army was sent to eliminate them, it was impossible to get rid of them.

Long Cheng, however, stood boldly on the ship’s stern railing, holding a steel spear and shouting at the approaching Dragon Boats, “Come on then! Today, I’ll show you the power of City-Slaughtering Blood-Fiend Long Cheng! Hahaha, you bunch of worthless fools, come on, come on!”

Long Cheng laughed heartily and brightly, making Lin Qi so angry that his eyes darted around, considering whether to kick Long Cheng from behind so he’d fall into the water and be besieged by the Odin Holy Guards, buying time to escape the pursuers. But after thinking it over, Lin Qi realized Long Cheng was too strong; kicking him might lead to retaliation, and the risk was too high!

Wryly smiling, Lin Qi looked up at the black pirate flag on the mast and ordered, “Prepare the catapults! Lower the black flag! Raise the Dun Er Ke Fishery Guild flag, the Empire’s flag, and the distress signal flags! Send signals to see if there are any Empire Navy patrol ships nearby. Hopefully, some scapegoats can help us block these bastards here!”

The sailors moved swiftly. The huge pirate flag was lowered, and the Dun Er Ke Fishery Guild flag—white with blue water patterns, a fishhook, and a big tuna—and the Gaul Empire’s tricolor thorny rooster flag were hoisted high atop the mast.

Below the two large flags, a long string of blood-red maritime distress signal flags was raised. These were the highest-level warning signal flags commonly used across the Western Continent. If any official naval vessels from Western Continent countries were nearby, they were obliged to provide full assistance upon seeing these distress signals.

Lucky Joe Arjang personally stepped out of the bridge and aimed a thick iron tube, as wide as a man’s arm, at the sky. With three muffled bangs, three blood-red fireballs, each the size of a human head, shot into the air, shattered a patch of gray-white clouds high above, and exploded into three red fireballs dozens of meters in diameter. The loud booms echoed far away, and the red glow was clearly visible for hundreds of miles.

This was also a high-level distress signal. In the military signals of the Western Continent, three consecutive blood-red flares represented an invasion by an Alien Race army of ten thousand troops. All nearby naval vessels had to rush to the scene to intercept, and all land forces had to prepare for battle. Although there were only over a thousand Alien Race members on the four Dragon Boats, they were Odin Holy Guards, and their combat power far surpassed that of an ordinary ten-thousand Legion.

Seeing Sea Windmill both raising signal flags and sending emergency flares, the four pursuing Dragon Boats closed in even faster. With a long, drawn-out shout, countless slender oars suddenly extended from the sides of the Dragon Boats. Accompanied by rhythmic “heave-ho, heave-ho” chants, the rowers inside the Dragon Boats moved their oars in unison, increasing the boats’ speed by another third.

In just a few breaths, the largest Dragon Boat was less than fifty meters away from Sea Windmill.

The giant with bluish-gray skin and three meters tall, who had been beating the drum in the center of the large Dragon Boat, put down the bone hammer and slowly walked to the boat’s bow. With only fifty meters between them, everyone clearly saw that the giant wore only an animal hide around his waist, leaving most of his skin exposed. Beneath his bluish-gray skin were muscles so robust they seemed inhuman—distinct, angular muscle masses that looked like granite weathered by wind and rain on a mountain for thousands of years.

“Damn it, a Stone Titan!” Lin Qi groaned, then shouted sharply, “Catapults, smash that bastard to death!”

Six small catapults, each as tall as a person, were pulled back by the sailors, bending the long throwing arms. The winches made of animal tendons creaked loudly. Six red-hot iron balls, each the size of a human head, were placed in the metal frames at the ends of the throwing arms. After adjusting the catapults’ angles slightly, following Lin Qi’s command, the catapult arms sprang up with several “thump” sounds, launching the six red-hot iron balls forward with intense heat.

At fifty meters apart, the standard-issue catapults taken directly from the Empire’s military warehouse were very accurate. Three iron balls missed by just over a meter, scraping past the Dragon Boat’s sides and plunging into the sea, raising three thick columns of white steam. Of the remaining three iron balls, one hit the large Dragon Boat’s bow, smashing the vividly carved dragon head to pieces. The other two iron balls—one crashed into the boat’s cabin, and the other struck the Stone Titan in the chest.

The iron ball that shot into the cabin shattered a large section of the deck, quickly burned a big hole in it, and then fell into the bottom of the cabin. But true to their fanaticism, a tall, burly rower from the Odin Holy Guards yelled and jumped into the cabin. Soon, he climbed out holding the red-hot iron ball and leaped into the sea. The iron ball burned his chest, causing his skin to split and sizzle; even from fifty meters away, everyone could hear the horrizing sound of his flesh frying.

“Idiots, why don’t they just pour seawater on that iron ball?” Long Cheng shouted in anger.

Lin Qi’s face turned grim. Using seawater to extinguish red-hot iron balls was the standard naval combat practice in the Western Continent. But if they had chosen the standard method, how could they still be called Odin Holy Guards? It had to be a living person carrying that red-hot iron ball and jumping into the sea—that was the expected behavior of these religious fanatics, the Odin Holy Guards!

The last iron ball, which hit the Stone Titan in the chest, also did little damage. The sturdy Stone Titan simply swatted it away with his large hand, and the heavy, red-hot ball fell into the water. When the iron ball struck his arm, it even sparked.

Long Cheng couldn’t help but gasp in shock and shake his head in dismay.

Lin Qi gripped his cutting knife tightly and muttered under his breath, “Alright, alright, there’s no escape. We’ll have to fight you!”

Raising his cutting knife, Lin Qi shouted, “Brothers, get ready to kill! The Imperial Military Ministry offers a bounty—500 Gold Coins for each Odin Holy Guard head! There are hundreds of thousands of Gold Coins waiting for us here!”

The sailors cheered in unison, their morale suddenly lifting.