Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 267 - 260: Pirates Attack

Chapter 267: Chapter 260: Pirates Attack

"Are we going to encounter one?" Hu Daoke asked with a worried expression.

"Jinx!" Cheng Ziang glanced at him and muttered under his breath.

"Don’t worry, we are currently sailing in shallow waters. A Leviathan of that size would run aground here, so there’s no need to worry." Luo’er reassured.

Just when everyone breathed a sigh of relief, a sailor perched on the mast suddenly blew his whistle, issuing a piercing sound. At the blast of his whistle, all the sailors and passengers sprung into action.

"What’s going on, has the Leviathan really come?" Seeing the reactions of those around him, Tangmo was scared till his face turned a shade of white as he hid in Luo’er’s arms.

"We should jump ship!" Hu Daoke suggested in a panic.

Cheng Ziang glared at him, too speechless to respond. He spotted the half-beastman first mate rushing over and pulled him aside to ask: "Brother, what’s the situation?"

"You’d better hide, pirates are coming. We have to chase them off." The first mate hurriedly said.

"Pirates?" Upon hearing this news, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but also had new questions.

"Are there many pirates in this area?" Cheng Ziang continued to ask.

The first mate shook his head and sighed: "There aren’t many pirates around here. These people are probably from the beastman island of Basargold in the southeast."

"Wait, wouldn’t people coming from Basargold need to bypass the chain of islands from Ancient States to get here? How come no one noticed them along the way?" Luo’er asked in confusion.

"This is the traditional sea route from Basargold to the continent, the safest route, but also the most dangerous route, is to go straight from Basargold Island through the deep sea and reach the east coast of the continent," the first mate explained.

"Going through the deep sea, wouldn’t that be..." Hu Daoke blurted out.

The first mate glanced at him, then continued explaining: "Not every ship crossing the deep sea will be attacked by Leviathans. As long as they can avoid them, they can assure safety. Of course, this is not absolute, because no one knows the movement pattern of the Leviathans. These pirates wanting to reach the east coast, nine out of ten times, would be detected by the Leviathans."

"That’s really playing with fire!" Hu Daoke couldn’t help exclaiming after hearing his explanation.

"You’d better hide now if you don’t want to get hurt. They’ve spotted us and are approaching," said the first mate as he hurriedly left them.

"Let’s go, we should go inside the cabin to hide," Luo’er advised.

The group went into the cabin, which was situated facing the deep sea. From afar, they could see a shadow approaching. Luo’er took out his telescope and peeked through the porthole, confirming the sight of a black pirate flag on the ship’s mast.

"They must be mad, crossing the deep sea to rob. What kind of courage is that?" Hu Daoke shook his head and couldn’t help but comment.

"Right now, we need to make sure that Arya’s Blade reaches Yazhi City safely, we don’t have time to worry about other matters," Cheng Ziang pointed out.

The cabin was very cramped, cramming five people inside made it feel rather crowded. Each cabin had four bunk beds, theoretically there was no private room. So for the sake of the two girls, Luo’er had them stay with him and Cheng Ziang in one cabin, while Hu Daoke had to share a room with others.

Off in the distance, a muffled sound echoed. Following the sound, they saw a dark projectile hurtling towards them, crashing heavily onto the nearby sea surface and causing high waves.

"Damn, the pirates even have cannons!" Hu Daoke exclaimed. Even though it was just a solid cannon, it was enough to pose a threat to the mostly wooden merchant ship. If the cannon hit the giant paddle wheels on the sides of the ship, they wouldn’t be able to reach Yazhi City, and would have to make do with beaching at a sandbank.

Due to the presence of the Leviathans, the naval forces of Otherworld were very weak. None of the countries were willing to invest resources into building a navy. After all, no matter how powerful their warships were, they were no match for the Leviathans, which is why many countries simply gave up on their navies.

Because of this, when merchant ships face pirates, their only option is to arm themselves for self-defense. They could not rely on the navies of their own countries.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as the pirates fired a shot, the merchant ship immediately retaliated. Their onboard cannons were not simple; they were Krupp 75mm field guns, specifically purchased from Earth. This was a type of field gun that had experienced two World Wars, with an effective range of 12,000 meters.

The merchant ship was equipped with two such field guns. As the guns roared, the shells whistled into the distant sea, raising waves upon waves.

Sure enough, with the aid of the cannons, the pirate ship promptly turned its bow and seemed to fear these two cannons. Then, the pirate ship lowered many rowboats, propelled by the rowers, they made a grand charge towards the merchant ship, with a determination to see their goal achieved.

The cannons continued firing but against these rowboats, the field guns didn’t seem to have much of an advantage, it felt like using anti-aircraft guns to kill mosquitoes.

The field guns on the merchant ship fired several rounds and then stopped. Clearly, their ammunition was also limited, and they could not wipe out these rowboats. Moreover, considering the number of these rowboats, even if every shot was accurate, they couldn’t destroy all the rowboats.

With the rowboats drawing closer and closer, Luo’er could see the people on the boats through his telescope. There were five to six people on each rowboat, of which three to four were rowers, and the rest were assailants.

These men were all Beastmen, with fierce faces. Luo’er could even see their protruding tusks from their mouths.

Beastmen are very strong, and under the relentless rowing of the oarsmen, the small boat raced towards the merchant vessel like a motorboat. The sailors gathered together with the permission of the First Mate and began shooting at the small boat.

Most of them were equipped with bolt-action rifles, while some of the leaders were using semi-automatic rifles. The deck was filled with the deafening sound of gunfire, with bullets splashing into the water, each one creating a column of water.

They initially thought this attack would scare off the pirates, but these fellows were unfazed and continued to approach the merchant vessel, seemingly determined not to leave without sinking their teeth into the merchant vessel.

Suddenly, a pirate stood up at the head of the small boat, carrying something on his shoulder. Luo’er squinted to get a good look and found it to be an RPG rocket launcher.

Just as he cried out in surprise, the pirate fired the rocket launcher. A blaze followed by a long plume of smoke rapidly flew toward the merchant vessel. Under everyone’s watch, the warhead plunged into the ship’s hull, about five meters above the waterline. All at once, everyone felt the ship shake. A huge hole was blasted into the ship, which was raging with flames. They could hear the screams coming from the direction of the explosion.

"Everyone, get on deck, these people might not hold up." Luo’er put down his telescope, turned around and spoke in a stern tone.

"What happened?" Hu Daoke stared wide-eyed at him and asked.

"The pirates have a rocket launcher!" Luo’er replied succinctly.

"Not just a rocket launcher." Before Hu Daoke could exclaim in shock, Cheng Ziang, who was observing outside the porthole, spoke with a furrowed brow.

Then, they heard the whistling sound of a shell in the sky, and a shell landed not far from the merchant ship in the sea. The resulting explosion shook the entire ship violently.

"What’s the situation?" Hu Daoke asked.

"Their small boat carries a mortar!" said Cheng Ziang without any expression.

"Is this a pirate?" Hu Daoke exclaimed in shock.

"They risked their lives to rob us, of course they’re going to be well-prepared," Cheng Ziang shrugged and replied.

"Hurry up and go, before they affect us." Luo’er urged.

Under the urging of Luo’er, the Advance Team arrived on the deck, where the sailors were firing at the small boat on the surface of the sea. Despite being a Half-beastman himself, the First Mate had no sympathy for these Beastmen.

By now, the deck was littered with bullet shells, but the sailors’ shooting skills left a lot to be desired. Luo’er even saw a sailor firing with his eyes closed.

"First Mate!" Luo’er stepped forward and greeted him.

"Oh, it’s you guys. What are you doing up here? Quickly return to your cabin!" The First Mate wiped the sweat off his forehead and spoke dryly.

"We came from the cabin because we don’t want to be hit by a rocket." Luo’er responded, waving his hand, indicating that he look behind him. The First Mate then realized that all the passengers who were hiding in the cabin had run out.

"I’m so sorry, we just didn’t realize they’d be so well-equipped." The First Mate apologized with despair written all over his face.

Luo’er waved off the apology, looking unharmed, and asked: "Do you need our help? We’re an adventurers team."

"You..." The First Mate hesitated, then replied, "Sorry, we didn’t plan on hiring mercenaries. If you want to offer your services, please communicate with the Captain."

"Not mercenaries," Luo’er waved his hand, "we volunteer to help resist the pirate invasion."

"Why?" The First Mate was surprised at Luo’er’s generosity.

"We urgently need to get to Yazhi City, and we don’t want to be delayed here," Luo’er paused, then continued, "Also, we’re acquainted with the head of your guild."

"Is that so?" The First Mate gawked at him, surprised that this seemingly lowly Half-elf actually knew their boss.

The merchant ship belongs to the commercial guild of Durman Flach, who was a partner at their headquarters and so was naturally considered a friend.

"In that case, we’ll accept your help!" Hearing Luo’er was friends with their boss, the First Mate’s tone became respectful.

Luo’er nodded, then went to the side of the ship, took out his telescope and took a look. The pirates’ vanguard was now less than a hundred meters away from the merchant ship. However, the sailors’ shooting skills were definitely touching, missing their targets even at such a distance, wasting the renowned World War II guns in their hands.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.