Chapter 163: Whirlpool Trap

The Vinegar jar Pirates.

A gold level power and formed almost entirely of fishmen pirates.

The imperial spy’s investigation had determined countless links between it and the Blue Green Coral Fishman clan.

The imperial secret spy Shadow and Hun Tong had worked together to plant secret agents into this pirate group to acquire a lot of precious intelligence.

Earlier, Xi Dai Zi had snuck into Two Eyes Island to plant an insider for when they attacked Two Eyes Island. This resulted in Xu Ma accidentally exposing him and triggering a series of events.

When the fishmen attacked Two Eyes Island, the Vinegar Jar Pirate would undoubtably be one of the main forces present.

The Vinegar Jar Pirates had 24 ships in total.

The other ships looked normal, only the flagship looked quite peculiar.

It didn’t have a bow or an aft, the entire ship was shaped like a large water jar.

The hull looked black, and it didn’t have any sails.

Its motive force came from a small hole in the bottom of the water jar, it was constantly sucking in seawater and spraying it out.

The force of this stream of water drove the Vinegar Jar forward.

The Vinegar Jar had three decks in total.

The top deck was steeped in water, and if an adult human stood on it, the water would reach to their knees.

The middle and bottom deck were completely submerged, and no normal human, dwarf, or even elf would be able to freely move there.

The Vinegar Jar was a magic ship specially built for aquatic races.

Fishmen could freely breathe underwater and could soak themselves in the water, maintaining their skin’s moisture.

Its hold was always suitable for fishmen.

Not only that, but each deck had a different liquid, quite a mystery how.

Although it didn’t have sails, it still had a mast.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say it was a long pillar.

The pillar was not wood, but coral.

The Vinegar Jar Pirates’ commander Er Gua Zi was standing on top of the pillar, holding a telescope as he gazed at the port battlefield in the distance.

There was a fishman shaman standing next to him, it was the Vinegar Jar Pirates’ first mate – the fishman shaman Xi Dai Zi.

The Quick Knife battle squad appearing surprised Er Gua Zi.

But soon after, he coldly snorted and used the fishman language to evaluate, “Truly two pieces of rubbish. Their opponents are an iron level magician and a small battle squad.”

“They are taking so long to win.”

“Especially that idiot Peng Ding Zi, he can’t discern through the magician’s pretense that he’s playing with him.”

“How can that idiot still believe he can join my pirate group?”

The one he called Peng Ding Zi was the spiky fishman leader that was fighting Cang Xu.

First mate Xi Dai Zi laughed, “Peng Ding Zi has always admired you captain.”

“This blockhead really needs instruction.”

“But the most important thing now is capturing the port.”

Er Gua Zi nodded.

The port was very important.

It had to be captured!

As the attacker, if they seized the port, the fishmen would be able to hold the initiative entirely. No matter how many humans there were on the island, they would become turtles in a jar that could be slowly processed.

Even if Hun Tong and the others broke out of the auction hall, as long as the fishman had ships, they could easily retreat. They would leave any human ships behind. When that happened, even if the humans wanted to pursue, they could only gaze at the ocean and lament their inadequacies.

“Charge!” Er Gua Zi ordered.

All of the pirates went full speed ahead.

The Vinegar Jar took the lead

Upon seeing this, countless humans on the port battlefield grew uneasy and fretful.

“The enemy’s reinforcements have arrived, where are our commanders?”

“The Vinegar Jar Pirates! Their commander is a gold level fishman warrior.”

“We’re done for, we need to retreat inland.”

“Out of the question, it’ll be worse if we lose our ships, we won’t be able to leave Two Eyes Island!”

Cang Xu’s heart sank, he had to deal with Peng Ding Zi while quickly thinking of a countermeasure.

He didn’t think that the first gold level reinforcements would not be from their side, but from the enemy.

The situation had become untenable.

It would take less than ten minutes for the Vinegar Jar Pirates to reach the port.

What should he do?

“If there is nothing we can do, then we must retreat.”

“Safeguard the lives of Bai Ya, Mu Ban, and the rest.”

“The others can be abandoned.”

Cang Xu swiftly made his choice, his eyes filled with cold indifference. 

He was not Zong Ge, he didn’t feel anything for those trained troops. He didn’t have the young commander’s righteous duty either.

He was a necromancer; he treated lifeforms as research materials and the other mercenaries as mere numbers.

“We established the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps because we needed a public identity.” 

“If we lose our current outer members, we can still raise a new army later.”

“This outer identity won’t be lost!”

The seafloor.

Zi Di was in the cockpit, controlling the Deep Sea Monster Fish.

The latter was indeed a gold level magic ship, and if it needed to fight, it could deploy gold level cannons, the Electric Lock alchemy formation, or the Hedgehog Firepower Countermeasures, all of these could fix the tone with a single blow, they could decimate all of the fishmen on the port or sink the Vinegar Jar Pirates together.

“But that isn’t required.”

“This is Two Eyes Island; it is not our base.”

“Using it to help Hun Tong will only gain his appreciation for a time, but in the long run, it will lead to fear and spying.”

“The risk of exposure will greatly increase.”

The auction gains all being stored in the hold put Zi Di much more at ease.

“All of the ships are ordinary vessels, and even if they all sink, we can bear this loss.”

“But those ships have many materials, and if they are lost, it would be quite a pity.”

“The most important thing now is helping the commander and Zong Ge break out, then safely bringing back Mu Ban and the others.”

“Perhaps I can use one of the Deep Sea Monster Fish’s forms.”

The Deep Sea Monster Fish had a mimicry hull and could transform into three forms.

Its usual shape looked like a giant magic beast fish.

The sail fish form: where the hull lengthened and the fishtail turned into a propellor. The propellor would rotate rapidly and form a spiral stream behind it. The form increased its underwater speed to 35 knots.

The third form was a fishman form.

The hull would lengthen into feet, and a section of the keel would be dismantled and turn into a harpoon, its main weapon.

After the survivors took control of the Deep Sea Monster Fish, they had tested each of the three forms.

The sailfish form was specialized in pursuit speed, the normal form was balanced in all functions, and the fishman form was the combat oriented form.

After Zi Di pondered for a bit, and if things didn’t work out, she planned on coming ashore in the third form to fight.

Doring this allowed the Deep Sea Monster Fish to disguise itself better than just using it as it was now.

Just as Zi Di was staying vigilant, the Vinegar Jar’s speed abruptly dropped.

“What’s going on?”

“A whirlpool!”

“A whirlpool suddenly appeared under the ship; it is sucking us in.”

The fishmen used their native language to loudly communicate with each other.

The Vinegar Jar was sinking into a whirlpool.

The fishmen quickly responded.

The Vinegar Jar sprayed a large stream of water, causing its motive force to rise dramatically, barely pushing the Vinegar Jar out of the whirlpool.

“This is no normal water flow; I sense the aura of magic!” Xi Dai Zi wrinkled his brows.

“Have the ships behind stay back, we’ll blow it up.” Er Gua Zi ordered.

The Vinegar Jar’s cannon muzzle was where the water had been spraying out of, it was a hole at the lowest part of the ship’s hull. 

The artillery shells used also had some distinguishing features.

They were not normal alchemy artillery shells, rather they were compressed liquid, temporarily made liquid artillery shells.

Bang, thump, bang.

Three dim yellow balls of liquid hit the whirlpool with an explosion.

Space violently oscillated.

The whirlpool was completely destroyed.

The fishman pirates dove down the check it and gained nothing.

“No alchemy equipment detected. A bit troublesome, this should be called the Tugboat Whirlpool magic trap.” Xi Dai Zi analyzed.

He looked at the ocean surface ahead of him, “Hun Tong unexpectedly deployed these magic traps near Two Eyes Island.”

“We weren’t able to detect any of them.”

“These magic traps can be artificially controlled, able to both be activated and shut down.”

“During the auction, these traps were shut down, therefore allowing ships to sail in normally.”

Xi Dai Zi’s complexion became unsightly.

The ocean surface before him looked like a wide expanse, but in reality, it concealed many traps.

Besides the Tugboat Whirlpool trap, what other magic traps were there?

If there were explosion traps or naval mines, what would they do?

Er Gua Zi coldly snorted and resolutely ordered, “Continue charging!”

“The Vinegar Jar will clear the way.”

“All other ships line up behind and follow in our wake!”

Er Gua Zi’s boldness steadied Xi Dai Zi’s mind. 

Battlefield opportunities were transient.

At this time, they had to charge Two Eyes Island and capture the port, regardless of the consequences.

The Vinegar Jar Pirates changed formation and charged again.

Their journey was not serene.

Not only did they encounter whirlpool traps, but they also ran into water columns, freezing traps, and more.

At this time, the Vinegar Jar embodied its function. 

It challenged the law, and was the first to trigger the traps, then rigidly charged through.

Thanks to the Vinegar Jar’s protection, the other ships weren’t harmed in the slightest.

But because of the traps, the Vinegar Jar Pirates had to slow their advance.

Seeing that the gold level pirate group was getting closer, the humans on the port had no choice but to respond.

“Withdraw now!”

“We cannot let the Vinegar Jar Pirates lock down the port.”

“As long as we leave the port, we can still run and fight on the wide sea!”

The first to leave were the magic ships belonging to the five merchant alliances.

Next was the Iron Lump and the White Bandage.

The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps wanted to set sail and leave port, however, due to the fishmen obstructing them with all of their strength, they weren’t able to.

They had become the fishmen’s chief target.

The Steel Bone Knight fishman and the spiky fishman wouldn’t let them evacuate easily.

The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ ships were all trapped on the port.

The ships that left port also suffered heavy losses.

The first unlucky spirit was the Flint Merchant Alliance’s magic ship, it had trigged a water column trap.

A column of water slammed into the ship from beneath it with great force.

The Flint Merchant Alliance magic ship was nearly capsized by the water column.

Following it, other ships in turn fell into traps.

Magic ships could withstand them, but ordinary ships met a miserable end.

Several ships lost speed, some were mired by whirlpools, spinning in place. Others had holes blown into them and slowly sank.