Chapter 33: Fighting Rou Zang Again
The sky was cloudless.
The azure sky and dark blue ocean looked at each other, the former bright and empty, while the latter affectionately lapped the sky with its great waves like it was whispering words of love to it.
In the captain’s room, the cool sea breeze opened a window and lightly caressed the young man’s solid and tenacious red dragon scales.
At that moment, the young captain was moving an ink quill and a surveyor’s rod across the ocean chart on the desk before him,
He was trying to calculate the position of the five ships.
This was maritime navigation work, but the youngster never let any chance to learn slip by.
“Our current position should be here?” The young man had his answer, but he didn’t dare to affirm it.
He softly sighed to himself, “Reportedly, the imperial navy already provides a complete map of all oceanic activity. This alchemy tool can automatically calculate the position of a ship on its ocean map. High ranking naval officers and general headquarters have an active ocean map that can tag the positions of navy vessels.”
“It seems I had better obtain this kind of map.”
“Tower spirit, please inform me where we are now.”
Using an alchemy device, he secretly called the tower spirit.
The tower spirit responded a second later.
After obtaining the correct answer, the youngster slightly frowned, “My calculation was wrong.”
The Deep Sea Monster Fish’s surveying abilities were better than the active ocean maps, and could provide objective answers.
The dragonman youngster pondered, then not long after, his brows relaxed as he roughly realized where he had gone wrong.
“Let’s compute it again.” Just as he was about to, he heard the tower spirit secretly transmit something.
Enemy detected, Bath Tub detected!
The dragonman youngster’s heart skipped a beat, as his eyes burst with determination, “They have finally come.”
A moment later, he ordered the tower spirit to notify everyone of the coming battle.
The young captain was the only one with captain level authority, and was the first to learn of any new information.
Soon after, Zong Ge, Cang Xu, Zi Di, and the others also received this urgent news.
Through alchemy devices, Zong Ge’s voice was transmitted to the others’ ears, “I really want to know how Rou Zang tracked us down this time.”
“Last time, it can be said that he predicted our sailing route in advance. This time? We deliberately deviated our route a few times.”
Cang Xu replied, “It is possible Rou Zang hid a mole in our people. The pirates are experts at developing informants, because they need to inquire accurate information on merchant ships.”
Zi Di sighed, “It seems we need to strengthen our surveillance of our crew. It has already been three days, how far are we from Snake Rat Island? Can we stall for time and throw off the Bath Tub?”
If it was possible, war was to be avoided.
This was a consensus the survivors had reached earlier.
It had always been Zong Ge’s opinion.
After all, when they fought Rou Zang last time, besides the young captain’s Life Scorching Dragon Breath, the other reason they had won was because Rou Zang greatly underestimated them!
As for the survivors, the more time passed, the more they could absorb the spoils of Mystifying Monster Island. Furthermore, the more prepared they were, the stronger their battle strength would be.
The dragonman youngster carefully glanced at the ocean chart, then shook his head as he regretfully replied to Zi Di, “Rou Zang is an extraordinary character, and the distance between us and Snake Rat Island is not close enough. Snake Rat Island’s defensive patrol fleet might not cover a large area, and before we enter Snake Rat Island’s warning range, the Bath Tub will catch up to us.”
“Prepare for battle!”
The gigantic Bath Tub pulverized all sea waves that had the guts to intercept it, and as its invisibility fog gradually dissipated, it began to look like a hunting lion that was beginning its final fatal sprint towards its prey.
The distance between both parties quickly diminished.
Rou Zang sat inside the bathtub on top of his ship, and gazed at the survivors’ five ships with a malevolent gaze, “Wanting to escape? Attack for me!”
The silver level warlock, Mo Kong, stood on the forefront of the deck, a row of robust men behind him.
These robust men had a faintly interconnected aura, each of them holding a cutlass and a circular shield with unassailable vigor.
People moved across the survivors’ five ships, with sailors climbing masts and pulling back sails to prevent artillery shells from damaging them. If the sails caught fire during the battle, it would greatly threaten the ship. Others were rushing to the armory to take out their weapons, then make their ways through the narrow passageways. Some were rushing across the deck, while others manned the cannons.
Thanks to Zong Ge’s training, despite their hurry, these people still remained orderly.
“Too slow, they need more training!” Zong Ge looked on gravely, he was not pleased with the sailors’ performance.
Luckily there was sufficient time for the survivors.
The Deep Sea Monster Fish had warned them on time, while the lookouts on the five ships hadn’t seen anything strange yet.
Upon dropping the sails, the five ships’ speed abruptly slowed.
They were continuing on the same route, towards Sanke Rat Island, however, the five ships slightly adjusted their trajectory.
They began to zig zag, doing their best to keep a lateral side towards the pursuing Bath Tub.
This was the most common tactic in naval battles, zig zagging.
By adjusting the direction of the ship, they would point their lateral side towards the enemy as much as possible, because the lateral side had the most cannons and allowed the ship to display the most firepower possible.
Bang bang bang…
The five ships fired in succession.
Smoke rose as ten shells streaked across the air towards the Bath Tub.
Rou Zang sneered, unconcerned.
The pirates on the Bath Tub also exposed relaxed looks.
Zong Ge’s gaze sank, the artillery shells were infrequently and unevenly fired, with some being deviating wildly off target, it was obvious how this fight would turn out.
As expected, most of the shells hit empty water, causing ripples in the ocean far from the Bath Tub.
A few shells were lucky enough to sporadically hit the Bath Tub.
The warlock, Mo Kong, leisurely extended a finger, and in an instant, his aura rose dramatically as purple light burst from his fingertip.
Purple light fired out again and again, accurately shooting down all of the artillery shells.
“Their training is insufficient, we cannot make a cannon barrage!” Zong Ge couldn’t help but clench his fists.
In naval battles, artillery bombardments were very crucial.
Sometimes, if an artillery bombardment was strong enough, it would prevent the enemy from doing anything and even sink them.
The survivors’ subordinates lacked too much training.
Most were fisherfolk while a few were pirates, and although the pirates were better, they hadn’t used cannons for long. There were only a few with actual bombardment experience.
However, due to the accuracy and range limitations of ordinary cannons, even if they were manned by trained hands, in most cases, they wouldn’t have hit their mark either.
Therefore, a volley of fire was very important. It could form a comparatively tight barrage that made up for the deficiency in accuracy.
Round one, round two, round three…
The cannons constantly fired, but the battle result was pathetic.
Mo Kong was personally on the defense, and his light rays never missed. Even if one did slip through his net and smashed into the Bath Tub, the silver level magic ship was a bulwark, causing any cannon ball to bounce off.
Zong Ge received a score of terrible news.
Cannons were blowing up, careless gunners were getting bruised by rebounding cannons butts.
Zong Ge could not make up for these battle losses.
Because he didn’t have a group ready.
The only thing positive news was that the Bath Tub’s own bombardment was not that strong.
“A fleet ahead to the left!” The tower spirit warned during the chase.
“Is it Rou Zang’s men?” Zong Ge’s eyes flashed.
Rou Zang did not only have the Bath Tub. He was a pirate commander and had many smaller pirate groups under him.
His group had ten other pirate ships working together.
Earlier however, because the Pirate Throne had appeared, to contest for pirate divinity Rou Zang had dispatched them all to murder and plunder.
After that, the survivors defeated Da Zhao’s pirate group annexed them, and since Rou Zang’s Bath Tub was faster, it went by itself to stop the survivors.
The survivors were very vigilant, and after temporarily repelling Rou Zang, they didn’t make excessive stops and instead rushed directly towards Snake Rat Island.
Due to myriad reasons, the Bath Tub was now briefly alone.
Therefore, Zong Ge guessing these were Rou Zang’s people was normal.
If his guess was correct, then the survivors’ situation would come worse.
It does not bear Rou Zang’s pirate group’s flag.” Replied the tower spirit.
“Don’t tell me its Snake Rat Island’s patrol fleet?” Zi Di chimed in.
“They also do not bear the imperial flag either.” The tower spirit then began to describe the mysterious fleet’s flag.
The main feature of the flag was a gigantic clam with its mouth open, and inside the clam’s mouth was a bolt of cloth. The bolt of cloth was smoothly curved and looked like it was made of silk that flowed like a stream.
Zi Di immediately realized what it was, “That fleet should belong to the Clam Cloth Merchant Alliance.”
“The flag depicts a spitting cloth clam, a magic beast the Clam Cloth Merchant Alliance meticulous breeds. Its clam meat is a special alchemy material that is used in the Clam Cloth Merchant Alliance’s exclusive alchemy industry to make fine cloth.”
“The quality of the magic cloth can go up to the legend level, and is the best raw material for magic robes on the market currently.”
“The Clam Cloth Merchant Alliance used it to become rich.”
“Of the six imperial merchant alliances, the Clam Cloth Merchant Alliance has the most ships.”
“After the empire started their expedition to the Wilderness Continent, all of the Clam Cloth Merchant Alliance entered the maritime trade there. They had the biggest advantage, and at present time, are the liveliest Merchant Alliance on the sea.”
Zi Di’s father founded the Wisteria Merchant Alliance, an organization that once could have dared challenge the six great merchant alliances of the empire.
Zi Di came from a merchant family, and was now the president of the Wisteria Merchant Alliance, thus she knew of the Clam Cloth Merchant Alliance.
“Since this is one of the six great merchant alliances, their strength must be considerable. We are people of the empire, we can seek aid from them!” Zi Di proposed.
The survivors immediately changed their flags, and made their identity plan as they transmitted flag signals beseeching help.
“Lord He Fu, that party is asking for help.” A lookout on the Clam Cloth merchant ship immediately reported.
As leader of this fleet, He Fu was also a gold level cultivator.
At that moment, he was standing on the side of the ship, looking out with a telescope at the pursuit in the distance.
“That’s the Bath Tub and Rou Zang.” Said He Fu as he handed the telescope to his first mate.
The first mate took a look, “I only see the Bath Tub, where are Rou Zang’s other subordinates? I only see the silver warlock, Mo Kong, currently.”
“Its no wonder Snake Rat Island’s lord, Tan Qiu, issued a bounty on Rou Zang. Truly rampant, this is Snake Rat Island waters, yet he is openly pursuing an imperial ship, and with just the Bath Tub besides. He does not put the empire at all in his eyes.” The first mate said indignantly.
He Fu gravely replied, “The Pirate Throne has appeared, thus every pirate in the world has cone wild. Recently, one of our fleets was plundered, while there have been many islands that have been coldly slaughtered.”
“Adding on that this is within Rou Zang’s operational zone, him showing up here is not strange.”
“Rou Zang really has the capacity to be this arrogant. He is from the Great Pain Temple, and is a veteran gold level cultivator. His physical strength has tyrannical might. If I fought him alone, I would not be his opponent.”
“As for why there is only the Bath Tub, it might be due to speed.”
“The Bath Tub is a magic ship, it is faster. If Snake Rat Island dispatches ships, Rou Zang can still escape easily.”
When the first mate heard He Fu’s explanation, he suddenly realized that He Fu had no intention of helping.
To him, these five imperial ships were ordinary, their speed was bad, and their bombardment battle quality was even worse.
If they didn’t help, the conclusion was self-evident.
He sighed and did his best to win the other over, “Lord He Fu, if we sit and watch unconcerned, would that not make Rou Zang think we are afraid of him? In the future, won’t he attack our Merchant Alliance fleets?”
He Fu shook his head, “We just resupplied at Snake Rat Island, and still haven’t reached Eruption Island. Our ships have tons of goods. If they are damaged, how will we compensate for them according to our merchant alliance rules?”
“Don’t think these people can be saved.”
“That’s because the Bath Tub does not have powerful long range firepower. When in pursuit stance, only the ship’s bow cannons can be fired.”
“The Bathtub is focused on hand to hand combat and broadside tactics. Their sword and shield grapplers are infamous.
“Look, that battle group is coming over.”
“Those five ships are finished!”