Chapter 302: Use It Less
The sudden turn of events made all the pirates' faces change.
Before they could react, another flash of light streaked by.
With a loud crack, a huge hole appeared in the chest of a pirate officer, spilling his innards and blood all over the surrounding men.
His body flew backward, collapsing on the ground.
Even if he wasn't dead, he couldn't possibly take any potions.
Only now did the rest of the pirates react.
Brad clutched his severed arm and threw himself toward the shield-covered railings, yelling, "What the hell? What kind of weapon is the enemy using?"
But the deck was in chaos, and no one could answer him.
At the same time, the whistling of another projectile pierced the air.
Another pirate attempting to load a ballista had his head obliterated, his skull bursting like a watermelon.
Blood and bone fragments splattered everywhere.
......
Wu Heng stood on deck, his Barrett rifle braced on the railing.
Watching the figures in the distance explode, he was somewhat taken aback by the weapon's sheer power.
Killing was as easy as smashing a watermelon.
According to the intel, the enemy captain was a 15th-level warrior.
Even so, with his formidable physique, all it took was a single shot to cost him an arm.
"This thing is really that powerful?" Glenda hovered nearby, exclaiming in surprise.
"Yes, it's mainly for destroying equipment. Using it to kill people is a bit of overkill," Wu Heng replied.
"You really have a lot of strange gadgets."
Wu Heng held his breath, squeezed the trigger, and the rifle boomed again, ejecting the spent casing.
The bullet whizzed through the air, once again tearing through a pirate's body.
"Flying dragons are coming, and two more pirate ships are approaching," Glenda warned.
Wu Heng glanced up and saw three flying dragons, carrying pirates, soaring under the silver moonlight.
At the same time, two other pirate ships were closing in rapidly.
"You take one of the dragons, I'll handle the other two," Wu Heng ordered.
"Got it!"
Glenda shot into the sky.
She possessed a pirate, pulled a wind, fire, and thunder grenade from her bag, and stuck it onto the dragon's body.
Meanwhile, Wu Heng aimed his Barrett at the sky.
Bang!
The bullet tore through the air.
It pierced the dragon's body and the pirate riding on its back.
Their balance lost, they plummeted from the sky.
Seeing two dragons fall halfway to their destination, the third one turned to flee.
Another bullet tore through the air, sending the last dragon tumbling down.
With all three dragons eliminated.
Wu Heng opened a dimensional gate inside the ship's cabin, summoning a horde of skeletons onto the deck.
"Take control of those three ships."
Splash, splash~!
Countless skeletons jumped into the sea, swimming toward the three fast-approaching pirate ships.
Wu Heng set up his Barrett again, saying, "The captain's hiding. Go find him."
Glenda floated above the pirate ship.
She pointed to a spot behind the shields.
Bang!
The rifle fired.
Crash!
A deafening sound echoed as the shield-covered railing shattered, and the bullet pierced through it. The pirate captain, hiding behind, staggered, losing his other arm in the process.
All the pirates stood frozen in terror.
The iron-plated shields that they thought would protect them had been effortlessly shattered.
And the captain had been hit again.
What the hell is going on?
......
By now, the pirates on the main ship were utterly paralyzed with fear.
Even though they were hiding below deck, their spines tingled with dread, and they felt no sense of security.
Rustle, rustle, thud, thud~!
Suddenly, a series of dense, scattered noises echoed.
"What's that climbing the ship?" someone shouted.
The pirates quickly realized that the sound was coming from both sides of the ship.
The enemy was approaching from the sides.
A pirate, braving his fear, peeked at the neighboring ship.
His face turned deathly pale in an instant.
White skeletons, countless of them, were swarming up the entire hull.
"Undead, so many undead! They're boarding from the sea!"
As soon as the words left his mouth.
Two skeletons leaped onto the deck.
And the battle with the pirates began.
Captain Brad gritted his teeth, not knowing who he had provoked.
But they had come all the way here to kill him.
Seeing the chaos around him.
Seizing the right moment, he bolted from his hiding spot, sprinting toward the cabin.
An orange streak flashed by.
Brad's waist exploded in a burst of gore.
He collapsed to the ground.
Standing at the cabin stairs was the grimy, dreadlocked sailor.
"Save me, and I'll make you the first mate," Brad croaked.
The sailor across from him brushed his hair aside.
He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a wrist-mounted crossbow, and aimed it at Brad's forehead.
"What are you doing? I'm your captain," Brad yelled.
The sailor smiled, "I learned it from you."
The crossbow twanged, and a bolt embedded itself in Brad's forehead.
One bolt didn't finish him, so the sailor shot several more. Only when Brad was dead did he stow the crossbow and head back to the cabin.
......
The skeletons began boarding, engaging the pirates in close combat on the deck and in the cabin.
The pirates fought fiercely but were gradually exhausted.
They were killed by the skeletons.
Some pirates tried to jump into the sea and escape by swimming, but they only dove into the waiting arms of the skeleton horde, where they were torn to pieces.
As dawn approached.
The battle came to an end.
One by one, the corpses were brought up onto the deck.
Wu Heng stepped onto the Iron Barrel ship, surveying the deck littered with remains.
He had the skeletons gather the pirate captain's severed limbs, but it was difficult to reassemble them.
Better to use the Barrett sparingly.
Too much damage made the bodies harder to piece back together, making it difficult to meet the requirements for [Raise Corpse].
Glancing at the incomplete corpse.
Wu Heng decided to perform a corpse interrogation.
He cast [Speak with Dead], reviving the pirate captain's body.
Wu Heng immediately asked, "Why did you order the assassination of Deputy Steward Wu Heng?"
The corpse replied, "I received a letter. As long as I kill you, I'll get a reward of 200 gold coins."
A letter?
Again with the letters.
Wu Heng pressed on, "Who sent the letter?"
"I don't know. It appears on its own."
A letter that appears on its own ......
"What is the purpose of the letter?"
"It warns us about merchant convoys passing through, so we can raid them."
Wu Heng asked, "What benefit does the sender get from this?"
"None!"
What the hell, no benefit? Just doing this for nothing?
"Is this letter only for you, or do all pirates get it?"
"I suspect many others have it."
The five questions were done, and the corpse fell back.
At first, Wu Heng thought this was a personal vendetta, but now it seemed connected to the mysterious letters.
And the situation was more serious than he had expected.
If the sender could give orders to all pirates, then others likely received his bounty notice too.
He had become a common target for the pirates.
"Glenda, check the cabin for that letter he mentioned," Wu Heng said.
Glenda nodded and flew toward the cabin.
After a short while, Glenda came back quickly.
"Did you find it?"
"Not yet. There's a hidden room below deck, and there are a few people alive in there."
Survivors?