Chapter 318: Leveling Everything with Artillery Fire

Chapter 318: Leveling Everything with Artillery Fire

Damir Island lies west of Puning Port in South Wales County, with Banxi Island and its famous port to the southeast.

Hastur Stood at the ship's bow, scanning the dark sea with his naked eye. The ocean was like a mass of black water, and they were sharks cutting through it.

When sharks smell prey, they open their fearsome jaws.

"Do you like the sea?" Hastursuddenly asked.

His two aides standing beside him were momentarily stunned. One chuckled dryly, "There's no question of liking it or not. I nearly developed thalassophobia after my first long sea voyage and had nightmares for a while."

The other aide said, "I like the sea because it accepts all who arrive here, giving rest to the filthy, poor, and dead alike."

Hastur Nodded slightly without further comment.

As they approached Damir Island, they encountered pirate patrol boats. The warship's navigation lights were glaringly bright in the darkness, making detection inevitable once they drew close. But to the pirates on Damir Island, such lights symbolized the golden glow of wealth. Merchant ships often strayed into these waters at night, becoming their prey.

The two patrol boats quickly called their captain, reporting a fat sheep had delivered itself to their doorstep. The idea that the lights could belong to a naval warship was laughable - the pirates had long lost any sense of superiority in mocking the incompetence of the South Wales navy. After all, one can't keep comparing oneself to mud.

Hastur Ordered the lights on the other warships temporarily extinguished, leaving only the two lead ships illuminated. When about 8 pirate ships approached under cover of darkness to tear apart their prey, the lead warships remained stationary, waiting for the delivery.

Only when gunfire erupted would it become clear who was predator and who was prey.

The pirates' ordinary fishing boats, modified for their purposes, typically carried four or five cannons at most - decent firepower for their needs. Only the largest pirate groups possessed warships that could rival naval vessels.

So when hunting merchant ships, they usually fired a few warning shots near the target to intimidate them. They avoided directly attacking the ship itself if possible, to prevent it from capsizing or catching fire and damaging the cargo.

Grappling hooks, a somewhat antiquated weapon, helped pirate ships latch onto merchant vessels. This prevented the target from outrunning them and allowed pirates to board via ropes.

This was the typical pirate raiding method, and it was the approach taken by the first group of pirates they encountered that night.

The naval sailors on board had already taken up their combat positions according to their usual drill formations, weapons at the ready. They awaited only the signal to fire.

A few minutes later, several volleys of gunfire rang out in unison.

Hastur's two aides had already led men to capture the pirate captain and force him to reveal information about Damir Island. Afterwards, the captain was hanged along with the other pirates.

Whether pirates surrendered or resisted, their fate was the same - the gallows. Hastur Had neither the time nor inclination to sort out potentially innocent individuals among the pirates.

Half an hour later, the warships reached Damir Island.

"Open fire!" At the command, a barrage of artillery fire rained down indiscriminately across every inch of Damir Island.

Hastur's eyes narrowed as he watched the shocking scene of artillery bombardment.

The island wasn't very large, with only one port for entry and exit. When the cannon fire erupted at Damir Island's harbor, the still-drowsy pirates' first thought wasn't that the navy was attacking, but that some pirate groups had started fighting amongst themselves again.

It wasn't until shells landed near their living quarters that they were startled awake, cursing: "Which brainless bastard, which pig-headed son of a bitch is firing on the residential area?!"

"When you have nowhere to sleep with your women tonight, I'll definitely bring a big crowd to watch!"

The "residential area" was just rows of wooden shacks, mostly single-story with a few two-story structures. The houses were built crookedly, far from attractive, and under the artillery barrage, the wood inevitably met its burning fate.

After over a dozen rounds of artillery fire, with the gun barrels hot enough to scald, Hasturfinally ordered the naval troops to disembark in formation.

Any pirate who showed their face was to be eliminated without exception.

It was only when gunshots claimed the pirates' lives that they saw the uniformly dressed naval officers, dying with looks of astonishment frozen on their faces. Not a single pirate here had imagined that the South Wales navy would launch a surprise night attack.

Hastur Stood at the bow, watching as nearly 800 naval troops methodically eliminated every trace of pirate presence.

When a few extraordinary individuals were discovered trying to escape under cover of darkness or resist, Hastur Nodded his assent for the Gardener and Cook who had accompanied him to join the fray with their large shears and boning knife.

Even without their intervention, the sequence 9 and sequence 8 extraordinary individuals were just as vulnerable to firearms. A shot to the head or heart could easily take their lives.

Even someone as powerful as Mr. A, the Shepherd, wouldn't choose to face guns and cannons head-on. Bullets might not inflict fatal wounds, but a body constantly bombarded by artillery fire would be destroyed faster than it could heal.

Of course, the most formidable aspect of such powerful extraordinary individuals wasn't their ability to withstand artillery barrages, but their extreme agility. This was what gave them their truly threatening capabilities.

The gunfire echoing through the night continued until sunrise the next day.

Aside from a few clever pirates who escaped in the chaos by clinging to empty oak barrels, all the other pirates of Damir Island remained there.

The ground was strewn with severed limbs, intestines, and heads, a gruesome mix of colors like a hotpot gathering. The heavy stench of blood became even more pronounced as the sun rose, making people nauseous.

At least half of the naval forces that had swept through the pirates like avenging gods the night before were now vomiting. Another third had already thrown up in secret, leaving only a small portion pale-faced but maintaining their composure.

It couldn't be helped - the destructive power of artillery far surpassed that of guns, leaving few intact bodies in its wake.

Some pirates who had surrendered early were also shocked by the bloody scene. Among the corpses were many they had been drinking and laughing with just the night before, now reduced to cold, often incomplete bodies.

To save their lives, they knelt on the ground, pleading desperately to Hastur, the highest-ranking officer present, using every manner of supplication.

To this, Hasturcalmly replied, "Bring them aboard."

The pirates, thinking they had narrowly escaped death, were overcome with gratitude. Some even shed tears of joy.

But when they boarded the ship and saw the rows of hanged pirate corpses, panic and terror began to spread.

Despite their continued cursing and tearful pleas, under the aim of rows of dark gun barrels, they too all became corpses swinging from the gallows.

It wasn't that Hastur Wanted to emulate the previous Duke of South Wales. Rather, at this moment, he needed to deliver a small shock to the increasingly rampant pirates while also boosting morale and confidence among his own forces.

No matter how formidable pirates might be, they still had just one head and two arms. With a gun in hand, one shot made everyone equal.

With the pirates on Damir Island eliminated, Hasturnaturally claimed their accumulated wealth as spoils of war.

During this time, the Gardener, having cleaned his large shears, came to inform Hastur That they had captured the leader of the Dark Hand pirate group, a sequence 7 Navigator.

How else to deal with him? He too was hanged from the gallows, his body placed at the front of the line - a fitting honor for a sequence 7 pirate leader.

...

Before the ships even reached Puning Port, news of the eradication of the pirates on Damir Island had already spread.

Many people gathered at the port, craning their necks in anticipation of the navy's return.

Those with relatives in the navy began to stand tall and speak loudly, educating the uninformed about how different the Puning Port navy was now. They discussed everything from naval downsizing to recruitment expansion and daily training routines, greatly satisfying the curiosity of many onlookers.

Klein was among these curious spectators. He had not anticipated events unfolding this way at all. Just as he was preparing to inform Earl HasturCampbell about the pirate group, the man had already taken the initiative to eliminate the pirates on Damir Island.

He wondered if the Dark Hand pirate group mentioned by Mr. Hanged Man had also been wiped out.

As the setting sun began to cast its glow over the sea, the neatly arranged fleet finally appeared on the horizon.

As the fleet drew near, the onlookers realized that the pirates' corpses hanging from nooses were arranged just as orderly as the ships themselves.