An Outbreak

The terrible news brought by Wester made the pleasant atmosphere in the cabin freeze in an instant as everybody became stiff at the table. Annete, who originally thought that his sentence of Hellfire tribesmen chasing up to them was a joke, knocked a wine glass to the ground with a 'pang', causing the blood-like high-quality fruit wine to splash onto the floor. 

"Alright, Wester. As the heir to the Tantorn Family, I give you the right to command the entire fleet!" The sound of the wine glass crashing snapped Fandersal back to reality. Solemnly, he said, "I'll leave everything to you, Chief Guard!"

"I won't disappoint you, Young Master Fandersal!" Wester nodded with a blank expression and turned to stride out of the cabin.

The instant he stood under the stars, he took a deep breath and shouted without wasting any time. "I, Wester Holster, the Tantorn Family's Chief Guard, hereby take over the right to command the defenses and direct all personnel under the order of Fandersal Tantorn! I hereby issue the first order and command all ships to put down the sails. Sailors, get away as far away from the ship's side and prepare for fire oil. Guards, come forward to defend!" 

The sound of the waves rolling deafening to the ear, shattering the entire sky, caused the unruly turmoil on the deck to change significantly.

Watching the sails being put down one by one from afar, Wester called out to the sailors who retreated to the cabin and strode up to his deputy guarding by the ship's side. Pulling out the machete on his waist, he blocked a javelin flying towards him and shouted loudly, "Alans, is the artillery ready?"

"The Hellfire ships are too close to us. We can no longer use artillery!" The Tantorn Family's deputy chief guard, who had a handsome face as beautiful as a girl, brandished a large tower shield that was exactly the opposite of his figure and repliee in a deep voice. "The guards watching the night in the watchtower are really too careless!"

"It can't be helped! It's near the New Year now so many trading companies sail in the coastal water to Seniakha to participate in the exhibition expo with their ships linked together by iron chains and some don't even have guards following them. It's already very good that we can maintain such vigilance," Wester said in a grave expression and exonerated himself from the responsibility. Then, he lowered his head and looked at the three short and grotesque Hellfire ships parked in the distant sea surface before remarking conceitedly in a cold voice, "To think that they actually dare to attack our fleet with just these few small ships? These uncivilized barbarians will always be barbarians. I don't believe that their ship decks are immersed in fire-resistant clay. After all the fire oil is ready, light up a fire and burn all these barbarians into ashes."

Alans, who was by the side, did not oppose his superior's confidence but said while hiding behind the tower shield, "Sir, these Hellfire people traversed across the ocean to attack us on the mainland, and now they're only attacking using javelins. I suspect they must have some spiritual monsters on their ships and are preparing for powerful spells. Also, their ships don't even have any mast! It looks like something is wrong…"

Before he could finish his words, he suddenly saw a blue light emitting from the short Hellfire ships.

A blurry figure suddenly leapt up high in the blue light. Its body elongated and widened under the moonlight, its feet were stuck together as it turned into a fish tail before falling back into the ocean. Wiggling its body, it swam towards one of the merchant ships in the fleet. At the place where it passed by, the seawater gradually became murky and sticky, before slowly getting stuck together, turning into a 'mud path'.

Then, a spacious secret door suddenly opened on the decks of the three Hellfire ships. Countless native warriors riding giant spiders armed with sharp spears charged out continuously from the lower cabin and competed with each other, commanding their mounts to run and jump up to the mud path before charging towards the mainlanders' ships.

"The Hellfire people is led by a spiritual monster and has made a path at sea! Watch out, they're rushing towards us riding on, on spiders! Watch out! Everyone, watch out…"

"Dear God! These Hellfire people are actually using big long-haired spiders as their mounts. They're the true demons! We can't let those spiders get on the ship! Keep them under the ship! The fire oil! Is the fire oil not ready yet…?"

"Sir Wester, the guards on the Blue Crown can't stop the attack of so many Hellfire warriors all by themselves! We need reinforcements! We need reinforcements…" Countless panicking cries could be heard resonating from the merchant ship targeted by the Hellfire 'knights'. As more and more giant spiders climbed onto the sea carrying their native warriors with great difficulty, the cries of panic was slowly replaced with blood curdling screams.

The chasm formed by the ocean caused the reinforcements of the mainlanders to fail to take shape. Relying on the fire on the ship and the moonlight, they watched the native warriors use their spears and sabers to kill those who resisted them one by one on the deck. They cut down their enemies' heads and picked it up on their spears, barring their teeth while making a bloodcurdling noise. At once, Wester's cold face was covered with a deep layer of haze as he muttered to himself, "These Hellfire people are really led by a spiritual monster! And not only that, they have so many elite cavalry warriors as well! It's possible for me to make a sortie by myself but it'd be troublesome if I want to save all the merchant ships…"

"Sir, the Hellfire people who are attacking us are very powerful! It's impossible for us to save all ships. Young Master Fandersal would definitely understand even if there are some losses," Alans advised by the side with a grave expression.

"You're right, Alans!" Wester, who was on the battlefield, immediately snapped back to reality and looked at his deputy with an expression of appreciation. "You always have the ability to advise me when I'm not calm. Listen, after the fire oil is ready, order on behalf of me to burn the Hellfire ships. I'll try to see if I can find a chance to kill the fake mermaid, that spiritual monster that can't bring any joyful songs but spread death instead."

As he was saying so, the Tantorn Family's Chief Guard bent down and hid under the ship's side. He walked a few steps and moved to the side of the ship to extend his head out, to look down at the fishtail sea monster swimming in the sea.

In his opinion, it was impossible for a spider to swim too long in the sea. As long as he killed this Hellfire spiritual monster who could turn sea into land and then burn the Hellfire ships, those Hellfire warriors riding those huge spiders would then be trapped on Blue Crown. By that time, it would no longer be as terrifying even if other spiritual monsters made their appearance. Their worst scenario would be sacrificing just one ship of their own.

However, to Wester's surprise, just as he was waiting for the opportunity to make a full blow, an unexpected event suddenly took place.

A native warrior, with two bright feathers on his head riding a huge spider on Blue Crown, who had killed four to five mainlander sailors, saw that more and more comrades of his own gathered on the deck and found it hard for himself to demonstrate his skills. All of a sudden, as a ferocious smile crept upon his face, he roared and transformed his legs into rootstock, before extending and penetrating into the deck of the ship.

At once, the hull of the Blue Crown, that was made of wood, shook violently as dried wood grew into green tree buds everywhere. Numerous branches grew along the ship's side from the edge of the deck of the merchant ship and intertwined together, before spreading out towards the other ships along the chain.

"Release the chains! Release all the chains on the ships! All ships spread out at once…" Upon seeing this, Wester, who was hiding under the flagship's side, suddenly stood up and shouted.

However, amidst the panic and hurry, the sailors on the ships were unable to untie the huge iron chains connecting the fleet, allowing the branches casted by the Hellfire caster to connect the ships one by one.

At this time, the Hellfire warriors, who obtained more room to maneuver, began to command the giant spiders to gallop and spread out along the carpet-like branches, transforming the sea battle into a land battle.

After the battlefield became bigger, the differences between an ordinary brutal and unruly warrior and the well-trained professional warriors in the battlefield who did not fear death gradually became apparent. Many of the Tantorn Family's guards excelled in martial skills were killed one by one, by the simple tactics used by the ordinary Hellfire warriors, like assailing in group stabbing and chopping directly. Just like that, they killed while meeting their deaths together.

Upon seeing that the situation was rapidly deteriorating in a blink of an eye, the problem changed from 'how much losses would they end up with' into 'whether they could stay alive'. A rare irrepressible rage appeared on Wester's face that had been cold since just now.

With a howl, he sprinted and charged out, agilely brandishing the machete in his hand around his body at a speed unimaginable to ordinary people. Stirring up wind, he sliced all nearby warriors and their mounts into two, before charging towards the aborigine who transformed into the tree branches, wanting to kill this monster who changed the battle's situation even if it meant his own death.

Unfortunately, before he could get close enough, he was already blocked by four Hellfire tribesmen who transformed into monsters.

"Six spiritual monsters? That three Hellfire ships actually have six spiritual monsters who changed into Hellfire people? Alans, burn those ships immediately when the fire oil is ready so that no more unexpected events can happen…" The four strong enemies circled him for a while and the Tantorn Family's Chief Guard fought against them. As he retreated, he shouted loudly.

"Don't worry, Sir! I've already poured the fire oil into the sea! We only need to light it now!" In the distance, Alans, whose good-looking facial features that had been distorted together, held onto his tower shield with one hand, with the other holding a blazing torch as he stared fixedly onto the thousands of white balls the size of an adult man's fist scattered around the sea surface.

After those white balls had driftingly covered the entire sea surface, he suddenly raised his hand and threw the torch in his hand to the ball nearest to himself.

With his agile throw, the flame at the top of the torch hit the white ball just perfectly. At that second when the two objects came into contact, the ball made a 'pop' crisp sound and suddenly burst into a floating flame, before spreading out and lighting the white balls around it one by one.

Just like this, after a series of crisp bursting sounds reverberated incessantly, thousands of erupted floating flames became connected together and formed a scorching fire sea, enveloping the Hellfire ships inside it.

However, to the steam ships made of special black iron, this level of flame could not cause any damage to them at all. The only thing that changed was that the ships had appeared to be even more dangerous and terrifying now that their hulls were stained with undying flames.

"T-Their ships are iron-made. It's made from iron…" Jumping up into the air to avoid the Hellfire's sea monster chase, Wester stared into the sea in spite of the danger he was in but the scene that he saw made him feel despair and horror.

Right at this time, the burning sea of fire in front of the Hellfire ships suddenly separated bit by bit. Amidst the fire and iron, a bloody red eyeball rose to the sky.