Beginning with the Ubume Bird Chapter 187

Chapter 187: Chapter 24: Crossing the Sea in Terror

“Are they on board yet?”

Cha Xiaodao applied an ice towel to his arm, as blood seeped through. Behind him were black smoke and flames.

The four Red Sail Lock Ships seized the opportunity early and had already escaped the coverage of the East India Company's cannons. Cha Xiaodao and a group of Gaoli ghosts, along with Lady Dan, were all on the ship.

“On the ship behind you.”

Li Yan's voice suddenly rang in Cha Xiaodao's ear.

“On what?”

Cha Xiaodao didn't hear clearly. His hearing was already compromised in one ear by the Gong Fish, and the chaos at sea at that moment made it even harder to discern Li Yan's words.

“On the ship behind you, I killed Ruan Anming. Right now, the Demon Thief's people are hot on my trail. The English are right behind them.”

“I see them, those English cannon are too fierce!”

In the midst of the fog, the outline of a large ship emerged. The intricate and elaborate patterns on its sails and the red and white striped St. George's Cross Flag hanging everywhere declared that this ship belonged to the infamous colonizer, the British East India Company.

The Yishi faction, momentarily paralyzed by the cannon fire, and the leaderless and demoralized Demon Thieves, including the ship Li Yan was on, still not clear of the two Tower Ships, were all overshadowed by this unimaginably large ship.

Li Yan heard Cha Xiaodao's complaint, glanced back, and also looked troubled.

“Never mind the cannon for now, have you ever seen a wooden ship more than three hundred meters long?”

“What?”

[Wrath]

One of the seven great ships of the Holun Company.

The actual owner of the East India Company, Governor Hesting, spent a huge sum to build this large gunboat, endowed with unrivaled heavy cannon firepower at sea.

Length: Four hundred meters

Tonnage: Three thousand five hundred tons

Magic Motion Technology (Legendary) (Unique): Heavy Cannon Regeneration Machine

Remarks: In 1794, the Helun Company went bankrupt, and the grandiose manufacturing plan of its flagship was shelved. Both Lust and Greed were destroyed in the 1797 sea battle of St. Vincent between England and France.

Thus, of the Helun Company's world-shocking arsenal, the seven great ships, only four remained. And they could never be replicated again.

Now, the Wrath has ventured far across the oceans, embarking on another legendary journey of the seven great ships in the Far East…

Only the seven great ships can contend with the seven great ships.

—-Rola, chief shipwright of the Holun Company

The Wrath descended with an unrivaled air of arrogance, and the disordered ships on the sea appeared like a group of powerless young beasts in front of this behemoth of the East India Company.

Only the scale of the Red Flag pirates, upon first encountering “Heavenly Mother Crossing the Sea,” could match it with their black Tower Ship “Cloud View” that surfaced from the sea bed.

“Anyway, I'm fine. Let's get out of here first.”

The Wrath's firepower was entirely focused on Yishi, awakening the Demon Thief who lost their leader from their stupor; they desperately scrambled away to the west, no longer caring about Li Yan.

Li Yan's Tower Ship escaped in another direction.

Lei San's fleet of cargo ships had bought a “good thing” from Treasure Ship King that could increase sailing speed, and though they were the fastest, they stood no chance against the ferocity of Wrath's firepower. Wanting to escape now, they were firmly in Wrath's sights, and the dozen or so cargo ships, without exception, were blasted to smithereens and submerged in billowing black smoke.

“Tsk tsk, what a tragedy.”

The Tower Ship escaped far away. The Wrath had formidable firepower, but its sailing speed wasn't very fast, and these Englishmen had set their sights firmly on Yishi's people, ignoring the pirates on both sides. Instead, they rolled over towards those struggling in the water, the soldiers wielding crossbows and firelocks, clearly intent on completely eradicating them.

Li Yan exhaled, but suddenly furrowed his brow, noticing hundreds of shattered barrels drifting over from who knows where…

His heart clenched. From the square hole in the Copper Coin on his chest surged a tumult of azure energy. Lady Dan stepped out of the Copper Coin, glancing back in the direction of the [Wrath] with rare alarm in her eyes.

“Li Yan, keep away from that ship, as far as you can!”

“Fire, fire away with all your might.”

The rolling red flames exploded at sea, and Martin, his face twisted fiercely, watched through the scope as the azure Celestial Horse Sail was burnt to ashes, venting all his malicious fury.

Gurgle, gurgle~

Bubbles the size of human heads rose from beneath the sea, as if the surface boiled with heated water.

Washington watched the ocean, his frown growing tighter, but he had the situation well in hand. The pirates were like dogs that had lost their homes, and a dash of innate arrogance prevented him from voicing any concerns.

The Wrath approached, arrows and bullets riddling the wailing pirates with holes.

Martin pursed his lips. Ahead of him on the sea, Lei San raced across the water. The fat man fished something out of his sleeve, stuffed it into his mouth, and swam faster than a shark. Bullets hit him and made a pffft sound without killing him, probably why he was known as “Medicine Shark.”

Whoosh~~

Lei San, his face covered in blood and black soot, looked back in terror. A thirty-kilo explosive shell grew larger and larger before his eyes.

Boom~

Waves churned violently, and after a while, Lei San resurfaced, his thighs blown off, his body a mix of black and red, with not a single spot left unmarred, yet he was still alive, his eyeballs still twitching.

The Wrath drew closer, Martin and Washington looked down at the corpulent man plastered with dog skin plaster.

“You vermin!”

Martin reached for the firing gun, aiming at Lei San floating in the water.

Incredibly, Lei San was smiling. His eyes swept over the Wrath, this marvel of the Age of Sail, a grand crystallization of human intelligence, the supreme sovereign of the South Seas, beaming wider and wider.

“Red Haired Devils, you're all going to die~”

Bang!

The bullet pierced through Lei San's eye socket.

“Poor savage~”

Washington took off his hat, shaking his head.

“Haul these corpses aboard, quickly! How am I supposed to explain this to the board?!”

Martin scolded his subordinates.

“Wait, wait, old Martin.”

Washington lost his composure for a moment, poking Martin's leather shoe with his cane.

“Why has the sea turned black over there?”

As the two men locked eyes, a vast swath of ocean suddenly bulged upward, monstrous waves towering meters into the air. The Englishmen onboard looked up at the spray, with Lei San's corpse held aloft on the crest.

Water around the Wrath first dipped into several pits, then whirlpools formed, seven or eight maelstroms tearing frenziedly at anything daring to approach, firmly clutching the Wrath and all the flotsam within a kilometer's radius. Li Yan's two tower ships, as well as the Demon Thief's black sailed ship, were not spared.

Whoosh!!!!

Buckets of waves splashed onto the Wrath, vast ripples disseminating around it, lash after lash of white breakers striking the ship, overlaid with a spider-web of blue lightning. Amidst these irresistible undulations of the vast ocean, the Wrath stood out, stark and solitary.

When the waves subsided, Lei San's corpse had not sunk with the surf but was hanging from a black mast!

A monstrous black tower ship emerged to the surface!

With four square towers and a broad deck on which war horses could gallop, it stood fifty meters tall, its edges beyond sight. Flags fluttered fiercely, Lei San's body hanging on the mast looked utterly insignificant. This black ship that rose from the depths was eighty percent new, its decks lined with layer upon layer of heavy cannons, confronting the Wrath face to face.

Wangxiao: ???

Yet, this was only the beginning.

The Wrath rocked, evoking the sensation of hitting a reef. Stones covered in coral, seaweed, and shells surged up, blocking the Wrath's path as if they formed a massive reef hundreds of meters in diameter.

However, this absurd notion was quickly dispelled as the “reef” continued to “grow” taller.

The parts not covered by seaweed gleamed with the white of jade, cracked and seemingly fragile.

As it rose, two regular black hollows were revealed first, followed by a figure-eight-shaped cavity in the middle, and finally…

A row of teeth wide enough to snugly trap the Wrath in place.

This was no reef; it was a white human skull, hundreds of meters wide and over a thousand meters in length!

Chapter end