Six-Armed Serpent Demon

Page 111

These guys are terrible at math; they can probably only count on their fingers.

She looked at Steo, the treasure hunter Medusa. This girl made a living by treasure hunting and salvaging shipwrecks, so she should have a very good understanding of the geography and biology of this area.

Steo shrugged.

“It’s about ten thousand in total,” Medusa said. “The Shahua fishmen are very united and have a strong desire for revenge. The Coral Tribe is also a very large tribe. Just that tribe alone can produce at least two thousand five hundred soldiers.”

Ivy Beatrice was taken aback.

"Two thousand five hundred soldiers? Are you kidding me?" she asked doubtfully. "We're talking about a tribe, not an underwater city or kingdom or anything like that, right?"

Stewart shook his head, his wavy, mottled hair hissing and swaying back and forth in a strange manner.

“You don’t understand,” Medusa said. “The Coral Tribe has less than three thousand people in total. But the Sawa fishmen are all soldiers, even three-year-old cubs can go to the battlefield. The females among them are stronger than the males, and they are also a size larger. Moreover, their racial talent is bloodthirst and ferocity; they are all born savages.”

Ivy Beatrice looked at the three timid and hesitant men in front of her with suspicion.

"Born savages? These?"

“Mistress,” Sink said respectfully, “the bloodlust of these Shahua fishmen is not unlimited; they can usually only be used once or twice a day. When I removed the petrification from these four just now, they had already gone into a bloodlust, killing two sailors and seriously injuring six others.”

Medusa shrugged. "That's right. The Sawa fish-men are the most ferocious marine race, bar none. These guys are all mindless violent maniacs. The god they worship is the hungry god Sercoura, who reveres bloodshed and slaughter. That guy claims to be a god, but he doesn't actually have a divine kingdom. He wanders the River Styx in the lower planes all day long, much like a great devil or demon lord, which is why he can project his power onto Abel. His most common incarnation is a great white shark from hell. Their doctrine is strange; they believe that there is only the relationship of eating and being eaten in this world. They encourage the Sawa fish-men to kill, turning all living beings they see into blood food. If you ask me, just ignore them and let me petrify them all and throw them into the water."

Ivy Beatrice pondered, "That sounds kind of interesting."

"What are you thinking now... wait, you're not thinking of summoning them, are you?" Stewart said, looking at Ivy-Beate in surprise. "You want to... gather all the Shahua fishmen to help you reclaim the dragon's head?"

Ivy Beatrice shrugged.

“What excellent cannon fodder,” she said approvingly, looking at the three prisoners. “Why not use them?”

Author's Note: This chapter is a bit short, I apologize. This is because I am still recovering, and the doctor has advised me to limit my screen time to no more than two hours a day. Once I finish my recovery, I will resume my usual word count.

Chapter 131 Admiral Zachasa

Whenever Admiral Zachara casts his gaze upon the blood-stained stone dragon head, he feels an urge to prostrate himself in worship.

Zachasa is a dragon-type familiar personally elevated by the two-headed dragon king Hesladi, the commander-in-chief of the invincible fleet, and the commander of this operation to bring back the dragon head.

—All glory belongs to the Two-Headed Dragon King.

Zachasa never forgot that before receiving the Dragon King's great favor, he was just an insignificant lizardman.

He knelt on one knee before the dragon head carved from meteorite, slowly closing his eyes, allowing his mind to be enveloped by the whispers of the deity. Tears of emotion streamed down his tightly closed red dragon eyelids.

A few days ago, when the Two-Headed Dragon King returned, the massive red dragon shadow, as huge as a mountain range, did not land next to the city as usual to offer gluttonous sacrifices and tributes. Instead, it flew directly over the city and into the misty mountains.

This left Zacharsa speechless and terrified.

To welcome the Dragon King's triumphant return, Zhachasa offered his six children as sacrifices, awaiting the Dragon King's consumption. However, the great Dragon King did not accept them.

—Did I do something wrong?

In his terror and rage, he killed all his non-dragon family members, ate their flesh and blood along with his own, and prayed to the Lord with the most devout "self-eating ritual," begging for divine mercy.

Three whole days later, the great Heslati finally enlightened him with a command that left Zachasa speechless: it commanded Zachasa to go out to sea and find its lost head!

Only then did Zachasa realize that the great Dragon King had failed to win and was actually seriously injured!

—The Lord believes in me.

At that moment, Zacharsa's eyes filled with tears.

At this time, rumors were rampant in the Northern Seventeen Cities Federation, with widespread gossip that the Two-Headed Evil Dragon was severely injured and near death. Many families and forces in the seventeen city-states, who were usually as docile as sheep, began to stir, and there was a strong possibility of disintegration.

Zacharsa led his fleet on a relentless campaign, spending two days massacring the three most likely rebellious city-states, leveling them with cannon fire and swords, before finally stabilizing the situation.

But he knew that a greater rebellion was brewing, and unless his lord appeared unharmed, the Northern Federation would surely cease to exist.

—As long as we welcome back the Lord's head, everything will be safe and sound.

Zacharsa firmly believed this.

He left one-third of the invincible fleet to his vice-admiral, while he himself led the rest of the navy, a total of 206 warships, southward in a massive campaign.

Now, he has succeeded.

Suddenly, the divine whispers that had been echoing in my mind disappeared.

Zacharsa felt as if he were isolated from the world and had entered another world.

Immediately afterwards, an all-too-familiar, tearing pain shot through my entire body.

Zachara let out a long sigh, then collapsed onto the captain's cabin floor, howling in agony. For he knew that it was the great Lord expressing His joy.

“Thank you,” Zacharsa said haltingly between wails, “Great Lord, bless you, your humble servant…”

He opened his eyes again and was delighted to see a shimmering golden jewel before him.

He reached out his trembling hand, picked up the jewel, and put it in his mouth.

The next second, the excruciating pain disappeared, replaced by an incomparably pleasant and blissful feeling.

Zacharsa groaned as he felt knowledge and power seeping into his mind and body, bit by bit.

“Worship, Great Lord Red Dragon,” he choked with emotion, tears streaming down his face, his voice hoarse with effort, “Worship, Lord of strife and tyranny, the power of the world and all things—”

Just as he was about to pour out all his praise, there was a sudden, urgent knock on the door.

In that instant, Zacharsa wanted to kill.

He wanted to inflict the most brutal and painful punishment on the person who dared to interrupt his knocking. However, his remaining rationality told him that the only person with the right to knock at this moment was the captain of the ship, who was also his most capable and valued eldest son.

Zacharsa gasped for breath, trying to calm himself down.

He tried to remain calm and asked in a detached tone, "What is it?"

“Commander-in-Chief,” it was indeed his eldest son’s voice, “something is not right here. You’d better come and take a look.”

Chapter 132 The Flagship's Position

Zachasa stepped out of the captain's cabin, gave his eldest son, the flagship's captain, a cold look, and strode towards the deck. Before he even reached the bridge, he heard the clash of weapons, screams, and the distinctive clattering of the Shahua fishmen's teeth.

Zacharsa frowned, his brows covered in red scales, and pushed open the hatch of the bridge, his red dragon-like head sweeping around.

The battle did not break out on his flagship.

Zachasa saw that the hull of another warship not far from the flagship was densely covered with Shahua fishmen. They were scrambling up the hull from beneath the sea.

Zachasa saw that the sailors on the warship had organized themselves and were putting up a fierce resistance.

Some of them, positioned on higher ground atop the bridge, fired crossbows and flanks downwards; others formed a shield wall on the deck, repelling the relentless waves of enemies. Opposite them, the bloodthirsty murlocs charged relentlessly, wave after wave of ferocious attacks.

Magical flashes rose and fell across the deck of the attacked warship as the ship's sorcerers and priests cast spells from the bridge. However, they dared not damage the hull, and therefore dared not use powerful evocation spells like fireballs, so their efforts were largely ineffective.

Zachasa saw that some fool had cast "Greasy Spell" on the pile of people on the deck, causing the sailors and saka fishmen within the area to fall down. However, the saka fishmen behind them continued to charge forward, stepping on their fallen comrades, and the sailors' shield wall was thus breached.

Zachara's eyes were twitching.

"Idiots," he gritted his teeth, "a bunch of idiots!"

In that short time, dozens of Sakawa fishmen, using both hands and feet, climbed onto the mast at the bow of the warship. Like swinging on a swing, they leaped from this mast to the mainmast, where they fought the sailors, who were also entrenched on the mast, high up on the square mast. The sailors, with their superior swordsmanship, killed several Sakawa fishmen in succession, causing their corpses to fall from the mast.

But the situation quickly reversed.

The bloodthirsty lunatics charged forward, and the sailors' swords pierced their vitals. They continued to lunge forward, letting the swords penetrate even deeper. Then, with their last ounce of strength, they grabbed the terrified sailors and jumped off the mast, either falling to their deaths on the deck or into the sea.

The sailors on the mast were quickly cleared away.

More shalhua fishmen climbed onto the warship, scaling the masts. They leaped between the masts, soaring high from the mainmast and plunging into the ranks of sailors atop the bridge, unleashing a ferocious attack with their mouths full of spiked teeth and their tridents. The crossbowmen and musketeers on the bridge, lacking thick armor and shields, could only desperately protect the sorcerers and priests behind them with their bare flesh.

After observing the battle for a while, Zachasa turned to his eldest son, who was also a red dragon, and asked, "How many ships were attacked in total?"

The flagship captain's eldest son hesitated for a moment: "Uh, thirty ships... or maybe forty to fifty."

Zachasa shook his red dragon-like head.

“How could I have such a useless person like you?” he sighed. “No wonder the Lord did not accept my sacrifice, because I made a mistake with the offering.”

He looked around and saw shouts of killing and screams everywhere on the sea, and even a ship engulfed in flames.

“Use your brain,” Zachasa said. “They simply don’t have that many men. Even if all the Sawa fishmen in this area were combined, they wouldn’t have as many sailors as our navy.”

Zachara commanded two-thirds of the Federation's Invincible Fleet, 206 warships. Each warship was a three- or even four-masted sailing ship. Each sailing ship was fully manned, with at least 400 sailors, equivalent to a battalion, and larger warships even had 600 soldiers, totaling 100,000 men. Thirty warships would then have 12,000 men, although most of them were sailors lacking combat skills, their numbers were still considerable.

Where did the Shahua fishmen get so many people?

The scene before us looks impressive at first glance, but there should be very few ships under attack.

Zachasa listened again.

“Four ships,” he said impatiently. “Only four ships were actually attacked. Messengers, use light signals to tell the four attacked ships: reinforcements are imminent, fight to the end. Tell those stupid sorcerers to strictly prohibit the misuse of crowd control magic, and have them and the priests prioritize using buff and healing magic to take care of their own people first.”

The messenger jogged back to the bridge.

Zachara turned to his son: "Have you learned it?"

Whenever the eldest son met his father's fierce, yellow eyes, he would feel his palms sweating.

He lowered his head: "What...what did you learn?"

"art of war."

Zachasa said casually, "Notify the other ships to disperse and stay away from the four ships attacked by the Shahua fishmen. Be wary of underwater attacks, especially sharks, and be prepared to counter and dispel the water magic of the Ocean Druids. At the same time, have the Magic Swordsman Mobile Squad stand by and prepare for battle. But remember, hold your positions."

His vertical pupils were an impure color, a golden yellow mixed with specks of scarlet.

“Let these stupid murlocs attack freely and enjoy the battle,” Zachasa said. “It doesn’t matter if the warship is captured, those idiots can’t even sail a ship, and it doesn’t matter if all the sailors and spellcasters on board are dead. Just use them to wear down those beasts. Once their bloodlust is exhausted, their bodies are weary, and their priests have used up all their magic, then send out the Demon Swordsmen… I’m going to skin these blood madmen and fry them.”

Looking down from the clouds, on the vast black sea, more than two hundred brightly lit warships began to silently disperse, forming four empty encirclements. The four warships attacked by numerous Shahua fishmen were located at the very center of the encirclement.

Bomber Captain Sink flapped his dragon wings and silently circled in the dark night sky.

The eerie voice of the six-armed serpent demon echoed in his mind: "Well, have you found our target?"

[The Wise Hostess]

Sink responded devoutly, his eyes fixed on the largest five-masted warship below. This warship's signal lights always lit up first, before the other ships began to move. On the deck of this warship stood two towering red-scaled dragons.

Thanks to your brilliant calculations, I have located the enemy's flagship.

Chapter 133 Stewed Fish and Disguise

Ivy-Beate transformed her body into a half-red dragon named Grandal, similar to Sink, and immediately activated "Advanced Teleportation" to appear next to Sink.

She flapped her wings as she watched with great interest the intense and fierce battle below.

The swarm attack tactics of the Sawa fish-men can be described as "foolishly pleasing to the eye." They neither identified their target—that is, they didn't directly attack the flagship of the invincible fleet—nor did they possess more efficient attack methods; they simply wasted their own and their enemies' sweat and blood…

As she looked at it, she couldn't help but exclaim, "This is youth..."

Sink, standing to the side, asked in confusion, "What did you say?"

“It’s nothing,” Ivy Beatrice changed the subject, not wanting her subordinates to know about her past life as a homebody who loved anime. “I never imagined they were so dedicated.”

Aside from casting a spell to command the three captured Shahua fishmen never to mention her again, Ivy-Beate did nothing else. After casting the spell, she released them, dispatched a bomber squadron to locate the Invincible Fleet, and kept a close watch on the massive fleet from above the clouds, leaving the rest of the work to the Shahua fishmen's intense thirst for revenge.

The result lived up to expectations.

The situation in the battle below gradually became clear.

Under the relentless onslaught of the Shahua fishmen, almost all four warships under attack were captured.

The other ships of the Invincible Fleet silently formed four circles around the four ships that were under attack.

Within these four circles, there are also a considerable number of Shahua fishmen, comprising about a quarter of the total. They serve as the reserve force for attack, as well as sentinels guarding and monitoring other warships. In addition, their shark trainers control a large number of sharks swimming within the circles, numbering approximately one hundred.

But suddenly, the four circles changed: the once calm water surface shattered; the sharks that had been swimming quietly seemed to have gone mad, frantically thrashing about and even turning to attack the shark trainer and other Shahua fishmen; the Shahua fishmen who remained in the water, even if they were not attacked by the sharks, began to thrash about and scream in agony.

Ivy Beatrice asked curiously, "What happened?"

She did not sense any magical fluctuations.

However, Sink, who was circling around her, said in a heavy tone: "Please look over there."

Following the direction of his finger, Ivy Beate saw that the other warships were pouring something into the circle.

"what is that?"

“Quicklime balls,” Sink said, “that’s an alchemical substance…”

Ivy Beatrice interrupted him: "Okay, I understand, no need to explain."

Quicklime reacts chemically with water, generating a large amount of heat, which can even boil the water.

In the past, there was the burning of opium at Humen; today, there is stewed fish in a round array.

That was a truly ruthless move. Not only did it eliminate the remaining Shahua fishmen reserve force in the water, it also cut off the retreat route of the Shahua fishmen who had already boarded the ship.