Chapter 332 - The Ocean Storm And Pirates.

"How? How did such an artifact end up in that dungeon? how was John the one who was able to find it? Could it be fate? After all, he's the only human who would be able to use it. Any other person would have died in John's situation after using that much mana…" 

Zestari then looked at the ceiling before a smile was formed on her face. 'Perhaps, we do stand a chance of survival. Although it's small…'

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In the middle of a vast ocean, a ship could be seen sailing approaching a storm. The sailors didn't like the looks of it.

"The hell…? We have to deal with another one?" Asked the captain as he clicked his tongue.

He looked over at the passengers on board. There were around fifteen. The ship was rather big so there wouldn't be any problems accommodating for them. 

The problem would be handling this storm. 

One of the sailors quickly ran up towards the captain who was deep in thought. 

"Guess I'll have to let loose." Said The captain with a wide smile. 

The captain a tall old man. Despite his age, his muscles were still in top shape. As large and defined as they were in his prime. His beard, long and old seemed to dance as it was blown along the wind. The sea was his territory and home. Ain't no storm going to scare him.

'I ain't traveled the seven seas all my life for nothing.' He thought to himself

"Captain!" One of the sailors suddenly called out to him. 

"What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?" The captain asked as he steered the steering wheel 

"T-This is serious! We have a problem!" The sailor shouted 

"What problem?!" The captain asked

"P-Pirates!" He shouted 

"Calm your horse down! The prophecy said that there'd be no pirates on this route." Said the captain

"Then what's that!?" The sailor shouted as he handed the captain the spyglass while pointing ahead of them.

The captain's looked through the spy glass and his jaw dropped. A large fleet could be seen heading in their direction.

'It's far, we still have some time to turn back.'

"Hey, go alert the rest of the crew and tell the passengers that we're turning back." Said The Captain.

"W-What's this?" The sailor asked

The boat began to shake heavily. The captain who had his hand on the steering wheel, struggled to turn it over as something began dragging the boat towards the pirate fleet.

"What now!?" The captain asked

"A Vortex! A vortex suddenly appeared!" Shouted the sailor

"WHAT?! OUT OF NOWHERE!?" Shouted the captain

It was just as the sailor said. A vortex appeared and it had began dragging the ship in. The captain was lucky that the vortex wasn't big enough to sink the ship, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. 

As the ship began to spin around in the vortex, the passengers began to worry.

"What- What's going on?"

"Where did this vortex come from…?"

"Why isn't the captain saying anything? Is this normal?"

"You're crazy if you think this is normal."

The captain who saw this, left the steering wheel before making his way to the top of the deck. 

"Silence!" He shouted interrupting everyone.

Suddenly, it became quiet. He now had their attention.

"I need you all to cooperate with me. Do not panic." He spoke calmly

His voice was loud enough for them all to hear and despite the boat shaking and turning rapidly, he was able to stay perfectly balanced despite not holding onto anything.

"The ship is under attack from pirates. I want you all to hide inside and wait until I tell you it is safe to come out. Me and my crew will do our best to stop them." Said the captain.

"What can a mere captain do!?" Someone suddenly shouted

"That's right! I Paid good money for this! I Don't want to do die!"

"Yeah, What he said!"

The passengers began to take the side of the person who had shouted. They were furious by that fact that they were going to be raided by pirates. However, the captain did not care.

"You fools! He isn't just any captain, he's-"

The crew member was interrupted and stopped by the captain who suddenly said.

"I understand, this is my mistake so I'll be doing my best to clear it up." Said the captain as he lowered his head. He knew he was in the wrong. "But if anyone has any complaints to make, then you best want to help us out and take it out on the pirates who are after our belongings." He then added with a cold look.

"…"

No one said anything else, they didn't know what to say. It didn't matter if they made any complaints now, especially when they would be dead by the end of the day. Now their best option would be to do as they're told.

Such was what they realized.

"Mummy… What's happening…?" One of the passengers asked

It was a little girl, she was with her mother who held on tightly to her.

"It's nothing sweetie, we're just stopping for a moment." The mother reassured her.

The captain who saw this, let out a sigh.

"It'll be fine. I won't let them take over this ship." Said the captain as he turned over to the pirate fleet. 

"Big words, coming from a sailor…" One of the passengers muttered.

It was the same one who had asked what a mere captain could do. Upon hearing this, one of the crew members got annoyed.

"Stop calling him a mere captain! Even though he retired he used to be an A-"

The captain suddenly glared at the crew member who was about to reveal his identity. The crew member got the message and instantly shut his mouth.

"I-I apologies, I just couldn't handle such disrespect, the audacity to say that…" He muttered

"Worry not, we have bigger things to worry about. Hurry up. They're coming… And Fast…" Said The captain as he looked ahead of the fleet.

One of the crew members opened up vault door which led to the inside of the deck. The passengers hurriedly made their way inside. Struggling not to lose balance from the vortex which was still spinning strongly.

Then came the ship who was moving towards them at high speed. The water behind it was being pushed away at fast speeds. The ship wasn't being carried by the wind, but rather, the water.

There was only one way for such a thing to be possible. 

"They have a mage… A strong one at that." 

It wouldn't be long now until they reached the captain and his ship.

'Shit, was this planned? By who?'

The captain let out a sigh before opening a small vault beneath the steering wheel. There stood a weapon which he quickly grabbed and pulled out.

"It's been a while since I've had to use you." He muttered before getting in position. 

He then looked back at his crew composed of seven members and saw that they were all already equipped, just waiting for his signal.

"Are you ready boys…? It'll be just like the good old days! Let's go cook some pirates!" The captain shouted

"YEAH!!!"

With their morales high, they prepared for impact. The pirates weren't going to sink the ship cause their aims were always the same. They wanted the valuables. So the plan was to wait for them to come and finish them off.

Such was the plan until-

"Hey- Captain… Are those what I think they are…?" One of the members of the crew asked as he pointed at the circles in the air beside the ship.

The captain turned to the side and his eyes widened. Six pure blue magic circles were formed In the air besides the ship. 

They were large, each being able to stand out on it's own. As this happened a path of ice coming from the pirate's ship suddenly made it's way towards the captain's ship as they were only a hundred meters away.

The ice not only froze the ocean water but also froze the vortex, causing the pirate's ship to get stuck in place.

"I can't believe it…" The captain muttered with wide opened eyes. Drops of rain began to fall and land on his face as the storm approached. "We're in the middle of the ocean where the waves are at their strongest… What kind of mage can they possibly have which can do all of this…?" The captain added.

The pirate's ship continued making it's way towards the captains ship as long chains of ice extended out of the magic circle. 

It seemed as if they were going to pierce the ship to further lock it in place. But with the size of those chains even the captain could tell that the ship wouldn't be able to handle it.

"THEY'RE GONNA SINK IT!" The captain shouted

"I think not." Said one of the passengers.

In that instant, the giant chains of ice, evaporated.