Chapter 232 - Rumors

After traveling for more than three days, the group finally reached the last island of Vezar. While they didn't check all the islands, they could tell that the enemies were still moving away to the West. To be more precise, the smugglers knew that. After passing the island, they wouldn't have anywhere to stop for several days. Still, they couldn't slow down… even though it was evident that they were moving toward the place they would find Ferdinand's entire fleet.

"How come the ships of the pirates are as fast as ours?" Drannor asked.

"That is one of the nasty rumors that Ferdinand had, that he had sold ships to pirates," Orleand said. "I guess it isn't just a rumor."

Zaos was doing his research while the others were talking, but he suddenly stopped when he felt a cold wind coming from the West. He got up and then looked to the West and saw some storm clouds in the distance. It seemed that he would have to fight in the rain again. While it wasn't the first time that he will fight in the rain, it will be the first time he will fight in the rain and above a ship as well. Zaos had been trained enough to get used to both types of situations, but not at the same time.

"I don't like this storm…" Zaos said since that feeling of unease was growing stronger.

After a few hours, they arrived at the storm, and the trip really got turbulent. Even though the ship they were using was sturdy and big, it still was shaking quite a lot due to the tall waves. Despite all that, they crossed the storm for three days and didn't find a single sign of the enemies. Only in the morning of the fourth day, while they were fighting against the storm, they found the pirate fleet in the distance.

"It looks like they slowed down…" Erean said. "They found the main fleet, or they are preparing a trap for us."

It was a bit risky to attack with the number of ships they had. However, it was probably their best chance… once the enemy's fleet turned around to face them, the only thing they would be able to do against a fleet that had seven times more ships was to run. Again, it was dangerous, but if they attack while the enemy is unaware of it… it should be possible since Ferdinand isn't expecting the pirates to join him.

"Let's use the ships that we gained in the last battle and the catapults," Erean said. "If Ferdinand is nearby, our kingdom's fleet shouldn't be so far away. The storm will hide some of the smoke, but if we put some of their ships on fire, it should work well as a signal."

After giving the order for the ships that they captured in the last battle to move forward and attack using the remaining oil, the whole fleet got close to each other in order to attack the enemy ships, and the make the attack concentrate in a single area until they find Ferdinand if they succeeded on that they avoid suffering too much damage before they find him… that would be important because the chances of them defeating the whole fleet were close to none.

Thanks to the high waves, the pirates didn't notice the fleet was pursuing them suddenly speed up, and when they noticed it, they didn't have time to react. Orleand's fleet collided against some of the pirate ships. It damaged them quite a lot despite the fact that the enemies tried to move away in the last movement. Some of the pirates fell on the ocean thanks to those, but that wasn't important. What was important was the fact that after damaging those, they saw the rest of the fleet in the distance, and among them, they could see other battleships that resembled his… they certainly belonged to Ferdinand.

"Onward! Full speed!" Erean shouted.

While lightning bolts fell in the distance, Erean gave the orders that made him sound more imposing than usual. Regardless, the enemy fleet was ready to fight even before they entered the range to use the catapults. But that didn't matter. Erean gave the order for them to be used anyway. Some of the ships managed to dodge barrels of oil by a small distance, but Ameria set them on fire when the barrels fell on the ocean, and she hit them with Fire Sword.

Some of the barrels hit the other ships, and that made the pirates panic. While they were trying to get rid of the flames, they created a hole in their formation, and that had been more than enough for Orleand's fleet to charge through them. Two of the enemies' ships, upon being attacked, sustained too much damage, and they were bound to sink, while three others lost half of their crew. That being said, the pirates that approached to offer some backup made fire arrows rain over the decks of the ships that were on the side of the formation. A lot of soldiers were killed since they didn't have time to protect themselves. They paid the prince, but now they were at the heart of the enemies' fleet.

"All right, Zaos," Erean said. "You can attack the enemies' ships now. Just make sure to focus on knocking down their main mast."

Zaos rolled his eyes. Erean said like that would be easy… it wouldn't since those masts were thicker than the normal ones. Although that was the case, Zaos had a few tricks ups the sleeve that he could use. By increasing the amount of mana he uses while drawing each symbol in his head, he could increase the speed, the power, and the range of his attacks. Just like that and with pinpoint precision, Zaos began to fire Wind Swords toward the enemy ships' masts and destroyed them one after the other.

"… Now that I think about it, my precision also increases the more mana I use," Zaos nodded to himself.

The battleships not only lost some of their mobility, but they also began to hit one another since it was hard to control the ship amidst that storm and without their main mast.