Chapter 482: A fierce naval boarding
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
As he browsed through the notifications, Sheyan couldn’t help but reminisce about the previous historic storyline battlefield he had experienced. Glancing at Reef, the both of them chuckled after making eye contact. They couldn’t help but sigh.
During the first ‘Destruction of the Paragon Fleets’ battlefield, both parties weren’t aware of each other’s existence. Furthermore, they could indistinctively be counted as rivals. In the end, Sheyan had acquired a tremendous opportunity, while Reef had fell short of his goals by a sliver.
Fast forward to now, both parties were comrades-in-arms, sharing life and death together while striving for a mutual goal.
Fate had really worked in a miraculous way.
Upon arriving here, Sheyan naturally selected to enter the battlefield without a second thought. A list of notification projected again.
[ History Storyline Battlefield: Destruction of Paragon Fleet (Internal Strife). ]
[ Your allegiance is pledged with the pirates. ]
[ For this battle, the leading character on the side of the pirates, is the Pirate Lord of the Mediterranean Sea, Captain Chevalle. ]
[ You currently possess only a tiny boat. ]
[ You receive a temporary battle buff: ‘Valor’ – Invigorated by the roars of Captain Chevalle, your crew is bolstered by a 20% increase in close combat damage, and 20% boost in HP. Buff vanishes after leaving the battlefield. ]
[ Fight! For riches and freedom! ]
As the final notification faded away, Sheyan had already steered this single-masted boat nimbly into the battlefield. Presently, the waves weren’t considered large, while the winds stable. These were coincidentally, suitable conditions for Sheyan to display his excellent directing capabilities.
Under his precise and immaculate commands, this single-masted boat literally transformed into an agile fish; infiltrating deeper at they passed several burnings ships, or battling warships that were on the verge of capsizing. Such splendid leadership, caused the onlookers to subconsciously feel that he wasn’t just steering a boat, but rather, a professional acrobat displaying an extravagantly wondrous performance of skills. They advanced with breakneck velocity.
Yes, Sheyan was currently in search for a suitable prey. Due to fact that his current force was too insignificant, he had to ensure his casualties wouldn’t be too excessive when pillaging other ships. Because with regards to these ships of the Middle Ages, it was absolutely impossible for the trio to rely on their own to effortlessly operate ships; even setting it into motion wasn’t possible. Unless, one had such formidable abilities like Blackbeard or Jack Sparrow.
Hence, his very first raid must be fought for victory, failure wasn’t permitted! There wouldn’t be a second chance to reset.
In a flash, Sheyan had already steered past several ships, and had reached ships that were engaged in gruelling naval boarding combat. However, none suited his intentions. All of a sudden, Sheyan’s eyes twinkled as his lips curled into a crafty smile. Immediately, he roared.
"Release half sail, starboard 30 degrees!"
Very quickly, a 3-masted British Royal Navy ‘Galen’ Galley* ship appeared before the crew. Clearly a ship manufactured by the British Navy, it was currently leaning against an Armed Merchantman*. The Armed Merchantman was riddled with wreckages, and evidently belonged to the pirate faction.
(TN:*A galley and Armed merchantman are types of ship)
This pirate ship had probably recently experienced an intense battle, thus, their manpower was plagued by multitudes of casualties. Hence, a British Navy ship had desired to exploit this, and bluntly tangled their broadsides; in bids of seizing the enemy’s ship! At present, the marines had already managed to force the pirates to retreat into the ship’s hold, while they predominantly occupied the territorial deck of the enemy’s ship. Obviously, commandeering this rival ship was only a matter of time.
Although Mogensha didn’t understand the rationality for choosing this ship, upon observing Sheyan’s expression, he realized his boss was practically gazing at the ship as though eyeing a naked beauty. Mogensha wholeheartedly understood his intentions. Thus, he immediately raised his ‘SN-9 Wasp’ pistol and steadied it. After locking on, he pressed the trigger!
The effective range of the ‘SN-9 Wasp’ pistol was all along vast, while the billowing clamours of the battlefield completed drowned out the sounds of gunfire. Vividly noticeable at the distant 3-masted Galley ship, two safeguarding marines that were scouting in their direction instantly turned sluggish; losing their precious lives to Brother Black’s bullets. They staggered and fell overboard into the sea, failing to even cause a splashing commotion.
Yet probably due to ill-luck, the deaths of the two marines had glimpsed the attention of a nearby comrade. When Sheyan’s crew had encroached within a 50 metres proximity, individuals atop that ship immediately discovered something wasn’t right. Left behind to safeguard their ship, the marines clad in red-white stripes started yelling at each other. Several marines begun hoisting their primitive Mauser rifles, as they fired towards here. Several others were sprinting around haphazardly. Nevertheless, the overall body still displayed an orderly state of affairs. Evidently, the discipline of the marines was indeed excellent, having undergone adequate training with the British Royal Navy.
At this moment, Reef finally realized a favourable position for his heroism. Striding widely to the bow of the ship, he lifted his shield. Brother Black immediately leveraged on him as a cover, and continued unbridled with his firepower suppression.
Sheyan then purposefully tasted a sampling bullet; discovering that if an explosive strike didn’t occur, one bullet would shave off 15 HP. Though this value seemed shockingly low, one must consider the fortification of Sheyan’s evolved innate ability ‘Stronghold’. In theory, the damage dealt was above 100 points.
In actual fact, Sheyan was still rather suspicious whether his innate ability would be factored during difficulty evaluation by the realm. Speaking from various perspective, Sheyan was indeed benefitting greatly from his innate ability.
However, now wasn’t the time to ponder over this question. Right ahead, Mogensha’s single firepower output was gunning down a dozen marines onboard the opposing 3-masted ship, propelling the morale of the pirates to skyrocket. The pace of their boat sped up once again, as it consecutively clashed against bouts of waves, before charging into the port of the opponent’s ship!
Nevertheless, the opposing was a 3-masted ship, and could be barely counted as a medium size ship of the current era. Hence, when clashing into their broadside, Sheyan’s single-masted boat was much lower than it. Thus, in order to hop onto the deck of the opponent’s ship, they had to rely on leaping from the mast. Yet, the mast could only squeeze 5-6 individuals on at one time.
Therefore, if Sheyan’s crew wished to engage in naval boarding combat, the majority of the crew had to inch extremely close to the opponent’s broadside, before jumping and climbing up the ship’s hull with their might. Naturally, the marines wouldn’t idle while watching this event unfold. Under normal circumstances, the casualty rates of such skirmishes would be extremely severe.
Furthermore at this moment, the disciplined British marines suddenly released the gunports along the broadside, as they braced solid and thick poles through those ports; as though this 3-masted ‘Galen’ Galley ship had suddenly grew long spikes along its hull. Piercing towards their enemies, they were clearly bullying the smaller boat with lesser manpower; attempting to impede them outside their ship, battering them with holes and bruises!
Finally, a violent collision thundered. 15-16 solid poles uniformly thrusted against the lateral side of the single-masted boat. The impact of the collision was so immense, it caused the poles to crook into an arc. However, as long as these solid wooden poles could fully absorb the collision force, then evidently if they unleashed in recoil, Sheyan’s boat would be forcefully repelled away.
If that happened, their attempt to successfully ascend the boat would fizzle into soap bubbles! Once marines on board the pirate ship returned to reinforce, even the trio wouldn’t dare to face them head on! Besides, this 3-masted ‘Galen’ Galley ship that belonged to the British Navy, had fully renounced its merchant properties; allowing them a capacity of over a hundred marines internally!
One must understand, even an ordinary attack from a marine could cause Sheyan’s health to plunge by 10 points. Counting in that perspective, Reef would still be fine. Instead, Mogensha would have a life crisis from a barrage of firepower. More critically, they had only just entered this world. If they wasted too much resources here, would they have to consign themselves into a spectating persona for any following treacherous endeavours?
Right at this instant, Sheyan suddenly charged out while enduring the hail of bullets. Pulling out a long saber that incessantly flushed with blue brilliance, he hacked down repeatedly. Kacha! Kacha! Several wooden poles with thickness of teacups, were instantly chopped cleanly without a single warning! Consecutively, their severed timber ricocheted into the skies from the immense pressure.
As for Sheyan’s boat, it continued barging forward with irresistible force. Kacha! Kacha! The remaining supporting poles obviously couldn’t withstand such massive impact force, snapping into splinters after being forced to the limits from the pressure.
Finally, amidst the piercing splintering sounds and a fit of fierce rocking, this single-masted boat finally halted beside the left hull of the 3-masted ‘Galen’ Galley ship. Simultaneously, 7-8 grappling hooks were flung upwards like raindrops, hooking against the ship’s broadside; preventing the two ships from distancing themselves.
Reef had long ago been volleyed into frustration. Without waiting for the ship to halt, he ferociously dashed forward. As he sprinted, he laced himself with the MP draining ‘Faith-guard’, as he leapt off and clawed against the hull of the rival ship; efficiently commencing his climb up! As for Mogensha, he climbed up their boat’s mast, and continued to maintain his firepower suppression onto the enemy.
With Reef leading the foray, roaring ‘Charge with me!’ and not ‘Charge for me’, the rest of the pirates unanimously charged forward; without waiting for their boat to stabilize. Bellowing monstrously, they flung several more grappling hooks which further fastened the two ships together.
When they finally scrambled disorderly up the ship’s hull, Reef had already endured dense barrages of bullets, and had charged straight into the depths of the 30 plus guarding marines. He then unleashed a ‘Shattering Cardiac Roar’, as he plunged all the marines into a speed decline state. If Brother Black had his ‘Sparta longspear’ with him at present, one hurl would minimally reduce the capacity of these marines by over a third!
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TN: Important terms to note:
Broadside battles (long range battles) – ships facing their broadsides to each other and firing cannons at a distance.
Naval Boarding battles (close combat battles) – to come up against, or alongside, an enemy ship to attack by placing men aboard the enemy ship. The goal of boarding is to capture, or destroy, the enemy vessel.
Starboard is the right of the ship.
Port is the left of the ship.
A ship’s bow is the front.
The stern of the ship is the back.