Chapter 493: Redoubtable HMS Dauntless
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Sheyan no longer concerned himself with matters on deck. Besides, today’s affairs was adequate for the pirates’ digestion. Thus, he turned and left.
Right now, the two ships he had commandeered hadn’t been inspected yet, which could presumably offer him further delightful nuggets. Moreover, his reputation had inflated to an inconceivable extent amongst the pirates, where a riot would be seemingly impossible.
Meanwhile, the other pirates remained exceedingly envious of Canbi’s luck, where they staunchly affirmed to stay in this crew.
This time, Sheyan acquired a surprising delight during this time’s inspection. He actually discovered two unique storyline equipments. However, both were only usable for the ship.
He discovered this on the british royal navy ship:
[ Lisbon ‘McKinney’ Sail ]
[ Type: Sail ]
[ Origin: Lisbon ]
[ Equipment characteristics: Unique Storyline Equipment (Can only be installed onto storyline ships, unable to be brought out of this world.) ]
[ Equipment rarity: Light blue ]
[ Material: Thick sailcloth ]
[ Addons: Nil ]
[ Effect: After installing onto ship, it will provided 5% additional movement speed as compared to ordinary sails. ]
[ Installing position: Mast ]
[ Description: The year 1989 was a flourishing one for growing flax. That year, the Mckinney workshop reaped a bumper harvest of flax. That year, the quality of their thick sailcloth received outstanding appraisals and praise. Employing the sail cloths they manufactured will pave the way for excelling ship capabilities. ]
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As for the pirate ship, Sheyan acquired something he had been desiring for long.
[ Tergi Emblem ]
[ Type: Naval Ram ]
[ Origin: Caribbean Sea, Isla de Pelegostos ]
[ Equipment characteristics: Unique storyline equipment (Can only be installed onto storyline ships, unable to be brought out of this world.) ]
[ Equipment rarity: Black ]
[ Material: Chitin, bone substance ]
[ Addons: Iron hoop ]
[ Effect: After installing on ship, it deals 2.5x of normal collision damage against enemy ships, with a 33% increase chance of wrecking a rival ship’s body. ]
[ Installation position: Ship’s bow ]
[ Description: A risky endeavour three years ago, Blood-Anchor led a crew to Isla de Pelegostos, and exterminated a cannibal tribe known as the Terji tribe. During the raid, he acquired an extremely lethal long tusk. After appraising it, it was actually a narwhal’s tusk. ]
After Blood-Anchor had exterminated the tribe, they didn’t obtain any additional information. As such, nobody knew how a narwhal’s tusk could surface in the caribbean sea, when the whale only lived in the Arctic. Yet one fact could be confirmed – this tusk was tremendously massive. After Blood-Anchor had been vanquished to Jeter’s ship, he employed this tusk as the ship’s ram.
This ship’s ram would simplify the common sequence of initiating naval boarding battles. Swinging over with grappling ropes would be no longer required, as one could simply smash into an enemy’s hull. After a violent collision and wrecking into the ship’s hull, the ship’s ram would lodge deep into the enemy’s ship; allowing the two ships to temporarily become one body. Ascending onto the enemy’s ship would then become a simple affair of a single step.
While Sheyan was instructing his pirates to install the Ship’s ram, a pirate exclaimed abruptly as he pointed towards the sky behind.
"Captain Chevalle has released the return flare, today’s battle be concluded."
Sheyan turned and immediately noticed a curving signal flare skyrocketing into the sky, in the midst of the core battlefield; approximately dozens of nautical miles from here. Observing that pillar of flare shooting directly into the blue dome of heaven, it faded into the abstruse mysteries behind the skies.
Following that ascending signal flare, every pirate ship begun congregating towards a direction. Yet at this moment, a 7-masted grand ship from the Royal British Navy fleet suddenly cruised forward; shockingly, its appearance modelled the latest dominant Caravel ship model. Indeed, this was one of the three primary warships of the Royal British Navy.
Norrington’s flagship – The HMS Dauntless!
One could tell this redoubtable ship was one of a kind. It held utter contempt towards the congregating pirates, ushering an impression akin to a display of the king’s horses and his men; like an indomitable grand general issuing a brazen campaign for battle!
As The HMS Dauntless navigated several nautical miles forward, it sharply whirled into a horizontal position, while dragging out an arc of majestic waves; positioning its right broadside aiming towards the gathering pirates! Within a second, rumbles of cannons boomed thunderously, as they drowned out even the sloshing of waves in this vast ocean!
More astonishingly, all 106 32-pounder cannons of The HMS Dauntless had thundered in uniform fashion. A uniform single boom that caused one to feel a fault in their sense of hearing. Following this, minute seconds of tranquility ensued.
Meanwhile, the pirate ships could begin hearing oppressive whizzing sounds. Eventually, like igniting a gunpowder storage, an astronomically violent explosion erupted; followed by the encompassing billows of gales and turbulent waves!
The trio’s complexion turned pale. A contestant’s vision exceeded the average human and they could vividly observe, when the HMS Dauntless opened fire, a dense mass of 35 pounds cannon balls cruised in while covering the heavens and the earth.
The waves of cannon balls contained hidden fatal might, which could effortlessly obliterate anything obstructing its path. Within an instant, three pirate ships amongst the congregating pirate ships had been sunk.
Such were the tremendous results of this first bombarding, but the true aftermath remained unstoppably destructive as wooden shavings splattered about when a 7-masted grand ship behind was also struck.
The main masts of three other large ships soon toppled bluntly; carrying multiple creakings before it collapsed with a boom, leaving torrents of splashes in its wake.
Soon after, some of the gunpowder storages of the pirate ships had also been implicated; detonating up with matchless explosive destruction!
"A bombardment analogous to rocket artillery, pouring down torrents of cannon balls that outstripped the enemy’s firepower by manifold. Is that the special ability of that legendary HMS Dauntless warship?" Sheyan mused to himself.
"Actually, its weakness is quite apparent. As long as one can dodge away from that, and if The HMS Dauntless lacked ammunition…..once a naval boarding occurs, one would have to face just a large crew of gunners..."
At the instant the HMS Dauntless had commenced its bombardment, Sheyan’s perceptive sense had warned him of a tremendously deadly threat. Evidently with Sheyan’s current prowess, it would be absolutely insufficient to collide straight on with those peak level monsters of the Pirates of the Caribbean World.
However to Sheyan, he wasn’t required to accomplish such tasks, at least not within a short span of time.
"Set sail, it’s time we leave." Sheyan ordered emotionlessly.
"Release the sails! Full speed ahead, destination – Tortuga."
A pirate hastily disseminated the order. After Sheyan pondered a little, he commanded.
"Sink Blood-Anchor’s pirate ship, bring along only the british ships we’ve commandeered."
After a day of contention, Sheyan chose the most chaotic period of both parties to abscise himself from this battlefield. The scope of this grand naval warfare was truly outrageously appalling. In addition, Norrington’s final display of might was so extravagant, it attracted the attention of most others. As such, Sheyan’s ship managed to leave silently without arousing any attention.
Although Old Bath’s Richie was pretty outstanding, it was a warship heavily emphasised on broadside cannon battles. Attempting to modify it would be a waste of resources. Hence, Sheyan maintained his flagship as The Hill Maiden, the one Philip had served initially.
Furthermore, to mask from attention and slow down the discovery of his revolt against Chevalle’s pirate fleets, Sheyan sunk all the pirate ships he had commandeered.
Instead, he left alongside the other three lightly damaged British Royal Navy 3-masted ‘Galen’ Galley ships. This was because ships were also commonly known as fortunes, and this wasn’t considering the weapons and equipments onboard yet.
The last Pirate of the Caribbean experience had provided ample warning to Sheyan. If he desired to rise to prominence in this chaotic world, then money absolutely couldn’t be discounted.
Especially now that he was a pirate captain, he had to consider the welfare of his nearly 200 members crew! Satisfying the appetite of these greedy scums was the first paramount rule. More crucially, Sheyan was also considering the main theme of the Pirates of the Caribbean, which was naturally freedom and risks. Lastly, storyline plots of this world normally revolves around an inseparable relationship between naval warfare and ships!
With regards to the storyline characters they will be interacting during this mission, it could be said that they posed no risk to Sheyan and buddies at all.
Nevertheless! Though the world’s difficulty was merely a low ‘B-’ category, it also meant that throughout this mission process, there would be certainly still be events or figures that could threaten the lives of the trio.
According to Sheyan’s careful deduction, he reckoned the difficulty would mainly pertain with the boundless sea.
Citing a simple example – The trio could easily dispatch a hundred pirates like Ol’Seadog, but if it was out at sea and they only possessed a tiny boat when encountering 50 plus similar pirates on board fast sailing gunships.....undoubtedly, they would die a gruesome death.
A cannon’s effective range vastly outstripped Mogensha’s range. Moreover, once a tiny boat capsizes, even powerful contestants would be incapable of surviving for long while floating in the sea. When the fatigue of continuous swimming exceeds bodily limits, their health would begin to plunge persistently.
At present, of the 48 hours timeframe of their main mission, ‘Set Sail’, there was still 30 plus hours of leftover.
However, to reach the pirate’s neutral Tortuga port beforehand, Sheyan decided to command his flagship, The Hill Maiden, to advance with maximum velocity.
On the contrary, he allowed a half of his crew to tag along with other ships; travelling slowly alongside those injured pirates.