Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 75 Out of Control and Rampage

As the Glorious cast its grappling hook, the two warships immediately engaged in a ranged weapons exchange. Heavy muskets, light muskets, grappling hooks, matchlock guns, and even crossbows and stones—whatever they had was used.

Gunshots rang out like popping beans, with both sides desperately firing more bullets and arrows at each other's ships.

The army officer who climbed onto the platform received orders from the corps commander to ignore the enemy with muskets and instead focus on suppressing the enemy's rotary cannons.

Several arms extended from behind the hull of the Vengeance, attempting to cut the grappling hooks.

However, as the distance between the two sides closed, for every grappling hook cut, two more grappling hooks were caught on the gunwale of the Vengeance.

The Venetta sailors shouted and pulled the ropes, dragging the Revenge closer to the Glory.

Several incredibly strong sailors hurled iron bombs onto the deck of the Revenge like discus, and after a series of explosions, the deck of the Revenge was filled with screams of agony.

Winters crouched behind the ship's gunwale, dodging stray bullets and arrows, awaiting the order to board.

Several stray bullets even hit the hull in front of him, but remained embedded in the hull and failed to penetrate the two-inch-thick oak planks.

Suddenly, all sounds on the Vengeance mysteriously disappeared.

Gunshots, shouts of killing, curses—all sounds disappeared, even the wails of agony vanished.

Winters, crouching behind the ship's railing, noticed something amiss. The long-range fire from the enemy ship not far away also disappeared as the sound faded away.

He peered out and saw that all the lights on the opposite ship were out. By the light of the Glorious, he could not see anyone on the deck of the Vengeance.

The quiet, dark ship exuded an eeriness, resembling a ghost ship.

More and more people on the Glorious noticed the strangeness of the other ship, and one sailor shouted excitedly, "Let's kill them all!"

"Shut up!" The fierce boatswain rushed over and slapped the sailor hard across the face, then ordered the other sailors, "Turn off all the lights on the ship! And quickly!"

Unable to see the enemy, the gunners on the Glorious ceased firing. The two ships slowly approached each other in this eerie and unsettling atmosphere.

When the two ships were only a few meters apart, First Mate Karaman shouted the order: "Lower the gangplank!"

More than a dozen gangplanks extended from the bow, midsection, and stern of the Glorious, attaching themselves to the gunwales of the Vengeance and securing the two warships together.

First Officer Karaman stood up, drew his saber, and roared, "Long live Ace Nick!"

[Huzzah for Wildcard Nick!]
[Ace Nick is Nareshaw's nickname]
The sailors erupted in thunderous cheers.

Karaman charged ahead, followed closely by the sailors, surging toward the deck of the Vengeance.

Captain Wilson shouted the Third Army's battle cry: "Big Venetta!"

Winters, Bud, and Andrei, along with all the soldiers, shouted "Kazar!" in response to the captain and followed Wilson onto the deck of the Vengeance.

However, the deck of the Vengeance remained deserted and deathly silent.

"We really killed them all!" the sailor who had spoken earlier said defiantly.

With a deafening roar, dozens of shotgun shells unleashed a bloody storm on the deck of the Vengeance.

The Tanirians pushed their heavy cannons to face their decks, and one shot took the lives of more than a dozen Venetians.

Using the roar of the heavy cannons as a signal, gunfire erupted, and the Vengeance launched a full-scale counterattack.

Dark gun barrels and cannons emerged from the superstructures on both sides of the bow and stern, pouring ammunition onto the Venetians on deck.

The gun deck of the Revenge bombarded the hull of the Glorious at close range. Because it did not have gunners on board, the Glorious skipped the process of exchanging gunfire and boarded directly, while the Revenge's gunners were already on board.

This close-quarters combat was the moment when the short-barreled cannons on the warship could unleash their full power, with the sixteen-pound and thirty-two-pound cannons roaring and carving one horrific wound after another into the Glory's hull.

"What are your men doing?!" On the stern deck of the Glorious, Antonio roared angrily at Lieutenant Colonel Contel, "Aren't you going to attack the ship's deck and just hide behind cover to die?"

Lieutenant Colonel Contel wiped the sweat from his brow and said, "When suddenly attacked, a person's instinct is to hide in a safe place."

Chaos reigned on the deck of the Vengeance. Sailors and soldiers felt as if countless bullets were being fired at them. The army and navy were mixed up, and both sides had lost their organization.

"They're in the ship's superstructure! Attack the superstructure! Attack the superstructure!" Captain Wilson was furious as he saw his soldiers huddled behind cover. He pulled out the soldiers who were curled up behind the debris on the deck: "Stop hiding here! Attack the ship..."

Before he could finish speaking, a lead pellet shot into the left side of his neck, shattering his cervical vertebrae and creating a horrific wound on the right side of his neck.

Wilson's body went limp, and he collapsed onto the deck of the Vengeance.

"Shoot all the officers in uniform first!" Drake laughed from the stern. "Load the ammunition! Load the ammunition!"

In land battles, officers are protected in phalanxes. However, in close-quarters deck combat, these well-dressed professional soldiers stand out conspicuously.

The crew of the Vengeance found the situation extremely strange, as this tactic of huddling in the superstructure was clearly invented by the Navy.

In the past, when pirates in the Inland Seas tried to join the Venetian Navy, even if the pirates had a numerical advantage, they could do nothing to the navy as long as they retreated into their superstructures.

Holding their positions in sturdy superstructures, the Venetians could defeat pirates in the inner seas by taking on two or even three opponents at once.

The situation was now completely reversed: the pirates were entrenched in the ship's superstructure, while the navy was being beaten on the deck.

Winters saw blood and flesh spurting from Wilson's neck and rushed to the captain's side, ignoring the flying bullets. But it was all in vain; the captain was already dead.

With the centurion killed in action, the command structure of the 100th Regiment has broken down, and someone must step up to replace Wilson.

On the deck, where the sounds of gunfire, cannon fire, wailing, and shouting blended together, making it impossible to hear anything clearly, a deafening sound drowned out all the other noises.

"Attack the ship's superstructure! Everyone, attack the ship's superstructure!"

Winters used all his magic to unleash a megaphone spell for the first time, roaring, "Three Legions, attack the stern! Sailors, attack the bow!"

General Taylor was right! The most useful spell on the battlefield really is amplification!
Killing spells are of little use on a battlefield with hundreds or thousands of people. How many people can a caster kill? Ten? A hundred? Five hundred? But amplification spells can organize soldiers to kill for you in the chaos of battle.

"The Hundredth Squad! Follow me!" Bard roared, grabbing two soldiers crouching behind the barrels and charging toward the stern.

Andrei, brandishing his saber, followed behind him, shouting, "Kill them!"

Winters repeated it three times. The first time, he used all his magic to release the amplification spell. The intense phantom limb pain made him feel like his body was being inflated like a sack three times in a row.

He could barely stand; his hands trembled uncontrollably, and sweat poured uncontrollably from his entire body.

Fortunately, all the Venetians heard those three unquestionable commands clearly. The sailors and soldiers needed someone to tell them what to do, and they heard Winters's orders.

First a few people took the lead, and then most people followed the instructions.

The sailors rushed towards the bow, while the 100th squadron rushed towards the stern.

"This is evil magic! Witchcraft! Black magic!" A furious Drake grabbed the gunner beside him by the collar and screamed hysterically. He watched helplessly as the Venetians on deck, whose morale had been on the verge of collapse, regained their spirit. Drake shoved the gunner back to the cannon: "Fire! Fire! Kill these wizards!"

Winters slammed his thigh twice with the hilt of his knife, using real physical pain to suppress the phantom limb pain. After regaining some clarity, he stood up and ran towards the stern deck.

At this moment, the attack of the Hundredth Company near the stern tower encountered setbacks. The ship's superstructure was a fortress at sea, and the Hundredth Company soldiers, who had only brought short swords, had no means of siege warfare.

Andrei and another tall soldier were desperately ramming the ship's main gate, but the wooden door remained unmoved.

On the second and third floors of the ship's superstructure, men were constantly firing muskets at the army soldiers below. Bud had pulled a matchlock musket from one of the corpses and was struggling to load it.

"Stop ramming it! You can't break it open! They've definitely blocked it with something inside!" Winters grabbed Andrei.

"What should we do then? You hold me up while I climb in through the second-floor window?" Andrei was at a loss as well.

"Are you looking to die? If you cling to the muzzle of the cannon, the pirates will chop your hand off!"

"What should we do then?" Andrei was completely at a loss.

Winters carefully recalled the structure of the Glory. This ship was a warship stolen by pirates, so its structure must be similar to the Glory: "Find the cabin entrance! The cabins and the superstructure are connected!"

"Sir! Here!" a soldier shouted, "It can't be opened, it's blocked from the inside."

Winters strode over to the deck, where there was a square entrance about one and a half meters long on each side. A wooden plank was firmly held in place, sealing off the cabin entrance.

"Anyone over 160 pounds, stand up! Hurry up!" Winters stood on the plank at the hatchway and pulled Andrei up as well. He also pulled the other tall and strong soldiers onto the plank.

Bud led a few soldiers who knew how to use muskets to suppress the shooters upstairs and cover Winters and his men.

"On my count of one, two, everyone jump! Jump as high as you can!" Winters didn't have time to explain in the urgency of the situation, and roared the order: "When I say two, jump!"

"One, two!" The crowd jumped in unison, and the wooden plank creaked.

Andrei understood Winters's idea, and he shouted angrily, "Whoever can't jump in unison, I'll kill you!"

"One, two!" The wooden plank groaned in pain, and a cracking sound seemed to come from beneath it.

"One, two!" The crowd jumped in increasingly synchronized steps, landing almost simultaneously.

"One, two!" With a loud crash, the wooden plank, along with the pillar supporting it, broke apart, and everyone standing on the plank fell into the cabin.

"Ah! Ah! My arm!" a soldier cried out.

Without time to check his injuries, Winters got up and looked into the cabin.

The pirate gunners on the lower deck of the open-air cannon deck heard the noise coming from the hatch. Not knowing what was going on, they approached the hatch and were stunned to see six or seven soldiers falling from above.

"Kill!" Winters, unarmed, leaped towards the Tanilians in front of him.

The pirate gunner was knocked down by Winters in the waist. Winters didn't care that there were other enemies around him and desperately punched the man in the face and throat.

The other soldiers also came to their senses and rushed towards the enemy on the gun deck to fight.

The gun deck was less than two meters high, and the other soldiers on the deck jumped down one after another, and a bloody battle broke out on the gun deck.

The thin pirate beneath him was covered in blood and delirious from several punches to the nose and throat from Winters. He instinctively reached out to grab Winters' face and neck, desperately trying to gouge out Winters' eyes.

Dirty hands scratched bloody marks on Winters' face. This was not a fight, but two desperate people struggling to survive.

Winters' violent side was unleashed. Ignoring the other man's hand movements, he pressed his knee firmly against the man's chest, drew the curved sword from the man's waist, and slit the pirate's throat.

This scimitar was poorly maintained, making the bite even more intense. Holding the back of the blade, I dragged it from the base to the tip, making a cut that reached the cervical vertebrae, almost severing the pirate's head.

The pirate gunner died instantly.

Winters chopped at the wound again, breaking the bone, then stepped on the torso and pulled on the hair to tear off the last bit of flesh from the neck, taking the pirate's head off.

Covered in blood, Winters carried a pirate's head in his left hand and a scimitar in his right, roaring as he searched for a new adversary. The pirates on the cannon deck were terrified by this demonic killer, their morale completely collapsed, and they scrambled to the lower decks.

"Damn it! You little brat... I've been having nightmares every night for the past month!" A deep male voice rang out, and a pair of large hands took the pirate's head from Winters's hands and tossed it aside.

The officer then took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood off Winters' face: "If you don't want to carry an awful nickname for the rest of your life, you should do less of this kind of thing in the future."

As Winters recovered from his rage, he recognized the face—a face he had only met once before: Captain Speyer of the Golden Lion.

It turned out that after the Golden Lion docked next to the Revenge, it encountered an awkward situation: because the Revenge's freeboard was too high, the Golden Lion's boarding ramp could not be attached to the side of the ship.

Left with no other choice, Spyr ordered the gangplank to be attached to the gun port. He had just led his crew up the gun deck of the Vengeance through the gun port when he saw this scene unfold before him.

Winters looked around, and the soldiers and sailors all lowered their heads in fear, not daring to meet his gaze.

He was panting heavily, desperately trying to suppress the surging blood in his chest.

Bud walked over, put his arm around Winters' shoulder, and patted him on the back to let him know he was alright.

"What's the situation on the ship now?" Spier asked without beating around the bush.

“The Tanirians are guarding the ship’s deck; I plan to attack from the cabins,” Winters replied succinctly.

“You take your men and clear out the remaining enemies in the hold; leave the enemies in the superstructure to my men.” Spyder looked Winters in the eye and asked, “Any questions?”

Andrei was somewhat unconvinced, but Winters had no intention of competing with Spyr for credit at the moment. Since the other party was willing to take on the tough challenge, that was even better. He gestured to Andrei that it was alright, and Andrei grunted but didn't say anything more.

“Then the deck is in your care, Your Excellency.” Winters nodded to Speyer.

Spyr looked at the young man in front of him and saluted an army officer for the first time since he joined the army: "Don't get into trouble. I'll treat you to drinks after this battle."

After saying that, he turned and led his men toward the stairs leading to the ship's deck, shouting to them, "One head, one gold coin! But leave that bastard Drake to me!"

The crew of the Golden Lion climbed up from the gun barrels one after another, and one of the crew members handed Winters a water bag as he walked up to him.

Winters didn't see who the man was. He was incredibly thirsty, but he resisted the urge to drink and instead gave his water bag to the soldiers.

Lieutenant Montagne, the temporary commander of the Third Army Corps, the Chief Battalion, and the Hundredth Company, wiped the blood from his knife and said to the soldiers following him, "Let's go! Follow me to finish the rest of the work."

[Regarding General Nareshaw's nicknames. Because Nareshaw was skilled in poker and all gambling, everyone called him "Shark Nick" or "Cheat Nick" behind his back. However, no one dared to call him that to his face, so they used another respectful title, "Wildcard Nick," meaning that you never knew what he had until Nareshaw revealed his hole cards.]

[When a large galleon is boarded, holding the superstructure can often defeat the numerically superior boarders. The Spanish galleons used this tactic when encountering pirates in Southeast Asian waters. Pirates, including both ronin and Chinese, boarded the Spanish ships but couldn't breach the superstructure, suffering heavy casualties from muskets and cannons, and were eventually forced to retreat. The Venetians also used this tactic. However, this is all information from memory; I can't recall the exact sources, but I can assure you it's not just hearsay.]
Thank you to all the readers who voted for the book before, especially readers Yuan Hongjian, Ami, and 161120205936216. Thank you everyone.

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(End of this chapter)