Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 13: Desperate Situation After a Bitter Victory
"prince?"

Cheng Lang was also stunned for a moment, "The one I killed was a prince?"

"Ordinary nobles wouldn't carry around something as precious as a boat bottle."

The magic mirror reminded, “Noble Captain, we cannot stop if those lackeys of Poseidon know that you killed their prince.

No, if they discover their prince is not on board this ship, they will surely destroy our Valkyrie with their cannonballs!"

"Can the Vine Goblin engage in boarding battles?" Cheng Lang asked suddenly.

“What they are best at is controlling the sails”

The Magic Mirror replied worriedly, "Throwing may be their strength, but they are not at an advantage in boarding battles. Flintlock rifles pose too great a threat to them."

“We can’t hide anymore.”

Cheng Lang had already locked the steering wheel as he spoke. "I will send you to the secret room. If I survive, I will take you away from the Sea of ​​Despair. If I don't survive, I'm afraid you will be buried with me for this ship."

"This is my honor." This time there was no flattery in the magic mirror's tone.

"last question"

Cheng Lang asked, "What if those vine goblins died in battle?"

“They will be resurrected.”

The magic mirror replied immediately before Cheng Lang finished speaking, "As long as we water the Wanghai vine with enough fruit wine, those vine goblins will be reborn."

"Really?"

"Of course it's true. I'm quite sure that they are not alive in nature and there is no definition of death."

"Will the reborn Vine Goblin still be the original Vine Goblin?" Cheng Lang couldn't help but ask.

"of course!"

The magic mirror seemed to see what the novice captain was worried about. "Even the memory won't diminish."

"I can rest assured that"

As Cheng Lang spoke, he had already arrived at the captain's room, opened the door of the stair compartment, and hung the magic mirror on the wall.

By the time he ran into the cloakroom, took out a tricorn hat and put it on his head, and quickly returned to the cabin, the white sailboat chasing him was already very close to him.

Even without the help of a telescope, he could clearly see the thick muzzles extending from the ship's double-deck gun deck.

"Attention all ship!"

Cheng Lang opened the window and shouted an order, "Get ready to board!"

"Ooooh! Ooooh!"

The goblins on and off the ship immediately responded enthusiastically.

At the same time, the small-sized goblins in the cabin also passed up gunpowder barrels as big as gas tanks, round solid shells, and even captured scimitars from the lower cabin like an assembly line.

Contrary to Cheng Lang's expectations, these vine goblins did not reveal their weapons. Although they each had a machete, two cannonballs, or a gunpowder barrel, they hid these things inside the boat or behind their sturdy bodies.

Especially those slightly shorter vine goblins, they even stood side by side on the open-air bridge of the stern deck, waving their long arms, enthusiastically waving at the white sailboat that was getting closer and closer behind them, and shouting "oh-oh-oh" with joy.

Amidst this extremely deceptive and enthusiastic shout, even sailors from the opposite ship ran up to the bow deck and waved in response.

"Half sail!"

Cheng Lang gritted his teeth and gave an order, and the vine goblins remaining on the mast immediately pulled the vines to retract half of the sails.

As the speed decreased, the two boats were getting closer and closer. Cheng Lang, who had hidden his black hair in his tricorn hat, gradually saw a man in a white uniform on the boat outside the window, holding a monocular and looking at him!
Seeing that the boat that was catching up had also lowered its sails and was also slowing down, Cheng Lang suddenly turned the steering wheel and shouted, "Full sail! Full starboard!"

"Wow!"

The vine goblins, who had been prepared for a long time, immediately pulled the vines hard to release the sails that had just been folded up, and cooperated with Cheng Lang to start seizing the T-head.

"Buzz!"

Amidst the buzzing sound of tearing the air, the huge crossbow on the second deck at the bow of the Valkyrie also fired the arrow shaft tied with the gunpowder barrel. This was their only long-range weapon at the moment!
This century-old arrow, with five gunpowder barrels tied to it, was still full of power and crashed directly into the bridge of the opposite ship.

"boom!"

Amidst the violent explosion, the steering wheel and helmsman of the opposite ship were blown away, and even the floor of the open-air bridge was blown open, creating a huge skylight!
The latter's reaction was actually just as fast. Almost at the same time as the explosion, the ship's double-deck guns opened fire one after another a little later.

"Boom!"

The first shell hit the waterline of the side of the Valkyrie accurately, but strangely, it didn't even leave a dent!

"Wow!"

The second shell that followed smashed through the glass window on the side of the indoor driving platform, then passed through the corridor, smashed the window at the other end and flew out!

Although Cheng Lang was frightened and broke out in a cold sweat, he did not stop steering.

Fortunately, as the Valkyrie took position and changed angles under the push of the wind and was shielded by the sea fog, more and more shells hit the sea farther away.

"Boom!"

There was another dull thud, and the bows of the two ships collided fiercely. Under the huge reaction force, the sailors on the opposite ship fell to the ground.

But looking at the goblins on the Valkyrie, they had already used the torches transmitted from the gun deck to ignite the fuses on the gunpowder barrels. Then, one by one, they threw the gunpowder barrels as big as gas tanks onto the deck of the opposite ship, fearlessly facing the volleys of gunfire from the opposite side like throwing shot puts!
"boom!"

When the first gunpowder barrel exploded and emitted a large amount of white smoke, more gunpowder barrels flew over.

Among these gunpowder barrels, there were also a large number of solid shells thrown over, and even barrels of coal!
In just one round, the deck and even the sails of the opposite ship caught fire.

But the vine goblins did not stop. Instead, they threw away their torches and directly threw more gunpowder barrels onto the opposite deck!

Amidst the increasingly frequent explosions, the deck of the ship was finally blown open, and the gunpowder barrels thrown over immediately afterwards caused its double-layer gun deck to explode one after another!
But at this time, many sailors on the opposite side had already jumped onto the bow of the Valkyrie, waving scimitars and holding flintlocks!
"oh--!"

The goblins let out an angry roar, and nearly a third of them rushed forward to block the attack. At the same time, more sailors on the opposite side began to shoot with flintlock rifles, or jumped over swinging on cables!

"boom!"

Just at this moment, a cannon on the opponent's second-floor open deck opened fire, and a pair of chain bullets accurately hit the main mast of the Valkyrie.

But what the other side couldn't understand was that the pair of chain bullets did not break the mast, but only tore the white sails.

While the cannon was hurriedly reloading, Cheng Lang had already run onto the open deck, waving the black whip in his hand vigorously!
"Ugh——!"

Amid the whistling wind, a sailor who had just thrown away his used flintlock rifle and was about to raise his scimitar had the whip entangled around his neck, and his head spun away from his body in an instant!
"Snapped!"

Amidst the sound of twitching, the whip tip with poisonous stings slashed across the necks of the surrounding sailors like a poisonous snake!
In this life-and-death fight, the vine goblins on the open deck also threw more gunpowder barrels and shells over.

Amidst the series of dense explosions, Cheng Lang swung his whip again, causing the gunpowder barrel thrown by the opponent to explode.

"boom!"

The explosion in the air caused a huge fireball to cover the bow sails of the two ships, igniting the canvas of the same color!
Under the scorching flames, the Sea-Watching Vine immediately sprayed out fine sea water to extinguish the burning sails. The vine goblins also continuously sent gunpowder barrels and shells to the open deck, and even worked together to throw the rusty cannons over!

But there were far more sailors on this ship than he had imagined. The sailors who kept coming out were almost occupying the forecastle of the Valkyrie! Especially since almost all of them were holding flintlock rifles!
"Whoa whoa--!"

The goblins let out rapid roars, and more and more large goblins rushed up to the forecastle with flintlock rifles, despite suffering huge casualties, and pushed back all the sailors on the opposite side.

Behind them, those small-sized vine goblins jumped onto the open deck with two gunpowder barrels in their hands!
Cheng Lang couldn't bear to watch the tragic scene that followed. Those fearless small vine goblins rushed into the cabin of the ship with the burning gunpowder barrels in their arms. Some of them also held the burning gunpowder barrels and climbed the side of the ship and vines to the waterline of the ship!

Amidst the fierce explosions that followed, large holes were blown in the waterline of the opposite ship.

But even so, several cannons were still firing at the Valkyrie, smashing shells all over the ship.

But just like the shells that hit at the beginning, these shells also failed to leave even a single damage!

Finally, with the last explosion, the Valkyrie, at the heavy price of losing most of its vine goblins, finally made the ship, which was already on fire, begin to sink rapidly.

On the sea shrouded in thick fog, the vine goblins who survived falling into the water did not stop. Some of them were busy salvaging the bodies of their companions, while others swam hard towards the sailors who also survived falling into the water on the opposite boat, starting a second round of fighting.

"All vine goblins come back!"

Cheng Lang belatedly realized the situation and gave the order, and the vine goblins immediately stopped fighting in the water, picked up the bodies of their companions around them, and swam towards the Valkyrie.

In the end, when all the surviving goblins climbed onto the boat, there were only 7 large goblins left, and only 1 small one. The rest either fell under the muzzles of flintlock rifles or fearlessly chose to perish together with the gunpowder barrels.

But even at this point, the battle did not stop. The sailors who also fell into the water swam towards the Valkyrie, and some even dived underwater.

"Guard the Valkyrie!"

As Cheng Lang spoke, he jumped into the sea.

No matter how hard it is for him to accept this wild world, he is the captain of this ship.

He couldn't let the sailors on the ship fight to the death while he hid behind, even if his sailors were some "gorillas".

"puff!"

The moment he fell into the water, Cheng Lang swung his whip and easily pierced a sailor who had come to the bottom of the Valkyrie and was about to do something.

With the underwater ability given to him by the heart of the ship, and the tremendous force and deadly toxin attached to his whip as he swung it again and again, the sea area gradually turned into light red, and the sailors who escaped turned into corpses one after another.

In the end, he only left behind three sailors who had already started swimming in the opposite direction to try to escape.

"If you don't want to die, take off all your clothes and climb onto the deck."

Cheng Lang put away his whip and shouted, "This is the Sea of ​​Despair. Where can you escape to?"

After these words were shouted, the three sailors gradually stopped. After a moment's hesitation, they quickly stripped themselves clean and turned around to swim towards the Valkyrie.

Back on the deck, Cheng Lang ignored the three captives who were tied up by the vine goblins and stuffed into the oak barrel. Instead, he squatted under the main mast.

In the previous exchange of fire, the enemy fired quite a few shells at the Valkyrie, but the damage caused by those shells was not great.

However, this recently acquired tortoise shell was already covered in numerous cracks. Clearly, it had helped the Valkyrie absorb the vast majority of the damage.

Compared to this piece of tortoise shell that was facing scrapping just after he found out its purpose, what made him more sad were the tragic casualties of those gorillas that he had just gotten to know.

But he had no time to be sad at this moment, he had more important things to do.

“Detain them separately”

Cheng Lang issued the order, but he himself quickly ran into the lower cabin.

In the lower cabin of the Valkyrie, the corpses of the vine goblins were placed around the main mast by their living companions. Cheng Lang, who was soaked and exhausted, took off the boat bottle from his waist, unscrewed the cork, and poured a large amount of fruit wine on the corpses.

As the roots of the Wanghai Teng surged, the fruit wine was completely absorbed, and the corpses were gradually covered by the bulging roots, and eventually disappeared without a trace.

At the same time, the broken tortoise shell pieces around the main mast on the open deck also disappeared. Even the unicorn horn that Cheng Lang had obtained from the tortoise shell before was swallowed up bit by bit by the blood mist released from the heart of the ship.

At this time, Cheng Lang had no time to pay attention to these things, and the magic mirror that was sent into the stairwell of the captain's room was unable to detect these unexpected changes.

Leaving the lower cabin, Cheng Lang quickly ran back to the forecastle and stood in front of a prisoner stuffed into an oak barrel.

"Who are you?" Cheng Lang asked.

"Boerland Royal Witch Hunting Fleet"

The captain's dress, the portly captive replied timidly, saying that he had seen the young captain's black hair.

"Why are you chasing my boat?" Cheng Lang continued to ask.

"We are looking for Prince Gabriel"

The captive quickly explained, "He went to Savage Island alone with a boat to search for the vine goblins. First Officer Wakeman, the flagship, ordered our ship to patrol the area, searching for Prince Gabriel who might have sneaked back."

"So, what about the other ships in your fleet? How many are there, where are they located, and who is the captain of the lead ship?"

"The other seven ships are already heading in this direction."

After saying this, the prisoner somehow became more confident. "They will find you soon. You can't escape!"

"Who is the captain of the fleet?" Cheng Lang took out a whip and knocked on the oak barrel to remind him.

The prisoner shuddered, then, regaining his trembling expression, replied, "Captain Altus."

"Why did they only send your ship here? Why didn't you go to the Savage Island with us?" Cheng Lang continued to ask.

"Only one ship is allowed to enter and exit the Savage Island's treasure every hundred years."

The captive replied, "The island is guarded by a sea monster that devours the island. If more ships try to enter the island, they will be eaten by it."

"There is still one question that has not been answered," Cheng Lang reminded by knocking on the wooden barrel again.

"Prince Marian's men are still in the fleet."

The captive quickly explained, "He also wants to obtain the vine goblin. This is related to whether we can find the treasure left by Count Walesa."

"The treasure left by Count Walesa?" Cheng Lang asked, "What treasure?"

'No one knows'

The captive explained, "Count Walesa was a count who nearly usurped the throne of the Principality of Boland three hundred years ago. After his failed attempt, he left behind a treasure map. The map only depicted sculptures of vine goblins and sea-viewing vines.

Everyone believed that the treasure he left behind contained not only the royal reserves of the Duchy of Boerland, but also a reverse scale.

"Next question, according to your estimate, how long will it take for your fleet to catch up?"

Cheng Lang asked, "Think about it carefully before answering. I will ask your companions. If your answers differ too much, you will all die."

"Before dawn, they will definitely catch up before dawn!" replied the prisoner.

"The last two questions are your name and position," Cheng Lang asked.

"Dudley," the captive replied, "I'm the captain of that ship."

"Who are the other two prisoners?" Cheng Lang continued to ask.

"First Officer Wakeman, he's the first officer on the flagship commanded by Altus."

Captain Dudley's face turned pale as he replied, "The other one seems to be a temporary recruit on my ship. I don't know his name."

“Have a good rest”

Cheng Lang said this, turned around and walked to the stern deck to find First Mate Wickman, asked the same question again, and as expected, got the same answer.

Worried, Cheng Lang returned to the captain's cabin and went into the stairwell to ask the magic mirror, "How long will it take for the vine golem to regenerate?"

"At least until tomorrow evening," the mirror replied. "What did you ask?"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Lang repeated what the prisoner had confessed.

"One hundred years ago, the previous captain was attracted by the treasure map left by Count Walesa. He took the treasure map of vine goblins given to him by Grand Duke Boerland and came here." The magic mirror said angrily.

"Looks like we need to hide as soon as possible."

Cheng Lang muttered something and then asked, "Can the remaining vine goblins control the sails?

"Of course"

The magic mirror replied, "But they can only work for a maximum of six hours straight before they have to rest."

"Then we'll set off now. We need to find a large enough sea fog to hide in within six hours."

As he spoke, Cheng Lang had already left the stair compartment with the magic mirror in his arms and hung it back on the pillar behind the indoor cab.

"Before we depart, dear Captain, please allow me to remind you that we should first check the sunken ship to see if there are any useful supplies. This may be a rare opportunity to resupply."

The magic mirror said respectfully, "Even if it's just some gold coins, it's good."

"Looking for shit, remember this location, we'll talk about it later when we have the chance!"

Cheng Lang was not moved at all. Every second of delay would bring the enemy one step closer to him.

Not only was the ship seriously short of vine goblins, but after the desperate boarding battle, not only were there only five gunpowder barrels left on the ship, but even the rusty cannons were thrown out by the vine goblins like javelins.

The most important thing at this time is of course to run, the farther the better.

Under his command, the only remaining vine goblin was busy manipulating the sail vines, cooperating with Cheng Lang to start the Valkyrie, which was still undergoing self-repair.

He randomly chose a direction with favorable wind and away from the enemy and ran. At the same time, Cheng Lang also asked the magic mirror to keep an eye on the wind and sea conditions outside.

When it was one o'clock in the morning, Cheng Lang finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although the rain had not stopped yet, a large sea fog appeared in front of him, which was exactly what he wanted.

The most important thing is that the hiding abilities granted by the Mirage Horn and the ship's heart have all been cooled down.

He lowered the sail slightly to reduce the speed of the boat, and with the help of the vine goblins whose movements had become slow, he forced himself to steer the boat into the depths of the sea fog, and finally stopped by lowering the sail and dropping anchor.

In order to be able to know the situation outside at any time, he once again took the magic mirror back to the bedroom and placed it on the sofa.

After taking a quick scalding hot shower to warm up his body, Cheng Lang, exhausted, threw himself onto the bed and fell asleep instantly.

At this time, the mirrors distributed throughout the ship were closely monitoring everything inside and outside, but they failed to notice that the unicorn horn had completely disappeared in the cabin, and the broken tortoise shell pieces were completely invisible under the mast.

As diligent and busy as the magic mirror are the blood mist released from the center of the ship and the densely packed little crabs.

Even the Wanghai vines that are spread all over the body are trying hard to gather nutrients to nurture the vine goblin.

But for some reason, this time, the vines of Wanghai Teng could not produce a single fruit no matter what.

This also woke up the surviving vine goblins from their sleep, and they hurriedly poured all the remaining fruit wine in the wooden barrels into the base of the mast in the lower cabin.

But this has no effect at all!
"Oh! Whoa!"

The only surviving small-sized vine goblin seemed to have made a decision. It walked to the base of the main mast, closed its eyes, and hugged the thick mast.

A moment later, the remaining vine goblins did the same.

When the magic mirror noticed the abnormality here and urgently woke up Cheng Lang who was sleeping, the few remaining vine goblins had been tightly wrapped by layers of Wanghai vines, and were pulled under the layer of vines intertwined in the lower cabin before he climbed out of bed.

"What's going on?" Cheng Lang asked while busy putting on his clothes.

"I am not sure as well"

The magic mirror replied blankly, "And I just noticed that the broken pieces of tortoise shell and the sea rhino horn are gone! The coconuts in the lower cabin are gone too!"

"What did you say?!" Cheng Lang's voice became much louder.

"I'm right, they're all gone. I don't know where they went."

The magic mirror said in panic, "This is not normal. I have been with this ship for four hundred years and I have never encountered anything like this!"

“So we can’t move now.”

Cheng Lang even slowed down his dressing movements. "We can't move until the vine goblins hatch again."

"Unless you can steer all the sails yourself, or get the three captives to help you," the mirror replied.

"I can't steer the sails"

Cheng Lang sat weakly on the edge of the bed. "I can sail a boat, but I've never steered a sail before, and I don't think the captives will really help me."

"It seems that we can only wait here and pray to the Valkyrie to make the sea fog thicker." The Magic Mirror's tone was filled with panic.

"It can only be the"

Although Cheng Lang managed to keep his composure, he was completely sleepless - this was a desperate situation where it rained on top of a leaking roof.

(End of this chapter)