Courting Death

People from the North.

This is a very interesting regional ethnic group. Their physical characteristics are somewhat similar to those of Siberian, with relatively tall stature and abundant body hair. North men are generally quite brave and warlike, due to the cold climate and the long-term need for strong alcohol to invigorate their blood and keep warm. The thinking of North people also has some characteristics of a warrior nation (sometimes they can be a bit silly). North women have fair skin and delicate features. If their skin is even more delicate, they can easily become beauties (similar to women in Crimea). Goria is a representative North beauty.

And she's the kind of extremely beautiful!

So in the North, you often see some ridiculous things, and even the pirates here are a bit crazy. Many are known for their stubbornness and inflexibility, making them a difficult group to deal with. For example, during the siege of Soren's pirate army on Serpent Island, there was a North pirate Warship. When the others saw the situation was not good, they all surrendered, but they fought their way out and escaped with casualties.

Because of this eccentric temperament, the Northland Pirate were almost the weakest group of pirates.

The reason is simple: they are all internally divided and unwilling to submit to each other. Almost no powerful pirate forces have ever emerged along the entire North Coast; instead, small, scattered groups of Northland Pirate operate. Since trade Trade along the North Coast are mainly concentrated in the Arendelle region, which possesses a fairly strong navy, Northland Pirate Arendelle frequently seen crossing borders to other seas to make a living. Although their overall strength is relatively weak, the individual combat prowess of Northland Pirate is generally superior to that of pirates from other regions.

The pirates who robbed Soren were a fairly ordinary group of Northland Pirate.

However, they do possess a decent Dragon-headed Warship, a custom of the Iceland Vrykul, who like to adorn their Warship with dragon heads. This custom was inherited by the Northland Pirate to demonstrate their power. The Vrykul are the only pirate group capable of unifying the North Coast, but unfortunately, they are extremely xenophobic. Because of their belief in the War Spirit Totem, they even exclude people from other parts of the North. They are also the only pirate group that dares to attack the Arendelle shipping lanes, and it's a mystery why the Princess didn't wipe them out.

A series of ghostly wails and howls came from ahead!

Once the Northland Pirate ' Warship came into view, a junior leader immediately ran over to ask for Soren's orders. He glanced at the pirate ships in the distance with amusement and commanded, "Lure them into the trap!"

This time, Soren brought many elite troops, all seasoned veterans of naval warfare. Upon hearing Soren's orders, they immediately grasped his intentions. Then, they saw the lower-ranking officers chuckle and instruct the others to turn the ship around, feigning an attempt to escape but with some panic, while deliberately slowing down to make the pirates ahead believe they could catch up.

Really!

The enemy quickly fell into the trap.

A pirate captain with a full beard, bare chest, and a wolf's head Boss on his chest stood beneath the mast of Dragon-headed Warship, yelling at his men, "Don't fire! Get closer! They're not as fast as us!"

"Prepare for boarding!"

"This time we're going to take everything, including the cargo and the ship."

The spoils of pirate raids on merchant ships varied greatly in quality. The most valuable items weren't always the cargo; sometimes the merchant ship itself was more valuable than the goods. Therefore, when conditions allowed, pirates preferred boarding raids to defeat their enemies. This way, they wouldn't damage the valuable cargo and could even tow the ship back with it. The pirate leaders under Soren used this tactic to lure their pirates, making them believe they could catch up, thus inducing them to bring their ships close for a boarding battle.

We won.

Soren's ships belong to them.

We lost.

Their ships naturally belonged to Soren.

The shouts and howls grew closer, the Northland Pirate howling with excitement, some even letting out battle cries. Their faces were filled with excitement. Realizing there weren't many people on this ship, and once they could see each other, the Northland Pirate immediately swung their mooring lines towards them.

Bang!

The two ships collided slightly.

About twenty Northland Pirate charged forward, howling, followed by about thirty more pirates preparing to board the ship.

"Slap! Slap!"

Soren, who had been sitting and watching the show, finally clapped his hands. A large group of fierce-looking, scarred pirates rushed out of the cabin. Pirates are known for their keen intuition about their fellow pirates. The Northland Pirate had barely swung onto Soren's ship when they immediately realized that what they were seeing was not a merchant vessel. The sailors showed no fear, not even the slightest hint of tension.

Among the many scarred sailors before them, some were excitedly licking their knives, their expressions even more ferocious Cruelty than the others, as if they were lambs delivered to their doorstep.

"Hehehe!"

A burly pirate, wielding a battle axe weighing nearly a hundred pounds in one hand, charged forward. He was the ship's combat captain, seemingly possessing some other bloodline, and stood nearly 2.1 meters tall. He roared excitedly, swinging his axe in one swift motion, cleaving one of the charging Northland Pirate in two. He then howled, "Men! Kill these idiots! You're asking for it!..."

"Raise the battle flag!"

"Let these guys die knowing why!"

The pirates who suddenly rushed out of the ship's hold were incredibly fierce. In just one round of attacks, they overwhelmed the charging Northland Pirate. Then, a nimble pirate went to raise the battle flag, while the others turned around and charged at the opposing pirate ship. The battle was not about repelling the enemy's attack, but about seizing their Warship.

A Black Flag is raised!

A slight commotion seemed to have broken out on the pirate ship opposite. Someone on the ship appeared to recognize the flag and exclaimed, "It's the Throat Cutter! It's the flag of the Pirate King from the south!"

A riot broke out.

The Northland Pirate in front of them seemed quite frightened, and then, when they were charged by Soren's Elite Pirate, they immediately fell into complete chaos.

The battle has continued until now.

Soren barely needed to lift a finger; his Elite Pirate, brought back from the Overseas Islands, crushed the enemy in just two rounds of attacks, with some even throwing down their weapons and surrendering. However, this percentage was significantly lower than that of the southern pirates who surrendered during battles. Despite being weaker in both strength and numbers than Soren, some Northland Pirate were still stubbornly fighting. This might be related to their traditions; many North revered dying in battle, believing that the souls of those who died in battle were nobler than those who died of old age or illness.

In the customs of southern pirates, the only way to survive was to fight to the death and not retreat!

So.

Soren didn't join the boarding battle; his status was different now, and sometimes it wasn't necessary for him to be on the front lines. However, he still needed to gain some Slaughter Experience, so after the battle began, he took out the [Elven War Bow +2] given to him by Dark Blade - Andri. Using War Bow in naval battles was actually quite satisfying. Soren specifically targeted wounded enemy pirates, and with his strong base stats as a backup, his hit rate was quite high.

Not to mention he also has Lucky Coin, which permanently grant a +1 luck bonus to his hit rate.

Soren picked off the Northland Pirate one by one. Although his mastery of the bow and arrow wasn't very high, it didn't matter if he accidentally killed one of his own men, as he would still gain Slaughter Experience. Fortunately, that didn't happen. Soren reaped seven or eight heads in succession, and then shot down all the Northland Pirate who fought back desperately.

The battle is over.

The whole process took less than ten minutes; the Northland Pirate who wanted to rob Soren were instead robbed by him.

Soren's fleet has gained another Warship!

"Take him away and interrogate him."

Soren frowned as he looked at the bloodstains on the deck, then put away his Elven War Bow and ordered, "See if you can get anything useful out of them. Then have someone clean up the bodies and wipe all the blood off the deck. We're heading to a city on the North Coast this time, so let's try to avoid any unnecessary trouble."

"Yes, Your Excellency," the burly man carrying a battle axe weighing over a hundred pounds said respectfully, bowing his head.

Then, when he turned around to order his other henchmen to clean up the corpses, his expression was quite fierce and arrogant, with a slightly disdainful air. As elite pirates under Soren's command, many of them had eccentric tempers, but no matter how strange their tempers were, they were all respectful in front of Soren, only becoming arrogant and domineering when dealing with others.

Nearby, pirates were cleaning up the battlefield, collecting loot from the corpses. Some of their men went to the opposite pirate ship, which they might need to retrieve to the Shipwreck Bay. Behind the deck lay a pile of captured enemies, guarded by leering pirate elites. A gruesome executioner was torturing them, and screams could be heard intermittently. Through these battles, the best and worst had been weeded out from Soren's men, finally cultivating a Elite Troops.

About a few minutes later.

The pirate in charge of the interrogation ran over and whispered something in Soren's ear.

Then he saw Soren stand up in surprise, frowning and saying, "A dragon?!"

Are you sure he's not lying?

Standing before Soren was a rather ugly and ferocious-looking pirate, who patted his chest and assured him, "Sir! In all my years of experience, they can't possibly lie to me. Besides, there are others down there who know a thing or two. These guys came all the way to the northwest for this very reason."

"Is that so?" Soren nodded slightly, a thoughtful expression on his face.

A moment later.

He looked up at the others and ordered in a deep voice, "Don't let any information leak out. Although it's just a fully grown White Dragon, it looks like it's worth our time!"

...(To be continued~^~)