Boarding Battle

Leaving aside the underwater battle between Li Shuyi and Matsuura Shin Kuro, the most intense pressure came from the fight on the surface by Bai Xiaowen and her group.

When the Wokou Pirates rammed into the small boat, Bai Xiaowen immediately ordered everyone to abandon the small boat.

Zhang Ting and two other Elite Tier captains, along with more than a dozen other Ming Army, swung their grappling hooks, hooking them onto the sides of the charging enemy ships, and leaped into the air.

This kind of boarding maneuver, where small boats board larger ships, is extremely dangerous. It's like the attacking side trying to scale a city wall; during the jump, they might be attacked by enemies on the side of the larger ship, and a slight misstep could result in falling into the water.

However, Bai Xiaowen used Intimidation immediately.

His current mental strength is as high as 44 points, and the radius of his Intimidation range reaches hundreds of meters! The Wokou Pirates Wokou Pirates the charging ships were all in Fear Status if they were within the range of his Intimidation. Some Wokou Pirates with low mental strength, less than or equal to 14 points, were even knocked unconscious on the spot.

With the help of this wide-area control skill, Zhang Ting and his group boarded the ship without any hindrance and all successfully landed on the deck of one of the Wokou Pirates ships.

However, although the Wokou Pirates were controlled by the Intimidation skill, the inertia of the large ship was still unstoppable, and with a crash, the small boat where Bai Xiaowen was located was capsized.

Bai Xiaowen quickly activated the "Water Skimming" skill of his newly acquired Gold Equipment [Sharkskin Boots], firmly standing on the water's surface without getting soaked. Then, he found himself gliding forward along the ripples of the waves, as if ice skating.

Slightly surprised, Bai Xiaowen hadn't even reacted when she crashed into the side of the Wokou Pirates ship with a loud thud, seeing stars...

I said...

Bai Xiaowen rubbed his forehead. "So that's what the 'floating' in Water Skimming ' means... After turning it on, it will automatically glide along the waves..."

[I can row without oars, I can sail without direction... because my whole life is about riding the waves!] For some reason, a certain rage comic image flashed through Bai Xiaowen's mind...

Less than 0.1 seconds after his train of thought went astray, Bai Xiaowen quickly clung to the side of the ship, climbed onto the Wokou Pirates ' large ship, and reunited with Zhang Ting and the others. Fortunately, Zhang Ting and the other Ming Army soldiers were engaged in fierce fighting with the True Wokou and did not notice Bai Xiaowen sliding and bumping into the side of the ship.

Although Zhang Ting and his men were strong, these True Wokou were no weaklings either, and they had a numerical advantage, which put Zhang Ting and his men in a tough fight.

Bai Xiaowen summoned a large group of creatures and, together with Zhang Ting and the others, began to push back. He used his Insight to scan and probe several Wokou Pirates.

These True Wokou are mostly Elite Tier level 5 or 6, with a small number being Elite Tier level 7! They are mainly divided into two types: one is the strength-type Wokou Pirates wielding a katana, called "Ronin Samurai," who wields the katana with wide, sweeping movements and extremely ruthless swordsmanship; the other is the agility-type Wokou Pirates wielding a short sword called a "Wakizashi," called "Wandering Ninja," who possess the skill of stealth.

These two types of Wokou Pirates cooperated very well. The ronin samurai were responsible for the frontal assault, while the Wandering Ninja would sneak up and appear unexpectedly to deliver Vital Strike to a Ming Army's personal guard, making them virtually impossible to defend against.

However, the appearance of Bai Xiaowen, Hero Class with high spirituality, deprived these ninjas of their space to thrive.

Bai Xiaowen activated his Mental Scan, narrowing it down to a radius of fifty meters. Suddenly, blurry figures appeared in his field of vision, all of them stealthy ninjas.

These ninja Wokou Pirates clearly didn't have a stealth skill priority higher than level 4, so they were easily caught by Bai Xiaowen, who had a high template and high priority.

Bai Xiaowen then connected his Divine Might to the other Ming Army soldiers and began to remotely command them.

Zhang Ting was wielding his long sword, exchanging blows with a ronin samurai. After forcing his opponent back with a single strike, he suddenly raised his hand and launched Flying Locust Stone at an angle.

"Hahaha! Fool, with such poor aim, you still want to use hidden weapons..."

Before the ronin samurai could finish laughing, he heard the muffled thud of Flying Locust Stone hitting a human body. Then, a Wokou Pirates ninja, crouching and masked, appeared two meters to Zhang Ting's side.

The most critical thing is that this Wokou Pirates ninja is currently stunned by the Flying Locust Stone!

Zhang Ting swiftly slashed down, striking the Wokou Pirates ninja in the neck! Although the strike didn't trigger Critical Hit, the Wokou Pirates ninja was an agile but fragile character with only a little over a hundred Life Value points!

Vital Strike dealing more than one-third of the damage is an instant kill!

Blood gushed from the neck of the Wokou Pirates ninja, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Zhang Ting sneered, "A rat that only knows how to attack from behind!" He felt quite satisfied, because his general Yu Dayou had once been ambushed and wounded by Wokou Pirates Boss Tier in the same way.

Similar scenarios played out frequently in the battles of other Ming Army soldiers. Bai Xiaowen's ability to multitask was maximized, rendering the Wokou Pirates pirates' stealth skills useless! They originally relied on stealth to launch frenzied sneak attacks, but without stealth, they became slow-moving targets when they approached stealthily.

"All ninjas, stand back! The enemy can see through your invisibility!"

After seven or eight ninjas died, the commander of the Japanese ship, a level 7 Elite Tier Wokou Pirates, immediately stopped the ninjas' suicidal actions.

A Wokou Pirates nearby called out, "Hirata- kun! Why hasn't Boss Tier Shin Kuro shown up yet?"

The other two Boss Tier, Matsuura Shisuke and Matsuura Chasuke, went to pursue another Ming Army warship. Their fleet only had Shin Kuro as its Advanced Boss! Now that Matsuura Shin Kuro is gone, the Wokou Pirates are like they have lost their backbone.

The Rare Elite Wokou Pirates, Frenzy admirer of Matsuura Shin Kuro, lowered his voice and said, "Lord Shin Kuro is powerful enough that we don't need to worry! He's probably hiding somewhere right now, preparing to assassinate the Ming leader and end this battle! We just need to do what we're supposed to do!"

"Yes, sir!" The Wokou Pirates who asked the question nodded emphatically, looking like he agreed wholeheartedly.

Bai Xiaowen regained his composure and began to focus on controlling the summoned creatures, such as Rageclaw, to attack. He coordinated with Zhang Ting and the others to form a crescent-shaped formation along the ship's side to maintain the defensive perimeter. Once he focused on controlling them, the attack methods of Rageclaw and the other summoned creatures underwent a qualitative Transformation. Their offense and defense were highly organized, and their coordination was excellent, quickly killing off the Wokou Pirates who charged at them.

"The ronin samurai must scatter and charge forward! We must break through the enemy's front-line defenses and surround and kill the controllers of these Demon!" shouted the High Elite Tier Wokou Pirates, "Hirata." "No matter how skilled an Onmyoji is, close combat is always their weakness. Kill him, and the enemy will collapse without a fight!"

It must be said that Hirata's command was quite reasonable. However, sometimes reasonable command is not necessarily correct, and he would be at a loss if he encountered an unreasonable situation.

The Wokou Pirates charged forward recklessly, and two ronin samurai broke through the defensive perimeter and reached Bai Xiaowen.

Bai Xiaowen used his Divine Might to stop Zhang Ting and the others from returning to reinforce, then put away his pistol and the Whispering Grimoire, cracking his knuckles. "It's good to loosen up my muscles."

A ronin samurai let out a spirited roar and raised his katana to slash down.

This strike was ruthless but lacked composure. Bai Xiaowen dodged it by sidestepping, and taking advantage of the moment when the ronin samurai's move was exhausted, he threw a punch wrapped in flames, hitting the opponent squarely in the abdomen, making him arch his back in pain like a lobster.

It's still grilled lobster, because its whole body is covered in flames.

Bai Xiaowen stepped forward and struck his opponent in the back with an elbow, knocking him to the ground, where he coughed up blood and died.

Before this, Rageclaw had already taken about 200 points of damage to maintain its Life Value at around 60% in order to effectively utilize the Critical Hit rate bonus of "Blood Frenzy". Of these 200 points of damage, a little over 100 points were shared by Bai Xiaowen.

Bai Xiaowen's golden ring's attached skill "Agony Potential" has also been activated, increasing his strength by an additional 10 points! His current strength is a whopping 32 points, completely on par with strength-type warriors of the same level, especially Elite Template warriors!

Under this powerful strike, Bai Xiaowen's punches and kicks carried a heavy, relentless force. The stun effect inflicted on his enemies was enough for him to execute a series of Kusanagi-Style Ancient Martial Arts combos.

Moreover, the damage Bai Xiaowen inflicts on enemies is not simply physical damage, but also includes fire damage! This fire damage is calculated based on a high Divine Might of 44 points, making it even more terrifying than the physical damage caused by a punch with 32 points of strength.

The ronin warrior was already injured when he charged over, with only a little over 100 Life Value points. It was normal for him to be instantly killed by Bai Xiaowen's small combo.

While Bai Xiaowen was attacking his teammates, another ronin samurai stabbed at Bai Xiaowen's back, but Bai Xiaowen dodged the fatal blow. With a hiss, a bloody gash appeared on Bai Xiaowen's back. The thirty-odd points of damage from this stab increased Bai Xiaowen's strength by 3 points, reaching 35 points!

Being close by, Bai Xiaowen reached out and grabbed the ronin samurai's arm. With a powerful surge of strength, the samurai became paralyzed.

"Enemy strength ratio 29:39 (+4), throw skill judgment successful!"

"When the strength difference exceeds 10 points, the grappling skill will deal additional damage!"

The Kusanagi-Style Ancient Martial Arts – the Flash Shoulder Throw – was activated. The second ronin samurai was lifted up like a broken sack by Bai Xiaowen and slammed hard onto the deck, coughing up blood. Bai Xiaowen braced himself with one hand and delivered two consecutive kicks along the ground, killing him instantly.

Hirata, the commander of the Wokou Pirates on this warship, almost popped his eyes out.

"This is impossible! Are all Chinese Onmyoji (yin-yang masters) this terrifying?"

Bai Xiaowen easily killed two close-range ronin samurai, deterring many Wokou Pirates and rendering the "pig charge" tactic a failure.

Hirata, the commander of the Wokou Pirates, could only ask for help from the other ships. In fact, he didn't need to say anything; the Wokou Pirates from the other ships had already rushed over and joined the siege—after all, the enemy was only a small group in front of them.

As for the Boss Tier, Shin Kuro? No one was worried; they all had great faith in Matsuura Shin Kuro's abilities.

The reason they haven't appeared yet... is probably because they're waiting for an opportunity?

This is also why Bai Xiaowen took the initiative to engage the Wokou Pirates in close combat; he wanted to delay Wokou Pirates and create space for Li Shuyi to kill Matsuura Shin Kuro.

As the number of Wokou Pirates increased, the pressure on Bai Xiaowen's side also increased. The defensive perimeter was shrinking step by step, and the Life Value of the summoned creatures and Ming Army soldiers in the front row was rapidly decreasing.

After all, there were too many enemies.

Bai Xiaowen let out a sigh of relief and stepped forward. In his right hand, a glimmer of crimson flame flickered.

"Use the Kusanagi Sword's active ability to activate the Kusanagi-Style Ancient Martial Arts - Orochi Nagi?"

"Yes... um, wait a minute!"

The moment Bai Xiaowen tried using the Orochi Nagi, he vaguely felt a sense of complete mastery.

It seems he can use the Orochi Nagi even without the Kusanagi Sword?

Bai Xiaowen took a deep breath. The flame he held in his right hand grew even more intense, and waves of fiery energy slowly gathered.

After charging up for a few seconds, Bai Xiaowen finally found his rhythm, shouted loudly, and drew a semi-circular arc with one hand, pushing forward.

Orochi Nagi!

The Blazing Heat flames surged forward, engulfing Zhang Ting and his men, along with the Wokou Pirates. A band of flames, several meters wide and over ten meters long, burned for a full three seconds before slowly disappearing.

As the flames surged past Zhang Ting and his men, they all had a strange feeling. The flames seemed to possess a spirit, bypassing them before mercilessly attacking the enemy Wokou Pirates.

Bai Xiaowen felt it even more clearly. This time, the Orochi Nagi he used wasn't a skill from his skill bar, but rather an ability derived from his bloodline. He could even feel that he could freely control the damage Orochi Nagi inflicted on every area.

Avoid areas with friendly forces, damage reduced to zero. Unleash full power in areas with enemies, dealing maximum damage.

Of course, no matter how much the controlled flames erupt in a certain area, they can never exceed the damage cap of Orochi Nagi, which is the base flame damage plus Bai Xiaowen's Divine Might bonus.

Based on Bai Xiaowen's current 44 points of spirit, the Orochi Nagi's maximum damage to enemies within the area is theoretically over 100 points. After calculating magic resistance damage reduction, each Wokou Pirates will receive less than 100 points of fire damage.

These Elite Tier Wokou Pirates have at least a hundred Life Value points, and some even have two or three hundred or four hundred. So, it's impossible to clear them out with just one Orochi Nagi.

Even so, the Wokou Pirates in the front row were still blasted away by the impact of the Orochi Nagi, turning into burning, rolling gourds, their screams echoing. Some of the weaker, unlucky ones were even seriously Severe Injury.

After Bai Xiaowen relied on his instincts to unleash the Orochi Nagi, he felt almost completely drained of his strength. He quickly pulled out a jar of barley wine, drank it, and his strength gradually returned.

"My control over the Kusanagi Blood has reached a new level."

A sudden realization flashed through Bai Xiaowen's mind. His mastery of the Kusanagi Blood was becoming increasingly refined. This was thanks to the repeated use of Orochi Nagi with his Psionic Points.