The young bard sprang up from the floor, went to the window, pushed aside the seaweed-and-shell-woven shutters, and looked outside.
Shen Feng followed her to the window and looked in the direction of her gaze.
Seven large ships had appeared before the main gate of the Floating Island Market, with nearly a hundred people aboard each one.
Most of them held crossbows and throwing spears, shouting loudly into the Floating Island Market.
A black pirate flag hung from every ship!
Each flag bore the image of a white ghostly demon!
Most startling of all, a small mortar sat at the bow of the foremost pirate ship. The captain at the helm held a double-barreled shotgun, with a cigarette rolled from dried seaweed clenched between his teeth.
Smoke still drifted from the mortar's barrel, while a watchtower by the Floating Island Market's gate had been blown to pieces. The sentries who had been stationed inside had fallen into the sea, covered in blood, with no hope of survival.
The entire Floating Island Market was already in chaos. People who had been trading normally only moments ago now fled for their lives.
Some of the market guards tried to close the gate, but the moment their boats approached, they were riddled with crossbow bolts.
The bolts fired from those crossbows were sharp bone spines from enormous fish. They were incredibly sharp, fast, and accurate—standard weapons for killing at sea.
At the sight of them, the young bard frowned.
"Ghost Thieves... Those scum actually came here today..."
She strode to a nearby wall, took down a longbow as tall as she was and a quiver holding twelve bone-tipped arrows, then flung open the door and rushed out.
Her movements were nimble and swift. She had clearly trained for this often.
Outside the crane