Finding the Target, Naval Battle

"Hahaha... After all these days, we finally found a merchant ship. Oh? It even has a warship escort. Boys, we've got work. Get the hell up, raise the sails, and ram them."

After sailing for two whole months without seeing so much as a hair, Old Jack sat bored at the bow, using Mage's Eye to observe the sea and prevent them from running into storms. As the first mate, that was part of his duty.

He did not spot any storms, but he did see two tiny black dots in the distance. After adjusting the focus of Mage's Eye, he quickly confirmed that they were a merchant ship and an escorting warship.

Judging by their design, they were ships from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. But did that make any difference to Jack? None at all. He was already going stir-crazy and did not care what country the warship belonged to. In any case, it could not out-ram the Undead.

"What? What? We finally found a target?"

Higgs was even more excited than him. Unlike Old Jack, who had possessed extraordinary power before and had already been a Mage Apprentice for some time, Higgs had only just gained his power and desperately needed to experience his own strength.

Especially after setting sail, he had received the latest version of the Dark Forge Meditation. He had been eager to find something to burn as fuel and see whether it was truly as miraculous as Old Jack claimed.

He had long coveted Old Jack's ability to control corpses and skeletons, but his Mental Power was insufficient. He simply could not cast Zombie Reanimation.

As for Skeleton Resurrection, he was still chewing through the basics of occult knowledge. It would take at least a month or two before he could finish learning those fundamentals.

Although Higgs and Old Jack were both test subjects, Yang Mu had not simply given them a Meditation Method and left them to fend for themselves. He had provided them with a great deal of occult knowledge and spell models corresponding to their levels.

He was essentially training them as genuine Mage Apprentices. After all, he intended to establish a new path for Mages, and mass-producing new Furnace Mages was one of his experimental goals.

When Jack used Flame of Annihilation to burn fuel and improve himself, Yang Mu had already felt the power being transmitted back to him. Though it was not much, the feeling of gaining something for nothing was wonderful.

The power was scarce only because there were too few Furnace Mages. Once the Dark Forge Meditation was perfected and spread, would he still lack power?

After learning Skeleton Resurrection, Jack learned another new spell: Bone Shield. It was the most basic defensive spell of the Necromancer's bone branch, summoning two shields to float at his side and block attacks for him.

He could also continuously control them with Mental Power, moving them anywhere he wished, as long as they remained within three meters of his body.

After casting it for the first time, Jack developed other uses for it. A range of three meters around his body might not amount to much on land, but on a ship, it was already quite a large area.

The two shields could fully serve as his weapons. He could control them with Mental Power to ram people. While his Mental Power was not enough to kill someone with a shield bash, it was more than enough to knock them down in battle.

Just imagine it: in the middle of a fight, an enemy charged at him, only to be suddenly knocked down by a Bone Shield while he wielded two enormous pirate cutlasses. How could that enemy possibly survive?

At Jack and Higgs's calls, the crew picked up their weapons, worked the sails, adjusted the Undead's course, and headed straight for the distant warship.

Once the Undead drew near, the warship spotted them as well. Seeing the skull flag flying high from the prow, the gunports along the warship's sides opened fire one after another.

There was no need to mention their accuracy. They were smoothbore cannons firing solid shot, so accuracy was practically nonexistent. The few cannonballs that looked set to hit the Undead were directly whipped away by its tentacles.

One cannonball slipped through, but before it could land on the deck, a white bone shield blocked it. Cannonballs in this era did not explode. As it shattered the Bone Shield, its kinetic energy was exhausted as well, and when it fell onto the deck, it caused no damage whatsoever.

"Huff, huff, huff... Hahaha!"

Jack panted heavily and laughed madly at the sight. What kind of power was this? Even cannonballs could not pierce through it. Who else could stand against him? Who else could kill him?

It was not just him. The other crewmen's eyes were red with envy. They wanted that kind of power too.

Higgs's eyes were red as well. Unlike the others, he already possessed similar power; it just was not strong enough yet.

Burn, burn, burn! As long as I burn enough powerful people, I can gain such power. What else is there to say?

As the Undead's ram pierced into the warship's hull, eight tentacles tore every cannon from the gunports and swallowed them into its belly.

Higgs had already transformed into a Fishman and was the first to charge onto the enemy warship with a howl.

Jack followed close behind with dozens of undead, while the crew of the Undead came last.

With undead that did not fear flintlock muskets leading the way, they naturally would not risk their own lives. They were not the first mate or second mate, completely unafraid of flintlock muskets.

Sure enough, the moment Higgs boarded, dozens of flintlock muskets focused their fire on him. Lead bullets struck his scales, leaving dent after dent. Only a very few shattered his weaker scales.

Seeing that the second volley was about to come, he grabbed a wooden barrel beside him and hurled it over.

The navy soldiers preparing to rotate their firing were immediately knocked sprawling. Higgs did not stop. He threw whatever he could get his hands on while charging toward the crowd.

By the time Jack boarded with the undead, Higgs had already plunged into the crowd and begun slaughtering them.

Flintlock muskets were extremely slow to reload, and the muskets of this era were still muzzle-loaders, not even breech-loaders. Thus, faced with Higgs already charging into their ranks, they could only abandon their muskets, draw their sabers, and fight him at close range.

But what use were swords and blades against scales that even bullets could not easily shatter?

Their blades struck his scales and did nothing except throw off strings of sparks.

Higgs was like a heavily armored knight in full plate charging into the crowd, except he bore almost no weight at all. His strength, speed, and reflexes surpassed the limits of humanity in every respect.

Against such a monster, even well-trained navy soldiers could only be slaughtered.

Just as Higgs was killing with abandon, several vicious dogs as tall as men rushed out of the cabin and pounced on him. One bit down on his arm, and its sharp teeth actually tore through his scales with ease.

Just as one of the dogs was about to bite through his throat, Jack arrived. His entire body glowing red, he kicked that dog flying and slashed the remaining dogs with the cutlass in his hand.

The dogs yelped in pain, released Higgs, and pounced toward Jack.