The journey back was exceptionally calm. This was already the seventh day of their return voyage. The Undead had the ability to remember sea routes, so they followed the route they had taken here without worrying about getting lost.
Jack and the other crew members found nothing strange about Yang Mu remaining in the Captain's cabin for seven days. Such things were very common aboard the Undead.
The Captain's strength meant he did not need to show himself constantly like ordinary pirates in order to maintain control over the Undead.
As long as he was alive, he would forever be the Captain of the Undead. This was not merely due to the crew's recognition; the Undead acknowledged only this one master. Once the Captain disappeared, no one else would be able to board the Undead.
Jack had replenished the undead under his command using the corpses on the lower deck. As for Higgs, he was still gnawing through basic knowledge, clutching a book every day like a bookworm.
Strangely enough, the pirates aboard the Undead rarely played cards, gambled, or drank themselves senseless. It was not that they did none of those things, but they did not make them the entirety of their lives. Most of their time was spent reading.
Yes, reading. A group of pirates who read whenever they had nothing else to do, even discussing what they read with one another. If not for their vicious faces, scars, and pirate attire, anyone unfamiliar with them might have mistaken them for students from some school.
Naturally, this was because of Higgs's experience—entering a treasure mountain yet leaving empty-handed.
He had clearly gained the Mental Power necessary for spellcasting by burning corpses. Even if he could not raise huge numbers of Walking Corpses and skeletons like Jack, he should at least have been able to cast Bone Shield now and then, perhaps even develop new applications for it.
His Mental Power was more than enough to cast Skeleton Resurrection once. Though he could only raise one or two skeletons, it would still have been a novel experience.
The problem was that he could not cast it. To become a Mage, learning was the eternal foundation, and knowledge was the ultimate pursuit.
Thus, for the sake of powerful strength, and so that they could quickly get started and gain power as soon as the Captain bestowed it upon them, they began to study.
Facts proved that as long as the temptation was great enough, there was nothing people would not do—including pirates grinding through advanced mathematics.
Since Yang Mu did not forbid them from reading some of the books he had written, these pirates truly managed to learn something through Jack's instruction and their own studies. As long as they made up for their Mental Power through the Dark Forge Meditation, they might well be able to embark upon the path of a Mage.
The Dark Forge Meditation had practically flattened the threshold to becoming a Mage. As long as someone was human, cultivating this Meditation Method would at minimum allow them to become a low-ranking Apprentice. If their learning ability was exceptional enough, going further was not impossible.
Just as a group of pirates sat on the deck reading, Jack suddenly stood up.
"Hey, hey, brats! Peaceful study time is over. Someone has caught up with us."
Jack clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention. At his words, they all put down their books and picked up their pirate cutlasses once more. The calm vanished from their faces, replaced by the cruelty belonging to pirates.
"Boss Jack, who is it? We aren't even on a sea route. How could we run into another ship? We didn't see a damn thing for two months on the way here."
A pirate grabbed a rope and swung over to Old Jack's side. Compared to the formal title of first mate, they preferred calling Jack Boss Jack.
"Hope you can still laugh in a moment. It's the fastest ship in the Kingdom of the Netherlands—the Gale."
"Damn it, you're saying it's the Gale, one of the three fastest ships on the sea?"
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The crewman's previously relaxed expression immediately turned ugly.
Smack. He received a slap on the head.
"What are you afraid of? Do you think you're still the pathetic loser you used to be? Have you forgotten what ship you're on? It's just a royal warship. If they dare come close, destroy them."
Jack spoke arrogantly, but the moment his words fell, the roar of cannons sounded in the distance. Several cannonballs were already flying toward the Undead.
Although the Undead swatted all the cannonballs away with its tentacles, the Gale behind them was rapidly closing in, firing without pause all the while.
Under the horrified gazes of every Undead crew member, the Gale swiftly approached at a terrifying speed and pulled alongside the Undead.
Jack and the others nearly had their jaws drop. They knew the Gale was fast, but they had never expected it to be this fast. Even as a steam-and-sail hybrid vessel, it should not have been capable of such speed.
Supernatural power was undoubtedly involved.
Dense cannon fire erupted beside the Undead. The Gale was no small vessel, measuring over a hundred meters long, and it carried a full sixty-four cannons along with a great many heavy shells.
There were two tiers of cannon ports along its sides, with sixteen cannons on each tier. Every volley fired thirty-two cannonballs.
Even with tentacles growing from its hull, the Undead could not intercept so many cannonballs in such a short time. For the first time, the Undead endured cannon fire, letting out a deep, furious groan.
It tried to use its tentacles to hook the Gale beside it, but the Gale instantly pulled away, keeping beyond the reach of its tentacles while continuously firing cannonballs at the Undead's hull.
Even though the Undead had devoured many ships and even consumed a sea monster, making its hull exceptionally tough, it had not reached the point of withstanding close-range bombardment from cannons.
The Gale was like a shameless flirt, alternately drawing close and pulling away. It would not let him hook it, yet it did not move too far away either, constantly tossing flirtatious glances his way—in other words, cannonballs.
The Undead could only rage helplessly, unable to do a thing to its opponent. Jack, who had been so arrogant moments ago, was now scurrying about with his head lowered, holding up a Bone Shield as he cautiously observed the situation through Mage's Eye.
Seeing that it could not catch the other ship, the Undead seemed to finally remember it possessed other abilities. Black mist spread from its hull, quickly turning the sea within a one-mile radius into a pitch-black night where one could not see a hand before one's face.
The Gale also lost sight of the Undead. The Undead could not catch it, but would it not be easy to get away from it, especially after the Gale had lost visual contact?
"General, we've lost sight of the enemy. The probing cannon fire produced no sound of impact. The shells fell into the sea."
Aboard the Gale, the first mate carried an oil lamp as he spoke to a middle-aged naval major general. He was the Gale's Captain, Fearless Wind, Goss Roderick.
A major general of special standing within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, he held only the rank of major general, yet answered to no one but the King. He had also served as the Gale's Captain for more than twenty years.
Half of the Gale's reputation came from him. Although the Gale itself was already a swift ship, a material known as Gale Sand had been incorporated during its construction, granting it speed far beyond that of other vessels.
But it had never been this absurdly fast.
Undead
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