Fire and Punishment (I)

"Damn, you guys were brutal! You nearly wiped out all those Walking Corpses!" Geliide's voice came from afar. "Hey, you lot, hurry and help Xia Lun! Get the fire going first!"

"Don't change the plan, act according to it! Have the original combat team bring the torches over. The reserve team goes to rescue the injured—someone's hurt!" Xia Lun shouted. "Move faster, Monster is about to break through the door!"

"Alright!"

Following the brief exchange, the newly arrived pirate reinforcements quickly and orderly split into three groups. One group, led by Geliide, took the pre-prepared supplies aboard the lifeboats. The second group, those who had been resting, joined Xia Lun's team. The third group, led by the old man, began carrying away the wounded and clearing out the remaining Walking Corpses.

At that moment, the pirates' morale soared to its peak. Monster's painstakingly plotted scheme had been shattered by Xia Lun with only half their manpower. Victory seemed within reach.

Perhaps knowing its defeat was near, Monster's assault grew increasingly frenzied. More than half of the layered reinforced planks had been smashed apart, and even the first door was already on the verge of collapse.

Xia Lun wasted no more time. He sprang to his feet, stepped over layers of corpses, and hurried toward the cargo hatch.

Just as when they had made sacrifices to Monster, the cargo hatch was still pitch-black inside. A sour, rancid stench unique to whale oil slowly drifted out.

"Throw them down," Xia Lun said in a low voice.

Several newly assigned pirates carried the prepared torches. At Xia Lun's command, seven blazing torches were hurled directly into the dark cargo hatch.

The cargo hatch led straight down to the lowest cargo hold. This vertical passage was like a wound in the ship, connecting the various deck levels within the vessel.

The orange-red flames resembled fireflies flying away. Spinning as they fell, they lit the dark decks layer by layer from top to bottom.

The living quarters, the tool deck, the armory deck—then, accompanied by several dull thuds, the torches reached the end of their journey: the cargo hold.

The torches hit the ground, sparks danced, and the dim firelight scattered the shadows in the cargo hold.

Hanging whale meat and densely packed wooden barrels filled with whale oil came into view beneath the flames, reflected in Xia Lun's black eyes.

He drew another flintlock pistol from his weapons belt and raised it toward a barrel of whale oil beside the torches.

It's all over, he thought.

His thumb lightly pushed back the flintlock hammer. The next moment, he pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

The bullet struck the barrel. The yellowish-brown whale oil within was instantly heated by the scorching projectile, then reached its ignition point within a dozen milliseconds.

The next instant, a fuel-air explosion erupted.

First came a sticky golden flame, rising from the barrel like a tightly closed flower bud. Then black smoke expanded outward with ghostly violet-blue outer flames, swallowing the other whale-oil barrels. Finally, in less than half a second, everything swelled and blossomed into a dazzling orange-red fireball!

"Boom!!!"

A searing blast of heat rushed toward them. Showers of sparks rose with billowing black smoke, and in an instant, the smell of burning wood overwhelmed the bloody stench on the deck.

The all-purifying flames surged upward. The wooden cover over the cargo hatch began to burn, and under the intense heat, its edges even melted into a golden red before turning into charcoal-like ash that drifted away.

Waves of flame rose, tongues of fire erupting from the cargo hatch like a fountain. The crowd immediately broke into cheers, and Geliide laughed with particular excitement.

"Boom!!!"

The flames continued to spread. Amid a sizzling sound like meat being grilled over charcoal, Monster at the forecastle suddenly let out a hysterical shriek.

As if in a final flash of life, it slammed into the door. The wooden door instantly bent outward before abruptly breaking apart.

However, beyond the original first wooden door stood a second layer of temporary reinforcement.

"Everyone else, leave!" Xia Lun ordered in a low voice. "Priest, bring the chosen men and brace the door with me."

The priest nodded excitedly. He shouted several church prayers Xia Lun could not understand, and several fanatical pirate believers voluntarily left the group and charged with him toward the main forecastle stairway.

The others followed the predetermined plan and rushed toward the lifeboats at the ship's side.

"Bang!"

Monster battered the second reinforcement. The iron nails suddenly tore loose under the impacts, and the planks and iron strips were on the verge of giving way. Several shriveled tentacles squeezed through gaps at the edge of the reinforcement like snakes, struggling to force their way out.

Xia Lun took an extended spike spear from a pirate, then led the pirates swiftly toward the reinforcement.

As the flames spread, the air itself seemed tinged with heat. Monster's protruding tentacles blistered all over under the high temperature like grilled seafood, and their once-terrifying black hooks now looked like cooked squid tentacles.

Following the plan they had prepared beforehand, the pirates methodically took their positions behind the reinforcement. They thrust hard, then immediately crouched and stepped on the spear shafts, driving the spearheads behind the door.

This was the tactic the old man had spent two days devising. The spear shaft, spearhead, and door formed one stable triangle; the pirates' boots, torsos, and spear shafts formed a second. The long-handled spike spears and the pirates acted like supports, firmly bracing the reinforcement.

In an instant, the wooden door that had been on the verge of collapse became steady. Monster's terrifying force was all transmitted through the spear shafts into the ground.

"Bang!"

But at that moment, a tentacle suddenly pierced through the wooden door, then happened to punch straight through a pirate's head!

Blood sprayed everywhere. The unlucky pirate died instantly, but the other fanatical pirates acted as if they had seen nothing. Amid the priest's prayers, they silently maintained their original positions.

"Xia Lun!" Monster's desperate, furious voice came with the heat wave. "Open the door!"

Xia Lun said nothing. Speaking would easily reveal his position, and Monster might attack him—if he capsized in the gutter at a time like this because of an ill-timed sound, it would hardly be worth it.

The temperature continued rising, and soon little flames began to burn across the reinforcement and deck.

"Don't force me!" Monster's shriek grew weaker and weaker, while the force of its impacts gradually diminished. "If you won't leave me a way to live, then don't expect to live either! Open, the, door! Please! Don't force me!"

Black smoke poured from the forecastle stairway. The main body of the fire had already reached this place. Monster's shrieks suddenly sped up several times over, but its words were no longer distinguishable.

The faint aroma of cooked protein even drifted through the air.

Xia Lun wiped the sweat from his forehead, a gratified smile appearing on his face.

Monster was doomed. Next, he only needed to retrieve the fireproof Prayerbook of the Drowned, and the plan would be perfectly complete.

Thinking of this, he could not help glancing back at the gunpowder barrels and heavy musket behind him.

When devising the plan, Xia Lun had assumed this Monster would be exceptionally terrifying and troublesome. So he and the pirates had prepared many extra trump cards—but now, it seemed they had overestimated it.

Whether it was the old man's nail-filled "gunpowder barrel," Geliide's forked support-mounted "heavy musket," or the Wicker Man, none of those preparations had even had the chance to be used before Monster had already reached its end.

At that moment, the flames spread faster and faster. Xia Lun turned his head and discovered that the ship's main structure had likewise been swallowed by roaring flames. The remaining mast erupted in fire, like a medieval stake used to execute heretics.

Under the intense heat, the reinforced structure before him also began to warp and deform...

"Xia Lun, it's about time to retreat!" the old man's voice came from afar. "This Monster is finished!"

"Stick to the plan!" Xia Lun shouted. "We still have to hold for one more minute!"

"The flames are a blessing from the Undying Sacred Flame!" the priest added incoherently. Firelight shone across his sweat-soaked face, his expression twisted and fervent. "This is the revelation after the trial!"

—"Drip."

Suddenly, Xia Lun vaguely heard a distinctly out-of-place sound. Before he could think it over, he suddenly felt something cool touch his forehead.

What was that?

He instinctively looked up. The next moment, another cool, round droplet landed on his forehead, then slid down the bridge of his nose, gathered at the tip, and finally fell to the ground.

Drip.

Xia Lun's black eyes suddenly narrowed, and his heartbeat slowly quickened.

Was it raining?