Chapter 6: Fending Off the Pirates
The pirates heard their captain’s words after being struck twice for the same thing, and their grievances were beyond words.
The first time was one thing, but the second time, they really felt wronged.
I was clearly following your orders, Captain!
Although they felt aggrieved and wronged, the pirates didn’t dare to retort and obediently took their punishment.
What a bunch of forgetful idiots!
Looking at the pirates eager to board again, Airael shook her head inwardly.
She called out to Hank, the leader of the mercenaries ahead, “Hank, I wonder if you have any thoughts about counterattacking the pirate ship.”
“Ailia, what did you just say?”
Hank didn’t catch what Airael was saying at first.
Airael had to repeat herself, “I asked if you were considering leading your team to counterattack the pirate ship.”
Now that he understood, Hank was momentarily taken aback.
He looked earnestly at Airael and asked, “Are you suggesting we attack the pirate ship in return, Lady Ailia?”
“Yes!”
Airael nodded and explained, “Those pirates are just too annoying. We should deal with them quickly.”
“But the pirate captain is quite tough to handle.”
Hank hesitated.
While he didn’t want to refuse Airael’s suggestion to avoid leaving a bad impression, the idea seemed a bit too bold to him.
If they actively attacked the pirate ship, they would have to board it, which would put them in a lot of danger and lose their home advantage.
“I’ll take care of him!”
Airael said, her eyes fixed on the pirate captain aboard the ship.
The pirate captain was busy organizing another boarding attempt.
Under his command, the scattered pirates obediently returned, ready to throw ropes again.
This time, Airael didn’t stop them.
She had her sights completely on the pirate captain.
Meanwhile, the pirate captain, fully focused on rallying his crew for the attack, didn’t notice.
“You worthless scum! Show me your courage! That pathetic mage’s magic is not that powerful, and yet you all ran away like a bunch of cowards! Anyone who dares to run again will be the first one I cut down!”
All the pirates instinctively shrank their necks, a chill running down their spines.
At that moment, they suddenly sensed something was off.
The chill didn’t seem to come from within but was something they could physically feel.
Turning in the direction of the cold, the pirates saw a flurry of ice arrows flying in from the merchant ship.
The ice arrows radiated an icy aura aimed directly at them.
The pirates recoiled again.
“Quick! Throw the ropes already! What are you waiting for?!”
The pirate captain yelled at them angrily.
Faced with the threat of the ice arrows, the pirates gritted their teeth and tossed the ropes toward the merchant ship.
However, the ice arrows simply flew overhead, aiming at the pirate captain behind them.
Though the pirates froze in terror, they soon felt relieved.
Thank goodness! The damn mage missed!
But the captain’s eyes widened in shock.
Earlier, he had been so focused on urging the pirates that he hadn’t paid any real attention to those ice arrows.
He had thought Airael was still trying to stop them from boarding.
Little did he know, Airael had no intention of stopping them; she was preparing to counterattack.
And the prerequisite for that counterattack was to take him out first.
As the pirate captain attempted to dodge with acrobatics, the icy projectiles spread out, covering a wide area under Airael’s control.
In the end, the pirate captain was struck by the ice arrows.
The cold surged into his body, leaving him completely stiff in an instant.
Airael’s lips curled into a slight smirk as she unleashed another bolt of lightning.
This time, the lightning didn’t scatter but gathered into a single stream, rocketing straight for the pirate captain.
With his body frozen rigid, the pirate captain couldn’t evade and could only watch helplessly as the lightning bore down on him.
Boom—!
The lightning hit the pirate captain.
He ended up in a pitiful state just like the other pirates before him and fell backward onto the ground.
“He’s been taken care of.”
Seeing this, Airael said to Hank.
“Yes!”
Hank nodded nervously.
From his perception, that pirate captain was no pushover; he was even stronger than Hank.
Yet that same strong pirate captain had been easily dealt with by Airael.
Airael didn’t say much more to him and continued casting magic attacks against the pirates, providing cover for Hank and others to climb aboard the pirate ship using the ropes thrown earlier.
With the pirate captain out of the picture and facing Hank’s mercenary assault team, compounded with Airael’s ranged magical strikes, the pirates quickly collapsed, and the survivors jumped ship to escape.
The slaves, of course, wouldn’t risk their lives for the pirates at that moment.
However, they were deeply worried about their future.
Hank looked at the surrendering pirate slaves and sighed, “Don’t worry, we won’t kill you.”
He knew these people were just like them before, reduced to pirates’ slaves after being robbed.
Living on the seas in this era was no easy feat.
It wasn’t just pirates that were rampant; there were also those fearsome mermaids.
If they were caught by a stronger mermaid, they’d be reduced to nothing but the enemy’s food, not even qualifying as slaves.
They may have beautiful upper bodies that could rival even the Elven Race in human standards, but to humans, they were regarded as nothing less than demons.
“Thank you! You truly are a great mercenary!”
The slaves instantly expressed their gratitude toward Hank, with one representative speaking on behalf of the others.
Hank replied, “Actually, you should be thanking someone else, a noble lady. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have been able to defeat these pirates. Some of us might have even become your new companions.”
The slaves exchanged glances, and the spokesperson asked again, “Can we meet this great lady? We want to thank her in person.”
Hank hesitated at the thought of Airael, who was completely shrouded in her cloak.
He could see that Airael preferred to keep a low profile.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have previously missed noticing such a powerful and noble mage on their ship.
“Is that not possible?”
Seeing the eager faces of the slaves, Hank thought for a moment and said, “I’ll ask her for you first. If she’s willing to meet you, I’ll take you to see her.”
