Chapter Eighty-Nine: A Modest Triumph

A roar of "Kill!" rang out from the sailors aboard the Sea Pinwheel. Nearly a hundred of the fiercest and bravest men formed a neat square behind Lin Qi. Lucky Joe Aranger also came to Lin Qi’s side carrying a tower shield and a curved saber, guarding him steadily at his flank.

The other sailors took positions on the ship’s various decks, drawing bows and spanning crossbows from their elevated vantage points.

The six catapults were still hurling red-hot iron shot at the relentlessly pursuing dragon boats. The heavy iron balls crashed into the hulls, dealing them considerable damage; more than a score of Odin Holy Guards were killed or wounded by the impacts, and several places on the dragon boats had even burst into flames.

But religious fanatics were still fanatics. The Odin Holy Guards paid no heed to the fires aboard their vessels; they kept their eyes fixed on Lin Qi and his party, closing in, and closing in, and closing in still more. Those Holy Guards on the foremost deck had already seized their weapons and assumed the posture of men preparing to board and fight hand to hand.

When the great dragon boat drew within twenty meters, the stone titan standing at its prow let out a strange laugh. Raising both hands high, he began to chant in a deep, eerie voice like rolling thunder. A gray storm more than a meter across whirled and coiled rapidly above his palms, and within the space of a single breath a massive stone, a full meter square, appeared over his head.

At first the boulder was vague and blurred, but as the titan’s incantation continued it gradually sharpened, slowly descending toward his hands.

Just as the stone was about to fully take shape, Lucky Joe Aranger suddenly shouted, "Whale harpoon! Give him a hard one!"

A dull booming report sounded. The magical whale harpoon hidden in the hold had already been brought to the stern, where several portholes were opened. A blaze of fire shot out from them and struck the stone titan twenty meters away. The harpoon, with its fierce force, pierced deep into the titan’s chest and shot out through his back, yet not a drop of blood was seen.

The harpoon then plunged deeply into the dragon boat’s hold. A great explosion followed, sending shards of wood flying everywhere. More than a dozen oarsmen were blown away screaming, their blood glittering in the sunlight. The stone titan let out a howl of pain, dropping his hands to clutch the hole in his chest. He staggered backward several steps, slamming into the mass of Odin Holy Guards behind him who were preparing to board, throwing their formation into complete chaos.

Even more disastrous, the stone boulder he had formed with his magic lost control. At the very instant it was about to stabilize, he released his grip on the spell. The one-meter cube of stone flashed with a brilliant light, and a ring of gray shockwave swept outward. More than twenty Holy Guards near the bow were hurled ignominiously overboard.

Several of the heavily armored Holy Guards struggled in the sea for a moment before the weight of their armor dragged them under. After a while they seemed to wrench themselves free beneath the waves and surfaced in a miserable state. But a few unlucky souls came up in the direct path of the three dragon boats behind them. The moment their heads broke the surface, their skulls were smashed by the racing hulls.

Lin Qi clutched his belly and laughed uproariously, and the sailors on deck burst into laughter as well. Lucky Joe Aranger let out a long sigh and shook his head. "What a pity. At least five heads got smashed. Two thousand five hundred gold coins gone up in smoke, lads!"

The sailors’ morale rose even higher. Every one of them raised his weapon and howled at the top of his lungs, jeering and taunting the enemy within arm’s reach.

Lucky Joe Aranger suddenly shouted, "Give the big ship three rounds! Three whale harpoons in a row—punch through their lower hold!"

With three thunderous reports, three streaks of fire shot out.

But this time the whale harpoons had lost their menace. The temple sorcerer standing on the deck of the great dragon boat raised his palms and clapped them together, then uttered a deep spell. A faint green mist rose out of thin air from the dragon boat’s prow. The three harpoons slammed into the green haze and detonated, causing not the slightest injury to the vessel.

The sorcerer gave a strange laugh and swept his hand. Around the stern of the Sea Pinwheel, a fierce gale howled, and a small black cloud appeared out of nowhere above the aft deck. The cloud was only two meters square, but within it, hair-thin threads of lightning flickered constantly, tiny bolts striking one another and scattering showers of sparks.

Enzo suddenly shouted at the top of his voice, "Lightning magic! Close the portholes! Push the whale harpoons back into the hold!"

Fortunately Enzo had called out in time. The sailors below reacted with great speed; they swiftly shut the heavy portholes and pushed the metal harpoon launcher into another compartment.

No sooner had they left the stern compartment than the cloud flashed brilliantly. Three thin bolts of lightning, as thick as little fingers and accompanied by piercing cracks of thunder, struck downward in succession, blasting one porthole in the stern and about a meter of the surrounding decking into splinters.

The Sea Pinwheel’s planks were thick oak boards, centuries old and sheathed in steel plate. For such a stout hull to be shattered on so large a scale showed just how formidable the temple sorcerers’ magic was. Fortunately Enzo had ordered the harpoons removed in time; otherwise the thunder could have triggered the magical array on the harpoons, and if they had exploded, the entire stern of the Sea Pinwheel might have been blown off.

The sorcerer who had cast the lightning curse began cursing under his breath. Clearly, after expending so much strength, his spell had failed to inflict the damage it should have, and that made him furious. Breathing hard, he muttered a few more words and raised his bone staff, preparing to cast his next spell.

No sooner had he spoken than Dragon City burst into wild laughter. He flung the steel spear in his hand, and it became a streak of cold light that reached the sorcerer’s chest in an instant. A burly man standing beside the sorcerer, apparently his bodyguard, roared and lifted a heavy iron shield to block the way.

With a dull thud, the steel shield shattered. The long spear, wreathed in a purple eerie glow, pierced straight through the sorcerer’s forehead, carrying his corpse dozens of meters away before it crashed into the cold sea. At the sound of that heavy splash, every Odin Holy Guard on the four dragon boats stared at Dragon City as though they had seen a ghost.

The big man who had protected the sorcerer with the steel shield stood in a daze for a moment. Complex crimson patterns suddenly surfaced on his dark skin. He raised the spear in his hand and let out a shrill howl to the heavens. His body, already as robust as Lin Qi’s, abruptly grew by half again. His clothes and armor burst apart under the swelling muscles, and the naked man’s entire body became covered in strange blood-red markings. A blaze of bloodlight, like living flame, erupted around him. Outside that ring of bloodlight, a faint halo of purple radiance appeared!

"Damn it, an Odin Temple berserker! Those barbarians burn their own lives; at most they can raise their strength by three tiers!"

Lin Qi shouted in a jumble of words, "Dragon City, this one’s yours! I’m counting on you! Kill him, and when we get back to Dunkirk I’ll introduce you to Angel. She’s the most beautiful woman in Dunkirk—long legs, big chest, big ass, and she’s easy to bear children with. You’ll definitely like her!"

With a furious bellow, the berserk Odin Holy Guard sprang upward, crossing twenty meters in a single leap and landing directly on the stern of the Sea Pinwheel.