“Something isn’t right…” A Marine soldier muttered as he looked at the thick mist on the sea with his telescope. “There are pieces of wood floating…” he added when he saw debris floating.

The soldier rang the ball, informing the crew about what he had found. All the soldiers came to the top deck to see what was going on. The captain of the ship looked at the debris and he was convinced it belonged to another patrol ship.

“On guard!” The captain shouted.

All the marine mages held their staffs tightly as they looked around, but they couldn’t see anything around them.

“Clear the vision,” the captain ordered as he unsheathed his sword.

The mages cast a wind magic formation around the ship and blew the wind away, giving a clear vision of the sea. But they were all shocked when a pirate ship was right in front of them. The mages immediately cast fire magic spells toward the pirate ship, bombarding the ship with different kinds of fire magic.

Before the spells could reach the pirate ship, their spells were extinguished in less than a second. They were confused and tried to cast spells again, but it was the same as before, the fire was extinguished in an instant. Suddenly something fell and when they turned around it was a headless marine soldier that was stationed on top of the castle. They all looked up and saw a pirate looking down at them with a head in his hand, it was Rasmus.

The mages cast wind magic toward the castle, but before they could release the formation, they saw fireballs around them. The fireballs exploded, killing them all in an instant, the captain looked at the pirate and didn’t expect to see a skilled mage. The mages that belonged to the fleet were at least High-wizard and skilled ones at that as well.

“A High-wizard? No… at least he’s a Sage!” The captain pointed out, warning the soldiers.

“Call for backup!” He shouted because he knew knights stood no chance against a Sage who didn’t need to chant magic formations to cast a spell.

One of the soldiers ran into the lower deck while the rest stayed on the top deck. They activated the magic shield on their armor knowing they were against a mage. They waited for the mage to waste his Mana because they knew they could handle any kind of spell with what they had.

Rasmus raised his brows and a smirk formed on his face when he realized they were challenging him. He pointed his right hand right in front of the mast’s pillar. All the soldiers and the captain noticed the wind blowing from their backs toward where Rasmus pointed his hand. They wondered what was going on until they saw a sphere of wind forming.

They were anxious when they saw the sphere grow bigger and bigger to the point it could fit five adults inside it. When they thought it was going to grow even bigger, the sphere suddenly shrunk rapidly to the point it was as small as a basketball, making a high-pitched sound that irritated their ears.

“You just made the worst decision…” Rasmus muttered as he clenched his hand.

The sphere created a strong blast that traveled at Mach 2. In an instant, all the knights including the captain collapsed. Their eyes, noses, ears, and mouths spat blood, killing them almost instantly due to the pressure and their organs being crushed. The pillars were cut in half and collapsed, destroying the ship.

Rasmus landed and suddenly the ship trembled and some kind of light pierced through from the lower deck up into the sky. He looked up at the light and felt the immense Mana being released from the cabin. The light was bright enough to be seen from miles away and it seemed that was how they called for help just like a flare gun back on Earth.

“You have done it,” Videl boarded the ship.

“Yes, the party is about to start…” Rasmus looked down at the hole and released a fireball into it. “Let’s wait for our guests,” he said, and then the cabin exploded, destroying the inside of the ship. The debris didn’t affect him or Videl because of the Mana shield.

They both hopped onto their ship before the marine ship sunk into the water.

“That magic came in handy, huh?” Videl looked at the multiple thin layers that separated Rasmus’s ship and the Marine’s ship. “Layers of vacuum space, sucking out the oxygen from the fire magic, but how did you know that they would use fire magic?” He glanced at Videl with a curious look.

“It’s easy. It’s a wooden ship, what would be the best way to get rid of a wooden ship? The answer is fire,” Rasmus answered as he leaned against the railing. “Common sense is easy to predict,” he pointed out with a relaxed expression and dropped the head that he had taken earlier.

(At the same time on the Ironhook Island)

A bearded man with broad shoulders and a big body was busy writing a document at his desk. It was a quiet night as usual, but his room suddenly became oddly bright. He glanced toward the window behind his desk and noticed the bright pillar-like light that pierced the sky in the distance.

The bearded man stood up and pushed back his armchair. The man wore a white uniform with so many medals hanging on the left side of his chest. He watched the light slowly disappear, his striking yellow eyes were sharp, piercing through the moonlight.

“Azure Abyss…” The bearded man muttered, his voice deep and rough. “Pirates…” He narrowed his eyes to the sky and then left his office.

As soon as the bearded man left his office, a man who wore a similar uniform except he had a white robe over his uniform appeared behind him. The man followed the bearded man, his footsteps were silent like the wind.

“Prepare my vessel,” the bearded man glanced at the man behind him.

The man nodded and then disappeared without a trace.

The moment the bearded man left the fort, hundreds of elite knights and High-wizards were waiting for him at the dock. He boarded the ship along with his whole unit, the man with a robe had been waiting for them on the deck.

“Azure Abyss, that’s our destination,” the bearded man ordered his helmsman.

His ship was two times bigger than the big ships around it, making it easily recognized as the leader’s ship. The moment his ship began to sail, dozens followed.

Rasmus looked at the map and one of the pirates pointed at the nearest island from Azure Abyss. They explained to him about the fort of the Marine’s base, and they mentioned Commander Mercurius, one of the eight Naval Commanders under Admiral Gustav’s command.

“How strong is Commander Mercurius?” Rasmus looked at the pirates in front of him.

They all looked at each other for a moment, thinking about who should explain to Rasmus about Mercurius’s strength.

“Commander Mercurius is…” A pirate paused to think of the right word. “A monster…”

Videl raised his brows and then laughed so hard to the point that he almost cried. The pirates looked at Videl with a confused look. He tried to calm himself down, but he kept laughing because it was just too funny for him. Rasmus on the other hand kept a poker face even though he was surprised by how they described Mercurius.

“He’s a Swordmage. A knight and a mage at the same time,” the pirate explained.

“Swordmage, so it’s similar to Northern Star,” Rasmus nodded with understanding.

“Doesn’t that make you a Swordmage as well?” Videl asked with his brows raised.

The pirates looked at Rasmus with surprised expressions.

“Well, he should be here at any moment now. Why don’t you guys take the rowboat and leave this ship? I promise Matthias to not let you all die, so stay as far as you can,” Rasmus said as he pushed himself from the railing. “Don’t forget to bring that head. Matthias wanted his souvenir. Keep it safe,” he pointed at the head on the floor.

All the pirates shared a look once again and then they immediately took the head and brought the rowboat on the water. They all left without hesitation and began to row the boat as far as they could from the ship.

“A monster…” Videl chuckled as he wiped his eyes. “I don’t understand why it’s so funny…” he cleared his throat.

“That’s enough, Videl. The guests are here,” Rasmus said as he narrowed his eyes and saw tiny lights in the far distance.

“Right…” Videl took a deep breath as he leaned down and rested his elbows on the railing. “The guests are indeed here,” he smirked as he saw dozens of ships with the big one in the middle.

“Let’s get the party started…” Rasmus walked up the stairs and lowered the masts.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep