The Five-Pattern Elite Magic Knights, taking advantage of the hardened sea surface to break their fall, didn’t hesitate and began to run swiftly across the sea. Each time they stepped down, the water beneath their feet hardened, bringing them closer and closer to the second pirate ship.
This was the effect of a special Magic Rune Magic Tool they wore — Sea Demon Power, walking on water!
Of course, this ability to walk on the sea surface wasn’t continuous. It was clear to see that as several Five-Pattern Elite Magic Knights rushed along, the hardened surface of the water they stepped on became increasingly weaker until, finally, they sunk beneath the surface — unhardened water rushed in, soaking their boots.
Nonetheless, they had successfully approached a few meters away from the second pirate ship.
As the water could barely be hardened any longer, several Five-Pattern Elite Magic Knights leaped with all their might, grasped the gunwale of the second pirate ship, and quickly flipped aboard the pirates’ deck.
The pirates’ leader’s face changed color, and he waved his hand, shouting, "Stop them!"
Many pirates, trembling slightly, advanced to meet them.
The Elite Magic Knights, without wasting a word, brutally charged at the pirate crew, not even using weapons. With just a punch, the head of the foremost pirate was sent flying.
The remaining pirates’ eyes widened, and someone shouted, "Run!" Suddenly, they scattered like birds and beasts, fleeing in all direction.
The Elite Magic Knights, after observing this, snorted coldly and proceeded to pull out their weapons - each wielding two serrated short blades, they began the slaughter of the fleeing pirates — today’s third massacre.
With a "boom boom," two explosions sounded from the two pirate ships in succession. Under the watchful eyes of a row of people on the deck, both pirate ships quickly sank towards the seabed, disappearing from sight. The Queen Victoria maintained its course, continuing forward.
On the deck of the Queen Victoria, Richard, having witnessed the entire process of the Magic Armor Warriors’ battle, pondered thoughtfully, gaining a clearer understanding of the strength of Magic Knights: they were indeed a completely different existence from ordinary warriors.
Honestly, if there had been more Five-Pattern Elite Magic Knights just now, even he would have felt some apprehension.
And these were just Magic Knights; they were only a tiny part of what the Main Continent had shown him. What exactly was the Main Continent truly like?
Richard pondered, his eyes shining.
"Swoosh swoosh," at that moment, the sound of cleaning echoed on the deck — it was the crew beginning to tidy up, such as washing the bloodstained deck and tossing the pirates’ bodies into the sea.
This wasn’t a task for the Magic Knights, as there were sailors of much lower status, ordinary people, who took care of it.
Richard saw two stocky sailors approaching not far from him, one with brown hair, the other with black. Their skin, exposed outside their clothing, had a rust color from constant contact with water. At the moment, they were carrying a corpulent pirate corpse, somewhat struggling as they walked to the ship’s side, chanting a rhythm as they prepared to throw it overboard.
"One, two, three, throw!"
The body hit the water, creating a large splash. It first sank, then bobbed to the surface under the buoyancy, drifting along with the Queen Victoria, occasionally bumping against the ship’s hull.
The two glanced at it without surprise. The black-haired sailor pursed his lips and said, "That one’s pretty fat! Don’t know what he’s been eating, just like a pig."
Having said that, they proceeded to lift another lean pirate corpse, moving it to the edge of the ship, ready to be thrown into the sea.
"One, two... wait!" Just as they were about to toss the body, the black-haired sailor suddenly called out.
"What’s up?" The brown-haired sailor looked at the black-haired sailor with confusion.
"Look at the sea!" The black-haired sailor squinted, as if he had spotted something incredible.
The brown-haired sailor frowned and looked towards the sea for quite a while but didn’t find anything unusual. He turned to the black-haired sailor with a puzzled expression and asked, "What’s going on? The sea looks perfectly normal to me!"
"No, it’s not," said the black-haired sailor, "Just now, that fat guy’s body disappeared!"
"Huh?" The brown-haired sailor was startled and looked at the sea again, only to find it completely empty where they had thrown the fat man’s corpse. It had indeed disappeared.
To this, the brown-haired sailor wasn’t very concerned and said, "What’s the big deal? Maybe it’s sunk to the bottom."
"Impossible!" retorted the black-haired sailor with contempt, "Do you even have a brain? Once a fat body doesn’t sink at the start, it’s very hard for it to go under after that!"
"It could have drifted away," said the brown-haired sailor, still not feeling that anything was amiss.
The black-haired sailor’s brow furrowed deeply as he shook his head repeatedly, "It shouldn’t have. It’s only been a short while; even if it drifted fast, it shouldn’t have completely disappeared from sight."
"Then what do you think happened?" asked the brown-haired sailor.
"I don’t know," the black-haired sailor shook his head.
"If you don’t know, then stop being so paranoid," the brown-haired sailor was getting impatient, "Just throw this body overboard and let it sink."
"Fine," the black-haired sailor saw that the brown-haired sailor was getting annoyed and didn’t insist further. Chanting a count, he threw the body toward the sea once more.
"One, two, three... toss!"
The next moment, the body tossed from the ship didn’t hit the water at all. A gigantic fish head broke through the surface, swallowed the body in one gulp, and then submerged.
"What is this!" The brown-haired sailor’s eyes went wide in an instant.
The black-haired sailor reacted even more quickly, spinning around and running towards the center of the deck, starting to shout, "Sea monster! There’s a sea monster!"
Richard, who had been on deck ready to return to his cabin and continue his work, stopped in his tracks upon hearing this.
"Sea monster?" Richard muttered to himself, suddenly thinking of many things. Combining the earlier snapped mast, hitting a reef, and the recent pirate encounter, it all seemed too coincidental, like a series of events.
Could someone be targeting the Queen Victoria?
It’s not possible that after a smooth voyage until the end, another mishap was occurring?
Richard thought this as he turned his head to the side.
At this time, Captain Victoria Eliza appeared again, having heard the black-haired sailor’s call, and asked, "What sea monster?"
"It’s... a big fish, Captain," replied the black-haired sailor quickly, trying to remain calm, "A very, very big fish that swallowed the body whole. It..."
Before the black-haired sailor could continue, suddenly, the port side of the Queen Victoria as if it had touched something, the whole vessel gave a slight shudder.
Captain Victoria Eliza’s expression tightened, and she interrupted the black-haired sailor with a raise of her hand, gesturing towards the Magic Knights, "Port side!"
Over a dozen Magic Knights, understanding the command, rushed toward the port side and saw a very clear, huge black shadow sweep under the ship. Then with a "splash", it revealed half of its body in front of the ship.
Richard looked over and saw a creature with a body almost cylindrical, a huge head, and a short chin, with a somewhat flattened tail, not much different from a log.