Chapter 76: Templars vs The Navy IV
Lieutenant Roland’s ship immediately lost its ship modifications due to the fact that his crew no longer had somebody to act as captain, now that both he and Harry had met their end.
Therefore, directly after this happened, the ship lost roughly ten modifications, ranging between Tier II and Tier III.
The ship slowed down drastically, lost its defence against both physical and elemental damage, and no longer had anywhere close to the manoeuvrability it previously possessed.
The crew members sensed the incoming danger, so they either leapt into the waters or deployed their smaller sailboats in hopes of fleeing to their neighbouring ship, which still had all of its modifications.
During this process, half of the crew were destroyed along with their ship. They were met with a barrage of cannon fire that blasted right through their vessel, turning it into broken parts that drifted across the sea. Numerous treasures sank, becoming lost.
This left the remaining ship, owned by Lieutenant Nimitz, who was currently facing a charge from the two pirate ships.
Captain Lionheart charged in head-first, with speed that a brigantine shouldn’t have possessed. Behind it, the Redflowers sailed much slower, using the ship in front of them to defend themselves due to their own lacking defences.
Lieutenant Nimitz, who was a middle-aged man with long silver hair, a silver beard, and silver eyes, examined the scene from his railing. Beside him was his Executive Officer and daughter, Stanislava, whose silver hair was trimmed short and who had a pretty face.
"This... is unfavourable," Nimitz said as he stared out at the approaching ships. He then looked over at his daughter. "What is going on at the other side of the whirlpool?"
Stanislava closed her eyes in focus, and as she did, she consistently winced, feeling pain spread throughout her entire body. Afterwards, she opened her eyes, with tears flowing from them.
"Death. There is a lot of death, Father," she said quietly.
"And is it the death of the righteous?" he asked in a harsher tone. "And wipe your tears."
Stanislava’s ability came from the God of War itself. It allowed her to sense death in peculiar ways.
She wiped her tears and responded.
"I will assume it is the death of the unrighteous, Father."
Nimitz sighed.
"That was a trick question. Of course it is the death of the unrighteous. Power to the Navy!"
Chestnut will come soon.
Afterwards, the man turned to his crew, which now consisted of roughly sixty members due to the additions that came from the other ship.
He called out to his men.
"Prepare for close-quarters combat! If it is a battle on deck that they want, then it is an on-deck battle they will get!"
"Yes, sir!"
...
Not long afterwards, a specific formation was formed between the three ships.
They were each lined up side by side, as though the ships were dominoes on a board.
First was the navy ship, followed by the Lionheart ship, which was directly side by side with it. And on the other side was the Redflower ship. This meant that the Lionheart ship stood between the Redflowers and the navy ship.
Each of the ships was tethered together by grappling hooks in order not to stray far away from each other as they drifted across the waters. It was as though a mutual agreement had been formed between the ships that they would no longer fight with cannons, but rather with guns and melee weapons.
The Lionheart crew and the navy crew engaged each other first, not yet dropping bridges to board one another, but rather firing guns from the railings, trying to do as much damage to the enemy crew as they could before boarding.
Captain Lionheart and Lieutenant Nimitz were currently not engaged in this fight and instead stood further back as they watched their ranged fighters do battle, waiting for an opportunity to give the order to board.
As for the Redflowers, Roseus was sat on his deck, still recovering from the use of his powers. He finally managed to push himself to his feet and held the Greycloud Longsword in his hand. He felt tired and drained, but was adamant about joining the battle.
"Rose, you don’t have to fight. You’ve already done enough!" Dawn said, earning herself nods of agreement from the rest of the crew.
They had all seen him strike thunder from his sword, which had killed both the Lieutenant and Executive Officer of a crew. Yet as captain, Roseus felt that he had to get involved.
Only when Zaliah placed a hand on his shoulder and told him that she would look after him and heal him did he finally accept this.
He remained on the ship with Zaliah and Lavender, whilst the others boarded the Lionheart ship, preparing to give aid.
...
On the Lionheart Ship’s deck...
First Mate Dawn found Captain Lionheart standing on the quarterdeck of his ship with a magical golden shield floating in the air in front of him, preventing him from being hit by any of the bullets. He looked unbothered as he stood there with his neat golden hair slicked back and a serious look on his face.
Dawn hurried over to him and joined him behind the shield. With Roseus absent, she knew that she had to act as captain at that moment.
Captain Lionheart looked sideways at the one-eyed woman who had appeared beside him and spoke over the sound of gunfire.
"Where is your captain?" he asked.
Dawn had already thought about the answer to the question so as not to reveal that he was tired from creating the current storm that loomed above.
"He is preparing his treasures for the upcoming battle," she said before quickly changing topics. "What is our next course of action?"
Captain Lionheart remained silent for a few moments, as though considering Dawn’s answer. Afterwards, he smiled slightly.
"Well, he should prepare quickly, or he will miss out on an opportunity to pass judgement upon the treacherous non-believers."
He then called out to his men.
"Lower the bridges! It’s time to board!"
