Chapter 270: Chapter 270 Pirate Queen_1
The crew on deck quickly cleared out, one by one hiding in the cabins.
The other two prince-level members of the High-Rank Bloodline emerged and stood beside Kael.
"Is it really necessary for us all to go?" the female prince-level Bloodline member looked back and forth at her two companions.
She had a bit of a noble’s reserve, three prince-level Bloodlines, by the standards of the Heretic Judges’ wanted list, were three S-class felons, more than enough to overwhelm a ship of pirates in terms of fighting power.
"Don’t take it too lightly, I’ve heard some pirates can handle a trick or two of black magic, or have strange artifacts in hand," Kael waved his hand dismissively, "Since they’ve sent three of us, we might as well make sure it’s completely foolproof."
"Well then, might as well take advantage of an ’easy meal’," another prince commented.
"What a pity, Kael, it’s a chance to indulge, but you’re wearing a ’collar’," the female prince glanced at Kael.
Among the three present, only Kael had a legal identity as an alien species, in other words, he was the only one under the constraints of the Heretic Judge organization.
"I have my principles... Alright, here comes the ship, get ready to work!" Kael gestured for the two to refocus their attention on the pirate ship.
As the merchant ship gave up resistance early on, the pirate ship approached leisurely, anchoring alongside, clearly outclassing the merchant ship by more than a margin. To board smoothly, the pirates lowered a gangplank.
The five pirates tasked with scouting went down the gangplank onto the cargo ship first and found that apart from three hooded figures, the deck was deserted.
"What’s going on here?" The pirates immediately grew suspicious, pointing their guns at the three figures.
Revolvers, shotguns, and even the now-rare flintlock guns made up the pirates’ arsenal – mostly cobbled together from port city black markets or loot, their equipment was decidedly mismatched.
The first to speak was Kael, "I’m not very familiar with the maritime news around here, may I ask if this ship belongs to Captain Annie Drake of the Deer Falcon?"
The Deer Falcon under the command of Annie Drake—this was the primary target of the trio’s mission. However, due to limited time, besides the main area of activity, they had not uncovered more information, and ended up chartering a merchant vessel to this vicinity to bait the target out.
"Cut the crap, you have five minutes, if you don’t want to be thrown overboard as fish bait, go haul out the valuables from the cabins yourselves!" one of the pirates threatened viciously, stepping forward and kicking out.
Kael caught the pirate’s ankle with agility beyond the man’s imagination, flipping him onto the deck.
"Looks like we’ll have to change our way of asking questions," Kael smirked.
Meanwhile, the two prince-level Bloodlines standing at his sides moved, slashing their wrists and spraying forth vivid blood that morphed into weapons.
The pirates were taken aback, almost instinctively pulling their triggers.
All three were shot but just staggered momentarily; Kael didn’t even move from his spot, the bullets effortlessly passing through his chest—as prince-level Bloodline members capable of turning their bodies into mist, most physical damage was easily dispelled by vaporizing then reforming, avoiding injury altogether if vaporized in advance.
The two prince-level bloodliners standing on either side each turned their blood into a pair of short daggers and flung them out, piercing directly through the arms of the pirates.
As the pirates howled in agony, the prince-level bloodliners had already charged in front of them, taking down two men first, then each grabbing a victim and biting into their necks to suck their blood.
Shrill horns sounded on the pirate ship, and the flag on the mast was replaced with red. Upon witnessing the three figures swiftly incapacitating the pirates who had boarded first, the pirate ship immediately went into battle mode.
Kael advanced unhurriedly, preparing to climb aboard the pirate ship using the boarding ladder the pirates had lowered. Soon, two pirates rushed over intending to cut off the boarding access.
Seeing that they were about to overthrow the boarding ladder, Kael slashed open his wrist and violently flung his hand, the spurting blood transforming into a flexible whip.
The whip, as if alive, quickly wrapped around the railing of the deck. Quick-reacting pirates grabbed boarding axes and hacked at the blood-red whip coiling towards them, only to find that their axe blades couldn’t cut through at all.
With the help of the blood whip, Kael successfully climbed aboard the pirate ship.
The pirates, having witnessed their opponent not only staying upright after being shot but also wielding eerie blood magic, were terrified beyond words. Each one of them, armed with knives, swords, and axes, surrounded the enemy but not a single one dared to engage in combat.
"Damn it, what are you idiots standing around for? Why not kill him while he’s alone?" came the authoritative shout from the center of the deck, and the young female pirate captain wielding a long saber exhorted her crew, "Stand there any longer and believe me, I’ll hang you all from the mast!"
Under the threat of their leader, the first batch of pirates mustered a bit of fighting spirit, advancing with weapons in hand to try and overwhelm by their numbers.
Kael shook his head. Ordinary swords, axes, and firearms were ineffective against a high-rank bloodliner. After all, when the Judges of the heresy inquisition agency fought bloodliners, they’d always be equipped with concentrated Holy Water and blessed Magic Bullets.
He swung the blood whip in a circle, effortlessly slicing open the chests of the pirates. Those less fortunate even had the hands holding their weapons severed, and large pools of blood gushed forth. The severely wounded pirates collapsed to the ground, wailing in agony.
Ignoring these small fries, Kael smiled and turned his gaze toward the female captain in the center of the deck, striking up a conversation, "My beautiful miss—"
His greeting was met with the sound of a gunshot and a curse, "Go feed the sharks, you monster!"
The bullet struck his shoulder, and Kael tried to vaporize that part of his body to mend the wound when he suddenly felt a burning, searing pain spreading out from his left shoulder.
It wasn’t as intense as the specialized Magic Bullets used by the Judges against the immortal clan, but it was clearly not something a normal bullet could inflict.
"Silver bullet?" he quickly surmised.
The female captain wasn’t too foolish after all; upon realizing he was a bloodliner, she had her subordinates come up to buy time while she took the opportunity to swap for equipment that could do considerable damage to a bloodliner.
At that point, the other two prince-level bloodliners also boarded the ship using the same method.
"Female pirate captains are quite rare," said the female prince-level bloodliner. "This must be our target."
"It doesn’t matter. I’m too lazy to ask," Kael, who had been shot, said resignedly, "The order is to capture her alive, so let’s be as... gentlemanly as possible."
