"This isn't right. This monster isn't right!"
"Ahhh! Quick! Shoot arrows into the water!"
The Qing soldiers panicked and actually did it. Arrows rained into the sea in frantic volleys.
But the moment the arrows struck the water, their force vanished. The current swallowed their momentum. Shafts drifted uselessly, bobbing like broken twigs. The shadow beneath the surface continued gliding effortlessly.
Even if they had struck it directly, it would not have mattered.
The underwater terror kept darting between boats, slashing, vanishing, striking again. The fleet descended into total chaos. Men shouted over one another. Oars splashed wildly. No one maintained proper formation anymore.
Their vigilance over the surrounding sea collapsed.
Of course, even if they had remained perfectly alert, it would not have changed the outcome. A swarm of small troop transports built for stealth landings could never contend with true warships.
Then it appeared.
On the distant horizon, looming against the darkness, a colossal silhouette rose from the sea.
The Wanli Sunshine.
The entire Qing fleet fell silent.
"What… is that?"
"A giant ship!"
"In the middle of the night… how can something like that be out at sea?"
"Is it a demonic ship?"
After being terrorized by something beneath the water, their minds were already poisoned with fear. So when a massive black hull emerged like a mountain from the darkness, their first thought was not the Ming navy.
It was demons.
"A demonic ship! Ahhh!"
On board the so called demonic ship, sailors worked efficiently.
Cannons were being loaded.
Since the enemy consisted entirely of tightly packed small boats, there was no need for solid shot. They switched entirely to shrapnel shells.
The sailors from Gao Family Village were highly familiar with this ammunition. The reformed pirates and newly recruited men were less experienced.
One reformed pirate picked up a shell, studying it with curiosity. He scratched his head and asked a Gao Family Village sailor beside him, "Brother, which side goes into the cannon?"
The sailor grinned. "Look carefully. One end has a wooden sabot. In the center of that sabot is the fuse. That end goes in first. When the cannon fires, the fuse ignites. By the time it reaches the enemy, the fuse burns down and the shell explodes at just the right moment."
The pirate's eyes widened. "So that's how it works! I understand now. Hahaha!"
He rubbed his hands eagerly. "I've been wanting to try these for ages. Finally it's our turn to show what we can do."
The reformed pirates were even more excited than the Gao Family Village sailors. They rammed the shells into the cannons with almost childlike enthusiasm.
Across the water, the Qing soldiers were still screaming.
"Demonic ship! There are monsters!"
"The monsters are coming! Ahhh!"
Boom!
A cannon roared.
The so called monster had fired.
The Qing soldiers were stunned.
Monsters… use cannons?
What kind of advanced demons were these?
The first shell arced beautifully through the night sky. With so many small boats crammed together, aiming was almost unnecessary. Missing would have required talent.
The shell landed among them.
Boom!
A second explosion.
Shrapnel burst outward in all directions. Metal fragments tore through wood and flesh alike. Soldiers on several boats screamed simultaneously. Bodies twisted and fell into the sea in grotesque poses.
"It really is a demonic ship!"
"These monster cannons even bloom!"
"Ahhh! Monster cannons!"
The Qing soldiers were brave against human enemies. They had fought countless battles on land.
But this?
Underwater demons. Floating mountains that fired blooming thunder.
Their courage dissolved.
General Samushika felt his scalp go numb.
"What is happening? Someone tell me!"
He looked around and finally realized something even more terrifying.
There was not just one massive ship.
There were many.
From all directions, enormous shadows advanced through the darkness. They were almost invisible, their hulls blending with the night, like black mountains drifting over black water.
Only when cannons flashed did their outlines become faintly visible for an instant.
Shrapnel continued raining down.
Samushika watched his elite army collapse in spirit. Men wailed. Orders were ignored. Morale plummeted to nothing.
If this had been a land battle, the troops would already be running in all directions.
But they were at sea.
The fleet was packed too tightly. Ships in front could not retreat because others blocked them from behind. The formation itself trapped them in place.
Outwardly, the fleet still existed.
Inwardly, it had already shattered.
Samushika made his decision in a heartbeat.
Run.
"Row back! Quickly! Retreat!"
The flagship's sailors strained desperately, trying to pull away, trying to reach land. On land, at least, they would not have to face these floating nightmares.
But the demonic ships were already surging forward.
Cannon fire alone was not enough. Artillery had limited precision. Some shells splashed into the water before detonating, wasting their destructive potential.
The musketeers shouted excitedly, "Let us fire too! The artillery cannot have all the fun!"
The helmsmen yelled, "We want in as well! Ram them!"
The reformed pirates drew their blades. "We want to board and—"
"You cannot."
The majestic voice of Dao Xuan Tianzun boomed across the deck.
"No boarding actions. Absolutely no boarding actions. The enemy vessels are too small. If you jump over and they shift even slightly, you will fall into the water."
The pirates protested, "If we fall in, we'll just swim back. We're not afraid."
Dao Xuan Tianzun replied calmly, "Just now, I pierced the bellies of several Qing soldiers underwater. The scent of blood has spread. Think carefully."
The pirates froze.
"The sharks…"
Blood in the sea was a summons.
Right at that moment, a Qing soldier who had fallen overboard tried desperately to climb back onto his boat. His hands gripped the edge.
Suddenly he stiffened.
Then he vanished downward.
A violent splash erupted. Blood bubbled to the surface. A shadow with a massive dorsal fin cut briefly through the water before disappearing.
The pirates quietly sheathed their knives.
"No boarding," one muttered. "In this situation, falling into the water means certain death."
It truly did.
For large ships, this was the perfect battlefield.
For small boats, it was a slaughterhouse.
The giant warships of Gao Family Village plowed forward.
Crash.
Wood splintered.
Several Qing boats flipped over entirely. Sailors tumbled screaming into the sea.
The fortunate ones were dragged under the hulls of the large ships and drowned quickly.
Others were caught by the propellers of the electric ships, their bodies torn apart in moments.
But the unluckiest were those who met the sharks.
The predators had already been drawn by blood. Now entire chunks of meat were falling from above.
If sharks could speak, they would have shouted, "Heaven's bounty! Dinner has arrived!"
In their excitement, perhaps they even imagined tying napkins around their necks. Of course, these were sharks of the Bohai Strait. Knives and forks were foreign concepts. Chopsticks were more appropriate.
They lifted imaginary bowls and chopsticks and swam happily toward the feast.
The naval battle had been decided from the beginning.
It was annihilation.
Samushika's soul nearly left his body as he roared, "Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!"
In this, he was luckier than Aobai.
Aobai had commanded only a small flotilla and had been surrounded easily.
Samushika, however, commanded hundreds of boats. Even Gao Family Village's fleet could not completely encircle such a vast number.
Amid chaos and destruction, he found a narrow path of escape.
Disheveled and shaken to his core, Samushika fled back toward land.