Chapter 32

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

From the ghost ship, countless black arrows were shot out. These small projectiles blended perfectly with the night of the Sea of Death, and the only thing visible to the naked eye was the faint glow produced by the ether particles stimulated by the arrows. Several sailors blindly raised their shields to protect the gunnery officer, Vena Dubov, from the rain of arrows. She, however, was using various instruments to urgently measure the relative position changes between the ghost ship and their own vessel.

Only after the complicated calculations were completed did the half-elf beauty urgently shout:

"Adjust the bearing to the left by one, set the sight to seven, and adjust the parameters at each gun position."

Upon hearing this, Luo Zhengdao wasted no time. After the gunners shouted that they had adjusted the angles, he waved his hand in a downward cutting motion and shouted loudly:

"Fire!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

All living things will eventually die, and all tangible things will eventually decay. Therefore, the concepts of non-birth, non-destruction, non-increase, non-decrease, non-purity, and non-defilement are part of the old world's Buddhist teachings. In the new world, entities like the ghost ship, which are strange and inexplicable, exist between the realms of illusion and reality. However, to interact with the real world, even the undead must transform from their ethereal state. This means that if the ghost ship does not intend to attack, it remains a non-material illusion and cannot be attacked. If it actively interferes with the material world, it loses its immunity to external attacks.

Even though Luo Zhengdao was a rare穿越者 (穿越者: time traveler), he did not possess profound philosophical insights. At this moment, he instinctively judged that the ghost ship could be attacked. If asked where this inexplicable confidence came from, the answer would probably be a shrug and a blank stare.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang..."

Countless black arrows, as dark as ink, continuously shot from the direction of the ghost ship, like a sudden storm, landing on the deck and sides of the Yangwei. The rusted metal arrowheads pierced the wooden hull, producing a dense, low, and muffled sound. In the blink of an eye, the once-golden Yangwei was covered with countless black arrows, resembling a porcupine.

This level of long-range attack was insufficient to destroy the main structure of the warship, but the sailors were not so fortunate. Especially those on the upper deck, the gunners had to quickly hide behind the bulwarks after firing a round, unable to even raise their heads under the rain of arrows. On the masts and sails behind the sailors, the density of the black arrows was so high that they could not even touch the ship's hull by extending their hands. In such a dire situation, anyone who dared to stand up and reload would likely meet a fate no better than the assassin Wu Ming in the old world's film "Hero." Such foolish actions were far from heroic and were undoubtedly the height of stupidity.

In the chaotic and disordered long-range exchange, anyone could see that the pirates' outcome would be dire. Shielding himself with one hand, Luo Zhengdao crouched down and shouted to Zola Hegel, who was persistently steering the ship under the threat of arrows:

"Increase the distance! Hard to port!"

After being hit by two rounds of close-range cannon fire from the Yangwei, the ghost ship had several large holes, even allowing the dim moonlight to be seen from the left side to the right. Despite this, the damage did not affect the ghost ship's navigational flexibility. As the Yangwei turned hard to port, the ghost ship followed. Seeing this, Luo Zhengdao's eyes turned red. He was determined to crush this ghost ship! At this moment, he could not afford to hesitate. He risked standing up and snatched the steering wheel from Zola, forcefully turning it to direct the warship straight toward the ghost ship.

"Thud—"

The deep, prolonged sound of the collision and the creaking of the ship's hull under pressure made one's teeth itch. The beautifully designed and practical bronze ram of the Yangwei almost penetrated the ghost ship's side at a ninety-degree angle. Now, neither could escape.

Only those who are fearless deserve to live! This saying, which is clearly out of place in the mundane lives of ordinary people, is quite fitting on the bloody battlefield. In a battle, who dies the fastest? Of course, it's those who are scared out of their wits and turn to run, exposing their backs to the enemy! If it's difficult to kill someone from the front, attacking from behind is almost certain to succeed. Therefore, the more afraid one is in war, the faster they die. This is an unshakable truth.

Luo Zhengdao had been trying to avoid a boarding action, but he had no choice but to initiate it. The sailors, who could finally stand up straight, rushed onto the deck with knives, swords, and short spears, their footsteps chaotic. A bloody battle was about to break out.

"Whoo, whoo—"

The wailing of the floating ghosts in the air was chilling, making everyone's hair stand on end. The pirates, who were used to killing and plundering, found the challenge of fighting non-human opponents at close range to be too difficult. The dim light and the ineffectiveness of ranged weapons against incorporeal ghosts made the situation even worse.

"We're not afraid of living enemies, so why should we fear a bunch of dead ones? Follow me!"

The fierce boatswain, Zola Hegel, lived up to his reputation as a ruthless pirate. Without a word, he jumped onto the deck of the ghost ship with his patterned steel military knife, despite the deck being in a state of disrepair. Seeing this, the other sailors, who were still hesitant, had no choice but to follow him, hardening their resolve.

At this critical moment, Luo Zhengdao was not idle. The magic card he held in his sleeve emitted a faint blue light, and he whispered:

"Summon—Hexagram Array!"

In response, a bright blue, thin line appeared in the dark night sky. Initially, it expanded horizontally in two dimensions, and then a series of shadows rapidly flashed, extending the hexagram array into a three-dimensional sphere. From any angle, the image appeared as a standard three-dimensional hexagram array.

Unlike the later arcanists and sorcerers in the new world, the ancient magic card masters followed a different principle. They themselves did not have the ability to cast spells directly and needed to rely on magic cards as a medium.

Magic cards are cards that have pre-set spells embedded in them, allowing for instant casting. Although these cards save the magic card master preparation time and the need for casting media, the user still needs to expend the corresponding mental energy and elemental points to activate the spell. The more powerful the magic card, the higher the requirements for its use. In a sense, newly initiated magic card masters have many weaknesses, but this should not be used to underestimate their potential for development. The true magic of magic cards lies in the fact that as the card master's card rank increases, the spells that can be embedded become more powerful, eventually distorting or even replacing the laws of the universe.

Only those magic card masters who have reached this level of power can be considered formidable enough to have once brought down the entire pantheon of the ancient gods of the multiverse. Before this, magic card masters were relatively weak.

As Luo Zhengdao activated this three-star magic card, he敏锐地 (敏锐地: acutely) sensed a shadowy presence attaching itself to him. He was slightly startled, realizing that this might be a manifestation of the ancient god's curse, possibly made more visible by the negative energy environment of the Sea of Death. This could be a good starting point for research, and perhaps he could try to analyze the ancient god's curse along this line. However, he quickly dismissed this thought, as the immediate priority was to deal with the ghost ship.

"Crack! Crack!"

As the pirates swung over the ether sea between the two ships and jumped onto the deck of the ghost ship to engage in battle, the skeletons and zombies in the lower decks of the ghost ship also joined the fray. They were not intentionally lying in wait; most undead creatures lacked the intelligence to plan such tactics. The incorporeal ghosts could pass through the wooden walls to reach the deck, while the corporeal undead had to use the stairs, creating a comical time difference.

Do not assume that only ghosts should appear on a ghost ship. The term "ghost ship" is a layman's term, and in essence, it is a mobile necropolis. If someone has a bad day and encounters a black knight or even a golden mummy on a ghost ship, it is not unusual.

Among the various types of undead, only high-level entities like liches and vampires, which possess self-awareness, are unlikely to appear on a ghost ship. Other types of undead are quite satisfied with the negative energy environment of the ghost ship and have no desire to move.

As a large number of undead appeared, the pressure on the pirates increased, and their activity area was gradually compressed to a corner of the ghost ship's deck. Even a blind person could see that the situation was dire.

"Fire support!"

"Bang, bang, bang, bang..."

The Yangwei, designed by the engineers of the Yaling Royal Shipyard, was a well-designed and high-quality Yaling battleship. Unlike armed merchant ships that doubled as pirate vessels, its upper deck was equipped with numerous swivel guns and falconets to resist boarding actions. Although these weapons had been removed when the ship was decommissioned, the original gun positions were still there, and the pirates had installed similar weapons. The professional military-grade firepower was formidable, and sweeping the deck of the ghost ship was no challenge. Luo Zhengdao, standing on the aft deck, noticed the shift in the balance of the melee and immediately ordered the sailors operating these guns to attack.

At his command, a storm of fire erupted on the side of the Yangwei closest to the ghost ship. Grape shot and canister shot rained down from the gun barrels, the density of the barrage surprising even the instigator. However, the effect of the artillery assault was not optimistic.

Unlike living beings with flesh and blood, the undead were not significantly affected by limb loss. Only a precise hit to the head, extinguishing the soul fire, could eliminate them. The accuracy of pre-industrial firearms should not be overestimated. Firing at a large target like a warship was manageable, and the closer the range, the less the deviation. However, hitting a small target the size of a human head required divine intervention, and this had more to do with luck than skill.

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**End of Chapter**