There was no time to think.
It was an almost instinctive action.
With ghostly speed, Su Ye twisted his body and dodged to the side in a single, fluid motion!
The next moment.
ZING!
A piercing sound tore through the air right next to Su Ye's ear!
A Crossbow Arrow, as thick as a baby's arm and glinting with a cold light, shot past him!
The air surged!
A jarring sonic boom echoed through the air!
KRAK!
The Crossbow Arrow slammed into the deck, sending a shower of splintered wood flying in all directions.
A crewman was struck in the eye by a flying splinter. He writhed on the ground, howling in agony.
And he was one of the lucky ones.
Two other crewmen were hit squarely by Crossbow Arrows and died on the spot without a sound.
Their gruesome deaths were a terrifying sight!
'Crossbow cannons…' A chill went down Su Ye's spine.
The speed of a Crossbow Arrow from a cannon inscribed with Acceleration Array Patterns was just too fast!
The ordinary crewmen on the Flying Serpent didn't even have time to react before the deadly cannon fire struck!
For them, being targeted by the crossbow cannons was like a game of Russian roulette.
If your number was up, death was certain!
Their reaction speeds and protective arts were utterly meaningless against the crossbow cannons!
The only thing they could rely on was blind luck.
Even Su Ye himself had just narrowly escaped death.
'Thankfully, after several upgrades, my spiritual sense is incredibly sharp.'
'As soon as a crossbow cannon locks onto me, I can feel it and react ahead of time.'
Su Ye's thoughts settled, and he felt a bit more confident.
The Crossbow Arrows were certainly fast.
But he didn't need to be faster than the arrows.
He just needed to react early—faster than the pirates firing the cannons!
"Return fire!"
Luo Qingjun scrambled to his feet, straightened his captain's hat, and roared, trying to organize a counterattack.
But just then...
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Another volley of crossbow cannon fire erupted from the pirate ship!
"Captain! Look out!"
Luo Qingjun had just gotten up when his first mate shoved him back to the deck to take cover.
The pirate ship continued to fire its cannons, slaughtering the crew of the Flying Serpent!
Under such an onslaught, the crew's morale plummeted and then shattered!
The Flying Serpent was quickly suppressed by the pirate ship's ferocious firepower!
...
"Someone, help me!"
"My leg... AHHHH!!!"
After the baptism of cannon fire.
The deck was a vision of hell, with blood flowing freely amidst a gruesome scene of mangled corpses and severed limbs.
Several crewmen had luckily survived, but they were severely maimed, with damaged or missing limbs.
They lay on the ground, wailing incessantly, their cries shrill and miserable!
*Huu...*
Su Ye leaned against a section of the ship's bulwark, sweat beading on his forehead and matting his hair.
Even with the help of his sharp spiritual sense, the experience of "dodging crossbow cannons" was anything but pleasant.
The sense of danger came from all directions, one wave after another, without end!
It kept his nerves stretched taut and his heart pounding furiously!
Su Ye's blood was pumping, his chest heaving. His heart felt like it was about to jump out of his throat.
But his mind remained calm, analyzing the situation!
The current situation...
was, to put it mildly, not good.
'They have double our firepower. Even though we attacked first, we've been completely suppressed.'
Looking back now, the pirates' tactic wasn't sophisticated, but it was correct and effective!
They took casualties from the Flying Serpent's crossbow cannons to forcibly close the distance.
Then, they turned broadside to bring their superior firepower to bear!
As everyone knows, the closer the distance, the higher the accuracy!
The more cannons, the fiercer the firepower!
With the high-accuracy bonus from being at close range, the combined casualties from all of the Flying Serpent's long-range attacks didn't even match the casualties from a single close-range volley from the pirate ship!
Such devastating losses caused the crew's morale to collapse, leading to the Flying Serpent's swift suppression!
At this moment, not a single person was left standing on the Flying Serpent's deck!
Of course, that didn't mean all the crewmen were dead.
There were over fifty of them, after all!
Even if the pirates worked their crossbows until the strings smoked, they probably couldn't kill everyone that quickly.
It was just that the surviving crewmen, their morale shattered, had scattered and fled.
Now, they were huddled in blind spots and behind cover, shivering and praying to the heavens.
'The deterrent power of these crossbow cannons is truly terrifying…'
Su Ye's expression was grave as he hid behind a section of the bulwark.
Faced with these unreasonably powerful weapons, he didn't dare make a rash move either.
His sharp spiritual sense gave him an advantage, but it wasn't omnipotent.
For example, just moments ago, two crossbow cannons had targeted him simultaneously!
That time, Su Ye had used every trick he knew, twisting and dodging with all his might, to narrowly escape the deadly attack!
It was a stark warning to him.
'If multiple crossbow cannons lock onto me at once, even I could be killed!'
Su Ye took a deep breath, calming his frayed nerves and recovering his stamina.
'Wait!'
He was waiting for the pirates to board! For the two ships to draw close and a melee to begin!
The pirates couldn't possibly be so insane as to keep firing their cannons and kill their own men, right?
...
Meanwhile, aboard the pirate ship, stood a sinister-looking man dressed in simple, practical clothes, with loose hair and tattoos.
He scanned the Flying Serpent, looked at its empty deck suppressed by the cannon fire, and gave a strange laugh.
"Hmph, so this is all the Luo Family amounts to. A bunch of cowards…"
"Keep firing the cannons!"
Hearing this, a man beside him, whose face was hidden by a veiled conical hat, interrupted.
"That's enough, Shamok. Stop wasting Crossbow Arrows!"
"Do you have any idea how expensive these special Crossbow Arrows are?!"
"Even when bought in bulk, a single one costs three Spirit Stones and two spirit sands!"
"Order your men to move in, board, and take the Flying Serpent!"
"And listen, you must capture those two crossbow cannons without damaging them!"
"Heh, Shu Liu, you have no right to interfere with my command..." Shamok narrowed his eyes, his face showing his impatience.
"Fine, then," Shu Liu sneered.
His expression was indifferent. "If you waste any more Crossbow Arrows, I'll deduct it from your payment!"
"You dare?!"
Hearing this, Shamok's expression immediately turned vicious.
"What? You want to try something?" Shu Liu scoffed.
"Pirates willing to cooperate may be rare, but they can be found!"
"However, besides us, who else would be willing to take the risk to help you island natives?"
"Without our help, how much longer can your tribe last?"
Shu Liu's words were like a sharp knife stabbing into Shamok's heart, causing his expression to change drastically.
*Huuu...*
Shamok took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his anger.
He stopped arguing, turned his head, and shouted in a difficult, guttural native language.
"Warriors, turn the sails! Approach our prize!"
"ROAR!!!"
Aboard the pirate ship, the crewmen—who, like him, had loose hair, tattoos, and a distinct native style—let out savage and excited roars.
Shu Liu watched with cold eyes, disdain filling his heart.
'What a bunch of crude beasts. Vile island natives. If only they weren't still useful…'