Chapter 1 Oleg, the King of the North Sea

"King of the North Sea" Oleg truly was the strongest pirate in the North Sea, and the fleet under his command had the strength to crush almost any force in the North Sea.

However, he didn't actually have ruling power over the various large and small forces in the North Sea, especially the four countries of North Continent.

To pirates, power was far less important than wealth, and everyone lived in peace. After all, pirates also needed to survive. No matter how strong a tree was, it couldn't destroy the land that provided for its growth. Many pirates recruited by the North Sea Fleet were also citizens of the four countries.

But now that Oleg had suddenly become a "king," the situation had changed somewhat.

Suren guessed from this "tax collection" that Oleg probably wanted to start asserting sovereignty and experience the taste of a true lord.

So, the purpose of this tax collection wasn't really to plunder wealth.

Compared to any territory in Luying, the four countries of North Continent were synonymous with poverty and barrenness. The revenue from collecting taxes there wouldn't even be as good as raiding merchant ships.

At least, not at the moment.

Moreover, the Ninth Fleet, where Suren was, brought not only cannons this time, but also a large amount of property.

No matter how much tax was collected, even more gifts would be given.

It was roughly equivalent to the gifts from a superior country to its vassal territory, or from a king to a small lord in his territory.

This was also Oleg testing the waters.

If the collection went smoothly, they would collect some money and return even more gifts; if it didn't go smoothly, they would use force to deter them.

Once the four countries paid taxes, they would be acknowledging their status as vassal territories, and Oleg would be the true King of the North Sea in the real sense of the word.

This kind of relationship would continue to be close, and in a few more years, Oleg would be able to completely control this sea area.

However, this process wouldn't be easy.

The four countries of North Continent had a large number of survivors of the gods, who had their own divine beliefs. Like the Mountain Hermitage Country, their lords had been divinely ordained for countless years. Now, suddenly letting outsiders become lords wouldn't be so easy to accept for a while.

Suren had recently learned a lot about the customs and conditions of the four countries, so he knew that this tax collection trip might not go too smoothly.

That was why he had been very vigilant.

.......

The voyage from the Pirate City to the Mountain Hermitage Country took several days. That sea area had a large number of islands, which were called the Tallinn Islands on Luying's nautical charts.

Sailing days were very monotonous. As long as they didn't encounter bad weather, the pirates' jobs were playing cards, fishing, and bragging.

Suren made up an excuse that he had spent all his money in the Golden City, and had been spacing out in the cabin these days, not hanging out with the pirates in the artillery compartment.

Actually, he was digesting the knowledge from the [Neuromechanical Blueprint].

Even without seeing the blueprints, Suren would have all kinds of content from the blueprints he had memorized before popping up in his mind when he closed his eyes. First, he deduced all kinds of possibilities in his mind, and then recorded them in his notebook. Occasionally, when no one was around, he would take out the semi-finished silver arm to try out some new ideas. The days passed very leisurely.

Because he had been on guard for problems all the time, Suren had also summoned the Doom Bird and kept it by his side.

It wasn't strange for pirates' ships to raise some small animals like monkeys, parrots, and hamsters. Besides relieving the loneliness of the voyage, they were also used for early warning. Many times, animals' perceptions were more sensitive than humans. For example, bad weather and some dangerous things.

On this day.

The fifth day of the voyage.

Just as Suren was routinely "sleeping" in the cabin, the black crow beside him suddenly cried out.

"Caw~"

Suren's auricle twitched slightly, and he suddenly opened his eyes.

He gently stroked the black crow, fed it two drops of liquefied death energy, but his eyes looked out at the sea surface through the cannon muzzle.

Now he was familiar with this black crow, and Suren could understand some of its thoughts more accurately.

This cry warned that there was danger around, but it wasn't too fatal.

"Is something appearing at sea?"

Suren thought of something and got up and walked out of the artillery compartment.

Sharp and several gunners were playing cards at the door. Seeing Suren coming out of the cabin, they greeted him with a smile, "Yo... Brother Johnny woke up today?"

Suren shrugged and rubbed his eyes as if he was still sleepy, "Yeah, I'm going to the deck to get some air."

He ignored them and walked onto the deck.

At this time, he heard a slight quarrel coming from the deck.

"Captain Hans, this sea area is the estuary of the Fei Yi River, and there are monsters. Excrement cannot be put into the sea, otherwise there may be big trouble. We have to sacrifice livestock quickly..."

"Hey, I said Yongxiu, what's the big deal about taking a dump in the sea? Monsters? Hehe, just some weird sea beasts, don't be so alarmed. I've been at sea for so many years, I've even seen giant deep-sea monsters, so why would I be afraid of some small demons?"

"..."

The thin man in linen clothes was the guide for this trip, named Songyong Jiuxiu, and he was from the Mountain Hermitage Country.

At this moment, he was anxiously trying to persuade a bearded man in a captain's uniform.

The bearded man was naturally Hans, the captain of Suren's squad, "Tea Beard."

This guy had previously obtained the advanced potion of the Oleg-granted colony equipment and successfully advanced to the fifth rank. These days, he had been showing off his newly acquired spatial displacement ability everywhere on the ship.

Suren had sensed spatial fluctuations more than once.

In layman's terms, this guy's strength had skyrocketed, and he was "floating."

Yongxiu was still trying to persuade him, but Hans looked impatient: "Okay, okay, stop talking nonsense! If there really are monsters, it's good to catch them and see what they're like. I haven't eaten monster meat yet."

Some fish weighing thousands of pounds were incredible monsters to ordinary fishermen who had never seen the world. But for high-level professionals, they were usually rations that could be killed with one punch. Hans was now a fifth-level professional, so most sea monsters couldn't do anything to him, so what he said wasn't entirely floating.

But Suren in the distance frowned slightly.

The black crow would issue a warning, which meant that there really was something going on nearby.

Suren had seen descriptions of "monsters" in various Mountain Hermitage Country legends of gods and ghosts, but he had never actually seen one.

He was also interested in seeing what a monster was like.

.......

The fleet was about a few nautical miles away from the shore. Looking into the distance, they could already see blurred shadows of mountains.

The sun had just set, and a faint mist floated on the sea.

Jiuxiu was still at the bow, looking terrified and muttering prayers.

Just then, suddenly, a red glow like an orange lamp lit up on the sea.

The observer on the mast discovered the anomaly and shouted, "Captain, ten o'clock direction, there seems to be a ball of fire on the sea!"

Suren had guessed that something would go wrong, so he didn't go down to the cabin. He naturally also saw the flickering flame, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

The vision of the All-Knowing Eye allowed him to clearly see the flame. It was very strange, there was nothing around, and the flame was floating on the sea... If it was a ghost fire, the color was a normal orange-red.

.......

Most of the pirates didn't take the quarrel just now seriously. After all, the monster legends of the Mountain Hermitage Country had been circulating for a long time, but not many people had actually seen them. Most of them were just rumors.

Now, watching a ball of unknown fire suddenly appear on the sea, everyone on the deck looked curiously at the distant flame.

Jiuxiu seemed to recognize something and pointed at the sea with a terrified expression, saying, "That... that's [Shiranui] (unexplained fire)!"

Suren wasn't surprised to hear this word. The name identified was also this.

He had seen [Shiranui] in the classics, one of the hundred ghosts in the legends of the Mountain Hermitage Country. The usual explanation was that mortals had offended the gods, thus causing the nameless fire to descend.

In just this moment, more and more floating flames appeared on the sea.

Looking closely, they seemed to be able to see the illusion of burning buildings and ships, and the fire was burning more and more vigorously, turning into a sea of fire in the blink of an eye.

This vanguard fleet had a total of four squads, four ships. The pirates who heard the noise ran to the deck, wanting to see what the legendary "monster" looked like.

Seeing that it seemed to be serious, "Tea Beard" Hans didn't take it lightly, and sent some people to check the situation in a speedboat first.

Before long, the communication device transmitted back, "Captain, those flames are just illusions, they are not real."

Hearing this, everyone on the deck breathed a sigh of relief.

"Haha..."

Hans also sneered, "This is just a mirage, what monster! The fleet continues to move forward!"

Because they had to enter the inner stream from the river mouth, and there was no choice to detour, the fleet continued to move forward.

The crew didn't take it seriously, and looked at the sea of fire in front of them with smiles, pointing and pointing.

.......

In the crowd, Suren leaned against the railing, holding a black umbrella tied with cloth strips in his hand, and muttered in a low voice, "It really is a spirit body. Legend has it that [Shiranui] will burn unclean things, how exactly will it burn..."

In his perception, some special spirit bodies had appeared in this sea of fire.

This also allowed Suren to confirm his previous guess that monsters had wisdom and must also have spirituality.

However, these spirit bodies were very strange, and felt completely different from human souls. They were cold, strange, and had a kind of ethereal feeling, like the feeling of the will of the gods that Suren had seen twice before.

This was also good news.

At least, many of the hundred ghosts recorded in the "Fairy Tales" he had read had "supernatural abilities." Now that he had confirmed that they could be sensed by the soul, the degree of danger would be greatly reduced if they really encountered them.

The fleet continued to move forward, and then broke into the sea of fire like a mirage.

It was like breaking into a sea of light and shadow, and no danger occurred.

The flames were burning around them, but there was no heat at all. When they reached out to touch them, they passed right through.

Everyone was relieved, thinking that this was really a "mirage."

Only Songyong Jiuxiu was still lying prostrate at the bow, trembling and praying.

He seemed to be frightened and crazy, and kept muttering, "The old people said that if you really encounter a monster, you must have a sense of awe. If you pray sincerely, the monster will forgive you..."

The fearful look was very much like that of an ignorant commoner who had never seen the world.

Hearing this, a group of pirates laughed.

"It's just a mirage, I really thought it was some kind of monster. It seems that the legends of the Mountain Hermitage Country are not necessarily all true..."

"Just an ignorant bumpkin who has never seen the world. Unlike us, who are always floating on the sea, we have seen everything."

"Tsk tsk, that guy is already scared silly."

"..."

Suren didn't say anything when he heard the words beside him.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and the sea of fire was reflected in the waves.

The spiritual pressure was getting stronger and stronger, and he knew that there was going to be a big commotion.

Sure enough, when all four ships had entered this sea of fire, and everyone was still laughing at the guide's ignorance...

Suddenly!

A scream rang out abruptly.

"Ah...!"

Everyone turned their heads to look and saw a guy standing on the deck with a blank expression.

Someone was startled and scolded, "Duden, what the hell are you screaming about?"

But as soon as these words were spoken, they saw Duden showing a terrifying expression with his eyes wide open, reaching out and pinching his neck, looking extremely painful, but unable to speak.

Seeing this strange scene, everyone realized that something was wrong.

"Tea Beard" Hans walked over, frowned and shouted, "Hey, what's wrong with you, kid?"

He was about to reach out and pat Duden's shoulder, but at that moment, Duden's skin quickly turned yellow and then charred black. Looking again, the whole person was burning with a raging fire like a candle. A strong smell of meat immediately wafted through the air.

In just a few seconds, everyone watched a living person burn into a pile of carbon ash before their eyes.

For a time, no one on the deck spoke, and a pin could be heard dropping.

And this was just the beginning.

At the same time, the same burning events began to occur on the other three ships, and screams rose and fell one after another.

"Ah..."

"Ah..."

"Ah..."

"..."

An invisible enemy would only arouse more fear in people's hearts.

Nearly a thousand pirates on four pirate ships, no one understood what was happening. They could only watch helplessly as the people around them suddenly burst into flames and then burned into a pile of coke.

One, one, and another...

They didn't even have time to use any dispelling or healing techniques, and one fresh life after another would be taken away by the [Shiranui].

Fear quickly spread, and the huge deck was filled with wails. Before long, the screams of the frightened pirates rang out one after another, and the entire fleet instantly fell into chaos.

Even though "Tea Beard" Hans had a fifth-level strength, and there were many third-level and fourth-level professionals around him, they were completely helpless.

On the chaotic deck, some people were extinguishing fires, some were drawing water, some were shooting guns, and some were putting on armor in a panic...

In the darkness, there was a pair of calm eyes, watching all this indifferently.

Suren had roughly figured out some of the origins of this [Shiranui].

Monsters were no different from other living beings, and they also had to follow the "law of conservation of energy."

In the eyes of an alchemist, all events could be explained as a phenomenon of energy fluctuations. Even if they had never seen a species of creature, like the "spontaneous combustion" in front of them, it was just that the energy release path was different, and the way of expression was different.

With this basic understanding, many mysterious imaginations could see through the essence through the phenomena.

Suren had carefully read many introductions to monsters before coming, and watching the scene of human spontaneous combustion, he also analyzed the reason: "Is it a means similar to a parasitic fire seed? It should be spreading through people's fear, causing the human body's own energy to be chaotic and helping the burning, so that it burns out in a short time. However, how did this fire turn from a 'mirage' into a solid?"

Fear accelerated the confusion of the human body's energy, and a spark ignited.

In just this moment, dozens of people had been burned to death on the four ships.

But Suren didn't panic at all.

Because he was very clear that this monster couldn't do anything to him.

Under normal circumstances, the weaker the strength, the more fear they had for the unknown, and the greater the impact.

If you observe carefully, you will find that those who are spontaneously combusting are all first-level pirates, and those with very weak soul fires.

That level of energy fluctuation was far from enough to burn Suren to death.

There was a common way to deal with ghosts, wraiths, and specters. That was to control your fear, and the other party's influence would be reduced to the lowest level.

This method wasn't difficult, but it wasn't easy either.

It was difficult for ordinary people to control their emotions, especially in the process of group spread of fear.

But for Suren, it was routine operation.

At this moment, his heart was calm.

.......

Suren saw [Shiranui] for the first time, and could be considered to have seen the monsters of the Mountain Hermitage Country.

After a long while, "Tea Beard" Hans finally reacted and shouted, "Everyone, don't panic! This monster is similar to a specter. As long as you control your fear, they can't do anything to us!"

As a veteran pirate, he naturally guessed some of the origins of this fire.

However, as soon as these words were spoken, bad news struck again.

The people at the bottom cabin sent a message through the communication device: "Captain, something bad has happened, something is chiseling our ship!"

As soon as these words fell, the ship shook violently, and there were even signs of capsizing.

The atmosphere of fear, which had been slightly eased, became intense again.

On the deck, there were hurried footsteps everywhere.

"Captain, I saw it! Sea monsters like water monkeys. Those things are very powerful, they want to sink our ship!"

"What is that thing again?!"

"Lord Hans, that is also a monster, it is... it is a [Kappa]!"

"Damn it, Stoya, take the water ghost team down and see! Musketeers, gunners, shoot into the water!"

"Yes, Captain!"

"..."

The four ships were in chaos.

Suren was a gunner, so it wasn't his turn to go into the water or raise the sails.

He also put on the individual artillery that had been distributed before, along with the other gunners, and fired at the fast-moving figure under the sea.

[Kappa] were physical monsters and had entities, so they were much easier to deal with, and firearms could have a good killing effect.

However, this kind of monster was very fast in the water, had sharp claws that could break armor, and could easily pierce the hull of a wooden pirate ship. Even though the pirates reacted quickly, two of the four pirate ships were pierced in a very short time. The other two ships were also damaged to varying degrees and were slowly sinking.

But fortunately, it was not far from the shore, and the pirates who fell into the water could swim to the shore.

Suren also fell into the water, and the cold sea was densely packed with human heads. He mingled in the crowd and quietly followed them to the shore.

.......

By the dock, the pirates of the four squads had not yet landed, and two or three hundred people had died.

The atmosphere was very heavy.

Fortunately, with the military communication devices provided by Mafa, several squad captains reported the situation to the Ninth Fleet Commander "Gluttonous General" Pewon, but the response they got was to continue moving forward!

After people died, most people realized that this vanguard mission was not that easy.

But having received the order, they could only continue to move forward as planned.

Now that they had no ships, they couldn't travel by water and could only walk.

The cold wind howled, and the temperature at night was extremely low, so camping was not realistic.

Fortunately, the guide Songyong Jiuxiu was familiar with the road here and knew that there was a village not far away.

A group of pirates followed the guide into the mountains.

Suren followed the team, looking at the verdant mountains with a deep gaze.