The strong wind blew the sails, causing the crow painted above to spread its blood-red wings. Countless teams of oars stirred the water forcefully again and again, pushing the ship upstream.
This is a small fleet composed of twenty longships, each carrying twenty to thirty sailors, with a total size of about five hundred people. They entered the ocean along the Mississippi River. After breaking through countless waves, they finally reached the mouth of another river and broke into a new river basin against the current.
This thrilling voyage allowed this force to successfully break into the rear of the Aztlan army. This is an unprecedented bold tactic, and only the king who controls the ocean, the Hero King Hestein, dares to make such an attempt.
The man commanding this fleet was none other than Hestein himself. At this moment, he was standing firmly on the bow of the ship, using his own weight to stabilize the ship. And what he held in his hand was the map drawn by Gan.
There is a little blood stain left on the map, which belongs to the tribesmen who gave the map to Hestein. They were sent by Nesa Hualcoyotl to deceive Hestein, but in front of the King of Heroes, they could not control their inner fear at all. When Hestein asked, "Why are your faces so red?" they ran away, and their heads were cut open on the spot by an ax flying from behind.
Even so, Hestein had no doubt about the authenticity of the map. The map drawn by Gan is so detailed that no one can imitate it. What's more, near some important marks on the map, there are also a series of riddle-like numbers marked in parentheses - these are the local longitude and latitude determined by Gan using a sextant. The sextant is Ella's invention. In the entire New World, Gan is the only one who can use the sextant.
Lily, who was blind, stood leaning on Hestein's broad back. When another gust of wind blew, her delicate nose twitched slightly.
"The smell of sea in the wind is gone. Heystein, we're in the river, aren't we?"
"yes."
"They said Gan was imprisoned in the Black Spring Tribe." Lily said with a smile, "What kind of trap will the other side prepare there?"
"I only care about whether Gan is there or not." Hestein said, "If he is, then he will rescue Gan first and then defeat Aztlan; if he is not, then the Aztlan people will die faster."
"I guess we won't encounter any traps at all." Lily said with a smile, "Traps can only be set in advance after predicting the opponent's actions. Those Aztlan people who can only row canoes can They didn’t expect that we would suddenly appear behind them.”
"Boss, canoe!"
A pirate on a neighboring ship pointed forward and shouted. As he spoke, the long boat Hestein was sitting on moved around the thatch that blocked his view. Hestein saw three canoes ahead, each with two Aztlans sitting on them. The Aztlans were working hard to turn the canoes away from Hestein's fleet.
"Why are there Aztlans here? Are they fishermen?"
Hestein frowned. According to the information brought back by the tribesmen on the plains, the Aztlan army should be stationed further north.
"No, it's the army." Lily pressed her hand on the hilt of the sword at her waist, "The smell of blood is very strong on them."
"The taste of blood?"
Hestein squinted his eyes and looked forward carefully for a while, but he did not see any blood stains on these Aztlan people. But he had no doubt about Lily's words. He waved his hand and gave the order to attack.
The oars began to slide faster and the sail began to turn flexibly. The long boats, which were much larger than the canoes, quickly dispersed under the control of the pirates and began to round up the canoes ahead.
This is a chase without any suspense. The Aztlan people rode the most primitive canoes. Facing the fastest and most advanced longships in the world, they were like a turtle meeting a cheetah. In the blink of an eye, the distance between the two parties shortened a lot. Some pirates who couldn't hold back their temper had already taken out their throwing axes from their waists, and were ready to open the heads of these Aztlans across the river.
Hestein stopped the pirates.
"Leave no trace and let them drown."
The pirates who received the order began to slide the oars harder and soon caught up with the canoe that fell behind. The long boat carrying twenty people was already the lightest ship in the Pirate Kingdom, but in front of the canoe, it seemed so huge. The longboat brushed against the canoe like wolves across grass, and the entire tree trunk that made up the canoe flipped over easily, dumping the two Aztlans atop it into the water.
The long ship behind followed them just in time, blocking the Aztlan people who were about to float. The pirates poked their heads out from both sides and used their oars to push the Aztlan people back into the water as they prepared to surface. After three or four minutes, there was no movement from the Aztlan man who fell into the water.
During this time, the two canoes ahead pulled away a little. But considering the speed gap between the two sides, this distance is still disappointing. As soon as the Aztlan people turned around and saw Hestein's fleet chasing after them again, they couldn't bear to curse a few times. Then they took out the water bags filled with blood from their waists and gurgled the blood inside. Pour it all into your mouth!
"Be careful." Lily raised her head slightly, "The smell of blood is overflowing."
After receiving the supplement of magic power, the Aztlan people in the two canoes suddenly gained strength and rowed faster. Even so, they still couldn't make up for the huge gap in ship speed. The Aztlans turned back more and more often, and the closer they got, the more frantically they paddled. The simple hull of the canoe could not withstand such violent shaking. As soon as Hestein's boat approached, the canoe overturned in a turbulent current.
Taking advantage of the pirates' time to deal with the fallen soldiers, the last remaining canoe rowed forward with all its strength, trying to escape from the pirates.
Such an action made Hestein narrow his eyes thoughtfully.
Just as the pirates were preparing to catch up with the last canoe, Hestein suddenly shook his head and pushed his hand back to slow down the sailing speed of the entire fleet.
The entire fleet followed the Aztlan's remaining canoe unhurriedly, following it at a distance that was neither far nor close.
Soon the pirates made sounds of surprise. They saw from a distance that a huge construction site appeared in front of them. A half-built wooden fortress lay across the middle of the river, blocking the way of the ship.
The Aztlan people in the canoe seemed to have seen a savior. They desperately waved their hands and signaled their companions above to open the fence.
What greeted them was an earth-shattering bang. A powerful force of magic struck from behind, destroying the incomplete fortress in an instant. The wood that made up the fortress fell like fallen leaves. The Atezlan people in the canoe were unable to dodge and were smashed into the water by a huge piece of fallen wood.
Hestein breathed a sigh of relief and pointed the black smoke-emitting spear toward the construction site on the shore——
"We're at the lair. Go up and kill them all!"
(End of chapter)
