Chapter 118: Pirates Are Coming!

Berna did not know that, seeing him lost in thought, the village chief’s eyes flickered with cruelty.

“Berna, since you’re determined to defect to the nobility, I now, as village chief, decree that you be detained.”

“To prevent you from colluding with the nobility and handing Revival Island over to them!”

Berna doubted he’d heard wrong. “Chief, you’re detaining me? You have no right to do so!”

The village chief sneered; several loyalists moved to surround Berna.

Ding ding ding!

But at that moment, a shrill alarm rang out, startling everyone in the square.

“What’s going on?” Everyone froze in shock.

Seizing the opportunity, Berna shoved the two villagers in front of him aside and sprinted out of the meeting hall!

“Damn it, catch him!” The village chief snapped, immediately moving to pursue.

But as he reached the hall’s entrance, two pale-faced villagers hurried toward him.

“Bad news, Chief! A ship has anchored offshore—they’ve already launched several rowboats and are preparing to land!”

“What? Is it the nobleman? How many men?” The village chief’s heart sank; he forgot about Berna entirely.

“Chief, that ship isn’t the nobleman’s. We’ve seen its hull—narrower, sharper. The flag on the mast is different: a black-and-white skull!”

“Not the nobleman’s ship? And a skull flag?”

The village chief’s pupils contracted. He knew exactly what the skull flag meant—it was likely something far more terrifying than the nobility.

“Everyone, grab weapons and head to the beach!” The village chief gritted his teeth and rushed toward the shore with the villagers.

When they reached the beach, they saw a long, slender ship anchored a hundred meters offshore, with three rowboats beneath it.

The rowboats were packed with ragged men wielding all manner of weapons.

They howled as they rowed toward the shore.

“Pirates! Damn it, they’re pirates!”

A few villagers with experience cried out in alarm.

Before becoming fugitives, they had been serfs of northern coastal nobles.

So they knew pirates existed—and knew their brutality.

These pirates terrified them far more than the nobleman ever had.

“Quick—archers, spear throwers, attack!”

“Everyone else, if you don’t want to die, follow me! We must stop them from landing!”

The village chief knew well: this was no time for fear.

If they didn’t hold the pirates back, they were all dead.

Under the chief’s command, the villagers trembled but began to fight back.

Three archers and over a dozen spear throwers immediately launched volleys at the approaching rowboats.

Undoubtedly, thanks to the chief’s lifelong fear of nobles, these spear throwers had been trained for years.

As a result, their impact was surprisingly effective.

Arrows and spears struck with good accuracy, hitting the packed rowboats and triggering a chorus of screams.

Several unlucky pirates were pierced clean through.

The sight terrified the pirates on the rowboats; they halted their advance and veered sideways, trying to flank the defenders.

“Keep firing!” The village chief beamed, urgently ordering the archers and spear throwers to continue.

Thus, the once-ferocious pirates were firmly held at bay a hundred meters out, unable to close in, forced only to curse from the sea.

“Ha! Pirates aren’t so fearsome after all!”

The Revival Island villagers broke into cheers, believing they had truly repelled the pirates.

Unfortunately, any island capable of fielding a warship could never be so easily defeated.

Just as they felt victory was assured, a string of screams erupted from the side.

Turning, they saw pirate figures atop the watchtower built along the shore.

The pirates were cunning—even against a seemingly defenseless island of fugitives, they chose the most cautious approach.

That meant openly launching rowboats from the front to draw attention.

Meanwhile, over a dozen elite pirates had secretly slipped beneath the waves on the ship’s opposite side, then circled inland via the nearby rocks to land unseen.

Thus, the rowboats’ assault was purely a distraction.

Several villagers near the tower had already fallen to the pirates’ blades.

“Ha! You miserable vermin, you really think you can stop the Skull Gang? Dream on!”

“You’ve made a terrible mistake! Ha! Prepare for terror to descend!”

A burly pirate licked the blood from his blade and grinned at the crowd.

Without delay, he shouted, “Follow me! Kill anyone who resists!”

Then the burly pirate led over a dozen pirates clad in tattered leather armor, shields in hand, charging toward the villagers.

“Quick! Spear throwers, stop them!” The chief screamed.

But sadly, the pirates held shields and zigzagged as they ran, causing every thrown spear to miss.

“Die, you bastards!”

The pirates reached the front line and descended like wolves among sheep, cutting down several spear throwers in quick succession.

The other villagers, utterly terrified, abandoned all courage and scattered in wailing panic.

…

Splash splash splash!

“Master!”

“Evelyn, what’s the situation?”

Meanwhile, ten miles south of Revival Island, a ship had lowered its sails and rested motionless on the calm sea.

Naturally, this was Gervas’s vessel, lying in wait like a bird of prey.

As the magic swift-eagle landed, Gervas immediately asked.

“Master, pirates have appeared on Revival Island. Their vessel is longer and slimmer, with over a hundred men.”

“The pirates have already stormed the island!”

“A warship?!”

Holy hell! Gervas blurted out.

Pirates had a warship!

Lucky he had an intelligence network—if not, he might never have encountered them today.

But if they intended to expand, they’d inevitably explore the surrounding seas.

So if the Stormbringer ever met these pirates at sea, it would be helpless.

Because the pirate warship had been specially modified—with a reinforced ram fitted to its bow.

In contrast, merchant ships were built only for cargo, utterly useless in combat.

Fortunately, he now had his intelligence network.

That pirate warship would soon bear his name—Gervas’s!

“Old Jack, hoist sail! Destination: Revival Island!”

“Everyone else, prepare according to plan!”

…

One hour later.

Inside Revival Island’s village, all villagers were bound and gathered on the open ground, trembling in fear.

Over a hundred pirates laughed and feasted around bonfires.

The village women, under duress, nervously cooked food and poured juice for the pirates.

Since they planned to make this their base, the pirates had killed a few villagers to instill terror—and then stopped the slaughter.

These villagers would serve as their best servants from now on.