Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 292 Being a pirate means being a little unethical.

The "Star Fleet" continued its steady voyage across the Sunia Sea, with members of the Church of the "Lord of Storms" following at a distance. Roger, however, turned a blind eye to this and made no comment.

The two sides remained at peace for two days. During this time, the "Star Fleet" went to Simim Island as planned and, under the secret arrangement of MI9, handed over the prisoners of war and imprisoned them in a temporary prisoner-of-war camp.

A very small number of Fusak people were terrified when they heard that they were going to a prisoner-of-war camp to eat food cooked by the Runes, and they all asked to stay on Roger's ship to work.

However, considering intelligence security issues, Roger ultimately did not agree and forced Lupin, Matteo, and their men to send these guys to a prisoner-of-war camp.

After that, the "Star Fleet" left the Rothschild Islands and sailed northwest along the calm coastline.

During this time, Cecilia kept sending Roger the latest intelligence summaries, and even Cattleya gave a reply regarding the details of the previous battle on Sonia Island.

It must be said that the information provided by Cattleya was very professional. This "secret seeker" seemed to have extremely high requirements for the format and detail of the information compiled by her subordinates. As a result, Roger was able to grasp the entire process of the battle that took place on the east coast of Sonia Island.

"It seems that the Church of the Lord of Storms has figured out that damned, coffin-like metal box... It now appears to be a weapon of mass destruction specifically designed for 'Omniscient and Omnipotent Five Paths' Extraordinary beings, and the 'Mad Blade' has officially become the delivery vehicle for this weapon."

Roger muttered to himself, "I have to admit that in terms of immorality, the Church of the Righteous God is truly second to none in the mysterious world."

Of course, their wickedness is directed at enemies and competitors; they certainly wouldn't show such cruelty to ordinary believers.

"However, Bonova Stone IV ultimately took revenge on the Fussac Empire, which he regarded as an honor but regarded him as worthless, under the control of that box. I don't know whether to praise or lament."

Roger recalled the wistful look in Ophina's eyes whenever she mentioned Bonova, and sighed softly.

This is the mysterious world, a world of extreme cruelty for both ordinary people and extraordinary beings. Death is inevitable, but the better off are able to be reborn in the spirit world, while the worse off will have their souls enslaved or even reduced to ashes. Without external intervention, they cannot easily escape.

On the third day, the eight ships of the "Star Fleet" finally passed by Denos Island in a grand procession. This was the most important transit and supply station from the Rosd Islands to Pasu Island, and also an important springboard for "Storm Abyss" to radiate its ruling power southward to the Rosd Islands.

"According to Luna, once we pass Denos Island, we should start to see Fussac's warships and transport ships one after another."

Roger spent the entire morning standing on the deck with great anticipation. Over the past two days, he had explained his battle plan to his captains and second-in-commands, including the classic sixteen-character guerrilla warfare mantra: "When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy camps, we harass; when the enemy tires, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we pursue."

This whole thing left most of Roger's captains completely bewildered, but they were deeply impressed.

As for those with better minds, especially Dionysius, who had already advanced to Sequence 6, after listening to this theory and thinking about it carefully, he actually praised it and applauded.

For the military system of this era, because the political situation in various countries was relatively stable and there was the existence of the orthodox church, there were no particularly obvious separatist forces or warlords who were fighting against the regular army for a long time, so guerrillas were relatively rare.

Most recently, there are the "Sea God" Kavituwa followers on the Rothschild Islands who have been successfully recruited by Klein.

These people were originally members of a resistance army formed by the natives. Although they had some weapons and equipment funded by the enemy country, their operations lacked a clear program based on shared values ​​and they did not have a strong leader to organize the battle.

Therefore, although the rebels could still cause some trouble for the Rune army, they never suffered major losses.

This only applies to ground combat forces. For naval warfare, the focus is even more on large-scale battles, comparing firepower and armor, and the extraordinary abilities of the exceptional personnel on each ship.

Normally speaking, pirate ships cannot compare with regular warships in terms of armor or cannons. Their few advantages are that they are relatively light and have less baggage, and they can turn and accelerate faster when the wind is favorable. However, they are far inferior to warships in terms of maximum speed and range.

Even the "Sunset," the flagship of "Admiral Twilight" Bratov, was only modified by Fusak for paramilitary purposes. The inherent limitations of pirate ships meant that although they could approach the combat performance of warships, their combat power was still much weaker.

Against this backdrop, what truly empowers pirate ships in guerrilla warfare, besides conventional firepower, is the ability of the extraordinary individuals themselves.

Currently, in the "Star Fleet," the main individuals with ranged attack capabilities are Roger and Linssia. Others with similar abilities include Dionysius and Ophina, but their ranged attack capabilities are not direct; rather, they require many conditions to be met.

Therefore, after much discussion, Roger and Lindsay decided to continue using the method of adding "mystical pathogens" to the shells, spreading the pathogens through explosions, and causing massive casualties on the Fussack fleet and transport ships as their main attack method.

Having realized this, Roger and Lindsay worked with the ship's logistics personnel to modify a large number of shells, and now they finally have the ability to fight guerrilla warfare for two to three days in a row.

Just as Roger was getting a little impatient, the sailor on lookout tower of the Star Lord finally blew his whistle and pointed his blue flag toward seven o'clock.

Roger picked up his binoculars and looked, and sure enough, there was a small Fussack combat force of about five ships with its masts rising from the sea.

This excited him immediately, and Roger immediately ordered all ships to enter combat readiness according to the predetermined combat plan.

At the same time, the Star Lord, leading the Moon and Saturn, entered acceleration mode. They suddenly stopped when the cannons were within range and then launched the first round of shelling at Fussack!
The sudden bombardment startled the Fussacks, because Roger had already lowered the pirate flag and concealed his weapons, so the Fussack fleet could not identify the fleet and did not open fire rashly.

However, the consequences of such carelessness were also very serious. Three of the five ships were hit in the first round of shelling, but to their surprise, the scenario of shells exploding and ships breaking apart, which they had feared and expected, did not occur.

Even more strangely, after this round of shelling, the three ships, including the "Star Lord," did not linger in battle but instead retreated directly, seemingly adopting an attitude of harassment as the primary objective and a quick strike and then disengage.

"Could it be that the enemy's artillery has misfired?"

As the "Star Lord" led the "Moon" and "Saturn" to turn around, the commander of the Fussack fleet, after a brief moment of thought, judged that this should be a diversionary force rather than a regular army.

He immediately ordered a pursuit and vowed to take revenge on Roger and his men.

However, just a few minutes after the ship set off in pursuit, the crew members on these ships all developed various symptoms of illness, such as colds, shivering, rashes, and fever. What was most strange was that these symptoms appeared suddenly, rather than going through an incubation period and then progressing from mild to severe as is the case with ordinary diseases.

The strangest thing is that the disease looks like a cold, but it seems to have a strong ability to kill. In less than five minutes, more than 10 people died on the three ships!
"Yes, those shells..."

The commander finally realized what was happening, but he was too weak to even speak to tell the people inside the ship to stop the steam turbines from accelerating.

The three ships, whose crews had fallen ill, and the other two ships, which had not been hit by the "mystical pathogen" shells, gave chase. However, just as they were about to approach the "Star Lord" and the other two ships, they saw four more warships appear behind them.

The four warships were of different designs, seemingly spoils of war captured from different fleets, or perhaps hastily assembled.

Even so, they seemed to have a very unified combat program, with all the dark gun ports pointed at the five pursuing ships, and they launched a salvo at the same time!

This salvo was unlike the first salvo of mystical pathogen shells; these were actual shells loaded with gunpowder.

This salvo once again startled the warships of the Fusak Empire. The three warships, whose decks were already emptied of men, were unable to launch a counterattack and could only passively take the hits.

Only the two ships that had not been hit before managed to launch an attack, but Roger managed to stop them using his defensive capabilities, and they did not suffer much damage.

This round of intense fighting completely routed the branch of the Fussack Navy.

After the second salvo, the Fusak fleet finally lost its ability to retaliate. Linsaya took the lead, leading a dozen or so Sequence 9 Extraordinary individuals she had selected from the "Star Fleet" who had previously received her combat training. Like mad dogs, they charged onto the nearest warship and began a massacre!

"...Captain, these pirates are pretty fierce."

On a ship not far away, a sailor dressed as an ordinary crew member looked at the burly man next to him, who was also dressed as an ordinary pirate, and spoke.

This burly man had deep-set features, a rugged profile, and a bronze complexion, but he was somewhat different from the people of the Rose Island. He looked like a pure Rune who had been exposed to the sun and rain for many years. His dark blue hair was quite unusual and did not belong to the Rune. It was closer to the people of the colony in the area near the raging sea in Dixi Bay.

This is Alger Wilson, the "Hanged Man," captain of the "Deep Blue Avenger." Due to the war, he was also conscripted by the Church of Storms to participate in combat support missions.

However, he never expected that the person he was protecting was actually "Galactic Admiral" Roger and his "Star Fleet"—the original escort was a secret, and it wasn't until Alger looked at the "Star Lord" from afar that he suddenly realized that he had once piloted this pirate flagship.

"As expected."

Alger Wilson gently stroked his dark blue hair, which was being blown about by the sea breeze, and smiled enigmatically.

It was just a small-scale Fussack fleet. Although it was well-equipped, the "Star Fleet" was not incapable of handling it.

"But that fighting method just now... was it the occult pathogen of the 'witch'?"

To be on the safe side, the Church of Storms specially distributed files on all extraordinary abilities from Sequence 9 to Sequence 5 in the four pathways of "Assassin," "Hunter," "Warrior," and "Sun" to its directly subordinate "Punishers" and some "Captains"—this is a very rare thing in normal times. It can be said that these official extraordinary individuals have, to some extent, broadened their horizons and grown in the war.

Because Rune's operation against Fusak involves the next round of cardinal selection, all Sequence 6 to Sequence 5 "Punishers" and "Captains" are eligible, depending on their performance in carrying out the mission and the merits they make.

"They made full use of the advantages of wooden sailboats, using rapid approach to blitzkrieg and crush the enemy's manpower, and immediately fled when the enemy launched a pursuit, then lured the enemy deep into their territory for a second strike."

Alger smiled and said:

"To be honest, the Fusaks are reckless. Although their tactics are a series of interconnected steps, anyone who is even slightly cautious would have been alerted to their attempt to escape."

"Of course, this is understandable. After all, combat involves morale and also depends on the personal qualities of the commander. Not everyone can remain calm and make the right decisions when faced with provocation."

After Alger delivered his lengthy and insightful speech, he saw that the "Star Fleet" had already killed the Fusaks who needed to be killed and looted the supplies that needed to be looted, and then set off again, speeding towards the waters of Mid-Range Island.

Several ships of the Church of Storms, including the "Deep Blue Avenger," immediately followed and sped along the azure Sunia Sea, trailing Roger's "Fleet of Stars."

At this moment, Bandit and Roger were standing on the deck, with Bandit using the Sequence 5 sealed artifact "Virtual Nexus" to divine the recent movements of the Fusak Empire's army.

Roger has now largely delegated the tasks related to stargazing and navigating using celestial phenomena for the "Star Fleet" to the tabby cat, Bendit, who also serves as the logbook recorder. This has greatly freed up Roger's hands, allowing him to have more time to coordinate other aspects of the fleet's work.

"There is a force to the due west, larger than the one we just encountered, and it may be difficult to deal with."

Bandit stopped astrology, looked up at Roger, and asked:

"Should we make a move? But I'm afraid they have counter-divination methods."

"want."

Roger nodded, and then said:
"Neither 'Hunter' nor 'Warrior' is an extraordinary path skilled in anti-divination below the high sequence, and the military's fleet deployed in the Sunia Sea most likely does not have anti-divination and anti-prophecy means... This involves the issue of resource allocation."

"After all, the 'Star Lord's Ship's 'Secret Guardian' anti-divination and anti-prophecy system, built on the 'Star Lord's Heart,' is already powerful enough. It not only uses a Sequence 4 and multiple low-to-mid-sequence sealed artifacts, but even the spell configuration was personally designed by a powerful 'Secret Seeker'."

"But even so, 'Secret Protection' cannot cover all the ships of the 'Star Fleet,' let alone the branch that is not part of the main fleet in the Inter-Sea and is operating in conjunction with the Sunia Sea."

"So, statistically speaking, the other side probably doesn't have an anti-divination and anti-prophecy system that can cover the entire fleet."

Upon hearing this, Bandit nodded as if he had just realized something.
"I understand. So, shall we go for it now?"

"What does it mean to force yourself on someone?"

Roger laughed:

"We are not fighting alone."

After saying this, he summoned Philip Hoover, the first mate of the "Star Lord," and ordered all ships to rush toward the direction that Bandit had divined.

Seeing this, the escort ships of the "Storm Church" also hurried to follow.

Although they didn't know what Roger was planning, judging from the scale of the operation, the "Galactic Admiral" was probably about to pull off another big move.

As the "Star Fleet" rapidly approached the Fussack fleet, the "Star Lord" also activated its "Secret" status before the two sides came into visual range of each other.

Centered on the "Star Lord", the mystical force field of the "Secret Guardian" suddenly opened, and all eight ships simultaneously entered a state of anti-divination and anti-prophecy.

Because the "Star Fleet" was within visual range of the ships of the Church of the "Lord of Storms," ​​they accelerated simultaneously when they saw the "Star Fleet" begin to accelerate.

However, at that moment, Roger suddenly ordered the supply ships "Fear" and "Giant" and the two ships "Saturn" and "Moon" that had previously participated in the battle to slow down, while he himself ordered "Star Lord" to lead the three ships "Mars", "Uranus" and "Mercury" into the visual range of Fussack's fleet!
"Cannons assembled and ready!" Roger stood at the bow of the "Star Lord" and, full of vigor, used the voice of "Singer" to send this order to every corner of the "Star Fleet".

Each ship's gun crew immediately loaded shells according to the battle plan and then aimed at the rapidly enlarging Fussack fleet in their field of vision!
"volley!"

"volley!"

A salvo of naval gunfire suddenly erupted, but this time Roger ordered the use of ordinary shells, not the mystical pathogen shells!

The Fussack fleet was hit and immediately began to organize a counterattack, but strange things happened at this time.

Suddenly, the four "Star Fleet" pirate ships that had launched the attack vanished as if they had evaporated into thin air.

This surprised Fussack's intelligence officers, but they soon noticed something.

That is, at least eight armed ships of different design from the "Star Lord Fleet" have surrounded this branch of the Fusak fleet!
Therefore, Fussack's counterattack was naturally directed at the ships escorted by the Church of the Lord of Storms, which terrified a large number of people, including the crew of the Deep Blue Avengers.

They never expected that the "Star Lord" would suddenly disappear and then sell out their teammates.

Fortunately, they were still not too close to the Fusak people, so the vast majority of the shells did not hit their hulls, and the few that did were blocked by their defenses.

In the end, only the "Azure Tide" and the "Abyss Vortex" suffered non-fatal damage, while this wave of attacks ignited the anger of the "Wrathful People" of the Church of Storms.

Because they were ordered not to attack the "Star Fleet", they could only engage in a counterattack with Fussack's fleet.

The scene was chaotic and disorderly. Just as both sides were exhausted, the four ships that had disappeared earlier from the "Star Fleet" reappeared out of thin air and, together with two other warships on the periphery, quickly reaped the spoils of the Church of the "Lord of Storms".

Because their fighting strength was still at its peak and their ships were intact, they quickly achieved victory with minimal losses using ordinary shells combined with a small number of "mystical pathogen" shells.

Once the occult pathogen was dispelled, Roger began directing his men to bring their ships close to Fursack's twelve ships and begin looting and capturing them.

Among them were even two transport ships fully loaded with various supplies, silver, and standard weapons, which Roger found incredibly exciting.

With just this one move, the expenses of the "Star Fleet" were covered for at least the next six months, and Roger finally experienced the true joy of being a pirate.

"Now I finally understand that saying: no way to make money is as quick as making money from war."

This move left all the captains of the "Lord of Storms" church dumbfounded, with nowhere to vent their anger. Even Alger the Hanged Man was stunned.

They had previously assumed that Roger still intended to use a small number of ships to harass the enemy, quickly kill their manpower, and then lure the pursuers into a deeper encirclement to annihilate them.

However, this time was different from the previous one. The enemy's strength was completely disproportionate to ours. Six warships against ten warships seemed like an inefficient and unwise move.

Ultimately, no one expected that Roger would choose to directly shift the blame, forcing the members of the "Lord of the Storm" church to experience the "joy" of battle, weakening the opponent with their power before reaping the rewards.

This is absolutely despicable! They're treating their own troops like slaves!

However, while the captains were feeling like they had eaten shit and couldn't express it, Roger deliberately left some of the supplies from Fussack's fleet, just blatantly displaying them on the deck, and then slowly continued sailing north.

After this series of actions, Roger's reputation quickly reversed.

"You're so good at handling things!"

This is the consensus among most of the captains of the "Lord of the Storms" church regarding Roger.

Although these church captains are responsible for their own ships, the church covers the costs of damage and maintenance along the way because this is an official mission.

After all, it's normal for battles and attrition to occur during escort missions.

So even if the supplies Roger provided couldn't cover the captains' expenses along the way, it didn't matter at all.

Because the expenses are public funds, while what you collect is yours!
Roger didn't give them money directly, but hinted at it in a way that was almost "explicit," so they weren't considered to have accepted bribes. Once they got the benefits, it would become a complete mess, and no one would be able to figure out whether the battle would result in a break-even or a loss.

When the time comes, the expenses that should be reimbursed will still be reimbursed without fail, while the senior officers of each ship will each have their own sum of money.

As henchmen of the Storm Church, they are not afraid of fighting, but they are afraid of not getting any benefits after a fight.

Indeed, being a pirate requires being a little unethical!
After the church captains finished looting and also recruited a group of laborers to work on board, the "Star Fleet" set sail again, heading north.

At this moment, the captains of the "Lord of Storms" church had completely lost their previous miserable working-class state. Their faces were full of joy as they followed behind the "Star Lord" in a strutting manner.

In a short time, the "Star Fleet" transformed from a fleet of only eight ships into a large combined fleet of nearly twenty ships, the only difference being that each ship was responsible for its own operations.

During the subsequent voyage, Roger, based on his memories from his previous life, took the initiative to communicate and coordinate, dividing the fleet into several small groups to carry out guerrilla warfare. The captains of the "Star Fleet" who had already learned the guerrilla tactics explained by Roger formed mutual assistance "pairs" with one or two captains from the Church of Storms. Then, they carried out an endless cycle of harassment, dog-walking, counterattack, and pursuit in small groups.

Because Captain Alger of the Deep Blue Avenger had previously worked with the Star Lord, Saturn, and Moon, Roger paired the Deep Blue Avenger with the Mars to avoid drawing too much attention to it.

In addition, each pair was allocated a certain quota of mystical pathogen shells, which greatly increased their ability to strike and kill in a concentrated manner.

Furthermore, some of these "pairs" possess sealed artifacts that can alter wind direction or are extraordinary individuals, which greatly enhances their ability to escape pursuit after an artillery barrage.

Roger, Philip, and Dionysius took on the role of instructors for each guerrilla group, providing timely summaries and reviews of everyone's performance.

As a reward, the spoils of battle are split 50/50 between the two sides, and Roger will communicate with the church captain to severely punish those who do not follow the rules during battle.

At first, everyone was a little unfamiliar with the process, and some even disregarded Roger's advice.

This cost them dearly in the first day of battle, with each ship suffering varying degrees of casualties.

This prompted the captains, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, to reflect on their own problems. Finally, during the second day of battle, the captains of the Storm Church began to grasp the spirit of the mission and gradually became more proficient.

On the vast and easily concealed battlefield of the ocean, what is more terrifying than a regular army lacking intelligence is a guerrilla force that has broken up into smaller units, and what is even more terrifying than a guerrilla force is a skilled guerrilla force with a unified operational program and iron discipline.

Soon, the eight guerrilla squads began to wreak havoc in the Middle Sudan Sea like mad dogs. They would devise ways to destroy weaker enemy fleets, while severely damaging and annihilating some of the powerful naval formations.

The main strategy is to never linger in battle, preserve one's strength, and use war to sustain war, using the enemy's resources to promote one's own internal circulation.

They even encountered a battle between the Rune Navy and the Fusak Fleet in the northern part of Midway Island. Roger led his men to take advantage of the chaos, destroy two combat ships on the outskirts, and loot an important supply ship, indirectly affecting the outcome of the battle.

Of course, there were a few close calls during the period, but fortunately the losses were not significant and did not prevent the fight from continuing.

Only one church ship, named "Clear Sky Route," suffered severe damage to its deck and was forced to travel to Tiana Island for repairs.

This had no impact on the morale of the hastily assembled guerrilla fleet. Apart from the captain of the "Clear Sky Route" being somewhat frustrated, it did not affect the fighting spirit of the rest of the crew.

Even the crew and management of many ships of the "Star Fleet" and the Church of Storms, who were originally somewhat estranged and separated by the sea, developed a bond, drinking and chatting loudly together, calling each other "brother" and getting along very well.

It was as if their relationship was not that of an official extraordinary person and a pirate, but rather that of bandits who had become outlaws and formed a stronghold for similar reasons.

Within a few days, the notoriety of this guerrilla group spread throughout the entire Sunia Sea. Not only the Fusak people, but even the Rune soldiers knew that there was a guerrilla organization at sea that had an extremely negative impact on the Fusak fleet's operations and played a significant role in hindering them.

Some even gave the leading "Star Lord" a nickname.

"The Black Reaper of the Sunia Sea!"

During this fighting and retreating process, Roger's "Fleet of Stars" also headed north, finally crossing Passu Island and arriving at the Sunia Strait.

"Boss, what should we do next?"

At night, Dionysius arrived at the "Star Lord" and met Roger.

"If we continue driving, we will get close to the outlet of the Fussac Empire to the Minsk Strait."

"It's too cramped there, and Fussack's naval forces are very concentrated, making it unsuitable for guerrilla warfare. It would be too risky for us to continue forward with our current troop configuration."

Roger nodded:

"You're right, that's what I think too."

"Our guerrilla warfare has come to an end. The captains of the Storm Church should have received enough benefits, and everyone should have had their fill of fighting."

"Moreover, if this continues, the Church of Storms will also be in a difficult position. Theoretically, it is not the right time for them to intervene on the front lines, and we have no right to make this decision."

"Dionysius, please pass on the message that the temporary cooperation between the two sides is officially terminated, and the captains of the Church of Storms should leave."

"Next, we will continue deeper into the inter-sea area, which will be a dangerous journey, and everyone must be fully prepared."

……

Kingdom of Rune, County of Ahova, City of Tingen.

25 Georgia Avenue, the new base of the Tingen Market Night Watchers.

The travel-worn "Goddess Sword" Kreste Cecima folded up her rain-soaked umbrella and was then greeted by Dunn Smith as she entered the office.

But to the latter's surprise, he saw another face that looked very familiar behind Cecima.

"Dalie? What brings you here?"

Dunn was somewhat surprised.

"main reason."

Daly glanced at Cecima's retreating figure and smiled:
"I'm here to observe and congratulate you on your promotion to 'Soul Soother'. Of course, I had to come in person for such an important event."

"After all, it's not easy for you to make up your mind."

Upon hearing this, Dunn sighed slightly and said softly:

"You know why I did this."

Before Daly could continue speaking, he changed the subject again:

"What about secondary reasons?"

"Secondary reasons..."

Dai Li lowered her voice:
"You cannot leave Tingen immediately after your promotion."

"Because there is a very dangerous mission that we must complete together with Lord Cecima."

(End of this chapter)