Gunpowder Plate Armor and the Magic Revolution

"Want to switch sides? We'll have to be the ones switching sides!"

Bilkin grinned maliciously, revealing a set of white teeth that would send chills down anyone's spine. He brandished his command sword and shouted, "Soldiers! Draw your swords! Let these sea scum see if the Orentia Army's blades are sharp enough!"

"kill!!"

Bilkin was the first to roar and leap onto the other ship's side, his naval scimitar in his left hand slicing a bright arc in the sunlight.

A pirate charging towards him wielding a battle axe was cleaved in two by him, his scalding entrails and blood splattering all over the ground.

Even though he only had one hand to use, he still managed to carve out a no-man's-land among the pirates. His military boots slid through the slippery bloodstains, yet he remained firmly on his feet. Every strike was aimed straight for vital organs, with no unnecessary frills, clearing a safe path for the officers behind him to board the ship.

"kill!"

Lucas, carrying his scimitar, used the momentum from the collision of the two ships to leap into the air and land steadily on the deck. With the momentum of the movement, he swung his scimitar in his left hand to meet the oncoming pirate.

The pirate, shirtless and covered in hideous tattoos, raised his rusty scimitar to parry, but Lucas used the force of his dive to press him down hard. Sparks flew as the two blades collided, and the pirate's scimitar was knocked out of his hand.

Lucas didn't give his opponent a chance to scream. With a flick of his wrist, the scimitar plunged deep into the gap between the opponent's ribs.

He could clearly feel the resistance of the blade cutting through flesh, and his fingertips could feel the tremors of the other person's body convulsing from the hilt of the knife.

He suddenly turned and drew his sword, scalding blood gushing out from the blade and splashing all over his face.

He wiped the blood off his face with his backhand, brandished his curved sword with great force, and charged towards the three pirates who surrounded him. With each thrust and parry, he precisely targeted their vital points. In less than three breaths, the three pirates collapsed on the deck, clutching their wounds.

Seeing that Lucas was already caught in the melee and that the cannons were no longer of any use, Nozer drew his scimitar and jumped onto the deck of the Red Wolf with Andrew.

The moment he landed, his foot landed on a severed arm, causing his center of gravity to shift. But it was this instinctive lowering of his center of gravity that saved his life, allowing him to narrowly dodge a slash from behind by a pirate.

When the pirate saw that his attack had missed, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes. Before he could retract his sword, Norze had already used the momentum of his crouching position to sweep his scimitar horizontally. The sharp double-edged blade precisely sliced ​​open the opponent's knee.

A piercing scream pierced the smoke of battle, and the pirate instantly fell to his knees. Noze rose to his feet and slammed the hilt of his sword into the pirate's temple. A dull thud of bone cracking was heard, and the pirate's body went limp, collapsing into a pool of blood.

He glanced across the chaotic deck. Lucas was at the forefront, bracing for the attack, but his flanks were unprotected. On his left, two pirates were using the barrels as cover to try and flank Lucas from behind.

"Luke! To the left rear!"

With a low shout, Noze pushed off with his feet, stomping over the corpses scattered on the ground as he charged forward.

As soon as the two pirates poked their heads out, they saw a bright flash of a blade coming straight at them. The pirate in front hurriedly raised his blade to block.

Unexpectedly, Noze's attack was a feint. With a flick of his wrist, the curved blade slid down the opponent's blade, slicing through the opponent's fingers that were holding the knife.

Stealing and sneaking are also crucial aspects of melee combat, but they are not allowed to be used in regular practice.

The tricks that are not usually allowed to be used are often the best tricks, and Norze is now very familiar with this.

The pirate's scream had barely reached his throat when Norze swung his blade backhand, precisely piercing his throat. The blade emerged from behind his neck, spraying blood as it flew into the air.

The other pirate was terrified and turned to run away, but Norze kicked him in the lower back, sending him stumbling to the ground. Norze then stepped forward and plunged his scimitar deep into the pirate's heart.

The moment he drew his sword, he caught a glimpse of a flash of light on his right. It was a pirate hiding behind the wreckage of a mast, aiming his musket at Lucas, who was charging at the front.

Without a second thought, Norze's fingertips surged with magic, and a [Burning] spell landed precisely in the gunpowder pouch hanging at the other's waist.

"boom!"

Before the pirate could pull the trigger, an explosion suddenly occurred at his waist, blasting a large hole in him. He screamed and fell backward, blood gushing out.

Thanks!

Lucas glanced at the self-destructing pirate, then turned to thank Nozer, before slashing down another pirate in front of him with a backhand stroke. "Nozer, Andrew, triangle formation!"

Andrew appeared to their right rear, carrying a knife and covered in blood.

The three men instantly formed a standard federal army triangular assault formation, like a wedge driven into the opening that Bilkin had single-handedly torn open.

The deck was already a mess from the cannon fire and gunfire, and the collapsed masts, broken canvases, scattered corpses and splinters of wood further shattered the already narrow deck.

The pirates were squeezed between these obstacles, making it impossible for them to form an encirclement. In addition, their individual combat strength was indeed insufficient. Although they seemed to have the advantage in numbers, they were instead overwhelmed and scattered.

The three worked together with remarkable coordination. Lucas took the lead, bracing against all the frontal attacks and tearing through the pirates' loose defenses with his fiercest slashes.

Norze guarded the left flank, patching up any openings and combining magic and swordsmanship to swiftly reap the lives of unbalanced, isolated, and flanking enemies.

Andrew is the most agile right wing of the triangle formation. He mostly uses his scimitar to parry close-range attacks, focusing his energy on spell support.

A stream of air swirled around his fingertips. Whenever a pirate tried to flank him from the side or hide behind cover and aim his gun, a sharp blade of wind would instantly shoot out, either severing the opponent's tendons or piercing their eye socket.

In actual combat, there weren't as many opportunities for probing and grappling as in school training, and Norzer found himself seemingly just mechanically performing the same movements.

Use the back of your blade to deflect the opponent's chaotic attack, exposing their center line, then slash at the wailing man and kick him to the ground before moving on to the next pirate.

One after another, one after another.

There was no moral struggle as one might expect from someone committing a first murder; in fact, it could be said that there was nothing in Nozer's mind at all.

All those fighting techniques and footwork he had learned countless times were thrown to the winds, leaving only the instinct to swing and sheathe his sword.

The dull thud of a scimitar piercing flesh, the crisp sound of bones shattering, the dying screams, and the sporadic roar of muskets—all these sounds gradually faded in Noze's ears, leaving only his own heavy breathing and the frantic pounding of his heart in his chest.

His forearm was so sore and numb from repeated slashing and parrying that he could barely lift it. Blood was flowing down the hilt of the knife, making it so slippery that he could barely grip the blade.

In less than fifteen minutes, the three men, along with Major General Bilkin and other brave and fearless officers, managed to cut the pirates on the main deck in half, successfully dividing the battlefield and completely isolating the fore and aft decks.