Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 64: Human-faced whale lice, physical exorcism (first order required)
Boom!

Thunder exploded, and the 32-pound carronade, with a caliber equivalent to the main gun of a second-class battleship, also spewed flames at the same time.

The shotgun filled with 500 small iron balls exploded in the air, and the powerful kinetic energy turned them into a deadly metal storm.

In a close-range artillery attack of one hundred meters, there is no need to consider the hit rate of shotgun shells. It can sweep away everything even with your eyes closed.

The first to suffer were the six whale lice in the air, which were much slower than conventional shells.

Most of them were torn into pieces of flesh and blood that flashed with blue fluorescent fluids in mid-air, and fell into the sea like rags.

Only one of them managed to escape the blazing metal storm and slammed onto the deck of the Golden Deer with a "clatter".

It fell right at Byron's feet.

squeak--!
With a shrill sound, it instantly bounced into the air, and its twelve hooked limbs opened, ready to hug Byron's face.

Byron didn't need to take action. The [Guardian Knight] Bruch, who was always guarding by his side, took a step forward and swung his sword, splitting it in half with a powerful old man's strike.

It also used its own corpse to demonstrate to all the pirates who were just beginning to learn the [Fisher Sword Technique] why leaping into the air and giving up dodging in close combat was the stupidest move.

Of course, if you have the incredible skill of stepping on the instep of your right foot with your left foot to spiral into the air, that’s a different story.

Bruch used the tip of his sword to move the dead insects on the ground, and couldn't help but frowned:
“Captain, this thing is really whale lice.

But isn't its size a bit too big? A dark blue human face has grown on its flat back shell? There are traces of spirits on its body."

Especially in his [Spiritual Vision], there was a hideous human soul inside the parasite that was slowly dissipating.

At this time, Guts, who was huddled on the mast, pointed at the Rainbow that was reloading and exclaimed:

"Captain, look at those pirates across the way. Each of them has a whale louse with a human face on the back of his head.

The guy with the bloody silver coins as eyes has a particularly large whale louse on the back of his head!"

Normal whale lice are a type of marine parasite that cannot swim. They are only 0.8 cm to 2 cm in length and are strictly speaking a type of shrimp.

But it has a flat body, a degenerate tail, and hooked ends of its limbs, and it often attaches to the skin of its whale host.

Sometimes the number of whale lice on a single baleen whale can reach 10!

But these whale lice are different.

Not only was it as big as a human face, it also occupied the heads of a group of pirates, seemingly using it to completely control their minds.

After entering the three-meter range, Byron's [Ship Log] also read the history of the whale louse.

"【Grotesque·Human-faced Whale Louse】: A combination of a drowned person in the sea and a whale louse huddled together for warmth.

It can only survive for a long time by parasitizing on the surface of other organisms. Its favorite organisms are various large whales, followed by humans who have abundant brains.

They came from an accident during a profane Black Mass ritual.

The good news is that this monster cannot swim and can only be spread between hosts through close contact, so be careful of boarding battles.

Taboo: Don't let it see your face! "

The essence of the grotesque and the evil spirits are similar, except that one tends to be outside of human and the other looks more like a human.

They will kill people according to certain rules just like the [Ghosts Behind].

At the top of this category of existence are the immortal and indestructible [Cursed Spirits].

As for the human-faced whale lice here, it is undoubtedly a social monster.

The original goal of [Black Mass] was to attract one monster each, and the privateer captain's plan was to attract two or three at most.

Unfortunately, the Rainbow encountered a large number of whale lice parasitizing a dying whale, and failed to seal the leader of the tribe into the body of the sacrifice.

All the crew members on the ship were also infested with human-faced whale lice.

Afterwards, the whale lice, which cannot swim, use their boats to ambush and hunt other ships and humans in order to parasitize their companions who did not get the body.

The information provided by the [Ship's Log] was limited, so Byron naturally didn't know what exactly happened last night.

However, we can also infer from the existing intelligence that the privateering ships that left the port yesterday were most likely not up to any good purpose.

Especially the two silver coins in the leader's eye sockets, which made him look particularly familiar.

at this time.

When the sacrificial leader saw that his "artillery" attack was ineffective, a sharp insect-like sound came from the back of his head.

A large number of [Human-faced Whale Lice] immediately swarmed into the cabin, but the previous attack had obviously caused them heavy losses.

Most of them were missing arms and legs and looked really miserable.

But the total number is still considerable. If someone with trypophobia takes a look at it, he would be scared to death.

At this time, the two ships were sailing side by side from west to east, with the Golden Deer firmly occupying the upper wind in the north and the Rainbow falling to the leeward side in the south.

The helmsman on the Rainbow suddenly turned the rudder to the left and rammed the Golden Deer hard.

Firing with artillery was too inefficient, so they preferred boarding battles and simply overwhelmed their opponents with numbers, just like they had overwhelmed the Rainbow at the beginning.

"Head into the wind! Sail to windward and away from the battle line!" While giving the order, Byron turned the steering wheel in his hand in the direction of the wind.

He already knew that whale lice could not swim and could only rely on the host to move, so of course he could not let such a weird thing hit him.

As long as the two pirate ships do not come into direct contact and only rely on artillery "retail", as many of them as come will be killed.

As the Golden Deer re-entered the "port side heading - nearly sailing into the wind" state.

The fully sail-rigged Rainbow was immediately caught in the wake created by the former, its maneuverability was greatly reduced, and it was left far behind again.

The parasites' angry chirping sounds came one after another, but they could not catch up with the other one no matter what.

They could only withstand the fierce artillery fire and vent their anger by continuously launching whale lice of their kind onto the deck of the Golden Deer.

"Eight Fingers, take your Marines!"

Upon hearing Byron's order, the latter immediately understood.

He took out a small silver wine flask from his waist bag and took a big gulp of the [Blood Brew·Heroic Water] inside.

The twenty carefully selected pirates behind him followed suit.

"Roar--!"

Their skin turned blood red, and tremendous heat rose up, even forming a thick white mist above their heads.

He followed Byron's order, untied the pirate's turban and covered his entire head, leaving only his eyes exposed.

Make the [Human-faced Whale Louse] unable to see their faces and break this bizarre killing condition.

Then, groups of three or five people rushed forward with boarding axes and frantically chopped the whale lice that jumped up into pieces.

"Not bad, it looks good."

Byron nodded with satisfaction. It would be convenient to initially train a group of capable subordinates. At least it would save him the energy of dealing with miscellaneous soldiers.

Although this group of Marines had to endure a whole day of weakness after 15 minutes of real warrior training, it was completely worth it.

According to his plan, this period of time should be enough for the two ships to maintain an effective range of 100 meters and find a way to kill these parasites that are like dog-skin plasters.

The method is simple and direct.

"Ammunition explodes, physical exorcism!"

Although Byron did not have the extraordinary means of a gunpowder artist, it was not completely impossible to achieve it purely by relying on science.

He immediately called all the gunners on board, pointed at the hull that was tilted against the wind, and explained his plan to them:
"The gunpowder magazine of an armed merchant ship was usually placed in the hold below the forecastle.

If a most dangerous and powerful incendiary bomb were to penetrate the powder magazine, it would create the most spectacular explosion at sea!"

He glanced at every gunner in front of him with an earnest look containing encouragement.

“Although the enemy’s ship tilted when nearly facing the wind, exposing the part below the waterline, we happened to have a 32-pound gun that could penetrate the hull.

But detonating a gunpowder magazine also requires great artillery skills and luck.

Given your artillery skills, you can probably fire ten times in 15 minutes, and you have ten chances to try.

No matter which artillery group it is, as long as it can complete the task.

I can directly reward him with a bottle of [Angel's Kiss] that is comparable to [Spiritual Awakening Potion]!"

Commandment Nine: As long as you accumulate merits, you can obtain resources, extraordinary knowledge and promotion rituals.

The resources therein represent the possibility of spiritual awakening, which is what they need most at the moment.

Realizing that their captain was not joking, all the gunners widened their eyes and their subjective initiative was fully mobilized.

He was ready to get the cup of blood-brew.

But Byron changed the subject at this point and added a condition:
"We don't have many chances. If we fail within 15 minutes, we will have to get out of the artillery range and give up the chance to exorcise the evil spirit.

The failed gun crew would be deprived of its share of the spoils for the next year and would be responsible for all cleaning work on the open decks.

The right to redeem merits will also be extended for three months.

Think carefully before making a decision.

Now tell me, who is willing to try to take on this task?"

The smart sailors have realized that the captain's goal is not only to eliminate enemy ships, but also to train crew members under relatively safe conditions.

However, the pros and cons between rewards and punishments immediately made some gunners back off.

Just when most people are hesitant.

"Captain, let me do it!"

The one who spoke decisively was not the old sea dog among the free pirates, but the young native slave Wyandot (Chapter 47).

(End of this chapter)