Xia was the first to react. There were no windows in the kitchen, so she took two steps at a time and crossed the long and narrow cabin. She saw the chaotic sailors coming and going on the deck. The shouts and the roar of artillery fire immediately brought her back to the battlefield.

Bang——

A whistling sound was heard, and Xia saw a lead-black shell passing over the side of the ship at high speed, carrying away some wood fragments, and heading towards the main mast at a sharp angle of incidence.

If this shell hit the mainmast, the ship would most likely be destroyed. In this era of sail-powered ships, a broken mainmast is basically an incurable disease, and the only option is to abandon ship and escape.

There was no time to react, Xia didn't move at all, some invisible force immediately restrained the shell.

The fuse has burned into the shell and is about to come into close contact with the gunpowder, bringing about a small spark of civilization.

But the flame was extinguished by an invisible force, and ultimately failed to fully shine and give away its youth.

Looking past the shells, Xia saw three ships in the distance.

The three ships were slightly smaller than this one, with only two masts. This type of ship is flexible, fast with the wind, and inexpensive to build. It is usually used as short-distance merchant ships or near-shore frigates.

However, black flags were hung on the masts of those ships.

The black flag had swords and skulls painted on it, obviously it was a pirate.

Xia didn't know what kind of sea area this was, but since they had been sailing for a while without docking, it must be in the open sea, so it was normal for pirates to appear.

This also means that there must be islands nearby that serve as pirate bases.

These pirates had artillery, three ships, and a large number of people. They must have plundered many ships, but the brig was not suitable for ocean voyages, and probably a large part of their wealth was not taken away or consumed, but left on the island.

In other words, these pirates should be very rich!

When her thoughts reached this point, Xia could no longer hold back.

"Pirates, pirates attack!"

The sailor climbing to the top of the mainmast shouted. It was not easy to hear the sailor's roar amid the gunfire and chaos, which was why sailors had to speak loudly at sea.

The ship quickly organized a counterattack. Captain Changzheng turned the rudder and steered the entire ship towards the three pirate ships. This would effectively reduce the impact area and prevent them from being shot into sieves.

Of course, in this case, the number of artillery that can be used will be reduced. Only the two guns at the bow can face the enemy head-on, and the others need to wait until maneuvers are performed before they can fire sideways.

There was another series of artillery fire, but this time most of the shells missed the target, creating splashes in the water.

In this era, although artillery has great destructive power, its accuracy has always been criticized. Many times, two ships would bombard each other for half an hour, but both sides would be unscathed.

Therefore, a very common tactic was to board two ships and bombard each other at close range to see who had a thicker skin. This led to warships becoming increasingly sturdy, and they could stand the test of time even after being hit by several shells. Later, weapons experts began to study how to increase the equivalent, make the caliber of the muzzle larger, and make the shells more powerful. Only then did naval warfare truly enter the era of giant ships and big guns.

Of course, all this was later changed by air supremacy, aircraft carriers, and the subsequent missile era, but that is another topic.

Xia looked ahead and saw that the three pirate ships were gradually dispersing and encircling this side from three directions. In this way, no matter how Xia's ship moved or positioned itself, it would inevitably face the situation of being caught from the side.

At sea, the advantage in numbers is overwhelming.

The premise is to rely only on ships.

Xia came to the bow, where the sailors were still working hard to load shells, preparing to attack the ship in the front. The sailors noticed Xia and wanted to dissuade her from leaving.

"Miss, it's very dangerous here, you'd better leave..."

A sailor kindly reminded.

But before he could finish his words, he saw Xia raised her right hand.

A certain kind of throbbing that even ordinary people could hardly ignore spread in the air, and a moment of silence enveloped the sea.

It's like, in a noisy classroom during self-study class, when everyone is speaking freely, suddenly, for some coincidental moment, everyone's voice disappears.

The sailors looked at each other, feeling a little scared. The girl in armor seemed to be disturbing reality.

The next moment, some distortions flashed across Xia's hands.

Only under the strongest sunlight is it possible to see these distorted entities, palm-sized balls of light, completely transparent, whose shapes can only be read by the wind.

The speed of the light ball was relatively slow at first, like a snail crawling up step by step, but soon, the light ball began to accelerate and became extremely fast, surpassing the cannonballs and heading straight towards the pirate ship in front.

On the pirate ship, the ferocious pirates were still busy loading ammunition and sharpening their knives in preparation for the next boarding battle. Some of them noticed that the gunfire of that ship suddenly stopped. Before they had time to celebrate, they felt something hit their ship.

"Struck on a reef?"

The first mate of the pirate ship held onto the railing on one side of the ship and couldn't help but ask.

"Idiot, we are in the deep sea, where are the reefs?!"

The captain cursed angrily and looked forward, trying to find out what he had hit.

But soon he no longer needed to look.

Because the invisible ball of light touched the stern of the pirate ship, it blew up the entire bow in an instant. With one blow, one third of the ship was reduced to dust, along with the pirates and cannons.

Even the ship hadn't reacted yet and was still moving forward.

The ship was like being bitten by a giant creature. The missing part soon began to affect the remaining parts. A large amount of seawater poured into it, causing the ship to begin to sink.

"Abandon ship, no hope, abandon ship!"

Someone shouted, and the sailor standing on the top of the mast climbed down swiftly, picked up a piece of wood and jumped into the sea.

"It's gone."

The captain was also very decisive. He immediately picked up his weapons and prepared to abandon ship and escape.

"Wait, as the captain, aren't you supposed to live and die with this ship?"

The first mate immediately stopped the captain.

"Have you read too many novels? We are pirates, not soldiers. We should run when we need to. Let's go!"

The captain said something perfunctorily, then jumped over the first mate and was about to fall into the water.

But the next moment, the second glowing ball followed.

This time, without the obstruction of the bow, the ball of light went straight into the cabin and fell into the ammunition depot.

Boom——

There was a huge explosion and flash of fire, and the ship instantly turned into a fireball, burning on the ocean like a fleeting tombstone.

"I'll try it, too."

Lu Ban was eager to try and rolled up his sleeves.

But when the other two pirate ships saw this, they immediately stopped firing.

After a while, the white flag was raised.

The arrogant Lu Ban suddenly lost his temper.