Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 178 – 73: Out of Control and Frenzy_3
“Kill!” Winters, weaponless, lunged at the Tanilian facing him.@@novelbin@@

The pirate gunner was bowled over by Winters’ tackle at the waist. Winters, disregarding other enemies nearby, desperately pounded his fists into the man’s face and throat.

The other soldiers, coming to their senses, charged the enemies on the gun deck and the fight ensued.

The gun deck, less than two meters high, saw other soldiers one after another jumping down, sparking a bloody battle aboard.

The slender pirate beneath Winters, his nose and throat smashed by several punches, was bloodied and dazed. Instinctively, he reached for Winters’ face and neck, frantically trying to gouge out Winters’ eyes.

Dirty hands left bloody trails across Winters’ face—this was not battle, just two desperate men struggling to survive.

The violent side of Winters’ nature was ignited. He ignored the hands attacking him, pinned the pirate down with his knee pressed against the man’s chest, pulled out the curved knife from the pirate’s waist, and slit the pirate’s throat.

The poorly maintained knife made the sensation of cutting flesh all the more intense. Holding down the spine of the blade, he dragged the edge from base to tip, the wound deep enough to reach the spine, almost severing the pirate’s head.

The pirate gunner instantly gasped for air. Winters delivered another chop to the neck, breaking the bone. Stepping on the torso and pulling the hair, he tore the last bit of flesh between head and shoulders, decapitating the pirate.

Winters, drenched in blood like a Blood Man, held the pirate’s head in his left hand, and the curved knife in his right, roaring as he searched for a new opponent. The pirates on the gun deck, scared witless by this demonic slayer, scrambled towards the lower decks in complete terror.

“Damn! You… I’m going to have nightmares for a month!” A deep male voice rang out as a pair of large hands took the pirate’s head from Winters and tossed it aside.

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The speaking officer took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from Winters’ face, “If you don’t want to carry an unflattering nickname for life, you little rascal, best do less of this in the future.”

Regaining his composure, Winters recognized the face—it was one he had seen only briefly before, Captain Spire of the Golden Lion.

It turned out that after the Golden Lion drew alongside the Revenge, they encountered a predicament: the Revenge’s gunwales were too high for the Golden Lion’s boarding plank to reach.

Helpless, Spire ordered the plank hung from a gun port, and he had just led his men through the cannon embrasure into the Revenge’s gun deck when he witnessed the scene before him.

Winters looked around, and saw soldiers and sailors lowering their heads in fear, not daring to meet his gaze.

He breathed heavily, struggling to suppress the turbulent bloodlust in his chest.

Bard came over, put an arm around Winters’ shoulder, patted his back, and signaled him that it was okay.

“What’s the situation on the ship now?” Spire asked directly, without mincing words.

“Tanilians are holding the cabin. I’m thinking of attacking from the hold,” Winters replied succinctly.

“You take your men to clear out any remaining enemies in the hold. Leave the enemies in the cabin to my men,” Spire looked Winters in the eye and asked, “Any problems with that?”

Andre was somewhat reluctant, but Winters had no interest in competing for glory with Spire at that moment. Since the other was willing to chew on the tough bone, all the better. He signaled to Andre that it was fine, and Andre grunted but said no more.

“Then the deck is yours,” Winters nodded to Spire.

Spire glanced at the young man in front of him, saluted a land officer for the first time in his military career, “Stay safe, after this fight I’ll buy you a drink.”

Having said this, he turned and led his crew towards the ladder to the cabin, shouting to his men, “A Gold Coin for each head! But leave that bastard Drake to me!”

The crew of the Golden Lion continued to emerge from the gun ports, and one sailor, passing by Winters, handed him a water skin.

Winters didn’t see who it was. He felt incredibly thirsty but resisted the urge to drink, instead handing the water skin to his soldiers.

Warrant Officer Montaigne of the Third Legion, First Company, Hundredth Squad, temporarily in command, wiped the blood off his knife and addressed his men, “Come on! Follow me and let’s finish off the rest.”