"Brothers! That wizard has already fled — should we really keep fighting and dying for him?"
At that moment, on the front lines, an unexpected person stepped forward.
One-Eyed Dragon roared: "If we surrender now, they've promised to pardon all our crimes! That's a Marquis we're dealing with! What else is there to consider?"
This pirate, who had followed Leilin since the early days, had somehow defected — and had apparently been in contact with William for some time.
The other pirates, seeing that Leilin was indeed absent, felt their morale plummet. Stirred up by a few self-serving leaders, many of them threw down their weapons.
The camp gates were opened from the inside. One-Eyed Dragon stood respectfully to the side, letting Kro and the other pirates in.
Under these circumstances, even the scattered pockets of resistance were futile.
"You've done well! I'll make sure to recommend you to my father!"
William patted One-Eyed Dragon's shoulder with great satisfaction, reducing the man to a display of tearful gratitude.
"Where are Leilin and his people?"
"Rest assured — our men have them completely surrounded! Not even a bird could escape!"
One-Eyed Dragon led William to the front of the council hall, where several summoned shadow leopards and several dozen pirates with strange expressions on their faces were still putting up a desperate resistance.
"What's going on? What's wrong with you all — didn't we agree on this?" When One-Eyed Dragon noticed that several of the co-conspirator pirate leaders were mixed in among them, his expression shifted to confusion.
"You need to be careful. Ever since we stepped into this camp, I've felt a sense of unease!"
Borujie whispered in William's ear, and at the same time, several flashes of spell light flickered into being.
[Advanced Mage Armor!]
[Detect Danger!]
[Eagle Eye!]
Then his face changed abruptly: "This is bad! We need to go — now!"
A teleportation portal materialized, and Borujie grabbed William and dove straight into it.
"Come watch the fireworks!"
At that moment, outside the camp, Leilin and
BOOM!!!
Blinding fire erupted from all over the camp, instantly engulfing every last pirate.
One-Eyed Dragon's face went blank. Before he could even understand what was happening, a tremendous force struck his body, tearing his corpse to shreds.
A terrifying explosion boomed. A mushroom cloud rose into the sky and spread outward, and the violent shockwave even sent the trees near Leilin reeling. A powerful earthquake followed, and the earth groaned under the strain, splitting open in several massive gashes.
"Half of the profits from Yusong's technology transfer, plus a loan from the Temple of Wealth — all converted into goblin explosives. Now that's what I call a magnificent fireworks display!"
Leilin watched the explosive spectacle not far away, offering calm commentary from time to time.
Ronalde stood behind Leilin, his eyes still filled with shock.
Burying a camp full of explosives and sending both friend and foe to the afterlife together — only the leader standing before him could have come up with something so insane.
"Still, even though we used a massive quantity of explosives, the power seems far too great. At this level, it even surpasses a 9th-tier area-of-effect spell — no, it's approaching the power of a legendary spell!"
Ronalde murmured, and before he knew it, he had spoken aloud.
Leilin chuckled inwardly. Of course, this wasn't just the work of goblin explosives. He had used his own expertise and the Chip's craftsmanship to upgrade the original goblin explosives, massively increasing their destructive power.
Moreover, simply concealing the setup from their detection had required Leilin to make precise arrangements and magical concealment.
Going through all of this had not only consumed a massive amount of wealth, but had also left Leilin half-dead from exhaustion.
Still, the results were excellent.
At the very least, the Black Skull Pirate
As for Borujie? Leilin had never intended to let him live.
High-level wizards had one annoying trait — once they mastered teleportation, killing them became incredibly difficult.
But the others in the camp weren't so lucky.
"Get ready — our people go in right after!"
Behind Leilin, a group of elite pirates stood ready, though their numbers were not great — fewer than a hundred.
These were Leilin's true loyalists, men selected through multiple bloody battles, whose families had all been sent to Faolan Island and placed under watch.
"Everyone in the camp — no exceptions. Leave no one alive!" At this critical moment, Leilin gave his ruthless order, no longer concerned about collateral damage.
He knew full well that even this enhanced explosion, spectacular as it looked, had limited killing power.
At the very least, a 15th-level high-ranking professional like Kro would have had enough time in the instant before the blast to flee dozens of meters and escape the most devastating zone. Being caught in the periphery would at worst leave him severely wounded.
As for the 10th-level and above professionals near the edges, their chances of survival were quite good — it just depended on how badly they were hurt.
But the others weren't so fortunate. Any professional below 10th level within the camp's perimeter had essentially no hope of survival!
Not to mention that, in order to maximize casualties, Leilin had mixed something special into the setup.
Inside the camp, he had laced the area with a large quantity of neurotoxin. Once triggered by the explosion, the poisonous gas would surge in after it, determined to annihilate every living thing!
This was Leilin's area of expertise, so he had every confidence. As for his current subordinates — they had already been given the antidote, so there was nothing to worry about.
The well-trained pirates charged straight into the hellish aftermath of the explosion, attacking every living thing they found.
Even those professionals from the Black Skull Pirate Crew who had survived the explosion were gravely wounded. How could they possibly stand against these men? They were slaughtered instantly, with no power to resist.
Leilin, with Isabel at his side, tracked Kro through his Spiritual Power sensing and successfully cut him off.
"Captain Kro! My apologies, but I'll need you to move on to the afterlife quickly — I'm quite busy today!"
Leilin spoke with refined courtesy, looking at the severely wounded Kro before him.
He was telling the truth. After dealing with Kro, he still had a whole fleet to claim.
The dogs that could never be tamed were dead, and that was that. As long as those hundred elite loyalists remained, he could recruit as many men as he wanted going forward.
Of course, adding the Black Skull Pirate Crew's magical warships to the mix would make it all the more perfect.
And then, Kro did something no one expected.
"Master Leilin, please spare me! I swear my loyalty to you, along with all of the Black Skull's wealth!"
Kro dropped to his knees, burying his head deep in the mud.
This once arrogant, domineering pirate had surrendered outright!
"Is that so?" Leilin regarded Kro's performance with an ambiguous expression. The man's condition was certainly poor, but Leilin could keenly sense that he still had the strength to fight.
"Every word I've said is sincere! Besides, at the port, our fleet is guarded by Jodamo and his sharkmen — I can clear them out for you, noble Master!"
"Heh heh... I never imagined the feared and ruthless captain of the Black Skull pirates had this side to him..."
Leilin smiled: "However, there's no need to perform that little charm bloodline ability in front of me..."
"He saw through it!!!"
Kro looked up in horror, magic already gathering around his body.
But Leilin was faster! A flash of crimson light streaked through the air, and the Devil Blood Dagger embedded itself directly in Kro's forehead.
A strange expression frozen on his face, Kro's corpse slowly toppled over. Every trace of magical aura around his body shattered. This ruthless bloodline carrier — also a high-ranking Ranger — had finally not escaped the fate of death.
Gurgle! Gurgle!
The Devil Blood Dagger radiated a dazzling blood-red glow as numerous blood vessels spread out from it, greedily devouring everything Kro had. The demonic head carved into the dagger let out an excited roar.
An opponent of this caliber was something it had never encountered before.
A tremendous surge of power flowed through the Devil Blood Dagger, so much that even Leilin felt like he had overeaten.
[Ding! Host has completed a Devil Blood Dagger enhancement! Strength +0.7, Agility +1.5, Constitution +0.3!]
The Chip's notification chimed, and Leilin found that his stats had been refreshed once again.
Leilin Faolan | Age: 16 | Race: Human | 9th-level
"As expected of a high-ranking professional — what an enhancement!"
Feeling his limbs become more agile and light, Leilin showed a satisfied smile.
The target had been a high-ranking Ranger after all, which was why the agility boost was the greatest. As for Spirit? He would need to convert all of this gain to see an increase of around 0.2 — Leilin certainly wasn't going to do that.
If he wanted to harvest pure Spiritual Power, he had better candidates in mind.
[Ding! Target possesses a special bloodline, identified as '
Another notification popped up from the Chip.
"No — extract the bloodline!"
Following Leilin's command, a drop of dark blood rose from Kro's forehead and flowed into a black vial in Leilin's hand.
This kind of bloodline power was beneath Leilin's notice, but using it to reward his subordinates and artificially create a few bloodline carriers — that would be a worthwhile endeavor.