The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 195

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 195
Chapter 195
The Bloody Sea Pirates.
They were a pirate crew that had earned considerable renown in the waters surrounding Kalbera Territory and beyond.
Yet even the Bloody Sea Pirates could not escape the devastation wrought by the monsters that had recently run rampant.
“Krraaaagh!”
“Damn it, when did these things become so strong!”
“There are too many of them!”
Unlike the monsters they had known before, these creatures were bleached entirely white.
The Bloody Sea Pirates, ambushed by these monsters, lost their lives.
Or so they thought.
But then.
“Wretched land-dwellers. I grant you the opportunity to stand with us.”
A new chance had emerged for them.
From among the monsters appeared a man with an octopus for a head.
As he extended his hand, dozens of tentacles lashed out, piercing through the pirates.
The pirates’ bodies bleached white, and they began to exhibit the distinctive traits of fish.
And then.
“Ohhh! Incredible power!”
“Power surges through me!”
They had gained tremendous strength.
Through that power, they swiftly began to build their reputation.
They changed their name from the Bloody Sea Pirates to the White Sea Pirates, and attacked everything in sight.
Merchant caravans passing through.
Imperial Army vessels.
Even rival pirates.
They attacked all of them and made their presence known.
And the reason they acted this way was not merely to build their fame.
“Gather more offerings for me.”
“Yes!”
The creature with an octopus head.
It was a command from the one called the Apostle.
The pirates faithfully carried out his directive—if they wished to continue receiving power, they must bring as many land-dwelling creatures as possible as sacrifices.
They sank every ship visible on the sea, offered the victims to the Apostle, and received power in return.
Then.
A new command came from the Apostle.
“Sink Kalbera Territory.”
“A-Apostle. Surely you are aware that our strength diminishes drastically when we venture onto land. Naval combat is one thing, but land warfare….”
“Do not worry. I would not make such unreasonable demands of you wretches. They have been constructing ships recently.”
“Ships! We are confident in that!”
“Yes. Wait in the surrounding area, and the moment the ship sets sail, sink it immediately. In particular, the man in the black coat must be sunk without fail.”
“The man in the black coat, sir? Understood! Then, could it be….”
“If you complete this mission well, I will grant you even greater power.”
“Thank you!!”
Sink the ship departing from Kalbera Territory.
Upon receiving that order, the White Sea Pirates headed toward Kalbera Territory.
Fearing the ship might spot them and flee if it set sail first, they deliberately concealed themselves in the surrounding waters and waited for the vessel to approach.
Whoosh!
They surrounded the ship.
It would have been difficult to evade the Lookout’s vigilance through ordinary means, but they had all received power from the Apostle and become half-aquatic beings.
Because the ship itself inherited that power as well, it was possible to submerge briefly beneath the sea.
Using that power, they hid beneath the waves and surrounded the vessel.
“Become a sacrifice for the great White Water Deity for our sake!”
Once the encirclement succeeded, sinking the target was simple.
As the pirates issued their attack command with confident voices.
Boom!
The cannons mounted on the ship unleashed flames.
No—they fired projectiles while spraying water.
An unusual method using water instead of fire, but the power granted by the Apostle made it far more devastating than conventional cannons.
The enemy ship appeared large and sturdy, but the pirates had once sunk an even larger and more formidable Imperial warship.
They were confident this vessel too would be pierced and sunk in no time.
Hum!
Something was wrong.
Just before the projectiles struck the ship.
A translucent barrier materialized around the enemy vessel.
Crash!
“What!”
The projectiles fired by the pirates were blocked by that barrier.
Even as pirates, they recognized what that translucent barrier was.
“A Mage Ship?”
A Mage Ship.
A term for the advanced warship that even the Empire operated only in extremely rare instances.
But even so, something felt off.
Among the Imperial vessels they had sunk, there were certainly some that were crudely made Mage Ships.
Yet those had never blocked their projectiles so perfectly.
This made no sense.
As they stood there bewildered.
“Captain! They’re preparing to attack from their side!”
“Fire more! The best defense is offense! Destroy all their cannons with your shots!”
“But, sir. Our attacks aren’t getting through at all because of that defensive barrier, are they?”
“Damn it!”
The enemy vessel prepared to attack.
Normally, the more they pressed forward aggressively in such situations, the better they could overwhelm the enemy’s assault—such was the pirate’s strategy.
But that barrier rendered their tactic completely ineffective.
In the meantime, the enemy ship finished its preparations.
“Fire!”
With the shout from the enemy vessel, their attack commenced.
The pirates naturally drew upon the power granted by the Apostle and conjured a water barrier.
While not exceptionally robust, it was certainly capable of reducing the impact of ordinary cannonballs.
However, what the enemy ship unleashed was no ordinary projectile.
[ Thunder Cannon ]
Not a conventional cannon, but a beam of pure electricity.
The lightning projectile that erupted forth pierced through the water barrier the pirates had raised.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!”
The entire pirate ship, crew and all, was engulfed in electrical current.
* * *
The magic I had inscribed upon the vessel alongside the shipwrights was not merely Great Shield, a defensive spell.
Most notably, the sails bore the Wind enchantment, allowing the ship to catch wind even in calm seas, and accelerating further when wind did blow.
The rudder mechanism was inscribed with Aqua Wave magic to increase both speed and maneuverability.
Each component received enchantments suited to its purpose, elevating the vessel’s capabilities.
And the weapons were no exception.
[ Thunder Cannon ]
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
The fifth-circle offensive spell inscribed upon the cannon—Thunder Cannon—erupted against the enemy.
It pierced through the water barrier effortlessly and, having risen from beneath the waves, the drenched pirate ship was electrified entirely.
‘Since I must contend with the White Water Deity, I imbued most weapons with electrical properties.’
Originally, these enchantments were meant to counter monsters.
But the pirate ship, being soaked from the seawater, proved vulnerable to the attack.
Startled, the pirates launched a barrage in response.
Boom, boom!!
The Great Shield inscribed upon the hull continued to function, deflecting every projectile.
A sixth-circle defensive spell, designed specifically to withstand the White Water Deity’s assault, not mere cannonballs.
Such projectiles were easily repelled.
Moreover, I had embedded several high-quality mana stones, allowing the barrier to endure such attacks for quite some time.
Meanwhile.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
“Ahhhhh!”
“Blast it, what is this?!”
“An electrical cannon at sea?! This is absolutely unfair!”
Our sailors continued operating the cannons.
And I was not merely watching the pirates idly either.
[ Portable Ancient Mana Cannon ]
( Non-Tradeable )
Type: Cannon
Grade: Epic
Restriction: Level 300 or above, Magic Engineering Mastery Lv 30 or above
Description: The crystallization of ancient civilization technology from a fallen era. A supply-grade mana cannon that uses defective mana stones, which were reportedly as common as rocks in ancient civilizations.
Like the ‘Crimson Sniper’ I had used in Second Crown before, it was a weapon from the ancient civilization series.
However, while the Crimson Sniper required proper mana stones, this ancient mana cannon demanded defective ones.
Defective mana stones refer to those that had failed during enchantment processes and become difficult to reuse.
Such stones could only perform one function—’explosion’—and nothing else.
And I.
‘Had plenty to spare.’
I possessed an abundance of defective mana stones that had failed during enchantment when I was inscribing magical formations on the ship.
All of them at least mid-grade or higher.
I loaded such defective mana stones into the ‘Portable Ancient Mana Cannon.’
– Activating the skill ‘Silver Shot’.
Whoosh!
The mana stone, propelled by the cannon’s power, flew swiftly and struck the pirate ship’s hull.
Boom!!
It detonated.
While the Thunder Cannon attacks were powerful, they were primarily electrical in nature, making it difficult to inflict direct damage on the vessel.
The mana stones I fired from the mana cannon, however, shattered the pirate ship through raw explosive force.
“What is this now!”
“Damn it, what exactly are these things!”
“The deck is collapsing! Everyone fall back!”
“Ahhhhh!”
I continued pulling the trigger without pause.
Determined to exhaust every defective mana stone that had been created while enchanting the ship, I fired without hesitation—all of them.
As a result, the pirates found themselves unable to mount any defense, their ship and crew both reeling from the relentless barrage.
Then.
Splash!
“My lord! They’re climbing up the hull!”
I could see the pirates scaling the hull and emerging onto the deck.
The Great Shield, after all, could only block external attacks like cannonballs—it could not stop pirates climbing up from beneath the waves.
Therefore.
“Finally, our turn! Let’s go!”
“Yes, Vice-Guild Master!”
“Knock them all overboard!”
“Time to earn our keep!”
My guild members threw themselves into the fray with genuine fervor.
Kang Ju-hyuk and the Black Flame guild members cut down the pirates clambering up without hesitation.
Though their numbers were few, they were all personally selected by me.
“Gah!”
“No openings!”
“Damn these bastards!”
My guild members held the pirates at bay magnificently.
Meanwhile, I continued unleashing mana cannons, and the crew likewise kept firing the cannons imbued with Thunder Cannon magic.
As a result, the pirates’ casualties mounted steadily.
“Damn it, fall back! Retreat beyond the range of those cursed cannons!”
The pirates attempted to withdraw.
But.
‘That won’t do.’
My ship.
The magic imbued in the cannons of the Black Dragon, my magical vessel, was not limited to Thunder Cannon alone.
The Captain, reading my intent, swiftly issued orders to the crew to activate the next weapon.
Then.
Boom!
A projectile trailing azure cold streaked from the cannon and embedded itself beneath the pirate ship.
In that instant, the seawater surrounding the pirate vessel’s hull froze solid, immobilizing the ship.
That’s right.
The magic imbued in that cannon was none other than.
[ Ice Cannon ]
A fifth-circle ice spell—Ice Cannon.
“What the hell now!”
“The sea is freezing!”
“Insane!”
Because of this, the pirates could neither escape nor do anything but endure our relentless assault.
Had they realized there was no way out?
“Abandon ship! Jump!”
The pirates began leaping overboard, forsaking their vessel.
Yet they had not abandoned the battle itself.
“As you’ve seen, if we dive deep enough, we can bypass the barriers and slip through!”
“Their actual combat personnel aren’t that numerous!”
“Climb back onto the deck no matter what and eliminate them all! Then we win!”
Blessed with the power of the White Water Deity, they grew even stronger in the sea.
Though human in form, they could swim at tremendous speed and scale the ship’s hull.
Thus, they sought to drive the battle into close quarters.
The Thunder Cannon targeted the pirates in the water, but those who dove deeper than anticipated proved difficult to strike.
Watching the pirates begin to clamber up the hull of the Black Dragon Ship.
“If it comes to close combat, I’m more confident in my abilities.”
I handed the mana cannon—its defective mana stones nearly depleted—back to Luke and drew out a melee weapon to face the pirates.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————