Close Combat Mage - Chapter 396

Chapter 396 – God of the Sea Pt. 1

As Xiang Yun wildly charged over, the fatty raised his wolf’s fang cudgel high in the air, and a blazing azure battle qi powerfully surged out. The next instant, just when Xiang Yun was above the ship’s deck, the fatty smashed his weapon downwards.

Bang! With a violent boom, the weapon split a giant chasm in the deck. At the same time, a circular arc of that azure battle qi whizzed towards Xiang Yun…

Upon seeing the enemy’s strike, Xiang Yun’s expression became twisted. He hadn’t imagined that the opponent wouldn’t try to attack him, but rather inflict a blow on their own deck. By this point, Xiang Yun had already leapt over a great deal of distance and was about to reach his limit. If he had been able to exchange blows with the fatty, he would’ve been able to utilize the force to change his stance and safely land, no matter how powerful the enemy’s offense was.

But now it seemed like they wouldn’t be exchanging blows at all. Rather, the enemy had used battle qi to directly attack him. Without any support and with his acceleration reaching an end, Xiang Yun could only helplessly watch the arc of energy force him back out from the ship’s perimeter.

“Hahaha!” The fatty roared out in delighted laughter as Xiang Yun’s body fell towards the sea. He waved his weapon and roared, “Everyone, aim at him! I want him to be shot dead the instant he’s about to land in the water when he’s unable to move!”

On command, all the prepared archers on the surrounding two ships took aim at Xiang Yun’s body. The moment Xiang Yun was about to touch the water’s surface, three hundred arrows pierced towards him like lightning.

If Xiang Yun had really fallen into the water at this point, he wouldn’t have been able to move to retaliate, and would definitely have died on the spot. No matter how strong Xiang Yun was, he couldn’t possibly survive getting struck by three hundred arrows in this situation.

\However, Xiang Yun was Xiang Yun after all – a descendant of the warriors from ancient country of martial arts. If he died like this, wouldn’t he become the ultimate laughingstock?

With all the pirate’s focuses on him, Xiang Yun’s right foot lightly tapped the water’s surface. Somehow, his body twisted in the air and managed to soar back upwards, and with his legs propelling him forward, he miraculously managed to cover a few dozen more meters of distance.

However, the water’s surface was obviously nowhere close to flat ground, and while he had been able to use the momentum as leverage to a certain extent, his body began to once again descend. The pirate leader, who had been momentarily stunned while watching Xiang Yun’s bizarre actions, returned to his senses. He reached out a hand and roared in command, “Take your aim! This time, he will definitely fall!”

At his commands, all the pirates immediately drew their bows once more and aimed carefully at Xiang Yun. Almost immediately afterwards, the tip of Xiang Yun’s left foot gently touched the surface of the sea. He miraculously soared back into the air just as three hundred arrows whizzed to area of water that his foot had just tapped.

The pirate leader gnashed his teeth in frustration. That bastard is just too annoying to deal with. But…no matter how skilled he is, he will definitely meet his death here today. After all…how can a single person possibly contend against hundreds?

The pirate leader suddenly reached backwards to grab a smaller wolf’s fang cudgel and his gaze locked onto Xiang Yun’s body that had just begun to descend into the ocean once more.

Under everyone’s concentrated gazes, Xiang Yun’s foot rippled the water’s surface once more before his body flew back up and towards his own small ship. The pirate leader furiously roared, “Aim at that boat and initiate AOE attack!”

Within an instant, the hundreds of arrows rained down like a storm at that boat. This was a technique that the pirates had mastered, a barrage of arrows specifically designed to defeat extremely agile thieves!

Finally, in that moment Xiang Yun seemed just about to land on the boat deck, the pirate leader’s eyes lit up and he swung the small wolf’s fang cudgel down with a wild howl.

But that wasn’t all! As one hand threw the wolf fang’s cudgel outwards, the other hand swiftly pulled out another one and tossed that one as well, followed again by another…within a mere three seconds, the pirate leader had managed to launch six weapons out!

On the opposite side, Xiang Yun had just parried the dense storm of arrows with his war blade, before the pirate leader’s first attack reached its target – right where Xiang Yun stood!

Xiang Yun gritted his teeth, knowing that there was absolutely no way he could take the enemy’s blow at full power. More importantly, he had used most of his energy to block the rain of arrows, and only had a small portion of power left to counter the wolf’s fang attack!

Clang! The jarring sound of metal striking metal rang out as Xiang Yun immediately angled his blade. At the same time, an arrow pierced through a slight opening in his defense and buried itself deep into his left shoulder.

Xiang Yun let out a muffled groan, but continued to swing his war blade with all the strength he could muster to continue blocking the arrows. Meanwhile, the second cudgel reached him. An even louder bang resounded than before as Xiang Yun was forced backwards by the exchange. At the same time, his shift in balance caused his war blade’s protective barrier to slip where his left leg was, and was struck by two arrows! The gush of blood soon soaked his pants.

“Tch…” Xiang Yun softly cursed as he noticed the third cudgel racing towards him. Although it was a “small” size, the round head of the weapon was still at least the size of a soccer ball, with its entire surface covered in spikes. Since he was currently being suppressed by the ongoing arrow storm, there was no way he could dodge the cudgel properly – the slightest slip in his defense would probably end up with all the arrows piercing hundreds of holes through him!

Crash! Another violent strike echoed through the air, and Xiang Yun was blown back a few more steps. Although he was trying his best to maintain his blade defense, two more arrows managed to strike the right side of his chest and left rib, while a third one dug into his left calf from his side!

Although he had successfully managed to hold up against the three meteor-like attacks, Xiang Yun could see three more of these same attacks blasting towards him in succession. It was only at this moment that he finally realised the vast difference between battles on land and at sea.

If they were on land right now, Xiang Yun wouldn’t be afraid of any number of enemies. But because the ocean waters acted as absolute barriers, he had no way of closing the distance between himself and the enemy. Of course, Xiang Yun was able to swim, but that kind of speed was way too slow – if he even tried to enter the water like this, he’d instantly get shot into smithereens!

At close quarters, Xiang Yun would undoubtedly have the upper hand. In fact, he’d be able to kill that fatty within three moves, but now that he was restrained by the opponent’s long-distance attacks! In reality, sea battles were all long ranged fights!

“Hiyah!” With a wild bellow, Xiang Yun’s inner energy burst out as he brandished his blade once again. This time, he paid absolutely no heed to the surrounding arrows, and in three consecutive swings, easily sent the remaining three cudgels flying off to the side. If this were a 1v1 fight, Xiang Yun wouldn’t fear the enemy at all, even at long range. The issue here was…the enemy was clearly great in number.

Of course, the instant his defense dropped, the hundreds of arrows came pouring down from all directions. Despite knowing this, Xiang Yun simply stood still. At this point, he was completely powerless!

“Ice Prison Technique!” Just when Xiang Yun had closed his eyes and resigned to his death, a cold voice rang out from behind him. Nearly simultaneously, layers of thick and sturdy plates of ice swiftly wrapped around Xiang Yun. While this trapped him in his place, it also securely protected him.

Ding, ding, ding… All the arrows that struck the Ice Prison weakly bounced off and fell around the perimeter. There was no way Xiang Yun could be harmed now, unless the Ice Prison was broken first. However, this was something that the pirates’ normal arrows could never achieve.

Surprised, Xiang Yun excitedly turned around to look behind him. Suo Jia’s cabin doors were finally open…and from it, he could see Suo Jia’s eyes radiating a crimson glow through his overcast face. At the most critical moment, Suo Jia had finally appeared!