Alexander Smith
Alex with the rest of his family follows right behind the suicide team from a safe distance to provide support. With a level three shield talisman protecting the suicide team, Captain William led his team headlong towards the pirate fleet. Any attacks to stop the suicide team will be futile with him being prepared to use another level three talisman shield the moment the first one collapsed. In the end, he only needs to use a second talisman before the suicide team finally reaching the pirate fleet. What comes next is one very big and loud explosion followed by a mushroom cloud rising up towards the sky.
Even from a safe distance, the blast wave from the explosion managed to pushed Alex back a few feet. It seems that it was too much to ask for the explosion to takes out the entire pirate fleet. Regardless, the suicide team has achieved the main objective. With the shield protecting the pirate fleet gone, it was now time for him to initiate the next round of attack to take out two of the seven pirate captains.
"On the count of three, we will attack the pirate captain on the front ship to the left." Alex announces as he takes out a level three lightning strike talisman.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
The incoming attacks seem to have caught the pirates off guard. The five level three talismans instantly took down the pirate captain before he could even use any of his trump cards. It is a pity that it will be much more difficult to take down the next pirate captain. The quick death of their peer definitely alarmed the rest of pirate captains. Motivated to survive, the remaining pirate captains no longer hold anything back and quickly took out every single defensive apparatus in their possession.
"Get ready for the next pirate captain on the front ship to the right. We will need a second strike after the first and be prepared for a third. On the count of three." Alex quickly issued further instruction after confirming the death of the first pirate captain and noticing action of the remaining captain pirates.
It only took two waves of attacks to eliminate the second pirate captain. Fifteen level three lightning strike talismans well spent taking out two pirate captains. Alex just finds it frustrating that he has to fight with one hand tied behind his back yet again. He and his family members still have more than ten level three lightning strike talismans each in their storage bag and they could have easily wipe out the rest of the pirate captains since their family still needs to maintain its cover. He has to keep reminding himself things will get much better when they have successfully taken over the Barony Of Milton.
With a minor port and the fortune coming in trading with foreign powers and races, Alex will be able to better justify how their family are able to splurge lavishly on disposable items to eliminate any future threats. It also helps that he will be able to bribe the royal family and the two dukes with novel trinkets and gadgets from time to time.
"Joshua, Edward, James. Proceed to summon your undead armies."
Soon after, more than a thousand undead appeared on the seven pirate ships. That will keep the rest of the pirate minions busy while Alex and his family members deal with the pirate captains. Joshua is one battle maniac. Before he could issue any further instruction, Joshua has charged straight at their enemies after summoning his undead army. The rest of his cousins quickly followed right behind to cover his back. Joshua is supposed to fit in and fending off attacks from all five pirate captains on his own will be sticking out like a sore thumb.
Alex groans before following the rest of them into battle. He is severely lacking when it comes to direct battle experience and it is just so not his style. As a mage, his life wouldn't be at much of a risk as long as his mana shield is still up and running in this backward part of the world. Oh well, he will just have to drag things along until it is time to put a stop to the act. The pirate captain he is now locked in battle seems to be another mage. That is just excellent! There is no need for any intricate maneuvering and he just need to keep hurling attack spells at his enemy while avoiding the incoming attack spells. It can be said his battle is the least exciting of all the ongoing battle. He still can spare some of his attention checking out how the rest of the battles are developing.
Joshua seems to be having a hell of a time. Alex half suspects that his enemy would be struggling to keep up by now if Joshua had not been restraining himself. It would have been one short battle otherwise. It is quite apparent he is enjoying a fight with a hand tied behind his back. Even back on Earth, he always plays his video games at hardcore mode or setting it to the highest difficulty.
Edward and James don't have it easy putting up an act. Both are fumbling to prolong the battle with their opponent. What surprises Alex is Jane. She is doing a great job putting up a show and seems to be enjoying this battle just like Joshua. Hopefully, she wouldn't turn up to be another battle maniac. Reining in Joshua is tough enough and if they are two battle maniacs in the family, it might proof impossible keeping both of them in line at the same time.
At the very least, Alex only needs to play pretend for about forty minutes. The spirit energy reserve for cultivators at the second major realm are still dismal in comparison to those at the third major realm. The third major cultivation realm is one of those clear divider line. A cultivator spirit energy reserve will experience a qualitative transformation at third major realm, significantly improving their combat endurance. Cultivators at the peak of the second major realm will typically have a spirit energy reserve that will only last them an hour at most in battle but the moment they breakthrough to the third major realm, they could easily fight a prolong battle lasting more than ten hours before running dry.
It is one very obvious signal when Jane and James threw away their storage bag before charging at their respective enemy taking them down in two very loud explosions. Before Alex's enemy can even fully register what has happened, he taps into the spirit battery in his battlemage staff and immediately cast a successive chain of lightning strikes at his enemy. Before the outcome of his latest attack barrage comes out, he discreetly took a pill than turns his skin complexion much paler. Other cultivators took healing pills after a battle for quick recovery but he had to take a pill specially crafted pill that leaves the impression he has overdrawn his reserve thus suffering extensive internal injury that might take months or even years to heal.
The sudden change in battle momentum quickly took down the enemy shield before overkilling his enemy with the consecutive lightning strikes that follows right after. Surveying the battlefield, Alex can conclude that the battle is pretty much over with the deaths of all pirate captains. Edward complexion looks equally frail as his. The only one who seems normal to any outside observer will be Joshua. Since the act isn't exactly over yet, Alex and Edward speak in a very guarded and soft tone to Joshua before returning to the mage tower. As long as none of them revealed any flaws that are too obvious throughout the battle, they should be able to deceive any observer that the family has definitely paid a heavy price fending off the latest pirate raid.
That leaves Joshua to clean up the battlefield with his undead army. The third pirate raid has come to end as per the family's plan. It did cost the family a tidy sum of spirit stones but Joshua has managed to capture more than three hundred pirates for "rehabilitation" after sending them back to Tolena. These criminals will be sent to the family's mines for a few years of hard labor before being allowed to become a resident of Tolena. The follow up diplomacy will also be left to Joshua since Alex and Edward need to stay out of the limelight pretending to be heavily injured.