"Tonight's performance has finally reached its climax," Lex exclaimed, simultaneously paddling his oar to keep up with the enemy ship ahead.
He intended to trail this ship, which was returning to report, find the Black Death, and complete his mission!
While secretly tracking, Lex recalled every word 'Iceberg Admiral' Edwina had said in the Captain's Cabin that morning.
"...Admiral of Ailment is definitely not an easy opponent. She won't be defeated that simply, even if I've used a secret method to control the pawns she planted on the ship, and even if I used that pawn to send out some false information."
"Even so, to defeat Tracy, or even to hunt her, we still need to make some preparations."
"This afternoon we will head to a private port. We need to send out a signal that 'we are very weak, welcome to rob us.' Tracy won't act based solely on an insider's word."
"So today, we need to give the ship some necessary 'disguises' to make it look like it has just been through a fierce battle."
"Our personnel also need to be disguised to look heavily injured. Similar disguises will also be used on the supplies we secretly acquire on the island."
"At that time, I will send a group of crew members disguised as Adventurers ashore. They will buy a large amount of medicine, and they will use sets of numbers to 'convince' Tracy to make her move against us."
"But even if Tracy makes her move, I can almost certainly say she won't participate in the initial battle. She is a cautious and careful person. She will remain in a secret location to wait and observe, and she won't easily take risks unless she is absolutely certain of victory."
"So once we counterattack, and once Admiral of Ailment's forces suffer heavy losses, they will try to send someone back to report. At this time, we need someone to track them, someone to find the exact location of the Black Death, and then give me a 'signal'."
"I will use the Purification Cannon for the final harvest based on the signal!"
"The above is the counterattack plan against Admiral of Ailment. All additions are welcome."
"Anyone who can become a 'Admiral' is not simple. Even if the Captain usually looks like a teacher, she is still very astute in combat and tactics."
Lex sighed as he paddled his oar, keeping a close eye on the small boat on the Sea in the distance.
About an hour later, under a crimson moonlight, a black-sailed ship anchored near a small island appeared in Lex's vision.
Lex recalled what Edwina had told him when he took on the tracking task: "Tracy can spread diseases. If I were her, I would set up arrangements near the Black Death to make anyone who rashly enters the vicinity of the Black Death suffer from severe illnesses. Believe me, she has the ability to do this."
"Being able to spread diseases and use them for defense, the Witch's methods are very mysterious and eerie." Lex observed the distant Black Death, seeing that the small boat did not approach directly but stopped on the Sea at some distance from the Black Death.
The pirates on the small boat and the flagship exchanged signals. A moment later, the small boat, following the guidance, bypassed the front, which invisibly confirmed Edwina's guess.
"However, whether or not she spreads disease doesn't matter much to me."
"I just need to send out the 'signal.' After all, tonight, I'm just a 'messenger'."
Lex stood up, smiling as he raised his arm. He channeled his spirituality, causing a crimson flame to leap from his outstretched palm.
The crimson-yellow flame danced and flickered in Lex's hand, outlining the shape of a longbow.
Thin streams of fire connected to form a bowstring. Lex plucked the bowstring with his right hand, slowly drawing it back.
As the bowstring was drawn, flames roared and condensed, forming an arrow of pure fire in Lex's hand.
"It's not enough."
"Considering it might be intercepted, I need more spirituality, more intense firepower."
Lex continued to infuse more spirituality into the flaming arrow in his hand, making it dance with more passionate flames and its arrowhead become more incandescent.
Boom!
The crimson light surged, and the arrow grew more than twice its size, with the flames within it rotating and compressing inwards.
The firelight illuminated Lex's face, and the dancing flames growled dully. They wanted to erupt, craving destruction, but Lex suppressed them tightly.
Lex continuously injected spirituality, making the flaming arrow brighter, hotter, and larger.
Normally, at this point, even from a distance, the pirates on the Black Death would have noticed this dazzling light.
Even if the pirates were blind and didn't notice, Tracy in the Captain's Cabin would have sensed the unnatural increase in spiritual power on the Sea.
However, at this moment, neither the pirates nor Tracy seemed to notice Lex's presence, as if blind, their spiritual intuition obscured.
This was the ability of a Sequence 6 Conspirer. Lex had 'conspired' this arrow, making it undetectable to Beyonders below Sequence 4!
Having infused most of his spirituality, Lex felt the vibrations from the flaming arrow, which had grown to the size of a siege crossbow, between his hands.
He could no longer suppress it.
Then there was no need to suppress it further.
"Fire!"
Lex released the 'bowstring' in his heart.
Boom!
The arrow shot out like a cannonball!
An invisible ripple exploded on the Sea. The crimson, blazing Light burst from the center of the ripple, parting the seawater and raising waves, like a scarlet lightning bolt. In an instant, imperceptible to the beings on the Black Death, it struck the bow!
At the moment of impact, Tracy's spirituality screamed. She had just stood up when she felt a violent tremor.
The world spun before her eyes.
She saw numerous books and papers on the table fly into the air, saw the walls and floor being stained crimson inch by inch, and saw scorching firelight erupting from different directions!
Rumble!
The bow of the Black Death was shattered, and flames soared into the sky. The firelight illuminated the night, releasing a 'signal' that could not be clearer.
On the Golden Dream, Edwina suddenly turned, looking at the bright firelight in the distance. Her clear voice immediately drifted across the deck.
"Northeast, three o'clock direction, adjust the cannon angle, quickly!"
The Golden Dream immediately rotated, pointing the Purification Cannon in the direction of the Black Death.
"Remove restrictions, load shells, prepare to fire."
As Edwina's command was given, the symbols and patterns on the Purification Cannon all lit up. A sacred Light glowed from the muzzle, and immense spiritual power spread and surged across the Sea.
A moment later, the Golden Dream shook violently.
The Purification Cannon fired!