Sailing ships on the sea, due to their different uses, have vastly different requirements from their users.

The navies of various countries, believing firepower to be justice, would love to turn battleships into sea fortresses to load more cannons and ammunition;

Merchant ships, on the other hand, pursue greater cargo capacity and reliability;

And pirate ships, like predators, naturally pursue faster speed and more flexible maneuverability.

As a typical pirate ship, the "Golden Horn Deer" is certainly no exception.

In fact, in terms of size and firepower, it is at most comparable to a Level 5 Navy Cruiser.

But when it comes to real combat power...

A Tier 3 Great Knight is their greatest reliance, daring to cross the Black Sea with just one ship!

Today.

It is already their third day officially entering the deep-sea area of the Black Sea along the West Wind Warm Current.

The sea is vast with high sky and floating clouds, the azure sky is adorned with light, thin shreds of cloud, indicating a rare good weather deep in the Black Sea.

Thanks to this excellent sea shortcut, the journey so far for the "Golden Horn Deer" has been smooth sailing without any unexpected incidents.

However.

Luck obviously can't always be on their side.

No, it should be said that even if the Goddess of Destiny favors them, just embarking on this route already means half their lives are handed to the Death God!

The lookout leaned on the main mast, holding a brass spyglass to constantly scan the surface of the sea for any movements.

On this route, even having a powerful captain doesn't allow them any carelessness!

However, due to the excellent lighting at this time, there was a shimmering reflection on the sea surface.

He didn't notice that a huge shadow beneath the sea had silently swum over from afar.

Then quickly skimmed past the bottom of the pirate ship, with something even lightly brushing the ship's hull, either with its back or tail.

Thunk!

The "Golden Horn Deer" gently shook.

However, before the crew on watch could react.

Without any warning.

Swish! Swish! Swish!....

Hundreds and thousands of slender, blood-red tentacles shot out from underwater like sharp arrows.

Each tentacle's tip was as thin and sharp as a long sword, driven by strong circular muscles, aiming to pierce through the pirate ship and its crew with countless swords!

Facing the sudden "unannounced attack."

A nimble female knight had already leaped to the bow of the ship at the first opportunity.

Before choosing this route, Anita had already mentally prepared herself well to cope with this destined-to-be-unpeaceful cross-sea journey.

Therefore at this moment, her beautiful face remained calm, showing no signs of panic.

Confronting that...rain of thousands of swords.

Anita's eyelids slightly drooped, a flash of jade flame flickered in her black pupils.

When she looked up again, her eyes had transformed into the dangerous vertical pupils of a cold-blooded reptile!

The pupils also turned into a bright golden-green color!

A crisp shout rang through the sea.

"Ha!!!"

Buzz——

With waves of sound spreading, an invisible pressure exploded from Anita as the center, surging out with an overwhelming force.

Countless darting tendrils seemed to have been struck on the head, instantly wilting and falling into the sea!

[Magic-like Technique: Majesty]

Derived from the innate ability of the Sea Dragon Bloodline, mimicking the natural pressure of the Dragon Vein, particularly exerting a strong intimidation on marine creatures!

Grrr——!

A frenzied and piercing wail echoed from the sea.

Whoosh....

A towering wave surged up, within fifty meters of the bow of the "Golden Horn Deer," a sea monster, like a "flesh flower," danced out of the waves.

As soon as it appeared, the briny fishy, and rancid odor from the sea monster's slimy body already assaulted them.

In the middle of the giant "flesh flower" was a circle of ringed sharp teeth, surrounded by hundreds and thousands of hibiscus-like slender red tentacles.

Below the water surface, it was enclosed by a carapace mottled like underwater rocks, forming a cylindrical body like a sword sheath.

Undoubtedly that was a Sea Monster!

A sea monster larger than the "Golden Horn Deer"!

[Small Species: Sword Sheath Sea Anemone!]

Under Anita's unleashed [Majesty], as a small species sea monster with little wisdom, its hatred for humans suppressed its fear of the higher personality existence.

Grrr——

It cried out once more frantically, "Sword Sheath Sea Anemone," straining its body to rise out of the water, unleashed its strongest attack in a dominant position!

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!....

The tentacles with sword-like tips pierced the air, letting out screeching whistles, transforming into endless bed crossbows, shooting down to cover the sky and sun.

Standing at the bow of the "Golden Horn Deer," Anita remained unfazed; a mere small species was not enough for a Great Knight to furrow her brow.

"I... don't have time to play games with you hideous creatures now!"

"Ha——!"

A soft shout.

With a stamp of her foot, the Great Knight released a surging, scorching turbulence of life energy, unmatched by anything but Demon, from the bow's position instantly.

Boom——

The intensity of this life force was already comparable to this massive small species!

Beneath Anita's perfect appearance and tall slender figure, truly, hides a fierce giant beast!

Soon after, a circle of jade light erupted from beneath her feet!

[Jade Dragon Vein] Passive ability, bathing in sea dragon blood fundamentally changes the constitution, making one impervious to ordinary blades, with enduring stamina and infinite strength.

The second jade-colored halo exploded!

[Steel Wrist] Active ability, after the complete release of the body, arm strength increases by another 100%.

The third jade-colored halo exploded!

[Swift Run] Active ability, speed and reaction ability increase by 60%, speed on water increases by 100%.

When the three talent magic blessings were complete, Anita's whole body was enveloped in a layer of jade glow, instantly pushing the pirates on the ship far away with a sharp vigor.

The saying goes wrong names are never miscalled titles, and at this moment, Anita was truly worthy of the title "Jade Light"!

The breathing technique in her nose and mouth quietly changed, with Combat Qi at the core, unifying all the power in the female knight's body, transforming it into the power of miracle capable of directly affecting reality, and then exploding!

Draw the sword!

Leap!

The air above the sea was stirred, turning into massive white whirlwinds, with a thunderous roar...

A jade-colored meteor streaked across the sea, flattening all the crests of waves along its path.

The seawater was sliced by the fierce sword qi, turning into the finest water vapor, rising into a gentle white mist, forming pure white wings on either side of the jade meteor!

[Dragon-slaying Swordsmanship: Bone Shattering War Chariot!]

The forefront "Sword Sheath Sea Anemone" sensed the deadly danger, neglected the ongoing attack, and began to swiftly dive.

But the mere fifty meters between them was just a single step for Anita.

One step... the boundary between life and death!

Crack—

Behind the "Sword Sheath Sea Anemone" that jutted high out of the sea, a crisp sound was heard, and faintly discernible small cracks appeared on its colorful tubular shell.

Then.

Bits of jade-colored brilliance gently flowed out from that crack, in the blink of an eye transforming into a splendid cyan rainbow, bursting forth!

The cyan rainbow gradually dissipated, revealing Anita's tall, agile figure back on the sea surface.

Currents rose by themselves, supporting her feet, allowing her to stand steadily on the sea even without moving.

With the "Dragon-slaying Sword: Siegfried" sheathed on her back, Anita turned to look.

The tempest stirred from extreme motion to stillness had already blown away all the white mist on the sea surface.

Sizzle—

Dark blue blood sprayed like high-pressure jets.

The huge "meat flower" had been neatly divided in two, collapsing to the left and right.

Even the tough tubular shell forming the main part protruding from the sea suffered the fate of being split in half.

Yet Anita's delicate brows slightly furrowed, perplexedly saying:

"Hmm? It seems I've hit something."

Her intent with this slash was to cleanly and decisively slice this sea monster in half from head to tail.

But as she cut into the sea monster's midsection, the sword edge was blocked by something hard inside, preventing her from completing the expected cut.

Anita was extremely curious about what in this world could withstand the full force of a strike from the Dragon-slaying Sword in her hands?

Without a moment's hesitation.

Her fair and beautiful hands overlapped to form the shape of a conch and brought them to her lips, taking a long deep breath.

As a knight, she lacked the wizard's convenient spiritual vision to easily find the oddity inside the sea monster.

However, the sea dragon blood endowed her with a magic-like ability surpassing ordinary knights, growing stronger over time and personal development.

Whoosh!!!

A jade-colored scorching flame stream shot from her mouth.

In an instant, within a fifty-meter range, fierce winds rose, and a searing heat wave created a vast expanse of white mist on the sea again.

[Magic-like Technique: Breath] Medium-range attack ability, melting gold and iron, effective range of 50 meters.

The jade flame stream easily ignited the remnants of the "Sword Sheath Sea Anemone", the extraordinary flame from dragon breath boring into the sea monster's body, incinerating flesh and bones, no match even for seawater.

In the blink of an eye, the sea monster's remains turned into a huge torch, fiercely burning.

Crackle——

The scent of roasting wafted around.

On the other side, the crew of the "Golden Horn Deer" showed no worry for their captain's safety.

Maneuvering the pirate ship around, though keeping a distance from the sea monster, they ensured not to be caught by the flames, which would be tragic.

Even with the energy of extraordinary flame, the great fire on the sea monster burned for a full hour before slowly weakening and extinguishing.

On the sea surface, only a charred crispy cylindrical shell quietly floated.

At this time, the pirates from the "Golden Horn Deer" had rowed their longboats nearby.

"Go, see if there's anything peculiar."

Anita issued her command with majesty.

"Aye, Captain!"

"Alright, leave it to us!"

"No problem....."

In the diverse responses was the pirates' unanimous decisiveness and... enthusiasm!

They vied to row to the floating shell, and dozens of robust young pirates dove into the sea shirtless.

In reality, the burnable parts of the sea monster had long been incinerated, with very little surviving under the jade flame stream.

Before long, pirates diving underwater discovered an odd "thing" inside the shell and diligently brought it to Anita.

"Is this a mask?"

Repeatedly scrutinizing the pure golden mask, Anita tried to find the sword mark from her full-force strike.

However, she was regrettably unsuccessful.

Seemingly made of pure gold, the mask was heavy, the surface adorned with lifelike patterns of various marine animals—fish, marine mammals, sea snakes, jellyfish....

Intact and resplendent as if newly forged, the golden mask shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight!