NOVEL WEB Chapter 579: To The Pirate Hoard
We even managed to kill the Leviathan with zero casualties… That's got to be some kind of record?
No wait, I think I remember the video I was shown of a Leviathan hunt having zero casualties as well so I guess that was normal.
I guess when you have to hunt a Leviathan, you would be bringing superior firepower to overwhelm the creature to begin with so that should be the normal outcome.
With that Leviathan dead, there was only one thing that we could do now…
"What are you all waiting for?! To the Warp Gate!!" The Pirate Lord roared.
All at once, every single ship started rushing towards the Warp Gate including us.
Everyone seemed intent to be the first one through the Warp Gate so I let them go ahead of us and lagged behind them.
Hey, what if there's another Leviathan on the other side of the Warp Gate? I'd rather be safe than take that risk.
I held on to the armrests of my seat as our ship was flung through space by the Warp Gate alongside all the other pirate ships around us.
When we returned back to normal space again, we found ourselves in the middle of empty space.
I felt panic rising slightly as I opened the map on my console while I initiated a wide area scan of the space around us.
I let out a sigh of relief when I saw a Warp Gate marker appear on my map which meant that we could actually leave this system through it and wouldn't need to use the long way of travelling.
The next thing that popped up on the map was a planetary body a distance away from us.
The pirates must have also detected the planet as well since all of us started turning towards the direction of the planet at the same time.
The planet soon came into view and it looked like some kind of desert planet with its reddish brown hue.
"Is that the place?" I asked no one in particular.
The Pirate Lord chuckled, "Only one way to find out, right?"
"Well it certainly doesn't look like paradise to me but I guess we've already come this far…"
The rest of the pirate armada also finished warping in and we began our flight towards the planet since it was the only thing aside from the start and Warp Gate in this system.
"How far are we?" I asked, turning back to look at Amber.
She opened her mouth to respond but before she could, alarms rang out from my console again.
Looking at the map, I thought it was just acting up because the scanners still registered the pirate ships as enemies around us and was merely warning me about them.
But that was when I realised there was another group of red dots that was currently appearing from the planet and moving straight towards us.
I looked out towards the front of the ship and spewing out of the planet was a whole mass of black coloured ships that were moving into a defensive formation in front of the planet.
I turned to the screen with the Pirate Lord, "Who are they? Pirates that got here before us?"
He did not say anything for a moment before Matsumoto's face appeared again.
"What is this, Matsumoto?"
The bearded man shook his head, "We have attempted to hail them but they are not responding, my lord…"
"Get the ships to--"
He didn't get to finish his words before one of the black ships fired off a laser that struck a pirate ship from the front, shredding through the ship and splitting it in two.
As if that was the cue, the black ships started firing as well, bombarding our side with a hail of lasers.
Fuck!!
I raised power to shields and weapons while Ries engaged the engines for evasive manoeuvres.
The Pirate Lord roared through his Comms, "All ships, fire at will! Blast them all to bits!!"
Every single ship still flying on our side started opening fire, including us, resulting in the space between the two sides lighting up with lasers, kinetic rounds and missiles being flung at each other.
Both Lea and Ries were working over time as they weaved through the barrage from the enemy ships while returning accurate fire that blew them apart.
They also started firing at us but our shield held firm, protecting us from the lasers that managed to hit us.
One thing I was quick to realise was that none of these black ships had activated their shields at all and seemed to just be relying on numbers to try and defeat us.
Because even though we were shooting them down, more of them were just pouring out from the planet to bolster their numbers.
It felt like we were just facing a never ending wave of ships that were here to break us down ship by ship.
At this point, a good number of ships were already lost on both sides and we had to weave through the debris of pirate ships floating on our side to avoid the projectiles flying at us.
Despite that, there were more casualties on the other side but they just don't seem to be letting up soon.
Do they just have an endless number of ships or something? Part of a series hosted by My Virtual Library Empire (MV&LEMP&YR).
Just as I thought of that, the tide of black ships suddenly ebbed and the next salvo of cannon fire from our side wiped out half of their fleet easily thanks to the fact that they had no shields.
"Wipe them out!! All ships advance!!!" The Pirate Lord roared.
The fleet of pirate ships surged forward and we followed behind them, shooting down the remaining black ships that refused to answer any hails.
The smaller pirate ships rushed through the gaps in their defense and started bombarding them from up close, breaking their formation apart and forcing them to scatter.
That presented perfect targets of opportunity for the bigger ships on our side and we mercilessly shot them down.
Despite the fact that they were now vastly outnumbered, the black ships showed no signs of giving up and continued their futile resistance against us.
We pushed forward, our guns blowing through the remaining ships with almost comical ease.
"Why does it feel like we're fighting against outdated ships or something…" I commented.
The Pirate Lord got excited at the news, "This means we're on the right track! These might be the former ships and crew of the Pirate Sovereign! We are definitely above the planet where the Pirate Hoard is located!!"
"I dunno… This is definitely not Earth at the very least… And the planet looks dry as hell so I don't think this is a paradise in any shape or form…"
The Pirate Lord paused for a moment, "How would you know what Earth looks like?"
Ah… Err… I can't exactly say that it's because I've been there before…
But thankfully, Mara came to my rescue.
"It is said that Earth is filled with lush greenery, flowing rivers and tall mountains. I see no greenery or flowing rivers on this planet."
The Pirate Lord hummed, "Hmm… I suppose this might not be Earth but I believe the Pirate Sovereign was definitely here. These ships prove it! The people piloting them must be the former members of the Pirate Sovereign's fleet!!"
Ries was quite skeptical about it, "Why are they not answering any hails though? And isn't it weird that they aren't even trying to escape despite being overwhelmed?"
"Hahaha! Pirates who give no quarter ask for no quarter. We are, in their eyes, invaders. There is no need for talking. One side will die here and that is all."
Ries didn't look convinced and was about to protest when my console let out another blare of alarms.
Looking at the map, I realised that an even larger group of red dots have appeared surrounding us from the outside, encircling us to trap us against the planet.
As if that wasn't enough, even more ships started appearing from the dark side of the planet, all of them having been hiding within the planet's atmosphere.
"It's a trap!" I cried out.
They lured us in here while they surrounded us with even more ships!
The pirates started opening fire but this time, the number of red dots on the map was enough to cover the entirety of the map in red so I doubt we would be able to fight our way out of this.
In that instant, I made a quick decision.
"Everyone! Prepare for atmospheric entry!! Amber! Search where those ships came from, there must be some kind of facility down there! Set a course to it!"
If we're going to be surrounded in space… Then we might as well take the fight to the surface of the planet where their base is instead! If this was truly the location of where the pirate Sovereign hid all his stuff, then there should be other weapons we can make use of as well!
Time to make planetfall!