"Damn it..." Lumine cursed as she kept firing cannonballs infused with fire mana stones, sweat forming on her brows with every shot.

The pirate ships were firing back as well.

Thankfully, most of their shots missed, flying past the ship or crashing uselessly into the sea. Their mana cannons didn’t seem nearly as refined as the ones aboard their own vessels.

But when two ships were firing from different directions at the same time, the difference barely mattered.

Their ship shook repeatedly as cannonballs slammed against the mana shield protecting it. The Royal Katrina was dealing with the same problem.

And this time, Captain Peter didn’t try jumping onto the enemy ships first. The pirates clearly had mages prepared now, waiting with spells ready to shoot down any overly excited warrior who tried something reckless.

So obviously, Cassian stayed on the ship this time, helping load the cannons while waiting for an enemy shield to break so he could jump across. That was the moment chaos would erupt, and he planned to use that opening to board the ship.

Many of the other Circle Warriors were thinking the same thing, while the mages preferred fighting from a distance.

The real problem was the mana shields.

Breaking one required either a full-powered spell from a powerful mage or someone like a Third Circle warrior. On Cassian’s side, there were only two people capable of that—the Royal Katrina’s captain, Klassen, and Brigid.

Cassian could see Captain Klassen preparing a spell, but Brigid was nowhere to be seen on either ship.

Both vessels were being attacked from two sides now. The pirates had brought four ships in total, all different in length and design, but they shared one thing in common—they were lean and narrow, clearly built for ambushes and fast escapes.

The battle had slowly turned into a war of attrition, both sides trying to see who would tire out first.

And honestly, neither side wanted that.

Even now, they were burning through money in the most literal sense possible. Every cannon shot infused with fire mana stones cost more than what a normal person could earn in an entire day.

As Cassian was still thinking of a way to break the stalemate, a giant blue magic circle suddenly lit up above two of the pirate ships—one attacking the vessel Cassian was on and the other targeting the Royal Katrina.

The circles were enormous, bright enough to illuminate the entire area around them.

Then, in the next instant, massive bolts of blue lightning crashed down from both circles onto the mana shields.

The impact shook the sea itself.

Thunder roared across the battlefield as the ships vibrated violently from the force of the attack.

"Yes!" Cassian and several others cheered as the spells shattered the protection around the two pirate ships, leaving them exposed.

"Board them!" Peter roared immediately.

At the same time, cannons fired again, several shots tearing directly into the now-unshielded ships and throwing the pirate decks into complete chaos.

Cassian didn’t wait even a second.

He activated the mana parchment Wanni had given him, the magic circle on it lighting up before wrapping around his legs. A burning sensation spread through them—not painful, but intensely tingling—as his muscles tightened with unnatural force.

Pressing all that power into his legs, Cassian sprinted from one end of the ship’s railing to the other before launching himself forward.

One hand rested on his sword hilt as he unleashed a slash midair.

"Wave-Making Wind..."

A horizontal strike shot forward toward the ship while, beneath it, the sea itself rose into a wave. Both attacks slammed into the pirate vessel at the same time.

The damage wasn’t on the same level as the cannon fire, but it was enough to destroy one of the mana cannons and send it crashing into the sea.

Then Cassian landed on the enemy ship.

A moment later, he saw Kirja swinging across on a rope behind him.

She landed nearby with her double-sided axe already in hand, exchanging an excited grin with him the instant her boots hit the deck.

As Cassian kicked away a pirate rushing toward him, the man went flying straight into one of the fire mana cannons.

At the same moment, Kirja charged past him and brought her axe down on one of the enemy mages, splitting the man into two uneven but clean vertical halves.

Then the ship shook violently again.

Cassian turned just in time to see Peter’s spear clashing against the mana shield of the mage commanding this ship.

It was a Pyraxis-level mage.

Meanwhile, the entire pirate fleet itself was being led by a Solvaris-level mage, who was currently aboard the ship attacking the Royal Katrina.

As Cassian thought about the Solvaris-level pirate mage, another pair of magic circles suddenly appeared beneath the ships—the one Lumine and the others had been on earlier, and the Royal Katrina itself.

Before he could even fully process it, giant spears of ice erupted upward from the sea.

The ocean exploded.

A massive pillar of jagged ice tore straight through the ship Lumine and the others were on, ripping from the bottom deck all the way upward while another spike crashed through the side of the vessel, splintering wood and metal alike.

The ship screamed under the damage.

The Royal Katrina fared better thanks to its stronger shield, but even it shook violently as enormous cracks spread across the mana barrier protecting it.

"Shit—!" Cassian cursed, eyes widening.

But the pirates didn’t get long to celebrate.

Two more magic circles appeared above the remaining pirate ships.

This time they glowed with a deep crimson crystal light.

Then giant human hands emerged from them.

The massive constructs slammed down against the shielded pirate ships with terrifying force, instantly shattering their mana barriers before disappearing after landing a few direct blows onto the decks themselves.

Explosions of crystal shards and broken wood burst across the pirate vessels as several pirates were crushed or blown apart from the impacts.

In just a few seconds, the entire battle changed.

The slow war of attrition was gone.

Now it had turned into complete chaos.