Chapter 107 A Narrow Escape

“Whew… that was close, almost capsized in the gutter.”

Two seconds after the explosion, Feng Bujue reappeared. He was holding Mad Eye by the back of his collar with one hand, floating in mid-air, positioned right at the edge of the blast radius, unaffected.

“You’re pretty quick on the uptake,” Mad Eye said, his attitude unchanged even after being pulled out of danger by Brother Jue.

“I was actually kind of slow. If I’d realized what they were up to a few seconds earlier, I might have been able to counter them before they launched the attack,” Feng Bujue replied.

“They?” Mad Eye was about to ask about that word when a semi-transparent black sphere slowly rose from the rolling smoke ahead.

Even through the smoke, Feng Bujue could see three figures standing inside the sphere: Blackbeard, Honghu, and Snow.

“As the guys responsible for scouting ahead, could you two explain… what the hell is going on?” Blackbeard naturally looked displeased. While he and the two beside him were unharmed, his henchmen might not have escaped the attack unscathed.

“Hmm…” Feng Bujue mused thoughtfully. “From what I can see… it’s probably a mixed spell of mega_Brand and elmekia_flame. It’s just a combination of a mediocre earth-type spell and a mental-type spell, but since the caster's magic power is extremely high, the actual output is…”

“Who asked you about the principles of magic?” Blackbeard interrupted impatiently before he could finish. “I'm asking why you didn't discover the enemy and send a signal before this attack was launched.”

“I did discover them,” Feng Bujue spread his hands. “Didn’t I shout ‘retreat’?”

“You shouted a second before it happened. Are you kidding me?” Blackbeard retorted.

“Tch… I wanted to shout earlier too,” Feng Bujue said. “But there was no energy fluctuation before they cast the spell. What could I do? Why don’t you ask your officers… uh…” He looked down at the still-smoldering seawater. “Are they still alive?”

Blackbeard didn’t answer that question but continued, “If there was no energy fluctuation, you shouldn’t have been able to give a warning even a second in advance, right?”

“Heh… indeed, I didn’t sense any signs of a powerful spell about to be cast. But before that wave of attacks came… I caught a magic arrow,” Feng Bujue said.

“So what?” Blackbeard asked.

Feng Bujue said, “Generally speaking… that wouldn’t mean anything. But I’m the kind of guy who comes up with a hundred possible hypotheses for any given event, and one of those hypotheses happened to be – ‘this is a homing arrow.’”

Blackbeard was astute. After hearing Brother Jue's words and giving it some thought, many things became clear.

“You mean… there’s more than one of them?” Blackbeard quickly changed his question.

“At this stage, that’s highly likely,” Feng Bujue replied. “You saw that move just now. Although it was a mixed spell, it wasn’t particularly advanced. The power was purely due to the immense magic power supporting it.” He paused for half a second, then added, “If there was only one caster, that would be problematic… would a mage with that much magic power really not know how to use other, more advanced, and more efficient spells to attack?”

“Oh~” Hearing this, Snow understood. “But if a large group of mages with average or even weak levels of ability cast spells together, it would make sense.”

“Exactly,” Feng Bujue continued. “So, the magic arrow I caught earlier was undoubtedly used to target that large group of casters.” He paused, then added, “By the way… judging from the magic power emanating from that magic arrow, the guy responsible for the targeting is strong. I have a rough idea of the level of those cultists in the Illusory Demon Church. This guy must be a high-ranking member, which means… he clearly recognizes me, knows my identity, and heard my warning, but… still launched the attack.”

“Oh?” Blackbeard pondered. “That is a bit strange…”

“Ha!” Mad Eye chuckled dryly beside them. “I think it’s pretty normal.” He turned to look at Brother Jue. “People like that, just standing in front of me, I have the urge to hack them to death. I can completely understand why the other guy couldn't hold back.”

“Hmph…” Hearing this, a cold smile appeared on the corner of Blackbeard's mouth. “That makes sense.”

While these people were floating in the sky talking, in the area that had just been leveled by the magical light explosion… in that boiling seawater… figures slowly climbed out of the water one by one.

“I think I’ve gone deaf from the explosion,” the first one to come ashore was Mark Neck-thick, swaying the large horse head on his neck as he walked.

“Sigh…” His brother, Mark Hoof-big, followed closely behind. Hearing his brother's words, he sighed, stepped forward, and grabbed his brother's head with both hands. “Idiot! What's the use of shaking it like that?” As he said this, he grabbed his brother's head and tilted it to the left and right respectively.

“Eh?” Mark Neck-thick was immediately overjoyed. “It's better now~”

“Nonsense, isn't it just better after pouring out the muddy water from your ears?” Mark Hoof-big's IQ might not be high, but it was still better than his brother's; perhaps… because he had a human head, his IQ had the upper hand.

At this moment, five or six meters away from them on a muddy slope, Mr. Woge and Nesru also came out of the water one after another.

“Bah— damn it! I hate taking baths the most!” After spitting out a mouthful of seawater, Mr. Woge still cursed.

And Nesru beside him looked very dejected at this moment; because… the reflection in the water had already told Nesru that his “cake head” had completely collapsed… drooping into an abnormally short “melon-headed boy” hairstyle.

In addition to these four officers, Garlic Head, Godfrey, and Maddy were also basically unharmed, and they soon came out of the water as well.

However, the situation of the remaining nineteen pirates was not so optimistic… Even though they were members of the Blackbeard Pirates, not everyone could withstand such an attack. Among the nineteen, four never left Chew Demon Island alive, six were seriously injured and unable to move, and nine others sustained varying degrees of injuries.

Under these circumstances, Blackbeard decisively issued an order – he asked the Garlic trio and those injured who were still able to move to take all the injured crew members back, and then bring back the nineteen uninjured people.

Blackbeard, the three players, Mad Eye, and the four officers on the ship continued to move forward, leaving marks along the way so that Garlic Head and the others could find their way back with reinforcements.

In this way, the team of thirty was reduced to nine, one of whom… was Mad Eye, who had no fighting power and could run away or betray them at any time.

Even so, Brother Jue still didn’t see any sense of crisis or tension in Blackbeard’s eyes…

Although he didn't show it, Feng Bujue faintly felt in his heart… that Blackbeard's purpose in coming to Chew Demon Island this time was probably not just to find his son, old subordinates, and treasure; there were obviously some unspeakable secrets hidden on this island.