A momentary hush fell over the entire battlefield, so profound that even the clash of steel seemed to pause, subdued by Fang Senyan's sheer presence. Immediately after, the remaining pirates raised their cutlasses, howling with frenzied zeal. Under normal circumstances during a boarding action like this, the attacking side would always deploy a significant contingent of musketeers to suppress the enemy. A troublesome figure like Fang Senyan would have long since been riddled with shot, but the tide was running too high today, and the longboats were far too small; bringing matchlocks along would only prove cumbersome. Thus, the vacuum in ranged firepower became the Spaniards’ fatal weakness!

On the Bell and Goblet, there was no shortage of men, only of warriors willing to charge into the fray. Once Fang Senyan took his stand, several pirates—who had retreated to the ship due to wounds—revealed their rich combat experience. Spotting the enemy's vulnerability, they hastily bound their injuries, gripped their weapons, and advanced with fierce glares, following Fang Senyan. Their attacks were brutally precise: they targeted not the men, but the grappling hooks snagged on the gunwale. As long as the Spanish sailors lacked solid purchase to climb, it was more than enough.

Sometimes, a small detail on the battlefield can pivot the final outcome. The exemplary action of a few can often galvanize the morale of the many. When those pirates who had felt utter despair suddenly realized the enemy was "not so tough after all," their confidence and courage naturally returned. Even as the other two Spanish longboats drew alongside the Bell and Goblet to begin boarding, they discovered that the resistance overhead had intensified. Several Spanish sailors, having had their rope ladders repeatedly severed, attempted to climb by sheer hand strength, only to meet the gruesome fate of having their fingers brutally stamped off.

Fang Senyan ceased his direct fighting, his gaze fixed on the Spanish flagship engaged in combat with the Black Pearl in the distance.

"If there is a Contractor behind this assault... you wouldn't stop here. There must be a follow-up move! Usually, the core figures on a pirate ship are the Captain and the First Mate. Normally, the Captain engages in close combat with the Boatswain and crew, leaving the First Mate to hold the line. Therefore, you must have a method to be absolutely certain of defeating the holdout pirates led by the First Mate!"

At that moment, a pirate suddenly screamed, clutching his face and staggering backward, a thick stream of blood gushing between his fingers, before collapsing onto the deck, writhing in agony. Fang Senyan then saw a Spanish sailor begin to climb aboard. Fang Senyan stepped forward, his heavy axe whistling down, smashing the sailor backward in a spray of blood back into the longboat. Yet, he was startled to notice that the enemy's longboat suddenly seemed higher. If the initial height difference between it and the Bell and Goblet had been three meters, it was now likely less than two. At this distance, the Spanish sailors could swing their weapons upward to strike the pirates overhead. While still at a disadvantage, they were no longer in the utterly passive, battered state they had been in initially.

A thought flashed through Fang Senyan's mind. His experience sailing the seas was immense, and he instantly grasped the enemy's vicious secondary tactic: ballast!

Ships despise empty holds; insufficient weight and unstable centers of gravity make them prone to capsizing in high winds and heavy seas, especially when a longboat is used for boarding. Once its draft becomes too shallow, the violent rocking from the impact alone can cause capsizing. Therefore, when these three longboats set out, they must have loaded their lower holds with massive amounts of ballast to depress the waterline and stabilize the hulls. Now that the longboats were fixed against the Bell and Goblet, this concern was gone! These Spanish sailors were throwing their ballast overboard. As the longboats shed weight, their draft naturally shallowed, causing the entire hull to rise.

Realizing this, Fang Senyan moved to the side and saw that the Spanish ballast consisted of square wooden crates, about a meter on each side, filled with paving stones. As they tossed the stones into the sea, the empty wooden crates were passed methodically onto the deck nearest the enemy ship and laid out in rows! This effectively provided a stable platform for the sailors engaged in close-quarters fighting. Finally, the Spanish sailors nearest the gunwale stood on their longboat decks, their heads level with, or even slightly higher than, the deck of the Bell and Goblet. This gave their cutlasses far greater lethality and made combat much easier; moreover, if any gap appeared, they could now climb aboard without needing grappling hooks!

"Interesting," a cold smirk touched Fang Senyan's lips. He began to stride forward, slapping the head of a nearby pirate who was running around like a headless fly. "What are you scrambling about for? Go help over there!"

No man likes being smacked on the head, especially these fierce pirates. But when the man looked up and saw Fang Senyan, his head immediately shrunk back, and he stammered in sheer deference, "Yes, boss," before scrambling hastily in the direction Fang Senyan pointed.

At this moment, Fang Senyan's prestige among the remaining pirates had subtly elevated to an extraordinary height. Most of the men would obey his pronouncements and orders without question.

Fang Senyan himself acted like a tireless emergency responder, rushing wherever danger flared. The pirates also snapped back to reality, understanding this was a fight to the death. They engaged in bloody combat, ignoring casualties! While the sailors of the Spanish Armada were certainly brave, the pirates held the high ground advantage and possessed the crucial edge of using muskets. In this deadlock, Fang Senyan not only displayed astonishing fighting prowess, but his demonstrated ability to coordinate and command was truly breathtaking!

One must never forget that before entering the Nightmare Space, Fang Senyan had nearly become the Second Officer on a ten-thousand-ton vessel. His maritime experience was boundless, and his methods and concepts of management and deployment were thousands of years ahead of this world's! These remaining, tattered remnants—the old, weak, sick, and disabled—naturally mustered the courage to fight for their lives when facing utter desperation. Under his rallying shouts and direction, they rapidly formed a defensive line as unyielding as steel! Later, Fang Senyan even organized a makeshift volley gun team of about ten men, firing precisely where ordered. Whenever Spanish sailors surged forward, a blast of coordinated gunfire drove them back! No matter how elite the sailors, they could not sustain such focused resistance.

Armand, who had been engaged in a desperate duel on the merchant ship's deck, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When he was initially pinned down, he had certainly felt despair. No one knew better than him how dire the situation aboard his own ship was, and the Gus'ta before him was a cunning and formidable enemy. Though perhaps lacking Armand’s sheer power, Gus'ta had perfected the art of stalling. Despite his burning anxiety, Armand had been forced to calm himself and face the challenge; otherwise, not only the Bell and Goblet but his own life would be lost here!

However, Armand could not avoid monitoring the broader situation. Seeing Fang Senyan step forward and gradually wrest control back from the dire situation filled him with unavoidable elation. Galvanized, the silver rapier in his hand flashed, and he impaled one of Gus'ta's bodyguards through the throat. A shimmering, wave-like silver light constantly played on the thin tip of the blade, which remained utterly free of even a speck of blood.

Meanwhile, the Corpse Soul Eater had decimated Karon's group. But One-Eyed Jack Karon let out a dying roar. He drenched himself entirely in lamp oil, ignited it, and flung himself forward, tightly grappling the monster. Amidst the roaring flames, Karon perished instantly, but not before the Corpse Soul Eater shrieked in agony, wildly flailing its massive limbs and stumbling about like a headless fly, completely out of control.

By now, most of the other pirate ships had arrived on the scene, engaging the other two merchant vessels in savage boarding actions, pushing the conflict to a boiling point. Seeing the stalemate, the distant Spanish Armada dispatched several more longboats to support the merchant ships. Although some longboats capsized and sank in the rough waters, the critical development was that two more longboats successfully latched onto the Bell and Goblet, disgorging Spanish sailors who swarmed aboard, immediately tightening the noose.

Fortunately, at this crucial juncture, some elite pirates who had retreated from the merchant ships returned to the Bell and Goblet. Their arrival was an undeniable shot of adrenaline for the hard-pressed defenders. Fang Senyan showed them no leniency, loudly cursing and dispatching them to the most critical frontline sectors needing reinforcement. Although most of these pirates were inherently unruly individuals, having witnessed Fang Senyan's earlier capabilities, they were largely won over and willingly accepted his orders.

Yet, there are always exceptions. When Fang Senyan ordered several newly returned pirates to reinforce the left deck, one individual wrapped in a brown kerchief retorted in a deliberately ambiguous tone:

"I think Cripple Tom’s side needs support more. Are you blind? They’re about to break through there!"

Fang Senyan glanced at him, his tone flat:

"Who are you?"

The brown kerchief puffed out his chest, his hand resting near the cutlass at his waist:

"The Captain is absent, and Scarface Henry is unconscious. By what right does a newcomer like you issue commands? This ship should naturally be managed by me, Fang-Tooth Elwin! Follow me, everyone!"

His last sentence was clearly directed at the makeshift musketry team standing behind Fang Senyan. Fang Senyan flashed his teeth in a gentle smile and replied:

"You are right."

For the sake of easier command, Fang Senyan had set aside his heavy axe and instead snatched a cutlass from the corpse of a dead Spanish sailor, wearing it at his waist. Before his words had fully landed, he had already drawn the blade with a swish and brought it down in a cleaving arc directly toward Elwin’s head!

.............. This chapter is dedicated to all the friends who have silently supported this novel. Your efforts have been instrumental in The Final Evolution so easily dominating the weekly recommendation charts. Among you, perhaps only one percent have ever spoken in the review section. Before this, we were strangers, scattered across five lakes and four seas, or even across the world, yet brought together by The Final Evolution. It’s highly likely we will never exchange a single word online in our lifetimes, let alone meet and share a drink in reality. But what does that matter? I present my philosophies and the stories in my heart to you through the internet and the keyboard, and you, little by little, transmit your strength back to me. This book, The Final Evolution, is our common language, our shared passion! At least, as long as you find joy while reading this book—whether you weep or laugh, feel tense or relaxed, express admiration or curse—that is enough. For your immense affection, I have no way to repay you other than to exert my utmost to deliver even more spectacular stories. My greatest hope is that this book can grant you a period of carefree, happy time. That is my greatest wish, my greatest joy. I bow deeply, with sincere thanks. (To be continued. Please visit [URL] for the latest chapters.)