Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship-Chapter 222 - Leaving the forest

All the branches entangling the Nightmare Star had been cut down by Yang Yi. The ship dropped, landing right on the surface of the sea. But to get out of the forest, they still needed to clear a path.

They could do that using the massive bobbit-worm-like jaws at the bow, or simply with the cannons.

There was no need to worry about the forest collapsing, Yang Yi had already checked.

The forest was essentially a single organism, with its roots and trunks interconnected. Even if they opened a hole in one area, there was no risk of the whole thing falling apart.

Yang Yi took out the crystal orb and checked the sea chart.

It gave him a rough sense of how large this forest was.

The Nightmare Star could break through from the southeast. They’d only need to carve out a passage about three hundred meters long to escape.

But before that, Yang Yi planned to raise the ship’s durability to over 2000.

That way, the bone arms could handle repairs later, and they wouldn’t need any resources to do it.

He picked up a hammer and a long-handled axe and started working on the hull.

The task was simple: clear the roots clinging to the hull, then repair the damage.

The deeper roots didn’t need to be removed, they could be treated as part of the hull and later reinforced by the bone arms.

Suna ate something, then went back to her room to take a nap.

When Yang Yi had been asleep earlier, she was the one who had stayed up working, so she didn’t have much energy left.

…

An hour and a half passed.

The crystal orb on the deck began to tremble, a signal that another player’s ship had appeared.

Yang Yi picked it up and saw a fleet on the bottom-left corner of the map. The lead ship was the Hope.

He contacted Shen Guanquan, sent him his coordinates, and told him to reach the area before getting in touch again. Then Yang Yi checked the Nightmare Star’s durability.

After more than an hour of urgent repairs, it was back up to 1732, still short of the 2000 target. But once he fixed the broken mast, it should pass that mark.

He drank a bottle of Vitality Coconut Juice, then got back to hammering away.

Two more hours passed, and Yang Yi finally repaired the mast.

After all that effort, his stamina had dropped below forty. He sat on the deck, wiping sweat from his forehead.

The ship’s durability stood at 2079, and the number of bone arms had increased. They were repairing the remaining damage on their own.

The New World fleet was expected to reach the forest in about an hour. Once there, they could attack from both sides and open a way out.

Time ticked by, and Suna woke up and came up to the deck.

Yang Yi began steering the ship, testing the jaws at the bow to cut through the branches blocking their way.

To his surprise, it worked well.

The ship’s equipment was perfect for cutting, like a giant pair of sharp shears that could adjust their angle up or down.

As long as the trunks weren’t too thick, most could be sliced cleanly in one go.

For the thicker ones, they either had to steer around them or have Yang Yi cut them himself with the Ironbreaker Greatsword.

After about half an hour, the Nightmare Star had advanced ten metres. It would still take a long time to get clear of the forest. By then, daylight had broken. A few rays of light filtered through the overlapping canopy, falling onto the deck.

At the same time, the New World fleet arrived, and Yang Yi received a private message from Shen Guanquan.

“I’m here. You’re sure this forest won’t attack us on its own?”

“It won’t. I’m inside it right now. As long as you don’t let skin or flesh come into direct contact with it, there’s no danger. If you’re wearing metal armour, even direct contact is fine,” Yang Yi replied.

Then he sent Shen Guanquan his coordinates, told him his position, and asked him to start breaking through from the outside while he worked from the inside.

With both sides pushing forwards, they would be able to open a way out soon.

Shen Guanquan looked at the forest ahead and ordered the Ironhead to take point, followed by two level-four support ships.

As Yang Yi had said, the forest showed no reaction. It behaved like an ordinary forest, completely unresponsive to the approaching ships.

Then the Ironhead went full throttle, ramming straight into the trees with its massive reinforced prow. That was its specialty.

The Ironhead excelled at breaking obstacles and breaking other ships. It had a special skill that reduced durability damage to its prow by 80%.

With a reinforced and extremely sturdy ram, it barely needed to worry about taking damage during impact.

The skill would also strengthen as the ship levelled up; by level 4, the damage reduction could reach 85%.

The Ironhead’s speed was far greater than the Nightmare Star’s. It only needed to steer around the largest trunks as it pushed forwards.

Less than an hour later, Yang Yi heard movement from a distance, the sound of trees snapping.

A dark steel warship came into view. It was the Ironhead, its hull covered with broken branches and splinters. Zhao stood at the bow, wearing a full suit of metal plate armor as he steered the ship.

“So fast?”

Yang Yi clicked his tongue.

He glanced at the jaws beneath his own ship’s bow and realised they were nothing compared to the Ironhead’s ram. But then he reminded himself that was what made special-class ships unique. Their features couldn’t be replaced by ordinary ship equipment.

Meanwhile, aboard the Ironhead, Zhao spotted the Nightmare Star, and Yang Yi. He immediately stopped the ship.

It wasn’t the Nightmare Star itself that surprised him; he’d already seen it before. What caught him off guard was the person standing on it.

“Why’s he so fat?”

Zhao stared in disbelief, wondering if he was even looking at the same one-eyed man he remembered.

The clothes were right, and the stomach pouch at his waist was there too, but the belly was enormous, bulging out so much that the captain’s coat could barely cover it. It looked ready to burst.

“Captain, is this really the ship? What’s with all the bones on deck? And that guy, seriously? He’s so fat, I thought a pig had learned to stand upright!”

Zhao nearly choked when he saw the private message from one of his crew on the regular ship behind them.

“Shut up! And don’t you dare say anything stupid later!” he snapped back, warning them not to run their mouths and risk offending the man.

Yang Yi noticed the Ironhead had stopped moving for a while, so he shouted across the water.

“Come on! What are you standing there for?”

Hearing that, Zhao started the engines and moved closer.

“Boss One-Eye?” he asked uncertainly.

“It’s me. Let’s head out, I’ll meet Shen Guanquan.”

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