Elemental Cats

The only way Frank and Vaner would be able to stop the Blue Lounge Pirates' advance was if they were both at least at the seventh level. However, that would mean there are at least four high level mages and fighters in a pirate crew that has maybe one or two more regular members.

The big three pirate crews also had several high level mages and fighters, most likely more than the Bunglehoppers, but medium levels were still their main fighting force. The Bunglehoppers were also famous for their outstanding individual combat ability, so if all of them were high level, they would naturally be able to pose a threat to the other pirate crews.

Stris realized he might have picked a fight he shouldn't have when he understood how much strength the Bunglehoppers had. However, it was too late to take a step back and save his subordinates' lives, so Stris decided to let things play out.

While Stris surveyed the battlefield, Vaner and Frank got to work and started clearing out the Blue Lounge pirates stupid enough to charge directly at them only moments after Hayar's massacre.

Frank covered his body in a layer of icy blue aura, and Vaner conjured large spheres of water that he sent flying through the air. The water balls weren't very fast and didn't pose much of a threat to the pirates, despite Vaner being at a higher level.

However, before the water could land on the pirates, Frank struck out with his hands and sent compact aura in the shape of a fist directly at the water. Being able to control aura outside the body or not on a weapon was a definite sign that Frank was a high level fighter, and there was no longer any doubt that Frank and Vaner were going to smash the Blue Lounge pirates' second attempt.

Frank's fists of freezing aura struck the balls of water. While Frank didn't handle ice and cold as well as an ice mage, and he couldn't reach the same cold temperatures that a mage might, his fists packed quite a punch instead. His aura struck the water balls with enough force to send the water splashing over the pirates. But after coming in contact with his aura, the water began to freeze.

The water turned into ice, and the drops of water turned into sharp icicles, powered by the force of Frank's punches as they pierced through the hastily made defenses of the pirates.

Frank's icy aura remained on the ice that struck the pirates and continued spreading ice and cold all over the ground and the swarm of pirates.

Vaner and Frank worked together to cover the pirates in water and ice, slowly turning them into an army of ice sculptures. A few of the sculptures shattered due to the impacts of Vaner's water attacks and Frank's aura, but even if they didn't break, the pirates were as good as dead.

But Wulf swung his axe, creating a large phantom axe of aura, and cleaved through the sea of sculptures for good measure and to taunt Stris.

Stris glared at Wulf at the blatant disrespect. If he had known how strong the Bunglehoppers were, he would have dealt with them a lot sooner and done it ruthlessly. However, it was useless to think such thoughts since the Bunglehoppers were already in a position to threaten the sovereignty of the big three.

While the Bunglehoppers couldn't match the firepower of any of the big three, they were strong enough to make sure they didn't go down without making the other party suffer severe loss. And any drop in one of the big three's strength would leave an opening for the other two to remove competition.

So while Stris wanted to get rid of the Bunglehoppers, he had to prepare himself for facing the Red Hook Pirate Crew and Cult of Nihiltas after doing so.

Stris gritted his teeth and ordered a retreat.

The Bunglehoppers had enough power to continue slaughtering the Blue Lounge pirates. Continuing to stubbornly persist in their attack on the Bunglehoppers would make Stris lose valuable assets. And it wasn't a wise choice to leave their ruined headquarters unattended for too long lest scavengers want to make use of the Blue Lounge League's fight with the Bunglehoppers.

The ordinary pirates were unwilling to accept that they lost twice, and overwhelmingly at that, but they also knew that repeating the same actions and expecting a different outcome was no different from insanity, so they retreated while swearing bloody vengeance.

Wulf looked on gloatingly as Stris had to cut his losses and retreated with barely a second glance at all the corpses of the pirates sent to die.

"Ha! Get fucked, suckers!"

A few of the Blue Lounge pirates wanted to respond to Frank's taunts, but they were pulled along by their comrades, and Frank ended up practically talking to himself.

Wulf smacked the backside of Frank's head as he turned around and headed back to the treasury so they could continue sorting through the treasure. That was when Wulf realized something.

Stris only made noise about wrecking their base, but he didn't say anything about returning all the things Toz had stolen. Wulf didn't know what Stris had done in the last few hours, but he probably hadn't searched through the burning rubble. Stris himself was probably strong enough to ignore the flames and heat, but Wulf was convinced that Stris would never do something so lowly. And the other high level mages would also find it beneath themselves to search through the rubble without enough compensation.

Wulf's smile widened into a grin as he imagined Stris' reaction at discovering an empty treasury.

Stris felt a chill run down his spine as he arrived back at the ruined headquarters, and he stared down the pit of still-burning rubbles. He had been too busy and too enraged to properly analyze the situation.

But after venting his emotion by sending his subordinates to die, Stris regained some rationality and realized that things were pretty bad.

The only reason there would be so much fire without any obvious signs of magic being in use was that there was something else keeping the fire, something like oil.

Stris felt an itch in his brain as he slowly pieced together the events that led his base to ruins.

"Fuck!"