Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king

Chapter 415: Sea Lion(3)

Chapter 415: Sea Lion(3)

Caius stood atop the deck of his flagship, his arms crossed, his stance rigid as he observed the chaos of battle from afar. Unlike that fool of the enemy commander, who had recklessly thrown himself into the heart of the fight, Caius remained exactly where he was meant to be—behind the main line, where his mind could reign over the battle rather than be swallowed by it.

War was not won by the first man to draw blood but by the one who dictated its flow.

The afternoon sun reflected off his crimson-crested helmet as he studied the clash before him. The sea had turned into a maelstrom of war cries, clashing steel, and the splintering of wood as ships battered against one another. Smoke from burning vessels coiled into the sky like the breath of a waking beast, and the air reeked of salt, sweat, and blood.

His eyes found their target—the enemy flagship, a beast of a ship sitting at the center of the chaos. It cut through the battle with brute force, its hull plowing through lesser vessels as if they were no more than driftwood caught in a storm. He had no doubt that the man leading it was Blake, the so-called warrior of the Confederation, or so the spies he had among the captains of the fleet spoke of.

Blake was at the tip of the spear, leading from the front like some romantic fool.

That's the problem with these sea-rats.  Caius thought as his eyes moved to a lone piece of wood floating in the water.

All of them obsessed with their own glory, desperate to have their names shouted by drunken men in taverns or whispered by whores in the dead of night. They fought for legend, not for victory.

But legends could be slain.

Caius knew the truth of war: a beast was best killed by cutting off its head.

He turned to his helmsman, his voice sharp as a drawn blade. "Send word to Officers Marius, Vasinio, and Pullo. They are to break from formation and converge on that ship."