Chapter 1284: Naval Battle (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Fycro was smart, and smart people definitely did not choose paths with no options.
However, even if Saleen knew that Fycro intended to use him, he intended to try his luck at Alchemy City with the Bug Angel Armors he had. The Devil Flying Armors were made specifically for demons, but the Bug Angel Armors were suitable for many species.
With an ally like Grand Duke Iron Blood by his side, Saleen would be able to cut his losses considerably.
While the Grand Duke had no intentions of losing too many of his troops, the venture was worthwhile. His interests at sea were limited to Cloudflow due to Alchemy City.
Even after he took out Lianyun City, he had no intentions of expanding his forces further, as Alchemy City could stab him in the back at any moment.
Alchemy City had control of the sea routes, making Lianyun City lose its economic value, and was self-sustainable, so it had no fear of being hara.s.sed by the Grand Duke.
The preparations continued through the end of October. The weather had gotten cold, which was a great opportunity for both Saleen and Grand Duke Iron Blood. Alchemy City rarely deployed wars.h.i.+ps to hunt magic beasts during winter.
The Floating City was unable to fly all the way to Alchemy City. Saleen dropped at a certain depth beneath the waterline, following right behind the Ancient and heading south. The Floating City was too ma.s.sive, so it had to slow down to 30 miles per hour when floating beneath the water surface.
It would take quite an amount of time to reach Alchemy City traveling at such speeds. Saleen took the opportunity to craft equipment onboard, while Grand Duke Iron Blood’s 200,000 soldiers waited patiently.
The fleet headed south and the Ancient was escorted by 60 s.h.i.+ps on its flanks, running into no trouble along the way. They were near Alchemy City.
The magic arrays on the Ancient were activated, and huge amount of magic nuclei were dumped into the magic power furnaces. The Ancient became shrouded in a layer of mist, covering the entire fleet.
The wind was nowhere near strong enough, and a patrol s.h.i.+p from Devil’s Horn barged into the mist, finding their magic compa.s.s completely useless. The needle spun uncontrollably, making it impossible for them to tell direction.
The mist blocked out the sunlight. Everyone onboard lost sight and sense of direction.
The s.h.i.+p, which was only a little more than 50 meters long, shook violently, snapped in half, and sank.
“Use the scrolls!”
“Request for rescue!”
The sailors and troops aboard were thrown into chaos. A level 3 mage unleashed a scroll meant for SOS. A vermillion fireball shot into the air, but was quickly thrown off by a gale before it was able to even reach 20 meters.
Wild Wind spell!
The mage was unable to see it but they were able to sense it . They had run into an enemy.
The mist parted. Figures clad in crimson armor appeared on the broken s.h.i.+p. The group took less than half a minute to cover the distance between stern and bow and killed every single person who intended to escape by jumping into the waters.
The mage was unable to run. They only saw red s.h.i.+ning on the spears of the warriors clad in red armor, which looked like flames of h.e.l.l, before their throat was pierced with just a simple thrust.
Iron Blood Warriors were level nine warriors and a product of human body alchemic modifications. The number that Imposa was able to control was ten times what Saleen controlled. However, their combat capacity was weaker than ancient warriors.
But to troops below level nine, the Iron Blood Warriors were manifestations of death.
Patrol s.h.i.+ps disappeared one after another on the outskirts of Devil’s Horn, alerting the place in mere moments. Devil’s Horn was shrouded by a layer of mist all year long and the warriors on the island all wore fully sealed armors.
The visors were actually made of pieces of crystals instead of just beehive-like holes, enabling them to see far into misty environments.
Saleen was no longer on the Floating City. He came to the Ancient and met up with the Grand Duke ‘s men, getting ready to a.s.sault Devil’s Horn.
The Ancient accelerated, shrugging off the Floating City and heading straight for the island shrouded in mist.
The warriors were getting ready to depart from the ports on the island, when over a dozen wars.h.i.+ps rammed into the Ancient. The Ancient had instant acceleration powers, which came with a hefty fuel cost.
Grand Duke Iron Blood did not care for any of that. The Ancient crushed over a dozen wars.h.i.+ps from Devil’s Horn, blocking the ports.
The ports of Devil’s Horn were deepwater ports, deep enough to have even the Ancient parked there. However, the Ancient had only one thing to do—firing magic cannons and flinging projectiles at the port.
The power of the catapults was weak, but due to Imposa having installed too many puppets on the Ancient, they were capable of attacking by controlling hundreds of catapults. The cost of the catapults were far smaller than the magic cannons.
The catapults were able to hit the docks while the magic cannons were capable of shooting further. If it had not been for Devil’s Horn having a mountain, the cannons’ beams might have been able to reach half of the island.
Magic towers on the docks of Devil’s Horn retaliated immediately.
The catapults rained magic stone sh.e.l.ls in a frenzy. The magic catapults that Imposa crafted impressed Saleen. Not only were they accurate, they were also capable of continuous firing.
If it had not been for their range being considerably inferior to magic cannons and having weaker offensive capacities, Saleen would want to buy some.
The magic towers of Devil’s Horn were not destroyed by the catapults, but they were incapable of defending against the catapults’ attack. The men at the docks suffered heavy casualties. s.h.i.+ps at port with mages...o...b..ard survived, but the ones without mages...o...b..ard were almost sunk with just three hits. Saleen never thought catapults could be such a force to be reckoned with.
Devil’s Horn built about six towers at the ports. Three of them were capable of covering the entire port with magic. However, there were simply too many catapults...o...b..ard the Ancient. The magic tower was unable to penetrate the s.h.i.+p’s defense at all.
Imposa was unable to get a complete layout of Devil’s Horn, but he had accurate intel about the port. Saleen even brought the Pan Turtle Alchemy s.h.i.+p, defending against unforeseen circ.u.mstances below the waterline.
There were over 100 metal diving combat vessels that the Grand Duke purchased from Saleen, lying in wait to pounce. However, with the Ancient accelerating and cras.h.i.+ng into enemy s.h.i.+ps, there was no need for the s.h.i.+ps underwater to strike. The wars.h.i.+ps docked at the port were unable to even leave.
The metal diving combat vessels spread out underwater, returning to the rear of the fleet, guarding against any enemy s.h.i.+p.
That was a very good move. There were large wars.h.i.+ps out on patrol south of Devil’s Horn, which were originally meant for defending against Cloudflow navy. With the port under attacked, the fleet returned immediately.
The Dragon Remains Combat Vessel hid silently in the mist. Devil’s Horn had flying wars.h.i.+ps as well. If they were deployed, it would cause huge damage to the Ancient’s deck.
The Pan Turtle Alchemy City received news and moved southward from the port. They ran into the returning fleet about 100 miles away. The diving combat vessels were all modified to fire a magic metal sh.e.l.l.
Saleen was again compelled to feel impressed. The magic metal sh.e.l.l was a puppet through and through, capable of seeking out targets autonomously, before carrying out complex attacks with the drill at its tip.
One single magic metal sh.e.l.l was more than enough to tear a huge s.h.i.+p apart if their armor was not made completely out of metal.
Imposa’s Iron Blood Warriors manned the metal s.h.i.+ps. One Iron Blood Warrior commanded tens of puppets. While the wars.h.i.+ps were precious, their loss was not significant if they were capable of destroying the enemy fleet.
Boundless wealth awaited as soon as they took out Devil’s Horn.
Bloodstones were installed in the magic metal sh.e.l.ls. The Cloudflow people had originally been versed in using the materials. With a master alchemist like Imposa onboard, their weapons were far better than Saleen’s.
The Devil’s Horn fleet had less than 20 s.h.i.+ps. All of them were installed with metal armor and capable of frightening speeds. The mages...o...b..ard the s.h.i.+ps discovered the magic metal sh.e.l.ls and immediately began to block incoming attacks.
The sh.e.l.ls swam less than 100 meters below the surface, pouncing on Devil’s Horn wars.h.i.+ps. The sorcerers on the wars.h.i.+ps cast huge amount of magic spells, destroying the incoming underwater attacks one after another.
However, Cloudflow people had very refined tactics and every spell would only be able to take out one magic metal sh.e.l.ls. Ten s.h.i.+ps were hit by the first round, with two suffering critical damage.
The magic metal sh.e.l.ls rammed into the metal armors and stuck within. The warheads split open and hundreds of small puppets rushed outside. They all had hard gears all over them.
The metal of the gears was crystallized and were harder than metal. Bigger holes were torn into the two wars.h.i.+ps after being hit.
A puppet about a meter tall brought the bloodstones into the tear. The stabilizing solution and magic were rescinded, creating violent explosions.
The remaining eight wars.h.i.+ps suffered less damage, as the bloodstones detonated prematurely, preventing them from hitting the weakest internal part of the wars.h.i.+ps. The a.s.sault weapons were not that stable.
Mages cast magic at the tears of the eight wars.h.i.+ps, patching them up with thick, heavy metal plates, preventing too much water from flooding the s.h.i.+ps.
A large amount of boats were thrown off the two severely hit ones. The boats were created using magic beast hide, which were inflated after they hit the water. The troops covered for the mages as they jumped onto them.
While the mages were capable of flight, they were too far away from Devil’s Horn. The mages needed to conserve stamina as they were unclear of the enemy’s numbers.
The second round of attacks came immediately. The Pan Turtle Alchemy s.h.i.+p joined the fray. The Winged Skull was able to see that the dozen s.h.i.+ps were not the main forces of Devil’s Horn, so it was best to get rid of them as quickly as possible.
Bone spirits were hidden in the magic metal sh.e.l.ls, and they swam at a slower speed. Over 100 magic metal sh.e.l.ls were launched, but only one hit its target. The Winged Skull was impressed with the discipline of Devil’s Horn mages.
But bone spirits were living creatures. They accelerated as soon as the sh.e.l.ls were intercepted, evading the enemy’s interception, and all of them eventually hit their targets.
The third round commenced immediately. None of the 19 s.h.i.+ps were able to travel at high speeds anymore. All of the s.h.i.+ps had one or two holes below the waterline.
Hundreds of lifeboats were thrown from the wars.h.i.+ps. Mages took to the air one after another and landed onto the boats, searching for the enemy, but the metal wars.h.i.+ps were capable of diving about 300 meters deep.
They had to rise to attack, making it easy for the sorcerers to locate them. If the metal wars.h.i.+ps engaged the sorcerers, none of the s.h.i.+ps would be able to survive.
However, over 20 s.h.i.+ps from the Ancient’s fleet had been deployed and joined the fray. The Cloudflow people’s mobilization at sea was unnervingly quick and very nimble. The small wars.h.i.+ps began to attack the boats with large alchemy crossbows.