When a wars.h.i.+p covered in craggy, dark gold–colored armor appeared in front of us, He Yi pointed at it and said with a confident smile, "This is Dragon G.o.d Wars.h.i.+p, and it costs 150k RMB to build. Expensive, am I right? This"ll be our command s.h.i.+p. Lu Chen, Mingyue, Beiming, the four of us will be sailing this s.h.i.+p."
"Got it." I nodded before adding. "Can you buy another four Dragon G.o.d Wars.h.i.+ps for our allies, Eve? Their guild leaders could use the ride too. The Northern Alliance is only gunning for Dark Moon City this time, but Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng still came to help us without complaints. I think they deserve that much, not to mention that some extra firepower and defense is always a good thing."
"Mn."
He Yi easily accepted the suggestion and bought another four Dragon G.o.d Wars.h.i.+ps like she hadn"t just spent over 20 million RMB earlier. This was definitely a battle of financial power. The winner would gain their money"s worth, and the loser would lose everything. The Northern Alliance had to buy ten thousand s.h.i.+ps to ferry their ten-million-strong army across the sea, so that was 100 million gold at the minimum. It wasn"t a cheap sum even if converted into USD currency.
……
I spurred my mount up the plank as I created an 800-man party. The biggest party a sixth-promotion player could create was 200, 400 for a Famous General, and 800 for a Divine General, so this meant that I could buff 800 players" Attack by 200% at the same time. We were a terror to all our enemies.
He Yi also partied 200 players and got on the Dragon G.o.d Wars.h.i.+p. The wide, orderly deck was the best place to stand on the s.h.i.+p. All the metal armor players led by He Yi and me moved to the edge of the deck to form a s.h.i.+eld formation, and Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue"s archers, mages and priests stood at the center of the deck. Thank goodness the wars.h.i.+p was almost as big as an aircraft carrier, or fitting this many people on the deck would be next to impossible.
Ding~!
System Notice: You have been granted the right to command the Dragon G.o.d Wars.h.i.+p!
……
A command interface appeared in front of me the next moment. I had the right to order the s.h.i.+p captain to sail the s.h.i.+p in any direction, and the use of various tools such as cannons, hooks, gangplanks, iron chains and so on. It would take skill to command the s.h.i.+p properly.
I couldn"t help but feel a bit of excitement. This would be the first time I commanded a naval battle, and almost certainly, the first naval battle for 99% of the players present as well. Everyone looked excited for the upcoming battle.
Every general of the guild—Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven"s Rain, Diamond Dust, Lu Buyi, Du Thirteen and more—got to command a s.h.i.+p of their own. This was especially true for those who were Famous Generals. After all, a wars.h.i.+p empowered by a Famous General Skill would be far stronger than one that was empowered by a normal stratagem.
A sea of players started boarding the line of wars.h.i.+ps that was parked near the sh.o.r.e after everything was ready. It looked like everyone here was fairly professional and well-disciplined because the boarding went smoothly and orderly.
A little less than an hour pa.s.sed by, and finally, all two thousand wars.h.i.+ps were fully loaded and ready to set sail!
Beep beep beep...
Our ally guild leaders sent me a message: "The preparations are complete. When should we set sail?"
On the deck, I pulled out my sword and pointed in front of me, declaring, "It is time to raise the anchors and take off, everyone! Seeing as our grandchildren at the Northern Alliance can"t wait to cross the sea and fight us, we shall oblige them, sink their souls in the deep sea and dye the waters of the Black Sea red with their blood! Destination: the center of the Black Sea!"
Battle cries filled the air as everyone unsheathed their weapons.
Carrying Dark Moon City"s hopes and dreams, two thousand wars.h.i.+ps left the sh.o.r.e and set sail toward the deep sea. Whether or not Dark Moon City could be saved depended entirely on our performance in the upcoming naval battle.
……
Waves lapped against the Dragon G.o.d Wars.h.i.+p"s armor incessantly, and seagulls soared in the sky above our heads. A huge bird whose name was unknown to me let out a shrill cry and started hunting them down one by one. I opened the world map and activated Dark Pupils, gazing into the distance as our wars.h.i.+p continued to sail toward the Black Sea. I could see nothing on the perfectly blue screen except the orange dots that represented our two thousand wars.h.i.+ps. So far, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.
During this time, He Yi pulled out a red banner with the emblem of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls sewn on it from her bag, walked up the s.h.i.+p railing and plugged it at the front of the s.h.i.+p. Then, she returned to me and stood by my side with a smile on her face. "Based on the time we set sail, I estimate that we"ll encounter the Northern Alliance"s fleet in an hour or so. How do you plan to fight this naval battle?"
I shook my head. "I don"t know yet. I"ve never fought a naval battle before…"
He Yi giggled. "I guess we can only improvise then. I"ve never fought a naval battle either, and I"m pretty sure it"s the same for the Northern Alliance. The only question is: will their top experts such as Vienna"s Sorrow cross the sea to invade Dark Moon City, or will they stay where they are and contest Wind City over Eternal Love City?"
"Who cares?" I smiled. "I would only be happy if Vienna showed up. He must"ve thought I managed to take him out only because my attack power was greatly increased by the Resurrection Art last time. If he dares to show his face in front of us again, I"ll slaughter him fair and square and see what other excuses he has."
He Yi nodded. "Mn!"
……
Behind us, Beiming Xue was giving instructions to the archers, "Unlike our Dragon G.o.d Wars.h.i.+p, the body of a common wars.h.i.+p is mostly made of wood. That is why we"re going to use Blaze Arrows and set the enemies" s.h.i.+ps on fire first when we encounter the enemy. Mages, the same goes for you! Don"t hold back on those Flame Blasts!"
The ranged players nodded obediently and responded, "Understood, commander Beiming!"
Beiming Xue was the corps commander of our archer party, and her official guild position was only a level below mine, so she was very well respected within the guild. Moreover, she was the legendary Dark Archer and a cute girl to boot, so she was adored by everyone!
……
I surveyed our surroundings before sending out the order, "All s.h.i.+ps, spread out and form one long battle line. Don"t let even a single Northern Alliance wars.h.i.+p escape our notice! Also, estimated time left until engagement is 40 minutes, so stay on your toes!"
Everyone including our allied guilds obediently moved into position. Our banners stretched at least dozens of kilometers long.
"Lu Chen, have you thought about the safety of Dark Moon City?" He Yi asked me suddenly.
I smiled. "Don"t worry, I had discussed this with Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Yiyi, and they rallied an army of one million from Sky City and Vanished G.o.d City to protect Dark Moon City. They aren"t elites, but they should be able to repel any threat who might think to attack Dark Moon City while we are gone."
"I"m glad to hear that you prepared, hehe."
"Of course. It"d suck if our home got attacked while we were fighting on the frontlines. Planning ahead is a must with such things!"
"Mn, well done!"
……
A while later, the color of the sea turned dark blue. It meant that we had officially entered the deep sea. Gigantic waves and vortices were everywhere.
Bang!
Suddenly, a gigantic head appeared on the sea surface, causing High Fighting Spirits to let out a shout of surprise.
"Holy s.h.i.+t, what the h.e.l.l is that thing?" The barbarian warrior grabbed his war hammer and tensed up. He looked like he was poised to use Xiezhi Howl at any moment.
I hurriedly shouted, "Fighting Spirits, stop! Do not even think about attacking that mob! This is a sea king, and it generally won"t attack wars.h.i.+ps unless we provoke it first, so we"re just going to circle around it. f.u.c.k, I can"t even see its level, so it has to be Level 200 at the minimum. There"s no way we can fight something like this right now!"
"Got it!"
High Fighting Spirits commanded the surrounding s.h.i.+ps to circle around the mob, and as expected, the ugly giant didn"t react to our presence. It had come to the surface simply to breathe. A moment later, it sank back into the deep sea and left behind a gigantic vortex in its wake.
……
After the terrifying but harmless encounter, our vision range suddenly became a lot wider. Sunlight was pouring down the cloudless sky.
"I see them! I see the Northern Alliance"s s.h.i.+ps! There"s so many of them…" said Heaven"s Rain as she pointed toward the horizon. It was impossible to say if the expression on her beautiful face was panic or excitement.
Li Chengfeng immediately barked, "Don"t open fire yet! Every s.h.i.+p has a limited amount of ammo and firepower. Shoot only when they"re 50 yards away or closer!"
Everyone held their breaths as the enemy"s fleet grew closer and closer. It was to the point where we could see the surprised expressions on their cavalry"s faces. Clearly, the Northern Alliance didn"t think that we would antic.i.p.ate their sneak attack and intercept them on the sea.
With the command interface right in front of me, I locked my sight on the wars.h.i.+p directly ahead of us and shouted, "Dragon G.o.d Wars.h.i.+p, fire!"
Bang!
The entire s.h.i.+p shook as a burning hot sh.e.l.l exited our cannon and crashed onto the deck of the enemy"s wars.h.i.+p. Almost a hundred fighters lost over 70% of their HP instantly, and many people were knocked into the sea by the shock wave. In the deep sea, players could only swim for a very limited period of time. This was without mentioning the existence of terrifying aquatic creatures such as piranhas, great white sharks and more.
According to the game"s settings, it was impossible to crush a s.h.i.+p with cannon fire alone. The players must get involved to do that.
……
Beiming Xue pointed to the front and shouted, "45 degrees to the northeast, that blue s.h.i.+p over there! Have you readied your Blaze Arrows yet, archers? Good! Ready, aim, loose!"
Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh...
Countless flaming arrows flew over the sea and landed on the enemy"s deck and sails, setting them on fire in the blink of an eye. However, the enemy"s ranged players also retaliated by hitting our frontliners with their Spiraling Arrow Blades, Volleys and Fireb.a.l.l.s.
Once the distance between our s.h.i.+ps had been reduced to 30 yards or so, I picked a good time to move to the front of the s.h.i.+p and throw the Cyan Netherworld Sword into the air!
Swhoos.h.!.+
Like a mobile cyclone, the sword penetrated the s.h.i.+p"s body like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter. G.o.d d.a.m.n, my Attack became amazing ever since I ascended to become a Divine General!
Bang!
Half of the s.h.i.+p was damaged by the explosion instantly. I then launched a golden seal into the sky before watching it cras.h.i.+ng down onto the enemy!
Boom!
Bloodcurdling screams filled the air as the devastating attack tore apart the already breaking s.h.i.+p. Almost a thousand players fell into the water, and they could do nothing but struggle and cry for help.
……
Our engagement was hardly the only one taking place on the sea. Cannon fires started ringing throughout the entire battle line, and players threw storms of magic at each other. Already, the battle was white-hot the moment both forces engaged one another!