Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Laurist was furious. Apart from the fact that the battle at sea was still going according to his plans, the changes that followed were completely out of his expectations. He once again realized that he could not underestimate any enemy. This was not a game, but a real battle. The enemy was also a person of flesh and blood, and had thoughts just like him.
No one was a fool. He thought that he could rely on the bronze cannons of this era to dominate this naval battle, but the enemy used a few simple moves to negate the tactical advantage of the cannons. He had to learn from this lesson.
A head wrapped in a black scarf poked half a head out of the side of the ship. This was the first sailor who had climbed onto the ship. It couldn't be helped. The whaling ship was much taller than the average large warship, and it took a lot of effort to climb it.
A soldier of the cannons saw the sailor climbing up and cried out in alarm. He hurriedly picked up the spear on the ground to stop him from climbing over the side of the ship. However, an arrow was faster than him. A cluster of white feathers appeared on the head wrapped in a black scarf, and he let out a mournful scream before disappearing in front of everyone's eyes.
Lollister turned around and saw that Josk had climbed up to the observation deck on the main mast at some point in time, a green longbow in his hand. Not only had none of the enemy's sailors managed to get on board, but he had also taken care of the two whaling ships on the left and right side of the ship. The sailors who were climbing to crash into the ship were nailed to the walls of the ship by arrows.
Alright, this guy who had been in the limelight had already attracted the attention of the enemy. A dozen or so enemy longbowmen who had been lucky enough to survive once again picked up their crossbows and aimed at him. However, Josk was not afraid at all as he shot lightning bolts at the enemy from the observation deck. He even had the time to catch the arrow that was shot at him and return it to the enemy archer who shot it …
"Schneider, the deck is about to engage in melee combat. Move these four cannons to the upper berth. Focus on dealing with the Septorim Sea Castle battleship behind us. Block the way for the enemy's assault team to engage in melee combat …" Laurist said as he looked at the approaching fire ships. These fire ships were already less than ten meters away from the whaling ship.
"Yes, Your Highness." Schwald immediately ordered his soldiers to drag the four bronze cannons back to the dock. Laurist was right. Once they engaged in close combat, these four cannons would be useless.
Fierce battle cries could be heard coming from the left side. Over there, several enemy large-scale armed battleships had already stuck close to the three whaling ships. Apart from the outermost whaling ship that had its bow raised high, the other two whaling ships had already sunk into a hand-to-hand battle. The cannons were no longer roaring. Laurist saw the deputy commander of the cannon battalion, Jim, cleaving one of his opponents in half with his large axe.
The most ferocious one on the whaling ship's deck was Redi. With his greatsword in hand, none of his men could withstand a single blow. Laurist saw a few Gold-ranked swordsmen with weapons flashing with golden radiance surround him. However, they were chopped into pieces by Redi's slaughter. Yes, with Redi there, Laurist could be at ease.
This time, Laurist had brought two thousand guards with him. On each whaling ship, he had arranged for a hundred guards and two assault squads from the North Sea Fleet. These three hundred people were his armed forces for close-quarters combat, and they were the ones fighting on the deck right now. However, he did not know what was going on with the bow of the whaling ship. No one had rushed out of the cabin to the deck yet. Meanwhile, the Septorim Sea Castle Battleship had an endless stream of armed soldiers rushing down to the whaling ships …
The whaling ship that Laurist was on did not have the assault team from the North Sea Fleet. Instead, he had arranged for five hundred soldiers. Now, these guards rushed out of the cabin and formed five horizontal formations of a hundred people on the deck. They held long swords and round shields, and were ready for the upcoming close combat and gang fighting.
"Genolio, order the large armed battleships with cannons to retreat and widen the distance. Use the cannons to bombard the enemy ship between the two whaling ships. The focus of the attack is on the upper structure of the enemy ship. This will prevent the enemy from boarding the whaling ships and kill their strength. This will reduce the pressure on us in close combat," Laurist gave another order.
"Yes, Your Highness," Genolio replied.
"Careful, we're going to collide!"
The whaling ship shook violently, and more than half of the soldiers in the horizontal formation fell to the deck.
The fire ship that was sandwiched between the whaling ship and the Invincible Fleet's large armed battleships let out an unpleasant cracking sound. The fire ship, which had been roasted by the fire for a long time, broke apart. Pieces of wooden planks fell into the sea, followed by the thick hull and burning masts. Under the pressure of the whaling ship and the large armed battleships, the ship became a pile of debris on the surface of the sea.
A few pieces of burning wood fell on the whaling ship and the large armed battleship. No one cared about these things. Now, all they cared about was the distance between the two ships. Five meters, four meters, three meters, two meters, one meter. The two ships were getting closer and closer. Then, a loud roar rang out, "Kill!"
Countless armed marines from the Invincible Fleet appeared on the large armed battleship. They held weapons and shields and pounced towards the whaling ship. However, an extremely embarrassing matter occurred. Because the whaling ship was about two meters taller than the large armed warship, when these armed marines leapt onto the armed warship's railing and pounced towards the whaling ship, they discovered that they would slam against the whaling ship's hull and fall into the sea. Left with no other choice, they abandoned their weapons and shields, and used their hands to grab onto the whaling ship's railing. In an instant, the left side of the whaling ship was filled with these armed marines from the Invincible Fleet …
On the other hand, the armed marines who had swung onto the whaling ship's deck with ropes were already fighting with Laurist's soldiers. However, these dozens of enemies were quickly taken care of by the soldiers. Laurist did not even encounter a single enemy. Following that, the soldiers grabbed the throwing axes and javelins on the deck and gave the enemies on the large armed battleship a vicious blow. Screams rang out one after another.
A few of the soldiers began to chop off their fingers along the ship's side. At first, a few enemies who were hanging on the ship's side screamed as they clutched their bloody palms and fell into the sea. The ones behind them learned their lesson and jumped down to avoid the fate of having their fingers chopped off. In less than a quarter of an hour, all the armed marines hanging on the ship's side had disappeared.
After a few more violent collisions, Laurist lost his footing. He grabbed onto the ropes beside him to prevent himself from rolling on the ground. When he stabilized himself, he discovered that there were four more large armed battleships leaning against the whaling ship's front, back, and left. The armed marines of the Invincible Fleet swung their ropes and jumped onto the whaling ship's deck. Many of the soldiers who had fallen to the ground were attacked before they could even get up. This was the first time there were casualties.
Laurist leaped up, his sword flashing like lightning as he reaped the lives of these armed marines. At the same time, the roar of cannons resounded from the ship's berth. In the distance, the armed marines of the Septorim Sea Castle were preparing to rush onto the whaling ship through the two large armed battleships' decks. Unexpectedly, they were bombarded by the cannons. Dead and wounded littered the ground, creating a mess. Screams of agony rang out incessantly.
However, only two of the four bronze cannons on the berth were attacking the Septorim Sea Castle. The other two turned around to deal with the large armed battleship leaning against the whaling ship's rear. Just now, the large armed battleship of the Invincible Fleet had rammed into the whaling ship's rear. Although the berth was higher than the deck, and there was no need to worry about the enemy climbing onto the ship, there were still a few agile enemies who used ropes to swing onto the berth. Shi Huard killed three of them, and the remaining two were Gold-ranked swordsmen. They cooperated with Shi Huard and were evenly matched.
Josk, who was on the observation deck, turned around and shot two arrows to kill one of the Gold-ranked swordsmen. The other one was quickly killed by Shi Huard's sword in his panic. At this time, the situation on the whaling ship was already under Laurist's control. The deck was littered with the corpses of the armed marines. Not a single enemy who managed to climb onto the deck was able to last more than a few rounds under Laurist's sword and the combined attacks of the guards before their comrades could arrive.
The commanding officers of the Invincible Fleet were very clear that this huge warship in the center was most likely the flagship of the Norton Family's fleet. The fact that the melee combat on the ship was unable to make any progress, and the number of armed soldiers that went up only increased the number of casualties they suffered. The drawn-out sound of the conch rang out once more. The large armed battleships that were huddled together turned their long-range weapons to attack the whaling ship that Laurist was on.
In an instant, the catapults, crossbow bolts, and fireballs rained down on the whaling ship. Shi Huard, who was on the berth, did not want to be outdone. He turned the four bronze cannons around to suppress the long-range weapons on the enemy ship …
Josk flipped over and fell from the observation deck. When he neared the deck, he hooked his legs and swung twice in the air along the rope ladder before landing on the deck and cursing loudly. Since the nearby large warships were much shorter than the whaling ship, most of the long-range weapons could only be fired upward or thrown upward. The whaling ship's hull was a double-layered structure to prevent the ship from being damaged by the impact of the whales. Therefore, the long-range weapons on the enemy ship did not pose much of a threat to Lollister and his guards who were hiding behind the ship's railing.
But to Josk, who was on the observation deck, he had become the best target. Many of the large ballistae were fired at him. This time, he could not hold on any longer and hurriedly escaped.
Shi Huard, who was on the berth, reported to Laurist, "Your Highness, the enemy has nearly a hundred high-level combatants, and more than a thousand armed marines …"
"Let them come up. You just have to destroy those annoying long-range weapons and seal off their escape route," Laurist said with a wave of his hand. At this moment, he really wanted to go on a killing spree. This naval battle was too stifling.
Shi Huard was right. The Invincible Fleet had already mobilized its high-level combatants. Nearly a hundred gold-ranked swordsmen with their weapons flashing with golden light pounced at Laurist's whaling ship from all directions. Behind them were nearly a thousand armed marines who had rushed down from Septorim's sea castle, half of them wielding longswords that flashed with white light. This was probably the Invincible Fleet's most elite assault force. This was especially so for the five or six at the very front. Although the weapons in their hands did not flash with any light of any color, their strange, agile, and swift movements clearly showed that they were great swordsmen.
It was very simple to destroy the enemy's long-range weapons. The four bronze cannons were loaded with grapeshot bullets, and after only two rounds of firing, the eight long-range firepower points were immediately smashed into pieces. Regardless of whether it was the people or the weapons, they were all smashed into pieces. By the time Shi Huard and the others finished reloading, they realized that there was nothing left to attack. There was no one around the other long-range weapons. The enemies had all gone into hiding.
Two figures leaped onto the deck and pounced at Laurist. Laurist sneered and easily blocked, then turned around. The longsword in his hand flashed with a cold light, and two heads flew into the air. The two headless corpses fell to the deck with a plop. Blood spurted out from their necks and dyed a large part of the deck red.
The dozen or so gold-ranked swordsmen who had leaped onto the whaling ship were originally shouting "Kill!" in an overbearing manner. Just as Roar was about to charge over, he didn't expect Laurist to cut off the heads of the two people in front so easily. As if choking, Roar only managed to spit out half of his words before they were sucked into his stomach.
Oh? Laurist was a little puzzled. What was going on? Shouldn't they be charging at me to let me kill to my heart's content? Why are they cowering now?
"Let's retreat." Laurist said to the guards beside him. Let more enemies come up. That way, it'll be more satisfying to kill.
Another three figures leaped onto the deck and appeared in front of the gold-ranked swordsmen.
"What's going on?" The old man at the very front said. He was Viscount Penélope, a level two great swordmaster. He had purposely been careful and let his subordinates board the ship first before he went up. He had originally thought that he would see an intense scene of slaughter when he went up, but he did not expect to find that his side was actually holed up together. What the hell! Viscount Penélope really wanted to curse out loud.
"My lord, look …" A gold-ranked swordsman pointed at the two corpses on the deck.
Viscount Penélope turned around to look. The two corpses looked very familiar, and then he remembered. Great swordmaster Abigail and Great swordmaster Fizny. One was a level one great swordmaster of his own First B Squadron. The other was a level two great swordmaster consecrated by the Chigda Kingdom's Firebird Legion. Moreover, Great swordmaster Fizny had fought him to a standstill for almost a thousand moves …
The gold-ranked swordmaster at the side was still nagging, "He killed two great swordmasters in one move …"
The one he was pointing at was Lollister.
Viscount Penélope suddenly felt his heartbeat quicken, and an ominous premonition began to appear in his heart. It was as if he had forgotten something very important this time, or as if he shouldn't have taken the courage to personally participate in this battle to seize the ship.
Licking his dry lips, Penélope looked at Lollister and said, "I am the commander of the Invincible Fleet, Viscount Penélope. Who are you, my lord?"
"This is my fleet." Lollister said, "I am Norton Lollister, the Grand Duke of the Northern Lands, the head of the Norton Family."
"I'll give you a chance. Come at me together. I've been waiting for half a day." Lollister was a little impatient. Shouldn't they rush over and fight to the death as soon as they boarded the ship? Why did they ask for names first when they gathered together? This was a naval battle, not a battle between nobles.
"Blood, Blood Sword Saint …" Viscount Penélope was immediately dumbfounded.
"Clang." A middle-aged noble dressed in luxurious clothes at the side threw the longsword in his hand to the ground. He seemed to be a great swordmaster as well, "I surrender. Please give me the treatment of nobles."
"I, I …" Viscount Penélope struggled for a long time before throwing his sword on the deck as well. Only then did he manage to say a complete sentence, "I, I surrender too. I also ask for the treatment of nobles."
…
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