No one was a fool. He had thought he could dominate this naval battle with bronze cannons that were generations ahead of this era, but the enemy had neutralized their strategic advantage with just a few simple tricks. He needed to learn this lesson.
A head wrapped in a black turban peeked over the gunwale—half a head poking up. It was the first sailor from the ramming warships to make it up. There was nothing to be done about it; the whaling ships towered far above the ordinary large armed warships, and the climb was grueling work.
A soldier from one of the cannon crews spotted the climbing sailor, cried out in alarm, and hurriedly grabbed a pike from the ground to stop him from hauling himself over the rail. But something was faster than him—an arrow. A tuft of white feathers now adorned that black-turbaned head, and with a piercing shriek, the sailor vanished from everyone's sight.
Lorist turned to look and saw that
Fine. This scene-stealing fellow had caught the enemy's attention. About a dozen surviving enemy longbowmen raised their crossbows and took aim at him. But Jossk was utterly fearless. From the crow's nest, he fired arrow after lightning-fast arrow at the enemy. He even had the presence of mind to catch an incoming arrow in mid-flight and hurl it back at the archer who had loosed it…
"Sward! Close combat on the deck is about to start. Get these four cannons up to the gun platform. Priority target is that Sepnum sea fortress warship behind us—block the channel so their marine assault teams can't reach us for boarding action," Lorist said, watching the fire ships draw ever closer. They were less than ten meters from the whaling ships now.
"Yes, Your Highness." Sward immediately directed his soldiers to drag the four bronze cannons toward the gun platform. Lorist was right—once close combat began, these four cannons would be useless.
Fierce battle cries erupted from the left. Several enemy large armed warships had already pulled up alongside the three whaling ships. Except for the outermost whaling ship with its bow jutting high into the air, the other two had descended into brutal hand-to-hand fighting on their decks. The cannons had fallen silent. Lorist saw
The most savage fighter on that whaling ship's deck was Reidi. Wielding his massive sword, none of his opponents could last a single exchange. Lorist watched as several Golden-tier swordsmen—weapons blazing with golden sword light—closed in on Reidi, only to be sent flying as dismembered corpses amid his savage onslaught. With Reidi over there, Lorist could rest easy.
Lorist had brought two thousand-man guard battalions on this expedition, assigning one hundred-man guard squad and two North Sea Fleet marine assault teams to each whaling ship. These three hundred men were his emergency close-combat force, and they were the ones fighting on the decks right now. But he had no idea what was happening on that whaling ship with the bow jutting skyward—no one had yet stormed out of its cabins onto the deck. Meanwhile, armed soldiers were pouring nonstop from that Sepnum sea fortress warship onto the whaling ships…
Lorist's whaling ship had no North Sea Fleet marine assault teams; instead, five hundred guards had been assigned to it. Now these guards were pouring out of the cabins and forming five hundred-man ranks on the deck. Armed with longswords and round shields, they stood in tight formation, bracing for the imminent close combat and boarding action.
"Genorio! Order the large armed warships with cannons at the rear to pull back and open up distance. Have them use their cannons to bombard the enemy ships wedged between the two whaling ships. Target their upper structures—stop the enemy from boarding and attrite their fighting strength. Ease the pressure on our close combat," Lorist issued another command.
"Yes, Your Highness," Genorio replied.
"Look out—we're going to crash!"
The whaling ship lurched violently. Most of the guards arranged in ranks tumbled to the deck.
The fire ship, caught between the whaling ship and the Invincible Fleet's large armed warship, let out a terrible creaking sound. After being burned and roasted in the flames, it finally split apart—long planks breaking away and tumbling into the sea, followed by the thick ship timbers and the burning masts. Crushed and splintered between the whaling ship and the large armed warship, it crumbled into a heap of wreckage floating on the surface.
A few burning chunks of wood landed on the whaling ship and the large armed warship respectively. No one bothered with them. The only thing that mattered now was the distance between the two ships—five meters, four, three, two, one. The ships drew ever closer, and then a thunderous roar erupted: "Kill!"
In an instant, the gunwale on the whaling ship's left side was crawling with armed sailors from the Invincible Fleet…
The armed sailors who had swung across on various ropes onto the whaling ship's deck had already engaged Lorist's guard squad. But these few dozen enemies were quickly dealt with by the guards—Lorist didn't even get to strike a single one. The guards then grabbed throwing axes and javelins from the deck and, from their elevated position, delivered a devastating volley into the large armed warship's crew below. Screams merged into one continuous wail.
Several guards began chopping off the fingers of enemies clinging to the gunwale. The first few, screaming and clutching their bloody stumps, tumbled into the sea. Those behind learned their lesson and jumped voluntarily, sparing themselves the fate of having their fingers severed. Within half a quarter-hour, every armed sailor dangling from the gunwale had vanished.
Then came several more violent impacts. Even Lorist could barely keep his footing, grabbing a nearby rope to keep from tumbling across the deck. Once he steadied himself, he saw that four more large armed warships had pulled up alongside—front, rear, and left. Fully equipped Invincible Fleet sailors swung across on ropes and landed on the whaling ship's deck. Many guards who had been knocked down hadn't even gotten back up before they were attacked. For the first time, casualties appeared.
Lorist launched himself into the fray, sword flashing like lightning, reaping the lives of these armed soldiers. On the gun platform, the cannons roared to life once more. Armed soldiers on that distant Sepnum sea fortress behemoth had been about to charge across the decks of two large armed warships that had pulled up alongside and onto the whaling ship, only to be hit by another devastating canister shot from the cannons. The result was carnage—bodies strewn everywhere, screams splitting the air.
But only two of the four bronze cannons on the gun platform were firing at the Sepnum sea fortress ship. The other two had swiveled around to deal with the large armed warship that had crashed into the whaling ship's stern. Just moments ago, this Invincible Fleet warship had smashed into the whaling ship's rear. Though the gun platform was higher than the deck—meaning the enemy couldn't simply climb up—several agile enemies had swung across on ropes. Sward had killed three of them, but the remaining two were Golden-tier swordsmen who fought in tandem, locked in a fierce duel with Sward.
From the crow's nest, Jossk managed to loose two quick arrows amid the chaos—one felled a Golden-tier swordsman. The other, flustered and distracted, was quickly cut down by Sward's blade. By now, the battle on the whaling ship was under Lorist's control. Armed sailors' corpses littered the deck. Not a single enemy who had made it aboard could withstand Lorist's sword and the guards' coordinated attacks for more than a few exchanges before their comrades could reinforce them.
The Invincible Fleet's command brass knew full well that this massive warship at the center was likely the
In an instant, boulders, crossbow bolts, and fireballs rained down on the whaling ship like a storm. But Sward on the gun platform was not to be outdone. He swiveled all four bronze cannons to suppress the enemy ships' ranged weapons…
Jossk did a somersault from the crow's nest, plummeting downward. Just before hitting the deck, he hooked his feet on the rope ladder, swung back and forth twice in midair, and finally landed on the deck, cursing loudly. Because the nearby large armed warships sat much lower than the whaling ships, most of their ranged weapons could only fire upward in arcs. And the whaling ship's hull was double-layered—a design meant to withstand whale impacts without damaging the vessel—so the enemy's ranged weapons posed little threat to Lorist and the guards sheltering behind the gunwale.
But for Jossk in the crow's nest, he had been the perfect target. Many of the large siege crossbows had been aimed directly at him, and he simply couldn't take it anymore, scrambling down in a hurry.
Sward reported from the gun platform: "Your Highness, the enemy has deployed nearly a hundred high-tier combatants, plus over a thousand armed sailors…"
"Let them come. Just eliminate those annoying ranged weapons and cut off their retreat," Lorist said with a wave of his hand. Right now, he was itching for a real fight. This naval battle had been far too frustrating.
Sward wasn't wrong—the Invincible Fleet had deployed its high-tier combatants. Nearly a hundred Golden-tier swordsmen, weapons blazing with golden sword light, charged toward Lorist's whaling ship from every direction. Behind them came close to a thousand armed sailors pouring down from the Sepnum sea fortress warship, a small minority of them wielding longswords that shimmered with white sword light. This had to be the Invincible Fleet's most elite assault force. Especially the five or six at the very front—though their weapons showed no colored sword light at all, their eerie, fluid, and lightning-fast movements made it obvious they were all Great Swordmasters.
Eliminating the enemy's ranged weapons was simple enough. The four bronze cannons loaded with canister shot fired just two rounds, and eight active fire positions were instantly drenched in blood and gore—men and weapons alike reduced to shredded wreckage. When Sward and his crew finished reloading, they realized there was nothing left to shoot at. All the remaining ranged weapon positions were deserted; the enemy had gone into hiding.
Two figures leaped onto the deck, hurtling straight toward Lorist. He let out a cold laugh, deflected, parried, and slashed with effortless precision, pivoted, and his longsword flashed cold and bright—two heads soared into the air. Two headless corpses thudded onto the deck, dark blood spurting from their severed necks and staining a large swath of the planking.
Lorist had so easily taken the heads of the two who had charged to the front that the battle cry from the enemy ranks died halfway in their throats, as if they had been strangled.
Hmm? Lorist felt somewhat puzzled. What was going on? Shouldn't they be charging at him so he could have a proper kill?
"Pull back," Lorist told the guards around him. Let more of them board—it would be more satisfying that way.
Three more figures vaulted onto the deck, appearing before the Golden-tier swordsmen.
"What's going on?" the old man at the front demanded. It was Viscount Penelope, a second-tier Great Swordmaster. He had been careful enough to let his subordinates board first before going up himself. He had expected to find a fierce battle raging, but instead discovered his own men huddled together in a clump. What the hell! Viscount Penelope nearly exploded in rage.
"My lord, look…" a Golden-tier swordsman pointed at the two corpses on the deck.
Viscount Penelope turned to look. The two bodies were familiar—then he remembered. Abigail, a Great Swordmaster. Fitzni, a Great Swordmaster. One was a first-tier Great Swordmaster from his first division fleet. The other was a second-tier Great Swordmaster patronized by the Firebird Legion of the Qigeda Kingdom. And Fitzni had once sparred with him for nearly a thousand moves without either gaining the upper hand…
The Golden-tier swordsman beside him was still mumbling: "One exchange, and two Great Swordmasters were killed by him…"
He was pointing at Lorist.
Viscount Penelope suddenly felt his heart rate spike. An ominous premonition crept through him—he felt as though he had forgotten something critically important, or perhaps that he should never have been fool enough to personally join this boarding battle.
He licked his dry lips and addressed Lorist: "I am the commander of the Invincible Fleet, Viscount Penelope. And you are?"
"This is my fleet," Lorist said. "I am Norton Lorist, Grand Duke of Northland, head of the Norton Family."
"I'll give you a chance—all of you come at once. I've been waiting long enough," Lorist said, growing impatient. Wasn't it supposed to be a rush to the death the moment they boarded? Why were they standing around asking for names instead? This was a naval battle, not some aristocratic duel.
"B-Blood Sword Saint…" Viscount Penelope went blank.
*Clang.* A well-dressed middle-aged noble beside him dropped his longsword to the ground. He too appeared to be a Great Swordmaster: "I surrender. Please grant me noble treatment."
"I… I…" Viscount Penelope struggled with the words before finally dropping his own sword to the deck. Only then could he manage a complete sentence: "I—I surrender as well. I also request noble treatment."
…