[V6C167 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Zhang Junshu turned back all of a sudden. “Really?”
The colonel affirmed, “Our brothers have memorized the pictures well, we can recognize it even if the s.h.i.+p turns to as.h.!.+”
Zhang Junshu inquired again, “How many wars.h.i.+ps?”
“Just one!”
A cold glint appeared in the general’s eyes. “Good! A grand duke’s airs.h.i.+p is almost as valuable as a fleet. Issue the order! Remove the disguises and attack in full force. We shall make that airs.h.i.+p stay as revenge for our duke...”
At this point, Zhang Junshu’s voice tapered off, but everyone nearby understood his intentions. Their eyes were filled with tears when they roared in unison, “Yes, Sir!”
The Zhang clan ground forces pressed ahead while its entire fleet turned toward the north.
Ardak’s airs.h.i.+p was flying through the dense northern clouds at great speed. Countless giant spider webs would flicker in and out of existence around the vessel, allowing its eight long limbs to glide upon the illusory threads. It was akin to a gigantic spider charging toward its prey at lightning speed.
A lanky arachne stood at the bridge, observing the projection of the imperial fleet in the air in front of him.
Judging from the direction of the imperial fleet, he knew they were targeting him. The arachne marquis said with a shrill laugh, “They’re trying to contend with the duke’s airs.h.i.+p with a mere patrol wars.h.i.+p and a group of rubbish vessels? Ha, even their cargo s.h.i.+ps have charged out. Have they resigned themselves to their fate? Hehe, Haha!”
A young viscount chimed in, “True. This subordinate has been in the army for so many years, yet I’ve never seen cargo s.h.i.+ps that dare charge at a wars.h.i.+p. Could it be that they’ve made some breakthrough and developed some powerful weapon? Huh? T-Those cargo s.h.i.+ps…”
As the imperial fleet approached rapidly in the projection, its flags.h.i.+p and escort vessels began to change shape while the smaller patrol airs.h.i.+ps and transports spread out toward the periphery. This left the three old cargo s.h.i.+ps in a prominent central position.
These s.h.i.+ps accelerated continuously, not only catching up but even overtaking the flags.h.i.+p later on. This wasn’t the speed of a cargo s.h.i.+p at all!
The captain marquis took a step forward and stared fixedly at the transforming imperial fleet. A highspeed wars.h.i.+p charged out from both sides of their formation, leading a small squad of guns.h.i.+ps each to cut off the arachne wars.h.i.+p’s path of retreat.
The marquis scanned the two sides briefly before his gaze fell upon the three cargo s.h.i.+ps.
The imagery before his eyes suddenly flickered as beams of runic light filled his vision. After the light receded, numerous minute explosions occurred on the cargo s.h.i.+ps’ outer sh.e.l.ls which fell off layer by layer, gradually revealing the solemn contents within.
The arachne battles.h.i.+p’s command room turned silent—even the captain was dumbfounded, and the only manifestation of his emotions was his trembling fingers.
An entire three battles.h.i.+ps! Each and every one of them was a war vessel capable of supporting a sub-fleet!
The three battles.h.i.+ps along with Zhang Junshu’s flags.h.i.+p was a force capable of contending with an organized combat fleet.
Wars.h.i.+ps of the Evernight dukes were mostly at a level above battles.h.i.+ps. They held an obvious edge when fighting against a single imperial battles.h.i.+p but would usually be disadvantaged against two. Against three, however, it was already quite good if they didn’t lose immediately.
Moreover, the arachne airs.h.i.+p had rushed in on its own without any escort s.h.i.+ps nearby. Their most powerful expert wasn’t on the s.h.i.+p, either. One could easily imagine their fate after being surrounded by a fleet.
The arachne marquis realized a lot of things when the three battles.h.i.+ps appeared at the same time, including why the imperial fleet in outer s.p.a.ce had performed so badly with openings everywhere. He understood why they could barely maintain the situation and wasn’t willing to engage in a showdown with the Evernight fleet.
Those crafty humans had actually hidden three battles.h.i.+ps here, not revealing them even after their land forces were beaten back. Apparently, this was to lure the Evernight airs.h.i.+ps in and destroy them all in one fell swoop.
The imperial fleet was barely sufficient in overall strength since the outset. Now that they had diverted three battles.h.i.+ps away, their combat strength had naturally weakened. Being able to hold out without being routed proved that their commander was a great general.
He had indeed realized the truth, but no one would feel good after running straight into a trap.
The viscount beside him also came to a realization. “These d.a.m.ned humans! Their target was never the ground fortress but our fleet!”
As long as the empire could deal heavy damage to the Evernight fleet, they would be able to reestablish dominance in the void and lock down the continent. At that time, the dark race army on the void landma.s.s would be deprived of support, while reinforcements and supplies would flow in continuously from the empire. The dark race army stationed on the land would eventually be wiped out.
The viscount was sharp and possessed great strategic insight. Unfortunately, they were in dire straits at this moment and the marquis’ mood was beyond bad. He grabbed the viscount’s throat after hearing the a.n.a.lysis and roared, “Why didn’t you say that earlier? It’s nothing more than rubbish now!”
An abrupt earth-shattering rumble caused the entire wars.h.i.+p to sway violently and the lights in the bridge to flicker on and off. The wars.h.i.+p had been hit, and the damage wasn’t small. It was very likely a shot from the enemy vessel’s main cannon.
The marquis’ expression was hideous. An abrupt force from his hand sent a mist of blood spraying onto the control station—he had actually torn the viscount apart!
After venting his anger, the marquis issued three consecutive orders, “Turn, accelerate, and retreat!”
It was just that he understood quite well that the third order might never come to fruition.
In the imperial fleet, Zhang Junshu’s furious roars were heard by the entire fleet. “Kill that spider! For the empire!”
All of the imperial fleet cannons fired in the blink of an eye. Countless beams of resplendent flames erupted upon the almost thousand-meter long airs.h.i.+p as the high-power ballista bolts rushed into the airs.h.i.+p, almost like a school of fish returning to the sea.
On a distant mountaintop, Qianye was observing this rare scene while s.h.i.+elding his eyes from the flying gravel.
“What a spectacular sight!” Qianye sighed. This kind of aerial battle was so rare that he had never even seen one before. He felt that it was somewhat of a pity that he could only observe from afar.
Ordinary people might not be able to see anything through the tempest, but Qianye’s Eye of Truth could make out the distant situation via the patterns of origin power distribution. What he saw, however, was only the outline and not the details.
A battle not inferior to those in the void had erupted thousands of meters in the air. Countless origin power waves weaved together and filled the firmament with the aura of death.
An airs.h.i.+p akin to a giant whale was maneuvering through the air, surrounded by dozens of wars.h.i.+ps of different sizes. They cruised about like a group of sharks and would go in for a bite whenever an opportunity presented itself.
Meanwhile, outside of Qianye’s visual range, the Zhang clan army was advancing with great difficulty. They moved little by little through the wind and dust, edging toward their final base of operations. The environment made it difficult to march quickly, but this was doubly true for the dark races who relied solely on their own strong bodies. They hadn’t planned ahead like the empire or prepared heavy transports for troops.
These vehicles couldn’t compete with the dark races in short sprints, but over hundreds of kilometers and especially under the interference of bad weather, the latter couldn’t compare to the tireless trucks that needed nothing but ample fuel.
Hence, the Zhang clan soldiers were hoping that the storm would continue. The longer this tempest lasted, the more distance they could cover ahead of the pursuers.
Far off in a different direction was the heart of this tempest.
Both the daybreak and darkness origin powers there were in an extremely violent state. The constant clashes and explosions destabilized the sky, causing deep gashes to appear from time to time. These void crevices were hundreds of meters long and could destroy almost anything. Void origin power would gush in like the tide whenever they appeared.
The floating landma.s.s was just like the larger continents. Void origin power couldn’t exist in a stable state within the internal s.p.a.ce close to the ground. Much like adding cold water to burning oil, a terrifying storm would ensue once the two came into contact.
Even with the Eye of Truth, Qianye could only see countless wisps of chaotic origin power. The transformations occurring each moment were so rapid that even his perception couldn’t grasp them. He couldn’t judge the situation of the battle at all. All he could distinguish was that two divine-champion-level experts were engaging in a fierce battle and that the daybreak origin power side was at a disadvantage. The latter was like a candle in the wind that would be extinguished at any second.
Qianye was secretly worried, but he quickly suppressed the thought. A battle of that level wasn’t something he could get involved with.
Qianye glanced once more at the routed Zhang clan army and could already feel some powerful dark auras moving in their general direction. Apparently, the burning city could only block the main dark race army but not their pursuing experts.
These experts naturally wouldn’t dare mount a frontal a.s.sault, especially since the Zhang clan’s main force was being escorted by an airs.h.i.+p fleet. However, they would hara.s.s the retreating party constantly and decrease their forward momentum. Naturally, these powerful fellows wouldn’t miss the opportunity to attack the airs.h.i.+ps, either, should the chance arise. In a large-scale battle, the most important deciding factor, apart from divine-champion-level experts, was the ability to control the flow of combat.
The Zhang clan army was like a giant elephant which, despite its size, was wounded and bleeding. The blood along the way seemed to have attracted a pack of evil wolves—whether or not these wolves could be driven away would decide if this giant elephant would reach its destination.
That was Qianye’s battlefield.
It was just that there were few imperial experts who could arrive in time to hunt these wolves. The majority of independent experts were gathered in the Misty Wood, but the dark races had been reinforcing the region constantly in recent months. It would be rather difficult for these experts to pa.s.s through the forest in a hurry.
Meanwhile, the pack of wolves was coming together and their numbers had far surpa.s.sed that of the hunters, so much so that they could even drown out the latter.
Qianye put the damaged Young Dragon into Andruil’s realm and changed into a set of light armor to facilitate his stealth and hunting. He adjusted his combat apparel, put away East Peak which he had been using to stabilize himself in the tempest, and leapt off the mountain peak.
Within the tempest, Qianye drifted upward instead of falling down. He was like a small boat amidst the billowing waves. This was a tempest induced by origin power, and hence its paths weren’t random like natural storms. Qianye could discern the routes of surging origin power to judge their path and adjust his own flight trajectory accordingly. He drew a curved and crooked tract through the air as he flew forward, parallel to the Zhang clan army.
Just as Qianye was borrowing the power of the tempest to fly, a strong throbbing sensation arose in his heart. The violent storms weakened without a warning. It was like a sea full of giant waves turning calm during a squall.
Instead, an enormous vortex appeared at the center of the sea, bringing with it a boundless terror that far surpa.s.sed the raging waves from before.