Badge in Azure

Chapter 424: Preparing for the naval battle (Part 2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The entourage of people arrived at the edge of the frozen layer. Saleen glanced at the few hundred people following him. He did not know how to make a motivational speech, so he simply handed the Dimension Stone to Nailisi and said, “Let the warship enter the water.”

Taking out such a huge warship from the Dimension Stone put a toll on Saleen’s mental strength even though his mental strength was no different from that of a sorcerer. Each storage and release process would consume half of Saleen’s mental strength. Even if Nailisi had depleted her mental strength, she still possessed physical strength.

Nailisi did not say anything. When she jumped into the icy cold water, the seawater rose up to her ankles, but she did not use any special skill. Without any flashes of magic light, an enormous warship appeared abruptly. Everyone present felt an oncoming force, as if it was pressing down onto their hearts.

This two-hundred meter long warship was in a cerulean hue. Located at the bow was a gigantic dragon head, without any decorations whatsoever. Two razor-sharp horns extended forward, as though it would pierce anything in its path even if a mountain was up ahead.

Boom!

Since such a massive item had appeared in the ocean, the displaced seawater suddenly gave off an explosive uproar. As the water got splashed dozens of meters into the sky, Kanuka and Pasatilo released the Invisible Shield, preventing everyone from getting drenched.

Ka…

The warship twisted in the water, causing everyone to feel like they had just hallucinated. The gigantic scales, made from thundercloud wood, were rubbing against one another. They gave off an almost undetectable noise.

“Go onboard.” Saleen smiled. Then dozens of skeletons took a leap, soaring dozens of meters up onto the deck, before crawling into the cabin. The Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat came to the underside of the warship slowly. The winged skeleton was inside commanding these skeletons as he managed to locate the magic array which controlled the warship. Even though the skeletons had some intelligence, they could not cast any spells. Under the guidance of the winged skeleton, they brought the magic nuclei and mosaicked them into the corresponding sites. At this point, the dragon skeleton warship then got activated, mooring towards the ice layer.

The bone wing on one side opened up gradually, resting on the ice layer. After that everyone followed Saleen up to the deck of the warship.

“Kanuka, you will be the captain for the time being. This is the diagram of the warship.” Saleen handed a piece of paper to Kanuka. As the mages went to their specified positions, Saleen summoned the winged skeleton and said, “I will only be leaving Jola in the city, you don’t have to follow me. The moment anything happens in the city, inform me at once.”

“Master, our connection will be cut off if we are more than twenty miles apart!” the winged skeleton exclaimed nervously.

“I will go take a look at that natural port in the south. Do you remember that place?”

“Yes,” the winged skeleton answered.

The natural port Saleen was referring to was situated four-hundred miles south of Metatrin City. This location possessed better natural characteristics as compared to the Metatrin City. Even though it was only four-hundred miles away, the duration of frost was much shorter. Be that as it may, this place was surrounded by mountains, and only one side was facing the sea. Other than maritime means, it had no other connections to land.

Building a fortress there was still acceptable. It was pretty unlikely to transform that place into a commercial city.

This place was always in the back of Saleen’s mind though. Since he was developing a city, he had to consider the aspect of income. Even if there was no trade, he had to conduct agriculture. This harbor was a piece of dead land, the land area was only about ten square miles. It would be sufficient for a city to be built on such a big plot of land, but the city’s rations would have to be transported via the sea.

On the other hand, in Metatrin City, one only had to cross a few rivers to reach the plains in the north. In the south, there were also lands with an area of a few hundred square miles available for growing crops. Self-sufficiency would not be a problem at all. There was a breach in the mineral vein in the west of the city also. Through this breach, one would be able to reach the distant plains where there were more plots of land. One could also reach Phoenix.

Saleen had done some calculations before. The speed of his warship could definitely exceed seventy miles an hour. Since the natural port was only four-hundred miles from Metatrin City, the journey would be completed within six hours. This place was easy to defend yet difficult to be attacked. A fortress could be built there to support Metatrin City.

Once this fortress was built, the only way to assault would be from the sea, there was no need to worry about getting attacked from land. When the mages from Sregl Island got there, many depots could be constructed to store food for the long-term. In the future, Saleen could store his procured foodstuffs in this location, where it would surely be safe.

Of course, if Saleen owned a godly equipment like Lex’s God’s Ring, then he would not need to worry about the issue of storing food anymore.

Half of the dragon skeleton warship entered the water. Only after the magic arrays were activated did it float up normally. Had the skeletons been tardy, the warship could have possibly sunk already. Once the mages and skeletons had assumed their positions, the shape of the bone wings on both sides were slightly adjusted. The stern of the ship swayed, causing the ship to change direction swiftly. Then, the ship sailed south.

Saleen could feel that the turn-around speed of this warship was at least ten times faster than other similarly sized ships. When the dragon tail was wavering, the warship itself did not vibrate forcefully. At the rear deck, three magic arrays positioned in a triangular shape were stimulated. In the center of this triangle, a gigantic magic sail about forty meters tall gradually emerged.

This was a Death spell called the Shadow Sail, it had no offensive power. It was used to steer a ship in the death dimension. The skeletons raised the Shadow Sail, thus reducing the consumption of the nuclei’s power.

Saleen had given the skeletons grade-4 magic nuclei, it was not some high grade item. It was too prodigal using high grade magic nuclei to drive a ship after all.

When the Shadow Sail was raised, the speed of the dragon skeleton warship did not increase. The huge warship simply traveled south in utter silence. Usually, a sailboat would only reach maximum velocity when traveling against the headwind. Traveling with the wind was a huge challenge to a sailor, they would need to control a ship with great dexterity.

These skeletons would not be exhausted, so they would not make any mistakes. Saleen stood on the front deck with peace of mind as the warship sliced through the waters ahead, creating agitated waves.

“In order to let this ship possess offensive powers, the sailors and swordsmen will have to practice together continuously. This would be another expenditure!” Saleen thought to himself helplessly, “The main source of power for this ship is the grade-4 magic nuclei. In an hour, six nuclei will be consumed. During battle, the depletion will be higher. Six grade-4 magic nuclei would cost more than a thousand gold coins even if they weren’t purchased from a shop. As the magic nuclei are used in the power magic array, they must be of the best quality. Inferior ones can’t be used. We will be lucky if the magic array does not function otherwise, because it could even explode.”

The grade-4 magic nuclei which Saleen had obtained were those which were not sold. Since there were too many of them, the price of magic nuclei would fall drastically if they were put on the market. There was no meaning selling only a few of them anyway.

One-thousand gold coins spent in an hour. The powering of the dragon skeleton warship was simply burning money. The speed of the warship brought great satisfaction to Saleen though. With the Shadow Sail replacing part of the power, the ship could easily reach a speed of seventy miles an hour. At this moment, the depletion of the magic nuclei would at least be halved. Only during a battle would the magic arrays be fully functioning.

“If I don’t go to the Frozen Sea, I won’t be able to afford this warship even if I do own it.”

In less than five hours, the dragon skeleton warship had arrived at the natural port. The frozen sea here only had a width of dozens of miles. Saleen was thinking of stopping the warship there so that everyone could take a look at that natural port. At the same time, they could draw a detailed map. That way a fortress could be conceptualized when they returned. Suddenly, a swordsman from Sregl Island ran up the deck and told Saleen, “Sir, the captain has discovered some warships approaching.”

“How close are they?” Saleen questioned. Saleen knew that they were not too far, as the magic compass had a finite surveillance range. These warships which appeared abruptly should already be within a range of fifty miles.

“About eighty miles away. The warships are not huge, about eighty to one-hundred meters long, otherwise we would have discovered them earlier.”

“How many warships?”

“Six warships, one formation.”

Saleen began calculating in his mind, “If the enemy’s warships possess good capabilities, they will discover the presence of my warship in at most half an hour.” Saleen was not afraid. A warship shorter than one-hundred meters could only carry a certain number of magic trebuchets. It would be impossible for them to pose a threat to Saleen’s ship.

No matter how superior a magic trebuchet was, its attack range was only around five miles. Even though Saleen’s warship had not begun producing the bone spirits, there was no need to be afraid of these ships either. What were these ships doing in the north? There were no cities available for docking in the north while Lianyun City should have been occupied for a long time. These ships could only be from the eastern sea island states.

“Did I not kill all of them the previous time? Did I allow some of them to escape, and cause the expeditionary army to discover my city?”

Saleen’s calculations were slightly erroneous. In order for a magic compass to discover a target, a familiar map had to be present for corroboration. It could also be that the target was too conspicuous. The reason why Saleen’s dragon skeleton warship could probe such a great distance ahead was due to the Eye of the Dead on the dragon’s head. The Eye of the Dead was working in tandem with the magic compass, so it could detect all live targets.

It would be difficult, however, for the fleet to discover Saleen’s warship as it was totally sealed. There were also only a few people standing on the deck, so the enemy’s magic compass might not be able to pick it up.

“Sir, what do we do?” That swordsman was still waiting for Saleen’s instructions.

Saleen thought about it, “If the Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat was around, there would not be a problem dealing with these six vessels. I don’t have the bone spirits now though. I can only use the dumbest method, which is to approach the enemy and board their ship for a battle. Even though I have fewer warriors here, I have three grand mages. Sika and Nailisi are around also. The oncoming warships won’t have such powerful offensive abilities.”

“We will meet them. As long they aren’t warships from the Alchemy City, sink them.”

The swordsman was aghast, then he bowed and went below the deck. The warships from Sregl Island also had horns. It was one to six however. The enemy’s ships had to be sunk. This caused the swordsman to be in disbelief.

“Let’s go down too,” Saleen told Sika and Nailisi, who had been following him around. Since the warships were going to crash into one another, the impact would be pretty intense. When the dragon skeleton warship was designed, only the internal cabins could decrease impact. If Saleen continued standing on the deck, he would definitely be flustered.

Unlike a normal warship, the captain’s cabin in the dragon skeleton warship was located under the deck. The building on the deck was to accommodate the swordsmen. The swordsmen had assembled, awaiting orders. The moment the warship got entangled with the enemy’s ship, the swordsmen would board the enemy’s warship to start the fight. With help from the sailors, the swordsmen began putting on armor and inspecting their weapons. In the captain’s cabin, Kanuka’s eyes were fixated on the magic compass. The six targets on the magic compass were drawing closer. They had altered their direction. They were now coming straight for the dragon skeleton warship.

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