Volume 3: The Land of Mist Chapter 19: Shadow of Truth
The form of warfare is based on existing technology, and in a world where the magic caster bug exists, almost all battles are tactical offensive and defensive systems built around how to maximize the power of the mage .
Putting aside the form of mage duel which is similar to knight duel, beheading the enemy mage and protecting one's own mage are the key points that can never be avoided in any encounter.
"Generally speaking, a 'Lord-class' Imperial warship like this is usually equipped with five to six mages. Apart from the storm mages who are responsible for speeding up the ship, the rest are battle mages. And they are usually battle mages who specialize in direct destructive effects such as fire, lightning, and frost."
Captain Hobbs said this as he looked at the Imperial warship approaching from a distance.
Including the merchant from Blackwater Province who revealed his identity as a magic caster, there were only three mages on the Whalebone - they were far inferior to the other side both in terms of number and naval combat training.
"We are definitely at an absolute disadvantage in magic battles. If we want to have a chance of survival under such circumstances, we can only pin our hopes on boarding and fighting."
No matter how powerful a magic caster is, he is still a mortal. Before reaching the legendary realm, it would be extremely fatal for a mage to be approached by several ordinary people with weapons.
"Then the question is how do we get close to that Imperial battleship."
Leihuo said so.
The battle mage nicknamed "Thunderfire" is a young man with greasy hair. When he introduced himself earlier, he claimed to be an apprentice-level mage of the Sage Seat, but later added that he had reached a quasi-expert level in lightning spells.
In other words, the degree to which [Teleport] can be used.
"The enemy won't be that stupid. They will put their ships in a distance where they can hit us but we can't hit them. They will first wear us down and then decide what to do next."
The Warriors expert mage nicknamed "Big Cannon" said so.
If this is the case, they can only passively defend and intercept the opponent's spells until their own magic power is exhausted, and then they will be at the mercy of others.
William did not join their battle discussion. Instead, he stood aside and watched the approaching warship, thinking about what kind of spell he should use to disguise all this as an accident.
Should he use [True Shadow] to materialize a passing dragon and burn the ship? Or should he release multiple [Tornadoes] to create a small storm to engulf the warship? Or should he teleport directly to the enemy ship and summon some advanced summons to board the ship?
"Mr. Yin Shima?"
Someone patted William on the shoulder, bringing him back to his senses.
"What's up?"
William turned around and saw that it was Captain Hobbs calling him.
"Then you will help us board the other ship. Is that okay?"
The other party asked.
"May I assist?"
William asked, pointing at himself curiously.
After listening to the captain's explanation, William understood the other party's plan.
Hobbes believed that since this imperial warship was most likely coming for plunder, the enemy would definitely not sink the Whalebone directly from a distance. What they had to do was to show weakness first, and then use [Teleport] to board the ship when the enemy felt that they had no ability to resist.
"But teleportation magic requires setting coordinates, you should know this, right?"
William asked after hearing his plan.
Upon hearing this, Lei Huo took out several magic-sealing runes from his pocket and said:
“I’ve always been prepared for this.”
"So how do you plan to get these things onto the other ship? Throw them over?"
William frowned slightly, looked at the runes and continued to ask.
"This is where we need your help."
The other party replied like this, and then he continued:
"Flame and Storm, you are the magic caster of the Wayfarer, right? You were also the one who helped this ship deal with the strange gale it encountered during its voyage?"
After learning the identity of the merchant magic caster, they could easily guess that the sudden storm was caused by this person. Combined with the fire spells he had used, they were almost certain that he was a magic caster from the Traveler constellation, and his level was not low, at least at the expert level.
The Traveler constellation corresponds to the three types of spells: storm, fire, and earth.
In response, William, with a slightly embarrassed expression on his face, replied:
"In other words, you want me to use storm spells to send these coordinates to the enemy ship?"
Although the Storm spells are often criticized by players for their insignificant damage, they are the spells with the longest single-target attack distance and the widest AOE coverage among the thirteen spells. According to the setting, this is because the essence of Storm spells is to control the soul, so its release range is approximately equal to the perception range of the caster.
The other party nodded.
William sighed slightly and didn't say much. He just took the crudely made magic-sealing runes from the other party's hand.
But William had no intention of carrying out their plan.
Let's not talk about whether the ship can be driven after the opponent has finished casting spells. Using these inferior magic-sealing runes as coordinates, it might explode directly during teleportation, and the person might be directly broken into several pieces by the broken space.
After all, the entire Whalebone encountered this incident because of my commission, so it would be better for me to take more responsibility.
Thinking of this, while their attention was focused on the distance, William gestured to Liz beside him. She nodded and flew to a height equal to William's, with scales like gold powder rising up behind her, and then she drew several golden tracks like dancing.
A hazy and ambiguous mist filled William's surroundings.
At the same time, thousands of kilometers away near the Serpent's Trace, William, who was slumped on the wide throne, was also surrounded by a dreamy mist.
Countless vague connections connected the original body and the iron plate on the mirror's chest, and then tremendous magical power surged within this illusory body.
Using the iron plate on his chest as a medium for casting spells, an extremely complex ritual began to be woven into it.
The iron plate, which had exceeded the upper limit of the material's magic power, instantly developed several dangerous cracks. Invisible magic power gushed out from it, refracting the light in the sky and slowly forming a huge and illusory outline.
At this moment, everyone was standing on the deck, holding their weapons tightly. They stared at the warship with the dragon sword emblem on the sails that could almost be seen with the naked eye, and did not notice that a huge shadow was slowly cast on their ship.
"Attention, the ship on the other side has stopped! Be prepared for defense!"
Hobbes put down the monocular in his hand and said.
"Why? The enemy shouldn't be able to attack us at this distance."
The "Big Cannon" on the side asked with some confusion.
Upon hearing this, Hobbes raised the monocular telescope again and looked at the imperial warship.
This time, through the polished crystal lens, he saw the sailors on the warship not far away frantically adjusting the sails and clumsily turning the ship. The bow was crowded with people, many of whom were pointing at him and shouting something.
"They look like they're...trying to escape? Why?"
Hobbes asked, equally confused.
A roar that made one's blood freeze perfectly answered his question.
"roar!"
Half of the people on the deck were so frightened by the roar that they sat down on the ground.
After the "dark cloud" covering the Whalebone left and chased after the Imperial warship not far away, someone pointed at it and shouted stutteringly:
"A dragon...it's a dragon!"
It must be fake, right?
How could there be a fucking dragon on the Broken Sea?
The bearded captain had only this question in his mind when he saw the black dragon's black membrane wings spread like dark clouds and its razor-sharp scales shining like obsidian in the sun.
How many years has it been since Utu, the loyal companion of Terra I, returned to the Dragonbone Islands? Although the dragon sword emblem is a household name as the symbol of the Riel Empire, for the people of the Empire today, dragons are basically equivalent to legendary creatures.
And now suddenly one appears out of nowhere?
"Captain, what should we do?"
The first mate at the side shook the captain's shoulders vigorously to wake him up from his shocked trance.
"Activate the defense spell on the Starlight Tower to the maximum!"
He pointed tremblingly at the two tapered wooden towers next to the mast.
"I have already informed you of this. What else?"
Besides? What else could they do when a full-grown black dragon appeared here? Could they negotiate with it?
The destructive power of an adult black dragon is basically equivalent to that of a legendary wizard. Because of its natural ability to fly, perfect mobility, and indestructible body, an adult dragon can often directly change the situation on the battlefield.
The captain took a few deep breaths of the salty air, suppressed his fear and shouted to the people around him:
"Stay...stay calm! Put away all your bows and spells, and don't anger that dragon!"
Hearing this, the sailors who had already prepared their bows or crossbows, as well as the magicians whose spell outlines were flashing on their spell media, hesitated and put down their weapons.
Seeing this, the captain lowered his voice and added:
"Don't attack it, and don't test it. This dragon is most likely just passing by. Since it didn't attack the smuggling ship when it appeared over it just now, it has no reason to attack us either."
"But Captain, it's coming our way..."
A sailor standing next to him said tremblingly.
"Don't panic, maybe it just happens to be going in this direction..."
The captain stared at the black dragon and said nervously.
This sentence is more like comforting himself than answering the sailor's question.
Or in other words, you are deceiving yourself.
It was not until the black dragon circled over the warship, with sparks coming out of its mouth and preparing to exhale, that he finally came to his senses.
"Hit, hit, hit! Hit this beast down quickly!"
As he finished his words, hot breath spewed out from the mouth of the huge black dragon.
…………
"Dragon! That's really a dragon! Just like what's described in the legend!"
"My grandma would never believe this..."
"If I can make it back alive, I'll have a story to tell my grandchildren."
"Bless the Holy Spirit, bless the Holy Spirit, bless the Holy Spirit..."
"I still don't understand, where on earth did it come from?"
Amazing, panicking, praying, excited, uneasy...
Compared to the Imperial warship that was chosen as the target by the black dragon, the sailors on the Whalebone showed more colorful emotions besides fear. They watched the huge black dragon hovering over the warship with excitement or fear, and occasionally let out heartfelt exclamations.
The man who caused all this - William, asked Liz to stop releasing the Witch Mist when their attention was completely attracted by the black dragon.
Releasing the Witch's Mist is a considerable consumption for her, so it is better to use it as little as possible unless it is an emergency.
In addition, using [Shadow of Truth] to materialize an ordinary adult black dragon should be enough.
William thought as he looked at the black dragon in the distance spewing breath filled with black curses towards the warship.
After all, top dragon species like the golden dragon or the immortal stone dragon were extremely rare even in the era a thousand years ago.
It's just dealing with a wooden warship. A breath of black dragon equivalent to a legendary fire spell is enough... huh?
William's eyes twitched.
At the moment when the dark breath fell, a silver-white barrier suddenly emerged from the two wooden towers on the warship that were shining with deep starlight, blocking the breath and the hull.
But they collapsed at the first touch like the thin and brittle ice floating on the lake. Almost in an instant, the two towers exploded one after another, and the sails on the masts were instantly ignited.
But the power of this breath only went so far. The scene that William had imagined, where the entire warship was burned to leave only the keel structure, did not happen.
It was not that there was some force that blocked this powerful breath, but that the black dragon stopped.
William tried to continue giving orders to attack, but the black dragon did not respond at all.
I can’t do this…
The black dragon's will was transmitted to William.
With the enhanced vision of [Eagle Eye Technique], William quickly found the reason why the black dragon stopped.
That was a woman.
A short woman with chestnut hair and wearing a dress that was completely out of place in the sea.
At this moment, she was leaning against the door leading to the deck, panting, covering her stomach with one hand and holding a bronze metal plate with the other.
The metal plate was engraved with an image of a dragon and a sword, as well as a rough, sharp-angled symbol.
I cannot attack my own master.
The black dragon's will was once again transmitted to William's mind.
