Chapter 389
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As there were one-thousand people scattered across a defense line which was about three miles long, the defensive power was very low . Fortunately, in the early stages of construction, Saleen had already regarded this place as a military-oriented city . Both sides of the port had towers which were built by piles of white rocks . Inside the towers were magic arrays which maintained a constant temperature . Aach tower had an alchemical crossbow with a range of over eight-hundred meters .
These white towers had two stories, and soldiers could be stationed on the first story . No basements were dug, they could only hold the fort until their last breath . Such buildings were not used for obstructing enemies . This tower could defend against a bombardment by a magic stone artillery . Once the soldiers hid inside, they would not need to worry about the attack from a warship anymore .
Now that more than one-hundred miles of the sea was frozen, the warships had no way of getting close at all . The towers' function was only limited to using the alchemical crossbows to seal off the frozen waters .
There were dozens of such towers, and each tower contained an alchemical crossbow . A temperature-maintaining magic array allowed crossbow-type weapons to be kept in a good condition . Since these towers were almost sealed, there was no corrosion from the moisture of the sea . The alchemical crossbows were maintained in a state of battle readiness .
At this moment, Daniel was hiding in one of the towers, and beside him was an intermediate-sized alchemical crossbow . This weapon was also the heaviest one Saleen could purchase . A large alchemical crossbow had a range of several miles, but Saleen did not have the ability to procure it yet .
Observing through the alchemical binoculars, Daniel saw a blinding shine of light, and on top of it was a dense formation of black dots approaching from a distance . Even without using magic to calculate, Daniel could also estimate that there were at least six-hundred people in this group of invaders .
If there were no grand swordmasters or grand mages in this six-hundred strong crowd, then Daniel would be confident of killing them all . The enemy had twenty ships . Given a fleet of such scale, grand mages were definitely present, not to mention the grand swordmasters .
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There were far too many magic beasts at sea . Without a certain degree of power, the strongest of ships would also sink .
At this point in time, Daniel began to miss Saleen . If Saleen was around, Daniel would not have to be under so much pressure . He simply needed to wait for orders . Daniel was never a person who chased after authority . He just wanted to practice magic and become a free and mighty mage .
Currently, Daniel could only analyze the situation cautiously in order not to make any mistakes . The enemy had only deployed a ship's worth of manpower, they did not launch a large-scale invasion . This gave Daniel a choice . He could either kill all of them, or continue to bait the enemy to increase their manpower . If Daniel chose to kill all of them right now, the enemy might choose to retreat, or even flee right away with the two warships . If that was the case, Saleen would suffer huge losses .
Those two warships from Sregl Island were definitely worth more than a million gold coins . If they were to be rebuilt, Saleen would need several years . He did not have trained workers, a dock, or sufficient mages . Manufacturing a large warship was so much more challenging than producing a twenty meter long boat . If any problem occurred in any stage of the production process, the warship could simply disintegrate in water .
Saleen might own the Pan's Turtle alchemical boat at the moment . If it was spotted by the sorcerers, it would lose the element of a surprise attack . In order to solidify one's standing in the northern region, one would still need to own large warships . Since Lex had taken one warship and had yet to return, the two remaining warships formed the backbone of Saleen's foundation at the moment .
If the enemies managed to take off with the two warships, Daniel suspected that Saleen might break his bones and use them to build a new warship . Be that as it may, Daniel had only so much manpower, and he did not have any ships with him . In order to get back the two warships, he had to rely on his wits .
"Diyabannersa, pretend to be a grade-6 spirit . Then, go and capture two men . Take note, do not kill them . " When Daniel finished speaking, he wrote down his plan . Then, he sent some swordsmen to return to the temple and report to Kredian .
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The swordsmen then left with Daniel's letter . Daniel picked up the alchemical binoculars once again, observing the situation on the ocean .
This six-hundred strong team was extremely close, and they did not have any intention to conceal themselves . When they were about three miles away, Daniel could finally take a good look at their formation .
This was obviously a well-trained army, there were three mages in these six-hundred men . According to the composition of the Qin's army, every brigade would contain a mage . Clearly, the enemies were neither normal mercenaries nor pirates . The three mages were clad in gray magic robes, this meant that they were at least at grade-4 already .
Daniel was upset . A grade-4 mage was very useful in a battle . The enemy only had a six-hundred man team, did they really need to deploy three grand mages?
Daniel might not know anything about the combat strategy of an army, but in a large-scale mercenary battle . The presence of a mage could influence the outcome . If the three mages blessed the swordsmen with some magical ability, this six-hundred man team would be a tough nut to crack .
On the crescent-shaped island, Daniel had positioned more than three-thousand skeleton soldiers for an ambush . There were also another less than two-thousand skeleton soldiers waiting behind him . With the three grand mages, the skeleton soldiers would be rendered totally insignificant .
These five-thousand skeleton soldiers were summoned by the three kings . If any of them got killed, there would not be any replenishment available . This was because Saleen had taken Banchajanna with him, so it would be impossible to summon so many skeleton soldiers again . When each king summoned spirits on their own, they could only summon six-hundred skeletons at most . The three kings would need to coordinate in order to possess huge powers .
Even if the enemies retreated and Daniel secured a victory, the construction of the city would also be delayed as the skeletons were deployed into battle . Daniel got so depressed . As he stared furiously at the three grand mages, he thought, "Where did these people come from?"
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These grand mages were obviously not from Alchemy City, because their magic robes looked a little shabby . The dozens of swordsmen protecting the mages were all high-spirited . Had they been swordsmen from Alchemy City, they would surely be very low-profile, and would not put on such expressions .
When this six-hundred man team was only twelve-hundred meters away, they stopped advancing . Instead, they got into a formation . The three grand mages began blessing the swordsmen at the front with the Potence Spell and the grade-2 Windspeed Skill . To the grand mages, these spells only had a wee bit of depletion . After blessing forty swordsmen with the spells, the grand mages then fell back, all the while being protected by those arrogant swordsmen .
At a distance of twelve-hundred meters, it would be hard to strike a target unless a large alchemical crossbow was used . The enemy was clearly well-versed in the workings of military equipment . The mages did not advance recklessly, for fear that they would meet with a sneak attack and consume their magic chords incessantly .
On the sea two-hundred miles out, twenty warships were dragging the two war trophies along, as anchors were dropped just outside the frozen layer . The flagship was four stories tall . A pair of alchemical binoculars over three meters long was installed on its uppermost story . Such huge alchemical binoculars could spot a target from over thirty miles away . Any farther and the target would disappear off the horizon, and the alchemical binoculars would lose sight of the target .
In the captain's cabin, a man clad in an enormous armor was seated in the middle, surrounded by more than forty people . These people wore armor which contained a myriad of colors, and the armor was styled extravagantly . According to the standards of Qin, this aggressive-looking armor was too flashy and impractical . In fact, many components on this armor would affect its defensive ability .
"General, why didn't you send the main body to mount a direct attack from the shore?" a mage could not stand the silence and asked his leader who was seated in the center .
"Mage Youxi Maso, our fleet has met with a storm, causing us to lose four ships . The remaining ships have to go through maintenance in order to regain their speed . If the enemy has more warships, our fleet will be in grave danger if we launch an all-out land attack . "
The man who was addressed as "General" gave due respect to the mage who was clad in a black magic robe . A black-robed mage was an honored guest in any country . Even though the general spoke respectfully, he behaved in a condescending manner, unlike any other nobles on the mainland .
"We have twenty-thousand men, sufficient to wreck the Lianyun City's fortress . General, please allow me to go forth using my magic chariot . In at most three days, we will be able to conquer this place . "
"It's better to be safe than sorry . This time round, the eighteen countries have merged their soldiers to invade the Myers mainland . It was a bad omen when we ran into that storm . This is obviously a warning from the God of Wind . " The general, clad in a colorful piece of armor, spoke domineeringly . His words were full of madness . If the Holy See's people were here, he would be labeled as a heretic . God of Wind? On the plane of the Myers mainland, there were no other gods other than the Lord of Glory .
"General, the spies have reported that Qin is in internal turmoil while Phoenix is in an absolute mess . Since we have been blown to the northern region by the storm, we can consider occupying Phoenix from the north first . "
"Of course . We have over twenty-thousand elite warriors among many other magic chariots and magic cannons . It will not be a problem for us to conquer such a small town . I am just worried that there are still remnants of Alchemy City here . Look at those two warships, they are obviously designed like those ships found in Alchemy City . In a real head-on battle, these two warships will give us a headache . Don't be complacent, now that the eighteen state Allied Army is separated, we should not alarm the Qin Empire . When we go ashore this time around, we cannot let a single enemy get away . "
"Yes, General!" The rest of the generals got up and bowed, as they responded boisterously . In the eyes of these people, their fleet had the ability to destroy this small town which was located near the shore . Naturally, they should not even let one enemy escape . By using six-hundred people for the first assault, they wanted to frighten the enemy first, so that the flying puppets overhead would be able to locate the enemy's hideout swiftly . If the enemy did not own any other ships, then they would mount a full offensive .
The large alchemical binoculars, the flying puppets, and the magic compass on the flagship were used to scan the nearby waters to prevent other warships from approaching . The armed merchant ships had tossed dozens of metallic pontoons into the sea, as a temporary dock used for mounting the frozen layer was being built .
The edge of the frozen layer was not stable . In order to transport the siege equipment, the frozen layer had to be further reinforced . The eight armed merchant ships were not even carrying any cargo . Each one of them was filled with two-thousand fully-equipped warriors and various kinds of military appliances such as catapults, siege hammers, flying puppets, magic cannons, and war puppets .
These items were gathered from eighteen different coastal states . Hundreds of coastal states had been planning for this day for the past thousand years . The eighteen state Allied Army was just the beginning . The moment war broke out on the Myers mainland, these hundreds of island states located in the eastern waters would come forth and divide the mainland into smaller pieces .