Biter's Bay, Fingers Peninsula, Witch Island.
On the chaotic naval battlefield, fire, arrows, and stone projectiles were things that could take a life at any moment. At this moment, even if you were a Knight with extraordinary skills, you could very well die the next second.
Before war, everyone was equal. No matter how noble your bloodline, you could still be killed by a crossbow bolt, just like the saying on the continent of Essos: "Valar Morghulis" (All men must die).
This phrase ran through the entire TV series in the previous life. It was like a curse, making everyone unable to avoid it, only able to helplessly wait for the characters of fate to fall upon them.
The soldiers of the Vale Allied Fleet were like this. They could only pray that their Seven Gods would protect them, because the Dragon's terrifying Dragonfire seemed ready to fall on them at any moment.
And now, only the collision between ships could make the Vale soldiers feel at ease, because this meant that the entire ship's crew had avoided the Dragon's attack.
Because, through burning ship after burning ship, the Vale soldiers already knew that the Dragon would not attack their own ships, and that there was a Dragon Rider on top of each Dragon.
In the past nearly a hundred years, Dragons had become extinct on the continent of Westeros. Only through the bards could people learn about the terror of these magical creatures.
But today, the soldiers of the Vale Allied Fleet truly felt the terror of these magical beasts. If they were hit by Dragonfire, they might be lucky enough to die quickly.
But if they were attacked by Frost Breath or Crystal Breath, then these soldiers would experience a fate worse than death. Their bodies would be frozen stiff, or their hands and feet would be frozen off. That was considered the best-case scenario.
The most terrifying thing was when people were covered in glass crystals. Their bodies and limbs would lose their ability to move, and the feeling of the crystals sticking to their skin would make them want to tear them off. When they did, whether it was a scratch on their palm or a tear of skin and flesh, it would cause extreme pain.
This series of problems deeply troubled the commanders on the fleet. After the soldiers survived the Dragon's Breath attack, how much fighting spirit would they have left? This was a question that no commander could answer.
Allen Stone was a Knight of the Oath from Old Anchor. He had served the Marco Family for three years. This time, he would lead 200 experienced family soldiers to assault the largest vanguard warship of the enemy.
As the second wave of the attack, they were all using Longships, with the goal of quickly engaging the enemy in close combat because they had no way to defend against the Dragon's attacks.
Although the high-ranking nobles had foreseen the difficulty of dealing with the Dragon, when they truly faced the Dragon, all their arrangements seemed so powerless.
"In the name of the warrior, I ask you to be brave. In the name of the Father, I ask you to be just. In the name of the Holy Mother, I ask you to protect the weak and the innocent... cough, cough..."
On the crowded deck of the longship, a bald, middle-aged monk was reciting prayers for the Knights kneeling before him. However, before he could finish, a crossbow bolt pierced his throat.
Blood gushed down the monk's throat and into his lungs, causing him to cough and convulse violently. When the surrounding Knights reacted, attempting to help him, they were horrified to discover that the monk was already dead.
A wave of sorrow spread through the crowd. But before the Knights could fully grieve, a swarm of arrows rained down upon the deck.
"Defend! What's going on? Why can their arrows arc so far? Quickly, quickly!"
Allen Stone shouted orders, commanding the surrounding soldiers to defend themselves. For this naval battle, the Knights of the Vale Allied Fleet had abandoned their plate armor in favor of new composite armor.
Despite the initial confusion, the soldiers, led by the Knights, quickly established defensive formations. Some crossbowmen seized the opportunity to retaliate.
Boom, boom, boom!
With three consecutive impacts, the Stag was caught in a pincer attack by three longships. The lead longship, being smaller than the Stag, suffered severe damage to its bow.
Some of the crew on the longship weren't steady on their feet and were knocked to the deck by the impact, with many unlucky souls screaming as they tumbled into the sea.
One by one, grappling hooks, deployed by the soldiers, spread over the Stag like a spiderweb. After pulling the ships closer, the Vale soldiers secured the hooks to the vessel.
Then, various ladders were brought into play. Once in position, the Vale Knights and soldiers brandished their weapons and charged.
Some soldiers, veterans of countless sea battles, used the ropes on the masts to swing themselves directly onto the Stag's rigging.
They were first "greeted" by a barrage of arrows and stone projectiles. This initial assault inflicted heavy losses on the Vale soldiers on the longship to the left. However, as the Vale soldiers continued their relentless assault, both sides soon engaged in close combat.
The circle formation of the thug soldiers and crossbowmen stood firm, like a reef weathering the waves, holding off wave after wave of attacks from the Vale soldiers.
Almost every warship of the Narrow Sea Fleet bore the same scene. The soldiers fought fiercely, and the battle gradually reached a stalemate.
"Awooo..."
Just then, a loud roar, like a leopard's call, suddenly echoed from within the ship's hold. The towering Rakshasa King burst out, brandishing his four blades and attacking the Vale soldiers.
The Rakshasa King's speed was like a whirlwind, and many Vale soldiers didn't even have time to react before their heads were lopped off.
Allen Stone watched the Rakshasa King move through the soldiers as if they weren't even there. He immediately ordered the soldiers to surround and attack him. But against the incredibly swift Rakshasa King, the ordinary soldiers were just cannon fodder.
The Rakshasa King's attacks were swift and powerful; almost no one could withstand a single blow. Without heavy armor and tower shields to protect them, the soldiers found it difficult to defend against the Rakshasa King's attacks.
Because of their massive size, the Abyssal Hydras weren't on the Narrow Sea Fleet. Marco would use transport ships to bring them over after clearing the shipping lanes.
The system soldiers had excellent physical conditioning. Aside from a few exceptions, most could adapt well to fighting at sea, and their only objective was to protect the fleet.
The true main force for the counterattack was the amphibious unit composed of the Abyssal Nagas. This was a plan Marco had come up with after obtaining the Abyssal Nagas from the Three Sisters Islands.
The "Stag," as the vanguard warship, would easily become the target of enemy attacks. Therefore, Marco specifically placed the powerful Rakshasa King here.
Allen Stone, who was shouting loudly, quickly caught the Rakshasa King's attention. After the Rakshasa King, wielding four longswords, dismembered a soldier who had charged forward, he leaped several times and landed directly near Allen Stone.
Although the guards around Allen Stone were somewhat afraid of the Rakshasa King's terrifying appearance, they still bravely charged forward for their commander.
A burst of fierce sword light flashed, and the next second, these guards wailed and turned into a pile of corpses. The four slender swords in the Rakshasa King's hands were like a storm of blades, aided by his immense strength and superb swordsmanship, and in a short while, he eliminated the soldiers around Allen Stone.
Bang...
Two slender swords slashed diagonally at Allen Stone from left to right. Caught off guard and forced to defend, Allen Stone had no way to resist and was directly knocked away, shield and all.
The terrifying impact sent Allen Stone crashing into three people. The force then continued, sending all four of them flying backward.
Subsequently, Allen Stone, with blood flowing from his mouth and nose, fell into the sea. Faintly, in his dazed state, Allen Stone seemed to see strange, large fish. But when he regained a bit of consciousness,
he saw an ugly fish head. This instantly startled Allen Stone, who was in a semi-conscious state. But before he could react, he was torn to pieces by five Abyssal Mermen. Then, this somewhat famous Vale Knight was devoured by the surrounding mermen.
In another part of the battlefield, a different scene was quietly unfolding…
"Huu… huu…"
Heavy breaths echoed in the enclosed hold. Apple, a soldier from the Vale, was searching for his brother in the wreckage of the sinking longship. The seawater was slowly rising, now reaching his knees, forcing him to hurry.
Apple had been with his brother, preparing to assault an enemy sailing ship with their officers. They were both from Seagull Town, answering the call of the Church and the lord to strike against the evil invaders.
However, a sudden attack by a Blue Whale had struck their longship. Its massive body rammed the longship directly into a burning galley. Coincidentally, the masts of the two ships had become entangled.
The galley's flames instantly ignited the longship's sails. The fire grew more intense, quickly painting the surrounding sea red.
Just as everyone was at a loss, a dragon's roar echoed from the sky. Feeling the threat to his life, Apple instinctively dove into the water, escaping the Dragonfire.
The area where Apple was located instantly burst into flames. Many soldiers around him turned into human torches, wailing as they fell into the water.
Although Apple had escaped, his brother, Amy, wasn't so lucky. He and some soldiers had managed to escape into the hold, but burning sails and shattered mast fragments blocked the exit.
Due to the collision between Apple's longship and the oar-powered warship, the warship's keel and mast had become entangled with the longship, creating a delicate balance. Neither ship sank, nor could the longship move away.
At this moment, the stern of the longship, ravaged by Dragonfire, was leaking everywhere. In a short time, the ship began to list.
Before falling into the water, Apple had seen his brother escape into the hold. After hitting the water, he took advantage of a gap in the wrecked ship to get inside. But after searching several places, he still couldn't find his brother.
While searching for his brother, Apple discovered many large and small holes in the hull of the longship. Seawater was steadily flooding in, forcing him to speed up his search.
Just then, a strange sound reached Apple's ears. He quickly pulled out the dagger from his waist and moved towards the source of the sound.
The pungent stench and the smell of the sea made Apple frown slightly, but soon he heard a faint cry of battle and the sound of flesh tearing.
At this moment, in a certain area of the hold at the bow of the ship, five Mermaid Slaves were wielding crude bone weapons, attacking three wounded human soldiers.
In a nearby corner, an Abyssal Merman was tearing apart a human corpse. Lying next to it was another of its kind.
But this one had already breathed its last. Scattered around were four human corpses and five Mermaid Slave corpses; they seemed to have perished in the recent fight.
Three short daggers were embedded in the dead Abyssal Merman. The Abyssal Merman feasting on the human also had a deep wound on its back, visible to the bone, but it was now healing at a visible rate.
Suddenly, an oil lamp fell in front of the Abyssal Merman. It seemed to be wrapped in cloth, and the flames quickly ignited due to the combined action of oil and fire.
The Abyssal Merman had been on guard since the oil lamp shattered. It had even torn off a human leg to use as a weapon because its own weapon was stuck in the last dead human.
The Abyssal Merman scanned its surroundings warily, but found nothing unusual. It sniffed the air, catching a whiff of a pungent, burnt smell.
Soon, however, the merman noticed something amiss. It felt like there was one more human corpse than there should be, but the intensity of the recent battle had prevented it from counting properly.
So, the merman, wielding the bloody leg, approached the nearest corpse and slammed it down. The moment it connected, another "corpse" leaped up and plunged a dagger into its "big eye."
"Hiss…"
The Abyssal Merman groaned in pain, its hands flailing wildly with the human leg it clutched. But soon, the merman felt something pierce its neck. The excruciating pain made it want to roar, but only a bloody whimper escaped.
Apple, dragging a flaming cloth, charged into the midst of the mermaid slaves. Taking advantage of the mermaids' confusion, he swung his short sword, felling two of them.
The three human soldiers seized the opportunity and attacked, killing the remaining mermaid slaves. Seeing his still-living brother, Apple burst into tears of joy, shouting his brother's name.
"Brother… I… ah… ugh…"
Before Apple could finish, a broken spear pierced his throat, turning his words into a gurgling rasp. Then, a hideous, ugly, one-eyed merman head bit off half of his head.
The one-eyed merman, its wound still bleeding, roared at the stunned Vale soldiers, then pounced. The empty warehouse echoed with the soldiers' shouts and roars.
The wreckage of the longship slowly sank, water steadily flooding the ship's stern compartments. The time until it was completely submerged was drawing near.
With the addition of the sea beast and merman forces, the battle began to turn overwhelmingly in one direction. Under the cooperation of the sea beasts, the attacking longships and the ships attempting to board were stripped away from the ships of the narrow sea fleet one by one.
Then, what awaited them was the attack of Dragonfire and Fire Phoenixes. This attack lasted for a long time, until the Dragons and Griffins exhausted their stamina, which finally gave the Vale Allied Fleet a moment to breathe.
Rona Royce commanded his flagship, weaving through the battlefield. He relied on this new longship to avoid the attacks of Dragonfire and Griffins time and again.
However, when Rona Royce saw the figures of the mermen and Blue Whales, he already knew that he had completely failed this time. He said to the trumpeter beside him with some helplessness:
"Sound the retreat! We have already failed. Take advantage of the Dragons resting and retreat quickly... What's going on?"
Rona Royce's order was interrupted before he could finish speaking by a violent shaking. He grabbed the swaying table and quickly looked out the window.
Then, Rona Royce's pupils suddenly shrank, and he saw something terrifying...
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