One after another, the lights began to fade. The accumulation of warships melted back into the fog again. When the time comes, all this power will begin to move, and we will embark on the Great Voyage.
In the meantime, we have ourselves a small infusion of forces, and a few large and heavy boats with dozens of rowers on each. I had seen glass balls of explosive, fire, toxic and acid potions. I saw the boxes full of rectangular bottles with red and blue liquid. I saw the pipe with the divine bees - there were about two dozen aboard Swift.
We were still heading for the fleet. Then, there was a sharp guttural order:
“Command - Shining Example!”
And to the sound of solemn and terrible music, the flagship was enveloped in a golden bright light. The passing wind lifted many flags and brought out the sound of otherworldly flute.
We were now going along a narrow strip of water - hopefully, the captains knew their stuff. Otherwise, we would not pass ... Meaning death.
Behind our backs remained the main armada of the Sleepless, and behind that - the place where I once found and activated the spell of the Navigator. I hope I can pay that place a visit - just out of curiosity. The place is a landmark. But not today. Today we have very noisy and bloody affairs ahead of us.
We were heading to the Kvantonsky Rift at full speed.
Chapter fifteen.
Kvanton!
How does one determine where under the ocean lies a hidden underwater abyss, sixteen kilometers deep?
Well, probably, no how… unless the "good" underwater inhabitants highlight the rift with thousands of bright lights. In our case, this is how it was. The ocean itself was glowing from within! A mysterious and eerie greenish light was making the water glow. It was visible from a couple of kilometers at least, especially when viewed through a telescope.
At first, I saw the luminous ocean. Then, hundreds of foreign ships over the abyss- most of the sails were flat. I swallowed involuntarily, becoming too conscious of my digital saliva. I gave the telescope over into the greedy hands of the sentinel and moved to the rear of the combat bridge. I sat down on the broad bench, fastened a thick strap around my waist, and folded my hands on my knees. Everyone was now looking at the enemy.
Three hundred ships - one hundred and fifty allies of the Sleepless.
Three hundred submarines - almost all of them were allies, although I heard snatches of phrases, which referred to the bottom ten ships as 'platforms' personally owned by the Sleepless. In this case, the word "underwater boat" meant one of the following: whales, giant octopuses, sharks of all kinds, stingrays, barracudas, dinosaurs with vicious tiny eyes and a huge canines, spikes, claws and tails. There were four jellyfish - each the size of a two-story building, and very bright. The tentacles were filled with electricity and poison. Inside the swaying bodies of jellyfish, achilots can be seen controlling the gelatinous creatures. Jellyfish were the personal bodyguards of Sapphire Swift, protecting her from any threat from below.
And the whole crowd of Sleepless came here with one goal - to beat up everyone in sight.
Are we hiding?
No.
That would be impractical. The sky above is full of flying monsters. There are achilot spies at the bottom. There are spells scattered directly over the water.
The enemy was already well aware.
The enemy ships began their charge. Dozens of birds, bats, and some dragons rushed forth.
“Full speed ahead!” Rang out the voice of the Black Baroness.
Making sure that the strap was securely held me, I took a glass from the deck and poured myself some wine. Rolled it around in my mouth.
“Wait! Wait!”
I took another sip. Hmm ... how would you describe this taste?
“Wait! Wait!”
Tart acidity? Is that possible?”
“Wait!”
“Oh!” I thought. “A light fruity mustiness!”
“Fire!!!”
Sapphire Swift exploded. Or so I thought, when from it was launched a sea of monstrous projectiles, fire, green, smoke, acid, lightning, ice spears, arrows, stone balls, explosive potions, light and darkness all at the same time.
Everything in front of us disappeared as the fires of hell roared and covered a good portion of the water.
Bam! Baam! BAM!
Swift slowly slowed down, allowing the rest to catch up with us. But the fire did not stop.
I did not see anything - because of the thick poisonous smoke?
With a wild and wicked cry, a dragon tumbled through the fog as though he had just learned to fly. A few dozen arrows and spears were stuck in the body of the animal. It was occupied by one person only- a warrior in blackened armor and a helmet pressed against the dragon's scales, guiding him in a dive. He was going directly for us, shouting something furious and enthusiastic at the same time.
The Grebehrok sitting on the upper deck knocked the lizard out of the way, breaking his wings. With a splash, the ocean swallowed the dragon, and one of the tentacles of the jellyfish casually waded through the water to the warrior. Several sharks flew at the dragon, beating the water.
“Fire!”
Having taken a tiny respite, Swift again charged forward at full steam, entering into the smoky veil that hung above the water.
“Strike! Hit! Hit!” Yelled a tower watchman, who was managing to see something. “Ooh! A lot of hits! H-hold o-o-on-n-n!”
First I heard a slight hiss and then a buzz, gaining momentum with every moment .... Then I saw light and flickering sparks which began to appear in the smoke, and were rapidly approaching ....
“Healers! Keep us alive!”
B-B-BAH!
I was as if someone had hit the ship with a sledgehammer ... or at least, I thought so. I was thrown up, and only the belt kept me on the bench, and from flying off the bridge. The air shimmered with violent force, the magic shields groaned overload. We had walked right through death itself ... and walked towards something even more terrible.
“Fire!”
Swift jerked angrily. Into the smoky darkness were sent a few tons of deadly goodies. With a long strange sound from the foaming water, on the left side of the ship a thick tentacle lifted up like a nightmarish New Year's garland - on the tentacle were hanging sharks, dinosaurs, and other weird and glowing creatures gnawing on the flesh, trying to kill the limb.
“Command— Ram! Fire! Fire! Fire!”
The flagship reared and rushed forward, spitting fire. Crack!
We flew straight into something that could be nothing other than an enemy ship - and it looks like we collided head-on.
“Finish the enemy!”
A few dozen warriors ran forward, followed by mages, to the nose of the flagship. They rushed to the enemy soldiers. A moment, another ... and the soldiers clashed in a fierce battle right on the deck of Swift.
Sitting on the smoking bridge, I watched everything through the flashes of fire, squinting in the brightness. In spite of the war and the running lines of incoming information, I sat and drank wine. Smoothly and quietly. I was sitting in a very deliberate position, trying to copy the pictures I had seen of the generals.
Not for points. At the request of the Baroness.
On board, everyone should be bringing something to the team. So I, in all my glory, collapsed on the bench, drinking wine and waiting. For the one who would break through to the bridge and have time for a single attack. And who would it be? Who would go forth and attack the guy with a calm face, the imposing guy with glass in hand and intelligent expression?
Overall - I was the bait.
And the first who pecked at me, silently jumping over the railing, was a brisk achilot with moist skin, bulging eyes and gills twitching violently on the neck. He stopped for a tiny fraction of a second, and then he rushed at me, having tried to get me in the chest with two thin bone daggers with wavy blades covered with yellowish, oily film.
He got to my feet, where he died, when I kicked him in the face
with all my might and with the scroll of “Game of Legrand." The blotch in the middle of his forehead immediately sent the achilot to the revival location, and I took another sip of wine and looked up, ignoring the silvery cloud of mist at my feet.
I was not looking at the nose of an enemy flagship. I looked up - because above us, loomed a giant wave at a height of about twenty meters, filled with a monstrous amount of fish, turtles, and other hostile wildlife.
When you suddenly see a multi-ton death above you and nowhere to run, everything starts flashing before your eyes.
First, for some reason, I wanted to scream.
Then I thought about singing a combat verse.
Then about leaning back, opening his mouth and blurting out something cool and careless like - "Hi, baby." But I refrained.
And I looked down below.
The Ninth Wave was paces from us. And in front of me, next to the Baroness and Angry Ocean stood the newly appeared Malice. He was dressed in very powerful armor, definitely top notch for a battle mage. His fingers were studded with blue stones, his hands were positioned wide apart. Above, in the stormy sky, was spinning a spiral of light the color of blood. There were strange markings on the deck.
The wave was already very close. Swift was shooting at it as much as possible. But the many tons of water were inexorably closing in on us, and upon the other ships.
Malice, his back hunched, emitted a blinding, bright gray flash, and cried:
“The forgotten face of God! Mogualdeliarte!”
The air shivered and darkened, everything got cold, and a line of frost crept across the deck.
Something to do with ice?
No…
Woven from frost, smoke and light, a huge translucent neck hung over the nose of Sapphire Swift. If we saw the head and the back of the neck, then the face of the forgotten god giant was staring dead ahead, right at the giant wave.
A roar….
A roar so terrible that it shook me to the bone. The next achilot who tried to jump me was startled and slipped in surprise. I used another scroll, and the achilot froze and turned into a posthumous fog.
I raised my head .... And he saw the falling lumps of something ... gray. Among this strange jelly tumbled more or less intact monsters- but they were completely useless.
I do not know— how could you forget such a god, if his face is so frightening that seawater shrivels at its sight? And turns into slimy, gray dust. Is that even possible? A silly question - of course it is possible. Malice has just used it. One easy, graceful movement, and the slender girl in black leather was near another group of enemy paratroopers falling from the sky, casually breaking their neck. Silvery mist slipped between the fingers of the Baroness and her legs trampled over the “corpse” of the fallen warrior.
“Fire!”
Again the flagship sent a battalion into the field, a terrible downpour of death.
“Clear the battlefield!”
The half orc Ocean appeared with the divine bazooka on his shoulder. Nice. The trio of mages ran to the nose of Swift. The mages put their hands palms out and a howling funnel of air begun to swallow everything in sight- smoke, soot, dust and strange gray particles. Visibility somewhat improved. The largest, most potbellied and massive ship, was blazing like a candle. It is sails were burning. But it still was coming at us, aiming precisely at Swift.
“Go!”” called Ocean.
With a shrill squeal a dazzling white line cuts through the air. We heard nothing ... but the hit was obvious. The ship abruptly stopped in the water.
“Have it!”
“Here!”
Two more cries, and two more Nyushas were released onto the target.
“Slope!” The cry of the Baroness struck like a whip, and the flagship almost fell on his side, going into a sharp turn, which threatens to overturn us.
But one of the Mages softened the turn and straightened us, although three warriors had fallen in the water. However, such a quick and precise maneuver was well worth it.
Crack!
Another tower began to fall. From the broken nose of the enemy ship flew chips of wood and larger debris. Now we received two hits. The enemy did not hesitate to use their own divine bees. But Swift survived, and we were still alive. We did not drown.
Bam!
Fuck! This was really a hell of a blast! And a powerful one! And the glory to the gods of the game - not received by us, but by our enemy.
Not believing my eyes, I stared at the soaring multi-ton colossal ship! Its sails were inflated! It was learning to fly! Then the ship went nose down and pitifully cracked ... and tumbled like a wounded duck back into the ocean masts down. What the hell was that?
Quickly overtaking us and continuing to accompany us, the jellyfish hit something and there was a fountain of jet black, oily water. If it was the whales, then they were enraged…
“Bombers after them!” Ordered the Baroness. “Get them all! Where are the dragons? Where are my dragons ?!”
“Here,” Ocean pointed to where, through the clouds, some feisty black lizards were flying, carrying on their backs many passengers.
“Let’s not pity our stock! I allow them to die!” The Baroness flashed her eyes, snatched a telescope from a sailor. “Pirouettes with explosions at the end - that’s what I want to see!”
“Got it!”
I do not know what order was given, but the four dragons went up sharply, and disappeared into the clouds.
On either side of us, wild chaos prevailed. Dozens of ships made contact and fought. Their courses crossed, the noise of frequent collisions was deafening, there was fire everywhere- blazing amber oil spilled on the water and killed every living thing. I watched in horror as, ten meters from us, a burning achilot beat the water.
BAA-A-AHHH!
The meteor fallen from the sky took out five ships at once - three enemy ships and two of our ships, which simply vanished, along with the team. The water appeared to choke with thirst, a whirlpool appeared and instantly began to suck in ships by the dozen, including the sea of debris, the fire, the players and the monsters.
“Fire! Fire!”
The shield was still protecting the bridge. We were doing well. Ocean had been hit so hard in the chest that he was tossed onto the deck. Leaning over him was a grimy doctor, his arms shrouded in light. I turned immediately to activate a scroll. It released an army of locusts that devoured players. A couple of seconds and the enemies were dead ... and I had burned a whole bunch of gold coins, using my extremely expensive spells.
“Oh shit,” roared the doctor with delight.
I understood his wild delight - the water dinosaur who had jumped out of the water was trying to peel away a big shark that was clinging to its throat. Then both monsters were under the water again, continuing to battle in their native element.
“Come on!” Shouted Ocean, as the Baroness directed a look at the enemy ships, which had almost reached us.
“Now,” whispered the doctor, falling onto the bench next to me— “Now! Battle cry of the black dragons!”
Cry?...
Rather, a howl! A piercing, terrifying howl, which fills the soul with real terror of heaven. Four huge enemy ships ceased firing at us - death itself darted at them from the sky and the enemy fired their entire arsenal, including Nyusha, the white strokes tearing the clouds apart. But the wild howling did not stop ....
One! Two! Three! Four!
Four black lightning bolts strike from the skies!
And four ships fracture in half!
Beneath them, deep down under the water, flashed a bright light.... And the ocean exploded in agony into the sky, spilling hundreds of tons of water mixed with the moribund divers and monsters towards the heavens. Two more ships simply tumbled over, as if kicked down by a foot, and they began to sink.
“Kill them all!” The cry of the Baroness echoed far around, and shining artifact on her chest made the words heard by every ally “All of them to pieces! Today for dinner
, we eat divine crab soup! Fire! Fire! Fire!”
All the surviving Allied ships - both underwater and surface ones - fired at the same time. All in the span of a kilometer turned into hot steam populated by dying creatures and screaming players.
“Kill them all!! Every single one! Fire! Fire! Fire!”
All together, the noise of the fierce fighting, the shouts of players, the distorted faces, cries of rage and resentment - when the attack the enemy sends you first into the abyss, and then the revival - all together was a picture of amazing accuracy, a fantastic marine battles. The enraged face of the Black Baroness, her screams, full of bloodlust, ruthlessness, and certain martial madness - this was another part of it.
The Baroness could not lose her head. I agreed that it was her outlet, her adventure fully deserved, but she did not have to go all out like this. I understand it is a lot of pressure— thousands of eyes were watching us, this wild orgy of destruction. Perhaps millions of people do did not sleep, their eyes glued to the TV screens. And what did they see?
They see the rage of the Commander the Black Baroness upon her flagship, wishing everyone deaths. And her face close-up .... Her cruel words .... And deadly bits of magic careening along the boards Swift and hitting the target. Now enters the Red Baron in his famous armor, covered in soot- he is standing next to the elegant Baroness like a massive boulder, and on dark lips plays a cruel and menacing grin .... Yes, these pictures mean a lot. Interestingly, how much does the Baroness receive for use of this image? And does she not get paid for advertising? After all, it is now absolutely authentic. She can hardly be told apart from a real cruel bloodthirsty pirate, cutting off dozens of heads before breakfast…
Another thing is that all the spectators do not care about me - I am just someone on the back of bench, occasionally sending out a spell and finishes off the wounded. The "Great Navigator" is not a sign on my forehead. I am more like an additional security guard.
"Ros! Wow! " A message flashed before me— from Kira. “Your dad is here! He is preparing a special naval porridge with meat! Great, huh? And we will watch a naval battle, and I told him that you're doing that, too .... Your dad wants to know exactly where his son is, and how to reach him .... So .... "
The Way of the Clan 7 Page 30