Chapter 931: Ship Destruction (1/2)
The demonkin warships far surpassed the Martyr’s Palace in speed. They consistently avoided the head part where the main cannon was installed and launched a barrage of attacks from blind spots.
The Martyr’s Palace also had ballistae installed on the side and back. According to the established design, the giant warship would turn into a frightening platform of firepower after its completion—one with no blind spots. Assailants would have to face the attack of at least five to several dozen main cannons.
It was just that there were only a couple of them installed at this point, and they were quickly destroyed under the concentrated fire of the demonkin fleet. The entire Martyr’s Palace was like a giant beast with its fangs plucked out, destined to become food for the wolf pack despite its large body.
Qianye was standing on the Earth Dragon’s head at this point. After merging his consciousness with the palace, the massive creature became an extension of his body. With the gradual increase in the heart’s void origin power reserves and Qianye’s own strength, the connection between him and the Martyr’s Palace became clearer, tighter, and the airship became more agile.
At this moment, Qianye sensed an additional ability appearing in the Martyr’s Palace: Intimidation. The first one was the Earth Dragon’s innate ability to shuttle through space.
This was the Earth Dragon’s power while it was alive, a natural sense of awe exerted upon all living beings by a void colossus. Qianye wasn’t clear how effective Intimidation was, but he had faced the remnant will of the Void Colossus Chaos back in the year. Even under the cover of Sky Demon’s iron curtain, he had experienced full well the indefensible power of a void colossus. The two parties were simply not at the same level of existence.
This power of the Martyr’s Palace, however, was an ability the Earth Dragon’s skeleton had regained after its gradual regrowth. Compared to the Earth Dragon’s original intimidation, the intensity was less than a hundredth.
At this moment, Qianye was too busy with the demonkin airships to study the uses of Intimidation. The giant creature was being beaten up constantly as the ferocious firepower of the demonkin fleet carpeted the Martyr’s Palace. The two ballistae installed on the sides had been destroyed and the cannoneers killed. The two engines on the flanks had also suffered damage and were no longer functional. This reduced the vessel’s speed by a bit. If Qianye hadn’t ordered the men to put away the kinetic sails before the battle, it might’ve been destroyed as well.
However, Qianye wasn’t the least flustered. Despite their firepower, the demonkin warships weren’t able to destroy the Earth Dragon’s skeleton. Even the newly grown muscle was difficult to damage.
Most of the equipment installed on the airship had been damaged, but the core installations and crew were concentrated near the heart, inside the safe protection of the rib cage.
After many rounds of firing, the demonkin warships also noticed that most of their attacks were just wasted effort. It would take several giant ballista bolts striking the same area to destroy a small piece of the earth dragon’s flesh. And those table-sized defects would require fairly good eyesight to notice from a distance.
As expected of elite demonkin forces, they began to focus their fire on man-made structures, or even attempt to fire at the interior through the gaps in the skeleton. It was just that the natural gliding movement of the Martyr’s Palace was in a curved pattern. How could it be that easy to fire into the interior?
Inside the flagship, Linken’s eyes were cold. She snorted coldly with an expression full of dissatisfaction. The marquis nearby said, “Sire, it seems only the main cannon on your airship has enough firepower to blast through that strange airship’s defenses.”
Linkin said coldly, “A bunch of useless trash. They only know to attack constantly without even looking at the effects. Main cannon ammo is expensive.”
The marquis replied, “No one has seen such a warship before. It seems to be made from the remains of a void colossus. If we can capture it, the value of the harvested materials alone will allow you to build a new fleet.”
Linken nodded. “All hands, get ready to attack!”
The three-hundred-meter airship slowly moved out—dozens of pennants waved about as the giant ship rushed toward the giant flailing beast.
The hull of the flagship opened slowly to reveal a shockingly large cannon. Dozens of demonkin cannoneers loaded a bolt—one over ten meters long and one meter in radius—into the chamber, completing the firing preparations. The massive capstan spun around amidst the grinding of countless gears and chains, dragging the cannon into alignment with the Martyr’s Palace.
This was a superweapon upon which Linken’s widespread fame was built. This main cannon’s firepower was almost beyond the limits of every known warship—even a grand duke’s vessel might find it difficult to endure a square blow. All below the level of imperial battleships would suffer great damage with a single hit, and destroyers might even be blasted away on the spot.
Purely in terms of firepower, Linken’s flagship was superior to the vice-duke grade and right on the heels of a grand duke’s warship. Even in terms of overall combat strength, it was definitely a duke-grade vessel.
This kind of flagship would naturally consume vast amounts of resources. Normally, it would take a vice-duke several hundred years of accumulation to be able to produce a basic vessel at this level, followed by an endless stream of upgrades. Like a pit that could never be filled, it would usually take a lifetime to complete. Ordinary experts would never be able to afford a keel, let alone a duke-grade airship.
Only people like Linken—born of the famed Masefield clan—were able to build such a warship with the help of their families. That main cannon alone was equal to the basic value of a duke-grade warship.
Even with the help of her family, Linken had to spend dozens of years to gradually upgrade her airship to this state.