Chapter 73: Templars vs The Navy I
Sailing atop the Translucent Seas, heading east, were three ships drifting atop the water in an inverted wedge formation.
At the head were two powerful ships of equal size; however, one was much more powerful than the other.
On the left sailed Captain Lionheart, Third Mate of the Templars. On the right was Captain Onoes, who was Lionheart’s right-hand man.
Sailing behind them was a ship that was also large; however, it was lacking in many areas. The two ships up front had to slow down in order to accommodate it.
This ship belonged to Captain Roseus of the Redflowers.
They had been sailing for hours and were now deep into the night. The navigators of the ships were scouting out the dangers as well, but more importantly, were searching for their allies.
These allies that they were supposed to be meeting could already be seen over the horizon. When Roseus caught sight of them, he struggled to contain his awe.
He was expecting to see a plethora of brigantine ships sailing to join them, creating an even larger fleet.
Instead, he only saw a singular ship. The largest ship he had ever seen.
Zaliah confirmed the details of what exactly this ship was.
A Galleon. The direct progression after a Brigantine, and in other words, a Tier III pirate ship.
It had three masts holding up three sets of sails. Its general size was larger, capable of holding up to 150 crew members if it wished. It had several guns on deck, with twenty total cannons defending all of its sides. It was a ship designed for combat; therefore, it had no problems sailing alone.
The ship soon joined the formation, sailing up front and creating a diamond shape with the other fleet ships. It flew the flag of the Brain, similar to the other Templars; however, this ship was clearly much more important than the others, which was why it sailed at the front.
This ship belonged to the First Mate of the Templar Pirates, Captain Bonnflammé. The man who was second only to the Templar Admiral.
As they sailed in this new formation, they created an aura in the waters that could be sensed by many ships and dangers in the distance.
Creatures didn’t dare attack them, and merchants turned tail and ran, fearful of the fate they might meet.
But the fleet’s target was not the merchants or the creatures of the sea. It was the fleet of ships that they could sense coming towards them.
Only a few nautical miles away, three ships approached them head-on.
This was the second time Roseus caught sight of a ship that truly blew his mind.
At the centre of the navy fleet was a ship slightly larger than the Galleon. Its design was sleek and seemed to contain no wood, unlike Lionheart’s ship, which still had a traditional pirate’s look to it. This navy ship, however, didn’t even use sails. It was like a metal monster, using only steam and other mysterious powers to sail the oceans.
The ship’s metal hull was covered in thick armour, making it look almost impossible to damage. Large cannons lined its sides, while a tall smokestack released dark clouds into the air. Every part of the ship seemed carefully built for war, giving it a cold and intimidating presence as it sailed through the water. It even had a giant turret located on the highest part of the ship that likely fired automatic rounds.
This was a Destroyer. The third tier of navy ships. Flanking it on either side were two Warships, which were the Tier II navy ships, equivalent to a brigantine.
Overall, the navy’s numbers were estimated to be roughly 300, whilst the pirate numbers were closer to 250.
Roseus and his crew had to swallow their nerves as they continued sailing. The sounds of blaring horns and war drums echoed across the ocean. Weapons were drawn as the distance between the two parties slowly closed.
However, the crew members didn’t yet draw their personal weapons. The start of this battle would be between ships, as well as the aid of certain powers.
This would begin as a battle of guns and cannons.
...
A specific horn sounded from Captain Lionheart’s ship. It was the horn that would signal when to pull off a specific manoeuvre.
As the three navy ships approached side by side, the pirates decided that they would position themselves to the left, creating a diagonal line that would allow their side cannons to be aimed directly at the navy ship closest to their left.
The reasoning for this was simple. Since they were outnumbered by their opponents in crew numbers, but outnumbered them in ship count, they decided that splitting up immediately would be foolish. Instead, it would be wiser to target all of their forces at one ship and take it down immediately, taking full advantage of their ship count advantage.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
...
Boom!
Armageddon was the last ship in line, which meant that its fire was delayed. On top of that, it did not have traditional cannons. However, it still managed to get its shots off, using boulders that were placed in the ceremony circle before launching it across the distance towards their enemy.
Captain Lionheart, Captain Bonnflammé, and Captain Onoes each fired their cannonballs in succession. However, only one of the strikes was effective.
Armageddon’s cannon fire was useless, crashing against a silver force field that surrounded the enemy ship like a bubble. Captain Onoes’ and Lionheart’s cannon fire was also ineffective, but it managed to create a small crack in the silver force field.
It was only Bonnflammé’s flaming orange cannon fire that managed to pass right through the force field, crashing into the hull with tremendous force.
Following this, the Bonnflammé ship blew a horn again before loosing another wave of flaming cannon fire.
This horn was a signal to Lionheart and Onoes to switch their cannon fire to the flame element. This could be done by severely heating their cannonballs or quickly changing their ship modifications. The method didn’t matter, as long as they found a way to capitalise on the force field’s weakness to the fire element.
Five seconds later, the Lionheart ship was loosing flaming cannonballs of its own, and twelve seconds after that, the Onoes ship joined them.
They launched a barrage of ranged attacks onto one of the singular ship and, so far, had met no retaliation.
As for the Redflowers, they currently had no part to play in this battle.
