Chapter 233: If the Sky is an Enemy
Obin Mabru thought the explosive power would surely not be enough. However, it was directed in a clear direction.
‘...Wind!’
The flames from the explosion didn’t spread from a center point in a spherical manner. Instead, the fire spread sharply, leading to fragments of the airship dancing in the flames. The fragments spread out wide like tree roots and reached the entire fleet. The explosive power was so well-directed that even the furthest transport ship was affected.
Toolbo looked at what happened and said, "S…scientifically this is an impossible coincidence!"
That meant it wasn't a coincidence.
Each transport ship caught fire, and flames spread on the hulls, making holes bigger.
The ground wasn't visible yet.
'Did it annihilate them?'
However, perhaps because the explosion didn't focus on one point and spread out instead, Laitla, who was falling down in the air, could be seen moving. Then Aruna growled and prepared to flap its wings again.
Sung-Woon said to the three apostles.
-Come back.
Of course, the three apostles were moved by Sung-Woon’s will without even being able to refuse.
***
Even though a player possessed a Large Area, they couldn’t exert their power in an enemy’s capital. The power obtained in The Lost World didn't necessarily lead to inevitable victory, and as one moved further from their territory, more Faith points would be consumed to exert the power. But in one's own territory, such limitations lessened, and they could perform literal miracles.
In fact, while the three apostles—Obin, Toolbo, and Aruna—were intercepting the ambush of the fourth fleet of the Union Kingdom, a miracle was taking place on the frontline of the fourth continent.
Not everyone knew about the Large Area: Sky that Sung-Woon had acquired, so soldiers on the frontline did not fully understand the approaching storm clouds.
"These aren't the storm clouds of this season..."
The low-hanging clouds began pouring rain over the Union Kingdom's camp instead of the inhabited region between the trenches.
The Union Kingdom's camp had already received a retreat order, but many artillery units remained for delaying operations. Since the Empire’s army was nearby, and it was night and the soldiers were tired, the command waited for the brief shower to pass. However, the pouring rain became increasingly intense and did not stop even after an hour.
When the water rose up to the soldiers' ankles in the trench, the army began to panic. The Angry One urgently issued a retreat order, but due to the pouring rain that resembled a never-ending pouring of buckets, even transmitting the command was problematic.
Before two hours passed, the water inside the trenches reached waist height, and the thickly stacked barriers and fortifications turned to mud and washed away.
Following Dordol's orders, the advancing artillery of the Empire began bombardment.
Returning fire was already impossible. The bores of cannons were completely filled with water, and the panicking soldiers' guns were caked with mud. The noise was so deafening that even nearby voices were hard to hear, and soldiers floundered about, trying to escape the sudden ordeal.
Three hours later, the trenches transformed into mud that made it difficult to even move, and the remaining soldiers with enough energy to move disregarded orders and ran toward the rear to escape the flood. In the fully-filled trenches, hands sporadically emerged, grabbing the ankles of fleeing soldiers, and some tripped over protruding cannon mouths. Soldiers who managed to get up were overpowered by the subsequent wave of water and fell over again.
The next clear morning, the Empire's engineers had to lay bridges to cross the transformed swampy trenches.
After the three apostles had nearly destroyed the enemy fleet, Sung-Woon had intervened; it was because the fleet was that close to the third continent.
When Hop No. 3 was being made, Sung-Woon could have given some support, but intervening too early would mean missing out on the chance to damage Laitla, or some part of the ships could survive. Most importantly, once apostles were sent, they had to be trusted.
‘That’s how trust is proven.’
Of course, Sung-Woon also did it to conserve Faith points.
After Sung-Woon destroyed the fleet and Hegemonia retrieved the wounded Laitla, the Union Kingdom's ambush was stopped short.
Sung-Woon then continued to push the front line on the fourth continent. When territory expanded enough to comfortably use the Large Area, retreating enemies were chased with heavy rain, blizzards, and lightning. The countermeasures to slow the enemies became useless, and the Union Kingdom's side pulled back so quickly they abandoned vast amounts of war material. Thanks to this, the Empire was able to advance fast.
It was all due to the meeting's outcome.
Both the apostles and players believed it best for Sung-Woon to actively intervene in the biggest frontline.
"Nebula, with your current abilities, you shouldn't have any problem pushing the frontline. Even if Hegemonia intentionally gives it up, if we succeed in driving the Union Kingdom out of the fourth continent, the gains we make are larger, even in the worst-case scenario where magic is sealed and Orazen is attacked,” Wisdom had said.
Sung-Woon agreed, but had a different perspective.
"I don't expect an event like Orazen's fall, but we can't afford the sealing of magic either."
"We'd appreciate more trust in us for that part. We'll block everything, so don't worry."
If the entirety of the Union Kingdom's naval fleet mobilized, it had been a consistent opinion that it would be virtually impossible to block all landings. The eastern coast of the third continent was so vast that even for the Empire, blocking a few major routes for landing had been a challenging task.
There was another challenge as well.
"What about the Ronante-Oroban Alliance?" asked Sung-Woon.
The Alliance was also a significant enemy. Until recently, they had been at war too, but now they were on the same front as the Union Kingdom, making things much more complicated.
"We’re thinking of following the plan. Is there a problem?"
As Wisdom said so, Sung-Woon shook his head.
"Honestly, I think that side will be trivial."
"If it's according to the plan, that is."
Sung-Woon was worried about another issue.
'But maybe...'
***
On the northwestern end of the first continent was the military expeditionary base, Hareun Port. Due to the recent winds of revolution on the first continent, it had become the Empire's territory.
Although it was an expeditionary base, one would be hard-pressed to call it large. Even all the revolutionary forces combined were only enough to make one battalion, and the rest of the revolutionaries were fighting big and small battles within the territory of Ronante-Oroban.
It was fortunate that the winds of revolution hadn't died down, but the atmosphere at the expeditionary base headquarters wasn't good. This was because the Alliance's army was currently marching toward Hareun.
Hareun, although not a large city, was an important military base. During the war between the Union Kingdom and the Ronante-Oroban Alliance against the Empire, the Union Kingdom had decided to move through the southern sea, while the Alliance had chosen to attack the Empire through the northern route.
The reason was that the Union Kingdom could use the port of the fourth continent as a supply base by passing through the south, and the Alliance could use the Saijin Archipelago, located between the third and first continents, as their supply base. For this, the northwestern city of Hareun, connected by railway, was needed.
The plan of the Ronante-Oroban Alliance was for transport ships to depart from Hareun, pass through the Saijin Archipelago, and then attack the western coast of the third continent.
However, due to the naval blockade, Hareun wasn’t able to receive much support from the Empire. The advancing enemy forces had a vanguard of one division, and eventually, those at Hareun would have to face the entire army of the Alliance. The Hareun revolutionary forces and the Empire’s expeditionary forces that had arrived before the naval blockade had resolved themselves to fight back.
Without any prior notice, the meeting where the leadership affirmed their resolve was interrupted by two people entering the command control room. They were wearing the Empire’s military uniforms, but their faces were unfamiliar at first. However, someone had seen them from a distance before.
"...All rise!"
As the base commander saluted, the Ogre in front returned the salute.
"You've worked hard."
"Not at all, Commander Dordol. But why would the apostles come to such a place..."
The eighth apostle of the Pantheon, Dordol, said, "From this moment, I, Apostle Dordol, take the highest command of the Hareun expedition base. And...everyone, sit."
Since there was no chair for Ogres in the command room, the lowest-ranking officer left without hesitating before Dordol could even stop them.
Dordol sighed softly.
Behind Dordol, the fifth apostle of the Pantheon, Keiju the Satyr, said, "We've been ordered to guard the expedition base, following the will of the Pantheon."
"Pardon, sir?"
"But that alone won't be enough."
Dordol finished for Keiju, "In addition, we’re going to go on a conquest of the Ronante-Oroban Alliance. A so-called preemptive strike."
"...Pardon?"
Dordol continued, "Let me say this first. The naval blockade will continue, but that's because the Empire, the Pantheon, wants it to."
"Why so?"
"To give the Ronante-Oroban Alliance...no, rather, to give the Oroban navy a chance to exert their power."
The base commander, a Hobgoblin, made a puzzled face.
"I don't understand. Why should we suffer to give our enemy an opportunity?"
"Don't say we suffer. The Empire's navy did engage with the Oroban navy a few times and lost, but what the enemy burned were all old, decoy ships with no one on board. And there must have been orders here on the first continent to avoid combat as much as possible."
"...That is correct. But even if there's no actual loss, our defeat affects morale."
Dordol said, "Do you know that the Ronante-Oroban Alliance is the two countries of Ronante and Oroban merged?"
Although it seemed like an irrelevant remark, the base commander nodded.
"Yes sir. I also know that the Ronante Kingdom has a strong army inland, while the Oroban Kingdom has a powerful navy along its coastline."
Due to this, with the formation of the Ronante-Oroban Alliance, there were claims that the first continent would be unrivaled with the strongest army and navy.
Dordol said, "That's their weakness. The reason we gave them a chance is precisely that."
The base commander still didn't fully understand, and it seemed the other officers in the command felt the same.
Dordol subtly scratched their temple. "Well, I’ll explain this part again later."
The Nix staff officer of the Empire next to them said, "Sir, for whatever reason, if the enemy's naval blockade isn't lifted, advancing into the territory of the Ronante-Oraban Alliance will be challenging. Our forces only have the strength of one battalion, and our equipment is severely lacking..."
"I'm aware," Dordol replied curtly. "Isn't that why we're here?"
Dordol proved their confidence.
***
Two days later, the Hareun base annihilated an enemy division in a battle against the vanguard of the Ronante-Oroban Alliance.
There were only three minor injuries reported at the Hareun base.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om