Chapter 603 - 585: Formation!
Chapter 603: Chapter 585: Formation!
"It could also be a trap," Sara said.
"A trap in the D-24 sector?" Skeleton Duke retorted. "How would he know I’d take this route? Could his detection network already penetrate the Plane Crystal Wall to monitor the Sea of Magical Power?"
This logic simply didn’t hold up. Unless that Alchemy Wizard possessed ultra-long-range reconnaissance methods, it was impossible to know Skeleton Duke’s route in advance, let alone set an ambush in the D-24 sector.
Two hundred years of experience told Skeleton Duke that this was just a solitary big fish. Perhaps he was out purchasing materials, heading to a partnered Plane for a high-end trade, or perhaps it was just an ordinary voyage.
Regardless of the reason, an Alchemy Wizard had appeared before him with his most valuable flagship. He was actually afraid this fish would get away.
The White Bone Throne’s engines let out a muffled, bone-rattling hum, causing the entire hull to tremble slightly. Seventeen Bone Dragons received their orders. The eerie green Ghost Fire in their empty eye sockets flared a degree brighter simultaneously. Their massive skeletal wings flapped with increased speed, boosting the entire fleet’s velocity by nearly thirty percent.
On the bridge of the Ten Thousand Miles of Sunshine.
"The enemy fleet has accelerated," Jarvis dutifully reported. "Their speed has increased by twenty-seven percent, and their heading has been corrected by one point one degrees. They are converging on our position."
The Star Map displayed two dots of light, one blue and one red, slowly approaching each other in the rear half of the D-24 sector. The blue dot was the Ten Thousand Miles of Sunshine, and the red one was Skeleton Duke’s fleet. Far behind the red dot, an almost invisible green speck quietly trailed them—that was the North Wind.
"The North Wind’s position hasn’t been exposed, has it?"
"The North Wind is maintaining a significant distance from the enemy fleet. Beneath its Abyssal Lead coating, its signal is indistinguishable from the background noise of the Sea of Magical Power. Xiong Er and Xiong San remain in hibernation, emitting no active signals."
"Excellent." Allen shifted his gaze from the sand table to the porthole outside.
The Sea of Magical Power was cleaved open by the Ten Thousand Miles of Sunshine’s high-speed advance. Pale purple, nebula-like matter swept past both sides of the bow, making it seem as if the ship was navigating through a dense fog.
"Time until interception?"
"Based on the current speeds of both sides, one hour and fourteen minutes."
"That’s too long. What if the enemy runs away?" Allen stood up. "Maintain our current heading. Increase speed by fifteen percent."
Time slipped by in silence.
Twenty minutes later.
The brightness of the bone Crystal Ball on the bridge of the White Bone Throne suddenly spiked.
"Distance: four thousand kilometers," a hoarse alarm blared from the Necromancy Perception Array. "Target silhouette fully confirmed. Following comparison, it is identified as the flagship of a leader from Wesren Heavy Industry."
"Is it still just one ship?"
The Witch Demon’s reply lacked any hesitation. "Only one. There are no other artificial or biological signals within a two-thousand-kilometer radius. The enemy warship is accelerating."
Skeleton Duke slowly stood up from the commander’s seat. "Interesting."
A lone warship sailing by itself hadn’t evaded or decelerated to assume a defensive posture after discovering a complete fleet ahead. It just continued charging forward, as if they didn’t even take them seriously. Were they trying to initiate a battle? Skeleton Duke pondered this for a moment but couldn’t find an answer.
"Vanguard fleet, enter attack formation."
Skeleton Duke’s fleet bore down fiercely like a moving cloud of death. Seventeen Bone Dragons, each over three hundred meters long, were the first to break off from the formation. They spread their tattered skeletal wings, Necromancer’s Fire blazing intensely in their empty eye sockets. Carving seventeen grayish-green trails through the Sea of Magical Power, they lunged straight toward the Ten Thousand Miles of Sunshine.
These were Skeleton Duke’s masterpieces from the past two centuries. Each one was reforged from the remains of Dawn Star Level Magical Beasts, their individual combat power fluctuating between Level 2 Peak and Dawn Star Level. They knew no fatigue, felt no fear, and required neither sustenance nor rest. With seventeen of them combined, no merchant caravan in the entire latter half of the Gray Channel could last more than ten minutes under their siege.
Meanwhile, seven Floating Battleships spread out to both sides, forming a massive encirclement to cut off any possible avenue of retreat. The White Bone Throne held steady in the center. Skeleton Duke, Sara, and Kesuga stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the front of the bridge, acting as if they were spectating a hunt with a preordained conclusion.
"The target has stopped moving," the Witch Demon Apprentice reported again.
In the distant darkness, the glow of the warship’s engines dimmed as it hovered quietly in place.
"He wants to run!" Sara’s laughter grew shrill. "He finally noticed us, but it’s too late!"
Skeleton Duke said nothing. He merely ordered the White Bone Throne to scan the airspace thousands of kilometers around the Ten Thousand Miles of Sunshine over and over again.
Empty. Dead silent. Aside from them and their prey, this place was like a tomb tailor-made for that warship. Excellent. There were no third-party forces.
The fleet’s speed increased once more. The Bone Dragon vanguard had already advanced within three thousand kilometers. Inside their massive skeletal cavities, high-density Necromancy Energy Balls were frantically coalescing, ready to unleash torrents of lethal flames at a moment’s notice.
Distance: one thousand kilometers.
But at this exact moment—
Ten rifts tore open around the hull of the Ten Thousand Miles of Sunshine almost simultaneously.
[Golem Deployment Skill]!
A full ten massive Space Gates appeared around the Ten Thousand Miles of Sunshine. Blinding blue-and-white spatial turbulence churned at the edges of the rifts, sending rippling shockwaves through the surrounding Sea of Magical Power.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The first to fly out of the rifts were the Storm Falcons.
Four hundred streamlined fighter jets shot out of the ten Space Gates simultaneously like a hail of bullets. Their anti-gravity engines ignited in an instant, and their silver bodies traced dense arcs through the void, howling as they scattered in all directions like a flock of startled raptors.