Just One Of Many

"... General, they are moving, too." Some cultivators said to Lere as they watched the enemy in front of them start changing in their formation a little and even somewhat advancing. They had stopped walking around the deck, some stood still, and others crossed their arms to watch. But as Lere and everyone else looked at the ships from the base changing formation and moving as they also had their own ship line formation was also transforming. And a gap was being traversed from all the way from the back to the front through the middle.

“Yes, they are. Prepare to guard these ships until the last man and woman. Do not let the enemy get any advantage. We have the numbers, have the will to kill this growing military force, even if not to a diminishing degree.” Lere lightly said, her crossed arms relaxing slightly and her words calming down the hearts of all who heard them.

As she spoke, the line formation they had maintained for so long, almost an hour, was finally changing to a sort of oval-shaped formation covering the backs of all the 4th, 5th, and 6th lines of defense under her command. It was like a bunch of dots poured on a painting, either a blue sky or the blue ocean, vast and without equal. However, they had this oval-shaped ‘line’ that covered all of their backs, even getting to the point of enlarging the line of defense from before.

Now that the 3rd line of defense wholly joined the 2nd line of defense to create this extra long and curved ‘oval-shaped’ line, the 2nd assault group of small ships from the base had already returned. But unlike what was possibly going to happen later, there wasn’t a 3rd assault group or assault made to the enemy ships, only the quick and intense repairs as those ships stood behind the medium ship to rely on its protection.

Unlike the small ships, the medium ship wasn’t shy to show its light green protective barrier. But this protective barrier of the medium ship was broader and taller. It wasn’t its only protective barrier, and it was working for what it was best currently, simply setting up a wall to protect the other small ships near it and let them repair in peace.

The medium ship was facing the enemy formations with its starboard, the wall of protective barrier forming with that side and hence taking already an initially widespread scope to protect the small ships facing its port. They were in their bows directed at the medium ship in turn, but that wouldn’t be enough if the medium ship was really to protect dozens— though not as many as the enemy side —of small ships.

Thus, this wall of protective barrier wasn’t ‘attached’ to the medium sip like its main protective barrier, or any other small or medium ship’s protective barrier; is.

Instead, this wall of protective barrier could be enlarged up to 2 times the length of the medium ship, more or less. As well as extend over 3 times its height, counting its masts in the equation. This way, not only would a large number of small ships get to cover themselves by floating side to side with each other, but they could also form a long line just in case they were more.

As for how they would be more, that was naturally not for the sake of this mini operation, as in the water, the medium ships could even ‘sacrifice’ themselves for a lot of the small ships’ sake, of course. After making sure the Inferior Powerful Stones’ loot was safe within those small ships. And then another medium ship could take those little ducklings in and take care of them, also getting to command them for some time, perhaps until the end of a battle.

Naturally, this was nothing more but to be planning for the future. This battle would naturally not have the one and only medium ship in the battle sacrifice itself. Besides, since they could keep small ships safe, why wouldn’t they be able to protect land forces?

Future thoughts and possible plans were left aside. However, Ciemnosc looked at the strange gap in the enemy’s line formation and how they began to slowly change from the very front as well. Seeing this, Ciemnosc just waited for a bit more for his whole group of ships around the medium ship to stabilize for a few more tens of seconds before giving an order.

Pum pum pum pum pum pum pum pum, pum pum pum pum pum pum…

“Attention to all formed lines. Start slowly moving, very slowly. Wait until the enemy shows its real face before entering into ‘melee mode’. Concentrate your fire on the enemy’s extremes. Leave the center or even anything near it alone.” Ciemnosc’s voice wasn’t cheerful, pressed on, or anxious, but his troops needed not much more than that when having a road ahead of battles in water. Some were exhilarated, though others were having it a bit difficult to keep themselves ‘afloat’.

The small ships had gone through some actual repair. Though there weren’t any Craftsmaking division people around, Ciemnosc just had to say a few things. And then the sailors could just relocate some more Powerful Stones into their small ship’s storage for their array formations to keep eating from their pure energy.

Their bodies were also quickly fixed. Though the small ships were now more notorious with those ‘patches’ of wood and some even with a metallic layer on top for extra protection, they looked as mighty, larger in size and simply as imperious as before. Their ‘worsened’ sight and image didn’t do anything to either the sailors or the small ships themselves.

As for the medium ship, its Inferior Powerful Stone consumption wasn’t small for any reason. It was quite moderate when needing to operate several array formations of not a small size and with incredible features, such as the wall that could be enlarged quite a bit. Each medium ship had to hold a lot of Powerful Stones for that matter, making them somewhat of a possible huge ‘ka boom’.

“Go.” - “Go.” Right at the same moment, both leaders of the two sides seemed to think similarly, echoing their words to give rise to the continuation of the battle and starting the most to-be brutal moment of it all.

From the base’s side, Ciemnosc ordered the small ships while staying in the immobile, larger than the others, the medium ship still in the middle as it no longer moved so slowly with the rest. On the other hand, the small ships around it went almost to max speed and made a little boost towards the enemy ships that were standing still while letting that gap… slowly reveal the rest of the enemy ships.

From the enemy’s side, Lere ordered the counter-assault to start. Her ships on the rear lines of defense were naturally no longer at the rear and were instead accurately positioned to all go towards the middle of the formation and of the whole Little Lake’s shallowest water subsequently.

Some were already in the middle of the formation and were forming a line of over 10 ships still behind the direct front line but ready to come out at any moment. With the cannons of each side still shooting at one another, her softly spoken ‘go’ word was easily heard by those in the nearby ships on her side. The gap was to her left, between another ship’s right, and as it opened, the ships hiding within the formation surged into the battlefield in front!

Splash, gurgle- splash splash crash. Pum pum pum- pum pum pum pum…

Waves formed below the ships on both sides. While the base’s ships were much more powerful in that sense, resting waves that even crashed against other nearby small ships, the enemy side also had their ships moving ‘fast’ and creating some little waves that could only end up falling back into the water after having soared into the skies for a tiny wee bit.

The cannons, as always, never ceased firing, and they were now concentrated, just as the fire from the enemy side was when they were assaulting in small groups with even smaller parties of 3.

That let a frown and a suspicious pair of eyes on Lere’s face, who crossed her arms once again, but despite the unceasing firing of the cannons of her ship, she felt more unstable and as if already tumbling about even if the cannons were to stop shooting. She had to figure out something before it could happen…

‘...’ On the other hand; the other side as well. Ciemnosc seemed to be in the same manner, but only with his arms crossed in front of his solar plexus while his head was empty. He was looking farther beyond, behind the enemy’s rear, and studying. But more than anything, he was patiently waiting to see if there was ‘something’ different to see soon other than his naval military facing off the enemy’s ships.

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Pum pum pum pum pum pum pum pum pum pum pum pum pum…

The cannons’ sound of firing never stopped, the explosions and failed blasts of pure energy against protective barriers and into the water respectively, the 2 sides came to face each other very quickly. And even minutes long after it had started, the sound of cannons firing away and hitting any of the two was to resound over and over again.

At the moment it all started, the base’s small ships quickly rushed towards the enemy but… Instead of boarding the enemy, at least not with the sole objective to do so, they simply went into a similar speed to that of the enemy ships. Only, that it would go from that similar speed to a slightly faster, better one.

Just when the base’s small ships were about to meet head on the enemy ships, they either turned at the last few seconds or directly faced them with their port or starboard before starting to shoot relentlessly.

Cannons’ pure energy shells descended upon the enemy. They were instantly covered by a variety of pure energy as more came out of their little gap, only to already start being blasted by 1 or 2 cannons in particular and targeted by the medium ship while the rest kept on firing either at the enemy ships close to them or to those in the oval-shaped line formation at the enemy’s rear.

The battle was then separated, from the start, by 2 different roles.

One was the simplest but most ‘exciting’ one, where the small ships from the base’s side directly went through the enemy ranks as they came out of their little gap from their oval-shaped line formation into the battlefield. The small ships sailed through, dodging, avoiding collisions as much as possible, and shooting to their port and starboard, scorching the enemy of pure energy.

There were still collisions occurring all around, but every time, the small ships would emerge victorious very rapidly with their protective barriers pushing the enemy ships away. And the enemy wasn’t dumb as hell. There were many who faced a small ship with just their side, hoping to interrupt them, letting their fellow enemy ships surround the small ship and then destroy it!

But in the end, every time, as well; the small ships didn’t even have to break the speed limit as their protective barrier pushed those ‘honorable’ enemy ships away like a little duck toy being pushed away by a playful finger in a bathtub.

But there was naturally a moment in such a role that left the small ships at a disadvantage. They couldn’t just call it quits and reappear back to the medium ship where their Chief in Command would warmly embrace them back.

Being mostly ‘trapped’ in the dozens and dozens of enemy ships, the small ships could only hope to not crash against too many enemies, as that took a lot of their protective barriers, even if their protective barriers were always victorious, even after several hits against theirs.

In the end, the small ships’ protective barriers would finally break away, letting the enemy fire at it and crash against it directly and however they wanted. But even then, the pure, resistant, and potent engineered wood these small ships were made… also granted them huge benefits when facing off against these other enemy ships whose array formations were just not on par with their incredible Chief and his capabilities for it all.

But thanks to that, no matter how, they were also receiving direct damage from the enemy’s firing cannons. The bodies of the small ships were becoming more and more helpless to the constant bombarding, though, on the good side, the enemy ships accidentally shot each other. That… was a thing that could never happen with the base’s small ships. Not only because of being cultivators or the aiming guidance system, but thanks to their training with the Chief supervising everything.

As such, though the enemy ships were more and ended up being able to directly shoot those small ships without their amazing-quality protective barrier, they were also the ones to be destroyed the most - either by the base’s small ships' hands or their own hands.

The second role was that of the base’s small ships that didn’t go through the enemy ranks and daredevil the way into and through them without an end. It was for those who stopped before doing so, turned either their port or starboard to face the enemy ships, and began firing away. These were less in quantity from the base’s side, while these small ships doing such forced the enemy ships to take similar but worse off responses of copy-cat-ing.

The base’s small ships were already used to these kinds of firing, their aiming excellent and only a few needed to use the aiming guidance system as their small ships were either moving close to the swarm of both small ships and enemy ships in the middle of both western and eastern shores. They had to move faster and take sudden turns to avoid a large rain of pure energy shells, randomly, from the enemy from time to time.

The teams in charge of those cannons just had to get the aiming guidance system on, and they would receive help from the array formation - as easy as pie.

But it was thanks to such that the enemy was forced to do ‘the same’ and… that, together with the medium ship’s4 cannons also fired with the team’s hands and brains, the enemy ships at both extremes of their oval-shaped line formation were attacked and… destroyed!

“... Hmph.” Ciemnosc suddenly snorted right after his eyes went from looking beyond the enemy’s long-gone rear to the left, facing the north. Then, he turned his head to the right, seeing something as well as he finally grinned a little. Just a little though.

“...?” At that same moment, Lere seemed to have noticed the tiny change from far away on the medium ship’s deck, which she nor anyone from the major organizations knew not about their purpose or even how they are called according to the base’s standards. Yet, seeing that tiny, extremely small change with her cultivation base, she felt like she was about to figure ‘that’ something out.

“!” However, she couldn’t. Too little was known of naval battles, and as she looked at the 10 km large battlefield, she began understanding where the major organizations’ training failed, if that could barely be called such. It was… in reality, and truth… only her influence over these cultivators who made the battle even fightable. Without her, perhaps the battle wouldn’t have lasted for more than half an hour.

Pum… pum pum…. Pum pum pum, pum pum… Boom… boom… boom boom boom…~.

And it was right at this moment that Lere, their general, finally heard the terrorizing sounds of the imminent, butchering defeat!

Looking to her sides, not just towards the northwest but also the northeast where her side was the ruler of, she could see hundreds and hundreds of armored cars moving about; each having a cannon of their own on their rooftops!!

They weren’t coming from the south, nor were they directly driving directly towards the Little Lake from the sides, signaling that they were not laying in ambush all this long. Instead, Lere could well understand that… they had all come from the north where more of her people were still unaware that their enemy had come and that they were even losing!

“...” Lere’s eyes were shocked and fully opened; as she gave the east to her left one last look, she slowly turned her head, and face, to look at the medium ship. Something clicked within her, and she immediately felt like she knew the world, if only for a moment; or an instant…

‘Facing us off despite our numbers and superior quantity of cannons… Putting in danger your own people like this, but knowing your enemy wasn’t ready for this… Your troops show… such incredible restraint and management of things that we don’t even care about, yet they seem so important…’

‘Ciemnosc… no surname, nor last name, was it? Ciemnosc… It was my life’s honor to face you with my own troops, but it was my disgrace not to have been part of your life’s glory.’ Lere thoughts slowly ended there. She suddenly felt free and no longer with a long, thick, and venomous ‘cable’ sticking her to one place by one sole ‘group’.

“General?” She heard a voice call out to her from her left, but by then, she was already raising her arms, leaning her torso slightly backwards and in a curve. Her arms were lifted like a swan’s neck, each showing a pair of smooth, long brown necks as she closed her eyes in tranquility as she… stretched out so comfortably.

“...” Then, she looked at the cultivator who spoke, her gaze cold and disappointed. Looking all around herself, realizing that nobody had even seen the approaching ultimate danger on their sides, from their backs, she just realized what was the worse and most… ‘obvious’... problem of this war and this… this fucking Region.

‘... I hope you also enjoyed the battle, Ciemnosc that I never met. And that I gave you a fight.’ Lere smiled, showing a smile ever so present it dazed those around her. Seeing this, the weak-minded, male and female, had an impulse to just grab her neck and steal those lips.

“General, enemies at th-” But the shout of ever so clear death approaching from their blind spots woke everyone up except one that was long awakened.

Saying nothing, Lere raised her chin, her face showing to the sky. It was so beautiful, blue as always, and with an incredible pure feeling to it, but also a strange sadness, tragedy, and… some kind of sorrow. As she kept looking up, she seemed to watch over the world herself, not like a god but like the world. And at some point, there was something that… looked like a star?

… … …Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom…

‘Hm, they showed up in the end. They better have a really good loot.’ Ciemnosc thought as he looked at the enemy’s entire oval-shaped line formation crumbling in pure energy blasts, explosions, and waves as the hundreds of cannons all shooting and landing squarely on their targets created strong disturbances in the air.

Cracking his neck left and right, the sounds scaring the shit out of the entire medium ship, for they were not only loud but creepy as well. Ciemnosc finished his thoughts as the battle was so soon coming to an end.

‘That was okay, I would’ve wanted to fight farther down south. It’s too compact here, hmm~.’

…