Two large fleets were angled towards each other. No doubt they meant to join together on their way to Storm Rock Isle. John knew it was possible their enemies had not yet triangulated their base of operations, but it was unlikely that they were so clueless about the islands within their own borders. Even doing their best to confuse where they were coming and going from, they had to have a pretty good idea where the continental forces were set up.
A combined fleet could be a problem, even with the defensive advantages of the island. It wasn’t like it was a mighty fortress secured over the course of generations. It was an island with a decent harbor of natural stone that was now extended somewhat. They would have some advantages there, but it would be better not to face so many enemies at once.
Determining how precisely to split their forces was important. They couldn’t just leave Storm Rock Isle empty, or it could be captured and they would have nowhere safe to return to regroup.
John couldn’t perfectly determine the strength of enemy fleets from his position, so they would have to estimate. They wanted an overwhelming force, so they could defeat and drive off one of the fleets… but they still needed to leave enough of a defensive contingent in case the lone fleet reached their base.
Going himself would be obvious. However, that wasn’t necessarily correct. Was he the most powerful individual cultivator? Absolutely. Ursel had achieved an exceptional defeat of Abritt, but John knew her weaknesses well enough to defeat her. Though he probably needed his cultivation advantage for it. Unsurprisingly, his daughter who spent all of her time seeking out battle and training instead of being involved with politics and teaching had grown quite powerful. And the triplets weren’t kids, even if they were youthful. As cultivators who advanced quickly they didn’t look any older than their prime, but they were over sixty years old- compared to John at around ninety. By the standards of cultivators, they were basically a half generation or less behind.
Tirto and Verusha would be better on the offensive. John could stay to coordinate their forces. Hopefully Ursel would return from her offensive mission in time, though there wasn’t much that could be done to speed that up. They’d have to plan assuming she wouldn’t be there. Tirto would be the best to lead the fleets against storm cultivators. John would remain, monitoring the situation- though if he wanted to be fresh for battle, he couldn’t do much more flying.
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Waiting was far worse than heading for battle directly. John had estimated the enemy’s approach, but that was assuming they knew precisely where to go, the winds held steady, and he understood the local currents well enough. They could easily arrive an hour early or late.
If John was any good at controlling light, he could think of a few ways to spy at a distance. It would probably be easier to redirect light from up above than to fly there himself, wouldn’t it? John wondered if any of the light element sects already did something like that and he’d just missed it. It seemed like it fit in the wheelhouse of the Prism Underfields, bending light and all that.
Nik was in the Gloom Desolation. Maybe they should have sent a message back to the continent. They might have received some help in time.
“Sect Head!” someone called for John. “We have spotted the enemy’s sails to the east!”
Oh good. Now there was something else to focus on. There was still at least twenty minutes until the ships arrived, unless they pushed for greater speed. But then they would show up fatigued, which wasn’t optimal for them.
Twenty minutes from the edge of the horizon.
“Wait,” John said. “You spotted their sails?”
The lightning cultivator turned back towards him. “Yes, sir.”
“Then they’ll be here sooner than you think. Tell everyone to be at their posts in five minutes. Have our ships ready.” The remaining vessels could take shelter in the harbor, but if the enemy found them stationary they would be trivial to sink.
But where would they be coming from? The highest point on their little island didn’t have particularly better visibility than where John had been standing, so he allowed himself a small bit of flight. Just a hundred meters up so he could better scan the horizon.
Yes, there they were. Southeast. It looked like little more than the natural spray of the sea, but the bulk of the enemy fleets were far closer.
John landed heavily, giving orders and getting people into position. Then he made his way out to the edge of the island, walking along the extended cliffs that he and Ursel had helped form. Darkness seeped around him, dulling the feeling of spiritual energy around them. If they completely disappeared the enemy would know they were waiting in ambush, but making the sense of them more vague and focusing some of his energy elsewhere could make them seem to be in the midst of preparations.
The enemy looked like little more than rolling waves on the water, but shortly after they got in range, John gave the orders. Earth cultivators focused their spiritual energy together, flinging large boulders they had prepared into the enemy fleet. Lightning struck down. Spikes of ice were interspersed with fireballs.
Not long after that, the enemy’s veil dropped and they responded with their own lightning bolts. John redirected a few into the cliffs, forcing the spiritual energy to diffuse. Water element cultivators from the Stormy Sea Sect insulated their fleet from attacks with a large wave of water moving ahead of them. John felt Duha standing at their head… but they were missing their allied fleets. If all went well, Tirto and Verusha would be on their way back, and perhaps not even far behind them.
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A great fireball made of the combined energies of a dozen cultivators rolled over the edge of the ship in front of Tirto, but his spiritual energy soaked in the heat, keeping the deck from lighting aflame. As for the outer edge of the ship, Verusha handled that by pulling the clinging flames away.
Together, the two of them launched a sphere of fire surrounded by ice, a tightly packed shell that punched through the ship’s defensive formations, impacted the enemy vessel and exploded. The enemy fire cultivators may have been on a ship, but they were not sailors. Clearly they had sailing cultivators among them, but there weren’t nearly enough of them to stamp out all the fires.
And that let the marine forces attack the bottoms of their vessels with impunity. The elementally varied allies of the Stormy Sea Sect clearly didn’t have as much joint training as they needed. Each individual was effective enough on their own, but they weren’t ready.
“Straight ahead!” Tirto called. “Then cut left!”
Their ships charged into the midst of the enemy fleets, but instead of ramming them or trying to board them, their ships instead rode with waves and carried away a portion of the enemy fleet.
Repeated flashes of lightning from the grouchy coastal air cultivators combined with winds pushing the ships’ sails the wrong way. The few Stormy Sea Sect cultivators prevented the ships from immediately capsizing, but that was about all they could manage.
There was one fire cultivator that was a pain though. As their fleets had passed through, he caught some of their sails on fire- and the fires were nearly unquenchable. It was both a testament to special technique and the man’s Ascending Soul Phase cultivation. Did they just make people like that everywhere now?
Tirto supposed he couldn’t complain. He was an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator, and it was highly likely that the cultivation surge extended beyond the continent.
“Careful,” Tirto said quietly to Verusha. “We’ve got a Mel situation.”
“Just direct me,” Verusha said. “Where do you want it and how hot?”
“When we make our next pass,” Tirto said. “Between my ice spikes. Show them a proper volcano.”
Their ships circled around after sinking several of the vessels they had swept away and leaving the others disoriented. Tirto was tempted to put out the lingering flames on some of their allied ships, but it was better for the cultivators there to handle it themselves. He’d need all his energy.
Tirto obviously prepared several ice spears as they sailed towards the fire cultivator. Next to him, Verusha was practically boiling over with pressurized flame. She could be subtle, sometimes, but she was more effective when she didn’t have to pretend to.
Another ball of fire came straight for their flagship, and Tirto threw a condensed ball of water to clash with it, away from the ship. He couldn’t easily wipe out such a concentration of energy, but it destabilized before it hit their ship, wasting much of its energy as half of it exploded into empty space.
Tirto threw his gathered ice spikes, curving around the fire cultivator. He was almost tempted to actually try to hit the man, but he followed the plan. His ice spikes impacted the deck of the ship. Verusha’s flames suddenly burst out of her, following the same path his spiritual energy had drawn, whipping around behind the flame cultivator. The Ascending Soul Phase cultivator threw up an arm, prepared to deflect the fire, but it also crashed into the deck of the ship. For a moment, it appeared to burn sullenly.
Then it burst upward, sending a strangely solid flame into the air and into the water. Flames wrapped around darkness. Honestly, someone thought they could hide from Tirto with just a bit of darkness? Certainly not in a battle! Melanthina had taken every opportunity she could to ambush both of her siblings, before it was even properly called ‘training’. Though the biggest mistake was that the cultivator hadn’t been concealing his energy before the fleets approached each other. Feeling an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator disappear, who wouldn’t look for them?
Obviously a bit of heat wasn’t going to kill the man, but Tirto grabbed Verusha’s hand and leapt off the ship into the water. Tirto picked out the slightly distorted position of the darkness cultivator still trying to get his bearings in the water. There wasn’t anything there, which was more obvious for him in the water. He gently tugged on Verusha’s energy, and the two of them sent a burst of boiling water at the man. Obviously the darkness cultivator defended himself, but Tirto held the water around the man as the two of them moved close.
The fire cultivator on the surface tried to boil the seas around Tirto and Verusha. The man had quite a bit of power, and he wasn’t useless against the water. But Tirto had a volcano totem. Their opponent had to work to make boiling water, but Verusha and Tirto simply redirected that heat towards the darkness cultivator.
Tirto registered a few hits on his defenses, sharp like needles. But the water was his domain. And Verusha’s. Their spiritual energy moved between the two of them with little care for who was who. They were a pair. And all they had to fight was two individuals out of their element. How could they lose?
With a wave of his arm, Tirto pushed a boiling waterfall down into the depths, sweeping away the darkness cultivator as he dove after. The fire cultivator above was soon too far to even sense.
The darkness cultivator’s spiritual energy faded. Dead. Then Tirto’s spear pierced the body, and he was dead. Tirto almost fell for that one. No, he had. Because even the body was fake. The darkness cultivator had slipped off somewhere, but Tirto doubted he would be back. He kept his senses open as he swam up, not wanting to go on a long chase. Even if the darkness cultivator tried to swim directly after them, it would take some time to catch up.
Verusha stopped him before they surfaced, pulling him towards the hull of the ship. Their movements hadn’t gone unnoticed and flames pushed towards them… but Tirto shielded them from above as Verusha placed her palms on the ship. Her hands glowed, pushing through as the wood burnt away under her fingers. When she was arm deep in the ship, she yanked her arms out and moved to another spot. Soon the ship would have more holes than it knew what to do with- besides sink. The fire cultivator above could either try to swap to attacking their fleet… or face them in the water. Neither option would be good for him.