Eighteen, Burning Blue River

  Eighteen, Burning Blue River

  Under the gloomy sky, black smoke billowed on the south bank of the Blue River, and flames rose in all directions. The damp soil was blown into the air by intense artillery fire, drifting and falling everywhere.

  Facing the treacherous river, the elves used a very violent but also very effective method: loading empty boats with enough fire medicine and fire oil, hay, drifting along the water flow to the obstacle area to explode, "Boom" A loud noise suddenly cleared a large section of the navigation channel. After continuously releasing three boats, the elven army officially began its breakthrough.

  A dozen warships hoisted their sails and sailed downstream, hundreds of naval guns firing a hail of shells at the riverbank positions, pounding the flat riverbed into a thousand holes, venting their indignation at the despicable insect attack just now.

  Several elven mages stood at the bow of the first warship, braving the hail of bullets to clear the remaining obstacles in the water. They used flame arrows to detonate floating mines and shattered artificial reefs and the sunken ship with crushing spells. Although the mages' armor and shields could withstand most gunfire or shrapnel, casualties still occasionally occurred under the intense barrage of anti-magic projectiles.

  "Let go!"

  Charlotte gave the order, and hundreds of cannons along the shore fired in succession. The trails of cannonballs flying out were like a swarm of meteors streaking across the sky. A thick layer of fog, like white silk, wandered freely over the battlefield. In the distance, the warships occasionally flashed with magical protective light, and most of this round of shelling had little effect.

  "It's no wonder they're the Spirit Fleet, wasting magical power without batting an eye." Fili couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration, and immediately turned to Charlotte, who was actually in command of the entire army, "Should we proceed with the next step of the plan?"

  "Wait a bit," Charlotte shook her head, "the next round of artillery is coming, hide first!" As she spoke, she had already shrunk into the trench and added an enchanted shield to her head. Felix went even further, jumping into the newly dug foxhole and wrapping himself tightly with various protective spells, anyway, the 300 spell slots in his portable magic net terminal were enough for him to squander. The red-robed mages who followed the army dutifully added protection to each artillery position before hiding behind cover themselves.

  The fairy fleet's counterattack was swift and fierce, with round cannonballs whizzing out from the warship's starboard side, landing in the positions lacking magical defenses, sending mud flying, shattered stones and broken branches dancing in the air, as thick smoke enveloped everything before their eyes.

  Hiding in the small foxhole, Feili felt as if he had boarded a small broken ship that was anchored in the ocean and was being baptized by a violent storm. The intense vibrations made it feel like his internal organs were going to be turned upside down, while the deafening explosions almost made him go deaf. He began to regret not casting a soundproof barrier for himself.

  It wasn't easy, but the shock finally dissipated. Fili rubbed her buzzing ears and used a amplification technique to shout loudly.

  "Sound the signal! Mobilize the Flying Legion!"

  A young red-robed mage, hearing Filri's cry, hastily scrambled out of the dust and pulled out a magical flame bomb, throwing it into the sky with great force. A soft sound was heard as a green firework slowly rose up.

  "Caw... caw..."

  A chaotic cacophony suddenly erupted in the sky, as a large flock of different species of flying birds emerged from the originally hidden magical cloud, swooping down over the line of elven ships arrayed below.

  "What is this?" Ludwig wondered at the grey eagles, doves, seagulls and swallows in the sky, which were originally absolutely impossible to coexist peacefully.

  "Major Druid's Flying Legion." Fili said, pointing to Major Druid who was directing the flock of birds in the distance, "You see, they are about to start bombing."

  Large and small birds circled above the fleet, suddenly retracted their wings, and at a very steep angle, dived towards their respective targets. Just before hitting the top of the mast, they suddenly stopped, then flew upwards. Countless metal balls fell from their claws, shining with metallic luster in the sunset. Immediately, the metal balls turned into burning flames, as if a rain of fire was falling from the spirits' heads.

  The spirit warship was filled with sporadic gunfire and explosions of magic, as sailors and gunners abandoned their posts to try and eliminate the threat in the sky with various weapons. From time to time, flying birds turned into burning fireballs, falling into the river or onto the ship. However, hundreds and thousands of birds were really impossible to kill, and all the warships had large and small flames rising one after another. The next round of cannon fire that was about to sound off became chaotic and disorderly, twisting and turning without knowing where it hit. On the other hand, on the Imperial Army's position, there were cheers and thunderous applause, as row upon row of shells were fired even more vigorously at the spirit warship that could no longer maintain its magical defenses.

  The sprite mages were desperate to add magical protection above the mast and sails, but the dozens of feet from the deck to the top of the mast was enough to make most mages shake their heads. The flying shrapnel and violently rocking ship made climbing the mast to cast spells extremely dangerous. A flock of birds flew away, and another batch came from a different direction, this time bringing not only dancing flames but also yellow-green toxic fog. The sprites' anguished cries even pierced through the cannon fire, loud enough for people standing on the shore to hear clearly.

  "These birds are quite useful, the sprites have almost no way to deal with them." Looking at the flock of birds conducting cross-covering bombing, Ludwig looked very satisfied. "Whose idea was this? It's worth promoting."

  "That's Taylor's staff work," Charlotte said, and Ferris smiled instantly, but Charlotte added, "It's a good way to fight, only that kind of birdshot is expensive."

  "Oh, is it expensive?" Ludwig turned around and looked at Ferry.

  "This...” Fili hesitated, he had made too many catnaps on the account, fortunately, these special ammunitions could only be refined by himself at present, and others were not easy to check the account. "Incendiary bombs are half a gold coin each, stink bombs are one gold coin each, and those with the 'Death Cloud' technique are five gold coins each."

  That is to say these birds are like scattering gold coins on the fairy's head, and Ludwig's face was instantly filled with black lines.

  "The ancients said that the poor devil kills with a knife, while the rich devil kills with money. These words are not empty!" Half a moment passed before Councilor Mr. finally squeezed out a sentence of emotion.

  "Yes, yes!" Fili hastily followed up.

  ****

  Under the concentrated attack of the Flying Bird Legion and cannon fire, the vanguard ship of the Elf fleet finally became a burning fireball after barely destroying an iron chain blocking the river. The sailors struggled to control the warship that was ablaze with flames and ran aground to avoid blocking the channel, then jumped into the water one after another to escape. The following warships took advantage of the situation to follow up. Now, counting the previous explosion damage, only the last iron chain remained in front of them, and the safe sea was already in sight.

  However, the defenders apparently did not want them to leave safely after paying such a small price.

  A red flare trailed a long tail of smoke as it rose, the ground on the sandbank opposite suddenly churned up, and catapults hastily improvised from well-hidden shelters emerged, a massive magical fog simultaneously rising, accompanied by the sound of bowstrings, many black cylinders arcing out of the fog, before the elves on the ship could even figure out what was happening, the cylinders landed on the water's surface and exploded.

  "Boom!" The cylinder suddenly turned into a bright red fireball, countless sparks mixed with large pieces of black rain scattered around the explosion. The sparks and black rain fell onto the warship and immediately ignited, the scorching flames spreading rapidly, the original sparks on the sails, masts, and deck turning into raging fires. And again from the sky came a batch of poison gas bombs that successfully disrupted the sailors' firefighting efforts, the fire becoming unstoppable.

  Another group of oil-filled barrels flew over, and the river suddenly appeared in blocks of fire. The Blue River was burning, and the elf warship that had fallen into the sea of fire was instantly in a desperate situation. All around were burning waters, their intensity far exceeding the limits of magical defense. Now the sailors couldn't even jump off the ship to escape, jumping down would only be self-immolation.

  In the midst of a sea of flames, the warship was emitting thick black smoke and tilting to one side. Suddenly, a dazzling red glow burst forth from the surface of the water, accompanied by a series of deafening explosions as the ammunition depot ignited, sending fragments of the ship flying through the air amidst the fiery glow. When the red light faded, only a pile of burning wooden blocks remained where the warship had been anchored. The warships behind it immediately collided and were crushed together: the navigation channel was now blocked by the sunken ships.

  As a string of white smoke rose from the riverbank, shells rained down around the helpless warships like a fierce meteor shower. For a time, water splashed and sparks flew everywhere, solid shots blasted large holes in the ships' sides, and flying shrapnel shredded the sails and masts. The Elswick cruisers turned one by one into burning torches, then exploded into fragments scattered across the sky as their magazines detonated. Meanwhile, oil bombs continued to be thrown into the river, making the fires burn even more fiercely.

  Looking at the blue river burning in front of him, listening to the deafening cheers of the soldiers, Ludwig's face, which had not smiled for many days, finally hung a smile again. He returned the borrowed binoculars to Charlotte and patted Firil's shoulder, "Not bad, this money is indeed worth spending!"