Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 482: Master at Sea: Line Tactics vs. Boarding Tactics (6100)

Click——!
A streak of blazing white lightning spanning hundreds of kilometers streaked across the dark sky that was already covered with dark clouds, illuminating the figure of the uninvited guest and making the dazzling golden light even brighter.

What was passing through the whirlpool and descending on the battlefield at this moment was none other than the first-class holy relic belonging to the sea hunter Byron Tudor, the [first heavy cruiser, the Golden Deer]!
Behind him were the 30 most elite privateering warships of level 5 and above under the Seventh Fleet and the Vanguard Colonial Trading Company.

[Puppet King] In the puppet show directed by Louis, the first and second male characters have finally appeared on stage.

According to common sense, the Sea Hunter would never let go of the fat sheep of the Treasure Fleet without knowing that the Wild Hunt had also received the information black box prompt and without the opportunity to "reconcile intelligence" with this mortal enemy.

Even if you can't finish it by yourself, you have to find a chance to take a big bite.

It would be absolutely abnormal if you don't come or come too late.

Instead of waiting until this moment, the [Puppet King] Louis, who must have been hiding behind the scenes and watching quietly, pulled the silk thread again, moved the dice, and controlled his fate, allowing him to passively enter the battle with the Wild Hunt.

It is better to take the initiative to enter the battlefield when the situation is most favorable to you.

In the melee, no one can take care of anyone else, so it's a good opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

At this moment, the Seventh Fleet, with the Golden Deer as the lead ship, formed a rigorous battle line from the very beginning, even for the regular army of the kingdom.

In the command position on the rear deck of the Golden Hind, in addition to Catherine and a group of pirate officers, there was another Byron.

He was wearing a neat dark blue vice admiral uniform and a black cloak fluttering behind him, rustling in the sea breeze.

But this time it is not any Wild Hunt Servant who will be making a guest appearance.

Instead, Byron activated the secret spell [River of Blood], using his own flesh and blood as raw material, and consuming all the transmuted blood in the body of a fourth-level mythical creature to cultivate an additional incarnation.

The appearance and abilities are exactly the same as the real body.

You can travel and reside in it with the "astral body", one of the seven components of your own soul, and use all the extraordinary abilities of the original body.

A lot of effort has been put into this big show.

Theoretically, Byron has the life essence of the fourth-order mythical creature [Night Demon Prince], and as long as there are enough materials, he can differentiate into up to seven such incarnations.

But under normal circumstances, the incarnation is usually the standard configuration of the fifth-level [pseudo-god].

His current spiritual level is insufficient and his ability to process information is limited. If he wants to maintain peak combat effectiveness, he cannot support a third incarnation for the time being.

Moreover, before a mythical creature can truly attain the ladder of immortality and anchor the concept of eternity, too many splits of the soul will cause a series of serious problems.

Even if Byron succeeded in cheating by relying on the ability of the immortal species like Night Demon, he was not going to continue to expand the scale before he was promoted to a fifth-level pseudo-god.

Anyway, even if a dark lord came, he would still be praised for his steadiness: "An expert".

When Sea Hunter Byron saw his mortal enemy Wild Hunt Byron fighting the vanguard, he feigned surprise and cried out:

"Oh no, the Wild Hunt has gotten ahead of us again this time?!

The Treasure Fleet is of great significance to a Lighthouse Sequence Extraordinary. He may be promoted suddenly at any time, and this benefit must not be snatched away by that [Wild Hunt] first."

Then he used the Storm Admiral's ability to amplify the sound so that everyone in the sea could hear it clearly:

"The great achievement of the first treasure-plundering fleet and the wealth that rivals that of a country all belong to our White Rose Royal Party, and the promotion ceremony witnessed by the [Silver Law] also belongs to us.

Order! All ships of the Seventh Fleet, all gun crews, double fire, target the Niucheng and attached fleet.

Fire now! "

In the midst of the fierce battle, [Wild Hunt] Byron also gave the order:
"Everyone speed up and defeat the vanguard fleet in the shortest time possible.

We can’t let the damned [Sea Hunter] pick the peaches.”

When the two mortal enemies met, there was no situation where enemies would become extremely jealous of each other and attack each other regardless of the consequences.

Instead, they chose to prioritize attacking the treasure fleet and try to reap the benefits first.

Because Byron has been acting and singing double acts during this period.

In the previous attack and defense of the Hattings Colony, [Sea Hunter] Byron and [Wild Hunt] Byron deliberately fought in public many times.

The illusion that the two people are evenly matched has long been created for other forces.

And they were both from the Lighthouse Sequence. The feat of looting the treasure fleet and the huge amount of money obtained from it were enough to destroy the original fragile balance between the two.

It is like two enemies who are fighting each other and suddenly find a pistol not far away.

The first reaction would definitely be that one would rather be punched in the vital parts by the other party than not get the gun first.

As long as you get the gun, you can kill the opponent with one shot!

Therefore, rather than continuing to fight a meaningless battle, it is more prioritized to capture the treasure fleet earlier than the opponent.

The same principle applies to both [Sea Hunter] and [Wild Hunt].

After Byron on the Golden Deer gave the order, the gunnery commander Wyandotte standing on the lower deck roared along:
"Order: All ships open fire!"

boom! boom! boom! boom! boom!
The cannons fired, hot winds blew, and even the atmosphere was stirred by the ship's heavy artillery.

Led by the Golden Deer, the Seventh Fleet, which had undergone collective weapon upgrades, was like an angry dragon, spewing flames at the Treasure Fleet.

In the first round of barrage, the lightest was an 18-pound cannon shell, while more were 24-pound, 32-pound, and even 42-pound shells fired from carronades.

They drew streaks of scorching fire in the sky and fell like raindrops onto the "Great Wall of the Sea" of the Treasure Fleet.

The iron-colored light barrier, which had been weakened three times, immediately began to flicker and its power rapidly declined.

At this moment, the Seventh Fleet, which did not fly a military flag but a dragon-headed pirate flag, had fully deployed its formation and was moving side by side with the enemy without any tricks or avoidance.

However, their side was in a single column with full firepower, while the Treasure Fleet was still maintaining a double column like the "Great Wall of the Sea", and half of its firepower could not be used.

The linear tactics used by the Seventh Fleet were much stronger than those used by the pirates just now.

This group of fleet members are all absolute direct descendants that need no concealment. Whether it is the quality of artillery, loading speed, or hit rate, they are all at the top level among the navies of various countries.

It is no exaggeration to say that no one is afraid of a battleship.

On the flagship of the Treasure Fleet, Niucheng, Catalina looked at the crumbling "Great Wall of the Sea", her face livid and her teeth clenched:

“Brother, here comes another scavenging hyena.

[Sea Hunter] and his men can clearly see the treasure fleet!

There can't be any mistake. How could such a coincidence happen in the world?
Two hostile forces that happened to be able to threaten the Treasure Fleet received news about the black box at the same time and came to attack us one after another.

Someone in the kingdom's upper echelons must have deliberately leaked the information in the black box.

He also specially selected these two specific hostile forces, hoping to use them to achieve some unspeakable secret for himself.

The target is either the treasure escorted by the Green Lady under the king, or the Poor Knights who are received by Jeanne Don Quixote under Princess Isabella.

Or maybe both.

[Sea Hunter] and [Wild Hunt] are both the Lancaster Party's secret professional storm admirals. If either side takes us down first and completes the promotion, there will definitely be a fierce battle.

By that time, the person behind the scenes will probably come out and take the peach he wants."

Even though the Dibo siblings did not stay in the Bantaan Islands for a long time this time, they were familiar with the legendary stories of the two Byrons and were not surprised by their choice.

However, the [Sea Hunters] that came later obviously had a bigger appetite. Relying on the regular troops under their control, they targeted the main force of the fleet they led.

"Huh? Green Lady? Escorting treasure?"

Byron heard Catalina's analysis from afar through the [Voice of the Breeze] and couldn't help but admire the sharpness of the daughter of the shipping magnate.

In fact, during the time when Raven was monitoring the "Numa Nandan".

Byron had already seen Knight Isaac of the Poor Knights.

It was discovered that under the leadership of Captain Jeanne, who was known as "the lucky spearman of E and the breasts of E", he audited Princess Isabella's overseas assets item by item and made market value assessments one by one.

Before departure, it was compiled into an asset appraisal report and sent back to the base camp through private channels.

"No doubt Her Royal Highness Princess Isabella is preparing to take out a mortgage of unprecedented size.

By raising funds from the world-famous wealthy Knights of the Poor, a large sum of money was raised in a short period of time to complete a secret plan that even Jeanne Don Quixote did not know about.

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, a princess at her level of status cannot possibly just spend her money on consumption and enjoyment, right?
The princess was said to have been famous throughout the world for her feat of taking only one bath when she was born and only planning to take another bath when she got married, and she was even canonized for this.

I really don't know what there is for her to enjoy in this world.

The next thing she would pursue would most likely be the throne of Castile.

But I have no idea what secrets the equally famous "Green Lady" is hiding, or what treasures she is escorting.

But I know at least one thing, what both of their families are going to do is not what [Puppet King] Louis wants to see.

The most likely possibility is that the next actions of these two families may threaten Princess Juana, the heir supported by the Puppet King.

Now things get interesting.”

As soon as Byron thought about it, the decryption density of [Secret: Crisis of the Treasure Fleet, Historical Influence 28] immediately increased from 38% to 58%.

Looking at this astonishing increase, it is enough to prove that these two pieces of news were most likely leaked by the Puppet King, which was the fuse that attracted these foreign enemies.

Continuing to think from another perspective, Byron guessed that the puppet king was simply preparing to drive the wolf and the tiger away, and then he would be the final hunter.

As Byron roughly figured out the cause and effect of the matter, the counterattack of the treasure fleet finally came.

"Fire, fire!"

A barrage of bullets that was slightly more chaotic and sparse than Byron's side suddenly arrived.

Unfortunately, the largest caliber shipborne heavy gun in the Treasure Fleet was only the 32-pound cannon equipped on the Niucheng, and the other warships and armed merchant ships were equipped with only 18-pound cannons at most. Even if the entire fleet was searched, there was no large-caliber carronade that had just become popular but had already made a great splash several times.

This also means that the total number of ships on both sides may not be much different, but the density of barrage and intensity of firepower are very different.

The artillery battle of the Treasure Fleet was very weak.

The most important thing is that as soon as the Seventh Fleet appeared on the battlefield, it seized the upper hand.

When the sea breeze blew through the hundreds of masts standing among the thirty warships, it was immediately stirred into a chaotic wake by the complex sail and cable system.

The wake, which was more than two hundred meters long, had already completely enveloped the opponent's treasure fleet.

These tall Garens, which were originally like huge sails, immediately gained physical debuffs.

This turbulent zone of about 200 meters is exactly the effective combat distance of a muzzle-loading smoothbore gun.

When the artillery launches a flat shot with the highest hit rate, the projectile drops 200 meters after flying 2 meters and 400 meters after flying 7 meters, which is close to the total height of two to three gun decks of the entire battleship.

Therefore, such straight-line shooting can only occur within 200 to 400 meters. The smaller the ship, the closer the distance.

within this range.

The artillery range of the Treasure Fleet in the leeward position was shortened, and the vision was obscured by the smoke produced by the combatants. The belly of the ships below the waterline was exposed above the water and was more easily sunk.

After losing mobility, they could only passively take the beating. They could neither catch up nor escape, and were suddenly caught in a dilemma.

"Cum again!"

"Reload and shoot!"

The sailors, who were originally pirates, on the ships of the Seventh Fleet simply ignored the enemy's weak artillery fire. Even when shells occasionally fell on the ship and caused casualties, they remained calm from beginning to end.

They just followed their usual training drills and put all their energy into pouring round after round of fiery barrages of bullets at the other side.

The Treasure Fleet could only rely on the protection of the "Great Wall of the Sea" and launch rounds of counterattacks against the headwind.

At this moment, the naval battle taking place here has become a microcosm of the dispute between the new and old technological routes.

The large Galen with less powerful artillery and shorter range represents the strongest "boarding tactics" of the old era.

Heavy-armored cruisers with more sophisticated artillery and faster speed represent the strongest "linear tactics" of the current era.

Before this, the title of “the strongest” was just their way of boasting about themselves.

Who is the most powerful navy among all the countries? This is a good opportunity to have a real fight.

Battle on the raging sea, the winner is the king!
Just five minutes had passed since the two sides engaged in battle.

Boom!

With a loud bang, the "Great Wall of the Sea" that had been weakened to the extreme in advance was collapsed.

The iron-colored scraps of light flew everywhere like corroded rust, and the most fragile sails and rigging in the fleet were affected, suffering varying degrees of damage.

The next moment, a 24-pound heavy shell from the Seventh Fleet happened to fall below the waterline of one of the escort ships, creating a huge hole.

The waves were surging and kept pouring into the cabin.

Even though the sailors desperately cranked the water pumps and the carpenters rushed over to plug the leak, the ship had to withdraw from the battle sequence.

And this is just the beginning.

After losing the protection of the Great Wall on the Sea, the Treasure Fleet immediately became the naked swimmer after the tide receded.

They were beaten badly by the fierce firepower of the Seventh Fleet.

“Today’s kill rewards have been doubled, and advanced redemption rights are now available.

I will never be stingy with my contributions.”

Byron's words gave everyone a shot of encouragement. They would not leave the front line even if they were only slightly injured, and no one could stop them from changing their fate.

To put it bluntly, "line tactics" is the maritime version of line shooting, which not only tests skills but also courage. It can also be regarded as an alternative slapping competition.

Only attack without defending within a limited time, until one side can no longer bear it and withdraws from the battlefield.

When they were firing at each other face to face, the Seventh Fleet with more powerful firepower was like a middleweight boxing champion, but the Treasure Fleet, which seemed taller, was just an ordinary lightweight player.

In particular, the 30 32-pound cannons on the lower gun deck of the Golden Deer and the 26 42-pound carronades on the upper artillery deck, with a total projection mass of 2052 pounds, made the Bull City on the opposite side already doubt whether it was facing a battleship.

Woo——!
Fleet Commander [Giant Killer] Wycliffe turned his head to avoid a 42-pound artillery shell that flew past his ear.

He watched helplessly as it crushed the trusted sail and cable captain who had followed him for many years, but he was completely unable to stop it in time, and could not stop it.

His eyes instantly filled with bloodshot, and he yelled at his sister:
"Katerina, this can't go on.

Use your ability to send the fleet over. Artillery battles are not our strong point. I want to fight them in a boarding battle!"

"Yes!"

The Dibo siblings have realized that in conventional warfare mode, the linear tactics that Hastings is good at can indeed restrain Castile's large Galen.

But if there is a lack of equipment and tactics, we can make up for it with the help of extraordinary people.

Catalina took out a transparent crystal bottle from the storage of strange objects. It was filled with transparent liquid and many white crystals were constantly precipitating out.

This is exactly a [Second Level Holy Relic Storm in a Bottle]:
“Originally, it was used as a widely used navigation tool. In addition to alchemical potions, it also contained the spirit dust of storm spirits, which could accurately predict weather changes.

If the liquid is clear, the weather will be fine; if the liquid is hazy, sometimes with precipitation, the weather will be cloudy like the solution;
If there are suspended sediments and hazy liquid, it means a storm is coming; if there are crystals at the bottom of the glass, it means frost; if there are spiral patterns at the top, it means wind is coming.

After being transformed into a holy relic, it gained the additional ability to reverse the weather.

It complements Katarina's core professional ability [Weather Scepter], the fourth-level heroic [Navigator], and is enough to change the weather conditions on the battlefield in a short period of time.

She held the Storm Bottle high above her head, and a rapidly rotating spiral pattern appeared on the top of the bottle.

Woo woo woo.
The wind direction on the Treasure Fleet's side suddenly changed direction. At the same time, the waves under the fleet were controlled by Catalina, pushing the ships towards the Seventh Fleet on the opposite side.

As the Storm Admiral, Byron felt the change in wind direction at the first moment.

Without hesitation, he activated the power of [Rain God] Chak, and with the powerful control of Kamimi, he controlled the atmosphere above the Seventh Fleet.

The Storm Bottle may be able to control others, but it definitely can't control him.

At the same time, he ordered:
"The fleet is facing the wind!"

The Seventh Fleet, whose ships were lower and more flexible, immediately headed upwind, and the wake it created continued to cover the Treasure Fleet.

This made it even more difficult for Katarina, who was already using her own extraordinary power to fight against the power of nature.

This dilemma of being unable to defeat and catch up made them so sad that they almost vomited blood.

The Seventh Fleet continued to fire bombardments as it moved.

If this continues, the legendary battleship promotion ceremony [Challenge the Impossible] may achieve its first achievement today.

——The waves behind the sea push the waves in front of them, and the waves in front of them die on the beach.

Even though he was very good at using linear tactics, Byron was well aware of the "ship maneuvering tactics" that would restrain the "linear tactics" in the next version.

As the saying goes: There is a new god in each version, and each generation has its own version. Oh, old Garen, today the throne of the strongest battleship finally comes to me, the heavy cruiser.

In the next hundred years, it will be enough to punch the Nanshan Nursing Home and kick the Beihai Kindergarten.

[Giant Beast Killer] Wycliffe also realized the difficulty of his opponent and decisively switched tactics.

"Katrina, abandon the other warships and fleet battles, we will only go after the flagship of the Sea Hunter."

At the same time, he waved his hand and threw out a [Hunting Mark] which is standard for the hunter profession.

The next moment, the two ships were flying towards each other passively and rapidly like two magnets.

Wycliffe showed a cruel smile on his face, and activated the second ability of the first-level holy relic [First Galleon] [Giant Phobia]:
“When the Niucheng was created, it was the largest war device ever created by humans.

On the battlefield, as long as you are bigger than the other side, whether it is a sea monster or a ship, all the personnel will fall into intense fear, and their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. Except for the mid-sequence extraordinary, there is no immunity. "

[Giant Beast Slayer] laughed wildly as he watched Byron on the opposite ship getting closer and clearer:

"Hahaha, little mouse, where do you want to run to?
I admit that your line swordsmanship is not bad, but now it is my turn, and the Castilians will never be the best in boarding battles. Hmm? "

As he was laughing, his expression suddenly froze.

It is normal that the target looks bigger the closer the distance is, but why did the opponent's ship look like a small cruiser when he looked from a distance?

But now it seemed higher and higher, and bigger and bigger, until it turned into a 74-gun third-level battleship that was even bigger than them right in front of them.

Apparently, Byron realized that boarding was inevitable, and he immediately activated his battleship form's extraordinary ability [United as One].

Then with a "bang", the two ships were completely sucked together by the [Hunting Mark].

Click!Click!
Then, from the Golden Deer, the sound of gun bolts being pulled was heard from above.

Then [Giant Beast Slayer] saw countless black muzzles of bolt-action rifles, and a malicious-looking Byron leaned out from the side of the ship:

“Excuse me, sir, times have changed.

We are invincible whether we fight while standing or sitting!

The romance of men is to pull the big bolt. Come on, teach them how to be a man! "

(End of this chapter)