As the saying goes, even an old dog has a few teeth.
"Given the current formation, it's impossible not to attack head-on."
Gazing at the tight defensive formation in front of him, Doronte let out a helpless sigh.
Frankly speaking, he hoped to find the opponent's weakness and strike.
But Barque and Christoph were apparently experienced in battles and naturally wouldn't give him such a chance.
Even though the formation in front of him was stable and didn't seem out of the ordinary.
But it was due to this that Doronte was depressed. Of course, he could choose to waste time with the opponent, but this wasn't in line with his style.
Besides, when Doronte discussed with Hank previously, they also agreed that since things had come to this point, there was no point in continuing to hide. They might as well fight openly. Both sides' ideas were surprisingly consistent. The only difference was that the Academy City side didn't intend to waste time.
On the other hand, the Magic Empire side was eager to capture the enemy hiding in the dark …
But at this point, it didn't seem right to not give them some surprises …
At this thought, Doronte couldn't help but rub his chin. Then, as though he thought of something, he let out a chuckle.
"Order the War Goddess Guards to attack. We will follow up."
At this moment, on the other side of the sky, Barque still didn't sense the arrival of danger. But even so, he didn't let down his guard.
He was also well aware that this defensive formation was as though telling the opponent to 'bring it on'. Unless the enemy was absolutely confident or a fool, there was absolutely no reason for them to be fooled.
But now, Barque didn't have a better solution. The only thing he could rely on was his and Christoph's battle experience and absolute confidence. But this was the only thing that no one lacked.
"— —"
All of a sudden, a strange sound came from the sky. It sounded like something slicing through the air. Everyone lifted their heads curiously and tried to find out what exactly made the sound. In the empty air before them, several strange silver 'big birds' appeared out of nowhere.
They were entirely silver-black in color and looked like opened pincers. Compared to warships, they were much smaller, but formed a neat triangular formation. The silver-white 'giant birds' streaked across the sky in front of the fleet and flew toward them.
"Enemy attack, prepare to fire!!"
Although they didn't know what it was, it was obvious that it didn't come with good intentions. Therefore, the mages and soldiers on the deck quickly took action after orders were given.
Unfortunately, since it was a surprise attack, they naturally wouldn't give the other party a chance to counterattack. In fact, the moment these Silver Mechas appeared, they had already begun their attack.
However, it was done in a way that no one could imagine.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Along with a series of explosions, several glistening white cones shot out from the back of the silver-white 'giant birds'.
They flew down from the Silver Mechas as though pulled by something, following the influence of gravity and plummeting.
Shortly after, the white cones struck the defensive barrier of the magic warships.
Then, a series of flames erupted and enfolded the entire sky.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Barque looked up in astonishment, only to witness the raging flames rolling, spreading, and battering the defensive barrier frantically.
The Magic Conducting Barrier also began to weaken under the barrage of attacks.
After all, the defensive barrier of the Magic Empire's warships was charged with crystals. In that case, when the warships were attacked, the power of the crystals would naturally be consumed …
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Before Barque reacted, several explosions sounded all of a sudden. But compared to before, these explosions were louder and more shocking.
Barque couldn't help but feel startled. Sure enough, at the next moment, Barque received an incomparably shocking piece of news.
"The enemies have attacked from the front. The Pegasus has been destroyed!"
According to the intelligence report, after the strange silver birds attacked the fleet, the fleet ahead suddenly discovered that the three metal warships that attacked the fleet earlier suddenly appeared in front of them out of thin air. Shortly after, they launched a round of cannons at the Pegasus. The pitiful Pegasus had just been bombarded by the silver birds and didn't have the time to figure out what was going on. In the end, the barrier was blasted and the Pegasus exploded.
And this time, the three metal warships uncharacteristically didn't choose to leave after the successful attack. Instead, they continued to advance aggressively and had entered a defensive formation!
"Surround them immediately. Warships in their path immediately retreat to the left and right sides, then block from the rear. Inform Commander Christoph immediately and ask him to join me from the flank so that we can intercept them head-on!"
Barque immediately issued a series of orders. He didn't know why the enemies gave up the previous method of shooting and running and instead adopted this attack strategy that seemed almost like a suicide attack. But at least now that the enemies had appeared and were surrounded, what he had to do next was to annihilate them as much as possible. Even if he couldn't annihilate them, he should at least trap them as hostages.
Of course, Balck also considered the possibility that the enemy was planning to "shoot the horse before shooting the rider, and capture the leader before capturing the bandits". Therefore, he ordered his flagship, the Monarch, to quickly evade the enemy's path. Even if it was just a little, he had to consider the possibility that the enemy would drag him down with them.
But shortly after, Barque discovered that he made a wrong decision.
His original intention was to prevent the enemies from advancing by hindering their attacks. At the very least, he wanted to cause a certain degree of damage to the enemies.
But the reality was just the opposite. Although the three metal warships looked smaller than the warships of the Magic Empire, their streamlined metal bodies were quite difficult to capture.
As these metal warships were flat, unlike the warships of the Magic Empire that had vertical hulls, the area of attack wouldn't be too large whether it was from the front or the side. Besides … Even if the attacks penetrated the enemy's force field shield and hit the metal warships, the damage wouldn't be too great.
But the situation on the empire's side was completely different.
Although they were obstructed, the three metal warships didn't have the slightest intention of stopping. They roared forward like racing cars on the F1 track, piercing through the formation of the empire's fleet like a straight knife. They weren't concerned about the cannons coming from both sides and only opened fire when a warship blocked their way.
And these metal warships had obviously gone through a certain degree of training because every time they opened fire, they could ensure that their cannons could hit the target completely.
Barque even witnessed that when the 'Wings of the Sky' didn't have time to change direction and was blasted into a fireball by the enemy, they didn't even care at all and directly crashed into the blazing flames.
What exactly are they trying to do?
The actions of these three warships puzzled Barque. He didn't understand the meaning of their actions at all because right in front of them, Christoph's task force had already set up a solid defensive formation. Behind them, under his command, the First Fleet also began to close in. Although the firepower of these three warships was indeed amazing, if they activated the defensive barrier with all their might, they wouldn't be completely defenseless …
"Activate the energy barrier and use level-1 scrolls!"
As though having a telepathic connection with Barque, Christoph also quickly issued an order.
Shortly after, several mages in high-level mage robes came to the front of the deck and took out regular scrolls from their sleeves. In a situation where high-level magic couldn't be used, only those magic scrolls could be used as usual.
Soon, the mages opened the scrolls and recited aloud. Along with waves of magical fluctuations, invisible energy spread out and formed an incomparably solid city wall that blocked the path of the metal warships.
"The old fox has finally revealed his tail …"
Even though his way out was clearly blocked, Doronte didn't feel worried at all. Instead, he licked his lips and revealed a smug smile.
"In that case, it's time for us to take action … Order the 'Messenger' to activate the guidance field!"
No one, not even Barque, noticed that while they were focused on the three metal warships that had walked into the trap, behind them, another 'Pilgrim' -class reconnaissance ship appeared silently in the air. Then, a white magical radiance emerged from it and rotated around it as though it was some kind of signal …
"The Messenger has activated the guidance field!"
Upon receiving this news, Hank clenched his fists. At this moment, he saw the dawn of victory. Next, it was time to give the imperial fleet a fatal blow!
"Connect the guidance field and activate the warp engine. All fleets, prepare for warp!"
Along with Hank's command, the massive metal warship of the 'Explorer' emitted a gentle white glow as if in response. Immediately afterward, the warship beside it suddenly transformed into a beam of light and disappeared into the air like an arrow released from a bow.