Chapter 158: Safe Harbor
Sea Burial continued to accelerate through the deep, dark ocean, skipping across the choppy waves as they raced for the reef. The massive siege ships loomed ahead of them, blocking their perspective of the fort, though they all knew exactly where it was. They aimed for the space between the bulky ships of the Sapphire Armada. They didn’t have time to slow down and reassess their strategy knowing that the pyramid ships were chasing their flank, even if the pursuers were much slower than the pirate ship. They would be hemmed in if they hesitated.
Coop held his breath as they drew closer, anticipating being forced into another fight. He was planning on boarding the larger vessels if it came to a battle, but they shot through the void between the massive ships, unnoticed. Their enemies were oblivious to their flank, trusting the swarm of pyramid ships to prevent anything from approaching along with the discouragement factor of their bulk to intimidate anyone else. They were fixated on the fort in front of them. Luckily, even if the assimilation had pushed them into focusing on their navy, they weren’t actually experienced sailors yet. Two months wasn’t enough time to turn a regular population into proper seafarers. A lifetime of experience at sea meant that Ghost Reef’s navy still held some advantage.
On the other side of the blockade, the crew of pirates were greeted with the sight of a massive naval bombardment. The battleships were so large, they had screened them from the actual battle until they were suddenly in the thick of it.
Three deep thumps cascaded from the nearest battleship, one after the other, as mortars launched a barrage high into the sky from the tubes in the top of the ship. Waves broke against the reef, generated by the bobbing of the enormous structure. If it wasn’t for the projectiles streaking blue flames through the air, Coop’s eyes wouldn’t have been able to follow them. They flew high enough to be mistaken for shooting stars before crashing back down toward the fort.
The air was thick with black smoke, and massive projectiles were being flung back and forth while smaller missiles whistled through the night. Most of the largest munitions exploded in huge airbursts like blooming flowers before colliding with either the fort or the ships, sending shell fragments in all directions that splashed into the shallow waters, or bounced harmlessly against defensive structures, but the ones that did reach their targets were deflected by what were becoming familiar energy shields.
The battleships had a series of multiple pyramid shaped protective shields that lit up whenever they caught arcing cannon fire or spells that were cast from the fort’s walls. The fort, on the other hand, had a single shield that seemed to be embedded into the stone, causing the structure itself to light up with waves of energy whenever one of the mortars connected. Above the wall, a transparent, ghostly green shell-shaped mana shield extended over the courtyard. Whenever the shield was struck by a mortar, an individual scute would light up an even brighter green before fading back to transparency after taking the hit, leaving the subtle outline floating in above. It looked like a massive ethereal sea turtle shell was sitting on top of the fort’s walls with the head facing the main entrance to the south and the edges protectively covering the walls.
Along the edge of the shallows, three of the enormous battleships were under varying degrees of distress. The worst off was toward the south, offshore where the coast was consumed by the mangrove forest. The battleship had a gaping hole in its hull that split its scorched bulk into two halves. It only remained connected due to drifting into the water that was shallow enough for it to rest on the bottom, otherwise, it was a complete loss. The other two maintained their buoyancy, but one was listing hard enough that every third wave was able to splash water over the rim above its main deck, slowly filling the deep tub with water. Neither seemed to have the ability to move on their own. It was only a matter of time before they joined the first ship in being a total loss. The Armada was taking heavy losses in their siege of the fort, already contributing to the reef’s collection of shipwrecks.
The cannon portals in the fort were firing at will, launching their payloads in high arcing shots that could only barely reach the ships that were mortaring the walls. During the siege, none of the cannons had such a range, but the progression of the phantom cannoneers gave them just enough distance to counter-attack. It was easily double the previous maximum range they had displayed against the Primal Constructs. However, it wasn’t the cannons that were causing most of the Sapphire Armada’s distress, but rather the individual spells that were also crossing the air.
Glowing beams of energy were being fired like railguns where archers employed advanced abilities to snipe at the ships whenever their shields appeared to be weakening. Otherwise, magma balls, frostbolts, and chaos orbs were revealing ranges that were impossible in the months previous. Ghost Reef’s residents hadn’t been progressing thoughtlessly. Their builds had been molded by their experiences during the siege event, and now they combined stamina with range, incorporating Ghost Reef itself into their tactics. Coop had believed the Sapphire Armada had made a mistake in targeting their settlement, but he had actually underestimated the difficulties they would face. He had thought it was simply a matter of levels and experience that would give them trouble, but it was also a mismatch in tactics.
Ice smashed into the mortars, high in the air, sending sparkling snowflakes in all directions as some of the spellcasters concentrated on defensive contributions. A coordinated volley of dozens of spells were launched together from the north. Some of the preliminary attacks blasted through the air, exploding after flying in line drives across the shallow sea where they once fought Gaol the Unveiled Blade, but most arced through the black smokey clouds with trajectories that pushed their range to the absolute maximum. A blood red meteor, easily the size of a house, joined them from almost directly above, as if it was falling directly from outer space. Coop gaped when the cascade of spells smashed into one of the battleships, directly north of the fort, revealing its pyramid shaped shields as they were overwhelmed by the barrage. The ship erupted when the meteor landed, flashing with searing blue light as it was destroyed by the cooperative attacks. The battleship broke into multiple pieces with all but the pointed bow sinking into the depths. The lone monument to what was a huge ship propped itself up against the edge of the shallow reef, adding another ornamental wreck.