“Whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
Nearly two hundred chain shots rotated and danced through the air, tearing through the air and emitting strange, terrifying whistling sounds.
The Rock Demon heard these strange sounds and the black shadows whistling towards him, and was instantly greatly alarmed.
He concentrated his mental power, focusing on one of the chain shots, and immediately saw it clearly.
Two iron balls of over ten jin each, connected by an iron chain in the middle, flying rapidly towards him.
Immediately, the Rock Demon felt his scalp go numb, cold sweat breaking out on his back.
Although he did not know what chain shot was, he could tell at a glance how terrifyingly lethal this thing was against warship sails.
At this moment, the two fleets were only five hundred metres apart, and the killing area of this chain shot was several times larger.
So what would be the consequences in a moment? Completely imaginable.
But, the Rock Demon had no way out. If it were a single individual, he could swiftly dodge. But these were warships, and sail warships at that. Even wanting to change direction was difficult, let alone quickly evading.
He could only leave it to fate!
Five hundred metres distance, gone in an instant!
“Boom boom boom boom…”
Two hundred chain shots whistled and danced, violently smashing into the Rock Demon’s fleet.
Sounds of explosions rang out one after another.
Then, an incomparably terrifying and dreadful scene appeared.
The chain shots swept over the crowds from above. All people they passed over had their heads cut off, or half their bodies severed.
Still no pain, instant death, blood spraying wildly.
The chain shots flew over the warships’ sails. Wherever they passed, whether masts or sails, all were torn to shreds.
Those thick masts, appearing very sturdy, would be difficult to chop through even with sword or blade strikes.
But after being struck by chain shot, they were instantly cut in half at the waist.
“Boom boom boom…”
One mast after another snapped and fell.
The Rock Demon closed his eyes in extreme pain.
Although he had estimated the consequences of this round of chain shot attacks, when it actually happened, it still pierced to the bone.
Too terrifying, completely a scene of devastation!
“Whoosh…”
Suddenly, a whistling sound rang out. A chain shot flew rapidly towards them, about to smash into the mast behind him.
The Rock Demon’s flagship was very large, exceeding one thousand tons, its mast also extremely thick. But it was completely useless, utterly unable to withstand the cutting of chain shot.
From the start of battle until now, the Rock Demon’s flagship had not been hit, as if blessed by fortune.
And now, this luck had run out.
“Argh!” The Rock Demon roared, picking up his dark gold war blade and violently chopping down.
Instantly, the iron chain in the middle of the flying chain shot was severed, the two iron balls shooting out to either side.
“Boom…” One of them smashed into a warship several hundred metres away.
But the Rock Demon could no longer attend to that. He rapidly climbed up the mast, wanting to see just how great the losses from this round of attacks were.
…
The chain shot attacks were truly astonishing, especially at this distance of several hundred metres, facing such a dense fleet. It was practically like handing out experience and lives on a silver platter.
Sauron flew several hundred metres in the air, seeing it clearly.
The hit rate of this round of two hundred chain shots exceeded over twenty percent, because the Rock Demon’s fleet was simply too dense. The chain shots flew over the fleet from above. Even if they did not hit the front warships, they could hit those behind.
And once hit, the consequences were fatal.
At best, sails were completely shredded. At worst, masts were broken.
This round of strikes hit over fifty of the Rock Demon’s warships.
And almost every one was severely damaged.
Of course, the Rock Demon had over a thousand warships. Adding previous damage, only just over a hundred warships were damaged, about ten-odd percent, not fatal.
But what was terrifying was that dozens of warships either lost their sails or had damaged sails. Instantly, the entire warship lost control, either losing their heading and drifting with the wind, or simply spinning in place.
The Rock Demon had one thousand warships. For ease of command, the distance between warships was not great. The entire fleet travelled in a fixed direction. Now, with dozens thrown into disarray, the rhythm and speed of the entire fleet were affected.
Originally, the Rock Demon’s fleet was faster than Sauron’s fleet, closing one hundred metres every eight minutes.
Now, the two fleets’ speeds were actually the same, or even the Rock Demon’s fleet was slightly slower.
This was truly terrifying!
This meant the two fleets maintained a distance of about five hundred metres. Then, the Rock Demon could never hit Sauron’s fleet, while Sauron’s chain shot attacks were unending.
The consequences of continuing like this, the Rock Demon completely dared not imagine.
These chain shot attacks were too astonishing. After enduring another twenty or thirty rounds of attacks, the Rock Demon’s fleet would be completely crippled.
“Change formation, change formation!” The Rock Demon ordered, dispersing the entire fleet.
Moreover, he had the fifty thousand rock pirate fleet split into two parts, respectively flanking Sauron’s fleet from the left and right wings.
However, this was naval warfare. The Rock Demon had no aerial forces. Any orders had to be passed down round by round.
And he had over a thousand warships, spread across the sea surface, extending for dozens of li. For orders to completely reach everyone would take a very long time.
Added to that, the fleet changing formation, fifty thousand ships detaching from the main force, flanking from both wings. The completion of this entire tactic, who knew how long it would take.
And during this process, the Rock Demon’s fleet was completely in a passive position of being beaten.
And Sauron’s fleet seized this opportunity. Not only did they not pull away, but instead continued closing with the Rock Demon’s fleet.
Closing to within four hundred metres!
At this distance, the Rock Demon’s fleet could still only take a beating, without any means of counterattack. He simply had no large scale weapons that could reach beyond four hundred metres.
On Sauron’s fleet’s side, the second round of chain shot was already prepared.
“Fire, fire, fire!”
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
The second round of chain shot attacks whistled in, a sky full of black shadows, once again emitting wailing ghost and howling wolf sounds.
A few short seconds later, two hundred chain shots whistled in.
Then, another scene of hell.
Wherever chain shots passed, whether pirates, sails, or masts, all were violently severed.
“Argh argh argh argh…”
Waves of mournful howls rose and fell.
Of course, these screams were not from the pirates who were hit. They died instantly, unable to emit screams.
Rather, after the chain shots flew past, leaving behind a ground of shredded corpses, the surviving pirates nearby emitted screams of terror.
These pirates feared not death, especially the rock pirates, who actively pursued death.
So before every battle, these pirates would take blades and maim themselves. During battle, even if struck by a blade, they would laugh while licking their own blood, even swallowing the flesh from their own wounds.
But that was because they were familiar with that kind of battle, worshipped that kind of battle.
And now, everything had become unknown.
Without even seeing the enemy, they became piles of shredded corpses and mangled flesh.
Any person, no matter how brave, facing the unknown, would feel fear!
…
For such an enormous fleet as the Rock Demon’s, changing formation on the battlefield was already quite fast and nimble.
But it still took over half an hour.
During this time, Sauron seized the golden opportunity, like a greedy beast, frantically launching attacks.
Inspired by the results, the gunners were boiling with blood. The interval between each round of cannon fire actually shortened somewhat.
In over half an hour, a total of eight rounds of cannon fire were carried out.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
Eight rounds of chain shot cannon fire, at a distance of three to four hundred metres.
That scene was completely unimaginable.
In this relatively stationary state, the gunners’ condition grew better and better, their aim increasingly accurate.
“Boom boom boom…”
Each round of cannon fire took countless lives, destroying who knew how many warships.
The Rock Demon’s heart was bleeding. He had even closed his eyes, completely ignoring the terrifying casualties.
Moreover, his flagship beneath his feet had actually been favoured by three chain shots.
Each time he leapt up fiercely, blade rising and falling, severing the iron chain in the middle of the chain shot.
But in the entire army, how many possessed martial arts as high as his? Only he alone!
But even at this point, there was still no regret in the Rock Demon’s heart.
He had only one thought in his mind.
“Sauron, just you wait. Wait until I complete my formation change, wait until my fleet’s two wings successfully flank up, wait until I completely surround you, and you are destined to die!”
Although Sauron now held complete advantage, the Rock Demon still felt contempt in his heart.
At this moment, his Rock Demon fleet was changing formation, preparing to flank Sauron’s fleet from both wings. This intention was obvious to anyone.
So, Sauron should seize this golden opportunity, rapidly retreat, once again increasing the distance between the two fleets. Then once again enacting the process of the pursuit battle.
Everyone knew that distance was Sauron’s greatest weapon.
As long as the distance was increased, Sauron could always attack actively, while the Rock Demon could never hit Sauron.
But Sauron was too greedy. Seizing the opportunity when the Rock Demon’s fleet was almost stationary, he frantically bombarded with chain shot, trying to maximise his results.
The Rock Demon thought of an animal: the python!
The python had finally caught a huge prey, larger than its own body. It should have immediately escaped, because this prey still had other companions about to arrive.
But the python could not bear to leave, forcibly swallowing prey larger than itself into its belly, then completely unable to move.
Soon, the prey’s companions arrived. And this python’s belly was distended several times larger, completely unable to run, easily killed by the prey’s companions.
Now, the Rock Demon was using his central fleet as bait, attracting Sauron’s fleet to not leave, while sending out the two wing rock pirate fleets to encircle from left and right.
This process was very painful, completely passive and beaten. But once the two wing flanking was completed, the Rock Demon believed Sauron’s end would come. Because he would have lost his greatest weapon: distance!
Standing high on the mast, the Rock Demon saw that the two wing fleets, a total of over five hundred warships, had completely detached from the central force, completed their formation change, and begun encircling Sauron’s fleet.
The Rock Demon let out a long breath, thinking with a sinister smile, “Short-sighted and greedy Sauron, you are finished!”
And at this moment, a rock pirate island lord stepped forward. “Your Majesty, our casualty statistics have roughly been tallied.”
The Rock Demon said, “How many?”
The rock pirate island lord said, “Three hundred warships damaged, of which over two hundred almost lost control, completely losing combat effectiveness. The remaining one hundred had sails severely damaged, warship speed greatly affected. And human casualties exceed ten thousand, almost all dead. The few severely wounded will not survive.”
Hearing this, the Rock Demon nearly spat blood.
And in his heart, he was completely bleeding!
The great battle had only been going on for a mere three-odd hours, and he had already lost over twenty percent of his warships, over ten percent of his navy.
And Sauron’s fleet was completely unscathed!
Even, the Rock Demon’s fleet had not had a single opportunity to attack.
“Two wings full speed encirclement, encirclement!” The Rock Demon roared sharply. “Once we complete the encirclement, Sauron is completely dead, dead!”
…
At this moment, over one thousand li to the north!
The lord of Yingzhou Island, Hai Gang, was leading the main fleet of Yingzhou Island, grandly sailing south.
Although his fleet’s scale could not match the Rock Demon’s one hundred thousand naval troops, it was still impressively imposing!
At this moment, he was leisurely standing at the bow, admiring the beautiful, magnificent yet unchanging sea scenery.
And beside him, Hai Wuyan and Hai Na’er appeared somewhat restless and anxious.
“What is the hurry? The scenery of this great sea is so magnificent, why not calm your heart and watch?” Hai Gang said.
Hai Wuyan said, “Father, our speed is too slow. The Rock Demon’s fleet is so ferocious, and outnumbers Sauron several times over. By the time we arrive, the battle will have long ended. Sauron will already have been completely annihilated.”
Hai Gang said, “Rest assured, it will not be that fast. Sauron is cunning. Although he cannot win, escaping he knows how to do. In the last great naval battle, did he not drag your fleet running for days and nights? Once our fleet arrives, we will just cut off Sauron’s retreat, delivering the final fatal blow. Do not forget, our purpose in participating this time is to loot while the fire burns, to seize Chaos Rock Salt Field, to seize Demon Mirror Secret Island, to seize Fire Oil Secret Island.”
And just at this moment, suddenly a black dot appeared in the sky. It was a griffin beast, approaching from afar.
When it finally flew over the fleet, Hai Gang clearly saw the person on the griffin was the absolutely beautiful, fairy-like Princess Zhi Yan.
Hai Gang said, “This humble outsider pays respects to Your Highness the Princess. Your Highness truly has excellent composure. Even at this time, you remain calm and composed, light as a breeze and clear as clouds.”
The underlying meaning was that Sauron was about to be finished, and you Zhi Yan would soon be finished too, yet you still put on an otherworldly fairy-like airs for whom to see?
Although Hai Gang was deeply calculating, he truly held a grudge against Sauron’s previous disrespect. Now, facing this person who was certain to die, he could not help but speak sarcastically, truly contrary to his usual demeanour.
Facing Hai Gang’s sarcasm, Princess Zhi Yan acted as if she had not understood, and instead asked, “Why has Lord Hai Gang come? To fulfil the alliance agreement and lead the fleet to join with my army, pincer attacking the Rock Demon?”
“Hahahaha…” Hai Gang laughed heartily. “Your Highness the Princess, how is it that I do not remember us ever having any alliance agreement? Could it be that I have developed amnesia? Or has Your Highness developed delusions?”
Princess Zhi Yan said, “Since Lord Hai Gang is not here to fulfil the alliance agreement to support my army, then why have you come?”
Hai Gang said, “Sauron acts against the way of heaven, harbouring wolfish ambitions, provoking heavenly wrath and popular resentment, pointed at by a thousand fingers. Although I, Hai Gang, am an outsider, I must also respond to Prince Zhi Li’s call to carry out heaven’s way on his behalf. I have already signed the proclamation against the traitor. This time, leading troops here is to punish Sauron, to eliminate this rebel!”