NOVEL NEXT Chapter 168 - 168 True Shadow (1)
168 True Shadow (1)
The form of war was based on existing technology, and in a world where there were BUG-like magic chanters, almost all battles followed a tactical attack and defense system built around the maximization of the mages’ powers.
Ignoring a mage duel that was similar to a knight’s duel, beheading the enemy’s mage, and protecting their mage was always the focus of any battle.
“Generally speaking, an Overlord empire warship like this is usually equipped with five to six mages. Other than the Storm mages in charge of accelerating the ship, the rest are Battle Mages. They usually concentrate on Battle Mages with direct destructive effects like Fire, Lightning, and Frost,”
Captain Hobbs said as he watched the empire warship approach in the distance.
Including the Blackwater Province vendor who had revealed his identity as a magic chanter, there were only three mages on Whalebone—this was far inferior to the other party in terms of numbers and naval combat training.
“We’re definitely at an absolute disadvantage in a magical battle. If we want to fight for a chance of survival under such circumstances, we can only place our hopes on successfully boarding and taking a gamble.”
No matter how strong a magic chanter was, they were still mortals. Before reaching the Legendary domain, it was extremely fatal for a mage to be approached by a few armed ordinary people.
“Then, the problem is how to approach that empire warship,” Lightning Fire said.
The Battle Mage nicknamed Lightning Fire was a greasy-haired youth. When he introduced himself, he claimed to be a Sage constellation Apprentice mage, but later on, he added that he had reached the level of a quasi-Expert in lightning spells.
In other words, the extent to which he could use Teleportation.
“The other party won’t be that foolish. They’ll jam the ship so that they can hit us, but we can’t hit them. They’ll dwindle our numbers before deciding what to do next,” the Warrior constellation Expert mage nicknamed ‘Big Steel Cannon,’ said.
If that was the case, they could only passively defend and intercept the other party’s spells until their mana was exhausted before falling into a state of being at the mercy of others.
William didn’t join their combat discussion. Instead, he stood at the side and watched the approaching warship. He thought about what spell he should use to disguise all of this as an accident.
Should he use True Shadow to materialize a dragon and burn the ship? Or should he release more Tornadoes to create a small storm that swallowed the warship? Or should he teleport to the other party’s ship and summon some high-level summoned creatures and enter combat after boarding?
“Mr. Ishmael?”
Someone patted William’s shoulder and brought him back to his senses.
“What is it?”
William turned around and saw Captain Hobbs calling him.
“When the time comes, you’ll help us board the other party’s ship. Is that a problem?” the other party asked.
“Me helping?”William pointed at himself curiously and asked.
After hearing the captain’s explanation, William understood the other party’s plan.
Hobbes believed that since this empire warship was most likely about to hijack them, the other party definitely wouldn’t sink the Whalebone from afar. They needed to appear weak and wait until the other party felt that they couldn’t resist before using Teleportation to board the ship.
“But Teleportation requires setting coordinates. You should know that, right?” William asked after hearing his plan.
Lightning Fire took out a few Demon Sealing runes from his pocket and said, “I’ve always been prepared for this.”
“Then, how do you plan on getting these things onto the other party’s ship? Tossing them over?” William frowned slightly and looked at the runes as he continued asking.
“This is what I need your help with,” the other party replied before continuing,
“Fire and Storm, you’re a Traveler constellation magic chanter, right? You were also the one who helped with the inexplicable gusts we encountered during our cruise?”
After learning that the businessman was a magic chanter, they could easily guess that the gust, which kept appearing without any warning, was this person’s doing. Coupled with the fire spells the other party had revealed, they were almost certain that the other party was a Traveler magic chanter. Moreover, his level wasn’t low. He was at least at the Expert level.
Traveler corresponded to the three spells—Storm, Fire, and Earth.
William replied awkwardly, “In other words, you want me to use Storm spells to send these coordinates to the other party’s ship?”
Although players often complained that the damage dealt from Storm-type offensive spells was weak, they were spells with the longest single-target attack range and the widest AOE range among the 13 spell types. According to the plot, this was because the three essentials of Storm-type spells involved the controlling of the soul, so the range it could be released was about the range of the caster’s perception.
The other party nodded.
William sighed and didn’t say anything. He took the crudely made Demon Sealing runes from the other party.
William didn’t plan on carrying out their plan.
Putting aside the question of whether this ship could still sail after the other party finished casting the spells, using these inferior Demon Sealing runes as coordinates might explode during Teleportation, dicing the person into pieces.