Pillar of Yita

”The distress signal was sent from here.”

Lair arrived at the ship’s railing, looking downwards, observing the three-masted sailing ship with tattered sails drifting above the Sky Sea in the distance.

”That’s the Oxin Silver Flame, do we have any way to contact them?”

”No.”

”Go up and take a look.”

...

It took them about half an hour to get closer to the other party.

Once they got a little closer, the Descendants of Flor discovered that the Oxin Silver Flame was covered in terrifying scars at this moment—a large hole was opened on the side, almost penetrating through, and the cannon deck inside was a mess, clearly bearing the marks left by a cannonball hit.

And similar scars were found in many other places, visible everywhere from the bow, sterncastle to the deck.

A mast was broken, lying horizontally, while the other two masts also suffered damage to varying degrees, and the tail rudder was deliberately damaged. A cannonball hit the midsection of the Oxin Silver Flame, leaving a pitch-black entry point, this shot evidently causing severe damage, crippling the ship here.

Captain Elan Dravir somewhat awkwardly welcomed these visitors.

Lair asked to see their Chairman, but the Captain politely told them that the Chairman was not on board, in fact, there weren’t many Invokers on the Oxin Silver Flame at the moment.

The folks from the Descendants of Flor looked around.

The deck of the Oxin Silver Flame was littered with traces of battle—large stains of blood, bullet marks scattered everywhere, nicks left by slashing weapons, and burn marks, corrosion, or freezing marks left by magic.

Most of the sailors were injured, and even so, the remaining crew was few, at best barely able to keep the ship operational.

They inquired about what happened, but received only vague responses, and Captain Elan Dravir did not mention the previous battle, though he could reveal the identity of the attackers.

From what they witnessed, there was no doubt it was the target on the Wanted Order.

The remaining Invokers on the Oxin Silver Flame were somewhat easier to communicate with, but when they mentioned what happened before, they were also reticent. Lair could understand their embarrassment, given the situation of being outnumbered, losing badly was not something they would want publicized.

But from the bits and pieces of information, he managed to sort out some intelligence.

Despite the small number of attackers, there were a few exceptionally formidable presences.

First and foremost was naturally the Captain of the Artisan Corps. Lair couldn’t help but recall the videos he had watched on his journey—the opponent was indeed impressive, whether it was the battle in Dolifen or Idus, both were spectacular.

Unlike those on the Oxin Silver Flame, he was aware of some inside information, it was said that even Qing, the owner of the Azure Cross Star, had suffered losses at the hands of the opponent, which spoke volumes of their capability.

Although Qing had never publicly disclosed the details of that time, from the vague descriptions of the Pale Brigade regarding the battle in Idus, one could glimpse certain clues.

Yet even so, he was a bit surprised by the description of Fang Hong.

In the recollections of the remaining Invokers on the Oxin Silver Flame, the opponent used a very peculiar type of Construct, at least through their description, he was certain he had never seen a Flexible Construct model like it.

The elongated Construct excelled both near and far, deploying a six-round Magic Guided Gun for long-distance combat. Lair, hearing the description, found it reminiscent of the Empire’s Model Eleven designed exclusively for Constructs.

But in further descriptions, this Magic Guided Gun exhibited attributes of magic-breaking, which made him somewhat uncertain.

In addition to this, they also used throwing spears to attack. The Empire Model Eleven’s attack already reached hundreds, while the throwing spear’s attack was even higher—and the latter was relatively more inconspicuous, posing a particular threat to Agility System professions.

Furthermore, they also wielded a long blade for melee combat. Although it was uncertain if it was an exaggeration to cover up failure, in the descriptions of these people, the opponent’s melee attack was astonishingly high.

According to them, their heavily armored melee professions even claimed that their Shield Wall was broken in front by a single sword from the opponent, followed by a second sword that took their head.

This notion was simply unbelievable, considering the defense level of Level 27-28 defensive professions, unless that sword dealt damage over a thousand, he couldn’t fathom the possibility of this scenario occurring.

”They also have very high magic resistance...” A Magic Guided Conductor Invoker nervously told them, ”Magic is almost ineffective against them...”

High attack, high mobility, high magic defense, even disregarding the extraordinary capabilities of these Constructs capable of both close and distant combat, just their balanced power alone would indicate at least a Level 30 range.

Yet in these people’s description, the opponent deployed ten such Constructs to battle, which even Lair found unbelievable. His first reaction was that it was impossible, for if every over-twenty-level Combat Artisan could control this many Flexible Constructs far beyond their level for combat, would other professions even survive?

Even though geniuses do exist, while there are disparities between people, the description from the other side suggested this wasn’t just a disparity between people, but one between humans and gods.

In the same level range, even if Loofah came, he wouldn’t be able to handle even a single hand from this opponent.

”Have these people been scared out of their wits?” The others accompanying him clearly didn’t believe it either, ”High attack, excellent mobility, defense level above average, if such Constructs truly existed, I might as well change profession to a Combat Artisan.”