Pillar of Yita

”Did they escape into the Great Rift Valley?”

”Pretty much, if the people on the Long Wharf and the Grey Whale didn’t get it wrong.”

”It’s truly strange, their skills aren’t bad at all; where did these people emerge from?”

The people couldn’t help but discuss this matter. Although they had some disputes with the Seven Seas Travel Group, it didn’t prevent them from objectively evaluating Fang Hong and his team’s strength.

In recent years, almost every outstanding Invoker has come from the Grand Guild’s youth training camp, and it’s been many years since such formidable individuals have emerged among free Summoners.

It’s not that there haven’t been any, but a group where most members have this level of skill is extremely rare.

”Could they be from the military, R.I.S, or Elite?”

Lair shook his head, ”The Oak Knights’ youth training camp, or some other place.” He actually didn’t know much about Fang Hong and his team, besides being aware of some of their achievements.

In fact, everyone on the outside felt the same way.

”But regardless of who they are, this is combat on the Sky Sea,” Lair spoke up at this moment. He didn’t have any intention of having a showdown with them. ”Tell the people on the Long Wharf and the Grey Whale to avoid one-on-one battles and boarding actions with them as much as possible.”

”Is that necessary, Big L? No matter how strong they are, they can’t be that formidable. It could also be that the people on the Oxin Silver Flame were just too weak.”

They did have a conflict at the port, and the Descendants of Flor still remembered it, feeling somewhat unconvinced in their hearts.

However, Lair shook his head and was about to speak again, when a sailor hurriedly approached, whispered something in his ear.

His expression changed, and he looked up to tell everyone:

”The Long Wharf is gone.”

”Wait, what do you mean by ’gone’?”

”Gone is gone,” Lair replied. ”The Long Wharf caught up with them in the Great Rift Valley and was sunk in the encounter.”

Everyone was shocked, and the ship fell silent for a moment.

...

From a distance, Fang Hong watched the Long Wharf, ablaze, plunge into the Void Canyon.

He knew well how difficult it is to bring an airship into existence, especially for those not belonging to a Grand Guild; it’s often the fruit of countless people’s sweat and efforts.

And it’s not the same as the death of an Invoker, as the presence of Starlight in Eteliria offers them many chances to be reborn.

But for a guild, when an airship sinks, it’s often years or even decades of hard work gone to waste.

So, in combat over the Sky Sea, Invokers generally don’t easily sink each other’s airships unless they have a deep-seated enmity.

Disabling it to render it inoperative, or taking it through boarding actions to ransom back afterwards, is a common tactic to avoid making mortal enemies among Invokers.

That’s how they dealt with the Oxin Silver Flame previously—

The battle seemed to shatter the opponent’s morale so much that the remaining crew even had to surrender, but it wasn’t as easy as it appeared.

With unexpected tactics during the boarding action, they significantly weakened the opponent’s fighting force. Though the Oxin Silver Flame had sixty or seventy members, only about half were combat-ready personnel outside of sailors and life profession members.

The Seven Seas Traveler had only a dozen members, but most were legitimate War Profession Invokers, not to mention he himself was a Combat Artisan.

In a scenario of ten against thirty, plus ten Dragon Hunters, the discrepancy in power wasn’t as large as imagined.

Especially with the opponent’s loss of two melee teams during two separate boarding actions, and within those fifteen minutes of resurrection time, he indeed ordered Miss Tata to ram the Seven Seas Traveler into them.

By then, the battlefield situation had fundamentally changed.

Then the Big Cat People, assisted by the Dragon Hunters, killed the enemy’s leader, and afterward, the opponent could never mount an effective counterattack again.

He used over a dozen Fire Giants to blow off the opposing ship’s tail, rendering the Oxin Silver Flame motionless, allowing the Seven Seas Traveler freedom to choose angles and opportunities to fire.

After clearing the top deck of the Oxin Silver Flame, they took out the enemy’s cannon deck, leaving them toothless.

They then boarded the ship and entered the lower cabins, capturing their resurrection point, and the whole process took under forty minutes.

The opponents resurrected only once but were suppressed by the Seven Seas Traveler and the ten Dragon Hunters’ firepower, unable to even reach the top deck.

After taking the resurrection point, the remaining opponents readily chose to surrender to protect their ship.

Fang Hong did not make things difficult for them. After taking some supplies and valuables from the enemy ship, he let them go.

The Oxin Silver Flame had lost its mobility, but according to them, there were many ships nearby searching for them, so they could easily call for help from others.

But it was different for the Long Wharf.

Standing by the ship’s rail, Fang Hong watched the final flash in the distance within the Void Canyon, watching the twin-masted ship similar to their own burst into flames and roll down.

Finally, it disappeared entirely—

The people on that ship were much more cunning than those on the Oxin Silver Flame. It seemed they took lessons from their predecessors and no longer engaged in boarding attacks.

The Long Wharf was a gunboat with eight cannons, more heavily armed than the Seven Seas Traveler and much fiercer than the Oxin Silver Flame

Moreover, Eteliria’s Magic Guided Engineering updates approximately every thirty years, and the antique cannons taken from pirate ships on the Seven Seas Traveler were no match for the rapid-fire cannons on the enemy ship.

They fought with earnest aggression, appearing intent on crippling the Seven Seas Traveler. After taking several hits from cannonballs, Fang Hong couldn’t help but become truly enraged.

He had Miss Tata steer into the enclosed Void Canyon, using the terrain advantage to surprise the opponent with Fire Giant attacks, aiming to blow off their masts or sails and immobilize them.

Unexpectedly, in their panic, the people on the enemy ship ended up crashing into the canyon wall to avoid the Fire Giant’s attacks.

This led to the scene just witnessed.

Watching the rolling and disappearing flames from afar, he quietly pondered—how unimaginable it would be if the Seven Seas Traveler were the defeated side today.

Would it also burn fiercely, crashing down under the Sky Sea?

No matter what, in this seemingly lengthy chase, they must be the victor.

They must always be—

”Ade, the other Wind Element Source chasing us just disappeared,” Hilveld came up behind him and spoke gently.

Since that night a few days ago, when they’re alone, she rarely called him Lord Captain in private.

”They got the message,” Fang Hong turned back, answering. ”The precedents with the Oxin Silver Flame and the Long Wharf should keep them from chasing us alone. However, this means that next time we see these people, it might not be just one ship, but an entire fleet.”

He paused, then asked, ”What are our losses?”

”Not optimistic.”

The Lady Noble rarely furrowed her brow.

...