Pillar of Yita

Among the seven Constructs, only two managed to leave intact—

A cheer erupted on the deck.

But that cheer quickly turned into dead silence.

The second and third waves of Lancers soared over the Torch, spreading out seven by seven, diving down. The spells of the Magic Guided Conductors and Elementalists had also run out eventually, with beams of golden-red fire blossoming against the azure sky, only to vanish soon after.

The flame-protection Arrays flickered with faint azure light once more, but this time they failed to completely block all the attacks. The golden light pierced through the runes spinning mid-air, burning through the white sails woven with Wind-Weaved Silk behind them.

For the first time, flames soared upward, nine golden beams plowing through the deck, leaving behind streams of white light.

Then came the fourth, fifth, and sixth waves of attacks. The people on the Torch were already thrown into chaos by the passing Lancers. Flames rose from the deck, and smoke billowed thickly while people struggled to take care of themselves.

”Cannons, cannons!” Captain Sotolin shouted, as these Constructs had descended to their level.

But compared to the nimble Constructs, the accuracy of the clunky cannons was dismal.

Moreover, the enemies were simply too many.

Since its inception, the Lancer adhered to a principle of simplicity and effectiveness. Its structure was not complex; the only central components were power, energy, flight control, and firepower systems. Everything else was streamlined as much as possible.

No backup mechanisms, no Shield, no standby Crystal, no fancy intricate devices, not even the cooling system, simplified to the utmost—if one were to ask what happens when it breaks, Fang Hong and Miss Tata would reply:

If it breaks, it breaks.

This was inherently a Construct built under conditions for mass production. They were clumsy, rigid, and in a non-controlled state, they even lacked the necessary evasion capability, merely circling targets or maintaining a direction cruise. Their attack modes were singular, prone to losses, but they had one advantage:

That was sheer quantity.

Due to using minimal Calculative Power, there could be an ample number.

Even with timed fuze grenades, Lancers plunged into the mid-air bursting barrage, with two or three disintegrating in mid-air, yet more Constructs would still fly back, plowing through the vast body of the Torch with golden beams.

Given the immense size of the Airship, there was almost no chance of missing. Wave after wave of attacks, some beams even penetrated the cannon windows, hitting the posterior cannon positions, causing detonation, blasting a huge hole on one side of the Torch’s hull.

Continuous attacks flooded through this opening. If it weren’t for the place being far from the Magic Guided Warehouse, the Torch by now would probably have turned into a rolling fireball, crashing below the Cloud Sea.

”Those damned descendants of Flor lied!”

The sub-commander of the Invoker rushed in, shouted at Sotolin:

”Where could there be only one Combat Artisan on that ship? It’s ten, at least a full ten Combat Artisans, an entire platoon, a full platoon!”

Sotolin watching the sky full of Constructs with his scarred face twitching, found himself speechless. Unexpectedly, a bizarre thought popped into his mind. If battles in the Sky Sea would be fought like this in the future, then what use were these Airships anymore?

What use were they, these experienced captains?

No, he shook his head violently, it was because the Torch was too small. If only their ship was large enough—if only their ship was large enough, then they would have enough counter-attack capability, these Constructs wouldn’t be much. Yes, what difference does it make if there are ten Combat Artisans? They couldn’t possibly find one hundred, or one thousand Combat Artisans.

Hateful!

Suddenly he slammed a heavy fist against the cabin wall.

”Captain, Captain,” the Invoker looked at him aghast, ”can we still keep our ship?”

Of course there’s no problem.

The attack power of those Constructs was too weak. Although the Torch currently couldn’t fight back, before they could sink the Torch, the Seagull and the Descendants of Flor should have arrived. In misfortune, they were fortunately not facing these Constructs alone.

Comparatively, the Onoi was much more unlucky. Sotolin was about to respond, but suddenly frowned—Onoi? Right, where was the Onoi? Shouldn’t it have been in front of the Torch? Why did the Onoi vanish from the Elemental Detector so quickly?

A chilling sensation rose within the captain, nearly making him burst out of his Captain’s Room—

The sky above the Torch.

The seventh wave of attacks was arriving.

But unlike previous waves of Constructs, a cluster of golden spheres was trailing behind these jet-black Lancers.

After a brief pause, they detached from the flying formation, then accompanied by a buzzing sound, they whooshed down towards the smoking Torch below. In this fierce battle, at that moment, hardly anyone noticed this detail—

Crackling static on the communication channels, like needle points stabbing at the hearts of everyone gathered there.

Lair froze for a long time before slowly raising his head. On the astrolabe, the point representing the Torch had vanished. Only the point of the Seagull remained, like a flickering candle in the wind, hovering amidst the murky dust, flickering uncertainly.