Chapter 1554: Chiyou Plume

"Ghost ships? Is that a new scam or something?" I asked in a dumbfounded voice.

Xu Yang said in a low tone, "It looks like a transport ship. Anyway, you should come back with our main force as soon as possible. Blazing Hot Lips has accumulated so much damage that Beauty Stranger is about to burst into tears!"

"Mn!"

I abruptly rose to my feet and ordered, "We have an emergency at Fortress of the Iron Halberd! All Dragonlight Cavalrymen, Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages are to teleport to Dawn City and make way for Fortress of the Iron Halberd now!"

I crushed my return scroll faster than anyone and teleported back to Sky City. After I teleported to Dawn City, I flew high enough into the sky to observe Fortress of the Iron Halberd. I saw flames and smoke rising from the direction of the fortress—that was normal since there was an ongoing war over there—and shiny dots that looked like vessels above it. It looked like Xu Yang wasn’t making a metaphor when he called them "ghost ships" after all.

Boom!

I crossed a hundred meters in an instant as I returned to low altitude and flew toward Fortress of the Iron Halberd. All the players who could fly such as He Yi, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue were following behind me as well. We were the fastest and the strongest players in the main force, so reaching the fortress even a minute sooner could potentially improve the situation!

It took me only a few minutes to pass over the heroic statue on top of Fortress of the Iron Halberd and stop above the walls. I saw 10 to 15 ghost ships floating in the sky and slowly making their way toward the fortress. More ghost ships were parked farther away so that the players of the Northern Alliance could board them without disruption. As Xu Yang said, it was a transport ship!

……

Creak!

The closest ghost ship abruptly opened its hatch to reveal a huge number of cavalrymen. The next moment, they leaped out of the hatch and straight toward our walls. There was about 50 meters of distance between the hatch and the walls, so the elite players wouldn’t lose all of their mount tenacity when they landed. If they were allowed to land successfully, the ranged players on the walls wouldn’t be able to maintain the line of fire on the ground properly. That would be incredibly dangerous!

Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked up at the ghost ship and made a cute whining sound. Her pale neck seemed to shimmer beneath the dazzling moonlight as she said, "So annoying! How do we even stop these people? All units, aim your spells at the air and kill all those who try to land on top of us!"

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

In just ten seconds, hundreds of cavalrymen had landed on the rampart before pouncing toward our mages and archers like rabid animals. A red-faced Xu Yang raised his Omnislash and erupted, "11th subguild’s Thunder Cavalry, follow me to teach these grandsons a lesson!"

I stared at the ghost ship for a bit longer before steeling myself. Then, I rushed forward and fired Burning Blade Slash at it!

Bang bang bang…

Unfortunately, my skill only managed to leave a couple of deep scars on the ship’s hull. It wasn’t enough to destroy it entirely!

On the rampart, Stranger of Three Lifetimes shouted, "Lu Chen, the ghost ships have insane amount of Defense and Magic Resist, so normal skills won’t cut it! Use armor penetration or armor break skills instead! Also, the ship has 10 million durability!"

I nodded. "Thanks!"

A pair of bloody wings expanded behind me as I activated Heavenly River Transformation. Then, I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and executed my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill—Xuanyuan Slash!

Bang!

To my surprise, the attack actually split the ship in half. There were about four to five thousand cavalrymen inside the ship, and thankfully most of them had crash-landed outside the walls. When I looked at the damage number I inflicted, I immediately understood why I was able to cut it in half in one strike. I had triggered the Xuanyuan Sword’s septuple damage effect—

17,415,755!

……

I flew toward the next ghost ship to continue my work. The Chinese players on the ramparts tried to help me by shooting their projectiles at the ship, but most of their attacks were unable to piece its Defense. There wasn’t really anything they could do against it.

One enemy spotted my arrival through a window and shouted in a hurry, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand has returned! Someone, drive him away from the battleship with Barrier Break now!"

The hatch opened just a tiny bit to enable a dozen or so cavalrymen to jump out of it. Their judgment was good, and they were able to fall right on top of me. As soon as they were in range, they immediately swung their blades at me.

"Heh!"

I chuckled and activated profound Armor to triple my Defense for a short time. Let’s see if your Barrier Breaks can pierce my current Defense!

87,767!

71,826!

90,763!

……

Amusingly, not one of them managed to deal more than 100k damage to me. While they were utterly dumbfounded, I slammed them to the walls and killed them with Ancient Seal.

Now that the nuisances were gone, I flew to the ghost ship’s side and used Pardon!

MISS!

Basic attack!

Crack! That was 3.12 million durability gone just like that. At Rank 10, Pardon allowed my next attack to pierce nearly all of the target’s Defense. It was amazing for situations like this!

I raised my sword and cast Universe Break this time. The ship let out an audible groan as its durability dropped by another 2.74 million. Now, its durability was less than half. Next, I tried casting the Xuanyuan Art!

Columns of red light fell from the sky, and all low-health Northern Alliance players within 1,000 yards around me dropped dead instantly. Unsurprisingly though, the ghost ship was unaffected just like the Dragon Cannon had been. It was metallic machinery after all.

There wasn’t much time left to experiment, however. The ghost ship was just seconds away from making contact with the wall. I made up my mind and rammed against the hull with Mad God Lunge!

Buzz!

My entire body vibrated like a bell, but I was able to push back the ghost ship by a dozen or meters. The players inside the ship couldn’t help but goggle at the sight. "What the fuck! Is he even human? I cannot believe he knocked back our ghost ship with his physical body!"

It was at this moment Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin and Beiming came to the rescue. A Dragonbone Flurry + Dimensional Storm + Armor Piercing Arrow combo struck the ghost ship and reduced its remaining durability to zero. Lian Xin killed a large majority of the players before they even crashed on the ground.

……

Riding on her Snow Crystal Dragon and standing on the rampart, He Yi stared at the dozen ghost ships in the sky and asked, "What are these ships exactly?"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes explained, "I heard it’s Hero City’s unique skill that produces these ghost ships. There are a lot of guilds in Hero City that produce flying transport vessels as well. I’m worried that they’ll try to use the ghost ships to slip their forces through our defense line and attack Wind City directly. That would be bad!"

However, He Yi shook her head and reassured Stranger of Three Lifetimes, "Don’t worry, Momo. We have scouts keeping an eye on the entire Dragonbone Mountain Range. There’s no way they’ll be able to slip through without us noticing."

"That’s good to hear. How should we deal with this crisis though?"

He Yi smiled. "Easy. It’s time we unleashed our secret weapon…"

"What secret weapon?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes exclaimed in surprise.

He Yi clapped her hands and ordered, "Third Uncle, construct the Chiyou Plume now!"

"What? The Chiyou Plume?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes goggled at He Yi. "I’ve heard of it before! It’s the strongest siege weapon in Sky City, right? I heard that only the guild leader of the strongest guild on the Guild Ranking will be able to receive a quest from their regent to build the Chiyou Plume!"

He Yi nodded smilingly. "That is correct. That is why Ancient Sword is the only guild that can build the Chiyou Plume right now. Since Hero City has revealed one of their trump cards, it is only right that we respond with one of our own, right? Third Uncle, construct 7 Chiyou Plumes right away!"

Inside the fortress, the number one engineer of Ancient Sword we fondly addressed as "Third Uncle" nodded smilingly. "Will do, boss…"

……

The engineers started producing the raw materials from their bag and constructed the siege weapons. In less than two minutes, 7 exceptionally huge ballistae were ready to rain hell upon our enemies. Appearance wise, it looked a little like a crossbow except that it was at least 20 meters in length and 10 meters in width. The Chiyou divine energy it was imbued with caused red dragon scales to appear on its body as well. Each bolt was at least 15 meters long and 20 cm in radius. You could imagine just how powerful it was!

After the construction was complete, He Yi gave her the next order. "Lock onto the ghost ships in the sky and fire at will. The Chiyou Plume can hold up to 12 bolts at a time, and it will passively create a bolt every 30 seconds. Hence, there is no need to conserve ammo!"

Third Uncle nodded. "Mn!"

The sound of bow twangs resounded across the fortress as the Chiyou Plumes launched their gigantic bolts at the ghost ships. The bolts themselves were impressive enough, but to our surprise it assumed the form of a snarling black dragon after they were launched and struck the ghost ships like a bomb shell!

BANG BANG BANG BANG…

The ghost ships shuddered as insane damage numbers rose into the air—

6,276,744!

7,126,631!

7,026,256!

……

Just like that, 11 ghost ships were destroyed just the blink of an eye!

"Motherfucker, that Attack is just out of the world…" Xu Yang exclaimed with a flabbergasted expression. "Boss hasn't told even me about the Chiyou Plume, so this is the first time I see it in action…"

I watched as the ghost ships crashed beyond the walls and turned into smoking rubbles one after another.

He Yi looked at me and asked, "So? What do you think of its power?"

I curled my lips. "I’ve tested the ghost ships’ Defense myself, so I know just how tanky it is. The fact that the Chiyou Plumes did that much damage regardless… Its single-target damage is equal to the Dragon Cannon at the very least…"

"Oh no…" My beautiful guild leader lifted a finger and favored me with such a dazzling smile that I felt like my soul was being sucked in. "Not only is it better than the Dragon Cannon, its single-target damage is about 40% higher. Its only flaw is that its area of effect isn’t as big as the Dragon Cannon, and it costs 5 million gold to build just one Chiyou Plume. Why else do you think I’ve been saving this until now?"

I sucked in a deep breath. I fucking knew it! This war is all about P2W!

He Yi ordered next, "Third uUncle, move the 7 Chiyou Plumes to the walls and fire at the enemy’s troops next! It’s been 24 hours since the Nation War began. There’s no need to hide them from the enemy any longer."

Third Uncle replied, "The guild leader is wise!"

……

The seven Chiyou Plumes were moved up the walls in no time. The siege weapon had an effective range of up to 2,000 yards, which was again something not even the Dragon Cannon could compare against. It was amazing!

"Adjust 17.42 degrees to the northeast and aim 457.3 meters above sea level. Fire repeatedly once the target adjustment is complete!" Third Uncle ordered with perfect coolness. He was a genius when it came to siege weapons.

Twang twang…

Two Chiyou Plumes fired their bolts. The next moment, a ghost ship that just took off from the ground shuddered violently before exploding into a million pieces. If the Ghost Ship was a super transport vessel, then the Chiyou Plume was its perfect counter!