Extraordinary Sailing

　　 The sea is densely covered with lead clouds, and the dark clouds are very low.

　　 The air is dull and the wind is extremely low. Obviously, a stormy weather that is very common on the Black Sea is quietly brewing.

　　 Even if it hasn't reached the summer with the most frequent and largest storms, the Black Sea is always declaring its cruelty!

　　 In the foreseeable bad celestial phenomenon that is about to come, a huge sailing fleet has to drift slowly on the sea purely by ocean currents.

　　 It is extremely difficult to determine the voyage of the sailing wooden boat that depends on the sky. In the event of continuous windless weather or bad weather, it is not surprising that it is postponed for ten and a half days or even longer.

　　 Misfortunes never come singly, the trouble they have encountered does not stop there.

　　 "Be careful! That monster is here again!"

　　 boom——

　　 A huge shadow on the edge of the fleet rushed to the surface, shaking the giant tail high from the sea, directly over the forty-meter mast of a warship, and got into the water from the other side.

　　 During this period, its appearance was also exposed to the seamen.

　　 hiss——

　　 Everyone on the nearby boat took a breath.

　　 It was a giant marine fish with sharp teeth in its mouth and a body length of nearly 100 meters [Large Species · Giant Water Spikefish]. Its hideous face was covered with iron-colored scales, like a mechanical monster made of steel.

Snapped--

　　 Just a light flick of the turbulence caused a huge shock to the body of the 39-meter fifth-class cruise ship, and many crew members on the deck were shaken down.

　　 "Ah! Help!"

"Do not--!"

　　 Then he fled back to the boat without waiting to struggle in the water, but was directly swallowed by a huge mouth that was almost half the length of the strange fish after it opened.

As if playing with these land creatures, wild sea monsters and giant water wolffish are constantly swimming under the fleet, picking and choosing, as if this is not a sea boat, but a delicious food box full of small meat people. .

　　 just wait for it to feast on.

　　 Boom! boom! boom! boom! ....

　　 The **** fleet with the long flame flag hung on the periphery was assembled, lowered the muzzle and fired continuously on it. Solid bullets and grape bullets were fired in succession, and the cyan smoke was connected into a cloud.

　　 There is a powerful superhero captain struggling to throw the special harpoon in his hand, but in front of the hard scales and super high speed of this large sea monster, the effect is very small.

　　 "Damn it! Keep firing!"

　　 There is no targeted attack method against underwater, so that these cruisers can scare the opponent away with intensive artillery fire when facing large species.

　　Even Tier 4 ships of the **** fleet are extremely difficult to gather fire and inflict heavy losses on them.

　　 until...

　　 Boom!

　　 Like a blazing sun suddenly descending, dispelling the slight chill remaining on the sea in winter.

　　 On a warship with a peculiar appearance at the forefront of the fleet, a yellow and white flame column shot out, gasifying a large area of ​​sea water over a distance of nearly two hundred meters, and easily penetrated the head of this huge sea monster!

　　嗷——

　　 The giant water wolftooth, which was still flaunting its might just now, no one can cure it, but at this time it was killed on the spot with no resistance, slowly floating on the surface.

　　 Even though the steel body keeps twitching and flicking its tail, it seems that it is no longer alive...

　　 A scorching smell mixed with the smell of grilled fish filled the entire fleet.

　　 "Restore the guard formation! Keep going!"

　　 A clear voice spread through the sea like thunder, and it also made all the frightened crew members quickly regained their energy and morale. As long as this adult is there, there is no problem at all even in the dangerous deep sea.

　　 During the wave of the signal flag, the formation of the fleet slowly adjusted, and it resumed the marching line of the merchant ship inside and the frigate outside.

　　 The identity of this fleet is already obvious.

　　 It is the huge fleet of Hilius treasures that returns every spring!

　　 After the settlement of the dispute over the Potosi silver mine in the New World, it officially set sail. At this time, it is returning to the mainland with great strength along the shortest route between the "Golden Sea" and the mainland of Hilius.

　　 This is the largest fleet return in a year, full of gold and silver, gems, tobacco, ink trees collected from the New World... the total amount is a huge wealth that ordinary people can't imagine!

The total number of 　　 fleet has reached 120, of which 102 merchant ships have both the official fleet and the civil merchant ships of Hilius, and the frigate is composed of 18 warships of at least Tier V.

The flagship headed by 　　 is also called "Red Maple", the battleship that just shot and killed the sea monster.

　　 The bow sloping mast is covered with general flags, noble flags, fleet flags, and command flags. As the flagship and pilot ship, it leads the entire fleet forward.

　　 There is no doubt that this is a powerful "quasi-legendary battleship"!

　　 In terms of size alone, it is only slightly larger than a normal Tier 4 ship, and the largest caliber of the ship-borne artillery is only 24 pounds, which belongs to the same level as the "Storm Horn".

　　 But since it is known as the "quasi-legendary", of course this "Red Maple" has the strength to match its legendary name. Even from the appearance, it can be seen that it is unique. The biggest feature is that the color of the boat is very bright and red like a burning maple leaf.

　　Because this warship was fortunate to have received the blessing of the angels under the seat of "Eternal Fire", it was able to obtain a super speed comparable to the legendary warship.

　　 The normal speed is 18 knots, and the limit speed is 22 knots. Even in a completely windless environment, it runs an unconditional base speed of 6 knots.

　　 Of course, this speed is not completely unconditional. The premise of everything is that the outside temperature is higher than zero. After it is below zero, it will be beaten back to its original shape immediately.

　　 In addition, this warship is also equipped with a powerful marine secret treasure, which makes up for its lack of firepower in pursuit of extreme speed.

　　【Marine Secret Treasure·Dragon Breath Torch】

　　 Effect: Outside of winter, it can be used three times a day, and it can release a hot flame with a range of up to 200 meters, which can burn through even sea water within this range. Except that the attack range is slightly close, there are no other shortcomings.

　　 As long as it is matched with the speed of "Red Maple", it is definitely a nightmare for any enemy!

　　 But the shortcomings and advantages of this warship, which is called the [Red Ruling] in Hilius, are as obvious as its advantages. That is, it will be completely sealed in winter, and it is not much stronger than an ordinary Tier 4 ship.

　　 This is also the reason why it is known for its speed, but it was not sent to the front when supporting the battle for Potosi.

　　 In the captain's room of the ascetic monk's residence, the decoration is simple.

　　"Your Excellency Commander! The aftermath has been dealt with. Although the hull was damaged, there was no ship capsized, and a total of 52 people were lost.

　　 In addition, we are about to enter the "Eye of the Black Sea" waters, in this waters we do not have any islands or naval bases to dock.

　　 How to deal with the storm that may come at any time, please instruct! "

　　 "I see, go ahead and stay alert.

　　 The main route of this kingdom is in the mid-ridge of the Black Sea, and there has never been a record of overturning the fleet due to storms.

　　 As long as it takes a week to cross here, even if it is damaged, we can get repairs at the Soviet naval base on the other side. "

　　 The commander of the fleet, who has red hair and looks very young but who is over sixty years old, rubbed the hilt of the long sword at his waist and issued his own order.

　　 According to past experience, this kind of decision is of course no problem at all.

　　 The adjutant thought the same way, and turned around and left without raising any objections.

　　 "The voyage is nearly halfway, and it has been a year since I left the kingdom. This time I will return to the holy city of Novigrad to listen to the Hadith of the Pope and wash my soul."

　　 Looking at the back of the adjutant leaving, the commander muttered to himself.

　　 The captain of the "Red Maple" is also Lieutenant General Doyle Griffizi, commander of the Treasure Fleet, although he is a pinnacle knight who belongs to the kingdom's military.

　　 But it was originally from the Volcano Knights of the "Eternal Fire" church. He is a devout believer of the "Eternal Fire", and he even retains his teaching position in the church.

He had broken through the great knight and became famous when he was less than thirty years old. In addition, he was influenced by the radical style of the "eternal fire" church. This Lieutenant General Griffiths was even in the domineering style of Hilius. Is a famous hardliner.

　　 To be more accurate, it is the main warrior faction. One of the propositions is to strictly block air routes with a strong military force and monopolize the interests of the colony!

at this time.

A precision-carved wooden box is placed at his feet. It is the silver ingots extracted from Potosi Island No. 1 and No. 2 by the craftsmen working overtime. The total amount is 100 kg, although it is not compared with the total reserves. Quite a lot, but it has extraordinary symbolic meaning.

　　 is also a gift jointly presented by the colonial leaders to King Philip II.

　　 glanced at this precious gift that was only exchanged for starting a war and even paying major benefits, Lieutenant General Griffizi snorted softly:

　　 "Huh! If you heard me early, how could you let those hyenas grow bigger in the colony? Even the kingdom has to make compromises?

　　 In recent years, His Majesty the King has become more and more distant from the will of God, and even dreamed of marrying the Habsburg family, who inherited the crown of the Holy Lothar Empire, to obtain the supreme emperor's position logically.

　　 After I go back, maybe in the kingdom, I need more like-minded companions..."

　　 Then, the storm came as expected.

　　...

　　 rush rush...

　　 woo woo...

　　 Squeak... Squeak...

　　 The entire fleet has been sailing for three days in the storm.

Although the strength is not enough to make the ship capsize, it also makes the crew very uncomfortable. Fortunately, most sailboats are full of cargo, and there is enough load to make the center of gravity of the sailboat low enough. So far, no ship has been overturned by a storm. The situation arises.

　　 If the time passes to summer, I can’t tell.

　　 But even so, the return journey this time was not as smooth as they expected.

　　Crack——

　　 Shining electric light cuts through the sea.

　　 On the "Red Maple" as the pilot ship, which is responsible for the most important reconnaissance mission, the watchman who strapped himself to the mast in the wind and rain saw something and suddenly shouted:

　　 "It's not good! That's... Maelstrom!"

　　 Clang! clang! clang! ...

　　 The alarm bell was sounded like a reminder, echoing far in the wind and rain.

　　 A huge whirlpool with a diameter of one kilometer suddenly appeared on the sea in front of the fleet.

　　 Without hesitation, the commander of the fleet has issued his order.

　　 "Left full rudder!"

　　 "Yes! Full rudder left!"

　　 Behind the "Red Maple", the fleet in three rows turned collectively, and it was discovered early enough that they had plenty of time to evade.

　　 However, the next moment.

　　 One, two, three, four... Nine huge vortices no smaller than the first one have already formed around them.

　　 Wow!

　　 It's like a huge monster on the seabed suddenly opened a huge mouth in the abyss.

Do not! That is really a huge mouth!

　　 UU reads books by the electric light shining on the sea www. The crew on the uukanshu.com deck stared dumbly at the bottom of the whirlpool around them, the passage of flesh and blood covered with circular teeth, that was the passage to hell...

　　 "The eternal fire is on!"

　　 In the last prayer, the tens-meter-long sailing boat has been sucked into the whirlpool and swallowed like a biscuit.

　　 Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! ...

　　 Holding the "Sea Monster Pointer" that was spinning so fast that it seemed to be about to explode, Doyle Griffizi's face was pale: "Son of the Wild Poseidon, the ‘Great Vortex’ Charybdis!"

　　 The legendary ‘Great Vortex’ Charybdis used to compete with the "Mother of Sea Monsters" and is one of the most powerful sea monsters in the Black Sea.

　　 No one has ever seen its real body, only know that the legendary powerful sea monster of unknown size has ten mouths. Opening the mouth can create a huge vortex to swallow any ship.

　　 Under the legendary battleship, you will die when you see it!

　　 At this time, Griffizi watched the sailboats around him that were swallowed by the vortex without any resistance.

　　 With red eyes, he almost roared and issued a command: "The Red Maple is moving forward at full speed, we rush out!!!"

　　 Click! Click! ...

　　 The unceasing sound of chewing biscuits.

　　 In the end, only the "Red Maple" was enveloped in a rich and extraordinary spiritual light. With the blessing of angels, it successfully escaped from the scope of the Maelstrom and fled alone...

　　The rest are buried under the sea.

　　 After a long time, there was no trace of a ship on the sea.

　　 "From today, the'eye of the storm', like the'Summers Trench', is also a restricted zone for human ships!"

　　 A huge roar came from the turbulent water vortex, like a human voice.