Chapter 1691: Thick Skull
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The ceiling overhead was creaking, and the floor under his feet was vibrating. Everything in his line of sight was shaking and breaking. Looking through the cracked wall, a massive beam, which ran parallel to the hull, had been bent so much that a part of it had gone out of sight. As soon as the beam snapped, the ship would be doomed.
The camouflaged passenger ship had been struggling to shake off the three pirate ships for the past two hours. Under normal circumstances, a few pirate ships were no match for a large vessel equipped with super-defensive firepower. But Charlemagne Izzo, who had received comprehensive training since childhood, could see at first glance what was under their skin; the three gray airships were only wearing the shell of pirate ships. The magic energy under their black iron decks flashed in a dazzling golden-red color; only the purest magic-convergence crystal could produce such brightness. Not even the regular army had access to weapons made of such crystal.
It was a trap. A dark conspiracy had mired their journey from the beginning.
However, it was meaningless to talk about traps and conspiracies right then. Even the most sensitive political nerves could not stop the shutdown of the hover engine and the disintegration of the hull. The most urgent thing right then was to find a way to save everyone on board. If that was impossible, at least he had to make sure that either he or his sister could make it safely to the empire and tell the emperor, who was a dragon descendant, what had happened that day.
*Boom!*
A flaming crystal shell penetrated the White Pearl’s magic shield, which was already riddled with holes, and exploded outside the VIP cabin. The bulkhead could not withstand such an explosion, and it shattered into pieces. The shockwave rushed into the cabin and blew a guard away. Standing near the window, he did not manage to react in time, and the guard died on the spot. In a split second, Charlemagne activated the pendant on his chest, and a translucent shield blocked the shockwave from impacting him.
A few guards, who were dressed as ordinary passengers and standing guard outside the room, rushed in. Their foreheads were bleeding, and they looked like ghosts from the Gorgon’s Abyss. Apparently, they had been hurt by the explosion.
Your Royal Highness!” a guard shouted nervously. The smoke and wood debris in the room prevented them from seeing Charlemagne clearly. They only saw a magical shield staggering at the center of the room. “Are you all right?”
A gust of wind blew into the room and carried the smoke as well as dust away. A dust-covered Charlemagne then walked out. “I am fine. Where is Awenna?”
“Her Royal Highness is still at the magic propulsion core!” one of the guards shouted. The loud noise of the artillery outside forced him to shriek as he spoke to the prince. “Three power columns have shut down, and the princess is trying to reboot the core; the ship will lose all its power, otherwise.”
As if to echo the words of the guard, a strange whistling sound came from inside the airship. Everyone felt the airship roll to the side, and the main support beam, which was already overwhelmed, creaked with a terrifying sound.
Charlemagne knew what was happening; the magic energy core was failing. Its magic energy output was not even enough to keep a third of the hover engines working. After losing most of the hover engines, the remaining ones had become deadly hazards that could tear the airship apart.
Charlemagne glanced at his bodyguards. The heroic warriors were good fighters. Under any other circumstance, they could have fought ten ordinary opponents at a given time. But onboard a falling airship, their sword fighting skills and magic spells were of no help to their situation.
At the beginning of the attack, Charlemagne thought that it was only an ordinary piracy incident. He got his sword and magic stone ready. Plus, he had the confidence to kill all the pirates as soon as they jumped over to blunder his airship. The royalty of the Ancient Kingdom of Izzo never ruled with dining etiquette and waltz, but what happened subsequently was beyond Charlemagne’s calculation.
The pirates’ firepower was way beyond that of a regular army. They pursued Charlemagne and seemed to have no plan of looting his airship; that spoke volumes of the pirates’ intention.
Charlemagne and his heroic bodyguards could do nothing in that case.
The prince gritted his teeth and said, “Go to the cabins and gather those who are still alive. Women and children are the priority. Bring them all to the dining cabin. You, inform Awenna to abandon the magic energy core and bring all working magic columns to the dining cabin. Tell the captain not to counter-attack. Instead, direct all energy to the engines and sail as close as possible to the border of the empire before the airship disintegrates. Once that happens, activate the escape array below the dining cabin.”
One of the guards hesitated. “But Your Highness, we are flying over the World Scar right now, and we are far from any magical node. We will likely be teleported to the core of the world.”
“But we have a fifty-percent chance of getting to the surface safely.” Charlemagne waved to dismiss the guard. “Stop questioning me. This is an order!”
The guards nodded and turned to leave. Just then, a guard with a sharp eye suddenly noticed something above the clouds.
As part of the hull was missing, the guard could just look up and see the sky above.
“Look, over there! Another ship! A weird ship!”
An amazed Charlemagne looked in the direction that the bodyguard pointed out. There was a large ship, hundreds of meters long. It was similar in size to the Koral-class battleships from the Ancient Kingdom of Izzo. It shone with a silvery-white brilliance under the sun, and it had a mighty as well as magnificent appearance. However, it did not have magical sails or a wavy elemental wake behind it. The shape of the ship was cuboid, which had never been seen before in that world. It swooped out of the clouds at an angle like a space palace with clean-cut lines.
Considering that the weird airship had neither magical sails nor elemental trails, it did not look like it could fly. So Charlemagne thought that it was actually falling.
The strange airship dropped out of the sky and happened to slam straight into the fiercest of the three pirate ships, which then blew up into a massive fireball.
Charlemagne’s brows twitched. The accidental collision was too good to be true.
But soon, the silvery-white airship halted its fall and lifted its nose to aim at the next pirate ship.
Charlemagne blinked. “Well, it looks like it is not falling,” he said to himself.
The other two pirate ships were caught off guard when one was shot down. After firing their last rounds of flaming crystal shell at the White Pearl, the two pirate ships stopped their attack. Losing their leader had thrown the unruly pirate ships into confusion.
The White Pearl also appeared to have fallen into silence as it lacked the power to do anything else. Still being able to fly was already the biggest miracle for the ship.
It was an awkward moment for all parties.
Fortunately, the stilted moment did not last long. The Petrachelys pulled up again to aim at its next target.
The two pirate ships quickly adjusted their bearings and artillery angles. The desperadoes chose the most instinctual response, which was to finish off the uninvited guest.
The Petrachelys was large, and it had no magic sails or elemental trail, so it did not look like it could fly well. Perhaps, it was an excellent target for bullying. It only smashed their boss’ airship because it fell in the right place at the right time.
The fact that the strange airship fell out of the sky spoke volumes of its lack of flying capabilities. It barely pulled itself back up, and it may break apart when hit—they considered it a bonus gain.
Since the White Pearl was severely damaged and could not go anywhere, it was already at their mercy.
After the chief pirate, Kant recovered from his headache, the average IQ of his men seemed inadequate for his needs.
Immediately, dozens of bright firing trails pierced through the sky and hit the Petrachelys.
A series of explosions broke out on the interstellar spacecraft’s energy shield, but the shield did not budge in the slightest.
The Petrachelys adjusted its bearings and charged straight into the second pirate ship.
The continuous bombardment of flaming crystal shells could not stop the strange airship, which only flew faster and faster. When the second pirate ship finally came to its senses and scrambled to avoid the collision, it was already too late.
A massive explosion shook even the clouds at high altitude. Charlemagne and his bodyguards watched as the pirate ship broke into pieces when the nose of the silvery-white ship slammed into it. The vessel of the arrogant pirates shattered and fell into the World Scar below.
What followed next had everyone’s blood run cold. The silvery-white ship adjusted its orientation and began to accelerate toward the third pirate ship.
Hundreds of flaming crystal shell rounds could not even cause a single scratch on the silvery-white ship’s armor.
The last pirate ship finally realized that catastrophe was upon it. The terrified pirates frantically adjusted the course of their airship to avoid the barbaric monster. But it was too late to flee because they were too slow in outrunning the enemy. Charlemagne watched as the silvery-white airship quickly caught up with the pirates and rammed into them.
On the bridge of the Petrachelys, Nolan, in her holographic form, clapped her hands and said, “It’s over.
“Hanging a bunch of skulls on the sides of their ships only shows that they’re a bunch of ruthless guys.” Vivian frowned when she thought about the appearance of the three pirate ships. “But then, why did you have to slam into them?”
“What choice did I have? I could not even use the guns.” Nolan spread her hands. “And throughout my time as a ship, I’ve never tried the slamming tactic. So, it was just for the fun of it.”
“Don’t you feel dizzy?” Hao Ren looked at the shipgirl with concern.
“I’m fine. Those airships in the atmosphere are fragile.” Nolan waved. “I have a thick skull!”