Deep Sea Embers

"Sink it."

Agatha's eyes were fixed on the approaching ship on the sea, her tone was as cold as ice and snow.

A junior officer next to him was a little stunned, as if he couldn't believe what he heard: "What did you say?"

"Sink it," Agatha repeated without responding to the junior officer, but turned to Colonel Lister, "that's the Raider, a huge source of pollution—I don't know what it is , but that is definitely not the Haiyan.”

Speaking of which, she paused, and the knuckles holding the cane turned slightly white: "I am responsible for this decision."

Liszt didn't say anything, the muscles on his face were tense, and he stood like a solid sculpture in the cold wind for a long time, until the siren sounded again in the distance, and the sound was clearer and louder than before , as if with disturbing urging, he suddenly broke the silence: "Ma'am, are your sources sure and reliable?"

"...I believe in my own judgment, Mr. Colonel," Agatha took a light breath, her voice tinged with hoarse magnetism, "and I am responsible for this judgment."

"You can't be responsible. You are the gatekeeper, but you are not the direct supervisor of the port system." Liszt said calmly, then turned around and looked at the distant sea.

"Sink that ship, and I am responsible for that decision."

On the distant sea, the "Haiyan" that suddenly appeared was still driving at full speed, its towering bow cut through the waves, the flying flags fluttered in the air, and the chimney in the middle of the hull spewed out large groups of white clouds. In the clouds and mist, there seemed to be countless hidden roars roaring and making noise one after another, while at the stern of the Haiyan, broken waves overlapped and overlapped, and deep in the turbulent waves, the black viscous substance seemed to flow from the body of a giant beast. Generally spread with the waves, wisps, ups and downs.

"Woo--"

The siren sounded again, and more white mist spewed out from the top of the steel warship, and the high-pressure steam tore through the sky like a scream from the deep sea.

Figures were swaying around the side of the Haiyan, they were walking around, busy shuttling, they were wearing the uniforms of the Frost Navy, doing what ship sailors should do, they stepped across the rough ravines on the deck, Step over the viscous and wriggling substances, as well as the proliferative nodules that criss-cross like thick blood vessels.

Melting black mud kept falling from these sailors, and some sailors even fell down suddenly, merging with the surrounding ship structure—and at the same time, new sailors were constantly separating from the deck or the side of the ship, wriggling crawling, staggering, scrubbing decks, maneuvering flags, lighting lights...

They're going home, the Petrel is going home—

However, in the direction of the distant port, the heavy coastal defense turrets have already started to operate. The gates covering the cliffs, seawalls, and the reinforced concrete outer walls of the port are opened one by one. Driven by a series of gears and connecting rods, it rotates slowly, and the elevator buried deep in the ground creaks, sending the shells from the underground ammunition depot to the upper cannon. , Urging all the ships that are still outside the port to quickly evade, and urging all the facilities in the port to enter the battle state.

The Haiyan seemed to sense something—before the siren sounded on Frost Island, it began to speed up.

The steam is gushing out, the siren is whistling continuously, the whole ship is roaring from inside to outside, the sailors on the deck are running, and at some point in the white mist floating above the chimney, black and red mottlings appear— ——The ship is accelerating. It was originally a steam boat, and its speed has been further increased to the limit. It is like a giant beast surrounded by thunder and galloping on the vast sea. The roar of splitting waves gradually resounds through the sea like a frantic roar !

At this moment, the coastal defense guns on Frost Island opened fire.

Like a thunderclap, the formidable coastal defense artillery spewed out huge flames and detonations. The conventional armor-piercing projectiles fired a round of salvo first, and the cone-shaped projectiles made piercing screams in the air, like lines of fire. across the sky, and landed on the distant sea after a period of flight.

The shells entered the water, and the water columns rose in all directions. Large and small water columns were distributed around the Haiyan, and formed a mist that spread continuously on the distant sea surface. Several shells scratched the Haiyan, but the speed of the latter Not affected at all.

The huge shock from the firing of the coastal defense artillery even slightly shook the platform under Agatha's feet. She seemed to feel that the entire observation deck was trembling slightly under the feedback of this round of shelling. At the same time, she heard someone reporting from the side— —

"Low hit rate in the first round - that ship is too fast, exceeding the recorded value!"

"Fire freely, change to armor-piercing incendiary bombs, and keep firing until the target sinks," Liszt said blankly, "Stay the fleet on standby, and if the ship cannot be stopped at the offshore cordon, let the fleet attack—even if In the end, if you hit it, stop that ship from Frost!"

"Yes, sir!"

Liszt's face was sinking like water. Amidst the continuous roar of gunfire, he stared at the water column and smoke rising from the sea in the distance, and at the "Haiyan" that was still accelerating towards Frost, with a look on his face. There is no longer any hesitation.

From what he saw now, he could already conclude that the ship was definitely not the "Haiyan" he was familiar with.

Facing the bombardment from Frost Island, the ship did not slow down, did not play the required semaphore and lights, but continued to accelerate, even accelerating far beyond its design limit... That is not Frost's battleship, that is a monster.

A monster masquerading as an earthly thing.

All the coastal defense guns began to roar. Amidst the roar of gunfire, armor-piercing incendiary bombs streaked through countless bright lines of fire, and splashed on the sea area where Haiyan was located like intertwined rain. Huge water columns rose one after another. And in the middle of the countless water columns, the screaming and roaring ship continued to charge straight forward like an enraged beast.

But as the distance got closer and the barrage continued to be calibrated, shells finally began to fall on Haiyan.

The huge explosion shredded its armor, smashed its mast, and peeled off the deck in pieces from the ship. Black mud-like viscous matter gushed out from under the camouflaged shell like blood, like Falling on the sea like heavy rain.

"...God of Death! What the hell is that?!"

Through the binoculars, the people on the observation deck could already vaguely see what kind of weird shape was showing under the torn apart deck of the Haiyan, and some people couldn't help but exclaimed in a low voice.

However, Liszt just watched this scene solemnly, the muscles on his face still tense.

That ship didn't slow down.

It didn't slow down after the coastal defense guns tore through its stern deck, knocked out its funnels and bridge buildings, and even blew up its theoretical compartments where the ammunition was stored and the steam core was housed.

The coastal defense guns were roaring, and round after round of deadly bombardment continued to bombard. An astonishing number of forts focused on "taking care" of an "enemy ship" that could not dodge or evade, and poured down on the Haiyan within a short period of time. Countless shells were fired, which would have been fatal no matter what was placed on any ship.

Even if it doesn't sink, it's time to stop.

But it is still sailing at full speed.

Soon, other people also noticed the situation on the sea, and the tension began to pervade.

"Keep hitting—until it disappears on the sea," Liszt gritted his teeth, then suddenly turned to Agatha beside him, "Madam, please notify the cathedral as soon as possible, if the port can't be stopped, we may need to ..."

"Don't give up in a hurry, Mr. Colonel," Agatha shook her head before the other party finished speaking, "The attack is effective, and it is fading."

As she spoke, she gazed at the sea in the distance, and in the eyes of the young gatekeeper, a pale gleam was dancing lightly.

What is reflected in her eyes is not reality, but the spiritual world.

She saw that distorted black silhouette was constantly disintegrating, and on the surface of the chaotic sea, chaotic lines of light and shadow were quickly peeling off from that silhouette.

The coastal defense artillery bombardment, while not directly "killing" the fake, was effectively pushing it to a point where it would disintegrate itself.

Agatha blinked, and the brief image of the spirit world faded from her vision, and the real world appeared clearly in her eyes again.

The coastal defense artillery continued to fire, and soon, additional artillery sounded from not far away.

That was the fleet staying in the port—they finally finished their preparations and began to participate in the interception.

The roar of the battleship's main gun salvo finally became the last straw on the "Haiyan". When more armor-piercing incendiary bombs fell on the unrecognizable ship, it finally began to collapse.

First, the deck and outer hull peeled off in pieces, revealing the twisted and dark weird structure inside, and then the whole ship wriggled and tore violently from head to stern, as if it was about to tear itself into pieces. What once looked like the Petrel was snapping apart as it splashed countless amounts of dark mud outward.

Its whistle finally stopped, and the weird scream gradually died down.

It started to slow down, spreading out large swaths of dark impurities, melting and collapsing on the sea surface.

This terrible, weird attacker who tried to charge the civilized world—finally stopped only a few nautical miles away from Frost Island.