In the Army Frontline, hundreds of millions of ships floated, waiting for the enemy.
“Johnson, how is the preparation?” Isabella asked.
“It’s ready.”
“We are only waiting for the Field Marshal’s instruction,” Johnson replied, bowing.
Johnson is the general of the Navy.
These hundreds of thousands of ships happened to be the first line of defense of the empire.
After the barrier collapse, they were the first regimen to resist the enemy.
“Hmm, then as soon as they’re in range, engage fire.”
“Yes, Field Marshal.”
…
Soon the whole Navy became alert, looking at the menacing puppet flying through them.
The Navy had about 100 billion personnel.
Of them, only about a million reached tier 7.
About ten billion was tier 6, and the rest was tier 5.
Despite the support of an almost endless supply of resources, the Amalgamation of Will, and the crystal merits.
The war was too rushed to give time to advance.
Just a year of preparation was not enough to change the status quo.
Thus, looking at the menacing tier 8 puppet marching towards them, they couldn’t help but tremble.
“Will we be alright?” a tier 6 navy personnel couldn’t help but mutter.
“Hmph, a mere puppet is nothing to be feared!” Kirk, the tier 7 ship captain, muttered confidently.
Although the enemy is tier 8, it is but a mere puppet.
Puppets don’t contain the power of law, thus no matter how strong they are, there is a limit.
Although most of them are only at tier 5, they didn’t come unprepared.
“Fully recharge the Arcane Cannon, don’t make mistakes or we’ll die!” Kirk ordered his crew
“Yes, sir!”
The arcane cannon was a tier 8 weapon bought by the Field Marshal from the Arcane Continent.
It was a weapon of war, a weapon to defeat the strong with the weak.
It could concentrate the mana from every individual, condensing it to destroy the enemy.
Each ship contained at least one arcane cannon.
With hundreds of thousands of personnel onboard charging the cannon, a mere tier 8 puppet is nothing.
Soon after a few minutes, they could finally see the enemy puppets with their naked eye.
“It’s here…”
The dread they felt suddenly became stronger as they felt suffocated.
Fortunately, the ship had some protective functions so they could still move.
“Mark the target and fire at my command!” General Johnson ordered.
Fortunately, there was at least one tier 7 onboard on each of the ships, so the chain of command still responded.
Kirk quickly manipulated the Arcane Cannon on the ship and aimed at the target.
“FIRE!” Johnson commanded.
BOOM!
A huge explosion arose as hundreds of thousands of ships shot synchronously.
As the smoke settled, they saw the enemy puppets destroyed, falling into the sea.
It seemed the enemy also didn’t expect such fierce firepower as it subconsciously paused.
“Hmph! This is what you get for attacking the Moonlight Empire!” Johnson muttered confidently.
Although, based on his estimate, they only killed millions of puppets.
That was enough!
This was only a shot.
After a few more rounds these puppets would surely melt down.
“Ready!” Johnson yelled again.
Johnson took his time to attack while the enemy still didn’t recover.
…
In the Enemy outpost:
Antonio had his mouth agape, looking at the fierce firepower of the Moonlight Empire.
“A tier 8 Arcane Cannon?!”
“Damn, is the Moonlight Empire a cornucopia or something?!”
The arcane cannon is a weapon of war, which is a banned item.
It’s a weapon that can break through the barrier of realms with just numbers.
Naturally, such a weapon is not cheap.
Now, seeing hundreds of millions of them in the enemy’s possession, he could only wonder where they got such things.
Boom!
Hearing the second shot, Antonio knew he didn’t have time to dilly-dally and quickly thought of a countermeasure.
“Scatter the puppets!” Antonio ordered.
“Yes, commander!”
Boom!
This time, the shot didn’t cause many casualties.
“This could work!” Antonio muttered with excitement.
“Now, continue to scatter and harass the enemy.”
“Yes, commander!”
“Hmph! Let’s see if we have more puppets or if you have more mana.”
…
“Huh~”
“Close!”
Kirk continued firing the arcane cannon as his subordinates continued to be sluggish.
It seems the pressure of a tier 8 puppet was still tremendous to these tier 6 to tier 5 individuals.
However, thinking that this is war, and any mistake would lead to death, Kirk couldn’t help but be angry.
Kirk felt that the training and bonds they built in the past year were useless.
“What are you doing!” Kirk shouted with killing intent.
“Stand up!”
“Are you letting me, the captain do all the work!?”
“Do you want to go back to the stronghold to further hone your spirit?”
His yelling seemed to be effective as they looked at him, suddenly remembering their hellish training.
“No, captain, we were merely mesmerized by the puppets!”
“That’s right, we trembling in excitement; We’re finally able to fight with the captain!”
“Furthermore, the Arcane Cannon was really legendary; We didn’t expect the like of us could destroy tier 8 puppets like this.”
“Alright, enough chit-chat, fill the arcane cannon energy tanks!” ᴡ ᴏᴠʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛʀs ᴀʀ ᴘᴜʙʟsʜᴅ ᴏ Nov(l)ꜰre .t
“I want to be able to fire tens of consecutive shots right away!”
“If it’s not enough, I’ll take you back to the stronghold to train until you wish you were dead instead!” Kirk threatened.
Hearing this they trembled and hurriedly moved like their life depended on it.
Regardless of exhaustion, they quickly inputted their mana into the arcane cannon energy tank.
After their mana was exhausted, they took out mana potion to quickly recover.
Soon a few hours passed as the stalemate continued.
However, a new problem cropped up in the army.
Although they had unlimited mana potions to use, their will was limited.
Every time their mana was emptied and recovered.
The fatigue in their minds continued to pile up, making them more sluggish.
This problem shouldn’t happen because of the effect of the Amalgamation of Will.
However, it seemed that the enemy also blocked this, putting them at a disadvantage.
The time is also too short to be able to immediately provide a solution.
Thus, even though Kirk tried to boost their morale again and again it was not so effective.
…
As time went by, the few-second interval between shots reached a minute.
“Not good…” Kirk smiled wryly.
Even though he helped recharge the Arcane Cannon until he exhausted his mind.
It still took a minute before they could fire a shot.
Looking at the enemy that was getting nearer and nearer to them, his face turned pale.
Soon tier 8 puppets managed to pass their dense array of firepower and came on different ships.
Kirk was too unlucky as one puppet managed to land on his ship.
“Keep the Cannon active, leave it to me!” Although Kirk was filled with fear.
Kirk still gritted his teeth, lunging forward to face the enemy.
Clang!
His sword struck the puppet, sending a crisp sound, barely scratching it.
The puppet didn’t even feel the damage and lunged at him with a sword-like arm.
Kirk seemed to sense his death and narrowly dodged the attack.
Not giving up, he struck the puppet again, sending a crisp sound.
Clang!
Dodge after dodge, hit after hit.
After a minute of battle, Kirk’s will was about to be extinguished.
The enemy didn’t even sustain damage, sending Kirk to despair.
Unfortunately, the puppet only has basic combat abilities, mainly relying on its specs to fight him.
Otherwise, with such speed and strength, Kirk would have long been dead.
“Charging complete!”
“Captain, should we fire at your enemy?” His subordinates said worriedly.
“NO!”
“Fire in front! I can handle this!”
Firing at the puppet before him would be suicide.
It’s not that the arcane cannon couldn’t be controlled and could also hit him.
It’s that, with the deficiency of firepower at the front line.
More puppets may break through the dense firepower array and attack the ships.
Now, he can barely drag the puppet around him.
One more move and it would mean his death.
At his command, his subordinates continued to fire in front.
Meanwhile, Kirk continued to use his life to fight the puppet in front of him.
“Huh~”
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Every drop of blood on Kirk’s body seemed to be drained, as his body flowed with a river of blood.
Even the healer on the ship supporting him couldn’t keep up as new wounds kept appearing on his body.
Slash!
With a lapse of judgment, his arm was severed, flying into the air.
“Urgh!” Kirk groaned.
“Damn!” Feeling the pain, Kirk couldn’t help but curse.
“Die for me!” Kirk lunged and attacked the puppet in fury.
Clang!
However, it seemed that the gap in the realm was too great.
No matter how skilled he was, if he couldn’t even damage the enemy, then it was useless.
However, it seemed that the saying “the stone could be broken even with a drop of water” didn’t betray him.
The spot that he hit all this time had broken some of the puppet’s skin, revealing its interior.
“Huh!”
“Just a little more…”
Clang!
Clang!
Repeated attacks opened the crack more and more, finally showing the core of the puppet.
“It’s now!”
With all his will and energy, he stabs his sword with all his might.
Crack!
His sword stabbed right into the spot, severing the core of the puppet.
Thud!
Without a core, the puppet fell down like a pile of trash.
Huff!
Huff!
Huff!
Kirk knelt down as he felt drained holding his bloodied chest.
The puppet didn’t seem to fear death as it exchanged life with him at the last moment.
As his vision got blurry, he saw another puppet reaching their ship.
This time, it’s not one but three.
“N-no!” Kirk shouted under his breath.
However, it seemed that he was too drained.
As he urged his body to move, the wound on his chest further raptured.
The healers behind him also became frantic, healing him with all their might.
“Hurry! Heal!”
“Heal the captain!”
“Damn Captain! Don’t die on us!”
The God of Death was already coming for them.
Yet looking at their captain who could barely open his eyes, despair filled their hearts.
“R-run!” Kirk said one last time as he lost consciousness.