Eight scourges left the deck and soared into the sky.
These small dots then approached the opponent at high speed, attacking the target ship from all directions.
“What are those things?”
The people on the ship had barely voiced their question when they saw the black dots flying toward them.
“Oh no!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three successive explosions rang out, the violent force of the impact directly destroying the deck.
A massive hole was blasted into the hull near the edge.
Although magic arrays provided energy to reinforce the ship's defenses, the concentrated energy of multiple Tier 4 scourges eventually tore through the hull, allowing seawater to pour inside.
“The hole isn't that large. It seems their power is indeed inferior to an elven bow.”
Xia Jin was certain that magic had significantly enhanced the various types of equipment on this planet.
She hadn't expected Tier 4 damage to only blast such a small hole in the hull.
But perhaps it was a good thing. Once the Zerg deciphered this and applied it to her future starships, even a slight reinforcement would be a massive advantage in cosmic warfare.
With a thought, another thirty to forty banelings took off.
The flagship was relatively sturdy, so she decided to launch a wave of bombardment against the nearby vessels first.
As the distance closed, she discovered there were actually five ships in total.
Two had been hidden behind the flagship, but they were now peeling off to the sides, coming into Xia Jin's view.
With the scourges in the air, she could clearly get a better sense of the enemy's situation.
Although the archers on the ships quickly retaliated, their speed could not keep up with banelings in a full-speed dash.
In reality, a scourge's normal flight speed wasn't particularly fast; their true strength lay in that final dash, a speed that could even startle a griffin.
Not long ago, a brain bug had captured a few griffins to take back for study. Perhaps they could eventually discover the secret behind the griffins' strength.
This would be very beneficial for upgrading the Zerg's current flying units. With any luck, they might even develop a new species of Zerg.
As the scourges slammed into the target one after another, both sides on the ships immediately opened fire.
Bang!
Bang! Bang!
Amidst the flashes of fire, Xia Jin's ship suddenly rocked violently.
“We've been hit?”
Looking across, she saw that they had also landed two hits on the enemy.
It proved that her side's skill was slightly superior.
Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that the cannons the enemy used were of the lowest quality.
After all, they were exports from the Empire, and likely older models. She estimated that the cannons currently in use by the Empire were much more formidable, at least not so slow as to take thirty seconds between rounds.
A new wave of scourges concentrated on the target ship. Such a dense explosion, focused on a single point, tore a massive gap in the hull.
Seeing the ship flood with liquid, the people inside tried to seal the outer cabins to prevent water from pouring into other areas. However, a scourge soon charged inside and slammed into the inner wooden door, blowing it to smithereens.
The light of the explosion was accompanied by toxins spreading in all directions. Several people were sent flying amidst miserable screams.
Without the protection of magic, these low-tier warriors simply couldn't withstand a single explosion.
“Excellent. Close in on the target. Find a way to capture a few of them alive.”
Xia Jin wanted to see what was going on with the other side.
“My Lady, our ship also seems to be leaking. We are carrying out emergency repairs.”
An elf bug ran up from below deck.
“It won't sink, will it?”
Xia Jin glanced at her.
“It's... probably going to sink.”
Xia Jin: “...”
Kingdom ships were truly unreliable.
Fine for trade, but using them for war was asking for death.
“Have a few Zerg form a biological wall to plug the leaks for now. This ship will return to port; the others will continue forward.”
Their first voyage was a failure.
Why did they need ships anyway?
It was a matter of necessity. Xia Jin had considered traveling via the seabed, but looking at the Great West Sea, the Zerg had been beaten into a sorry state by the Sea Race as soon as they went down.
Although part of the reason was that the Zerg had initiated the conflict, it didn't mean they could avoid trouble just by staying away.
Through battles with sharkmen, shrimpmen, and crabmen, she had learned that the Sea Race harbored intense hostility toward land-based creatures. They didn't bother attacking ships on the surface, but if you dared to enter the water, they would swarm you in droves.
So even if they had submarines, it likely wouldn't be safe to submerge.
Of course, it was hard to say if submarines even existed in this era.
“In any case, the Zerg must secure some territory on the seabed.”
The Sea Race attacking the land seemed like an invasion, but in reality, they were just delivering energy. Now that 100 units of standard energy could be synthesized into 1 unit of high-energy crystals, she could never have too much standard energy.
As the ships drew closer, the elves on board immediately began taking precision shots at the enemies on the opposite deck.
The accuracy of every arrow was extremely high. Because the arrows flew so fast and were so small, the enemies often couldn't react in time to dodge.
After multiple arrows struck the enemies, their chieftain was terrified and hid back in the lower decks.
When the ships pulled alongside each other, the elf bugs immediately leaped onto the enemy deck and charged down the stairs.
A battle broke out in the lower levels of the ship.
Despite being ranged units, the elf bug girls possessed impressive close-combat abilities, easily handling several opponents at once. Most importantly, their bows were tipped with sharp blades that could easily tear through the enemies' outer armor.
After several enemies were killed and seeing that the ship was about to sink, the enemy captain finally surrendered.
The Zerg scavenged a fair amount of coins, beast meat, and equipment from the enemy ship before bringing it all back to their own vessel.
The soldiers seized two ships that showed no signs of sinking and took over the helm.
Rate on N.U.
