When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 830 - 781: Pirate Tactics

The iron spring cannon's muzzle glinted coldly in the dawn, the buzzing of gears piercing through the river's thin mist.

Kaler wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his left hand, his oil-stained right hand daring not to loosen its grip on the cannon's lever.

In his pupils, the bustling iron armor on the pier was reflected, the reflections on its surface dancing across the ship's hull.

The whooshing of air stirred by flames, the crisp clash of weapons, the hoarse shouts of battle...

On this autumn morning, these sounds were so abrupt in the tranquil fishing harbor.

Among them, the hurried thumping footsteps landing on the pier grew ever closer.

Arrows flitted back and forth through the air, and seven or eight Mountain Knights bearing wounded were racing across the pier.

"Kaler—" Old Laver shouted toward Kaler.

Kaler gave him a thumbs-up, indicating readiness.

The ship beneath swayed as the Mountain Knights continuously leaped aboard, with Old Laver continuing to cover them with arrows.

As the last soldier jumped onto the ship, Old Laver turned and let out a scream.

Three blue-feathered arrows struck his shoulder blade and thigh.

Yet Old Laver, enduring the pain, grabbed the axe from his waist and chopped the rope tethered to the stone post.

Breaking through the dock's black smoke, four fully armored soldiers appeared at the end of the catwalk.

"Holy Thunder, Holy Thunder!" Old Laver shouted wildly, lying on the deck after boarding the ship.

"Pull the lever, praise the Holy Spirit in the cannon." Kaler lowered his head, murmuring to the Holy Spirit within the cannon, pressing down hard with his right hand.

"Boom—"

Lead and iron shot, wrapped in white smoke, drew an arc; in an instant, wood shavings and iron fragments flew, and the four Leia Soldiers on the pier were overturned as if by an invisible giant hand.

The outermost one even spun into the river, with blood quickly coloring the water.

"Beautiful!" Old Laver's roar shook the ship's railing, "Black Snake Bay people, Fireball Technique!"

Five burning fireballs flew from ten longships, and the Leia warship moored at the stone post of the pier instantly burst into tongues of blue and purple flames.

Before they left, they had already drenched the Leia warship with alchemy fire oil.

It wasn't just the warship; the fishing port, which had hoarded countless supplies, was also ablaze.

Thick smoke rolled up to the spire of the bell tower, swallowing the Leia emblem flag entirely.

The river wind suddenly shifted southeast, raining sparks and ash like raindrops on the iron helmets of the guards, leaving them frantically patting away.

It was this momentary chaos that allowed the ten sharp-bottomed longships to dart through the smoke like arrows.

"Release arrows! Release arrows, cough, cough, cough—"

The garrison officer, Sir Renado, sliced through the thick smoke with his sword, angrily cursing the fleeing villagers.

Where his sword pointed, thirty birch bows twanged in unison behind him.

The rain of arrows fell into the waves kicked up by the ships, like a ceremonial send-off for the escapees.

The villagers had already covered the ship's sides with soaked cowhide, and the arrowheads clanged into the wet leather, unable to harm them at all.

Watching the rapidly departing villagers, Sir Renado unbuckled the chinstrap of his helmet with trembling fingers.

A second later, the ornate lion helm heavily crashed onto the pier's bluestone, its dented area still sticking to half a charred holy emblem.

"Chase them! Chase them! Even to the end of the Nether River..."

The shout abruptly ceased.

Sir Renado turned to look at the burning warships and the soldiers hurriedly fighting the fire, picked up his helmet despondently, and said, "Let's put out the fire first, save as much food in the granary as we can..."

When Raffel arrived on the scene, his gloomy expression made Renado secretly draw a character of "屮" on his forehead.

Walking quickly to the river's edge, he could see alchemy fire oil floating on the water, glinting with strange iridescence under the sun.

A half-burned mast jutted out of the water, with tattered sails bobbing with the waves.

Broken barrels and belly-up fish floated on the river's surface, while several two-person small wooden boats, nets in hand, were salvaging corpses and remaining supplies.

"How are the losses?" Raffel's eye twitched slightly.

Sir Renado replied honestly, "We lost a squadron's two months' worth of provisions to the fire, and they also made off with a batch of our weapons and equipment.

Moreover, the damage to the three newly delivered warships is severe.

One is beyond repair, while the other two are estimated to take three to four months to get back to sea.

In addition, several of our cargo ships were also affected and likely won't be able to transport supplies for three weeks."

"Thousand River Valley rats!" The Great Knight snorted and began walking toward the town.

His footsteps crushed charred arrowheads on the honeycombed, molten-stone pier.

Charred walls still retained human-shaped outlines; military monks were cleansing the battlefield with Holy Water, the mist hissing as it touched the embers.

Raffel squatted down, picking an iron shot from the walls.

The rough texture was all too familiar to him; such incidents were relentless over the past fortnight.

Moliat managed to hold on to Xia Lvcheng without recklessly engaging in battle, but she dispatched many Mountain Knights.

The Mountain Knights, riding longships commonly used by the Norn Pirates of old, employed classic raid and navigation tactics.

That is, in coordination with mages brought from Black Snake Bay, they launched frenzied raids on the Leia-occupied ports and supply encampments.

Raffel begrudgingly admitted, the Leia people were indeed not adept at naval warfare, especially in the waters of the Thousand River Valley.

Even Batis and his group, for all their prowess, couldn't fully master the waterways in just a few months.

The preparation and accumulated advantages by Batis and his men allowed them to capture several outlying fortresses, which was indeed significant.

Moreover, the accursed Falans provided the Thousand River Valley with numerous experienced Falan crew.

Several factors combined, allowing these villagers to escape repeatedly.

Looking at the gentle water flow, Raffel turned to his Attendant Officer and asked, "The Duke of Wing Nest mentioned when the flood would occur at the latest?"

"At the end of last month."

Sighing softly, Raffel knew this battle wouldn't be so smooth.

In just a month, they had devoured three-quarters of Hotam County, leaving only the lone city of Xia Lvcheng and most of Lvwa Village.

His Highness Jinijis was expected to arrive in the Thousand River Valley in November after stabilizing the country.

Yet, these villagers, after their initial panic, remarkably fortified their defenses in Lvwa Village.

As for Xia Lvcheng, it rapidly restored order.

The walls here were already exceptionally strong, and the Leia people had attacked several times, yet were repelled every time.

The Autocratic Duke even personally led a night raid on the Leia's supply camp, stalling the siege.

Now they've concocted such tactics targeting logistics.

Even Raffel, at this point, couldn't help but admire the resilience of these villagers.

In places like Thorn Garden or Shattered Stone Plain on the border, it's manageable, but in inland areas like Windmill Land and River Island, it would likely have already escalated into a civil war with an utter rout.

With the arrival of His Highness Jinijis, a large number of trained Immortal Army Knights is expected. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Their numbers will reach nearly a thousand, enough to form ten order battalions.

Raffel considered himself fortunate; if the Thousand River Valley people had to face an opponent like the Immortal Army, it would be truly disastrous.

"These damn Thousand River Valley rats," he cursed again, then ordered, "In the future, we'll transport supplies by land as much as possible."