C195 - Operation Compass Seizure (7)
The shells fired from the Bellad Empire's warships were enchanted with magic.
It was war-strengthening magic that increased range and firepower. It took at least a hundred six-star mages to strengthen the hundreds of cannons. Moreover, the fact that there were so many six-star mages meant that there were also many high mages leading them.
It was a force that would never have made it to this small abandoned island. Even Runcandel had only sent ten mid-high level Guardian Knights, and Vermont had sent a war force.
That meant that Vermont was ahead of Runcandel in terms of information about Zipple and Kinzelo, or that they were paying more attention to them.
Black dots in the sky fell quickly. Shells had flown into the harbor in an instant.
"Everybody get down, get down, get down, get down!"
"G-G-God!"
The pirates shouted desperately, and the Runcandel Guardian Knights scowled in displeasure.
Bang, bang, bang!
Shells began to fall on the harbor and the beach. The explosions sent plumes of water upward, pirate ships shattered and splinters flew everywhere, while the rocks and sand that made up the harbor crumbled.
As opposed to the pirates simply lying flat or running desperately, the Guardian Knights skillfully maneuvered to cut off or avoid the projectiles and splinters flying towards them.
"Damn, this is annoying."
"We have to inform our headquarters (family). It looks like the Bellard Empire bastards have gone mad."
Boom...! Boom, Boom!
Before the pirates could come to their senses, the next bombardment began.
For Jin, this was advantageous. The more confusion there was, the easier it would be for him to move unseen, and since they were going to steal the compass on Murakan's back anyway, it didn't matter if the docked ships were destroyed.
Unfortunately, however, the appearance of Bellard's warships was also a misfortune for Jin.
This was because, after reinforcing the projectile magic, another magic began to unfold.
Suddenly, the dark night sky was being dyed red.
Not because the projectiles were burning, but because the mages aboard the Bellard Empire's ships had deployed a barrier spell.
"The Great Red Entanglement Barrier...!!!! Did VErmont's Special Force even prepare that?"
As the name suggested, the Great Red Entanglement Barrier was a spell in which several mages combined their powers to build a barrier.
It was usually used to protect a castle or city from enemy attacks.
Sometimes it was used to prevent the enemy from escaping. As now.
"The Great Red Binding Barrier. This is a magic linking spell used by the Emperor's Guard Mages, not the Special Forces. was the Emperor's Guard prepared for this too!!!?"
The Great Red Linking Barrier was one of the signature spells of the Vermont Emperor's Guard Mages. The core of this spell, which they had invented on their own, was "air control".
When dragons or flying creatures attacked the palace, a barrier was deployed to exterminate them and prevent them from fleeing. Within the Great Red Entanglement Barrier, no creature with wings larger than a sparrow could fly unrestricted.
The moment it detected a flying creature, the barrier immediately spewed out thousands of beams of red light in order to subdue it, so it was a frightening magic designed to protect the safety of the "Emperor".
It was at that moment that Jin's plan to flee in Murakan fell apart. The barrier was so large that it spanned the entire island.
'Even assuming Murakan can withstand it, the safety of the others is a concern. We have to change our plan.'
They were to flee by boat.
But a constant barrage of shells was smashing the harbor and pirate ships, and the island was surrounded by the Bellard Empire's fleet.
'Still, it would be better to get a ship and fight the Bellard fleet rather than fly into the barrier. 'Getting out of the barrier on a ship is the time when I'll be able to flee in Murakan again.'
First, they had to leave the barrier on a ship. The fleet would chase them, but if they got out of the barrier, they could escape again in Murakan. Now it was more important to return to where Murakan was rather than to find their companions. The Great Red Entanglement Barrier was a magic developed about a hundred years ago, so Murakan could not know all the dangers involved either.
He had to inform them quickly, lest Murakan get frustrated with his search and start flying.
"Murakan!"
"What's wrong, brat?"
After retracing his steps and looking around, I fortunately found him quickly. And while I was explaining about the red barrier, Siris appeared from somewhere.
"Jin, do you understand the situation more or less? The east is completely destroyed, both the harbor and the ships. Because the island is small, there is a limit to escape from the annoying swarms of sea mosquitoes."
She was in a situation where she understood the situation as well as Jin, having escaped from the special pursuit team.
"Miss Siris, do you know at which escape point the other team members moved?"
"They went toward the western escape points. Those two are originally from Vermont, so they probably know what this barrier means. If we can't get a boat, we're doomed."
"Damn humans, when did they develop such magic? All the ships are being destroyed by shells, so how do we get a ship? Miss lover, didn't you bring that snow toad?"
"I wouldn't be going through all this trouble if I could have brought Mort, Black Dragon, why don't you tell them to announce that it's a matter of the Hidden Palace," she said.
"Perhaps it would be better if the three of us went together. Let's look for the others and hope there are some ships left in the nearest port."
The bombardment continued in the distance. Murakan turned back into a cat and curled up in Siris' arms.
"Wow, first the special forces, and now the guardian knights and the emperor's mages. I didn't think things would get this complicated. When my mother told me about this, I thought it wouldn't be easy, but it wouldn't be too hard either."
"When I found out you were in the operation, Miss Siris, I was surprised."
"I was more surprised that you were able to flip the second floor on your own. You have become a monster, Jin Runcandel."
"The Guardian Knights have had their eyes lit up and are looking for you, Miss Siris. Let's make sure we keep a low profile."
The direction in which Alisa and Kashimir moved to evade the unit/special force was west. Thanks to Siris, the group was able to quickly find the escape points without getting lost.
"Lord Kashimir."
Kashimir, Alisa and Quikantel were found at escape point seven.
It was a warehouse of pirates living on the island. After the compass theft was over, it had been agreed that those who escaped would blend in with the supplies and board a pirate ship to escape.
"I thought you might show up, so I decided to wait three minutes. Long time no see, Young Master."
"I see Miss Siris has managed to outwit my juniors."
"Murakan seems fine, I guess he didn't fly into the barrier. I was afraid he would be torn to pieces if he flew after us."
"Is the human barrier really that powerful, can't we just fly through it?"
"The Vermont Imperial Guard Mages are the same level as Zipple's Twilight Mages, and yes a bunch of them joined in. There aren't enough of us to take them on by ourselves."
They decided to skip the greetings and look for a ship, but as they left the escape point, the west harbor was completely destroyed by the bombardment. Not a single ship was intact and the corpses of slain pirates were strewn everywhere.
Only the southern port remained.
But the journey to the southern harbor was too long. Despite the small size of the island, it was a half-hour journey at most.
The roar of the cannons was getting closer and closer. As his companions gathered, the fleet of the Bellard Empire was approaching, almost encircling the island.
"There are unlikely to be ships to the south. We'd better swim out of the barrier from here."
Jin said with a sigh.
"What if we get hit by a shell?"
Siris asked, and Jin shrugged.
"Well... we're all pretty resilient."
"Well. That's true. I guess we don't have a choice anyway."
"Well, we'll have to survive the shells, but the real problem is that we might get spotted by the fleet, and then the troops on board will start attacking us directly."
No matter how strong Jin and his allies were, they could not fight properly underwater.
The risk of being exposed to the fleet's elite troops or mages was high and, at that point, they would be easily suppressed without being able to properly counterattack.
Because of the barrier, the two dragons could not fly and, while swimming, could not fight properly. In addition, there was no place to hide on this small island to avoid the enemies' gaze.
"Sigh."
Although they talked calmly about swimming, they knew that swimming to escape did not depend on their skill, but on luck, which squeezed their hearts.
"Who would have thought the Imperial Guards would deploy the Great Red Entanglement Barrier? Damn."
Their colleagues were thinking the same thing.
If they were lucky, they could all escape the barrier safely, but they needed to be prepared for the worst case scenario. Some of them might not be able to get back to Tikan.
"Come on..!"
They escaped from the exit point.
The island was in ruins, the sky was reddened by the barrier, and projectiles were streaking across it.
The pirates were still running in all directions, spreading chaos, and both nobles and paupers were following suit. On the island, it looked like the landscape at the end of the world.
"The harbor area is being shelled, so we should look for a cliff? Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
When Jin suddenly stopped, the eyes of his companions focused on him.
"Isn't that guy the pirate who incited the others to jump onto the ship from the north port?"
A pirate entered Jin's field of vision. He suddenly remembered how he had incited the other pirates to flee, only to do the opposite himself.
Unlike his behavior in the northern port, he had a calm expression on his face.
Another pirate, who had been running down the street, stopped beside him. In the midst of everyone else's frantic running, only the two pirates stopped.
"Siris, Alisa, are you by any chance able to read the mouths of those two pirates over there?"
"Why?"
"Can you?"
"I can."
Siris and Alisa read their lips without further question.
"When the captain said he was going to invest so much money in that, I thought it was a waste, but thanks to that we're still alive."
"Yeah, sometimes it seems like our captain has a special insight, like knowing that someday this might happen."
"The other fools failed, only we survived. Jumping into the ship was real madness. Runcandel's guardian knights were holding out, and they jumped ships with a word? They are mad."
"Those fools have survived so far on their luck alone. So have we. Haha, the legend of the great pirate band will grow once again. In the middle of an island siege, we escaped from a regular Vermont fleet!"
"Well, it looks like there's no one else around here. We should get going."
That was all the pirates said as they walked away. The team members who had overheard the conversation through Siris and Alisa briefly looked each other in the eye.
"Something doesn't add up about what they're saying, does it?"
"I think they've been preparing something for just such an occasion, and it wouldn't hurt to follow them."
Jin also smiled without realizing it.
"I don't like to rely on luck instead of skill, but it looks like this time the story will be different."
Although they didn't know what the pirates had prepared, they had a feeling that they could overcome this situation impressively.