Chapter 188: Pirate Raid

Rumor had it that besides many local specialties from the Border Prince Territory, the Duke had also brought back a large quantity of gold and gems seized by the Knightly Army—the stupid and vulgar Greenskins did not like these shiny treasures; they used their own teeth as currency.

Beyond the goods brought back, the Duke's needs were also reported with great detail: food and medicine urgently needed at the front lines, and the prices of related products within the city of Bordeleaux had already risen accordingly.

Quite a few "well-informed" small merchants even began planning to risk the threat of Vampires to go to other duchies to purchase some and resell them; these commercial activities made the city of Bordeleaux lively.

All of this was seen by the bats in the sky, and after sending out more scouts from the dark clouds to confirm, the Vampire Coast pirates outside the bay grew anxious.

The troops on the Human side did not relax their vigilance because of the false news; they were intensifying their training to ensure that no one would harbor evil designs on that "huge wealth" about to arrive.

"They're here, they're here!" On the night of the second day after the news was released, the high-ranking officials sitting in the castle heard the report they wanted.

"Let's go, let's go to the terrace and take a look!" Kangsitanting flicked his cloak and led the way out of the conference room. The location of the Duke's castle was excellent; with the help of the clever designs of the Dwarf craftsmen, one could overlook the entire port from the building's towers and terraces.

"This troop scale, it doesn't look like an all-out attack, does it?" Sinuoli tried to assess the troop strength while looking through a telescope at the few Skeleton Ships appearing in the distance that seemed to have emerged from a horror movie.

"Those are no longer ships in the narrow sense, just vehicles driven by Dark Magic. The number of enemies on them is immeasurable, not to mention no one dares to say there aren't more underwater."

"Boom!" "Boom!"

As the Vampire Coast ships approached a bit closer, the Bordeleaux Navy inside the harbor opened fire. Although the first volley of the naval cannons hit empty space, it still slowed the pirates' speed.

"You use artillery too?" Buluokesen asked the question Sinuoli wanted to ask.

"Hahaha, what is the difference between artillery and bows and arrows? As long as they are not in the hands of the Knights, it is fine. Could it be that one can set up a lance formation to charge at sea?" Kangsitanting laughed again.

Immediately after, a whirlpool suddenly appeared beneath the Vampire warships, and these Undead Boats began to spin in the water. Everyone knew this must be the masterpiece of the Mannan'en priests.

The sudden spell bought the Human side another time to reload. This time, because they were fixed targets, the firing accuracy of the naval cannons improved significantly. They successfully punched several holes in the Vampire warships, and many zombies that were slow to move and failed to transfer in time fell into the sea.

"Beautiful!"

"Hahaha, the way they flounder in the water is just like those landlubbers!"

The commanders on the terrace laughed happily at the sight, but the Vampires soon reacted as well. After a brief chaos, some zombie gunners tremblingly took their positions under command, and the Bretonnia warships that had been anchored hurriedly began to move.

A Vampire Coast pirate wearing a general's uniform walked out of the command room on the bridge. He waved wildly to guide, using the power of Dark Magic to disperse the whirlpool under the ship.

As the warships of both sides began to move simultaneously, a new round of mutual shelling began.

"They aren't capable of only this, are they?" A moment later, Sinuoli, who had been watching the battle, spoke up. The current harbor presented a stalemate; although the Vampire's zombie crew were clumsy, they were brave and unafraid of death, and the mutual shelling between the two sides could not determine a winner.

For the warships of Bordeleaux, causing damage to the enemy while minimizing their own losses was a very good state, but for the attacking Vampires, this was unacceptable.

Relying on the time gained by the naval exchange, the Port Guard also rushed out of the barracks under the command of the Captain to set up a formation relying on the walls and fences used for tax collection on the shore. These civilian soldiers were already on alert, so they arrived very quickly.

To avoid being sunk, the Bordeleaux warships gradually moved toward the periphery, while the Vampire Coast fleet slowly approached the port, but they were still hundreds of meters away from landing.

Just as the Dwarves were wondering if these living corpses were brain-damaged by seawater for advancing this little distance at the cost of taking many more cannon shots, the situation suddenly changed.

Suddenly, a large swarm of bats that blotted out the sky rose from the Skeleton Ships. In the dark night, these creatures looked even crazier, and they seemed to be more than a circle larger.

"Why are they flying so slowly?"

"There's something underneath!"

"Boarding party! Archers, prepare!"

The boarding party consisted of bloodthirsty Fell Bats and zombies waving weapons; the zombies hung unconsciously from the claws of the Fell Bats. They attacked the Humans on the shore with the firearms in their hands in mid-air; although their aim was poor, they had the advantage of sheer numbers.

At the same time, a group of corrupted magic crabs surged out of the sea; they were as tall as adult Humans and had pincer-like claws that could dismember Humans.

On the backs of some magic crabs sat zombies holding firearms, and at the very front of the team was a Vampire fleet captain wearing a wide-brimmed hat as the commander; the magic crab under him was also a circle larger than those around it.

Other small units struggled to fight and move in shallow water, but the aquatic race had the upper hand here; the magic crabs were not much slower than the boarding party in the sky. Taking advantage of the Peasant Archers fleeing in all directions in the face of the projectiles falling from the sky, they quickly rushed onto the shore.

"Hold! Hold for me!" The commander put a bunch of Infantry Regiments equipped with spears at the gate of the low wall, and they were assisted by some sailors with messy equipment, mainly scimitars and pistols.

These people were brave enough to fight to defend their homeland, but they lacked armor protection, and the inferior weapons in their hands could hardly break through the thick shells of the corrupted magic crabs.

Facing the deadly arthropods that were the size of a car and rampaging across the battlefield, their resistance seemed somewhat powerless. In a brief contact, many Humans were torn to pieces by the huge pincers, and their lines began to retreat gradually.

"It seems your troops must take the field!" Kangsitanting said to Sinuoli as he watched the battle gradually spiral out of control. With an order, the prepared Dwarf troops took over the defensive line from the Humans.

"After I witnessed their multi-branch cooperation in the Empire, I must say, with the rise of dark forces, Bretonnia needs a more powerful infantry force to cope. I have mentioned this to my father many times, but unfortunately, it seems our funding has more urgent places to go."