Chapter 218: Black Ark

With nothing left to worry about inside Blackwater Bay, Sinuoli simply returned to his cabin; he could hear his kin, who were on a ship for the first time, some muttering and others cheering.

By the standards of his past life, this Dreadnought was large enough; sailing in the inland sea, one could barely feel the waves, but it did not look as elegant as Human ships, appearing more like an iron turtle instead.

To face the aerial forces of the High Elves, the designers reinforced—or perhaps one could say alienated—its defensive capabilities. This also led to a series of side effects, including but not limited to high fuel consumption and cramped internal space.

After spending a few days sailing out of Blackwater Bay, the Dwarf fleet entered the Strait of Bandits; as the name implies, this was a very unsettled place. The sea routes of Tilea, the Border Prince Territory, and Araby converged here, and plenty of pirates also looked for business here.

More importantly, this sea area was a buffer zone between the Dwarf navy and the High Elf navy, lacking powerful naval control. The Dragon ships and Eagle ships of the High Elves cruised every corner of the Vast Ocean, but they generally did not enter this sea area.

Conversely, the Dwarf navy rarely came here either, and Admiral Panuosen grew vigilant. He changed the single-line formation led by the Grimnir's Thunder in Blackwater Bay and switched to a rhomboid formation.

The most powerful Dreadnought still led the way, but three armored ships were positioned at the three corners of the rhombus, and these four warships protected the transport sailboats in the middle. Panuosen also dispatched ship-borne airships, something that was almost unique to Haimenguan.

In this busy sea area, whether merchant ships or pirates, all took the initiative to avoid the Dwarf warships, but the good times did not last; by nightfall, a message was sent back from an airship.

"Altman says they have discovered a Black Ark and are now returning at full speed!" Panuosen said in the command room, reporting the latest situation. Rune telegraphs were also being applied within the fleet.

"A Black Ark?" Sinuoli frowned; in the games of his past life, these things were only treated as troop transports to ferry Dark Elf forces to all parts of the world, but in fact, their power was far more than that.

"You know, the Dark Elves, who call themselves Druchii, are the most bloodthirsty group among the three types of pointed-ears; many of them directly serve the Chaos gods, and the rest believe in their God of War—Xueshoukai'en, though he is not much different from the evil gods."

Panuosen introduced the guys they were about to encounter to Sinuoli. The Dark Elves were supporters of Malekith during the split of the High Elves. They believed that Elves must become a more martial race rather than a group of cowards who only knew how to enjoy themselves.

These guys were defeated in the final battle, and the Witch King, harboring a mentality of preferring mutual destruction, took a desperate gamble; he risked attempting to destroy the Great Vortex that Kaleduo-Xunlongzhe had built back then to drain the Winds of Magic.

However, under the obstruction of the High Elf Archmages at the time, Malekith did not get his wish. The energy released by the Great Vortex after being attacked was far beyond anyone's imagination; nearly half of the land of Aosuan sank into the seabed forever, and Malekith's Najialisi Kingdom bore the brunt.

He and his mother, the Witch Queen Molasi, along with other followers, used powerful dark magic to raise several fortresses of Najialisi, allowing them to float on the sea; these sea cities were later called Black Arks by people.

"What do you think? Are we going to drive away those dregs among the pointed-ears?" Panuosen asked next.

"Me? You are the real expert at sea, and this ship is yours, so you make the call." Sinuoli had never seen a Black Ark, but he thought Malekith couldn't possibly be there by coincidence, right? As long as they didn't encounter a particularly powerful legendary Dark Elf or one with a stack of epithets, they should be able to take it.

"Swearing by the name of the ancestors, I am not cowardly, but I must be responsible for my crew." Panuosen paved the way first, and Sinuoli signaled for him to continue.

"I suggest we defeat, or at least drive away, that Black Ark; otherwise, there might be trouble when the fleet returns."

Sinuoli nodded; in order to free up some space in the hull, the warships of Haimenguan were not fully manned, and they were not carrying many shells. On the outbound journey, there were three thousand regular troops on board that no one dared to touch, but the return journey might be a different story.

"Alright, this is also a good opportunity for training! I believe they won't be too powerful!" Sinuoli agreed with Panuosen's suggestion; the high-tier units of the Dark Elves generally possessed armor-piercing capabilities, but even if there were some on this Black Ark, there wouldn't be too many.

The Dark Elves were an extremely rigid class system; below the Witch King and Witch Queen were the seven Dreadlords, nobles, commoners, and slaves. The captain of a Black Ark was generally just a minor noble.

Malekith kept the strength of his subordinates in check; he planted the seeds of distrust among the various nobles, and the entire nobility fought each other at times to please the Witch King. This tactic was merely to prevent the nobles from accumulating enough power to endanger Malekith.

After a moment, a young Dwarf wearing a windproof hood and a leather jacket walked into the command room. "This is Altman-Yanmei; he is the engineer of our ship and is also responsible for the takeoff and landing of the ship-borne airships."

"Greetings to you, respected Chosen of the Goddess; my friend Buluokesen is much obliged for your care!" Altman greeted him and went straight to the point.

"I discovered a Black Ark, and it is currently raiding along the coast of the Luxini Principality." He reached out and pointed to the location of a town on the map.

"This isn't a main city of the Humans!" Panuosen analyzed while looking at the map. "They have already gone ashore? Raiding for slaves?"

"What else? My Prince, isn't that what those black-skinned pointed-ears are good at?" Altman confirmed Panuosen's words.

"The home of those bastards, the place they call Najialuosi, is an extremely barren and desolate land. The important economic lifeline of the Dark Elves relies on the spoils obtained from raiding. And the most important material among them is slaves."

Panuosen's expression was very serious; clearly, Haimenguan had, or at least once had, kin who had suffered such misfortune. In the slave markets of Kalongde-Ka'er, Dwarf slaves were always in high demand with no supply, both in terms of scarcity and practicality.

"Slaves are never enough for those black-skinned goods; they have to provide labor, sacrifices, and serve as cannon fodder in war. Everything their evil masters don't want to do, they have to do, and when they can no longer work, or for any reason at all, they might be taken to be offered to the evil gods!"

"I suspect that Xueshoukai'en might have something to do with the Blood God!" Altman added.