The target was hit, and Captain Sven Song immediately ordered continuous artillery fire. Ten more shells struck the building squarely.
Although the strange structure was built of stone, direct hits from artillery caused considerable damage, with the entire top layer being sheared off.
At this moment, the siblings Nu Lin Jing Tao and Nu Lin Luo Yun stood on the island's shore, their jaws dropping at the terrifying sight.
Nu Lin Jing Tao's eyes blazed with fury, threatening to incinerate his entire being.
Just a few minutes prior, Nu Lin Luo Yun had found him in terror, informing him that their underwater base had been attacked.
This underwater base was personally constructed by Nu Lin Luo Yun, who had left her mental energy within the array formations on the structure. Thus, she knew immediately when the underwater base was destroyed.
However, they still did not know the extent of the casualties at the underwater base!
As Nu Lin Jing Tao was about to order his subordinates to investigate, the merman he had dispatched had not yet arrived when they witnessed the terrifying bombardment!
Even after hearing about these things from the captives, without seeing the actual objects, it was impossible to comprehend their true power.
The ships that brought the initial wave of captives, while equipped with machine guns and even rocket launchers, did not carry artillery.
After all, in this era, even warships rarely used artillery. But this did not mean artillery was useless; it was known by another name: the King of War!
"Quick, assemble! Annihilate those humans for me, I want to tear them limb from limb!"
Nu Lin Jing Tao was seething. He roared, and the mermen on the island immediately began to gather towards the shore.
On the Ice Queen, the lookout in the crow's nest reported the situation on the island to Captain Sven Song via walkie-talkie.
In Aurora's team, no one was useless. Liu Wang Shou was also not simple; he was an esper with enhanced vision, commonly known as Eagle Eye.
Even without a telescope, he could spot a moving mouse from four to five kilometers away!
And this ability, combined with a suitable telescope, could double the detection range!
This fellow was hiding in the lookout post next to the mast, clearly seeing everything on the island.
He also provided several coordinates. Upon receiving the information, Captain Sven Song immediately adjusted the artillery's aim and inputted the coordinates reported by the lookout into the fire control computer.
"Target: beach. High-explosive shells, six-round salvo..."
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The shells flew directly towards the beach three kilometers away. Although there was no fire control radar assistance, at such a close range, mechanical aiming was sufficient.
Some mermen had just gathered on the beach and had not yet stabilized their formation when the shells arrived.
This stretch of beach was quickly engulfed by the shockwaves of the explosions. Although the 105mm caliber was not particularly large, the shockwave from the shell's explosion could still shatter the internal organs of any creature within ten meters of the impact point.
The sand and shells on the beach were propelled outwards by the shockwave, with a lethal radius extending up to twenty meters from the shell's impact point!
These six shells landed squarely on the beach, incapacitating nearly a hundred mermen.
The remaining mermen, confused about the source of the attack, began to scatter like headless flies.
"Stop assembling, charge directly!"
Nu Lin Jing Tao was going mad. He issued a direct order, and the mermen on the shore began to charge frantically into the sea. True to their nature as marine creatures, their forms disappeared into the water, becoming streaks of water moving towards the Ice Queen at a speed no less than thirty kilometers per hour!
"Heading due east, full retreat!"
Captain Sven Song knew very well that once these monsters got close, even with the many weapons on their ship, they would not be able to effectively deploy them. The operational objective set by Ling Tian had been achieved, and it was time to withdraw.
The Ice Queen turned and retreated, but as they withdrew, the twin 105mm cannons at the stern did not remain idle, constantly searching for targets on the island and firing a few shots from time to time.
Just then, an albatross circled low over the island. Soon, two figures landed on the island and hid behind a patch of bushes by the sea.
These two were none other than Ling Tian and A Li.
With a flicker of thought, Ling Tian conjured a large pile of weapons behind the bushes, numbering in the hundreds.
These included standard longswords and standard spears.
Although the longswords lacked ornate decorations, they were designed to be very practical, not only being incredibly sharp but also having a clever center of gravity. Most importantly, some parts of the swords had reinforcement designs.
The spears were about two meters long, with hollow steel tubes for the shafts and incredibly sharp spearheads!
These weapons were, of course, crafted by the skilled artisans from the Spirit Realm space.
Ling Tian knew that the mermen's greatest advantage was their numbers. If he could arm the remaining over seven hundred people on the island, the mermen's advantage would be nullified.
Of the remaining seven hundred-plus people, nearly four hundred were espers. Once they removed the Sea Dry Stone neck rings from their necks and were provided with weapons, they would become the best fighting force. At the very least, they could handle ordinary mermen one-on-one.
Next, Ling Tian took out three devices resembling fireworks and placed them on the ground, igniting them rapidly.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Three flares were instantly launched and exploded in the air, releasing a large amount of red smoke.
After doing this, Ling Tian and A Li, carrying their weapons, charged towards the beach.
A few mermen were attracted by the commotion. These few mermen were left to guard the captives. Although Nu Lin Jing Tao was furious, he had not lost his reason and still left these mermen to watch the captives.
But that was all. Nu Lin Jing Tao never believed that these humans, wearing Sea Dry Stone neck rings and exhausted, could unleash any significant combat power.
Little did he know that as the bombardment began, the members of the Xuanyuan family immediately became tense.
"Quick, prepare to act, everyone eat quickly!"
Xuanyuan Changfeng gave the order, and every member of the Xuanyuan family picked up a pill the size of a grape and put it into their mouths.
What they consumed was also known as Ice Ration Pills.