Chapter 1 Suren Returns to the Eternal Night After Reconnaissance

Suren returned to the Eternal Night after scouting the enemy.

The magic airship castle was too big and too slow. There was no need to deliberately tail it; they could just follow it.

Just like before, when they followed the two major pirate groups, the West Sea and the South Sea, all the way from Luying, the Dawn Mercenary Group followed far behind.

The people from the Celestial God Plane chose to bulldoze their way through, which saved Suren and the others a lot of trouble.

The magic airship was too conspicuous. The magical beasts and sea creatures within a few nautical miles of its path were disturbed. Powerful monsters would try their luck, only to be mowed down by the tens of thousands of mages and turned into corpses. Weaker ones would stay far away.

In short, the Eternal Night followed behind those people and didn't encounter any threatening monsters along the way.

Several days passed in a flash.

The Eternal Night sailed on the sea at a leisurely pace. Tracking was easy, but they couldn't find any opportunity to attack.

The Dawn Mercenary Group had a few peaceful days.

But no one was careless, because they knew a fierce battle was inevitable.

…

One day, in the evening...

The weather was bad, and the fog on the sea was getting thicker.

This kind of weather had low visibility, which was very suitable for hunters who were good at stealth to prey.

Everyone on the deck of the Eternal Night was busy.

Dora was directing the mechanics to install some new mechanical devices on the ship. These black technology mechanical parts would be used on the Sky Fortress in the future, and now they were being tested on the Eternal Night. The shipwrights were also helping to modify some of the ship's structure. The gunners were maintaining the cannons. Qian Tiao and a group of swordsmen were busy practicing their swords...

The ship was a hive of activity.

Suren heard the message and came to the deck.

When Tani saw him, she waved from the mast and shouted, "Mr. Suren, over here!"

Suren looked up and jumped onto the mast.

Not only Tani was on the mast, but also Barrett and several warship staff officers. When they saw Suren coming, they all greeted him.

They all looked solemnly at the surrounding fog.

It was common to encounter fog areas during long voyages, but there was obviously something fishy here.

Tani said directly, "This fog is the waste gas exhaled by high-level sea mirage beasts. It has a special magnetic field that will cause the nautical pointer to point in the wrong direction. It wouldn't be strange in itself, but one thing is abnormal: the fish in the sea are disturbed, which means there should be a particularly powerful existence nearby. My mother also said that the wind is mixed with magical energy..."

"Mm. Thanks for the hard work."

Suren nodded when he heard this.

He looked at the mist in the distance, his eyes deep.

With Tani and her mother on the ship, the voyage of the Eternal Night was like a divine blessing.

Both mother and daughter possessed very rare perception abilities, and their perception range at sea was very wide.

Many methods that could hide from human perception couldn't hide from animals in nature. Tani's ability to listen to the voices of sea beasts was particularly special. Also, the fluctuations of magic in the wind were fluctuations that couldn't be detected by other means, but Friedel could accurately capture them.

Even if the mages had tried their best to hide it, unless they didn't use any magic, these flaws couldn't be hidden no matter what.

In naval warfare, the existence of Tani and her mother gave the Dawn Mercenary Group unparalleled intelligence priority.

This was crucial!

Suren pondered for a moment, his tone not surprised, "It looks like those people from the Celestial God Plane are preparing an ambush."

Barrett and several staff officers next to him nodded when they heard this. This was the same as their judgment.

Hearing this, Barrett asked, "Are we going to continue sailing along this route?"

Suren pondered for a moment and asked, "What do you all think?"

At this question, the expressions of the people changed slightly.

The Dawn Mercenary Group wanted to plot against those tens of thousands of mages from the Celestial God Plane, but the enemy also wanted to completely solve this trouble.

Although the Dragon Country waters were dangerous, the fact proved that the Dawn Mercenary Group was a greater threat.

After several conflicts, the small Dawn Mercenary Group had caused heavy losses to the people of the Celestial God Plane.

Suren thought that if he were them, he would definitely choose to solve this problem first.

...

"The enemy's magic airship is a big target and not easy to hide. If they want to intercept us, they will definitely choose an ambush. If I'm right, there should be at least one group of ten thousand mages ahead. Moreover, the other party's tactics must be aimed at the abilities we have already exposed. They will most likely use that legion magic to freeze the sea and directly restrict our sea ship..."

"If there are more than two groups of ten thousand, we may have to use Plan B."

"..."

Suren knew almost everything about the Celestial God Plane's legion tactics.

Faced with this situation, he could almost predict all the other party's plans.

But there were also some things that were beyond calculation. For example, prophecy, or the power of gods, things that couldn't be calculated by human power.

These uncertainties were the source of risk.

Because they knew the other party would set up an ambush, the higher-ups of the Dawn Mercenary Group had long since recalled and studied in detail how to respond, and the risks had naturally been calculated in detail.

"I agree!"

Hearing this, Barrett and several staff officers nodded in unison, feeling that they could give it a try.

Coming to the Dragon Country waters, everyone had already been mentally prepared to deal with risks.

There was no way to hide.

If they didn't solve these people from the Celestial God Plane, their risks would be even greater.

Actively solving some troubles was ten thousand times better than being passively approached by the enemy.

What's more, even if the Dawn Mercenary Group faced a group of ten thousand mages head-on, they were not without the power to fight.

There was also the Sword Saint "Dragon Hunter" Bartolo on the ship, and "Blood Duke" Wordsworth had successfully advanced to the eighth rank, as well as Number Nineteen... With top combat power, they weren't afraid of being beheaded.

As for the remaining combat power, the top cannons on the ship were definitely legion killers. As long as they didn't skimp on ammunition, their output was not inferior to legion magic in terms of output alone.

What's more, Suren still had backup plans.

...

The staff team made a decision, and as soon as the order was given, everyone in the Dawn Mercenary Group immediately executed it efficiently.

As soon as they heard that they were preparing for battle, the crew began to check various shipborne equipment and load ammunition.

Once the battle was triggered, they could react in the first time.

Before long, the fog around the Eternal Night grew thicker and thicker.

Suren and all the perception-type professionals released their perception with all their strength, but unsurprisingly, they found nothing abnormal.

Only Tani, relying on the information fed back by the fish, and her mother, the Naga's, talent for perception, confirmed the situation around them.

"Northwest, southeast, northeast, abnormalities have been detected in these directions..."

"After we came over, someone blocked our retreat. We should have entered the enemy's encirclement..."

"..."

Suren listened and calculated expressionlessly.

These subtle pieces of information might not be understood by others, but in his ears, they were sets of standard template tactical arrangements.

The mages of the Celestial God Plane had been fighting for many years and had gradually summed up their own sets of complete enemy tactics. Advanced command courses in mage academies also had systematic teaching courses.

Although the weather and terrain would have temporary changes to the tactics, those who were truly proficient in those tactics could immediately infer the other party's troops, layout, and tactics based on the situation.

But even if they knew, there were almost no flaws to take advantage of.

Because this was a battle plan that had been perfected after countless uses.

Unless they avoided it in advance, once they were surrounded, they could only fight.

Suren listened to more and more information, and before he saw the enemy, he had already judged a lot of important information and muttered, "It looks like three groups of ten thousand mages have come. Tsk tsk... They really think highly of us."

He decisively ordered through the Dawn Mercenary Group's internal communicator: "Everyone, prepare to execute Plan B."

A response immediately came from the communicator, and all the commanders responded in unison, "Yes!"

Suren's mind was like a 3D sand table at this moment, and the enemy's ambush locations had been completely marked through data.

After calculating the coordinates in detail, he ordered again: "Dora, the artillery regiment is ready to lock the target coordinates. West-northwest 12.3°, about 5300 meters; north-northeast 17.4°, 4700 meters; due north, 6500 meters; heavy firepower covers three fixed coordinates, and we will try to break the enemy's camp in the first round of artillery fire!"

Dora immediately responded: "Yes!"

After a few breaths, command feedback came from the communicator again: "The artillery angle has been adjusted, the coordinates have been locked, the ammunition has been loaded, and we are ready to fire at any time!"

As soon as these words came out, the communicator was silent, and the ship was silent.

Everyone was waiting for Suren's order.

The mist shrouded the ship, and the huge black sailboat seemed to be sailing into the mouth of a cloud-swallowing monster.

The atmosphere of solemnity gradually spread.

On the deck, some low-level crew members were already nervously sweating in their hands holding weapons.

Now that they had entered the enemy's encirclement, everyone no longer had any luck, only a battle.

At this moment, Suren listened, his eyes flashed sharply, and he directly ordered: "Fire!"

In an instant, hundreds of cannons on both sides of the Eternal Night and several super-caliber God-killing Cannons on the deck spat out tongues of fire.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"..."

The sound of artillery fire was connected, deafening.

...

Those guys from the Celestial God Plane watched the Dawn Mercenary Group stupidly crash into the encirclement, and naturally thought that their concealment methods had not been discovered.

In order to hide their aura, they didn't even use any high-level magic barriers.

And this was the biggest flaw!

A flaw that was enough to severely damage a ten-thousand-mage regiment!

Suren knew everything about this "three-group encirclement" tactic, including the troops, the location, and the most suitable time to attack...

So, as soon as the Dawn Mercenary Group entered the encirclement, but before they had time to go deep, he ordered the attack.

This distance was far enough that the mages couldn't reach, but the artillery could completely reach.

Suren also knew that the first round of artillery fire had the best killing effect, so he didn't skimp on ammunition at all, and various high-level alchemy bombs worth millions were poured out as if they were free.

After so many long battles, he had already summed up his experience.

As long as they could win, the harvest would definitely be more than the investment.

First round, second round, third round...

In a very short period of time, the artillery fire was poured on the target within the range.

They couldn't see the target, but Dora accurately calculated the trajectory of the artillery shells and then fired blindly.

However, those shells seemed to have eyes and hit accurately.

It was no different from Suren's prediction.

Among the three artillery targets were two deserted islands and a temporary camp built on the sea. Originally, they were all covered by very clever legion stealth magic guides, and even high-level professionals couldn't detect them when they got close.

But unexpectedly, the Celestial God Plane mages' self-proclaimed perfect concealment was caught off guard by this round of artillery fire.

"Boom", "Boom", "Boom"...

The sound of artillery fire on the Eternal Night was as dense as thunder and rain. The shock waves from the shells alone stunned large swaths of sea fish in the nearby sea.

And near the three coordinates where the shells landed, towering flames burst out.

Thousands of alchemy bombs landed, not inferior to the simultaneous release of thousands of seventh and eighth-order spells, and exploded into a single piece with a rumbling sound.

Last time, they bombed the ship from a long distance, and those mages might not have felt much. This time, they bombed the unprepared camp at close range, and the mages were immediately covered in dirt and suffered heavy casualties.

In this round of artillery fire alone, at least one or two percent of the mages were killed, and countless were injured.

But after all, they were a group of ten thousand mages with rich combat experience, and they reacted extremely quickly. The commander also knew that they had been discovered the moment the artillery fire sounded, and various magic restrictions poured out in an instant.

"Damn, how were we discovered? Never mind, execute the original plan for encirclement and annihilation!"

"Ice Legion, freeze the sea immediately!"

"Yes!"

"..."

Various legion magic guides and defensive magic were released instantly, completely covering the three temporary camps after the first round of artillery fire. The casualties caused by the subsequent shells were much smaller.

But even so, this was a loss that several groups of ten thousand mages had never encountered before. They had never lost two percent of their troops without even seeing the enemy in any previous battle.

It was so sudden that it felt strange.

How were we discovered?

Moreover, if the enemy discovered the ambush in advance, why did they come in?

Several eighth-order mages in charge of commanding were so angry that their faces turned green.

But things had come to this point, and there was no other choice but to fight according to the plan.

When the legion magic tower lit up, one legion magic after another was released.

...

The sea fog was an obstacle for the Dawn Mercenary Group, and it was also an obstacle for the mages.

Just a moment after the artillery fire sounded, a gust of wind blew in and dissipated the fog in an instant.

Because it was already evening, the light was not enough, and the mages' various flash spells illuminated the sky.

For a time, the field of vision suddenly opened up.

On the sea, everyone on the Eternal Night watched the warm yellow light of the legion magic shields light up at the coordinates where the shells landed, and they knew that they had hit the target. They cheered.

Mages without legion defense were as fragile as paper in the face of artillery fire. That round of artillery fire must have killed a lot of enemies. At least the ammunition money was worth it.

However, before long, everyone suddenly heard the sound of "crack" and "crack" of ice sealing.

The observers on several lookout towers on the top of the mast simultaneously issued warnings: "Attention everyone, the sea is frozen!"

Suren and Barrett had already been standing on the mast, watching the whitening sea in the distance spread like a tide. Their expressions were solemn, but not surprised.

Qian Tiao leaned lazily on the mast, and the sword energy she had accumulated was faintly overflowing and could not be stopped.

She looked at the frozen sea, not only unafraid, but also mumbled with a fighting spirit: "Yo, Suren~ You really guessed it, these guys really chose to freeze the sea."

Suren was dumbfounded when he heard this, and he complained in his heart: I called you to the meeting, but you were dozing off. Now everyone knows, but you are the only one who doesn't know.

But he also responded: "Because if they don't control our sea ship, their main force won't be able to catch up."

The speed of the Eternal Night, a sea emperor-class warship, was the fastest of any sea ship, and it was absolutely impossible for those guys from the Celestial God Plane to catch up with their main force.

So, they could only limit the ship from leaving to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

Moreover, it didn't take much effort to freeze the sea with legion magic, and the probability of using it was almost 100%.

Suren knew those tactics like the back of his hand, so it was normal to guess them.

Just as the few people were chatting, the white line on the sea in the distance had already spread over. The ice sealing came from all directions, and the Eternal Night had nowhere to escape.

Suddenly, with a loud bang, the Eternal Night was instantly frozen.

White frost spread from the sea all the way to the ship, as if putting a white gauze dress on this black sailboat.

The surrounding air temperature dropped sharply by dozens of degrees, and the warm sea breeze instantly became cold and bone-chilling.

Everyone looked down, and the ice layer was getting thicker and thicker, and there was no possibility of breaking it.

However, although the ship could not move, the artillery was still firing.

The two sides began a long-range bombardment.

But this distance was a super-advantage for the Dawn Mercenary Group.

The artillery could easily and accurately provide firepower coverage.

But for mages, it was already the limit of casting spells. Even with the blessing of legion magic guides, the power of magic was greatly reduced.

Moreover, although the magic legion was powerful, in terms of long-range bombardment, the tireless artillery and alchemy bombs were much more efficient than the mages manually creating magic.

Because of the dense firepower suppression, the three ten-thousand-mage legions had to constantly support their magic shields, and they couldn't rush in quickly at all.

This gave everyone in the Dawn Mercenary Group plenty of time to respond.

Although there were many enemies, they didn't gain the upper hand for a while.

...

Three legions of ten thousand mages, equivalent to three ninth-order combat forces, were not enemies that the current Dawn Mercenary Group could directly contend with.

But everyone on the deck was not panicked at all.

Because at least until now, everything that had happened was within the previous expectations.

Suren watched the enemies begin to surround them, and he said to everyone on the deck: "Release the bait, activate the alchemy formation!"

"Yes!"

Someone on the deck responded in unison.

The eight sixth-order alchemists who had already set up the octagonal alchemy formation activated the alchemy formation as soon as they heard Suren's order.

A scorching white light lit up, and Suren threw a piece of bloody meat into the formation.

It wasn't any other meat, but part of the corpse of the sixth-order silver dragon that had been collected in Aekronessa, the capital of the Silver Dragon Kingdom.

This alchemy formation didn't have any other uses. Its only function was to spread the smell over a long distance.

That's right!

Suren's "Plan B" was to divert the disaster to the east and kill with a borrowed knife!

They chose to break into the encirclement in order to severely damage the people of the Celestial God Plane.

Now that the teleportation array on Rainbow Island no longer existed, the fewer of these guys from the Celestial God Plane who died, the less threatening they would be.

If there was only one ten-thousand-mage legion, the Dawn Mercenary Group would have prepared to eat it directly.

But now there were three. Either they escaped, or they could only find outside help.

If they could lure the eighth-order silver dragon, Suren felt that the three current legions would most likely be severely damaged. At that time, there would definitely be an opportunity to take advantage of the situation when the two powers fought.

This plan had a certain gambling element, because Suren was not sure where the silver dragon was, nor was he sure that it would definitely come.

But there was no great risk.

Even if the silver dragon couldn't be lured, it didn't matter.

Anyway, they were all ready to escape.

Because he still had the Little Void Realm.

He knew that the people of the Celestial God Plane needed intelligence support to formulate their battle plans.

The enemy had arranged for three ten-thousand-mage legions to ambush the Dawn Mercenary Group, which was already a high-level configuration that was "foolproof."

But the enemy had one piece of information they had not yet grasped, that Suren could directly put the Eternal Night into the Little Void Realm and then teleport away.

Therefore.

From the beginning, the tactic of freezing the sea to limit the sea ship was completely useless.

...

Those guys from the Celestial God Plane probably thought they had controlled the Dawn Mercenary Group's ship on the ice, and everything was going well.

So, they slowly adjusted their encirclement formation, slowly approaching under the artillery fire, seeking stability.

This did reduce casualties, but it also gave the Dawn Mercenary Group more time to release the bait.

Suren and a group of high-level combatants from the Dawn Mercenary Group also cooperated with them in acting, staging a scene of leading the team to charge and prepare to break through.

However, since it was an ambush, the ten-thousand-mage legion would naturally not leave any opportunities.

After repeatedly choosing weak points to charge, the other party spared no expense in holding them back, so that the Dawn Mercenary Group did not have any chance to escape with the main force.

But the battle looked fierce, but in reality, the Dawn Mercenary Group did not suffer any major losses.

Except for Qian Tiao and a few high-level combatants who were eager to try, most of the movements came from artillery battles.

Some black technologies were also used one after another, such as the Mana Laser Cannon, the Large-Caliber Annihilation Cannon, and the Particle Penetration Cannon...

It was rare to have such suitable enemies to practice with, and various laboratory products targeting magic restrictions were taken out and tested in this battle.

Some new equipment had miraculous effects, and some were not satisfactory.

But after all, it was only after actual testing that they knew where the shortcomings were, and then they could use the feedback data to improve.

It was these black technologies created by the war workshop mechanics that bought the Dawn Mercenary Group too much time.

The two sides fought fiercely for half an hour.

Seeing that the ambush circle was getting closer and closer, and a small-scale melee had already begun,

Suddenly, an angry dragon roar came from the far distance.

Suren looked at the familiar silver figure in the sky and was overjoyed: "It's finally here!"

The others in the Dawn Mercenary Group were also overjoyed when they saw it.

The silver dragon was here, so it was Plan C.

This would multiply their results several times!