844: Chapter 548: Rush to Board 844: Chapter 548: Rush to Board Facing a new volley of fire, they didn’t attempt to dodge at all, but instead redirected the projection location of the Phantom Broadcasting Stone, positioning it not directly in front of them but alternatively to the left or right, moving alongside the actual fast ships.
When reality and illusion mixed together, identification beca exceedingly difficult—even the Slave Trade Group’s mages were stumped.
Wasn’t this just the Mirror Image Spell, now being used on warships?
The distance between the two sides was too great, and they had no way of casting Dispel Magic; even they couldn’t discern the real from the fake.
The only thing they could do was take a gamble, to see if they could hit with a fifty percent chance—assuming they could hit at all.
Though those fast ships weren’t intentionally dodging, they were still moving at high speed.
To hit them required extraordinary shooting skills, and many ballista marksn were in an inebriated state, which was not to their advantage.
Out of ten arrows fired, eight missed the mark.
The remaining two arrows were still a matter of chance.
What those mages from the Slave Trade Group didn’t realize was that the odds they were betting on weren’t fifty percent but twenty-five percent.
Even if they did hit the actual fast ship, there was only a fifty percent chance of inflicting damage, because the Stealth-Breaking Illumination Shell only allowed them to see these originally invisible fast ships with the naked eye, without actually negating the true efficacy of the Shadow Cloak—the fast ships were flickering between the Material Plane and the Shadow Plane like ghosts, making the probability of being hit by a physical object only fifty percent.
Even if they indeed hit with this fifty percent chance, there was still the exceedingly thick Wall Shields waiting for them.
The carriages of the Wall Shield looked like solid wood from the outside, but internally they used a multilayer weaving technique peculiar to the Sodalite Treant.
The interlocking wooden cores created a five-layer structure that not only conferred robust resistance to chopping but also impressive puncture resistance, capable of withstanding even the projectiles from ship-mounted ballista carts.
The only crossbow arrow that hit the fast ship partially penetrated the Wall Shield, conspicuously dangling there, telling those sailors from the Slave Trade Group that they weren’t facing a group of ghosts, but a group of very much alive humans.
But discerning the true from the false had cost them much ti, and the fast ships had already brought the distances between the two parties close enough to enter the ballista’s firing dead zone.
At this distance, it was the Slave Trade Group’s spellcasters’ turn to show their strength.
Dozens of Fireball Techniques rained down like a deluge from the sky.
This lowest-level area of effect spell was always the first choice in large scale conflicts, especially in naval battles.
Compared to the equivalent Level Lightning Binding, it covered a wider range, was mindless to execute, and also ca with an ancillary fire attack—if they could set the enemy’s warship ablaze, that would be a major win.
Under this indiscriminate group attack, the phantom effects were relatively ineffective, relying only on the fifty percent chance provided by the Shadow Cloak.
However, the actual casualty effect achieved was relatively average; the explosive power of a Fireball Technique neither had the ability to shatter the Wall Shield nor destroy the fast ships, nor even a chance to ignite them.
They were facing elites experienced in battle who had soaked their Wall Shields in water before departing.
Although this made them very heavy, they were ant to be mounted, not swung, so it didn’t really matter.
“Now, board them,” Gaven issued the attack command first.
The Wall Shields on the fast ships suddenly flipped open, revealing huge figures standing three and a half ters tall—none other than the Hobgoblin Giants from the Giant Plains.
Each was barefoot and shirtless, displaying exaggerated muscles and wielding enormous weapons.
It wasn’t that they didn’t have armor; they had taken it off before the battle.
Wearing heavy armor in naval combat ant courting a slow death; unless you had the ability to breathe underwater, falling in ant drowning alive.
However, the flashes of earthy yellow light on their bodies showed they were not unprepared but had cast a series of support spells like the Stone Skin Spell, Brute Force Spell, and Jump Spell.
Each crouched down, and with great shouts, the bows of the fast ships noticeably dipped, giving a sense of imminent capsizing.
Then from each ship, a colossal figure leaped out, aiming straight for the deck of the three-masted ship.
The two Transcendent Battle Groups of the Conqueror Army hadn’t sparred in private for nothing, drawing benefits from each other’s strengths.
The Goliath Battle Group learned the spirit and techniques of legion combat from the Hobgoblins.
The Hobgoblin Giants learned various mountain combat techniques from the Goliaths, especially the jumping tactics, which greatly appealed to these large-bodied warriors.
With their inherent advantages in size and weight—a re step higher than ordinary humans—combining jumping tactics only enhanced their combat effectiveness.
During this period, the most unique sight in the Conqueror Army wasn’t the Giant Cavalry, but a group of Hobgoblin Giants practicing frog leaps and squats daily and training their leg muscles—a truly stunning spectacle.
In this respect, they had certain skills already, and coupled with dedicated training, it was unlikely in the short term to catch up with the naturally gifted and specially trained Goliaths.
However, with the aid of the Jump Spell, leaping onto a three-masted ship only four to five ters taller than their fast ships was too easy.
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