Chapter 458: The Assault Coffin
Hughes spoke in surprise, “Really? You managed to fix them all at once?”
“Absolutely true! Every single flaw—solved, completely solved! This is no joke!”
As he said that, Tata handed over the blueprint in his hand.
Hughes took one glance and gasped sharply, his eyes going wide.
Why did he see… reins and saddles?
“This ti, I designed the Type-01 Assault Boat. Since it needed to balance flexibility and reliability, I abandoned the steam engine, which lacks performance and takes up too much space. Instead, I opted for a new energy source—manpower!”
Hughes’s hands trembled as he held the blueprint.
“Each boat is equipped with nine Banshees, distributed across four propulsion axes—three at the front, two on each side, and two at the rear. As everyone knows, Banshees move extrely fast and agilely in the sea. Thus, our assault boat now possesses omni-directional mobility—an unprecedented feat in the history of shipbuilding!”
“As for speed, it goes without saying—no vessel could ever match the Banshees’ swiftness in the sea, but my assault boat can! It can even surpass the two Banshees swimming behind it by half a body’s length!”
“And while flexibility and agility have leaped to new heights, the firepower of the assault boat is equally unmatched. Fully loaded, it can carry fifty-four Dragon’s Breath Cannons!”
“Unlike other ships, where the power and fire-control systems are independent, the assault boat unites them for the first ti. Since Banshees can multitask, they can swim, locate enemies, and fire simultaneously—truly achieving a fully automatic, all-Banshee-operated combat system!”
“As for the reliability issue that Your Lordship ntioned last ti, I reflected deeply on that, and it’s addressed in this new design—I gave the boat a lid!”
“Don’t underestimate this lid! It’s completely sealed— even if the boat capsizes, it can still move forward. In other words, we now have an unsinkable vessel!!”
Tata stood up, straightened his clothes, and prepared to receive everyone’s applause.
Hughes stared blankly at the blueprint. Tata had stayed true to his nature—this new ship still looked suspiciously like a coffin.
It even had a lid.
Hughes turned the blueprint around several tis, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper. Then, suddenly, his eyes lit up.
“Nine Dragons… Nine Serpents Pulling a Coffin?”
Tata froze for a second, then frowned. “That na… with all due respect, my lord, your sense of aesthetics is a bit awful.”
That was it—Hughes could no longer hold it in. Without lifting his head, he pointed toward the door. “Throw him out!”
Monica took the lead, grabbing Tata and tossing him out of the room. Ignoring his yelling, she quickly shut the door, patting her chest in relief. “I don’t want to pull a coffin! That design reminds of when I was a slave…”
Nini burst out laughing.
“When you were a slave, you didn’t pull coffins either! You just cried all day—the whole seabed turned bitter from your tears~”
“You’re talking nonsense!”
“Speaking of which, why are Tata’s designs getting more and more ridiculous?”
“They’ve always been ridiculous! Wasn’t the Stellar Furnace ridiculous? But to be fair, his ideas do have so feasibility. Honestly, if this assault coffin really gets made, it could achieve what he described. Tell —didn’t he fix the three issues? The ship’s compact, right? Mounted with Dragon’s Breath Cannons, right? Reliable enough?”
Nini chuckled.
“You’re right about all that, but here’s the question—who’s going to pull the coffin?”
Monica froze. Her three fingers pointed at Nini, whose three hands trembled as they covered her mouth.
“I—I’m still a child! How can you make pull a coffin!”
Thanks to Tata’s interruption, the atmosphere in the room lightened considerably.
People began murmuring among themselves, while Ash stood alone, her six hands crossed in front of her, lost in thought.
After a while, her eyes brightened.
“My lord.”
Hughes twitched slightly, looking over warily. He had grown cautious of these unreliable Moths Chasing Fire—he didn’t need any more crazy ideas.
But seeing it was Ash, he relaxed a little. Ash was always dependable.
“You have an idea? Speak.”
“Yes, my lord. I just thought about it, and I believe Tata’s assault coffin still has its rits. At the very least, it can indeed support the Northlands—though it’s a bit… redundant.”
That thing had room for improvent? Hughes was dumbfounded. “Redundant in what way?”
“The coffin part, of course. Remove the coffin, and have nine Banshees form a squad directly—it’d be far more efficient.”
As she spoke, she pointed to Castel on the map. “Let a Banshee squad swim along the sea toward the Northlands, then follow the Koller River all the way up. Most of the route is connected by waterways, and our swimming speed in water is quite fast. Although it’s a longer path, overall, it’d actually be the fastest. I estimate…”
She gestured the distance with her hand.
“Four days! If everything goes well, we can reach it in four days!”
Unlike the overland plan, this “if everything goes well” was actually plausible.
The enemies in the Storm Ocean had already been cleared by Castel’s forces, and as for the river… there shouldn’t be anything that could threaten the Banshees.
Hughes’s eyes lit up. This plan—actually seed doable!
The Banshees carried heavy firepower, more than enough for battle!
And with the Symbiotic Contract, their combat effectiveness was formidable. Injuries to individuals wouldn’t even matter.
Wait—Symbiotic Contract…
“The Symbiotic Contract has a range limit, doesn’t it?”
The Symbiotic Contract provided a shared life pool and Mind Link within close proximity. Once beyond range, however, it caused a steady loss of life force. One or two days were fine, but over ti, they would weaken even without fighting.
“Yes, we can’t stay far from Castel for too long. A round trip would take eight days, and at most, we’d get one or two days of combat in between. Any longer would be dangerous.”
The Northlands were far from Castel; the Banshees would spend most of their ti just traveling.
“One or two days of combat… one or two days…” Hughes stood up, moved to the map, and traced along the Koller River’s area. Then, with a charcoal pen, he circled a large region.
“So this would roughly be your range of action.”
The Banshees were incredibly swift in the water—but on land, it was another story.
Their mobility on land ca only from their contract with Hughes. Without it, they reverted into swollen monstrosities.
In other words, their agility at sea stemd from supernatural power, but on land, that didn’t apply—and their serpentine tails weren’t suited for long marches.
Following the river, they could travel a thousand miles in a day; once on land, only a few dozen.
“But looking at the map, most forests lie along the river. Finding the Resistance shouldn’t be a problem—unless they can actually fight their way into the cities?”
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