Chapter 111: The Hydra Island

"Yes, Lord."

Liora turned to the others, her expression growing serious.

"The target is an island. There’s an Epic Hydra Nest on it, and a Sea Beacon that increases a fleet’s movement speed. If we take the island, our hunting efficiency should improve by at least twenty percent."

She paused.

"A group of Hydras guards it. Their leader is Legendary, with a combat rating of about thirty-four hundred stars. That’s why I asked for support."

Her gaze returned to Cassian.

"I hadn’t expected you to lead it yourself."

A Legendary Hydra. Cassian considered the rating. His ordinary troops could not afford to take a direct hit from a monster like that. Even his physical Crystal Maidens would struggle to hold it for long.

Aurelia stepped forward at once.

"Let me take the lead, Lord."

After the past few restless nights, she looked more than ready for a fight.

Cassian checked his Battle Essence reserve. Today’s hunting had brought in more than ten million again. Added to what he already held, it was enough for the force he wanted.

"Level up."

He paid the costs, and light swept over Aurelia and Celia in successive waves.

[Aurelia Dawnwing: Level 20 → Level 35]

[Celia Morcant: Level 20 → Level 35]

Then he brought Harriet’s and Heloise’s squads up to Level 20 as well, paying for all twenty-six Dawnwings.

Aurelia flexed her sword hand. Celia drew her blade a little way from its sheath, tested its weight, and smiled.

Aurelia’s Ward would take the Hydra’s attacks head-on. From the ship, Celia could keep its other heads occupied with her sword strikes. With those two holding it, the rest of his force could clear the smaller Hydras.

He opened the Dockyard controls next. The building and all eleven ships were still Level 0. That would change before this battle.

Cassian paid the ordinary upgrade requirements and raised the Abyssal Dockyard to Level 2. With that limit raised, he paid to bring each of the eleven Ghost Carriers to Level 2 too.

The confirmations appeared one after another.

He bought high-grade Aether through the Exchange to replenish the ships’ Energy, then set aside Life Water from his carried stock for Aurelia and Celia. When the fleet assembled, its guns and his Heroes were ready.

The fleet moved out together. Before long, the island Liora had described appeared ahead.

It was only about ten kilometers across. The Sea Beacon stood prominently at its center, while the Hydra Nest clung to one edge of the island: a pulsing mass of flesh a hundred meters in diameter.

A huge Hydra lay sunning itself on the beach. That one was Epic.

"There are at least two from that stronger Epic line," Liora added, "and more than a dozen other Epics."

Cassian nodded and began assigning targets.

"Aurelia, hold the leader. Celia, support her from the deck. Everyone else, clear the lesser Hydras."

He pointed at the beach.

"All Carriers, concentrate your main guns on that Epic."

"Yes, Lord!"

All eleven Ship Spirits answered with his commanders.

The main guns fired.

Under Liora’s command, each now had a Power of 2,600. Eleven huge beams cut across several kilometers of sea, turning the water beneath them to steam.

The Hydra on the beach howled. Its enormous body jerked beneath the impacts, punched through again and again before the roar of the guns had faded.

[Your Ghost Carrier has killed a Hydra.]

[Quality: Epic]

[Battle Essence +1,200,000]

[Aether +160,000]

[Epic Troop Sigil ×1]

[Ballots ×980]

Cassian rubbed his hands together.

Now that was a sight worth paying for.

And these ships were only Level 2. The Dockyard and the fleet had cost enough to keep him from pushing them farther for now, but he could picture a full line of Level-7 Carriers firing together.

Even a Legendary Hydra might fall to a volley like that.

The volley brought something much larger to the surface.

Nine enormous heads rose slowly from the sea. Each stood at the end of a neck dozens of meters long. Judging by their size, the body still beneath the water had to be over a hundred meters across.

Cassian opened its record.

[Kodra]

[Race: Amphibian]

[Level: 56]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Combat Rating: 3,428 stars]

[Skills: Unknown]

"From the Dra line, too."

It was an illustrious name among Hydras. Apparently, this one had a family to be proud of.

The heads spoke in the common tongue, their voices overlapping.

"Insignificant Humans!"

"You’ve hurt our beautiful wife!"

Cassian glanced at the riddled body on the beach. Different races had very different ideas of beauty.

Then the heads began arguing.

"Kill the Humans! Cut them into pieces!"

"No. Roast them first. They taste better that way."

"The winged one is mine! Leave that one to me!"

At last, they agreed on something. A strange cry spread across the water.

Snake heads broke the surface all around the island. There were two more Hydras from the stronger Epic line, at least a dozen other Epics, and over a hundred Rares.

"Kill the invaders!"

Kodra surged toward the fleet. Its immense body cut through the waves at half again the speed of a Ghost Carrier.

The secondary guns opened fire. Hundreds of Ghost Fighters rose from the Carriers as the Dawnwings spread across the sky.

Even the Rare Hydras had combat ratings of seven or eight hundred stars. A single four-winged Dawnwing could keep one occupied, but the ships and fighters were what let his force cover so much water at once.

Aurelia went straight for Kodra.

"Folded Sky Ward!"

The barrier formed around her, and she drove it into the Light Head. The impact snapped its neck backward, dragging the immense body to a halt.

"Dawnwing! Die!"

Magic erupted from nine mouths.

Frost, flame, lightning, poison—the attacks overlapped until hundreds of meters of sea disappeared beneath a storm of destructive power.

Celia struck from the Carrier’s deck while Kodra’s heads were turned toward Aurelia. Sword Intent sharpened the white arc racing from her blade. It cut across the Light Head’s neck, opening a wound ten meters long and a meter deep.

Against something that size, it was still only a shallow cut.

"Why is it always me?" the Light Head roared.

Healing light washed over the wound. The cut closed almost at once.

"You barely lost any skin!" the Flame Head snapped. "Why waste Aether on that? Endure it!"

"When you get hurt, don’t ask me to heal you!"

Celia frowned at the racket.

"Is this some sort of mental attack?"

Aurelia burst out of the elemental storm. She drank a bottle of Life Water and took a breath as its recovery effect spread through her.

"The spells amplify one another," she said. "I nearly failed to hold through that."

Then she was moving back in, her Ward raised. Celia’s sword strikes kept the other heads from turning freely toward the ships.

It was hard work, but they had stopped Kodra’s advance.

——

The battle against the lesser Hydras was going much more smoothly.

Liora finished a chant that had taken several dozen seconds and swept her staff forward.

"Blizzard!"

The temperature plunged across nearly a kilometer of water. Frost raced over the surface and spread across the Hydras caught within it. More than twenty slowed at once, giving the fighters and Dawnwings clear targets.

A Carrier’s main gun struck a Rare Hydra. The monster died beneath the beam.

The next shot brought down another.

Every blast was expensive. Replacing the spent Energy with the high-grade Aether he had bought meant paying tens of thousands per shot.

The results were worth it.

From the upper deck of the first Carrier, Cassian watched the reports arrive. Most announced another kill. The occasional casualty notice was still within what he could accept for a battle like this.

Rhea stood beside him. One of his nine Praetorians, the young woman kept glancing from the sea to the Dawnwings overhead.

"I wish we could fly like that," she said. "It makes fighting at sea so much easier."

Cassian’s attention shifted to her.

A flying Skill Book would be valuable, but with his contacts, finding one should not be difficult.

He had never made it a priority. The Eclipse troops already had plenty to master in Aegis Fold and Mistveil March. On land, adding another Art that consumed Aether had seemed less useful than improving what they had.

Now they would be fighting at sea more often. And with Muster Fortune available to improve their skills, another Art would be easier to develop.

Rhea’s wish was worth considering.

——

By then, the fight around the fleet was nearly over.

Blood stained a stretch of sea ten kilometers across. More than a hundred Hydra bodies floated among the waves. The smell had begun drawing other sea monsters toward the battlefield.

Liora had turned to support Aurelia and Celia. Ice coated Kodra’s enormous body, slowing the movements of its necks.

A Dawnwing squad started to close in on it.

"Dawnwings, fall back!" Cassian called.

At Level 20, they could not withstand Kodra’s magic. One burst could wipe out an entire group.

"Carriers, move closer. Main guns at maximum power."

The guns thundered again.

A beam at 2,600 Power could not kill Kodra outright, but each hit tore away flesh. While Aurelia and Celia held it in place, the ships kept firing.

The Light Head cast healing over itself again and again.

After several minutes, the Light Head cried out.

"I’m out! I have no Aether left!"

The Poison Head twisted toward it.

"We can’t beat them. Those two little things never seem to run out! Let’s get away!"

"The Dra line dies fighting!" the Thunder Head roared. "We do not flee! I will shatter the darkness with thunder!"

The Dark Head rounded on it.

"You know I hate it when you say that. Are you trying to start a fight?"

The nine heads began arguing again.