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Chapter 157: Steam Devils
🕑 Added 2023-11-13 16:11:00 +0000 UTCCoop positioned himself among the cannons on the port side of Sea Burial, nearest to the pursuing ships of the Sapphire Armada. The pyramid ships doggedly hunted the faster corvette, maintaining a formation that thrust a single ship in front with the intention of rotating it among the others if its shields started to diminish. The Sapphire Armada anticipated a tech advantage over any opponents, given their strategy of rushing settlement and naval advancements rather than early expansion. Their schemes wouldn’t be as effective when the protective shields could be overwhelmed by the firepower of their enemies.
Their tactics only left a single ship exposed at a time as they charged toward their prey. The Sapphire Armada appeared to be willing to sacrifice in the name of their goals. Ghost Reef might be the only place on the planet that could overcome their early naval superiority. Coop wasn’t confident whether or not it was a sound idea for them to try and eliminate the Armada’s potential rival so early. Certainly, he had no intention of bowing to their efforts.
From the side of the ship, Coop squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated on a controlled channel of Fog of War. Rather than continue to keep their maximum distance and whittle away at the chasing ships, the pirate crew was slowing down in order to let Coop’s abilities coalesce around them. If they didn’t change tactics, the pyramid ships would continue to occupy their time when they wanted to reunite with their allies in the settlement as soon as possible.
The purpose of his Fog of War would be to establish as large a domain as possible, enveloping the open sea and providing their own soft shield. Coop’s intent wasn’t to create a completely obscuring fog, as that would negatively impact his allies and quickly drain his mana pool while reducing the potential coverage of his area skill. They were dealing with ship combat and ranges that exceeded his normal hand-to-hand engagements. Consequently, he wanted to make sure his domain engulfed a large enough area in order to compensate for the situation. Something akin to his Primal Kite field would be more appropriate in terms of size, but it needed to also have more volume to encompass the enemy vessels. Sacrificing the density of his domain would be necessary to ensure it maintained a size that would be functional.
Even with his significant investment in Mind, he remained conscientious of his limited resources. The high mana cost of Legacy of the Mists had been a firm reminder of the restrictions when he was inside of the Coral Forest, but resource management wasn’t the only rationale for carefully casting his skill. Another reason he wasn’t just dumping his mana into creating an enormous fog bank was that he was also hoping that Mindbender would kick in and give him a boost to one of the stats that influenced the power of Fog of War. Any of the casting related attributes would be a boon.
He hadn’t successfully applied Mindbender to any attributes other than Strength, but Coop consoled himself by blaming a lack of practice. After Ledwidge had made them aware of mental blocks on properly utilizing their stats, he had made a deliberate effort during the siege event to access more of the Strength he had accumulated The results had been apparent over the course of the event, as he elevated his abilities from struggling with the first Field Boss that appeared to smashing the final Siege Boss that the Primal Constructs sent. His capacity only grew afterwards as he explored his limitations in Emmanuel’s Gravity Gym. Basically, Strength was straightforward and a well-practiced path for him, but the other stats lagged behind due to fundamental restrictions brought on by their individual natures.
Fog swirled around his hands and climbed a few inches across the deck of the ship as soon as he began channeling, smearing the ghost ship with even more spectral shadows. The movement of the ship meant that he was leaving streaks of mist to his left, which followed along with their slow wake in the dark sea. Sea Burial was still illuminated by the red glowing sparks from the trap that gave them away in the first place, and that red light was scattered into his fog, revealing the voluminous conjure to everyone that looked. The fog billowed all around Coop’s position, pushing out into the sea as it spilled off of the decks like gaseous crimson waterfalls.
When Mindbender kicked in, reducing his Strength and contributing the equivalent to his Intelligence for the first time, his fog started to change density. His mists thickened gradually as his Intelligence increased, and the fog bank he was generating became more voluminous. Sea Burial was leaving a streak of red smoke that if Coop was chasing, he would be hesitant to enter. Coop adjusted his control, letting his skill take more and more of his mana, in an attempt to push it further beyond the side of the ship and deny the chance for their pursuers to choose not to be engulfed in his domain by applying evasive maneuvers.
The pyramid ships were like torpedoes, charging through the surface of the water in a direct line toward their target. If they had better command of their direction, they would be trying to cut off their trajectory, but some limitation kept them in a constant state of making small adjustments rather than predictive maneuvers, like they lacked the typical tools of navigation humans expected to find in proper transportation. Their limitations meant that if Coop’s domain extended far enough into the ocean, he could have them driving themselves directly into the fog. They seemed to be spurred on by the lessened speed of Sea Burial, rushing forward and shrinking the gap, like a pack of hounds detecting the end of their chase. For the first time, the ships were near enough to reveal their contents: troops lined along the edges of the ships as if they stood in a trench, prepared to blast anyone that entered no man’s land.
The enemy ships drew close enough to start hurling spells toward them. The first efforts landed harmlessly in the ocean between them, but the pirates were forced to apply their own spells defensively, smashing firebolts with water beams and scattering tiny projectiles with wind blasts, letting them splash into the sea like a burst of rain. The gloom of the fog spreading along the ocean in the darkness was broken by the blasts of spells and illumination of mana scattering within the mists.
Coop paid no heed to his normal, self-imposed, restrictions in order to maintain some mana in reserve for Mind over Matter. In this case, he was entirely focused on establishing his domain over a large enough area of the sea that he could take control of their skirmish. 20,000 mana combined with over 2,000 effective Intelligence to start with, before his attributes started climbing, allowed him to form a cloud that covered the ocean. Rather than a thin layer of mists along the surface like the ones he had utilized while grinding Primal Kites, he was creating a billowing column, highlighted primarily by the dark red flares. The formation almost seemed like the smoke from a wild fire during a windy sunset as it spread along the ocean.
When the first pyramid ship finally drifted into the edge of his domain, Coop’s eyes snapped open and he confirmed that the protective energy shields had done nothing to diminish his fog. His mists were merely a small obstruction, not even thick enough to truly block their vision beyond limiting their sight to silhouettes. By itself, it wasn’t much of a threat, but Coop had already discovered so many synergies, it would be a mistake to ignore the danger, and it was a mistake they had willingly made.
As he heard one of the invaders curse at what they believed was a smoke screen through Presence of Mind, he cast Legacy of the Mists, concluding the Fog of War channel, with the intent of striking a decisive blow from within their defenses. A ghostly spearman burst out of the fog, thrusting his spectral weapon into the cursing sailor, transforming his words into a shocked exhalation. Coop observed through Presence of Mind as the Sapphire Armada’s Chosen took action while the Legacy summon added more mists to their deck with his presence.
The enemy soldiers had been watching the pursuit of Sea Burial, attacking if they thought they had the range, but the deathrattle of one of their comrades dragged their attention back to their own ship. They all saw a leather-clad spearman’s misty silhouette as he yanked the end of his spear out of their comrade and let the body drop. From their perspective, they had no idea where he came from, and couldn’t tell that he was more of a ghost than a man. The mists obfuscated enough details to add to the chaos even when Coop hadn’t established a thick enough layer to strangle their senses. Instead of a sensory deprivation chamber, the fog was at the level of a horror movie.
“We’ve been boarded!” The alarmed shouts began. “To arms!”
They rallied themselves against the intruder. Only a handful remained stationary, those who were touching the central pyramid as if they were empowering the shield with their own energy, or otherwise guiding the ship. From the rest of the soldiers’ rapid response, Coop gathered that they believed the phantasm was a pirate. The Tempest Fleet had evidently discovered that their own spectral teleports bypassed the shields before Sea Burial arrived, and the Sapphire Armada had grown wary of such assaults. They didn’t realize that the phantasm was 50 levels higher than the pirates they had engaged with previously.
An effort to counter attack was deflected by the spearman’s leather and wood shield with a muffled clang, and the counter attack was devastating, piercing two attackers at once. The phantasm utilized expert techniques to engage in a melee with dozens of troops at once. When the phantasm was nearly ambushed by the blind rush of another soldier from behind, Coop cast Legacy of the Mists a second time. The additional phantasm caught the rusher by surprise, stabbing them through the stomach with a low spear thrust as it stepped through the fog.
The second phantasm was a tall woman with a winged helmet, polished armor, and a gleaming kite shield that contrasted the leathers of the first, but they worked together to cut through the Chosen. They hadn’t anticipated being boarded without a ship in closer proximity and were more concerned with launching ranged attacks at their prey. The rapidly escalating melee caused confusion to grow among the Sapphire Armada’s troops as they were forced to turn their attention within.
When the second pyramid ship entered Coop’s domain, it simultaneously received the same treatment. The phantasms refunded enough mana through his Reaper title to replenish their forces as needed, resulting in a compounding threat that quickly overwhelmed the soldiers. Phantasms boarded the ships and revealed themselves to be extraordinary combatants when they were able to engage for longer than a single attack. The combination of skill with overwhelming stats meant that even the most well-prepared enemies were doomed.
Before long, the pursuit had stalled out. A dozen ships floated listlessly in Coop’s light fog, clogging the ocean like abandoned bumper cars. Sea Burial had breathing room while it lobbed the longer ranged attacks over the traffic jam. The oars came out and the pirates started a steady beat on a deep bassy drum below deck as they turned 90 degrees to face Ghost Reef directly.
“Steady forward.” Kayla gave another quiet order once they faced Ghost Reef again and the beat of the drum started escalating with additional flourishes.
They weren’t going to waste any more time with the blockade, knowing that the pyramid ships were at least partially responsible for stalling reinforcements to the fort. If they had been a threat to the fort, engaging with them further could have made sense, lessening the burden on the island, but the ships were clearly not built for ranged combat. In that sense, the enemy ships had briefly succeeded in stalling the reinforcements, but as they rowed forward, through Coop’s fog, they intended to turn the pursuit around. Other than the sounds of the ocean’s waves and the beat of their ominous drum growing steadily louder, the battlefield quieted. From the perspective of the pyramid ships, the skirmish appeared to have ended, with their prey escaping inside of the red fog, but the drum’s rhythm was like a heartbeat growing in intensity from beyond the defeated ships.
Coop’s heavy spear crashed into one of the waiting ships that had the sense to stop before entering the swirling fog as it rolled with the swells of the ocean. The direct hit from above caused yet another spectacular explosion as the spear reached terminal velocity on its way down, destroying the silence along with the central vessel after a long trip through the sky. The explosion lit up the neighboring ships, revealing their pyramid shaped energy shields in the darkness while Sea Burial split the gap, blasting out of the fog as they rowed hard through the sea. The ghostly corvette was already in the opening before the debris had fallen from the sky, trailing red mist as it went.
Both sides of cannons added to the menacing drum chorus, hammering the surviving ships adjacent to Coop’s victim with a full barrage that deafened ears that had adjusted to the quiet. Their pyramid shields rippled with energy while the troops countered with their own spells. The attacks struck the spectral wood of the ghost ship, setting small fires that pirates rushed to put out, but otherwise failed to slow the corvette’s blitz. The pirate ship took superficial damage that would easily be repaired once they were home. Camila and Gabby found themselves punting small level 50 shadowy minions back into the sea as they spawned on the deck, but otherwise the pirates were barely distracted by the assault.
The Sapphire Armada’s troops were significantly higher level than the Endless Empire’s army, but compared to the pirates of Ghost Reef, they were still far behind. They were all leveled in the 50s and 60s, but the pirates were pushing 80, along with individuals like Charlie and Camila, and that wasn’t even taking into consideration the enormous gap between them and Coop’s phantasms. His ghosts were essentially raid bosses compared to the human attackers. Raid Bosses with enormous levels of skill. Coop had the passing idea that Ghost Reef was being targeted specifically for that reason, as if it was an opportunity for them to leapfrog the rest of the world if they could just farm the residents for experience. He was sure it would be a part of a sophisticated enemy’s tactical planning, but nurturing such ambition would end up being their biggest mistake.
One of the pyramid ships that had been blasted by a barrage of cannons was struck again while the shield continued to ripple and Sea Burial pushed passed. An orange spike, ringed with a series of electric yellow halos appeared from above and stabbed down, much like one of Coop’s spears. Instead of arriving with velocity built from altitude, the energy spike manifested directly over the shield with a flash and accelerated as if attracted by a magnet. It collided with the top of the shield, leading to yet another brilliant flash of blue energy as the ship was destroyed in a cataclysmic explosion.
Camila’s Aunt, the Evoker, had added her contribution once they were within range, though, like Carlos, she was done after just a single attack. The Neon Park visitors seemed enormously powerful, with spectacular abilities that had obviously never been tested for endurance the way the siege had tested Ghost Reef.
Charlie’s gusts of wind cleared the lane of debris and shoved the remaining ships out from in front as Sea Burial utilized the strength of the pirates on the oars to rush the gap, splitting the pyramid ships’ loose formation in half. The enemy vessels had either slowed to a stop if they were already close, or were in the process of overshooting their target as they rushed to join the battle. The ghost ship was able to take advantage of their poor footing, splitting the seam and coming out behind what had been meant to keep them away. They rushed toward the shallow reef, where the semi-submersible ships would have no hope of following, only barely grazed by quick ranged attacks as they passed by.
The ballista continued to hammer the ships as they did their best to rotate and follow, but the corvette was faster, had a running head start, and the pyramid ships lacked the agility to match them. For a few minutes the gap widened, and it seemed like they had easily breached the ill-formed blockade, but on the horizon, right at the edge of the shallow reefs, as close to the fort as possible, a series of much larger ships were exchanging a chaotic bombardment with the fort itself. In the darkness, the siege ships looked like a city's skyline beneath a thunderstorm, each the size of a city block, lit by flashes of light from explosions. They were tall and awkward, accommodating large tubes that were reminiscent of Gromokan’s mortars that had devastated the fort’s walls during the siege. Coop winced at the memory.
The battleships also sat low in the water, but they were extremely large compared to the swarming pyramid ships. There were only about a dozen on the east side of the fort, spaced out along what they could see of the reef, but each one was two or three times the size of the already large flagship of the Tempest Fleet. They were proper siege ships.
The pirates didn’t slow the beat of their drums and the oars kept up with the pace, propelling them over the swells of the dark sea. Without enemies harassing them, Charlie was able to focus her wind gusts into the sails, providing them with unmatched acceleration. It didn’t take long before the pyramid ships were returning to mere specks of dim light, but this time on the opposite horizon, behind them.
Compared to Camila’s family, Charlie was revealing the difference between their battle philosophies. As long as Charlie didn’t go all out with one of her lightning strikes, she would be able to contribute for hours. It only took one look at the timid Aeromancer to see that she intended to endure whatever it took to repel the invaders, having arrived at her own personal decision to accept the responsibilities that came with a prominent role in Ghost Reef.
Comments
Nyroe
Get Coop on a Jet ski and he can use his mists to beat the whole Armada lol
