Castle of Black Iron

The duel was arranged in the water which covered about 900 sq miles. Since this early morning, numerous cruise ships and yachts had followed the selected North Wind Fleet and the Rainard’s clan fleet towards that water.

The water had been surrounded by buoys as the border. Besides the two parties’ navy fleets which were going to attend the duel, no other ships even airships were allowed to enter this waters.

North Wind Fleet dispatched two battleships headed by Snow Bramble and four heavy cruisers, which accounted half of the total battle force of North Wind Fleet. Rainard Clan also dispatched 2 battleships and 4 heavy cruisers to participate in the duel. As for the loss of Rainard Clan in this duel, those major clans’ representatives across Ewentra Archipelago expressed that they would provide the fund for Rainard Clan’s fleet to recover its original battle force before the duel.

The rest navy ships of North Wind Fleet and the allied fleet of Ewentra Archipelago would cruise around the water so as to maintain the order. They would sink any ships who dared enter the duel in the water.

Of course, the onlooking ships dared not break in the duel. They were all gathering about 2-3 miles away from the duel water. The rich passengers and onlookers climbed onto the masts or stood at high places. They directly took out high-performance telescopes and cameras and prepared to enjoy the big game.

The airboat of Golden Roc Bank was suspending about thousands meters high above the duel water.

With many people’s exclamations, a huge cabin roof slowly slid off, exposing a patch of blue and vast sky. As a result, the enclosed cabin instantly became an exposed deck, which allowed people to watch downside through the windows on both sides of the deck. Besides, a huge optical imaging device slowly rose up from the ground of the deck, which was about 5-6 m high. Like a multi-edge crystal pillar, it had many sides, which reflected the complete duel situation. It was much more advanced than the exclusive periscope of the captain. At least it was Zhang Tie’s first time to see such a huge optical imaging device.

That huge optical imaging device was surrounded by rows of seats. Passengers could sit on the seats and watch the battle. Besides, there were some high-end drinks prepared by Golden Roc Bank. This was like a small amphitheater suspending in the air.

When the roof was opened, Gongsun Liniang the female knight of Golden Roc Bank had already released a water green enshrouding battle-qi. She directly suspended in the air and monitored the battle situation.

Guan Xiyi, the CEO of Golden Roc Bank and a group of retinues were also watching here.

The two fleets whose boilers had not died out were emitting a red flare respectively from the southwest and the northeast corners of the duel water, which indicated that they had already prepared for the duel.

All the onlookers held their breath when they saw two flares rising into the sky.

"Your Excellency, can we start now?" Manager Xu Tao asked Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie nodded while the other member of Golden Rob Bank who inquired about the opinion of the representative of Ewentra Archipelago also nodded towards Xu Tao. Xu Tao then nodded towards Guan Xiyi. Guan Xiyi also nodded towards Xu Tao.

Zhang Tie noticed a faint sneer on the face of mace muling of Sacred Light School when Connar nodded towards Zhang Tie with a genial look.

Zhang Tie also sneered as he really wanted to see their trump card.

The airship then emitted a red flare downwards...

When the flare touched the sea water, the two fleets moved. At the same time, dense smoke came out of their chimneys. Like full-armored cavalries on battle horses, the two fleets started to accelerate towards the opponent.

In such fixed water, the two fleets were both within the visible range of the opponent. Unless the opposing commander was an idiot or made major commanding mistakes, neither of the two fleets could grab the T-shaped formation.

Therefore, the two fleets directly surged towards each other at the beginning.

After a few minutes, when the two fleets were still 15,000 m away from each other, the main cannon on the flagship of Rainard Clan’s fleet had smoked...

After a few seconds, one main cannon on Snow Bramble of North Wind Fleet also smoked...

After another a few seconds, two booms drifted to the airboat.

Almost at the same time, a high water column rose from the sea water over 70 m away from North Wind Fleet...

A couple of seconds later, the same kind of water column rose from the sea water over 100 m away from the fleet of Rainard Clan...

The moment they heard the booms, the onlookers had been boisterous——the duel finally breaks out.

Everyone on the airboat became intense...

"This is just a trial fire of the two fleets’ main cannons. Through the trial fire, they could measure the point of fall and error of the trajectory. They will rectify the fire parameters. After the fire parameters on the flagship are confirmed, they will pass the fire parameters to the other ships through lamplight signals. After adjusting their fire parameters, all the ships could fire at the same time!" Elder Turin whispered to Zhang Tie.

"Given the trial fire, it seems that Rainard Clan was in a dominant position. That fleet fired 4 seconds earlier than North Wind Fleet. Additionally, the first shell fell closer to the opponent!" Zhang Tie turned around.

"Yes. The comprehensive strength of the fleet of Ewentra Archipelago is indeed a bit greater than North Wind Fleet. We are not in the dominant position!" Elder Turin looked faintly gloomy.

"Don’t worry. It’s just the beginning!" Zhang Tie revealed a casual smile.

After the first round of trial fire, the representatives of major clans across Ewentra Archipelago also whispered to each other after seeing what happened through the imaging device. Connar, the head of Rainard Clan had revealed a faint smile. However, he still nodded towards Zhang Tie in a very gentle way, so did Zhang Tie.

After over 10 seconds, the two fleet started the first round of fire with the gap of 1 second...

At this moment, the booms which were much louder than before reverberated across the duel water. As the two fleets accelerated forward, they fired rapidly...

Within the first minute, the two fleet both finished 3 rounds of the salvo. In the first round, the fleet of Rainard Clan was 2 seconds earlier than that of North Wind Fleet. When the 2nd round of salvo started, the gap expanded to 4 seconds. When the 3rd round of salvo started, the gap increased to 6 seconds.

The shells fell on the water surrounding the opposing fleet, arousing huge water columns. Given the distribution of those water columns, the commanders of the two fleets both focused their salvo on the opposing battleships. At such a critical moment, as long as they could destroy or disable one opposing battleship, they would have the scale tilt to their side.

Besides battle force, luck was also a very important factor for the two fleets. It seemed that North Wind Fleet had a good luck. In the 3rd round of salvo, a flame rose from the head of a heavy cruiser in the fleet of Rainard Clan.

Those on the side of Ice and Snow Wilderness cheered up at once in the airboat.

"Well done, North Wind Fleet..." The old wild bear shouted.

Unless a shell could hit the ammunition stowage of the battleship and arouse a big explosion or coincidentally fall onto the key parts near the propeller below the draft line of the battleship, it could never disable a battleship.

It seemed that the heavy cruiser’s speed was not influenced. The optical imaging device directly targeted at that burning battleship and zoomed in. All the passengers on the airboat could see clearly that the sailors were rapidly putting out the fire so as to reduce the loss. In this critical moment, the fleet’s loss controlling ability was also a key component of the battle force and viability of the fleet.

"North Wind Fleet is a respectable opponent!" Connar, the head of Rainard Clan talked to Zhang Tie with the same genial look.

"Connar doesn’t seem to worry about that!" Zhang Tie smiled.

Connar blinked his eyes with the same faint smile, "It’s just a start, isn’t it?"

"Do you believe in luck, clan head Connar?"

"Luck is very important; however, the most important is the battle force!"

"A good start means a half success. Additionally, luck is a part of the battle force. I feel that luck favors me today."

"Let’s see it!"

...

Although they argued with each other on the airboat, the duel still didn’t come to an end.

The loud booms were still reverberating in the water below.

After 3 minutes, the fleet of Rainard Clan finally showed its advantage in the battle force than North Wind Fleet. During the period, North Wind Fleet completed 9 rounds of salvos; however, Rainard Clan’s fleet completed 10 rounds of salvos. In the 10th round of salvo, one shell precisely fell on the Snow Bramble battleship.

This time, all those on the side of Ewentra Archipelago cheered up.

...

The first battle lasted 15 minutes. After that, the two fleets both moved out of the opponent’s fire range. During this period, North Wind Fleet was struck by 5 shells while Rainard Clan’s fleet was struck by 4 shells. Both fleets’ losses were not fatal.

After leaving the opponent’s fire range, the two fleets changed their directions at the same time and prepared for the second battle...

In the second battle, North Wind Fleet struck the opponent by 7 shells while being struck by 6 shells. The middle main cannon of Snow Bramble was disabled while a battleship of the opponent caught a ferocious fire.

After the second battle, both parties gradually came into their own, causing a more miserable loss.

The two fleets changed their directions once again and fired the next round of battle. However, at this moment, the two battleships in front of North Wind Fleet slowed down. The formation of the entire fleet was disrupted at once.

"What happened?" All the others sprung up from their seats intensely except for Zhang Tie...

"Zoom in the two battleships of North Wind Fleet!" CEO Guan Xiyi, who was always silent, opened his mouth at this moment.

Gradually, the Snow Bramble and the other battleship enlarged on the optical imaging device...

After seeing it clearly, everyone on the side of Ice and Snow Wilderness felt being struck by a lightning bolt.

Numerous 1-m wide pitch-dark starfish and conches were floating up from the seabed and were attaching to one side of the two battleships of North Wind Fleet. Besides slowing down, the two battleships started to tilt towards one side...