Second World

"I prefer to take out those ships without losing a single soldier," Jack said.

"Everyone wants that, Your Majesty, but we have to be realistic," Samuhn said. "We need an army of fliers to take out those ships."

"Or we wait one more day so King Jack and Grand Chief Four Winds can summon their country guardians," Vanessa suggested.

"Don't worry, we don't need to wait. We have a one-man army right here," Bowler declared loudly. "King Jack will head over and take all those ships down by himself!"

"Leave it to me!" Jack exclaimed. He smashed his right fist into his left palm in an eager gesture.

"Uh… I'm just joking," Bowler said. "You are truly going over by yourself?"

"Hehe, I am also joking. I will go, but not by myself," Jack said with a grin. "I'm serious about wanting to lose no one, but we also don't need to wait another day. Everyone, please gather those who are at least level 80 and can fly. Have them come forward and be ready. If they are natives, they must also be at least special elite grades."

Arther, Vanessa, Four Winds, Jennifer, and Dytess went and gathered the people from their armies.

Jennifer was in command of the Aurebor army. She represented her mother in this campaign. Nova stayed in Lorethion to work the country's politics to secure her place in Aurebor. Although the agreement mentioned that she was only a temporary sovereign, she didn't intend it to be so. She needed to start getting used to the ruling and do well enough to show the others that she was qualified to be the permanent queen of Aurebor.

After around an hour, the high-level people gathered. There weren't that many people who fulfilled Jack's requirements. Only around one thousand natives and five hundred players fulfilled these conditions.

Most of the players were the top players from the top guilds. Everlasting Heavenly Legends occupied the largest percentage of those five hundred players compared to the other guilds.

As for the natives, the majority was from the Themisphere army. This was due to Jack's constant usage of Mass Drill every month. The largest percentage of those one thousand natives were the ex-members of the Council of Charites, both the ones who joined the Themisphere army and those who became the companions of Everlasting Heavenly Legends' guild members. They were already high-level, to begin with. Their levels increased even more after joining Themisphere, especially the ones who became players' companions. They gained the leveling speed of players, which was faster than Mass Drill.

"We are ready," The four commanders said to Jack. 

"Okay, please ask them to wait. It's not yet time," Jack said.

"Oh? What are we waiting for?" Vanessa asked.

"Please be patient. It should be around one more hour," Jack replied.

The others didn't know what Jack was waiting for, but they complied and waited.

*

After more than an hour passed, several ships appeared at the far end of the river.

The ethereal soldiers on the ships guarding the border river were ecstatic when they saw those ships. Ships from every country had slightly different appearances. For example, ships from Palgrost had their hull covered in metallic plates, giving them a sturdier look. Themisphere's ships had a common appearance similar to the ships from the real world. Verremor's ships were covered in leather and adorned by animal bones. As for Liguritudum ships, they were slimmer than the ships from other countries and they had slick-looking hulls. Their masts were also generally taller.

Hence, it was easy to identify which country a ship was from simply by its looks. The ships that were coming toward them were Liguritudum ships.

"Yeah! Reinforcements finally arrived," an ethereal soldier on the deck of one of three galleasses celebrated.

The other ethereal soldiers echoed his excitement. They had been restless after seeing the enemy's massive number. They knew they would perish if the enemy decided to force the way. They would take down as many enemies as they could but they would fall. They did not doubt that. With the incoming reinforcements, they thought maybe they had a chance to survive this.

The incoming fleet numbered thirteen ships. It was still not enough to prevent the enemies from crossing the river, but it was enough to take down many enemies and also give them a chance of surviving. Two among the thirteen ships were even the man-of-war-class ships. The ethereal soldiers recognized one of the two as their flagship.

"I'm glad they are okay. I have been worried since no one replied to our transmission," One of the ethereal officers said. "We should have brought one or two outworlders with us to make use of their instant communication system."

"But why are there only so few ships?" Another officer asked.

"The war with the Palgrost Armada probably isn't over yet," the captain of the ship, who had the rank of executor commander, said. "High Executor Kaghast must have sent these ships to aid us while they continue chasing the Palgrost Armada."

"Yes, that must be the case," The first ethereal officer said.

The other officer was more critical. He asked, "Then why don't they return our transmission?"

"Probably the transmission device is broken," The executor commander replied.

"Yeah, a battle with the Palgrost Armada must have taken place. The transmission device was probably damaged in the process," the first officer said. "Look, there are parts of the ships that showed signs of receiving cannon fire."

The thirteen ships had approached close enough for them to see their details. Several parts of the ships were broken, but they were not severe enough so the ships could still sail.

"Then why is our flagship here?" The second officer asked.

"What about it?" The executor commander and the first officer were getting annoyed by this second officer's incessant questions.

"If the Palgrost Armada is not yet defeated and our high executor sent these ships to aid us, he should stay with the Armada to continue battling the Palgrost Armada. He won't come here. The flagship should stay with him. Why is the flagship here?"

Upon the questions, both the executor commander and the first officer went silent. It took them several seconds before the executor commander answered, "Perhaps the Palgrost Armada has been defeated and these are the ships that survive the battle…"

This caused gloom among the three. This statement implied that although the Palgrost Armada was defeated, their once great Armada had been reduced to only these few ships.

When the second officer was about to say something, a loud explosive sound was heard. They turned to the source and found that the incoming flagship had opened fire. They then saw an explosion on one of their ships.

Before they could make sense of what was happening, all the newly arrived reinforcement ships opened fire, and they were the targets.