Emperor of Steel

The Ironclad ships wandering around, the Symphonia battleships constant shelling, and the arrival of Yemaek and Song Empire fleets.

Because of that, the Grenada ships were sunk and half of them were destroyed beyond use.

“Admiral, this shouldn’t be like this!”

“That is right. All our battleships will get smashed if this continues.”

“This is horrible, but we need to retreat…”

At the words of the staff, Duke Nathan frowned while staying silent.

The situation was so serious that even their king—Fernando—didn’t intervene in the decision.

“Hold on like this.”

“Duke Nathan!”

Fernando raised his voice on behalf of the staff who turned pale.

He too seemed to think that retreating was the right option when it came to the current stage of his fleet.

But Nathan wasn’t the kind to be stubborn without thought.

“Your Majesty, the line of our fleet is too scattered right now, but we still have the numbers advantage. The shells and gunpowder on the enemy ships aren’t going to be infinite.”

There was an amount of damage they would be able to do.

However, Nathan believed that if he was able to endure the crisis, then they would get the chance to counterattack.

Three large battleships, such as Edward, Jolly Roger, and Barbarossa were still in good shape, and there were dozens of other battleships that had thick hull.

In addition, the amount of shells and gunpowder loaded in them were huge.

“If we curl our tails here, the enemy’s nose will rise higher. And the transport fleet thrown in as bait will be in real danger, and does Your Majesty want that situation?”

“Never.”

Fernando shook his head.

It was because the 100,000 troops and supplies on the transport fleet were too enormous to lose.

Giving up on that ship meant a huge loss even if the war was won.

Duke Nathan turned his gaze toward the staff, and no one seemed to have anything to say back.

“Then I’ll take is as everyone has agreed to it…”

“Sire! Something is floating in the sky!’

The moment Nathan was about to give out orders, shouts were entering from men above board.

Nathan looked to the sky in haste.

Long objects among thick clouds were flying.

‘Is that… a hot air balloon?’

It was a little bit different in shape and size, but it was definitely a hot air balloon.

The problem was that there weren’t just one or two of these balloons.

When looked through the telephoto in Nathan’s hand, they seemed to be dozens in number.

“Look there, isn’t that a kite!”

A rope from the Symphonia fleet extended to the sky.

Nathan thought that it was for a kite.

But instead of a kite, the rope was tied to the hot air balloons!

“Spread the fleet! Hurry up and scatter!”

“Huh? Scatter?”

The eyes of the staff were widened when they heard Nathan’s orders of letting the fleet spread.

Nathan explained to them in a hurry, “They need to scatter! They are using the hot air balloon to shoot us down!”

Several years ago, during the civil war of the Baroque Empire, the imperial force used a hot air balloon to annihilate the western rebels.

It was a unique case of using a hot air balloon as a weapon, so it ended up turning into a huge topic among the commanders of the continent, even Nathan admitted the strategy used by Emperor Rudolf was genius.

“The artillery! Can they shoot into the sky?”

The sailor shook his head.

“I’m afraid that can’t happen, sir. There is no angle for the gun to be mounted.”

At the sailor’s words, Nathan seemed upset because he never expected the attack from the sky.

What was more, they didn’t even think that the hot air balloons would be used so far from land.

This was why they didn’t prepare for air battle.

“Ugh! Call the archers! It will turn into a mess if the enemy’s balloons reach us and set us ablaze!”

The ships were all made of wood.

Even the battleships made of iron had their boards and decks made of wood.

There was no way they wouldn’t be scared of fire.

Nathan was concerned about that, but the enemy’s hot air balloon didn’t rush for the fleet.

They dropped something.

It was as if flowers were blooming in the sky.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know what it is, but it sure is fast!”

The Grenada Navy was confused in the beginning.

It seemed like squirrels the same size as humans were flying in as a unit on the sea where any naval battle took place.

“Yah-oh!”

“I am the sword that cuts down the sky!”

The Blood Hawk knights, composed of warriors from the Southern Continent, including Gyochon, were flying toward the Grenada Fleet.

They were trembling during the training, but now, they seemed extremely excited.

Jumping down from the hot air balloon was easier and refreshing than jumping from a stationary height.

“From here on, it is our time to play an active part in the war! Let’s show those pirates the taste of the Southern Continent!”

“Respect!”

At the cry of their commander Hwang Bo-sung, the member of Blood Hawk cheered and descended toward the Grenada ships.

Shocked, enemy sailors hurriedly fired arrows, but they weren’t able to stop the Blood Hawks flying in.

Swoosh!

Gyochon and his colleagues hit the white sails to reduce their speed and landed on the deck after tearing down the sails with their swords.

“Shall we start running wild now?”

“S-stop them!”

The Grenada sailors rushed toward the knights with swords.

Gyochon and the other knights rushed toward the enemy without any hesitation and cut the enemy.

“Kuak!”

“Don’t get push… Kuak!”

Though inferior to pirates, the Grenada Navy was good at hand to hand combat.

However, their enemies were top-notch when it came to combat. They didn’t even need a sword to kill off their enemy.

Not just the ordinary soldiers, but even the sword experts Grenada men couldn’t withstand the offense.

“Don’t act recklessly. There are a lot of ships we need to take down!”

Gyochon advised his colleagues to overturn the gunpowder on the deck and set fire to it.

Bang! Pop!

When the Blood Hawk knights saw the ship on fire, they jumped off of it.

Having being used to jumping, they jumped on the wooden debris of blown up ships and jumped into other ships.

The same kind of blasting situation happened everywhere. It was mainly focused on the large battleships.

The flagship Barbarossa, which had Fernando and Nathan on board, was no exception.

The ones who attacked Barbarossa were warriors Hwang Bo-sung, Kwak In-hyuk, and members of the Hwang Bo clan.

With the masters including Fist Sage and Fist Master on deck, screams were heard everywhere in no time, and the entire ship turned red with blood.

“We were wrong! They can’t be stopped!”

“Kuek! Get the crabs out!”

At the report of a sailor, Fernando picked up the last trump card they had.

The Barbarossa was equipped with 20 Crab Gigants for a possible onboard battle.

They were tough to use in battles with land Gigants, but they still had great power.

However, the Crab, which climbed onto the deck, got smashed and rolled over with Hwang Bo-sung’s punch.

Hwang Bo-sung had completed the Trinity Martial punch after returning from his homeland.

The Crabs were made of wooden armor, and they couldn’t stop the fist that came at the speed of a bullet.

“Hahaha! I meet you again!”

Hwang Bo-sung, who broke through the line of guards and Crabs, saw Fernando and smirked.

In the last war, he was the one who captured Fernando along with Viscount Kaper, who was the commander of the Unicorn Knights.

And naturally, Fernando remembered his face.

“Kuke! The damned barbarian of the south!”

“You won’t be given expensive food in the prison this time. You will be served food made of dirt!”

Fernando’s face went stiff at Hwang Bo-sung’s words.

He wasn’t stupid enough to not recognize the ability of Hwang Bo-sung, and he knew the man was a lot stronger than before because Fernando was a Sword Master.

‘No matter how inclined the victory of the battle is, I can’t get caught again, right?’

It was when Fernando stepped ahead with a stern face.

Srrrng!

Nathan drew out his sword and stood ahead of him.

“Your Majesty, leave this to me. Please hurry up and get away from here!”

“Duke Nathan!”

“Please hurry, I am not confident in taking him down.”

It could be because of the brainwash magic done on him, but Fernando was impressed by Nathan’s loyalty.

However, it wasn’t a situation where he could slowly enjoy the situation and talk, so he hurried out with a handful of escort knights.

“Catch them. The pirate’s head is running away!”

“Don’t let go of him!”

The Blood Hawk pursued them, but thanks to the sacrifices of the sailors, Fernando managed to escape from the flagship.

He transferred to a boat, which wasn’t touched by the enemy, but felt lost when he saw the scenery above the water.

Countless ships from his fleet, sinking or burning.

Hundreds and thousands of sailors fell into the bloody sea or were hoping to live by, holding onto wooden pieces.

It was hell.

The hell for the navy of the Grenada fleet.

“To our nation… we retreat.”

Fernando gave orders after trying to stop his feet from stumbling and entered his cabin.

The navy battle, which lasted for nearly three hours, ended in a devastating defeat of the Grenada fleet.

Hundreds of battleships destroyed and sunk. The flags of Symphonia and Blood Hawk were fluttering above the large ships, including battleships.

The Symphonia completely cleared the sea by capturing the transport fleet of Grenada that was left behind.

The huge typhoon of war that flew in from the south was taken down near the Gregg Island without even exerting their full power.