madnovel Chapter 452 Passionate Swordfight, Precise Artillery Fire
Chapter 452 Passionate Swordfight, Precise Artillery Fire
Chapter 452 Passionate Swordfight, Precise Artillery Fire
Unlike the exhilaration of the "Twilight" pirates, and unlike the despair of the "Azure Avenger" pirates, Vice Admiral Bratov Ivan of Twilight himself had a drastic change in expression.
Because he could clearly feel that his attack had landed on a "guardian" and was unable to break through the opponent's defense!
As the light, like the dawn, faded, everyone present saw that in the twilight, the greatsword in his hand had struck Alger an inch above his head, and there was no sign of the scene they had imagined—Alger himself turning into mincemeat.
Because Alger also had a greatsword that was wider than himself in his hand. However, Alger inserted this greatsword into the deck and faced the "Twilight General" in the posture of a "guardian". An unbreakable invisible wall was erected around his body, which not only blocked the greatsword that was slashing at him, but also resisted the erosion of the dawn-like light emanating from the Twilight General's body!
"Radiant Guardian" - Guardian's stance.
Before Lieutenant General Twilight could even react, Alger had already drawn his greatsword, gripped it tightly with both hands, and with a ferocious expression, swung it horizontally towards Ivan Blatov's waist and abdomen with an unusually resolute posture.
Caught off guard, Ivan Bratov hurriedly pulled back his greatsword to defend himself, barely managing to block the almost fatal blow before it landed. However, he was still caught off guard and was knocked back by the immense force from Alger's greatsword.
Alger had never intended to kill with a single blow, so he felt no regret for the unsuccessful sneak attack. Instead, he sheathed his greatsword and slashed at General Twilight's left arm once more.
As dusk fell, General Dusk was forced to retaliate with his weapon once more, hastily defending himself. As expected, he lost his balance again and was knocked back several steps, his massive body even shattering nearby cabins.
Alger, however, remained unyielding and pressed forward again, not wanting to give Ivan Bratov any chance to breathe.
One sword, two swords, three swords, many swords —
Each sword strike was faster and fiercer than the last, making the surrounding pirates' eyes nearly pop out of their sockets.
None of the pirates present ever imagined that one day they would see the famous Admiral Twilight forced into a corner by an unknown soldier in the most straightforward way.
That's the Twilight Admiral, the most skilled in head-on combat among the seven pirate generals!
In previous encounters with pirate generals, not a single pirate general had ever dared to face "Twilight Admiral" head-on.
If it weren't for the fact that "Twilight Vice Admiral" rose to power relatively late and his forces weren't as weak as those of other pirate generals, many pirates would have thought that "Twilight Vice Admiral" should have been promoted to "Twilight General".
Although they knew that the current situation was likely due to the captain of the "Azure Avenger" using a powerful sealing artifact, the impression of "Twilight Admiral" as having invincible personal strength began to waver in the minds of many pirates.
As a result, the pirates on the "Twilight" dared not charge at the "Azure Avenger" again, while the pirates on the "Azure Avenger" were greatly encouraged and quickly killed the opponents who jumped onto the ship.
Just then, Alger swung his sword, but missed completely.
It wasn't that Alger's hand was unsteady and he missed, but rather that the greatsword in his hand seemed to have struck thin air, slicing through the body of Lieutenant General Twilight without any resistance. It was as if Ivan Bratov in front of him had suddenly become an invisible and intangible ghost, without any physical existence. Only a trace of dark light flashed on the black ring on the finger of his left hand.
But Alger is also covered in the morning light that can dispel illusions and drive away ghosts and vengeful spirits. Even if he is facing a real ghost, he shouldn't be unable to hit anything.
Before Alger could figure it out, the Twilight General's greatsword was already coming straight at him.
Alger quickly rolled on the ground to get away from the giant sword, which was even larger than him, but his reaction was still a fraction too slow.
As Admiral Twilight swung his greatsword down onto the deck of the "Azure Avenger," shattering the deck below, it continued upwards without pause, condensing a sword light that struck Alger's still-rolling back. The sword light shattered Alger's Dawn Armor, preventing it from reforming for a short time, and the terrifying power of the sword light caused Alger to cough up a mouthful of blood.
However, the Dawn Armor prevented the sword light from striking Alger's body directly, thus sparing him from being cut in half.
Although Alger wasn't instantly killed, his situation was still far from optimistic.
Because the roles of offense and defense between him and General Twilight had reversed; General Twilight was the same person he had just been, the same General Twilight who had been unable to retaliate.
At dusk, the general gave Alger no chance to catch his breath. Seeing that he was injured, he rushed forward with his sword and slashed at him wildly. Alger was caught off guard, jumping up and down, looking quite disheveled.
If Alger hadn't also been a "Wind Favorite" of the Sailor Path, able to use the power of the wind to move quickly and even fly into the air, he would have been chopped into mincemeat by Vice Admiral Twilight long ago.
Even so, Alger is now almost at his limit.
This was not only because he had just suffered internal injuries, but also because the side effects of the seal on his neck—the Radiant Protection—were beginning to affect him.
"Radiant Guardian" Side Effect: After using it in battle, the wearer will become extremely belligerent, wanting to destroy all enemies and not giving up until they achieve their goal or are seriously injured. It also requires a high level of spirituality from the user. Extraordinary users below Sequence 7 can only use it for 10 minutes, while those above Sequence 7 can use it for 20 minutes, except for those who are skilled in spirituality.
In the previous duel, Alger did not consider avoiding this side effect, because this side effect was beneficial for him to make full use of the sealed artifact, giving him a huge boost in combat power, and helping to prevent Twilight General from having any chance to catch his breath.
However, after he was injured, the troublesome side effect of this injury truly became apparent, because his severe injury and vomiting of blood were not recognized as a serious injury by "Guardian of Glory," who still wanted to control him and make him passionately fight with General Twilight with his sword.
However, Alger was already mentally prepared for this situation when he obtained the sealed artifact. Fortunately, he had a sealed artifact called "Spirit Whip", the side effect of which was that he would always have a headache when wearing it, making him want to bang his head against the wall.
Alger has been using the side effects of the "Spirit Whip" to fight against the side effects of the "Guardian of Radiance".
However, there is still a big difference between the two sealed artifacts. The side effects of "Radiant Guardian" gradually suppressed the side effects of "Spirit Whip", causing Alger's movements to become increasingly erratic, and he was almost hit by Vice Admiral Twilight several times.
With his extensive combat experience, Lieutenant General Twilight noticed Alger's unusual condition and intensified his attacks, determined to wash away Alger's humiliating defeat with his blood!
"What's going on with Evan Horn? Isn't he a demigod? Why hasn't he arrived yet?"
Does he intend to break the contract, use Lieutenant General Huang Hun to kill me, and renege on the promised payment?
No, no, my deal with him was made in the kingdom of "The Fool," and under his witness. He would never dare to break the agreement!
Faced with the onslaught that would come like a storm at dusk, even with the near-perfect seal of "Guardian of Radiance," Alger still felt like a small boat sailing in a tempest, on the verge of capsizing at any moment.
Not to mention, he still doesn't understand how Twilight General turned himself into a "ghost" state. He only vaguely remembers seeing a glint of dark light flash on the black ring on Twilight General's left hand, and speculates that Twilight General has a high-quality sealed artifact in his hand.
Even if he thought of this now, it wouldn't help Alger's current state in the slightest, because he was already struggling to cope with just the Twilight General, let alone have the spare energy to deal with this sealed artifact.
At this moment, Alger truly experienced the helplessness of facing off against a Warrior who had passed through the Extraordinary Path.
Control abilities of the same level are almost useless against him, but when you face him head-on, you really can't beat him. Without two or three helpers of the same rank, you can forget about standing firm in front of him.
This won't do. If this continues, I'll eventually reveal a weakness. Once he lands a solid blow, I'll be powerless to fight back and completely at his mercy!
Alger gritted his teeth, knelt on one knee, and plunged the greatsword in his hand into the deck of the "Azure Avenger" once again, completely abandoning any offensive stance and focusing entirely on defense.
Ivan Blatov struck the invisible iron wall that appeared beside Alger with his sword, but instead of continuing his attack, he turned around and flew back more than ten meters away, looking at Alger with some surprise.
"Are you waiting for reinforcements? Are you in cahoots with the navy of the Kingdom of Rune?"
Ivan Blatov had previously thought that Alger's refusal to surrender stemmed from his unwillingness to be subservient to others, especially given that he possessed a sealed artifact that could almost fully unleash the power of the "Guardian".
So he thought that Alger would fight him to the death for the sake of his dignity.
But now Alger has abandoned all offense and is focusing all his efforts on defense, wanting only to survive his sword. This made Ivan Bratov realize that he had misjudged Alger.
His chance encounter with the Ghost Pirates was a complete trap. The Azure Avenger was the bait, Alger was the trap to hold him back, and the Rune Kingdom warship that he thought he had bumped into by chance was the real threat!
At dusk, Lieutenant General Ivan Blatov couldn't help but think of a fable he had read, supposedly written by Emperor Roselle for his children—"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
He is the mantis, Alger is the cicada, and the suddenly appearing Rune Navy is the oriole.
What's even more terrifying is that the cicada and the oriole are in cahoots, and the mantis was outmaneuvered and killed from start to finish!
Thinking about this, Ivan Blatov felt a chill run through him. He didn't even have time to think about how his whereabouts had been leaked; instead, he was thinking about how to escape.
He did not believe that the Rune Navy would encounter problems in the final stage of force deployment, given that all previous plans had gone smoothly.
Either there are still a large number of Rune warships that haven't appeared yet, or there are powerful extraordinary beings or sealed artifacts on that seemingly well-maintained warship.
In short, this level is extremely difficult to pass!
As if in response to Ivan Blatov's inner thoughts, a huge explosion suddenly rang out on the distant battlefield, instantly drawing everyone's attention away from his battle with Alger and turning everyone's gaze to the battlefield that everyone thought would be uneventful.
Suddenly, the Ruen Navy warship turned fully to port and sailed across the sea, completely exposing its flank to the approaching pirate ship in a defensive formation.
This is a major taboo in naval warfare, because while it allows one's own flank guns to fire simultaneously and maximize firepower, it also increases the probability of enemy pirate ships hitting them.
To use a vivid analogy, the Rune warships wanted to use "shooting multiple arrows" to cover the enemy with firepower, but at the same time they provided the pirate ships with a bigger target!
Considering the accuracy of cannon fire, all the pirates charging towards the Rune warship had the same thought in their minds:
Has the commander of this warship lost his mind?
With this understanding, the experienced pirates on the seven pirate ships, without even needing orders from their commanders, scattered and accelerated forward, simultaneously closing the distance between the two sides, quickly loading cannonballs, and once within range, they could fire at the Rune warship, severely damaging it in one fell swoop, and ending the battle before reinforcements arrived at dusk.
To their surprise, just as they finished loading the shells and before they could even fire, more than a dozen cannons on the other side started firing, shells flying toward them.
This is understandable, since the Rune warship is a regular warship, and the range of its cannons is far greater than theirs.
Moreover, it is quite normal for the Rune warship to complete its tactical maneuvers first and fire its cannons first.
Based on past experience, at this distance, the hit rate of artillery fire is about 10%, which means that at most two shells will hit the pirate ship in a round of bombardment.
Furthermore, being hit head-on does not affect the ship's normal movement, and the damage will be very small. Even if the Rune warship fires several more rounds, or the pirate ship takes a few more shells, it will not matter.
When the time comes, as long as they enter the range of the pirate ship's cannons, the firepower advantage of the Rune warship's cannons will actually diminish, and that will be the moment for the pirate ship to unleash its fury on the warship.
This is the shared script in the hearts of all pirates.
To their surprise, the eighteen cannonballs that streaked across the sky seemed to have eyes, and all of them hit the scattered pirate ships.
Moreover, the power of these cannonballs exceeded everyone's expectations, almost instantly leveling all the protruding parts of the pirate ship and blowing them to smithereens.
>