At 4:10 in the morning, Lawrence and the others finally reached the back of an island through various terrains on the coast. A little more than a mile in front of the island was the anchorage of the pirates. Maybe it was because of the laziness of the other party.
And management was chaotic, maybe because they didn't expect anyone to raid them, so these pirates actually didn't place any observation posts in other places except the observation posts on the masts of the ships.
Even this small island that can observe all the conditions outside the sea and the island does not have any protective posts. There is only a simple observation magic that was controlled by Nora at the first moment to provide the most basic peripheral warning.
"Okay, now let's report the situation of the investigation just now." In the cabin of the Enterprise, Lawrence took out a map of the harbor that had just been drawn by Shu Mei and pointed at it with the light of the lantern on the top of the cabin. And in his words
In addition to Knight Joseph, there were his father and several people sent by the Agricultural Church at the table in front of him.
After learning the specific identity of the other party, Lawrence was a little worried that even if he added Nora, he might not be able to match the silver-level black priest with some powerful magic items. So before setting off, he made a special trip to the two churches to bring in reinforcements.
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Lawrence had expected that his father, Mr. Lambert, would follow him, but what he didn't expect was that the Agricultural Church's team had just broken through to become a silver-level agricultural druid, and the former captain was not very good at fighting.
Silver-level Agricultural Church priests joined this commando team.
In other words, there are now four silver-level spellcasters on the ship. Even if they are a small level difference, they should be able to suppress the most troublesome black priest on the other side.
And now these extraordinary beings, the gunner and the first mate on the ship were all listening carefully to the little doll Nora standing on the table, explaining in detail the results of the close reconnaissance just now.
"——Although the other party did not send a few people to investigate, the various reconnaissance demons they set up around it can be said to be very densely arranged. At least our ship cannot silently close the distance between the two sides for our artillery to be effective.
Within shooting distance. In other words, as long as we attack, we will definitely trigger those magic alarms arranged by the opponent."
"This is not a big problem." The first mate said, "After all, our ship is so big, and there is not much fog on the sea today. Being able to touch this place without being discovered by the other party is already the limit. According to what I have done
According to the judgment of an old seaman, if there are no accidents, our ship will be discovered by the other party as soon as it leaves the hidden range of this island."
"That's right." Lawrence nodded. After all, his ship is not that small ship now, but a steam sail gunboat of several hundred tons. At this distance, the possibility of the other party turning a blind eye is basically zero.
Therefore, the final battle plan was quickly formulated. That was to let the steam engine on the Enterprise start to pressurize now, and when the pressure was full, charge at the opponent's flagship at full speed, trying to kill the leader of the pirates as soon as possible.
"Let's go." Ten minutes later, when the pressure was increased to the limit, Lawrence gave the order through the communication copper pipe in the cab. After receiving the order, the crew in the engine room immediately moved the handle on the side of the steam engine.
In an instant, the high-temperature and high-pressure steam began to push the piston of the steam engine to start running, and then drove the ship's bearings and propellers to rotate rapidly, stirring up the sea water. Immediately, a large amount of white foam appeared at the rear of the ship after the propellers stirred up the water, which looked like water.
It's like boiling.
At the same time, the sails of the Enterprise were quickly lowered with the help of the steam winch. Under the combined action of the adjusted sails and propellers, the entire sailboat moved from the island to the outer sea like an arrow from the string.
He rushed out of the hiding place, and then rushed straight towards the anchorage of the three pirate ships.
The other party had obviously spotted the Enterprise rushing straight towards them at the first opportunity. Even if they were standing in the captain's cabin of the Enterprise, Lawrence and the others could hear the ringing of the bell reverberating on the sea.
But for the pirates, it was too late to find Lawrence and the others before going to defend themselves. A distance of more than one nautical mile could be crossed by a ship like the Enterprise in only seven or eight minutes. But these pirate ships had been moored because they had been there before.
Due to the condition, the boiler was simply cold, and there was no time to start the ship.
"Boom -" The pirate ship facing the battlefield fired a cannonball at Lawrence and the others, but because this ship was an old retired warship that the pirates bought from someone who didn't know where, the ball was shot in a hurry
The shells had no way of hitting the fast-moving Enterprise. They only created a few splashes of water dozens of meters away from the Enterprise.
At this time, Lawrence summoned the phantoms of several aquatic monsters through the Bai Zetu in his soul. Then he asked them to dive into the water from the other side of the boat with a big guy.
"Squeak - it's not a big problem, there is no need to adjust the course." The rat-man lookout standing on the observation deck at the top of the mast shouted loudly after observing the impact point of the enemy shells. "Now we just need to move forward at full speed.
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"Bang——" Just when the Enterprise rushed to a place less than 500 meters away from the opponent, the Black Priest's flagship finally raised half of its sails and adjusted the direction of his ship, allowing the artillery to gain valuable shooting range.
The shell that had just been loaded into the barrel was fired at the Enterprise.
The artillery on the two new pirate ships both use the latest rifled cannon, so the hit rate is much higher than before. Although the first batch of artillery shells did not succeed due to the haste of shooting and the unsatisfactory shooting range.
Lawrence and his ship were hit, but the shells falling very close to the ship still made everyone on board feel nervous.
The spray caused by these shells after they fell into the water even wet the deck. The whistling sound caused by the shells flying through the air and the dull explosion sound produced in the water after the explosion made everyone on the ship feel these first-hand.
The power of cannonballs, not to mention the power of the gunpowder carried inside these cannonballs after they explode, the kinetic energy it carries can easily tear apart everything that blocks its flight path.
Even if Lawrence is an extraordinary person, he can only stare at the direction in which the artillery is aimed and avoid the shells through prejudgment methods. At least for an extraordinary person of his level, he can withstand large-caliber bullets or some small-caliber single-shot artillery shells.
This is already the limit. Heavy artillery of over 100mm like this will definitely not be able to withstand it.
Fortunately, although the pirates have now obtained enough shooting range, the distance between the two sides can now be said to be very close. Therefore, when the Enterprise struggled to avoid the second round of firing artillery, the gap between her and those pirate ships
The distance between them has been reduced to less than 20 meters.
"Steady, steady, steady -" At each gun position on the deck, the gunner who was commanding stared at the pirate ship that was getting bigger and bigger in his field of vision with a serious face. At this time, they had bypassed the previous blockade.
The old sailboat on the outermost side quickly approached the two steam sailboats. The several ratmen helping at the gun emplacement could even see the faces of the sailors on the pirate ship who were loading the cannons and adjusting the direction of the cannons through their dark vision.
The panic on.
"Fire!" When the Enterprise came to the gap between the two steam sailing ships, the gunner finally gave the order to fire. The eight cannons on the ship immediately spit out cannonballs at the two pirate ships on both sides of the ship.
At a distance of less than 20 meters, all the cannonballs missed the target. These heavy cannons loaded with new explosives easily created huge holes in the two pirate ships and caused serious fires.
"Get ready to join the gang." Just as the Enterprise quickly approached the pirate ship's flagship, Knight Joseph, who was in charge of joining the gang, drew out his sword and shouted to the commando. However, before he started to join the gang, a sudden appearance appeared on the pirate flagship.
A gray ray shot out and flew straight towards him.