Rumble!

An oval cannonball shaped like an olive blasted into an open-air battery with a deafening bang. The smoke of gunpowder was filled, the flames rose, and the shock wave rushed in all directions, tearing apart the gunner's body, lifting off the heavy cannon body, and bringing a burst of bloody wind and rain.

It's not a spell from a spellcaster, and it's not a supernatural skill of a combat class.

This is a special shell fired by the super battleship Amaterasu.

On the Amaterasu, most of the artillery pieces are low-level spiritual weapons. The gun is extremely sturdy and can withstand twice the charge of ordinary guns of the same model. Heavy shells fired from this kind of artillery are all broken by a low-ranking officer of the bronze rank.

In addition, there are a small number of heavy cannons on the Amaterasu, and the strength of the cannon body is close to that of a mid-level spiritual weapon. Not only can it withstand five times the charge of ordinary guns of the same type, but it can also use special gunpowder to fire powerful special ammunition.

The olive-shaped shell that killed several gunners and flew a heavy cannon just now was a powerful special shell.

The shell is filled with a special explosive that has been carefully developed from several special materials. The explosion was so powerful that even if the silver-level officer was hit head-on, he would also be blown into powder. Even if the bronze-level officers were only swept into the explosion range, they would either be killed or injured.

Fortunately, there were not many of those special shells, and every time Amaterasu fired a round of guns, it would only shoot one or two such shells at most. But although there are not many of them, the artillery that fires this special shell is extremely accurate. Almost no bullets missed, and every time a shot was fired, an open-air battery could be destroyed at a fixed point.

By the beginning of the war, in just half an hour, the port positions had been destroyed by special shells in thirteen open-air batteries, and the gunners had suffered more than 50 casualties.

And that's not all the casualties in the port positions.

The Amaterasu fleet concentrated its fire on the port positions, and each round of artillery fired more than a thousand shells, which was enough to cover the entire port fortress complex.

Although the harbor fort was made of stone and extremely strong, it could not be destroyed by the black powder cannons of the breech era, and the super cannons on the Amaterasu could not break the fortress's walls and pillboxes, but many of the batteries in the fort were open-air batteries, and the gunners were always under the threat of enemy shelling.

Some of the junior officers, wielding weapons and shields, tried their best to fend off the shells and cover the gunners. But the Amaterasu's artillery fire was so fierce that it was impossible for the officers to cover it tightly. There were always shells that slipped through the net, fell and hit the open batteries, knocking down the cannons and killing the gunners.

And if it is hit by a special shell, then even the officer will die in the explosion and be crushed.

Half an hour after the start of the war, the casualties of the entire port base have exceeded 200, and they are still rising. More than 20 artillery pieces were also destroyed.

This number of casualties does not seem to be much, but you must know that the defenders of the entire Zhongshan Island base are only about 4,000 people. The casualties of a hundred people have already reached one in twenty! And the battle has only begun for half an hour.

Compared with the casualties of the defenders of the Zhongshan Island Empire, the casualties of the Amaterasu Army were actually greater.

Although the defenders of Zhongshan Island were able to hit the head of the Amaterasu fleet with less than 300 guns, and the number of shells fired in each round of shelling was less than a quarter of that of the Amaterasu army, the defenders of Zhongshan Island were also guarded by fortresses.

Compared with the whole stone fortress, the defensive power of the wooden sail battleship is far inferior, I don't know how many levels are weaker.

The shore guns are firmly fixed on the ground, unlike battleships that rise and fall with the waves at any time, swaying from side to side. Therefore, the accuracy of shore artillery is also much higher than that of naval artillery - most of the gunners in this world realm have the strength of the third or fourth level, their eyesight and intuition are extremely sharp, and their shelling is extremely accurate.

The gunners on the battleship, separated by a distance of three or four hundred meters, opened fire on the undulating sea to bombard the fortress, and ordinary gunners could hit one out of ten shots and hit the open battery. The bronze-class gunners on the super battleship can even play one out of four, one out of three. And the silver-level gunner, who was in charge of several special artillery shells, was even more accurate.

The gunners on the battleship can be so accurate, and the imperial gunners in the fortress batteries on the shore will of course only shoot more accurately.

Regardless of whether it is on the mountain or under the mountain, the ordinary gunners in the two positions can basically be five in one and four in one. A large number of elite gunners, generally three in one, two in one. A small number of stronger gunners are also bullet-free, and every shot can be hit.

In addition, the space of the battleship is small, but there are a lot of manpower. The men on the battleship were crowded with people, far less than scattered in the fortress. If a cannonball goes down, if it is fought well, the result is definitely several times better than that of a battleship hitting a fortress.

Therefore, although the firepower of the defenders of Zhongshan Island was less than a quarter of that of the Amaterasu Army, the results of each round of artillery bombardment by the defenders of Zhongshan Island were several times that of the Tianshu Army.

Even if there were no spiritual cannons and special shells like Amaterasu's in the defenders of Zhongshan Island, after more than half an hour of artillery fighting, nearly a thousand casualties were inflicted on the Amaterasu Army!

However, the Amaterasu Army had a strong army, with more than 1,000 casualties, which was not a heavy loss.

What's even more helpless is that there are twenty priests of the Radiant Holy Sect in the Amaterasu Army.

And the priest of the Radiant Holy Sect is extremely good at healing with his Holy Light Divine Technique. As long as they were not seriously injured near death, or mutilated limbs, the wounded soldiers of the Amaterasu Army would soon be able to fight again after being treated by the priests of the Radiant Holy Cult.

Not only can priests heal, but priests who are more skilled in combat and holy warriors who specialize in combat also have one or two healing techniques that can help heal. The knights of the Silver Shield Knights, although they can't heal magic, are very good at surgical treatment, and can also join in the treatment of the wounded.

Therefore, although the Amaterasu army suffered nearly 1,000 casualties, less than 300 were actually killed in battle. The rest can basically be treated. Nearly half of the wounded soldiers were treated and then re-engaged in the battle on the spot. The remaining wounded soldiers rested for half a day and were able to recover their combat strength one after another.

As a result, although the casualties of the Amaterasu Army were heavier than those of the defenders of Zhongshan Island, the morale of the army was not reduced. On the contrary, as the wounded soldiers returned from injury, they became more and more high-spirited and excited.

The role of priests, priests, and other clergy was so immediate in war. Even if they don't cast morale-boosting spells, a single healing will allow the soldiers to fight bravely.

Even if the clergy's daily magic is limited, it is impossible to use it indefinitely to save all the wounded, but even if the soldiers know this, they will have some fear in their hearts, so they are full of confidence and morale.

And the imperial defenders of Zhongshan Island did not have these benefits. The Imperial Divine Dao is not prosperous, although the slightly larger families have the protection of strong or weak ancestral spirits, but there is no powerful god like the Lord of Radiance.

This has a lot to do with the Imperial Shinto philosophy.

In the Eastern Continent, where the empire is located, since the age of mythology, the ancient gods have not paid much attention to human worship. Because once you accept the worship and enjoy the incense of all beings, you will be entangled in faith and take responsibility. This is a kind of bondage for the ancient gods who are born powerful and free,

And the people of the Eastern Continent, almost everyone has the bloodline of the ancient gods, even if the vast majority of the people in the east will not be able to awaken the bloodline of the ancient gods in their lifetime, but spiritually, they are still proud of being gods.

It is not only the bloodline of the ancient gods, but also naturally inherits the concept of the ancient gods. Therefore, the powerhouses of the Eastern Continent are cultivating the way of the ancient gods. No incense, no faith, no cause and effect. Once you become a god, you can break out of the sky and become a god of freedom.

This concept, which has been passed down from the mythological era to the present, also allows people in the Eastern Continent not to have too devout beliefs in irrelevant people and gods.

People in the Eastern Continent will only worship their ancestors.

For other people and gods, no matter how much they shake the great existence of the past and the present, the Oriental people will only respect and revere at most. For the gods who have great merit and great achievements, sacrifices can be organized, but they will never worship faith.

Therefore, there are spirits in the Eastern Continent, ancestral spirits, and heroic spirits. Even some mountains, rivers and lakes have natural spirits. But those spirits, even if they have the power of a god and can manifest spirits and help people through difficulties, will not organize the Holy See, will not select priests and priests, will not spread doctrines, and will not give divine magic.

Because the spirits of the Eastern Continent will generally only help their own descendants, or those close to them. And even if you help future generations, you must first receive sacrifices, so as to exchange them for equal value, without touching cause and effect.

It's not that the spirits are ruthless, it's the tradition of the Eastern Continent. As a descendant of the gods, you should be self-reliant, and what can you achieve by always relying on the shadow of your ancestors? Can the ancestors shelter you for a while, but can they shelter you for a lifetime?

So, in the Eastern Continent, there is no Shinto. Even in Amaterasu, which is a strip of water away from the Eastern Continent, there are three major gods, and there is still no Shinto in the Eastern Continent.

However, even if there is no Shinto in the Eastern Continent, and foreign Shinto is not going to invade the Eastern Continent easily—the true body of the god cannot be lowered, and can only send incarnations. And no matter how powerful a god is, the incarnation of the Nether can only maintain the demigod power of a level 0 godhead in the mortal world, and those spirits of the empire are fully capable of destroying it.

Therefore, if the Lord of Radiance wants to annex the Eastern Empire, he can only honestly raise a large army to attack, destroy the empire first, and then force the people to convert. It is impossible for the Eastern Empire to send down miracles and deceive people's minds and easily invade the Eastern Empire because there is no Shinto.

If the Imperial Shinto is not prosperous, there will be no priests and priests. Of course, the empire was prosperous, the medical Tao was developed, and the military medical officers had good medical skills. But no matter how strong the medical skills are, they can't compare to the immediate results of the healing arts. So at this point, the empire suffers.

Among the Empire's spellcasters, there are not without those who are good at healing.

It's just that those spellcasters are bloodline magicians. Its healing power comes from its special bloodline. And the awakening of the bloodline has great uncertainty, and it cannot be cultivated in batches in batches like the priests and other clergy of the Holy Light Alliance.

Therefore, there are not many magicians in the empire who are good at healing. Because of its rarity, most of them serve dignitaries. Even those who serve in the army are in some important legions. How could a small base like Nakayama in the war years, where the significance of existence was greater than the significance of reality, have such a healer?

On Zhongshan Island, there are only two who can be healed by spells. One is the Amaterasu Sect's daughter Tenyu Sakura, and the other is the beast king Druis Scarlett. However, neither of them is a professional treatment, but only a part-time job. The therapeutic effect is not as good as that of a professional priest.

The most important thing is that it is not yet the most critical moment. Su Su couldn't have sent two part-time healers to treat the wounded at the beginning of the war—even a professional priest had limited healing techniques that he could use on a daily basis, let alone two part-time healers.

Therefore, until the critical moment, Su Su would never let them consume precious healing skills.

The shelling continues, and casualties on both sides continue to mount. However, Su Su, who was standing on the highest fort on the hill, had already moved his eyes to other places, and did not look at the artillery battle below.

The artillery battle is just a warm-up before the war.

By the time the Amaterasu Army cleared the open-air batteries of the harbor fortress group below, the casualties of the defenders of Zhongshan Island would shrink dramatically. With the thickness of the fortress, even special shells cannot collapse. The defenders hid in the fortress, and the Amaterasu fleet had an absolute advantage in firepower, and it was helpless.

And after the gun emplacements of the Imperial defenders are demolished by the Amaterasu Army one by one, the threat to Amaterasu's infantry team will also be greatly reduced. At that time, it was time for the Amaterasu army to send infantry to try to capture the fortress and fight it out.

At that time, it will be a truly tragic battle.

Now, at the time of the artillery battle between the two sides, the transport fleet of the Amaterasu Army has docked five kilometers away from the defender base on Zhongshan Island. In that position, even the heavy artillery on the hill could not hit it. However, it was not suitable for landing, there were dangerous shoals and reefs everywhere, and the current was so strong that flat-bottomed boats could run aground or even capsize there.

But these natural obstacles, in the face of extraordinary power, do not constitute much of an obstacle.

The sea monster troops of the Amaterasu Army were dispatched - two isohimes, dozens of cow ghosts, and more than a thousand kappa, and they were mobilized at the same time. Isohime crushes the reef with a riptide blade and deepens the channel. Cow ghosts smooth the turbulence and calm the current. Kappa carries gravel and transports it to the shore to pile up into an improvised wharf.

Under the power of extraordinary power, a dangerous shoal, which was by no means suitable for landing, took just over an hour to become a good harbor where transport ships could dock and unload directly.

Su Su looked at the hot and orderly landing scene of the Amaterasu Army there, and then looked at the super battleship Amaterasu.

Aboard the Amaterasu, the legendary mage Hopkins is eyeing her. Obviously, as soon as she made a move to attack the landing field, Hopkins was going to take action.

"It's not a good chance...... Su Su sighed secretly, forty transport ships, 20,000 troops, including gold-level and pillar-level powerhouses. There are also two Isohime who are particularly powerful in the sea. With her current strength, even if she has no reservations and goes all out, it will take a long time to kill the strongest of them.

As for the large troops, it will take several days to clean up slowly.

And Amaterasu's legendary mage obviously won't give her this opportunity. Even if he gave Su Su a few days and watched her clear the 20,000 army and the sea monster army, Su Su couldn't make a move. Because once she clears the scene, it will be very expensive.

By the time she cleared out the 20,000 army and all the sea monsters, the legendary mage of the other party would have already arranged a lore array, and she could calmly kill her with little strength left.

"Let's take it slowly." Su Su narrowed his eyes and looked at the fortress under the mountain, "Survive three days and see who will kill the deer!" My knight, this time, can you still work miracles? ”

At this moment, Li Qing, who was being worried about Su Su, did not wander around the battlefield to intercept the shells.

He sat in a bunker, posing with five hearts to the sky, his eyes were half-open and half-closed, his expression was in a trance, as if he was wandering outside the world, and he actually entered a state of deep meditation on this battlefield with the sound of cannons!

The most important thing is that this is not an ordinary meditative state, but a ...... taught to him by Chu Lingfeng Dan Dao Meditation!