In just an instant, the "Wolf Fang" turned into a flame. The speed of the pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info was so fast that even Christopher was surprised, and he certainly did not completely fail to consider this possibility. But the speed of the opponent's counterattack, the accuracy of judgment, and the fierceness of the firepower still surprised him extremely much. Because it doesn't look like the reaction of a group of recruits at all, it looks like a decision made by veterans who have been through a lot of battles.

It is self-evident that it is better to cut off one finger than to hurt ten fingers, and the difference between sinking a battleship and damaging a warship is naturally self-evident.

Not only that, but after successfully destroying the target, the three metal battleships immediately withdrew from the battlefield at a rapid speed without hesitation, and they turned to the side at a speed that was definitely not inferior to that of the task force, and then fled quickly. So this immediately presented Christopher with a dilemma -- should he continue to track him? Or evacuate first?

For Christopher, of course, he could not forgive the enemy who destroyed his battleship for fleeing with such a swagger. But on the contrary, the powerful force that erupted when the opponent counterattacked made him have to choose to act cautiously. In the end, Christopher did not choose to move on -- the reason why the wolves are wolves is because they are not tigers and leopards, they will not go head-to-head with their prey, and once they are entangled and suffered, then it is best to evacuate immediately. So Christopher gave the order decisively.

"Stop the pursuit, immediately send a reconnaissance force to track down, and keep an eye on the enemy..............."

But what Christopher didn't expect was that it didn't take long for him to get a reply that he didn't expect.

"Report, the target is gone."

"What?"

According to the griffin knights, they were able to follow each other at first, but it wasn't long before the three ships in the distance in front of them suddenly disappeared as if out of thin air. Not only that, but they were puzzled by the fact that there was no reaction even on the crystal that was specially designed to detect magic fluctuations, but if they were lost, they had nothing to say about it.

"Immediately close the formation and move closer to the First Fleet."

Christopher was not humiliated by his disgrace, on the contrary, the scheming aristocratic officer smelled danger in the unusual behavior of the other party. The combat effectiveness of the opposing side is unknown, the capabilities of the battleship are unknown, everything is unknown. Now, after contact, the unknown parts are not clear, but more and more.

For example, how did the opponent lock on to the target and start attacking? The warships of the Magic Empire are fired through the magic cannon, and the firing of the magic cannon can only be handed over to those who are skilled in the operation, that is, each magic cannon is controlled by a mage. Moreover, the cannon fire emitted by the magic cannon is not like a magic missile released by a mage, and it has the ability to track itself, so it is also necessary to calculate and aim in advance. It is precisely because of this that, in order to be able to obtain the greatest possible results, the general battle of the magic warship is to break into the opponent's flank as much as possible without the opponent reacting, and then pour artillery fire on the most vulnerable part in the shortest possible time -- on the whole, this is not much different from fleet warfare on the ocean.

However, the battle just now was different, that is, the formation of the two sides was in a T-shape, and the most vulnerable parts of the opposing fleet were under the fire of our fleet, but our fleet was almost impossible to attack because it was moving head-on. And it was in this case that the opponent's artillery fire accurately hit its own battleship.

In fleet warfare, it is as difficult as hitting the blade of a sword stabbed from the front with a hundred arrows. But the other side did it, either the other side has countless battle-hardened gunners who have been in a hundred battles and have a hundred shots, or the other side has adopted some new method that is unknown to them. The possibility of the former is almost zero, and if it is the latter, then if it continues, you will only suffer more losses. This is not just a battle, but a war that will determine the future life and death of the Wizard Empire, and in this sense, any adventure is definitely something to consider.

"The enemy retreated."

Hank frowned as he watched the task force retreat, but he wasn't disappointed. Always moving forward according to one's own expectations in battle, that only shows that the enemy is stupid enough. And in fact, most of the time, the enemy is less stupid. This was one of the lessons that Patilina had taught them in the first place, and Hank was certainly not swayed by the enemy's actions that had gone out of his mind. Because soon, he gave a new order.

"Then, let the Imperial Army taste their own bitter fruits!"

As soon as Hank's words fell, the herald immediately passed the command through the probe to the screen of the reconnaissance fleet in the distance.

At the same time, Balk of the First Fleet also received orders from Christopher.

"Actually failed..............."

Looking at the content of the parchment in front of him, Balk couldn't hide the surprise in his heart, the reason why he allowed Christopher to take the initiative was because he took a fancy to the surprise ability of the task force. In his opinion, even if the task force would not succeed, it should not fail at least, but it was unbelievable that Christopher had lost one of the Empire's most elite warships in just a face-to-face encounter with the other side - if it weren't for the fact that Christopher's magic mark was indeed on it, Captain Balk would have even thought it was some kind of enemy trick.

"Immediately move closer to the task force, set up a defensive formation, and monitor the surroundings!"

What worries Balk the most is Christopher's subsequent reference to "fruitless surveillance, fleeing", although this is not a problem in the literal sense of the word. But everyone knows that an enemy who is not where to go can sometimes be more dangerous, and if the hunter becomes the prey, then the situation will only get worse.

But soon, Balk's terrible prediction came true—just half an hour before he was about to join the task force, a report came from the left flank of the First Fleet that they had been attacked by the enemy.

"They're just showing up!!"

The middle-aged man who appeared in front of Balk had a depressed and even somewhat frightened face.

"It's really sudden, my lord!! We all followed your orders and watched our surroundings, but there was not a single movement, not even the abnormal fluctuation pulses coming from the magic crystals. But just like that, they suddenly appeared..............."

Under the unfortunate bastard's preface and afterword, Balk finally understood the specific situation. As they moved their formation, the Asuka was scouting and alerting the flanks of the fleet on Balk's orders. But without warning, three metal warships suddenly appeared in front of them out of thin air, and then launched a fierce artillery fire on the "Asuka", and hundreds of magic guide beams hit the unsuspecting "Asuka" almost instantaneously, turning it into a ball of fireball. This scene made the other friendly ships around them stunned, and they didn't react at all. And when they hurriedly shifted their guns to counterattack, the other side suddenly disappeared as if they had suddenly appeared.

"It's just ..............."

After listening to the report, Balk couldn't even smile bitterly, the other party simply retaliated with a tooth for a tooth, which was the tactic that Christopher's advance fleet was best at. But he didn't expect that he failed to use this tactic just now, but was successfully learned by the other party. As a result, now, the First Fleet is actually going to taste the bitter fruit.

"It seems that the other party also has an opponent who can't be underestimated."

As for how the other party found himself, Balk was not without ideas. If the other side has been monitoring the task force, then when it sees the task force retreating, it will naturally consider the possibility of converging with the main force, predict the trajectory of the opponent's movements, and then find the converging team to launch an attack. Any effective tactic is clever, but conversely, a clever tactic is not necessarily effective.

"What are we going to do next?"

After finally reuniting with the main force, Christopher also learned about the fate of the First Fleet, and he could only be speechless about it -- it was enough to be defeated by the enemy, and it was really depressed to be defeated by the enemy in the way he was good at. ，

"Converge the fleet and defend it in an all-round way, the other party's reliance is elusive, then we don't give them a chance to be elusive, once they find it, they will immediately give them a head-on attack, and force them to enter the frontal battlefield to confront us, before that, we only need to strengthen our vigilance."

As commander-in-chief of the First Fleet, Balk gave the surest answer. But Christopher clearly didn't care about such trivial matters.

"So, how should we report to the high archmages behind us?"

“…………………”

Hearing Christopher's inquiry, Balk was silent for a few moments before giving an answer.

"Just report it truthfully."

In fact, when the archmages sitting in the rear received the report from Balk and Christopher, they were indeed surprised.

The archmages weren't good at fleet warfare, but in their opinion, there shouldn't be any problem with the two most powerful fleets of the empire against a group of mage apprentices and low-level mages creating ships. But they didn't expect that it was just the beginning, and the two sides were just in the tentative stage, and they lost two elite warships and those brave soldiers and mages, which was really unexpected.

"Is it true that the Collar of Passus is not directly involved in this?"

This was the first question that came to the minds of the archmages immediately after receiving the report, and to this, Archmage Nicholas also gave an affirmative answer.

"No one in Passus, including Lord Jenn, is directly involved. That's right, I can vouch for that. ”

Hearing Nicholas's answer, the archmages' expressions did not improve, but became more and more gloomy. If Jenn and others were to play ghosts in it, they would be acceptable. But now, just because of the difference in philosophy and development direction, a group of mage apprentices and low-level mages can actually compete head-on, and even defeat the empire's most elite magic guide warship...............

Could it be that the fall of the Demon Empire is really inevitable? (To be continued.) )