"This time you've been disappointed, Lucia's crown...... I'll be looking for other candidates. The Pope shook his head and sighed, this candidate is not so easy to find, faith and talent are the key, but not all.

For nearly a decade, the only person who qualified was Edwell.

It's a pity......

As the Pope was thinking, Joshua, the presiding judge, stepped forward, looked at the Holy Lady of the Holy See, and saluted respectfully. "Lucia's crown!"

Saint Lucia put the dragon fruit back on the offering table after a few bites, and whispered that she would let them change the tribute next time, and then looked at Joshua and said nonchalantly. "Looks like even you've failed."

Joshua fell to one knee as if he had not seen the saint's offense by putting the gnawed dragon fruit back on the offering table, recounting the outcome of the war like a monotonous machine. "The Imperial fleet lost one hundred and forty-three ships without any substantial results......"

Listening to Joshua's report, Lucia's beautiful turquoise eyes narrowed, and her tone became extremely cold. "Tell me, what's going on...... As far as I know, most of the powerful wizards have already gone to the kingdom, and now the protection of the wizarding land should be more empty than ever......"

There are more than 300 warships in the entire First Fleet of the Empire, all of which are the latest sail warships, with more than 80,000 elite troops of the Empire and nearly 1,000 priests.

And what does it mean to have no results?

With so many people dead, and half of the entire Imperial fleet wiped out, the opponent won't be safe and sound, right?

Even if you use a stupid camel beast as a commander, you can't beat such a record!

Joshua spoke of his experiences at sea. "In fact, we were cut off in the Misty Sea before we even reached the Wizards' Lands, and the Wizards developed a new type of steel warship, conservatively estimated to be at least a thousand tons, that could sail at sea faster than sailboats......"

"Wait...... Steel warships weighing thousands of tons suspended on the surface of the sea? You can still run fast, are you sure you read that right, isn't that some kind of visual illusion? The Pope frowned and couldn't help but interrupt Joshua's words, and couldn't help but wonder if the other party was telling an absurd story.

How can a ship made of steel float on the surface of the sea and run several times faster than a sail warship, which does not conform to the laws of the world!

"I'm sure!" Joshua said in no uncertain terms, and recounted the whole battle as it was.

In particular, the peculiar over-the-horizon tactics used by the other side always maintain about a kilometer with them at a speed of more than three times, and then continuously suppress them with powerful firepower, not giving them a chance to get close or escape at all.

This is the reason why the fleet suffered heavy losses, but did not gain anything.

"It's just a bunch of cunning hyenas!" The Pope said coldly, but try to put yourself in Joshua's situation, and for a while you can't think of a good way to break the situation.

Joshua had already tried to cast a powerful legendary magic, but the ships ran away from the smoke and missed, and in less than half an hour the steel ships would re-emerge from the fog and continue to suppress them.

It's not a good idea to let the flying cardinals chase after them, because they can't run as fast as steel warships, and they will only be consumed by rounds of artillery fire.

Of course, the First Fleet would not be suppressed so badly, and the barrier of the Sea of Mist was also very important, if it were not for the fog covering the entire sea, the situation would be much better.

"I then designed to surround the wizards' fleet at the cost of thirty ships, but their reinforcements came too quickly...... Joshua said regretfully, and that was his only chance to wreak havoc on the steel fleet.

However, after weighing the pros and cons, Joshua had no choice but to retreat, this alchemical creature suspended in the air he had seen in secret reports from the kingdom, not only flying high and fast, but also possessing the ability to project 'hellfire' to the ground, if he insisted on pursuing, everyone except him and a few cardinals could die somewhere.

This is undoubtedly a loss-making deal......

"Looks like we're all underestimating these wizards." Lucia snorted.

In her eyes before, the wizards hiding on that broken island were just ringworm scabies, a group of rats burrowing into the hole, it didn't affect the overall situation, as long as the other party dared to come out, they could easily be wiped out.

Only those extraterritorial evil gods and demons outside the gate of time and space are the real enemies of the Holy See......

So this time, after learning that those wizards had captured the kingdom, the empire sent two crusaders to attack from both sides, in order to directly eradicate this threat in one go!

But I didn't expect to suffer such a fiasco......

These novel weapons made Lucia feel extremely curious, she remembered that when Casimo reported to her a few years ago, he did not mention this kind of steel warship, the alchemical creation called the sky airship, which was said to be only twenty or thirty kilometers per hour.

Now it's five or six times higher.

All the new weapons seem to have popped up in recent times......

"Most of the Divine Punishment Army is still fighting those demons in foreign lands, do you need to bring them back?" The Pope proposed, saying that the threat posed by the wizards had reached the point where they had to deal with it with all their might, and that they must gather their forces to eradicate it once and for all!

"No!" Lucia shook her head, "Those wizards do have some ways to fight in groups, so don't waste the elite power we have accumulated." ”

"Didn't the Empire's wars for the western frontier in the past two years uncover a tribe of giants? Since they don't have any magical talents, they should be expendable for this war. Lucia muttered.

The giant's skin is thick, his strength is great, and with the blessing of divine magic and the iron armor with special characteristics, he should be able to withstand the attack of artillery fire and smash those iron boxes that can run.

It's just that you eat too much, and the logistical pressure is relatively high......

"This time I'm going to do it myself!" Lucia straightened her face and said solemnly.

"Lucia, those wizards are difficult, but they are not so ......" Joshua advised, and it was undoubtedly their incompetence and dereliction of duty to let the Holy Lady of the Holy See fight.

"It's okay, this body has also reached its limit, and it's time to use it." Lucia said casually, and a cold light like seeing prey appeared in her star-like eyes.

(End of chapter)