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Emperor of Steel-Chapter 684 - Bloody Sea 1
By the time the army was busy fighting with the monster legion, the Symphonia navy on Gregg Island was busy fighting the Grenada fleet.
The Grenada navy which had built siege units network in the surrounding waters to make sure that the Symphonia navy wouldn’t try anything overnight, and began to search the reef with small boats and ships in the dawn.
Of course, it wasn’t like the Symphonia army had any intention of letting them do their own searches.
If Grenada’s search ships wanted to enter anywhere close to their place, their ships would ambush them with shells.
“Symphonia men, I think they are definitely camped in there.”
“They have submarine cables spread all over the place, and the reefs and rocky islands are being used to block out shells and guns. Somehow, we aren’t moving ahead.”
At the words of Duke Nathan, Fernando frowned.
“What does the great Naval expert think about it?”
Even though he was offended with the voice of mockery in Fernando, Nathan responded without showing any signs of anger.
“Ignore them and then pass by.”
“What? Just pass by?”
As Fernando’s eyes were about to go wide, Nathan hurriedly gave his answer.
“If we ignore them and pass them by, they will think that we are going over to attack the Symphonia coast, and they’ll chase after us.”
“Hmm… I guess you have a plan. Are you trying to lure them into the open sea and then use our full fleet to destroy them?”
Fernando was used to land battle, and he could understand the tactic which was similar to luring in the enemy by standing still.
“But wouldn’t the sly enemies know our intention?”
“We don’t need to worry too much about it. They’ll be too concerned with us sweeping off their shores, so they’ll definitely follow us. And we will be able to do our operation.”
“And any bait?”
“We will put our transport fleet in the rear.”
The transport fleet was the slowest in the fleet.
In addition, there weren’t many guns in the transport fleet and were vulnerable in naval battles.
However, it was necessary to manage them with care as they would carry all the supplies and food.
So even when the fleet moved, the transport fleet moved at its own speed and had enough value around it.
Duke Nathan was willing to ignore the principles in order to lure the enemies from the Gregg Islands.
“Probably, it is clear that they know that destroying the transport ship of the enemy would be a great deal, so they will chase after us.”
“Indeed! You want to give flesh and take back their bones?”
“Yes, because the enemy would be too involved with taking down out transport fleet, the main unit would detour to the south and hit the rear of the enemy. I believe that Your Majesty knows what will happen afterwards.”
Seeing the plausible plan, Fernando asked them to get into action.
The Grenada fleet reversed and began to move towards the coast of the Symphonia Kingdom in unison.
After moving to some extent, the main unit consisting of fast-paced battleships separated from the transport fleet and diverted to the south.
After a while, Fernando grunted his teeth when he heard the report that the enemy fleet moved from Gregg Island.
“They are crawling out huh? Those bloody rats!”
He wanted to catch everyone and feed them to the sharks.
But in the midst of the rush, an unexpected report blew in. Duke Nathan, jumped out and yelled.
“Your Majesty! We are in trouble!”
“What is it? Did the enemy notice our plans and go back to the island?”
“No, that isn’t it…”
Nathan took a deep breath and explained it in detail.
“According to the scout ship’s report, the flagship of the Symphonia royal family was hung on the center of their fleet.”
“What? Was it confirmed?”
Fernando jumped out of the sea.
It was because the report was too startling.
The fact that the royal family flag was hung means the King himself decided to come.
In other words, it was said that Luke de Rakan, the man who humiliated him was directing the fleet.
“Is that really confirmed?”
“Yes, it was said that they checked it several times with the telephoto items.”
“Huhuhu, this is so good!”
A deep smile struck Fernando’s mouth.
He wasn’t sure about what kind of confidence Luke came out to the battle, but it seemed like a proper chance to get revenge.
‘If I catch him here, my revenge plan will end very easily!’
He had no intention of letting Luke go.
Fernando, who was determined, gave orders to Nathan.
“Maximize the speed of our fleet. We are going to hit them back a lot faster than we planned.”
“Your Majesty, the speed we are heading is the highest. Anything higher than our current speed will put a strain on the magic steam engine. Then in case of a battle, the engine might not function properly.”
At Duke Nathan’s words, Fernando pressed his eyes shut.
“It can’t be done… but it isn’t like we can’t get our plan done.”
“True. However, victory or defeat in the battle is all based on the direction of the warheads, and the direction of the war will determine the fate of the nation. An unfortunate death can happen in any place, we need to be as prepared as possible.”
“You aren’t wrong, but I think it is the right decision. It is hard to take down Luke.”
Luke was known to be the continent’s strongest Rune Knight.
Being very knowledgeable in magic and sword, he led the magical engineering of the Symphonia Kingdom and created a great number of excellent Gigants which were being sold to other nations such as Gaius and Orion.
In addition, many talented wizards were known to have been recruited and trained.
There was a high chance that the wizards trained would be used in the current war.
“Duke, as you know Symphonia’s magic is far superior to our skill. When we are in the sea, those men could be looking down on us with their wizard skills.”
“That, Your Majesty’s words could be right.”
Grenada, which was branded as the pirate nation in the continent, hadn’t made much progress in magical engineering.
The value of the wizards turned too important that wizards were being recruited for dangerous tasks.
“So we need to act quickly, especially since they haven’t noticed us yet.”
“But what is… well, I’ll send the orders to the other ships.”
Nathan, who was about to disagree, saw the frown on Fernando’s fleet and gave up.
The reason he tried to disagree at first was because he thought that the royal flag could be a trick to lure them in.
The scouts said that they only saw the flag on the ship, but none of them said anything about seeing Luke de Rakan on board.
It seemed very much like a well-devised scheme knowing the impatient side of Fernando, and there was nothing more embarrassing than being taken down in the sea.
‘However, our enemy’s location is in the middle of the sea and has some distance from Gregg Island. It wouldn’t be a huge deal if we attack from all sides.’
The reason Nathan decided to make the decision along with Fernando was because of Margareta, who slaughtered the Grenada King and enchanted him with her magic.
Because of her brainwashing, he was bound to obey Fernando’s words, and he was unable to carry out his own decisions like before