Path of Light.

Chapter 957, Section 956: Treating Someone Differently
As the giant ship slowly descended from the clouds, its massive hull resembled a floating island, its bottom constructed from countless riveted metal plates covered with barnacles and shellfish...

A row of wooden houses and warehouses have been built in the Nantali Islands, and these two Poseidon-class warships are clearly heading to Nantali as a transit point.

The three-masted sailboats anchored near Nantali harbor quickly hoisted their sails and dispersed in all directions.

The thirteen magic airships activated their levitation devices and their magic propulsion systems at maximum power, allowing them to quickly move away from the Nantali Islands.

Sabrina waved her hand, and the five hundred griffin riders gathered on the deck simultaneously spread their wings against the wind. Their huge wings flapped violently a few times, lifting their heavy bodies into the air, and then slowly rising into the sky, their speed increasing.

After leaving the magic airship by a hundred meters, the griffin riders reached normal flight speed, and then began to climb the slope into the sky...

The five hundred griffin riders were divided into eight teams, and as they left the magic airship, they resembled eight soft ribbons wrapping around the giant ship high in the sky.

Sabrina flew at the very front of a griffin cavalry unit, squinting her eyes, and turned to shout instructions to her companions behind her:
"Follow me, and watch out for the crossbow bolts fired from the giant ship. It's covered in crossbows, so be careful when we get close..."

The half-elf cavalrymen continued to circle upwards, while the griffins let out sharp, clear cries...

Sure enough, a number of gray dwarf warriors appeared on the giant ship. Next to them was a row of ballistae fixed to the ship's side. When these gray dwarf warriors saw a large number of griffin riders take off, they immediately operated the ballistae and aimed them at the griffin riders.

The sharp crossbow bolts gleamed coldly in the sunlight...

At this moment, the two giant ships also sounded their horns, and more gray dwarf musketeers emerged from the sides of the ships, their dark gun barrels pointed at the griffin riders.

The first to fire were the gray dwarf musketeers. Even though the firing range was far too short, the gray dwarf musketeers on the giant ship still fired simultaneously. A clearly visible flame shot out from the muzzle of every musket, and lead pellets sprayed out from the muzzle, falling from the sky like raindrops.

Although these lead pellets couldn't hit the griffin riders, they certainly boosted the morale of the gray dwarf warriors on the giant ship.

In battles like these between magical airships and giant ships, the ships at higher altitudes often have an absolute advantage. The griffin riders kept climbing to a higher altitude, hoping to fly over the two sea god giant ships.

The two giant ships were protected by tortoise-shell-like magical shields on their hulls, clearly indicating that they were worried that the magical airships near the port would concentrate their firepower on the giant ships with their magic cannons.

The Northern Fleet clearly had absolute confidence in the victory of their Poseidon behemoths. Despite having already lost two Poseidon behemoths in the battle of Nouwen Fortress, they still sent two more to attack the Nantali Islands.

The griffin riders, who were at a disadvantage, raised their kite shields with one hand and wrapped their other arm around the griffins' necks, leaning forward to shield their upper bodies and the griffins' heads with the kite shields.

A large number of griffin riders dispersed from under the giant ship, and four magic airships appeared on the left and right sides below the giant ship. Four magic beams shot out from the magic airships and concentrated on the magic shield at the bottom of the giant ship almost at the same time.

The beam of the magic cannon instantly dimmed the magic shield on the giant ship, but the magic beam did not damage the bottom of the ship.

A few seconds later, the magical shield on the giant ship was restored to its original state...

Because the magic cannons themselves had a depression angle of less than thirty degrees, the magic cannons on the giant ships were temporarily unable to fire at the magic airships below, so the two giant ships could only accelerate their descent.

The giant ships of the Northern Fleet are the strongest fighting force in the hands of the Grey Dwarves...

The Grey Dwarves never installed expensive levitation devices on their three-masted ships, believing that such ships would be unable to withstand the Silver Pegasus Knights of the Elven Kingdom. Therefore, they created these giant ships that were almost like floating islands.

These giant ships possess both excellent offensive and defensive capabilities. These aerial fortresses are as sturdy as tortoise shells and have powerful offensive means such as magic cannons. No matter where they are, they are a formidable force that cannot be ignored.

The only drawback is that this kind of giant ship is not very maneuverable...

The first encounter with the Northern Army fleet's floating behemoths was only achieved by the simultaneous firing of magic cannons from forty magic airships, which sank two of the floating behemoths.

Forty magic cannons fired simultaneously, instantly burning over six hundred of Roy's magic crystals.

During the Northern Fleet's surprise attack on Nantali Island, there were only thirteen magic airships at the island's transit dock. All the magic cannons on the airships focused their fire on a single Sea Emperor behemoth, but it was uncertain whether they could instantly destroy the behemoth's magical shield...

At present, it seems that the magic cannons on the four magic airships will definitely not be able to break through that thick magic shield.

Seeing that the magic airship's first attack had failed, the griffin riders in mid-air urged the griffins to fly upwards quickly...

Finally, the ballistae on the giant ship began firing bolts at the griffin riders, who quickly scattered in all directions, causing a large number of bolts to miss their mark.

Sabrina rode her white griffin to the top of the floating behemoth. Instead of hovering in the air, she plunged directly into the clouds, followed by a group of griffin riders.

When these griffin riders emerged from the clouds again, they all plummeted from the sky at high speed like meteors.

As they plummeted at high speed, the griffin riders hurled their short lances...

These short spears, imbued with 'armor-piercing' magic, left afterimages in the air, grazed the gaps in the magical shield, and landed on the giant ship, claiming the lives of some gray dwarf warriors.

In an instant, dozens of gray dwarf warriors were pierced through the body by short spears, like sea fish struggling after being harpooned...

The gray dwarves on the giant ship finally realized one thing:

The grey dwarf musketeers on these large warships had a hard time dealing with these fast and agile griffin riders.

The intelligence gathered by the gray dwarves overlooked the fact that this fleet actually had a flying unit.

In a single attack, the griffin riders caused casualties to more than two hundred gray dwarf warriors on the giant ship.

Unfortunately, the magic cannons on the giant ship couldn't target the magic airships that had taken off. When the gray dwarf commander on the giant ship saw that the thirteen magic airships had also erected magic shields, he immediately roared angrily at the group of gray dwarf officers around him:
"Their airships also have magical shields, how can we fight this battle?"

"Quickly pass down the order: activate the levitation device at full power, and quickly ascend the giant ship into the stratosphere to shake off these griffin riders..."

The runes on the levitation devices on the two giant ships quickly lit up, and the rapidly descending ships began to hover in mid-air. Then, the two giant ships slowly rose, piercing the short spears thrown by more than five hundred griffin riders, and disappeared into the clouds.

As the giant ship broke through the clouds and plunged into the high-altitude stratosphere, the griffin riders, whom it was difficult to shake off, also followed in pursuit.

The grey dwarf musketeers who had originally planned to take refuge in the cabins could only stand on the edge of the deck, braving the cold wind, holding their muskets to prevent the griffin riders from forcibly boarding the ship...

Thirteen magic airships followed closely behind the giant ship, entering the wind layer.

The two giant ships of the Northern Fleet dared not cross the Mensa Strait. They adjusted their altitude in the strobosphere, found a suitable wind direction, and quickly fled north.

After the giant ship filled its sails, it began to sail north at high speed, gradually increasing the distance between itself and the magic airship.

The battle ended abruptly after a brief encounter. Sabrina's griffin cavalry squadron could not linger in the wind layer for long, and soon the griffin cavalry left the wind layer. Even in their haste to leave the wind layer, this group of griffin cavalry managed to fly more than a hundred kilometers away from the Nantali Islands.

A group of griffon riders, their faces, bodies, and armor covered in a thin layer of frost, shivered from the cold, yet still hurled insults at the gray dwarves as they flew through the air:
"These cowards only know how to run away..."

……

Above the clouds, a flock of fiery red seagulls, like the sunset clouds on the horizon, flew across the sky.

From a distance, it looks as if the clouds in front are on fire...

Sabrina quickly ordered all the griffin riders to stop. Their task at this moment was to avoid them and not provoke the volatile firebirds.

This flock of Exploding Firebirds dwells deep within the Black Gold Mountains year-round, and their diet is quite diverse, including not only some mountain animals but also frequent sea foraging.

These exploding firebirds are not actually considered graded magical beasts; they cannot cast spells like other magical beasts.

However, these Exploding Firebirds are extremely irritable. Once angered, they will transform into a rain of fire and launch a suicide attack.

So when Sabrina saw these firebirds, she immediately avoided their flight path.

……

By the time Sabrina had circled back to Nantali Island from the sea, quite a few magic airships had already returned safely from the port.

The group of griffin riders were also exhausted, and they all rode their griffins onto the deck.

The griffins rested on the deck, and the griffin riders would then go to the storeroom to collect dried fish and begin feeding the griffins.

To foster a closer bond, feeding the white griffins was something that couldn't be done by someone else, so Sabrina fed them herself.

It was already late at night. The half-elf crew members on the magic airship gathered in twos and threes, chatting and munching on fruit. They were all talking about the battle they had just fought and how they had failed to capture the two giant ships.

Sabrina, exhausted, also returned to the Black Pearl.

She also stopped an imperial merchant ship today, but this imperial merchant ship was full of goods from the empire and looked like it had just come from the Green Empire.

Since no half-elf was found on the ship, Sabrina let them leave immediately...

Woods stayed in the captain's cabin and saw Sabrina board the ship. He opened the window and waved to her.

The ship was quiet. Walking into the ship's corridor, she couldn't understand why she preferred to share a cabin with Moira when there were still some empty rooms available...

Pushing open the door and stepping inside, the cramped space contained only a bunk bed and a writing desk by the window. There were no electric lights in the room, and the light streaming in through the glass windows made the cabin exceptionally dim, with a sweet fragrance wafting through the air.

Roy and Moira slept in the lower bunk, embracing each other. Moira's smooth arm draped over the edge of the bed, the back of her hand resting on the floor.

Half of the thin blankets covering them had fallen to the floor.

Sabrina tiptoed off her armor. There was a bathroom in the room, so Sabrina quickly showered, then climbed onto the upper bunk in a light robe. She hugged the soft, sun-drenched blanket, closed her eyes but couldn't fall asleep. She pulled the blanket up to her chest and curled up.

It seemed that only this small room could give her a sense of security.

With ongoing fighting in the Nantali Islands, people have become accustomed to these probing attacks.

Roy intended to seize the Nantali Islands and make them a forward operating base for fighting the Northern Fleet.

The Northern Fleet once again advanced into the Mensa Strait, this time sending a giant ship to attack the transit point in the Nantali Islands, but it was intercepted by the Griffin Cavalry Regiment of the mine guards...

Clearly, the giant ship had no advantage against the griffin cavalry.

The Northern Fleet's air power had not yet entered the Elven Kingdom, partly out of fear of the Silver Pegasus Knights, but now these Griffin Riders were even more troublesome...

The probing attack also ended in failure.

Sabrina slowly closed her eyes, her lips slightly upturned, her long golden hair cascading over the pillow.

It now seems that those gray dwarves in the Northern Fleet aren't so scary after all.

Several years ago, she and Moira lived on Brown Street in Castletown. There, she overheard the half-elf fishermen at the docks talking about the grey dwarf pirates at sea. They said the grey dwarfs were a vicious bunch who frequently harassed fishing boats.

Now, not only have the grey dwarf bandits around the Queen Evanni Islands been driven away, but even the waters around Quel's Isle have become the territory of the half-elf.

Now Roy has led the mine's guards to occupy the entire Mensa Strait...

If someone had said in a tavern ten years ago that a group of half-elves had utterly defeated gray dwarf bandits at sea, all the elves would have thought he was drunk and talking nonsense.

But now that the facts are clear, other elves should probably take a closer look when they see hybrid elves.

Sabrina drifted off to sleep amidst these random thoughts.

……

In the downstairs room, separated from Sabrina by only a wall, Miss Tiffany lay languidly in the bathtub, her enormous tricolor fish tail dangling outside.

There was a metal nozzle above her head, and seawater sprayed from it onto her face, making her feel so comfortable that she wanted to moan out loud...

The hatch was pushed open, and Miss Olive walked in from outside. She then sat down next to Miss Tiffany without any ceremony, took the showerhead from the stand, and held it above her head to let the cool seawater pour over her.

"So, what did you find on this expedition to the north?"

Miss Tiffany asked Miss Olive curiously.

(End of this chapter)