Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 459 The Charging Coffin

Hughes asked in surprise, "Really? You can change them all at once?"

"It's absolutely true, every single flaw has been resolved—completely resolved! This is no joke!"

As she spoke, Tata handed over the blueprints in her hand.

Hughes gasped at the first glance, his eyes widening in shock.

How did he see the reins and saddle?
"This time, I designed the Type 01 assault boat. Because it was necessary to balance flexibility and reliability, I abandoned the steam engine, which had insufficient performance and occupied a large area, and chose a new energy source of power—human power!"

Hughes's hand holding the blueprints began to tremble.

"Each boat is equipped with nine sirens, powered by four shafts: three in the front, two on each side, and two at the rear. As we all know, sirens are extremely fast and agile in the sea, which gives our assault boats omnidirectional mobility. This is a feat never before seen in shipbuilding history!"

"Not to mention the speed, no other ship can match the speed of the banshees in the sea, but my speedboat can. It can even lead the two banshees behind it by half a body length!"

"While our flexibility and agility have been dramatically improved, the firepower of our assault boats is also unprecedented. When fully equipped, we can carry 54 Dragon Breath Cannons!"

"Other ships have independent power and fire control systems, but on the assault boats they have been integrated for the first time. Because the Banshees can multitask, they can swim, search for enemies, and fire at the same time, truly achieving a fully automatic, fully Banshee-controlled firing system!"

"As for the issue of insufficient reliability that you mentioned last time, my lord, I have also given it serious consideration, and this is reflected in the design of this new ship—I designed a canopy for the ship!"

"Don't underestimate this cover; it's sealed. Even if the ship capsizes, it won't be able to stop sailing. In other words, we've got a ship that will never sink!"

Tata stood up, straightened her clothes, and prepared to receive the applause from the crowd.

Hughes stared blankly at the design drawings, while Tata remained true to her original intentions; this time, the ship she designed still resembled a coffin.

There's even a lid.

Hughes held the blueprints, looking at them again and again. They seemed familiar no matter how he examined them. After a long period of thought, a sudden realization dawned on him:
"Nine dragons and nine snakes pulling a coffin?"

Tata paused for a moment, then frowned: "This name... Lord, if I may be so bold, your taste is rather poor."

Even Hughes couldn't hold back anymore. Without looking up, he pointed to the door and yelled, "Get him out of here!"

Monica took the lead, lifting Tata up and throwing him outside the door. Ignoring his shouts, she quickly closed the door, patting her chest with lingering fear: "I don't want to pull a coffin. This design reminds me of when I was a slave."

Nini burst out laughing.

"You didn't pull a coffin when you were a slave, you were always crying and wailing, even the seabed was suffering from your crying~"

"You bullshit!"

"Seriously, why are Tata's designs getting more and more outrageous?"

"His designs have always been outrageous. Isn't the Stellar Furnace outrageous? But to be honest, they are all feasible. You know what, if this 'Charging Coffin' were actually made, it could really achieve the effect he mentioned—just look at whether his three problems have been solved or not. The ship is small enough, right? It has dragon breath cannons, right? And its reliability is sufficient, right?"

Nini laughed out loud.

“You’re right, but now the problem is, who will pull the coffin?” Monica was stunned, pointing three fingers at Nini while covering her mouth with three trembling hands.

"I... I'm still a child, how can you make me pull a coffin!"

Tata's interruption eased the heavy atmosphere in the room.

People began to whisper among themselves. Ash stood alone with his arms crossed, seemingly lost in thought.

After a while, her eyes lit up:
"Lord Lord."

Hughes shuddered and looked over with a hint of suspicion. He was terrified by these unreliable fire-chasing moths and didn't want them to come up with any more crazy ideas.

However, seeing that it was Ash, he felt somewhat relieved; Ash was still quite reliable.

"What ideas do you have? Tell us quickly."

"Alright, my lord, I've been thinking about it, and I feel that Tata's battering sarcophagus does have its merits. At least it can actually provide support to the Northern Territory, it's just a bit of a burden."

That assault coffin could be modified? Hughes was dumbfounded: "What's cumbersome about it?"

"The coffin is a burden. If we remove the coffin, wouldn't it be more efficient to have nine female demons form a team?"

After saying that, she pointed to Castel on the map: "Have a team of banshees swim along the sea to the North, and then along the Kohler River. Most of the way is connected by waterways, and we swim quite fast in water. Although it takes a longer route, it's actually the fastest overall, I estimate."

She gestured to indicate the distance.

"Four days! If everything goes smoothly, we should be there in four days!"

Unlike the land-based plan, this "everything goes smoothly" is actually possible. The enemy Castel in the Storm Ocean has already been eliminated, and in the river... there's nothing in the river that can threaten the Banshee, right?
Hughes's eyes lit up. This method seems to really work!
The banshees are armed with heavy firepower; they're truly ready for battle!
Moreover, they have a symbiotic contract, making them quite powerful in combat, so there is no need to fear individual injury!

Wait, a symbiotic contract.
"The symbiotic contract has distance limitations, right?"

The symbiotic contract provides a shared life pool and a mental link within close range, but once you go beyond the symbiotic range, you will continuously lose life force. It's okay for a day or two, but if it goes on for a long time, you can't stand the constant loss of health even without the enemy attacking you.

"Yes, we cannot stay away from Castel for long. It takes eight days to go there and back, with at most one or two days of combat time in between. Any longer would be very dangerous."

The North is quite far from Castel, and the banshees spend most of their time traveling.

“One or two days of combat time, one or two days.” Hughes stood up and went to the map. He first found the area covered by the Kohler River, then circled it with charcoal, creating a large circle.

"That means your area of ​​operation is roughly this large."

The banshees are extremely fast in the water, but not so fast on land.

The banshees' ability to move on land comes from the pact they made with Hughes; without this pact, they would all be bloated monstrosities.
In other words, the sirens' ability to move in the sea is due to their supernatural powers, but they don't have those on land, and their snake tails are not very suitable for long-distance marches.

You can travel a thousand miles a day by following the river, but only a few dozen miles a day once you're on land.
"But I looked at the map, and the forests are mostly along the river, so I'm not worried about not finding the resistance—they can't possibly fight their way into the city, can they?"

(End of this chapter)