Your war hammer is too fake

Answer to reader "zzz17746":

Lord of the Dwarves? You mean Barel? It's too early for his own highlight. And what does "construction" mean?

Chapter 489: A Turn to the Offensive (Part 1)

4:11 a.m., Pelican command bridge.

Yulika Magdova stared at the rapidly decaying warship in astonishment. She didn't need to check the hull number or main mast, she recognized the other party's identity just by the relative position: the first ship of the Swift class, and also the captain of the squadron of four Swift class ships.

"Raise the squadron flag!" the girl heard the navigation officer roar, "From now on, this ship will take over the command!"

Including the one that was just destroyed, the Zhendan people have deployed a total of nine frigates, including five old Kingfisher-class and four new Swift-class. It can be said that more than half of the Shenzhou fleet is here. Although there are only nine warships, these warships are organized into four squadrons. Before the fleet was split and reorganized, three of the five Kingfisher-class ships belonged to the Anxi Army and the other two belonged to the Shuofang Army; the Swift-class ships belonged to each army.

After the flying fleet was split into the Air Force and Army Aviation, the former became independent from the Army. Although the deployment location and main missions have not changed, it is no longer under the control of the Army in terms of operation. According to the standard organization, a frigate squadron has four warships under its command, but unfortunately the four existing frigate squadrons are not fully staffed. This is not a problem in normal times, but when all the frigates are assembled to rush to the aid of the Southland, the command system has to be reorganized.

The four squadrons were temporarily merged into two squadrons based on the ship types, and then the No. 1 ship in each class served as the squadron leader, since Kingfisher and Swift were already the leaders. Considering that the Aurora Air Force had never faced an opponent like the Ark of the Plague before, all warships were set up with a command sequence from the beginning just in case. If the command ship was disabled due to combat damage or other reasons, the next warship in the sequence would automatically take over the command.

According to the plan, if the No. 1 ship, the Swift, is lost or paralyzed, the No. 4 ship, the Pelican, will be the replacement, not the No. 2 ship of the Swift class. The reason for this is very simple...

"Captain, enter the bridge!"

"Situation report." Pelican Captain Yang Wenli (Note 1) put on his coat and strode into the command bridge: "I heard the battle alarm. Does this mean that we were ambushed by the enemy?"

"Sir," the navigation officer sent by Commander West to study took the initiative to step forward and described the current situation in the most concise language possible, "...Since the Swift has been destroyed, I have ordered the squadron flag to be raised."

Yang Wenli frowned slightly: "Are there any more instructions from the flagship?"

"Not yet, sir." The navigation officer shook his head and answered in very standard official language.

Yang Wenli asked again: "Have you discovered the enemy's position? What did the lookout say?"

"Our lookouts are still trying to locate the enemy, sir. I can only determine that the attack came from the three o'clock direction," the navigation master said. "This is a very bold action. To be honest, it does not match my impression of Nurgle's followers. They are always slow, and this kind of swift and sharp tactics is not their style."

"That's why we were the ones who were supposed to attack the enemy," Yang Wenli said. "And there's one thing I'm concerned about... Where are the enemy's flying bees?"

……

At the same time, in the command bridge of the Eclipse.

"The enemy's direct attack aircraft group has not appeared," Yrel's tone became a little awkward when he talked about a certain Van-Elsalin word made up by his boss. "So far, the only attack we have received is that strange gray beam. It is still unclear what caused such an attack."

“Yrel,” Morgan said, “tell me something I don’t know.”

"In order to perform evasive maneuvers, our fleet was unable to maintain a box-type air defense formation," the fleet commander said succinctly, "which means they didn't carry Wing Bees or other flying units. Otherwise, we would have been ready to counterattack by now."

So the Evergreen King asked, "What do you think? Just tell me your conclusion."

"The enemy did not show up after the first round of attacks, and their fighting style shows that this is a bombardment fleet," Yrel said decisively. "There is no doubt that the ones attacking us are the three so-called plague arks that are fleeing to the Antarctic wasteland! The enemy deceived our suspicious cold-blooded allies through feints. In fact, they have already set their sights on us, the only force that can stop them from wreaking havoc in the skies over the South."

As soon as he finished speaking, three more gray beams of light pierced through the night sky from the porthole made of hardened crystal. However, this time, except for an unlucky pterosaur, the enemy's long-range artillery fire did not hit any targets.

"Either we have encountered a new type of biological warship, or there is more than one type of Plague Ark. In any case, if this type of artillery biological warship is used in combination with the flying assault of the Winged Bee, we will have almost no ability to carry out targeted counterattacks in the first encounter. From this we can conclude that—"

……

Pelican, command bridge.

"——For some reason we don't know yet, the enemy has to race against time. They can't form a mixed formation first and then launch a more powerful and more irresistible attack, but they rush all the way here against time," Yang Wenli said, "The three targets we originally planned must be rushing here at full speed. Once they arrive, our only choice is to retreat at a higher speed. Well, maybe this is the enemy's purpose."

The battleship was performing irregular evasive maneuvers with the cooperation of the helmsman and the engine group, and the hum of the storm engine was louder than usual. Everyone in the bridge had to hold on to something, otherwise it would be difficult to stand firm.

"I don't understand, sir," Yurika said in disbelief. "When I was training in the military academy, every instructor told me that the faster side would definitely take the initiative in the battle, but now we can only jump up and down like a group of Squiggs... Ersun, what kind of witchcraft is this?!"

"Our army has the right to choose whether to continue the battle, which is the initiative," Yang Wenli replied, "The cruising speed of our slowest warship is much faster than the enemy's maximum speed. Sometimes advantages are not necessarily used to fight for victory. Don't worry, General Yi is not a hesitant person, and new orders should be coming soon. Pass the order! This squadron stops evasive maneuvers and accelerates towards the three o'clock direction!"

"Here!"

……

Eclipse, command bridge.

"We can't just run away like this. The battle has just begun!" Morgan said, with a gleam in his eyes, staring at Yrel: "I guess you feel the same, right?"

"If we choose to continue the battle, Your Majesty, our only chance of winning is to create a time difference," the fleet commander calmly met his lord's expectant gaze, his voice steady and calm, "No matter what the enemy's reason is for acting so urgently, our army can take advantage of this. Before the three plague arks carrying a large number of flying units arrive, our army will have about..." He paused slightly and looked at the navigation captain.

The Eclipse's navigation master lowered his head and quickly calculated in his mind: "90 minutes, sir."

"We have about 90 minutes to defeat the enemy in front of us," Irel explained his tactical plan. "Whatever magic they use to conceal their bodies, as long as we get closer, I don't believe their illusion is perfect! We must charge into the artillery fire. Guan Tongchang, let the Zhendan people speed up and block..."

"Sir!" Guan Tongzhang had to interrupt the commander's order: "Three Swift-class ships are moving forward. Judging from their tracks, they want to block us!"

“Yang never disappoints me,” Yrel nodded. “If only my people were as perceptive as he is.”

"...Yrel, if you can't talk, you can say less." Morgan glared at the man. "And why let the Swift-class block in front of us? They have no shields!"

"Conventional armor is useless against that gray beam, Your Majesty." Yrel automatically filtered out the first half of his master's words. "We can't be sure of its effect on the shield, and we can't gamble. If we want to quickly reverse the situation, only the Eclipse-class phase torpedoes can do it, so we can't take risks with our two frigates."

Morgan said nothing more.

……

Note 1: Another more common translation is "Yang Wei-li". Of course, this book only borrows this name, and the character setting, especially the personality, is very different from the original one.

The author says:

Author's words: I don't know where that scumbag biological father got the news that my mother was injured and hospitalized... He didn't have the courage to go to the hospital to make a scene, but he came over and tried to use his self-proclaimed but actually lame rhetoric to PUA me. He is now spreading the news that my mother and I cheated him and made him leave the house with nothing. In short, he is making a fuss about being unreasonable and having a strong conscience. He is now making a fuss about redistributing the family property, and he is crying miserably, saying that during the Spring Festival last year, "I didn't even have a New Year's dish!" Haha, he doesn't even think about how he ended up like this.

Of course, there is good news. I told him that if he bothers me again, I will call "Uncle" over, and then call Uncle "Dad" in front of him and other relatives and friends. So this scumbag was silent on the spot. My mother's companion in the hospital has also been arranged, and my uncle and I take turns to come at a fixed time. From today on, I shouldn't stop updating because of this kind of bullshit...right?

Answer to reader "zzz17746":

Except for the protagonist, the ability choices of other group members are deliberately vague, so as to leave room for free play.

Chapter 490: A Turn to the Offensive (Part 2)

About forty kilometers away from the battlefield, three plague-spreading arks were flying at full speed.

Deep inside the largest Plague Ark, in a chamber protected by layers of chitinous carapaces and hard membranes, the Nurgle Demon Prince Namtaru observed the battlefield through a mental link. Although after ascending to the level of a demon, the former Overlord of the Hive lost his psychic power forever and could only use chaos sorcery as a substitute, fortunately, there were similar abilities in the magic system, which did not prevent her from intuitively feeling the development and direction of the battle.

The three bombardment-type plague-spreading arks were her latest inventions and her trump card for this operation. Compared with the original version, the bombardment-type arks could not carry flying units. Instead, they were equipped with a living cannon located at the head of the biological warship, which she named "Decay Beam", capable of long-range bombardment at a great distance. As its name suggests, once this gray beam hits the target, it will cause it to decay and fail rapidly in a very short time.

There is no doubt that this is an extremely powerful weapon. However, in order to complete it before the attack of the Southern Lizardmen, the three bombardment-type plague-spreading arks were all forced to hatch prematurely. Although they look normal, they actually only have a service life of about a month, and the range, power, and firing rate of the decay beams are all discounted.

Of course, even so, it only needs one strike to completely destroy a frigate without a shield. After all, the size of the Plague Ark is there, and its main gun has far exceeded the firepower of a frigate.

Since the three bombardment ships were destined to be unable to reach the Antarctic wasteland from the beginning, they would not survive until that time, so Namtaru took advantage of the Lizardmen's reliance on prophecy, especially astrology, and successfully led the main force of the Southern Lizardmen to the Dawn Fortress. The order of the Grandfather God was to send the memory glands that recorded all the genetic blueprints of the Chaos Hive to the Antarctic wasteland, but there was no requirement as to how to do this.

This is a difficult task, because Namtaro's opponents are not just the Outer Gods and their servants who are on the surface, but also include another participant in the great game, Tzeentch, the mortal enemy of Nurgle.

After analyzing the situation and personally inspecting the hatching facility that was raided and destroyed by the Tzeentch army, the Demon Prince concluded that not only would the Southern Lizardmen attempt to intercept at Dawnhold, but Tzeentch's followers would also most likely do so. After all, except for the Dark Prince who was so excited that he lost contact, the other three Destroyers were trying to build their own fleets, and the fleets of the Nurgle and Tzeentch factions had already been put into actual combat.

Namtaru had not seen the Tzeentch creation called the Silver Tower with her own eyes, but she was sure that the Tzeentch army relied on this thing to quickly break down the defense of an incubation facility, and now an unknown number of Silver Towers were hiding somewhere in the south, waiting for the children of the Grandfather God and the army of the Outer Gods to be defeated, and then jumping out to reap the benefits.

In theory, Nurgle, with six Plague-spreading Arks and a large number of Chaos Hives on the surface ready to serve at any time, has the most powerful military force, but the speed shortcoming is fatal: the Chaos Hive fleet naturally does not have the initiative at the tactical level, whether it is the flying ships of the Outer Gods or the Silver Tower, the speed is faster than the Plague-spreading Arks. As long as they want, they can completely take advantage of the speed advantage to actively avoid the battle, and the Plague-spreading Arks can never catch up.

From the moment she received the mission, Namtaru knew she couldn't afford to delay. The three bombardment-type arks only had a lifespan of one month, and relying on three aviation-type arks alone, it would be difficult to support the Lord of the Holy Scripture or the Tzeentch faction. The Demon Prince had considered trying to provoke the army of the Outer Gods to fight the army of the Lord of Change first, and then take advantage of the opportunity to fish in troubled waters, but the one-month time limit made her plan impossible to implement.

Finally, Namtaru changed her mind. Nurgle only asked her to send the memory glands to the Antarctic wasteland, and she was free to do what she wanted. The three plague arks did not say that they had to be sent to the Antarctic wasteland.

If that's the case, then why can't we use the three aircraft carriers as bait?

The Outer God Fleet, which was in action, was not the biggest threat. The Silver Tower of Tzeentch, which had been hiding in the dark and waiting for an opportunity, was the biggest threat. The Demon Prince had always remembered clearly what her mission was. She did not come to the mortal world to win a fleet battle or win that so-called honor.

In order to lure out the Silver Tower of Tzeentch, the prerequisite is that the biological warships of the Chaos Hive must be reasonably severely damaged and their strength must be greatly reduced, and the fleets of the Outer Gods must also be weakened by the losses caused by the battle. Of course, there is a problem here that the Tzeentch demon army may not dare to come to the scene of the battle between the two armies, because there is a high possibility that Namtaru and a certain Outer God will appear here at the same time, and the latter may be more than one. The existence of such high-end combat power itself is a huge deterrent.

Namtaru made two preparations for this. In addition to the six plague arks, she also prepared a second bait. The memory glands that were supposed to be transported by the plague arks were moved to the ground in advance and escorted by a small and capable nest army. The queen who led the team received an order that she needed to take these vital supplies to any place in the depths of the southern rainforest that she thought was secluded enough, and then stay there until the storm passed.

Once the battle seems to be settled, the queen will need to find a way to capture a large enough sea beast, control it, corrupt it, and finally have it take the memory gland to the Antarctic wasteland.

As for how to leak this information to the Tzeentch camp, Namtarus thought about it and thought that there was no need to do anything deliberately, as it would be suspicious. The coordinates of the seven incubation facilities that should have been extremely secret were exposed, and Tzeentch must have a way to spy on this action, so just let it go.

At that time, no matter which target the Tzeentch Silver Tower chooses to attack, Namtaro will have traps ready for them. If the Tzeentch faction raids the battle between the Nurgle fleet and the Outer God fleet, the batch of Elemental Stones that Namtaro obtained from the Plague Clan in advance will come in handy. For this reason, the Demon Prince cannot intervene in the battle before the Tzeentch Silver Tower appears, which is both to save strength and to prevent the enemy from knowing where she is.

If the Tzeentch faction raids the team escorting the memory gland, they will find that the memory gland is real, but there is something else inside the memory gland, some horrible plague that can even kill demons.

Once the plague is released, the nearby memory glands will also be destroyed, so Namtaru actually prepared two sets of memory glands, which store exactly the same data. One set was sent out as bait, and the guards are probably trudging somewhere in the rain forest; the other set will be sent out after the plan succeeds.

Anyway, although the task was difficult and almost difficult, Namtaru did her best within her ability. In order to deceive the Tzeentch forces who must be hiding in the dark and secretly observing at this time, Namtaru specially formulated a fake battle plan. She did not tell her subordinates the real plan, but told them that her plan was to try to defeat the fleet of the Outer Gods with a decisive surprise attack before the Tzeentch faction was defeated.

No matter how Tzeentch's followers monitored the battlefield, they could not possibly lurk near the battlefield in advance. After all, even Namtaru did not know where the battle would break out. The Outer God Fleet, which had the fastest overall speed, firmly grasped the initiative at the tactical level. They would not necessarily choose to stay and fight after being attacked by artillery.

In other words, even if Tzeentch's army wanted to attack, it would take a certain amount of time to reach the battlefield, and the Chaos Nest's biological warships could take the opportunity to create a time difference.

To achieve this goal, the three bombardment-type Arks will take advantage of the short period of high shadow wind in the early hours of this morning, and the tribe mother who has merged with the biological warships will cast a spell to cover her body, so as to jump into the face of the Outer God Fleet unexpectedly. In order to paralyze the Outer God Fleet, which is indeed impossible, the three aviation-type ships that have been under enemy surveillance cannot merge with the bombardment-type ships in advance, and can only wait until the bombardment-type ships launch a surprise attack before rushing over at full speed.

This plan sounded reasonable, and all the subordinates believed it. For Namtaru, it didn't matter even if all three aircraft were lost. As long as the memory glands were safely delivered to the Antarctic wasteland, to the territory controlled by the Plaguehorn tribe among the demon beastmen, the Chaos Nest would have a fleet that covered the sky and the sun in the future.

"The battle is going well, my lord." The demon prince, who was observing the battlefield forty kilometers away through a mental link, heard the fawning voice of an unfortunate clan mother in the control center of the plague ark he was on: "They are no match for us at all. Look, another enemy ship has been destroyed. I think they are almost desperate, my lord."

"Don't take it lightly," Namtaru said coldly, "Those are creations of the Outer Gods. They are carefully designed war machines, not fragile and easily broken... oh?"

After a pause, the Demon Prince said, "This is about to get interesting."

……

Yulika Magdova's heart was pounding.

At 4:27, after the Pelican raised its squadron flag, the entire squadron stopped evasive maneuvers and accelerated forward to block the two Eclipse-class ships. At 4:33, a little later, the entire fleet began to change its formation.

Yulika couldn't understand this approach, and even felt angry about it - asking them to serve as shields for the Eclipse class, which had shields? What a joke! Although the design had shields, unfortunately the ship-borne shield generator project was delayed, resulting in the first batch of four Swift-class ships without shields.

After waiting for a long time until the Mohists in the arsenal completed the technical research and development, the four Swift-class ships were already lying in the slipway, ready to install the shields. The sudden war in the south forced them to stop installing equipment, restore to combat status and teleport here through the roots.

Armor is useless in front of that gray beam, not to mention that the Swift class itself is a light armor design, and its defense mainly relies on shields and carefully designed cabin structures. If it was Yurika before entering the aviation school, she would have loudly questioned what this outrageous order was... Fortunately, the six months of military school career was still somewhat useful. She silently fulfilled her duties as a military school student and watched how the battleship operated in actual combat.

The three Swift-class ships accelerated forward, using themselves as shields to block the two Eclipse-class ships. The other five Kingfisher-class ships climbed a hundred meters higher and cut in from the side, directly above the friendly forces.

During this process, the fleet was bombarded by the enemy again. That damned gray beam crossed the formation of three Swift-class ships, leaving a fleeting afterimage in Eureka's retina. The next moment, the voice of the commander rang out in the command bridge: "The Sparrow is sunk! Repeat, the Sparrow is sunk!"

The Kislev girl felt as if an invisible hand had suddenly grasped her heart. Her fleet had lost two Swift-class frigates before they even opened fire. Even if the Bokaha family sold everything they had, they could hardly afford one of these things, and now, right under her nose, two warships were gone.

She looked at Yang Wenli and found that the captain was just staring at the front without being moved. She tried to hold back, but finally couldn't hold it back: "This is suicide, sir! Our sacrifice is meaningless!"

The navigation officer frowned and was about to reprimand the girl for her rude behavior, but the captain raised his hand to stop her. "Calm down first, and then think about it, so that you can make the right judgment," Yang Wenli said, "Oh, you're finally here."

The five Kingfisher-class frigates were lined up in a row, with intensive close-range communications between the squadron leader and the other four warships. After a brief coordination, the 12-tube 130mm rocket launchers on the protruding platforms on both sides of the Kingfisher-class bridge were laid flat, and then the gunner stepped on the firing pedal, and rockets flew out one after another.

Before the enemy's next round of artillery fire, 120 unguided ordinary rockets drew dense parabolic trajectories and exploded in the direction of the fleet's advance. Fine obsidian powder was ignited by the gunpowder and dispersed, briefly forming a very irregular "cloud" in the air.

"This will buy us 20 seconds," Yang Wenli said as he picked up the intercom, "Two cars into three!"

"Yes!" The chief engineer's voice came from the other end of the intercom: "Two cars into three!"

The storm engines of the two remaining Swift-class frigates roared low, and behind them, the two Eclipse-class frigates were doing the same. The enemy's artillery fire came again, and the firing intervals were no different from before, but the accuracy was greatly reduced, and none of the three gray beams hit the target and were far away.

"Interference warhead. The craftsmen worked overtime and finally made it before the fleet was dispatched. However, for now, only the 130mm version used by the Kingfisher class is available, and the 180mm version used by the Swift class is still being tested. In fact, this is a trick we learned from our enemies," Yang Wenli explained at the right time, "It's the 'pufferfish'."

"…I'm sorry, sir. As a soldier, I shouldn't question orders."

"'Questioning an order' is not a mistake, at least I don't think it is a mistake," Yang Wenli shook his head, "'Refusing an order' is a mistake. Everyone has the right to question an order they think is wrong, but no one has the right to refuse to execute an order, no matter what their reasons are or who they are."

After a brief pause to give Eureka and the others enough time to digest the information, Yang Wenli continued, "It's the turn of the air knights to go out. We only have six phase torpedoes, and we can't afford to waste any of them."

The author says:

Author's words: I still owe a thousand words, I will make up for it in tomorrow's update... The weather here has been a bit capricious recently. It started to rain when I was out, but it was a downpour, which made me feel cold and excited. I have a slight fever now, and I feel a little dizzy. I have taken medicine.

Chapter 491: A Turn to the Offensive (Part 2)

Casti o Wind Feather and her falcon companion bask in the rising sun together.

Ever since her father Yrel became one of the first captains of the Kaldorei to go to Xuanshui for training, and was then promoted rapidly to commander of the Royal Fleet, Casti thought that she would soon be able to embrace a lawless and free life - unfortunately, this illusion only lasted for a few weeks before it was broken, because her sister, the eldest daughter in the family, Tayanan, went straight to the army to drive a magic armor after leaving a letter.

With her father promoted and her elder sister running away, Casti, the second daughter, was told in a daze that from now on, she would be the new Wind Knight of the Falcon Cavalry Regiment "Star Hawk", responsible for commanding the 23 other Falcon Cavalry members except herself.

Between following her long-cherished wish to have a wonderful adventure in the world outside the Zhemu King's Court and fulfilling her family responsibilities, Kasti reluctantly chose the latter. The Wind Feather Family has no other heirs, unless a child is adopted from a branch of the family, which Kasti cannot accept.

To be honest, since the new officer took office, Casti's discomfort with the rule-abiding military life has not been smoothed out with the passage of time, but has become more serious: for the sake of her family, the Falcon Cavalry always carried out her orders politely and coldly, but they obviously did not agree with Casti herself at all.

Casti's rebellious and rebellious character is well known. Although the Falcon Riders will not publicly accuse her of this, they are indeed full of suspicion of Casti. Their obedience is only out of loyalty and the maintenance of tradition, and Casti herself is well aware of this. On the one hand, the second daughter is distressed, fearing that she will bring shame to the family's honor because of herself, and on the other hand, she is even more unwilling to change herself and make herself meet the expectations of her subordinates.

In this conflicted mood, Casti faced her first actual combat since becoming a Wind Knight: the entire royal court was mobilized for war, and the air forces from the allies came out in full force to help.

——Based on her own actual experience, Casti felt that this war was completely different from the wars described in the legendary stories and heroic epics. At least so far, she had not seen any heroes who could turn the tide, nor any champion duels full of honor and romance. Marching, marching, and marching again. She and her men spent almost all their time on endless marches until the air knights finally received orders from the fleet.

Under the deep night, the sky knights and flying beasts said goodbye to their army comrades who had been with them for several days, and finally succeeded in reuniting with the fleet after a lot of effort. What happened next was a bit overwhelming for Casti. The sudden attack put the fleet in a passive position for a time, and two frigates from the allies were completely destroyed without firing a single shot... Fortunately, the rockets equipped with jamming warheads stopped the enemy's reckless behavior in time, which gave the fleet a chance to advance.

"...force the enemy out, and then act according to the predetermined plan." The apple-sized communication matrix hung on his waist, and his father Yrel's familiar yet unfamiliar voice came into his mind out of thin air. "Remember, you have no right to fail, and neither do I."

Casti didn't reply, but turned around to look at her subordinates. If it was her sister, she would probably respond with a sarcastic tone, such as "Yes, Your Excellency, Fleet Commander" or something like that? Anyway, if it was me, Casti would just purse her lips in displeasure and say nothing.

Without giving any orders, the girl just turned her head and the other falcon cavalry immediately understood her intention. The falcon cavalry stepped on the back of the war falcon, with their spears fixed to the back armor through buckles: the falcon cavalry originally did not wear any protective gear, nor did they use shields. However, the special nature of the Nurgle believers forced the Kaldorei to make targeted adjustments. Even the falcon cavalry, who were lighter than the forest guards, had to wear the fully enclosed armor designed by An Jiyue.