Vanessa would not tolerate such open provocation. Without a word, she lunged forward and instantly closed in on the Paladin. Her twin daggers drew two deadly arcs in the air, aiming straight for the enemy's neck.
Unas swiftly took a step back, a thick steel shield suddenly appearing in his hand. With a few effortless swings, he forced back the female assassin's fierce attack.
Vanessa didn't hesitate. She bent down and sprang forward again, teleporting to the Paladin's side like a bullet, her dagger aimed at Unas's waist and abdomen.
Unas leaped with all his might, simultaneously throwing his steel shield. Vanessa nimbly dodged the shield, her dagger flying from her hand, aiming straight for her opponent who was unable to dodge in mid-air.
But her sure-fire strike missed. Unas could change direction in mid-air; he activated his Light Wings and instantly moved to Vanessa's head, delivering a chop to the back of her neck.
Vanessa groaned and collapsed to the ground, rolling several times until her back hit the wall. Blood streamed from her nostrils, but she remained defiant, shouting, "What kind of sorcery is that?"
Unas calmly retrieved the steel shield from the ground, though he was also quite surprised. Although he had held back some strength in his chop (fearing he might accidentally kill the little beauty), the assassin, with her thin skin and fragile body, should have been lying on the ground for a while after taking such a heavy blow. He hadn't expected Vanessa to still be able to move.
"Sorcery? What a joke, that's the most honorable kind of magic." Unas activated and deactivated his Light Wings in the air in an instant; his opponent should have only seen a flash of golden light and wouldn't have recognized it as Holy Light magic.
Vanessa's pride and disdain vanished, but her words remained defiant, "You've won this round, but don't get cocky. My blade is most effective in the dark."
Assassins excel at stealth and surprise attacks; direct combat is not her forte. Unas didn't want to make an enemy of her, so he took out a white cloth and a healing potion from his Spatial Bag and threw them over.
Vanessa hesitated for a moment, but accepted it nonetheless. Having grown up in a bandit's den, she believed in the law of the jungle and held a degree of respect for the person who had just defeated her.
The other two people in the room were completely unprepared for this sudden battle. Before they could even stop it, the fight was over. The old marshal and Sophia were also stunned and didn't know what to say to the foolish Paladin.
Suddenly, the wooden door to the room was pushed open, and a Defias henchman rushed in. Seeing the female assassin slumped in the corner, he was shocked. "Miss, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine," Vanessa slowly stood up, wiping the blood from her nose and lips. "What are you doing here?"
"The leader has ordered that you accompany him to the port."
VanCleef was particularly worried about the three old marshals and insisted on keeping them by his side at all times. Vanessa asked curiously, "What are you going to the port for?"
The foreman walked up to her and whispered the real-time battle report in her ear. Vanessa's expression changed, and she said, "Let's go quickly."
Unas and the other two exchanged glances. Although they didn't know what had happened, the situation had changed, and they now had a chance to escape.
Sophia seized the opportunity and said, "Please inform Lord VanCleef that if he can return my men, I am willing to lend a helping hand to the Chief, no matter what happens at the port."
The foreman said coldly, "Your men have all been transferred by Mr. Heavyfist to repair the city walls. Don't think too much about it; the port doesn't need your help."
These cunning thieves wouldn't be foolish enough to create uncertainty for themselves, so Sophia's plan naturally fell through, but she had given it a try anyway and wasn't too disappointed.
The sky was clear and blue, without a single flaw, like the most perfect mirror in the world. In stark contrast, the port sea, which should have been calm and peaceful, was now littered with shattered warships and thick black smoke, turning this beautiful scene into a messy and ugly pollution.
The Tidemist Naga's sudden attack came from underwater, breaching half of the Defias warships right from the start. The technicians didn't have time to repair all the ship's hull, and five or six warships were already submerged. The fierce battles between the other ships, both on the surface and underwater, were still ongoing.
When VanCleef arrived at the port with his men, this was the scene that greeted him: one-fifth of the warships were lost forever, and an unnamed rage surged within him.
He issued the most severe attack order, and the thieves, enraged by their leader, launched a frenzied counterattack. The thieves, skilled in swimming, jumped into the sea like dumplings being dropped into boiling water, fighting desperately against the Naga Warriors. Countless Sea Mines and Spear Gun were unleashed, instantly causing huge casualties to the Naga.
Sara Tides was also injured by a Sea Mine and retreated to the distant sea to avoid the battlefield. She had agreed to the Countess to attack Defias's fleet and would be paid according to her merits. She would receive a bounty for each ship she sank. She had gained a great advantage from the initial surprise attack and thought that Defias's fleet was her cash cow.
Underestimating their enemy, Defias' main force suffered a major loss as soon as they arrived. The Naga were already few in number, and now they had suffered heavy casualties. Faced with hordes of crazed thieves, they were simply unable to fight any longer.
Unwilling to be completely annihilated, Sara Tides had no choice but to order a retreat. The Naga Warriors, as if granted a pardon, scattered into the deeper sea to avoid human attacks.
The Tides Chieftain was furious as she watched her tribesmen, covered in wounds and scrambling back to her side. At least a third of her Warriors were not coming back. This battle had severely weakened the Tides tribe, and if they were to flee like stray dogs, her prestige would be greatly damaged.
"I'll lure Behemoth here with blood, and then I'll turn all these mad humans into mincemeat!"
Upon hearing this name, the Naga Warriors around him were filled with fear. One of them said, "But Chieftain, this is shallow water; Behemoth won't come here."
"Then use your corpse to lure it over. Doesn't it love eating Naga the most?"
No one dared to utter a sound. The crushing defeat had driven the clan leader to madness, and disobeying her at this moment would clearly be tantamount to courting death.
Behemoth is a terrifying sea monster that lives in the nearby trench. The Tides tribe worships it as their guardian deity and often offers it food. However, what this sea monster likes most is the delicious flesh and blood of the Naga, making serving it food the most dangerous job for the Tides tribe.
"No matter what method you use, I want to see that monster appear within an hour!"
The Tides Chieftain's words already contained a clear hint: several of his subordinates were discussing swimming back to the battlefield to retrieve some of their clansmen's corpses to "fish" for prey.
On the shore, the victorious VanCleef had no time to rejoice. While repairing the warships, he ordered the shipwrights to devise a method for salvaging the sunken vessels, leaving the foremen scratching their heads in frustration—salvaging heavy warships with existing technology and tools would be a massive undertaking.
At that moment, the alarm bell on the watchtower suddenly rang, nine rapid rings representing the number of visitors.
Everyone was alarmed, watching the flag signals waving on the watchtower. Unas, completely bewildered, asked the pretty girl beside him, "What does it mean?"
Vanessa's expression turned worried. "A fleet of ships is coming, nine ships in total."
Nine ships. Unas's heart skipped a beat. There were eight refugee ships that had departed from Menethil Harbor, plus a Dwarf warship that served as an escort, making a total of nine ships.
Judging by the time, they should be arriving soon. Unas quickly borrowed a telescope, but could only see small black dots on the distant sea.
The Defias fleet, which had been resting, immediately went on high alert and formed a battle formation. A quarter of an hour later, the intruders' flags and ship designs finally became clear behind the lens.
"So it's a merchant ship from Ironforge," Vanessa, lowering her binoculars, her serious expression softening. "Perfect timing, let's collect some taxes."
The newcomers appeared to pose no threat, so VanCleef immediately ordered three warships to advance in a triangular formation to meet them.
Although Defias now considers himself the ruler of Stormwind City, he will not give up the pirate trade for the time being. However, what they do not know is that the merchant ships are not loaded with goods for "tax collection", but with refugees who have suffered hardships and are in need of relief.
"This couldn't have come at the worst possible time, "Unas sighed. "If the refugees had fallen into Defias' hands, they would surely have been reduced to laborers and cannon fodder."
Even with the eight hundred Stormwind army on board armed to the teeth, and powerful spellcasters like Omar and Huoye, a single Dwarf warship and eight merchant ships still couldn't defeat Defias' remaining twenty warships.
Unas didn't want the refugees to die, and Master Omar and his men also needed to conserve their strength to deal with the Black Dragon.
Only when he took action himself, having made up his mind, did he suddenly activate the Wings of Vengeance, instantly soaring into the sky. Vanessa beside him was extremely surprised; she finally saw clearly the spell that had defeated her.
VanCleef's elite archers and musketeers were alerted and immediately fired into the air, but none of them could reach the Paladin's heels. They could only watch helplessly as he sped away towards the refugee convoy.
Unas glanced back at the old marshal and Sophia on the ground. In order to maintain the maximum speed, he couldn't take them with him.
But the old marshal didn't take offense. Instead, he waved to him, indicating that they were not in immediate danger. Unas felt relieved and flew swiftly, crossing the sea in the blink of an eye and landing on the deck of the lead refugee ship.
The sailors and refugees on deck all recognized him, so there was no misunderstanding. It was indeed Luther leading the ship. He rushed over from the helmsman, his face beaming with joy, "Lord Unas!"
Unas, however, had no time to respond to his enthusiasm, and said urgently, "Raise the flags quickly, turn around immediately, Stormwind Harbor is not safe."
The former Stormwind army gave a proper salute, immediately acknowledged the order, and then said, "Actually, I was also planning to stop the ship. The port is a mess; there's obviously just been a fierce battle. The captain of the Dwarf warship even reminded us that all the Stormwind flags in the port are down. What exactly happened?"
"We'll talk about that later. Let's shake off those three warships that are chasing us first."
Seeing that the merchant ships on this side had stopped and turned around, and that the approaching Defias warships were accelerating, they saw the fleet as a big fat sheep and were unwilling to give it up easily.
The Dwarf warships took on the role of escort, firing a few feints to cover the merchant ship as it turned and hastily fled back the way it came.
Defias' warships relentlessly pursued, now close enough to see the enemy flag. The red Skeleton and crossbones was Stormwind City's nightmare, and Luther recognized it immediately, his face paling. "Are those Defias' ships? Has Defias captured Stormwind Harbor? How is that possible?!"
"Draw them further away, prepare for a counterattack," Unas, not answering Luther's question. "We can't handle twenty ships, yet they dare to chase us with only three. They're incredibly arrogant."
But soon, six more Defias warships caught up from behind, making it nine against nine, and the balance of victory became unclear.
By the time Stormwind Harbor had become a blurry little black dot, the distance between the pursuers and the pursuers had shrunk to within the range of an arrow.
Unable to roll sideways to fire cannons while sailing at high speed, their only means of attack were bows and arrows and muskets. However, perhaps due to the recent major battle and insufficient ammunition and arrows, Defias did not launch a long-range offensive. Instead, the nine warships split into three groups, left, center and right, and surrounded Defias like a giant pincer.
The warship's hull was several times stronger than that of the merchant ship, Defias clearly intended to win by ramming and boarding maneuvers.
Unas couldn't help but feel fortunate for his foresight—he had spent a fortune purchasing many bows and muskets at Menethil Harbor, and almost every one of the eight hundred Stormwind army was fully equipped. At his command, the dense barrage of ranged weapons caught Defias completely off guard; they had never imagined that there would be so many weapons on the merchant ship.
Suddenly, the two merchant ships in the middle shot out several magical flames in succession, and Huoye and Pafeman also made their move.
However, there were also spellcasters on Defias' ship. Several beams of black light met the attack and neutralized the fire spells of Huoye and Pafeman.
After several rounds of spellcasting, Defias's spellcaster was clearly of a lower rank and quickly fell into a disadvantageous position. If Master Omar were to intervene at this moment, he should be able to defeat the enemy immediately.
However, the master is the secret weapon against the Black Dragon, and it's best not to use him unless it's absolutely necessary, lest his whereabouts be exposed.
With its firepower suppressed, the Defias warships slowed down, but the distance between the two sides continued to shrink.
The chase continued until they unknowingly reached the open sea. Defias tightened its pincer formation, and the refugee boat was now surrounded. A boarding action was inevitable. But almost simultaneously, lookouts on both sides spotted unusual waves on the distant horizon.
A row of dark, spiky fins, almost taller than the masts of a warship, rose and fell from the sea, their menacing tails billowing high before crashing back into the water, splashing up white spray like giant waves.
"Sea monster!"
Regardless of whether they were friend or foe, all the Warrior on the ship stopped attacking. Giant sea monsters were practically synonymous with shipwrecks, but they generally only roamed the deep sea. No one expected to encounter a sea king here.
The Defias warships immediately signaled a ceasefire, the pincer formation receded, and the refugee convoy took the opportunity to break free of the encirclement, huddling together and fleeing further afield.
The Tides Chieftain gave a death order: in addition to using the corpses of the fallen, several Naga Warriors who acted as "fishing hands" sacrificed themselves to lure Behemoth out of the trench. Now that they saw their target, they naturally led the sea monster directly towards the Defias fleet.
But the Defias were no pushovers either. They frequently raided the seas and had methods to deal with sea monsters—each ship would throw out several thick iron chains to connect with the surrounding ships, and the nine warships were quickly chained together as one.
As they rapidly retreated towards the port, they dumped barrels of black oil, which they then ignited with rockets, quickly creating a wall of fire on the sea. The ship's cannons also began to fire in a show of force, their momentum unmatched for a time.
In contrast, the fleeing refugee fleet was like an unsuspecting tentacled woman.
Although Behemoth is a beast without intelligence, it knows to seek advantage and avoid harm. Chasing food is its instinct. When it encountered some obstacles on the Defias side, it immediately turned to the refugee ship. No matter how the Naga tried to coax it, it was useless. In the beast's mind, the Defias bandits and the Stormwind refugees were all delicious prey, without distinction of rank.
With a deafening roar, the Dwarf warships, urged on by their captains, unleashed a barrage of cannon fire. However, this was nothing compared to the spectacle created by Defias, and it did nothing to deter the monsters whose appetites had been whetted by the Naga. Merchant ships are not as sturdy as warships, and once a sea monster hits the bottom, they will inevitably perish, with the ship destroyed and all life lost.
As the sea monster drew closer, Unas stretched his limbs, preparing to venture out, when suddenly a light flashed behind him. Turning around, he saw that Master Omar had used short-range teleportation to arrive on the ship.
"Let me do it."