Closing the Distance

Brendan's heart jolted at Jackson's words. He immediately raised his spyglass and looked in the direction Jackson had indicated.

Sure enough, on the sea to the northeast, countless black specks had appeared. Riding the wind, they spread out in a fan formation and raced toward the rescue fleet, which was bombarding the beachhead!

At a rough glance, there were at least twenty or thirty ships. There were few large warships; most were small- and medium-sized oar-and-sail vessels and converted armed merchant ships. But in terms of numbers, they held an overwhelming advantage!

The Sauron wolf head flags hanging from their masts writhed ferociously in the wind.

"Hmph! So they came after all!" Brendan snorted coldly, showing little surprise.

It would have been strange if the Sauron had failed to react when his fleet was bombarding their landing force so openly.

He lowered the spyglass, his eyes sharp as an eagle's. In an instant, he shifted from worrying about his comrades on the opposite shore to preparing for the threat at sea.

"Yes, my lord." Captain Jackson's tone was solemn. "It seems we have trouble of our own. They want to take advantage of our concentrated formation while we're bombarding the beachhead, tie us down, and perhaps even throw our formation into chaos!"

Brendan's gaze remained fixed on the shadows of the Sauron warships on the horizon. They were growing clearer as they swept in from the wind in a fan-shaped encirclement, while his mind raced, weighing the strengths and weaknesses of both sides.

Although he was an experienced army commander, deeply versed in infantry formations, cavalry flanking maneuvers, and fortress warfare, he was far from an expert at deploying forces and conducting fleet battles on the boundless sea, where wind and currents could change in an instant.

Lord Karl had