Behind Griffin City-State, three Airships arrived at the battlefield. Instead of moving forward to bombard the enemy as usual, they sent planes racing down the two parallel runways atop each vessel. The planes took off one after another, buzzing like locusts as they circled overhead and quickly gathered into a swarm.
Powered by Steam Power Cores, the planes trailed white steam as they flew, drawing graceful lines across the sky—an "S" one moment, a "B" the next...
Once all sixty planes of the first squadron were airborne, they surged toward the enemy like a swarm of bees.
Each Airship carried three Aircraft Squadrons, or 180 planes. Across three Airships, nine squadrons made a total of 540.
The pilots were all recent trainees, but little was asked of them tactically. They only needed to take off, land, and drop bombs. Nor did they need to fear the enemy: Griffin Cavalry from Griffin City-State flew escort beside them.
After surrendering to Green, the Griffin Cavalry had quickly discarded their old Heavy Crossbows in favor of Dragon-Hunting Rifles, which had tremendous range and could fire five shots in succession.
At long range, they sniped with their rifles. Up close, they still charged with Lances—the Griffin Cavalry's best way to fight in a close-quarters clash.
In the blink of an eye, the first three Aircraft Squadrons launched from the Airships had reached the skies above Griffin City-State.
The people in the city had never seen aircraft like these. All they could make out was a dense multitude, each trailing a streak of white smoke.
Some Transcendents had extraordinary eyesight and saw them more clearly: barrel-shaped aircraft with snarling beasts painted on their noses—sharks, lions, bears, sea eagles... They looked fierce enough.
But some Legendary Rank powerhouses saw through them. These aircraft were all for