Rudolf crouched low as the Dragonhawk's wings sliced through the sea wind.
He looked down. Though the enemy was partly submerged, their formation was still plain to see.
At the very front, a gigantic sea crab trudged across the seabed, its brown-green carapace resembling a moving fortress.
Its two enormous claws parted the surface, driving the waves aside.
[This is Eagle Eye One.]
Rudolf's voice traveled through the terminal into Fortress One.
[Enemy vanguard confirmed: Deepwater Siege Crab, at least level four. Three hundred to four hundred Many-Armed Folk warriors following behind, escorting Siege Turtles.]
The giant crab raised both claws.
The seawater bulged upward, forming a ten-meter-high wall of water that rolled toward the sea fortress.
[The siege crab is creating a water wall. Target: Fortress One. Attack underway.]
He finished his report and pulled the reins taut, climbing high into the sky.
[Dragonhawk Knight report! The enemy's main force is approaching! The water wall is about to hit!]
The messenger's shout echoed through the fortress.
Baron Kru stood inside an Arrow Tower with his hand on his sword hilt. Beneath his feet, the Redleaf Tree planks rose and fell slightly with the waves, leaving him deeply uneasy.
"Draw the strings! Target that big brute at the front!" The ballista commander was a scar-faced veteran. He spat outside. "Ignore the swimming grunts!"
Working in teams of four, the crews turned their winches together, drawing back the thick bowstrings inch by inch. Soldiers loaded bolts as tall as a man into the firing grooves, their spearheads made of sharp cast iron.
The bolts tore through the air with piercing whistles, flying straight toward their target. They struck the lead crab's back shell, throwing up showers of sparks. The clang of iron against hard armor drowned out the waves, but most