"What is that?!"
The old explorer Makas, who had been gazing upwards, wary of enemy attacks, suddenly asked a question.
He saw a transparent phantom streaking across the sky at an astonishing speed, and there seemed to be some kind of ancient and mysterious runes inside the phantom.
Then, the phantom plummeted straight into the iconic central platform in the heart of the Mining Town.
"What? Grandpa, are you seeing things?" Por looked in the direction Makas was pointing, but saw nothing but rows of rooftops.
"Strange—could it be that my eyes are getting old and my vision is failing?" Makas muttered to himself, somewhat uncertainly.
Rumble rumble rumble-!!!
Shortly after he finished speaking, the entire Bridge Mine began to tremble violently without warning!
The sturdy street platform built on the mountainside groaned under the strain, its metal structure began to crack and collapse, and smoke and dust rose from all directions like volcanic ash, instantly obscuring most of the sky.
What happened? Was it an earthquake?
Hold on tight, be careful not to fall!
"Help! The Dorok are attacking again!"
The crowd cried out helplessly; in the face of this natural disaster, there was nothing they could do.
"No! It's not an earthquake!" Por gripped a metal pipe tightly, pointing to the source of the tremors. "The central platform! It's moving!"
Under the horrified gazes of everyone, the central platform, which had stood silently for many years, along with its vast base area, began to rise amidst the roar of crumbling rocks!
The terrain of the entire Bridge Mine resembles a long, narrow meteorite crater.
(Original artwork by Hayao Miyazaki, schematic diagram of the "mine" and "battleship"; the outer ruins described in this article are larger than those shown in the diagram.)
The towering Ceramic Steel walls on all sides form the rim of the pit, while the central platform is the deepest point of impact.
Countless buildings begin at the bottom of this "pit" and extend upwards along the curved inner wall of the pit, forming a smooth and spectacular man-made sloping residential area.
As the "bottom of the pit" continued to rise in a way that defied common sense, the rocky ground began to crack extensively, with bottomless fissures spreading like a spider web.
Several magnificent stone bridges connecting the central high platform with the surrounding cliffside residential areas snapped suddenly, and bridge fragments mixed with rubble, wood, and even the figures of people unfortunately trapped on them fell from a height of tens of meters like a torrential rain.
As the bridge deck was completely lifted, what was hidden underneath was finally exposed to everyone's view.
Beneath each bridge stood an enormous, intricately engraved, exotic Ceramic Steel "engine pillar?!" Haideng exclaimed in disbelief.
The object was made of refined Ceramic Steel, a material he was familiar with, and he would never mistake its shape—it was similar to the Dorok warship in the distance, but a much larger engine column!
The colossal creature finally tore through the earth and emerged from the ground, revealing its ferocious and terrifying full form to the world!
It was an unimaginably huge Dorok, and the so-called central platform was its deck. The castle where everyone had previously held a meeting was built directly above its Bridge!
The ship's hull, constructed of thick Ceramic Steel, has sharp, mountain-like lines, and its numerous turrets are densely packed like the scales on a ferocious beast.
Three massive Ceramic Steel engine pillars are positioned on both sides of the ship, spewing out increasingly intense energy beams, working together with the anti-gravity engines to propel this unprecedented behemoth into the sky.
"This... this thing—has been hidden right under our feet? Hidden beneath the Mining Town!" Por's mouth dropped open, feeling as if his worldview had been turned upside down.
Just then, Nausicaä's urgent message came through the Blessing Link, Por immediately relayed it. "His Highness just told me that Gore wasn't found on that warship outside! The flying flask that carried him away was just a distraction!"
After hearing this, Haideng felt as if his heart had been gripped by an extremely terrifying conjecture.
" Gore —he's using the entire core area of Mining Town, all its people and buildings, as a disguise for this warship. That barrage just now was merely a delaying tactic to activate it!"
"It's over—" Looking at the dense array of turrets below the warship, Haideng collapsed to the ground.
As this giant ship emerged from the ground, most of the mining tunnel network beneath the mine, used for refuge and evacuation, was completely buried.
Once the enemy sets their guns on the area they are in, they will have no chance to dodge or escape; they will simply be reduced to dust under the cover of fire.
But this wasn't what terrified Haideng the most.
The giant warship before us is mostly made of Ceramic Steel, making it likely the most powerful warship in the entire Sea of Corruption Kingdoms!
Even if Gore didn't capture Asbel, the sheer force of this warship would be enough to conquer the entire border.
In fact, the role of the Dorok Battleship is very similar to that of the " Goliath Air Battleship" from another world, both existing as mobile air fortresses and firepower platforms.
Unlike that steel balloon, thanks to the superiority of anti-gravity technology, the Dorok warship doesn't need to worry about lift ratio, thrust ratio, or aerodynamic shape.
It simply requires pushing each data point to its limit.
Taking the "Guardian Warship" as an example, with a crew capacity of over a thousand people, a carrying capacity of tens of thousands of tons, fifteen 300mm heavy naval guns, a large number of bomb launchers, plus dozens of "flying hulls" as aerial wingmen, it can almost be called an all-rounder.
However, the "Guardian Warship" still has a well-known fatal flaw: it is a slow and fragile vessel.
First, the Dorok Principalities has many mountains in its territory, making mineral resources difficult to mine, which is completely different from the Sea of Corruption states, where even a handful of sand can be smelted into Ceramic Steel.
Secondly, the Dorok ' greatest strength is not heavy industry, but "biotechnology" based on biological genetics.
Therefore, their warships extensively used genetically modified wood with a hardness comparable to ordinary steel to construct the hull, in order to conserve precious metal resources.
However, "comparable to steel" is ultimately just comparison. In many key performance aspects, special wood still cannot compare with real alloys, let alone Ceramic Steel.
Due to material limitations, the speed of the Dorok warship was usually difficult to exceed 200 kilometers per hour, and its defensive capabilities were a major weakness.
But this giant ship before us is completely different!
Its volume is more than twice that of the "Guardian Warship", and at least 80% of its exposed hull is made of Ceramic Steel, which means that most conventional weapons cannot penetrate its armor.
At the same time, with Ceramic Steel, a material that combines high strength and relative lightweight properties, this ship does not need to consider the impact of air resistance and can pursue speed without restraint.
In other words, this giant ship, which Gore has kept hidden until now, possesses battleship-level destructive firepower, maneuverability comparable to a small high-speed gunboat, and terrifying defensive capabilities on par with ancient artifacts.
At this moment, hovering above the ruins of the Mining Town, it is truly an " Endure Battleship."
Even if it were to face the main fleet of Tolmekia, or the elite forces that the Dorok Principalities had hidden away, it would definitely have the strength to fight, and might even win!
No country, except perhaps in Mining Town where you could pick up several pieces of refined Ceramic Steel by simply bending over, could build such an extravagant and wasteful creation.
So this was the biggest reason why Gore dared to openly tear off the mask and expose his ambition at the International Confederation of Wizards; this was his deepest-hidden trump card!
Just as everyone on the ground was shrouded in despair, thinking that the dense cannons would spew flames at any moment and wipe them and the remaining Mining Town off the map, the three columns slowly turned their angles and adjusted their spray direction.
The giant ship began to accelerate, heading towards the high sky in the northwest. The powerful exhaust from its engines left long streaks of light in the air, and the roar gradually faded into the distance.
From beginning to end, it paid no attention to the ordinary people on the ground.
"Northwest... Northwest?!" Haideng, who was slumped on the ground, stared blankly at the warship sailing away, but then jumped up as if he had been electrocuted, startling Por and Trudeau beside him.
"That direction! He's going to Pejite! Gore's target is Pejite!!"
Those who understood his meaning were as if they had been doused with a bucket of ice water, instantly feeling chilled from head to toe.
The real war is about to begin!