The UFO
Su Ming held nothing back. The other side had brought out such a formidable force, with four people who were clearly high-ranking clergy hiding in the sky and letting Yise take a beating-they weren't here to play mahjong!
The White Bone Mark's energy had already been heavily depleted in the fighting against the Temple Knights before Su Ming crossed over to the other world. Afterward, both the modifications to the White Bone Fortress and the amplification of Zijin's spellcasting had drawn on its power. It had taken considerable effort to recover some of it over this time.
Su Ming had no time to worry about that either!
In an instant, strange magical trails appeared on the horizon. Su Ming suddenly understood what they were after-a large-scale long-range attack!
A dense barrage of light blades plummeted from the night sky like a torrential downpour, moving so fast their paths were almost invisible to the naked eye. A succession of enormous waves erupted behind the Zhiyuan, rolling toward the ship one after another. Only the last portion grazed the Zhiyuan's stern at an angle. The Nether Shield aboard the ship shattered the instant the ice blades struck, as fragile as thin paper. Two aft masts and their bone sails exploded into fragments! The entire hull was engulfed by the savage force and flying shards of bone!
The violent jolt threw Su Ming off his feet. He flew helplessly through the air and slammed into the control room wall. The ensuing roar nearly deafened him, but he paid no attention to his injuries. Lying on the floor, he activated the White Bone Mark and poured all his effort into reconstructing the Zhiyuan's structure!
The entire White Bone Fortress began to groan, every bone trembling. But Su Ming showed no intention of giving up. He controlled the White Bone Mark with resolve, repairing the damaged structure bit by bit and restoring the Zhiyuan's stability.
Zijin used Illusory Realm to make two bishops collide and plunge into the sea, then used a technique Su Ming couldn't understand to hold the archbishop back for nearly a kilometer. Finally, she seized the chance to return to the Zhiyuan.
Even Zijin had to exert herself to the utmost to catch up. She nearly fell to her knees as soon as she landed, only managing to hold herself up by driving the stolen Blade of the Scales into the deck.
"What's wrong?" Su Ming noticed that the girl's exhaustion was somewhat abnormal.
"I'm connected to the White Bone Fortress. The White Bone Mark has used up too much of its power," Zijin told Su Ming, panting. "Don't worry about the structure. Keeping the sails going is what matters!"
Su Ming did as she said, leaving the badly battered hull alone and hurrying to repair the remaining mainmast and foremast, along with the four bone sails hanging from them. He restored the sails' function, and the ship's speed stabilized at twenty-three knots once more.
To their side, the bishops who had been chasing the Zhiyuan and guiding the spell couldn't keep going and gave up the pursuit. The archbishop also changed direction and turned back to rescue Yise.
"Was that relay guidance just now?" Su Ming was breathing a little hard; he had expended a great deal of his own magic power as well.
Zijin nodded. The attack had come from two Songstress Class warships.
During the earlier fighting, the two Songstress Class ships had closed to within eight kilometers of the Zhiyuan before launching their magical attack.
They couldn't hit precisely from that far away, so they had launched a saturation attack over the general area. The bishops hidden nearby had provided the more precise guidance.
Fortunately, the Zhiyuan's outrageous burst of acceleration had prevented the temple's side from succeeding completely.
In the cabin, the violent shaking reached the captive captain. Panic spread across his face, and he suddenly began pounding desperately on the wall. "Wait, Scholar Bay Owl! I have intelligence! They have another ship in the battle! It's the UFO!"
Both Su Ming and Zijin heard him. Zijin's face turned deathly pale.
She summoned the Divine Favor Scepter and hurled a scattering blast of Solar Flame straight ahead.
Light shot out, tearing through the night sky, only to be cut off four kilometers away.
The blocked beam spread outward in ripples, up and down and to both sides, faintly revealing the outline of a massive warship lying broadside in the mist.
"We've been discovered. Drop the camouflage!" the captain ordered aboard the UFO.
The mist dispersed, revealing the majestic form of a massive warship lying broadside on the sea ahead. The warship was over 150 meters long. Its towering superstructure was made up of solid walls, with sharply defined edges and an inward slope. There were no conventional sails or masts visible; they had been ingeniously folded away and hidden inside the hull.
At the captain's command, the faintly purple wall armor rolled and folded away, revealing the massive triple-gun turrets hidden behind it, poised like the fangs of a great beast. As the sailors worked, all four main turrets extended and began turning slowly to the side.
It really was the UFO! The strongest battleship in the entire other world so far!
Su Ming watched it all clearly through his night-vision binoculars, especially the familiar inward-sloping stealth design. He understood why his radar hadn't detected it. The other world really was full of hidden talents!
"Turn right, now!" Zijin urged.
"No, wait!" Su Ming stopped her, forcing himself to think calmly. The UFO was using a T-crossing tactic, presenting its broadside so all its main turrets could fire on the Zhiyuan. The Zhiyuan was already within its optimal range.
They would need at least another four minutes to get within range of Zijin's magic attacks. One salvo from the UFO's twelve large-caliber guns could turn the Zhiyuan into a sieve!
Su Ming studied the details. To sail with the wind, the UFO had its bow pointed north. Its thick main gun barrels had already turned halfway and would soon be aimed at them.
"Ninety degrees per minute?" Su Ming finished his calculation. Those heavy turrets couldn't turn particularly fast! He quickly ran the numbers and found that he could exploit that!
"We keep closing in," Su Ming decided.
The Zhiyuan was still faster than anything else in this era. Its speed of twenty-three knots could turn many things normally taken for granted into fatal weaknesses! And the closer they got to the enemy, the wider that weakness would be torn open!
By the time the UFO's turrets were in position, the Zhiyuan had closed to about three kilometers. Su Ming allowed the other side five seconds to adjust the elevation of its gun barrels, then suddenly began turning the Zhiyuan.
Turning a sailing ship was a great deal of trouble, but fortunately the Zhiyuan had propeller power. In particular, the eight sets of blade-like keels along its sides could freely adjust their angles, cutting diagonally through the water to turn quickly.
There before the UFO, Su Ming maneuvered the Zhiyuan through a nimble arc like a skilled figure skater. As the turn brought the wind against them, the ship's speed dropped rapidly. But once the ninety-degree turn was complete, the UFO had shifted from forty-five degrees off the starboard bow into the wind to forty-five degrees off the port bow into the wind.
Su Ming activated the White Bone Mark and flipped the remaining three mainsails upside down, reconfiguring them to catch the wind from the port side.
The wing sails caught the wind, and the immense static pressure sent the Zhiyuan accelerating again!