Chương 164: Shooting Down the Flight Vessel

As the flight vessel forged ahead, the fruits of the Alliance's development were unveiled before everyone's eyes. Vast numbers of villages and farmlands were constructed along the paved highway. Innumerable personnel and heavy livestock were logging at the forest's edge, with the treeline receding in tidy, uniform fashion—a planned, large-scale land reclamation effort.

"Goddess of Life! Look at these transgressions!" The officiant from the Church of the Goddess of Life had risen at some point and entered the control room. Looking down through the massive glass window, he uttered a grief-stricken, anxious lament. Clasping the pendant at his chest, the officiant's brows knit tightly together.

"To think that deep within the Monster Forest, such profound wickedness has accumulated. I must report this to the High Priest; we cannot allow them to continue developing like this!" Pusha had always held clergy in low regard, feeling those superstitious fools did nothing but pray to divine beings for power—unlike mages, who mastered power through knowledge. Yet right now, he felt this fellow was entirely correct: the goblins could not be permitted to develop any further.

While everyone was lost in a sea of conflicting thoughts, a violent BANG suddenly reverberated outside as a burst of fireworks bloomed in the sky. Pusha froze and hurriedly looked outward. He saw single bursts of fireworks blossoming from the villages below, spreading into the distance like a chain reaction.

"Is this... an early warning signal?" Watching the fireworks receding into the distance, Pusha instantly grasped the purpose of these displays.

"Heh, interesting. But even if you know we're coming, what can you possibly do? Prepare to gain altitude!" Although brimming with confidence, he still took precautions to ascend and avoid any untoward accidents. Receiving the order, the mages aboard began operating their magitech devices. A mage called out loudly in report: "Captain, a mana tide stream detected at 800 meters!"

"Excellent. Ascend to 800 meters! Cartographers, pay close attention to the terrain and begin mapping." On the other side, through the continuous relay of fireworks, Iron-City received news of the enemy flight vessel's approach. All personnel were mobilized—primarily directing civilians to flee into the forest for shelter, while fire brigades stood by on standby to extinguish potential blazes.

Iron-City had grown significantly by now, boasting a population of nearly 50, 000 across various races, alongside countless residential and industrial districts. If the flight vessel possessed offensive capabilities—such as dropping bombs—the losses would be catastrophic. Thus, the moment the fireworks were sighted, emergency response plans were activated: all production activities ceased, and personnel evacuated into hiding.

Donning his armor, Li Qinwu stepped out of the Grand Chief's residence and ran swiftly toward the anti-aircraft artillery positions. It had been predicted earlier that the enemy would certainly follow the paved road; after all, across the vast, unbroken green of the forest, the highway was the most direct landmark. Following it would naturally lead straight to Iron-City. Hence, Li Qinwu had positioned one anti-aircraft cannon along the road.

As for the remaining three, one was placed in the Iron-City residential district, one in the industrial zone, and one at the mage tower construction site. Li Qinwu reasoned that these densely built areas would likely catch the enemy's interest, prompting them to fly overhead for a look—thereby granting an opportunity to strike. Furthermore, the anti-aircraft cannons at these four locations formed an encirclement.

Once the enemy vessel entered the kill zone, cannons from at least one or two directions would inevitably secure a clear firing angle. Li Qinwu arrived at the anti-aircraft artillery position beside the paved road. This particular gun was set up in a bean field; concealed beneath tall bean vines and covered with a green-dyed cloth, it was genuinely difficult to spot from high above. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Seeing Li Qinwu arrive, several goblin artillerymen snapped to attention and saluted. Li Qinwu motioned for them to sit and wait quietly for the enemy's arrival. The distance from Iron-City to Gob-Fort was 80 kilometers. When there had been no road, the trek took over three days; now, it could be traversed in less than two. As for a flight vessel, it would arrive in less than two hours. Sure enough, two hours after Li Qinwu received the early warning, a gargantuan object emerged in the western sky.

Li Qinwu possessed razor-sharp vision, backed by various system skill enhancements. Raising a thumb to gauge its size, he measured it against the windows on the craft. He roughly estimated the flight vessel to be 150 meters long, 50 meters wide, and 30 meters high—a streamlined, teardrop-shaped construct with only four propeller protrusions extending outward. This vessel was larger than the one the Mage Guild had flown during the prisoner exchange.

Moving at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, such velocity for a monster of this scale was practically a crawl. The artillerymen beside the anti-aircraft gun stared up at the flight vessel for a long moment, their faces filled with sheer awe. A few then moved to strip off the camouflage net to begin aiming, but Li Qinwu held them back.

"Don't rush. Let it get closer before we strike." Li Qinwu could see that this vessel would pass directly overhead, meaning he wouldn't even need to shift the cannon's position to hit it. However, the cannons at the other positions were not as fortunate; they would need to relocate ahead of time directly onto the vessel's flight path. Each cannon was assigned ogres for relocation, so Li Qinwu was in no hurry. He waited for the other guns to get into position before opening fire.

As the flight vessel drew close, Li Qinwu kept his eyes locked on it in close observation. The craft lacked excessive protrusions, but at the bottom of its stern sat a barrel-shaped object that looked suspiciously like a weapon port. This discovery sent a knot of anxiety through Li Qinwu's chest. West-Hayden had mentioned before that the Mage Guild's flight vessels were not standardized; every master shipwright wanted to build a unique craft.

Consequently, while some vessels carried no armament, others were equipped with bizarre magitech weapons—resembling massive staves powered by mana crystal cores—capable of unleashing devastating Fireball spells. At this thought, Li Qinwu dared not delay any longer. Seeing the vessel fly past directly overhead toward the industrial zone, he judged that the other cannons should have reacted by now and were ready to attack.

"Remove the camouflage!" Li Qinwu bellowed the command. The goblin crew moved rapidly, stripping away the cloth to reveal the crude, bulky anti-aircraft cannon. The gun had already been loaded with ammunition, which was replaced twice daily to prevent the powder from taking on moisture. Li Qinwu personally adjusted the muzzle elevation, calculating the vessel's forward movement and plotting the lead distance.

Under his orders, the goblin crew hoisted and shifted the mount, quickly pointing the muzzle one vessel-length ahead of its trajectory. Li Qinwu stared unblinkingly at the craft. The moment it slowly drifted into the pre-aimed position, he roared: "FIRE!!" A goblin artilleryman instantly jabbed a quick-match into the touchhole, igniting the black powder. With a deafening BOOM, the anti-aircraft cannon shuddered violently as dense smoke spewed from the muzzle.

The 40mm conical shell was propelled into the sky by a standard artillery propellant charge, streaking toward the flight vessel 800 meters above. The crew immediately began reloading. They had to crank the barrel back down so someone could reach the muzzle, then proceed through the painstaking process of reloading—a task that would take over five minutes. Li Qinwu fixated his gaze on the vessel high above, expecting to see an explosion or visible damage, but nothing occurred.

The craft continued flying through the sky as if the 40mm shell had missed completely—or perhaps it had struck, but against such a behemoth, the damage was negligible. BOOM!! Another cannon blast echoed. Li Qinwu knew that was the gun in the industrial zone opening fire, though he couldn't tell if it had hit, for the vessel maintained its course. Immediately following that, the cannons from the residential district and the mage tower construction site discharged in turn.

Realizing they lacked a line of sight upon spotting the craft, their crews had immediately ordered ogres to tow the guns ahead of its flight path to set up an ambush, and now all had fired. Yet even after all four anti-aircraft cannons had discharged, the vessel continued forward as though nothing had happened. This left Li Qinwu somewhat disappointed—had they missed, or had the strikes simply failed to inflict meaningful damage?

His crestfallen mood vanished the instant a goblin crewman informed him that the second shell was loaded, for he caught sight of the vessel slowly losing altitude! It resembled a leaking hot-air balloon; while losing lift, it didn't plunge straight out of the sky. Instead, it descended along a flat, gentle curve, gliding toward the unknown forest ahead. Li Qinwu was ecstatic. Leaving the crew on standby, he broke into a rapid stride, rushing toward the vessel's probable crash site. A flight vessel!

This was a whole flight vessel! By capturing a flight vessel, the Alliance's exploration of the Monster Forest would instantly switch to easy mode—the equivalent of uncovering the entire fog of war on a map. Not only that, but he could also dispatch personnel across the great river to explore the opposite bank. Up until now, he still had no idea what lay beyond the river; he hadn't dared send small boats across for fear of heavy waves or river leviathans, but with a flight vessel, those concerns would vanish.

Li Qinwu sprinted at top speed, yet someone was even faster. Gob-Run was lifted onto his mount spider, his body securely strapped to the saddle. His eyes burning with hatred as he glared at the slowly descending vessel in the sky, he offered a sharp wave of his hand and led 300 cavalrymen surging forth into a charge!