"Sink it."
Agatha stared at the ship that was approaching on the sea, and her tone was as cold as ice and snow.
A junior officer nearby was a little stunned, as if he couldn't believe what he heard: "What did you say?"
"Sink it," Agatha did not respond to the junior officer, but turned to look at Colonel Lister and repeated, "That is the 'Attacker', a huge source of pollution - I don't know what it is, but it is definitely not the Petrel."
She paused, her knuckles turning slightly white as she gripped the cane. “I am responsible for this decision.”
Liszt said nothing. The muscles on his face were tense. He stood in the cold wind like a frozen sculpture for a long time, until a whistle sounded again in the distance. The sound was clearer and louder than before, as if carrying an unsettling urgency. He suddenly broke the silence: "Madam, is your source of information reliable?"
"... I believe in my own judgment, Colonel," Agatha took a breath, her voice slightly hoarse, "and I am responsible for this judgment."
"You can't be responsible. You are the gatekeeper, but not the direct supervisor of the port system." Lister said calmly, then turned around and looked at the sea in the distance.
"I take responsibility for the decision to sink that ship."
“Ouch—”
On the distant sea, the "Haiyan" that suddenly appeared was still sailing at full speed. The towering bow split the waves, the fluttering flags fluttered in the air, and the chimney in the middle of the hull spewed out large clouds of black mist. In the clouds, there seemed to be countless hidden roars roaring and noisy one after another. At the stern of the Haiyan, the waves rose and fell, and deep in the layers of surging waves, the black viscous substance spread with the waves like blood flowing out of a giant beast, rising and falling.
Just from what he saw now, he could tell that this ship was definitely not the "Haiyan" he was familiar with.
The Petrel seemed to sense something—after the sirens on Frost Island sounded, it began to speed up.
Soon, others also noticed the situation on the sea, and tension began to spread.
The ship did not slow down.
The whistle sounded again, and more large clouds of black fog spewed out from the top of the steel battleship. The high-pressure steam tore through the sky like a scream from the deep sea.
Figures were swaying in the distance on the side of the Sea Petrel. They were walking back and forth, busy shuttling back and forth. They were wearing the uniforms of the Frost Navy and doing what sailors on a ship should do. They stepped over the uneven grooves on the deck, over the sticky, wriggling substances, and the hyperplastic nodules that crisscrossed like thick blood vessels.
Melted black mud kept falling from the sailors, and some even suddenly fell down and merged with the surrounding ship structures. At the same time, new sailors kept separating from the deck or the side of the ship, wriggling, crawling, and stumbling to scrub the deck and operate the flags.
To turn on the lights...
Seeing this distorted black silhouette constantly disintegrating, on the chaotic sea surface, the disordered lines of light and shadow were quickly peeling off from the silhouette.
Sir," Agatha waited for the other party to finish speaking and then shook her head, "The attack is effective, it is fading."
As he spoke, his eyes were looking out to the sea in the distance, and in the eyes of the young gatekeeper, a pale light was gently dancing.
What was reflected in her eyes was not reality, but the spirit world.
Agatha blinked, the brief image of the spirit world faded from her vision, and the real world appeared clearly in her eyes again.
The shells hit the water and water columns rose everywhere. Large and small water columns were distributed around the Haiyan and formed a continuously spreading mist on the sea surface in the distance. Several shells scratched the Haiyan, but the latter's speed was not affected at all.
However, in the distant port direction, the coastal defense batteries began to operate. The gates covering the cliffs, seawalls and the reinforced concrete outer walls of the port opened one after another, and the dark gun barrels poked their heads out. The heavy batteries slowly rotated under the drive of a series of gears and connecting rods.
The elevator buried deep underground creaked and moved, sending shells from the underground ammunition depot to the upper cannons. At the same time, bursts of rapid bells and whistles rang inside and outside the port, urging all the ships still in the port to evade quickly and urging all the facilities in the port to enter a state of war.
At this moment, the coastal defense artillery of Frost Island opened fire.
"The first round hit rate is low - the ship is too fast, exceeding the recorded value!"
But it's still sailing at full speed.
Liszt's face was as gloomy as water. Amid the continuous roar of artillery fire, he stared at the water column and smoke rising from the distant sea, and at the "Haiyan" that was still accelerating towards Frost, without the slightest hesitation in his expression.
Facing the bombardment from Frost Island, the ship did not slow down, nor did it display the prescribed flag signals and lights. Instead, it continued to accelerate, even accelerating to a level far beyond its design limit. This is not a Frost battleship, it is a monster.
All the coastal defense guns began to roar, and amid the roar of artillery fire, armor-piercing incendiary shells streaked countless dark lines of fire in the air, pouring down on the sea where the Haiyan was located like interweaving rain. Huge columns of water rose one after another, and among the countless water columns, the ship, which kept shrieking and roaring, continued to charge straight forward like an enraged beast.
As the distance shortened and the barrage was constantly calibrated, shells finally began to fall on the Haiyan.
Even after the shore defense guns tore apart her stern deck, knocked off her chimney and bridge building, and even blew up the compartment where her ammunition was theoretically stored and her steam core was housed, she still did not slow down.
"Keep fighting - until it disappears on the sea," Liszt said through gritted teeth, and then suddenly turned to Agatha beside him, "Madam, please notify the cathedral as soon as possible. If we can't stop it at the port, we may need to... "Yes, sir!"
The roar of the battleship's main guns finally became the last straw that broke the camel's back. When more armor-piercing incendiary bombs fell on the unrecognizable ship, it finally began to collapse.
Its whistle finally stopped, and the strange whistling sound gradually died down.
Through the telescope, people on the observation deck could vaguely see the strange shape beneath the shattered deck of the Petrel, and some people could not help but scream in surprise.
“… God of Death is above!
What the hell is that?!
It is a monster disguised as an earthly being.
Like a thunderous explosion, the incredibly powerful coastal defense cannons suddenly spewed out huge flames and explosions. Conventional armor-piercing shells were fired first. The cone-shaped shells made a shrill whistling sound in the air, crossing the sky like lines of fire, and fell on the sea in the distance after flying for a while.
First, the deck and outer hull peeled off in pieces, revealing the twisted and dark strange structure inside. Then the whole ship began to wriggle and tear violently from head to stern, as if it was going to tear itself into pieces. This thing that once looked like the Haiyan was splashing out countless dark muds while quickly breaking apart.
Steam was gushing out, the whistle was blaring continuously, the whole ship was roaring from inside out, the sailors on the deck began to run, and wisps of black and red appeared in the black mist floating above the chimney - the ship was accelerating, and its speed, which was originally a steam clipper, was further increased to the limit, like a giant beast wrapped in thunder, galloping across the vast sea, and the roar of splitting the waves gradually resounded through the sea like a frantic roar!
Even if it's not sinking, it's time to stop.
Although the coastal artillery bombardment did not directly "kill" the fake, it was effectively pushing it to a critical point, and it was about to self-disintegrate.
The huge explosion tore apart its armor, broke its mast, and peeled the deck off the hull in pieces. A sticky substance like black mud gushed out from under the camouflaged shell like blood, falling on the sea like heavy rain.
It began to slow down, spreading out large swathes of dark impurities while melting and collapsing on the sea surface.
The coastal artillery continued to fire, and soon additional gunfire was heard not far away.
This is the fleet that remains in the port - they have finally completed their preparations and started to participate in the interception.
The coastal defense artillery was roaring, and round after round of deadly bombardment continued to fall. An astonishing number of artillery batteries concentrated on "taking care of" an "enemy ship" that did not dodge, and in a very short period of time, countless shells were poured on the Haiyan. No matter which ship it was on, this would be fatal damage.
The huge vibration from the firing of the coastal artillery even slightly shook the platform under Agatha's feet. She seemed to be able to feel that the entire lookout tower was trembling slightly under the feedback of this round of artillery fire. At the same time, she heard someone reporting nearby.
However, Liszt just looked at the scene solemnly, with the muscles on his face still tense.
"Free fire, switch to armor-piercing incendiary bombs, and keep firing until the target sinks," said Lister expressionlessly, "The stationed fleet is on standby. If the ship still cannot be stopped at the offshore cordon, have the fleet attack - even if we have to ram it in the end, we must stop the ship from getting out of the Frost!"
This terrifying, bizarre attacker who attempted to charge towards the civilized world finally stopped just a few nautical miles away from the Frost Island.