The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 956

Chapter 955
Artillery Barrage, Charge!
Excluding the final punitive battle, this plan had three difficult points—the first was the landing; the second was establishing and protecting the mage tower; and the third was pushing the front lines to the outskirts of Leipzig.
These three difficulty points became easier one after another… as for the final step of expanding outward, it was actually the simplest.
The levels of these demons were suppressed very low. Once they lost their cluster effect, they could not defeat the elite soldiers of the Black Eagle Legion. Not to mention the mage tower that could command from the center.
—The most difficult part was actually how to land.
This wasn’t a game, after all, and friendly fire couldn’t be “turned off.” This meant that the Elf Warships had to sail at the very front, otherwise, their beams would hit friendly forces—and if a ship blocked the path of the beam, the “Cruel Preacher” wouldn’t be able to provide cover for them.
To prevent their ships from being destroyed by long-range spells, these warships had to spread out as much as possible, forming a long snake-like formation. Only in this way could they prevent being sunk by a single spell.
And this would lead to a breach in the flanks.
If any demons managed to get around through a long distance, they would have to be dealt with by the Gryphon Legion.
Half of the demon legions possessed flight abilities, yet the human legions with stable anti-air and anti-group capabilities did not even account for a tenth. Furthermore, the Child of the Moon feared water combat. At this time, to avoid the concentrated fire of the demons, they would try their best not to expose themselves and naturally could not provide combat power.
If other ships were sunk, the soldiers inside could still be rescued—but the Child of the Moon would melt upon contact with water. Once their ship sank, they would sink straight to the bottom like solid concrete pillars.
—But even with the foresight of this situation, it still could not be resolved.
Extraordinaries were generally not good at naval combat.
After all, the sea was the domain of the [Forbidden]!
Because most Extraordinary Abilities had “distance” limitations, and flight ability was very rare—this led to Extraordinaries always appearing exceptionally fragile in naval battles.
The bodies of High-Tier Extraordinaries might be able to withstand artillery fire with ease; even Lower-Tier Extraordinaries would generally not be threatened by firearms and artillery… perhaps they couldn’t withstand it, but they could still dodge it!
—But humans could withstand it. What about the ships?
The abilities capable of maintaining barriers were, after all, just spells, rituals, and Preservation Techniques. Spells consumed extremely high energy, and rituals required preparation beforehand. Moreover, the inheritances of Necromancers and Preservers were too rare… once a ship sank, even if they didn’t die immediately, it would be very simple to target them.
Even the strongest Extraordinary would have to let the ship last until it got close enough to board the enemy. This led to… bigger ships being better, and more people being stronger.
In the sea far from land, the number of people a ship could support was limited. Looking at the size of the ship, one could tell how many people the enemy could have and how many Extraordinaries were among them. After all, sailing a ship wasn’t like driving a car; a slightly larger ship required a large number of sailors, and the Extraordinary lords couldn’t do the menial labor, could they? Excluding the sailors, the remaining number could be seen at a glance.
A small ship, even if filled with Fourth Tier Extraordinaries, could not fight a squadron of large ships without any Extraordinaries—even with Preservation Techniques and rituals, they couldn’t withstand a few rounds of volley fire.
And the speed at which ships could sail was also limited.
As long as the lookouts on the large ships were working normally, before the small ships sank, let alone boarding… they wouldn’t even be able to get within range of most spells.
Without the enhancement of spellcasting formations, most spells had a range of less than sixty meters. The range of firearms was roughly the same.
Rituals generally had even shorter ranges, mostly within thirty meters, with only a few ritual spells reaching around eighty meters.
Only curses were far-reaching, reaching kilometers at their furthest… but without a medium, the power and accuracy of curses were negligible.
Because of this, the vast majority of Extraordinaries in most countries could not have much naval combat experience—which Extraordinary would be willing to let their Extraordinary Power be basically useless?
As a result, the role of the air force essentially covered that of the navy.
But now, when the navy was actually needed, their vulnerabilities became apparent—
“…Brother, what is that?”
Yulia followed Eivass, aboard one of the “Cruel Preachers.”
She pointed at the dark clouds outside the window, her expression solemn: “Are those… all demons?”
At this time, the city of Leipzig looked so small from their perspective that even the port was unclear. And above Leipzig—even the entire Star Antinomy was covered in dark clouds. It looked like the eve of a storm.
But Yulia clearly saw—compared to dark clouds, it seemed to be moving much faster.
“…It seems it wasn’t just an illusion,” Eivass said in a low voice. “The Fallen Heavenly Envoy did sense our actions…
“You guessed correctly, Yuli. Those are indeed demons. Humph…”
Fortunately, they were prepared.
Eivass’s expression was solemn, and he loudly commanded, “Prepare for volley fire!”
“Prepare for volley fire!”
The Pope’s Guards relayed Eivass’s order.
Behind Eivass was the Holy Sword, and in his hand, he held the Corona Scepter.
This scepter had a divine art enhancement specifically for Candlemaster—
【Module – Divine Prayer (Candlemaster): Prayers to the Candlemaster can omit one stanza】
He held the scepter high and prayed loudly: “Candles alight, praise the Candlemaster!
“—Praise the Great Pure Sacred Fire!”
On another ship, Saint Joan also clasped her hands together, the pure white maiden bowing her head to pray.
“Protect us, Amber.”
She whispered.
Instantly, a dim yellow giant light shield appeared—it was a shield with a radius of about two hundred meters, enveloping the four Elf Warships and nearby warships.
Then the light shield shattered, breaking into smaller light shields. Protecting each ship at the front of the formation.
A scorching radiance boiled and ignited from the warship Eivass was on. The damage to these four ships was amplified by Eivass.
The warships did not stop but fired while moving.
At this distance, aiming was irrelevant—it would be normal to miss.
The first volley was merely to dispel the unease in the soldiers’ hearts.
When the demon legion in the distance still looked like a mass of dense dark clouds, the first volley was already fired!
Under Eivass’s amplification, countless scorching rays, sanctified into pure white, instantly illuminated the sky!
It was already morning, and the sun’s radiance could not suppress the brilliance of those rays.
The dark clouds crumbled upon contact, actually penetrated by these four shots!
The originally circular dark clouds were as if broken in half from the middle, and the cloud layer was scorched away, leaving only the pure blue of the sky.
Perhaps with a few more shots like this, these demons wouldn’t even have a chance to fight!
And the moment this shot was fired.
As the artillery cooled down, purple vortexes simultaneously generated above them!
Those were Upper Demons!
Undoubtedly, their actions were clearly seen by the Eye Demon.
The moment they finished their attack… although the demons had not yet engaged, they did not want to miss this opportunity, nor did they want to just watch those Lower Demons being cleanly swept away from a distance, so they teleported over!
Instantly, the sky turned into a chaotic grid.
The sky was blood-red, the sky rolled with azure lightning, the sky was gray with blizzards, the sky was dark red with falling burning meteorites, the sky was a dreamlike pinkish-purple—
The demons’ command was chaotic. They unceremoniously fought for control of their domains, making the sky unpredictable with their appearance.
Streaks of lightning connected the sky and the sea, cutting through the ships like a plow. They then suddenly extinguished because other demons had stolen their space.
Dozens of giant fire meteorites emerged from the other end of the sky, resolutely falling towards the ships.
White blizzards that obscured vision exploded continuously in the center of the fleet, covering ship after ship with white frost.
Permeating curses and chilling blood rain burned armor and skin, and wails echoed across the sea.
In just the instant of engagement, over a dozen ships were easily destroyed, and this number was rapidly increasing.
Fortunately, Saint Joan’s High-Tier Divine Art protected the most crucial few gunships—even with a dozen lightning bolts falling on them simultaneously, it did not cause them to waver.
—It had only been three seconds since the first volley was fired.
But at this moment.
That chaotic and unclear sky suddenly became clear—
It was as if a drop of blood had fallen into water, dyeing it into a sea of blood.
That turbid, unpredictable, chaotic sky suddenly began to collapse and melt from the center, turning into an incomparably pure blood rain.
Curses fell upon the demons, causing a moment of chaos.
The Night Demon, revealing its true form, stood quietly behind Eivass, its body stretching out like a tree.
“—Heed my command!”
The Grand Guardian shouted loudly, his voice rolling like thunder under the effect of Authority: “Charge!”
In the dark red blood rain.
He charged forward at the head of the charge, towards the dark clouds!
Just like his charge against the Gargoyle Legion in another timeline—
And the Upper Demons before him were undoubtedly far more powerful than that Gargoyle Legion…
—But this time, the Grand Guardian was not alone.
A squadron of Gryphons clad in silver-white heavy armor followed closely behind, charging without hesitation!
Letting out crisp cries and stirring up lightning and storms, they fiercely clashed against those Upper Demons whose domains had been usurped!
(End of Chapter)