Volume 10 Call from the Sea Route Chapter 1: The First Naval Battle

After bidding farewell to Shuiyu Tianlian, Li Bin looked at the blank floating island slowly dragged inward by several bone dragons, genuinely unsure whether his decision was right or wrong. According to Shuiyu Tianlian's parting words, he and Xuanyu were irreconcilable enemies. Harboring Pasa and eliminating his combat heroes was already significant enough; now, Xuanyu had undoubtedly marked him as another mortal enemy.

Even though Shuiyu Tianlian had promised to keep Xuanyu's forces occupied for a period, as long as Li Bin did not wish to wake up one morning and find enemy warships outside Chanas City, a battle against Xuanyu was inevitable. Taking advantage of the fact that Xuanyu could not yet strike directly at his location, Li Bin and his subordinate heroes jumped onto the floating island and learned of its properties from the system interface.

Floating islands were ultra-large mobile bases specifically designed for seafaring players. The smallest had a diameter of around three kilometers, while the largest could reach up to hundreds of kilometers. As long as sufficient energy was provided, a floating island could move freely across the ocean and memorize all safe navigation routes it had traversed.

In addition, floating islands possessed the functions of troop training and vessel docking. The floating island Li Bin had just acquired was five kilometers in diameter, consisted of three internal layers, and featured a dock at its edge capable of holding five warships. Furthermore, according to the system prompts, an urban heart of a certain level could be placed inside the floating island, freely converting the island to match the attributes of that urban heart. The floating island Li Bin acquired could house a level-1 urban heart and train troops of tier 5 and below upon it.

For terrestrial developers like Li Bin, this was hardly impressive, but for seafarers who drifted on the ocean for long periods, it was exceptionally vital.

Just as Li Bin prepared to place a Necromancy-aligned urban heart onto the floating island and design low-tier yet practical undead units specifically for it, the attack suddenly commenced.

This assault came from the open sea outside Chanas City. The attacker was a colossal gray sea dragon, over a thousand meters in length. This sub-dragon possessed a head resembling a sea serpent, limbs with webbed claws, and a massive, powerful tail. Hovering about three kilometers away from Chanas City, it continuously spewed a mysterious blue liquid.

As this blue liquid fell into the sea, the emerald ocean outside Chanas City rapidly transformed. The color of the seawater slowly shifted from green to blue, as if the potent venom within the sea was being neutralized. Confronted with this situation, Li Bin merely sneered coldly.

He instructed the Yin Wind Ghost Servants to transport the floating island to the rear of Chanas City, and then summoned all the troops he had gathered over the past few days up onto the city walls.

He quietly awaited the next move of Xuanyu's forces.

After finishing spewing the blue liquid, the sea dragon swiftly submerged back into the depths of the water.

Immediately afterward, a floating island with a diameter of roughly fifty kilometers slowly rose from beneath the waves.

That floating island was completely different from the one Li Bin had just obtained; it looked precisely like a volcanic island that had just erupted. Most of the island was engulfed in flames, with magma continuously flowing down from its highest peak. One could only wonder how they had managed to submerge such a fiery island underwater.

Before the floating island had even stabilized, two squads of peculiar murlocs and deep-sea creatures leaped from the island into the sea. They rapidly swam toward Chanas City along the path cleared by the sea dragon.

However, they had barely swum halfway when their complexions turned green. Although they frantically poured antidotes and healing potions into their mouths, they severely underestimated the potency of Li Bin's Source of Toxicity.

Before swimming within one kilometer of Chanas City, half of the bizarre murlocs sank into the water and never resurfaced. The remainder were completely wiped out by the corrosive venom crocodiles and triple-headed corpse pythons inhabiting the sea, causing Li Bin to shake his head in utter disappointment.

Yet, Xuanyu's side viewed the matter differently.

Realizing that the sea dragon alone could not contend with the virulent poison of the Chanas waters, he was forced to deploy eight massive warships from the floating island, ordering them to charge rapidly toward Chanas City. Lifeless warships naturally carried no possibility of being poisoned.

However, Li Bin, who had long anticipated this outcome, simply uttered a single word to San Nei. Instantly, thick green mist billowed across the surface of the Chanas sea.

This was something Li Bin had discovered not long ago: through the prolonged infusion from the Source of Toxicity, the poison concentration in the sea had exceeded normal levels. As long as Li Bin elevated the temperature of this sea area, all the venom would transform into toxic fog, enveloping the entire ocean and forming an invisible wall outside Chanas City.

Meanwhile, Li Bin's subordinate heroes were not idle. Gru and little Carter were still striving for the ranking of the primary sharpshooter unit, and their current targets were precisely those eight colossal warships.

Ultimately, the clash between the two sides concluded with Gru's victory once again. Under identical troop numbers, the superior archery skills of Gru's phantom undead marksmen caused all the operating sailors on five of the warships to perish, whereas little Carter's newly organized corps of corpse witches only managed to sink the remaining three warships.

Li Bin was thoroughly satisfied with this outcome. Ever since Aska's massive self-detonation, his two vital military branches had finally regained their rightful strength.

Faced with this situation, Reed and Ted, who served as Li Bin's primary brute-force thugs, could no longer restrain themselves. Over the past few months, the replenishment rate of their troops had been noticeably slower than that of the two sharpshooter-origin heroes. A rate of three death knights per week and eight bone dragons per month was clearly insufficient to quickly build up their forces. Now, all their hopes were pinned entirely on these external enemies, praying that their subordinates could reap some experience from these intruders and rapidly elevate their levels.

However, all their hopes were swiftly shattered. After losing eight warships, Xuanyu clearly realized that Chanas City could not be conquered from the sea, and decisively chose to retreat.

Li Bin's first naval battle thus began inexplicably and ended inexplicably.

Nevertheless, upon departing, Xuanyu still left behind some parting gifts for Li Bin. Over twenty small boats, each carrying only two or three occupants, rapidly charged into the Chanas sea. The minor imps aboard the small boats shrieked as they absorbed the magical energy of Chanas City, using that very magic to ignite the magic arrays inscribed on the vessels.

Subsequently, these magic arrays detonated the explosives stored within the small boats. Massive explosions erupted continuously across the Chanas sea; the corrosive venom crocodiles, triple-headed corpse pythons, and the docks upon the water were blasted into fragments, while several high-speed bone boats Li Bin had just completed were also caught in the shockwaves, resulting in the sinking of three vessels.