Ch.264264. Cathedral of the Deep Sea (2)

Born from the God of the Deep Sea, the special fish-people known as Deep Ones were going about their usual daily routine.

[Move aside!]

[No, you move aside!]

The Deep Ones, who primarily communicate through telepathy, were currently harvesting “fruits” from seaweed. These fruits, the staple food of the Deep Ones living in the ocean depths, resembled something like sea grapes.

They grew naturally without cultivation, were abundant in both yield and nutrients, but could only be digested with the special digestive enzymes possessed by Deep Ones—making them perfect as a staple food.

Anyway, as they bickered while collecting fruits into their nets—made by weaving seaweed—

[Emergency! Emergency! Enemy approaching! Enemy approaching! Gather, gather!]

The moment they recognized the signal broadcast telepathically by a high-ranking Deep One, they secured their harvest-filled nets to nearby rock walls and began assembling according to the summons.

The Deep Ones gathering around their reef fortress mostly carried long spears that resembled harpoons.

They had determined that any armor available in these depths would be more fragile than their own skin, and in close combat, they could bite with their mouths or slash with their claws with sufficient strength.

Based on this judgment, they gathered around the reef, with some individuals with superior eyesight extending their heads above the water surface for reconnaissance.

Closing their gills and switching to lung breathing, the Deep Ones saw ghost ships gathering around them. As they surveyed their surroundings to assess the situation, their eyes suddenly caught sight of “something immensely huge” high in the clear, cloudless sky.

[H-huge!]

[Something enormous is flying from the sky! It’s incredibly massive!]

The limited knowledge of the Deep Ones made it impossible for them to comprehend the existence of such a gigantic artificial structure, causing them to mistake it for some enormous living creature or something similar.

That object was none other than the Red Ark—the largest airship and vessel in the Dawn Empire.

※ ※ ※

Meanwhile, at the same time.

‘….I never thought I’d see the day this thing would move.’

From the divine realm, looking down at the world below with divine eyes, I couldn’t help but marvel at the Red Ark—one of the Dawn Empire’s secret weapons, a super-massive airship and aerial battleship.

Since construction began based on my idea, seeing such a massive weapon of war in motion was profoundly moving for me.

With a length of approximately 500 meters, this airship’s size is truly staggering. To put it in perspective… the latest American aircraft carriers are roughly 310-330 meters long.

Moreover, this vessel is considerably wide on both sides and quite tall, providing ample interior space. Its perceived size is at least several times larger than real-world large aircraft carriers—

The secret to maintaining and moving such an enormous vessel is that the Red Ark is actually my divine artifact.

To be precise, only the power unit qualifies as a true divine artifact, while the rest merely has divine artifact status but is essentially like any ordinary vessel.

Nevertheless, since it receives energy from a divine artifact that invests all its resources into energy supply, the amount of power available to this vessel—this aerial battleship—brings it infinitely close to the ultimate form an aerial battleship can achieve.

First, the defensive capability of the hull—most crucial for such a massive aerial battleship vulnerable to external attacks—is extraordinary thanks to the power source’s output.

The magical barrier protecting the vessel can easily withstand dozens of level 5 attack spells, and it can defend against attacks from Aura users who have reached the advanced level known as Sword Masters.

Additionally, the hull incorporates metals enhanced with both dwarven technology and rune techniques, giving the Red Ark powerful resistance against magical attacks that alter material composition.

Its specially designed structure also provides exceptional survivability when hit, potentially allowing it to remain navigable even when half-destroyed in certain situations.

Meanwhile, this ship possesses firepower well-matched to its defensive capabilities.

The bow—the very front of the ship—features a massive magical cannon that could be called the Red Ark’s main armament. This magical cannon can both amplify and fire a mage’s spells and independently launch certain spells. Among the spells it can fire without a mage, the most powerful is the famous nuclear heat magic.

Though it takes some time to charge, it can potentially erase a city with a single shot, wielding power comparable to real-world nuclear weapons, capable of hurling destruction far into the distance.

Various secondary armaments positioned throughout the hull occupy locations suited to their roles, with the most numerous being small anti-aircraft cannons for target suppression.

These platforms, essentially six enlarged magical rifles bundled together, are operated by a single person and designed to maintain a curtain of fire to shoot down small flying objects.

These platforms are found virtually everywhere on the hull, and in addition, the vessel’s sides feature several “anti-ship” secondary cannons.

Designed to shoot down other factions’ airships or large targets, these single-shot turrets rapidly fire concentrated magical beams powerful enough to obliterate lesser-class vessels with a single hit.

The weapons mounted on the underside of the ship, apart from anti-aircraft cannons, are ground attack turrets. These modified turrets fire scatter shots to attack wide areas and use the latest Blood Cannons.

If a single target needs to be attacked, standard shells can be fired. Combined with the bombing from the bomb bay, the underside armament alone could easily reduce an entire city to ashes.

Additionally, the upper part of the ship features about 20 rotating turrets with triple main guns similar to those seen on large battleships in media covering World War II. All 60 of these main guns are Blood Cannons modified to a large format.

Of course, with so many magical cannons and Blood Cannons operating, the internal power source can become strained. To alleviate this burden, the Red Ark is equipped with a magical energy collection function.

This technology, which absorbs magical energy from the surrounding air to use as a power source, primarily exists to collect residual magic left in the air after the turrets fire, but in emergencies, it can also be amplified to defend against enemy magic.

Well, there are other features like having a crew of 10,000 or city-level amenities inside… but let’s set those aside for now.

Let’s return to the heart of the battlefield.

The Red Ark, sailing toward the Sea of Death, Sargasso, in the distance, appears slow due to its massive size but actually boasts considerable speed.

Despite having a hull nearly 500 meters long, it can fly at 60 kilometers per hour. As the rocky reef formation serving as the enemy’s base gradually draws closer, it finally enters the range of the front main cannon—

“Begin loading procedure!!”

With Captain Lisa Raeldotir’s resolute command, Lisa began preparing to cast a divine magic spell—one that calls down lightning from the sky.

While she recited prayers holding her staff to prepare the spell, the main cannon was aimed at the enemy base, completing all firing preparations.

[——————!!]

Lisa, unlike her usual self, formally recited a long incantation to maximize power, then pointed her loading staff at the rear of the main cannon and fired a bolt of lightning that emitted tremendous radiance.

“Loading complete!”

“Ready to fire at any time! Captain, your orders!”

“Fire in 10 seconds! Brace for impact!”

The main cannon crackled with white lightning, and Lisa immediately ordered its firing—

————KWAAAAAAAAANG!!!

Exactly 10 seconds later, a beam of lightning fired from the main cannon thundered toward the reef fortress of Sargasso.

The main weapon, which seemed capable of obliterating everything in this world in an instant, shattered all approaching ghost ships with just its shockwave.

Even though the undead have strong resistance to lightning, the overwhelming firepower was sufficient to destroy the ghost ships even after accounting for this resistance.

And thus, the main cannon, which had annihilated their fleet in one fell swoop with just its aftereffects, scored a direct hit on the reef fortress in just a few seconds.

And in the next moment.

There was light.