Chapter 1071: Sortie! Target: The Vampire Affiliated Academy!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1071: Sortie! Target: The Vampire Affiliated Academy!
When the massive battleship, shaped by spells and carrying the students of the Zero Special Combat Sequence, took to the skies, the news spread almost instantly.
With a commotion of that magnitude, no one was blind. Even though a third of the population on the Blood Slave Peninsula had been killed or injured, countless families, large and small, still managed to transmit the intelligence.
The first to know, even before the other Transcendent Academies, was Cleveland, followed closely by the United Club.
Cleveland didn't dare question what I was doing. Her only option was to immediately inquire about my intentions so she could coordinate with my actions and notify the other members of the United Club.
At this moment, the main force of the United Club was engaged in skirmishes with the Vampires in Fudu Valley, testing the feasibility of various combat strategies against Magic-Draining Armaments. Consequently, the entire United Club was utterly baffled by my sudden, unilateral sortie.
The Zero Combat Sequence was supposed to stabilize the Witch Academy's dominance over the Blood Slave Peninsula. If they left, what would happen if the peninsula fell into someone else's hands again?
Retaking it would likely require another high-casualty operation. By now, many people had developed a certain taboo regarding the Blood Slave Peninsula; the fact that the No. 1 and No. 2 Combat Sequences had met their downfall here meant that the psychological impact had to be taken into account.
However, I clearly had no intention of giving them much of an explanation. I only told Cleveland what I intended to do and where this unknown floating battleship had come from, and said nothing more.
Additionally... I sent over the investigation report regarding the massive facility beneath the Blood Slave Peninsula, along with a request for Cleveland to help me spread the word about "what I found down there."
The members of the United Club, who had convened an emergency meeting because of this, were all stunned.
Spell derivation? Constructing a floating battleship?
They had asked their own mentors if there were spells that could directly summon a floating battleship. The answer they received was... such spells existed, but they didn't have them.
If they wanted something similar, the mentors had other strange aerial vehicle summoning spells—like flying horse-drawn carriages or the more common airships. If they truly wanted a specific summoned object, they would have to derive the spell themselves.
What? You don't even know how to use a spellbook for spell derivation? Then you might as well stop playing.
Ultimately, the meeting reached a single conclusion: they could not stop the decision made by Teaching Assistant Xiao Han.
What decision? The decision to directly attack the Vampire Affiliated Academy.
This time, there wasn't even a formal declaration of war. Of course, what they didn't know was that the declaration was currently being drafted right there on the floating battleship.
The topic of the meeting gradually drifted from the original agenda toward the matter of summoning a floating battleship via spells.
Since Teaching Assistant Xiao Han could do it, what did the geniuses in the United Club's Spell Research Society have to say?
When it came to spell derivation, these club members who specialized in researching spells were undoubtedly the top elites of the academy.
However, their response was that they had no idea how Teaching Assistant Xiao Han had achieved it, though they offered several conjectures. Yet, in every one of those conjectures, the possibility was deemed more difficult than simply manufacturing a new floating battleship from scratch.
Recreating a ship through spell derivation? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
They couldn't fathom how Teaching Assistant Xiao Han had done it, especially in such a short amount of time.
But there was one possibility they hadn't considered: why couldn't she have simply overcome those difficulties to achieve it?
There are no real shortcuts in this world. Every shortcut is a path carved out through someone's hard work. The only difference is that some people are pioneers, while others follow the paths of their predecessors.
* * *
Unlike the United Club, the other Transcendent Academies were extremely agitated.
Because that floating battleship in the sky wasn't theirs, and the people inside weren't theirs either.
By calculating the flight path and comparing it with the map, they quickly realized where the ship was heading. It was either going to the Vampire Affiliated Academy or the legitimate academy of the Lord Vampires.
That was what made them so uncomfortable!
That girl wasn't going to Fudu Valley, where the fighting was happening—the essential passage between the Witch Academy's territory and the Blood Slave Peninsula!
Just by extrapolating the destination, they saw a glimpse of something called "ambition," and they were shaken to the core.
Was the tragedy of Sun Rock Elf Academy about to repeat itself at the Vampire Academy?
They wanted to stop it, but... but the one on that floating battleship was that Little Witch!
The moment the flight path was calculated, every civilian flight along that line immediately made evasive maneuvers and rerouted. Since you couldn't make the other party change course, you had to change your own.
But rerouting flights was a minor issue.
The tragedies of the Holy Angel Academy and the Afuhemi Academy were still fresh in their minds. Since the Vampires had been so insane with their blood sacrifice this time, this Little Witch's style of retaliation might be even more unscrupulous!
Sending reinforcements was out of the question, so they could only immediately notify the Vampires of this "unfortunate news."
* * *
While all the Transcendent Academies were reeling from how quickly this was unfolding, I was in the core bridge of the battleship.
With the power of the Tree of Great Knowledge providing total dominance, operating the battleship had become a "game" that I could manage even by myself.
When we boarded, Lin Xian had come to ask if I needed personnel to help activate the ship. After all, she knew that during the construction of the battleship by the Witch Academy, they had been conducting intensive training for operators.
I turned her down.
Looking at the control layout that would normally require dozens of people to operate, I used the Tree of Great Knowledge to manifest dozens of Knowledge Shadows in the seats where operators should have been.
Of course, this was just a performance to put Lin Xian and the rest of the combat sequence at ease. In essence, the battleship's control center was being meticulously operated by the Tree of Great Knowledge; the Knowledge Shadows were merely intangible phantoms.
"Go check if all the members of the combat sequence have their flying brooms. If any are missing due to damage, see if they can be shared. We'll be performing a high-altitude rapid descent later. If anyone can't handle it, they can ride double, or use flight spells," I said.
The people capable of joining a combat sequence were, if not the academy's top combatants, at least individuals with deep foundations.
Once the battleship entered constant-speed cruise, I didn't need to worry about the navigation. At our current speed and distance, we would arrive in half an hour to an hour at most—and this wasn't even the battleship's top speed.
The fact that I was heading there so leisurely was a testament to my absolute confidence.
Watching Lin Xian's departing figure, I looked at the declaration of war I had just drafted. I suppose this could be considered an "old tradition" of mine.
Unlike the formal one back at Sun Rock Elf Academy, this declaration was also a contract. The contents were simple: Declaration of war! Constraints! Cession of territory! Reparations!
If they refused, I wouldn't mind wiping them out just like Sun Rock Elf Academy. However, the Vampire Affiliated Academy was not something a small-scale school like Sun Rock could compare to, and it couldn't be completely eradicated anyway.
Since it was an affiliated academy, as long as the legitimate Vampire Academy didn't fall, another affiliated school could pop up at any time. They weren't like the Elves who had a World Tree, so destroying the affiliated academy held little meaning.
Ultimately, completely annihilating them or forcing them to sign a humiliating contract provided the same level of deterrence. The latter, with the binding power of a contract, was actually more reassuring.
* * *
Meanwhile, at the Wizard Academy.
To counter the Witches' United Club, the various top academies had formed similar organizations. However, each academy had its own style. While the Witch Academy was centered on the students and their clubs, the Wizard Academy was dominated purely by Transcendent Wizards, with regional divisions based on Wizard Towers.
Though clubs existed, they were never as profound as the relationships within a "Wizard Tower," which were linked by a Transcendent Mentor. Thus, they were more likely to be divided into Wizard factions based on the advancement systems of their respective towers.
The "Joint" at the Wizard Academy could more accurately be called a Faction Alliance.
The Wizard Academy didn't have the Witches' system for controlling ley line information, nor did they have the Omni-Link Main Network Tree's root network, but they had Wizard Tool creations.
Wizard Tools hidden in the sky acted like satellites, scanning the airspace above the Blood Slave Peninsula with absurd physical precision. They easily locked onto the massive battleship floating in the sky.
"Finally found it."
Using the temporary observation permissions granted by a Transcendent Mentor of the Wizard Tower, the students of the Wizard Faction Alliance finally located the massive battleship.
This high-altitude observation system was a little toy made by Transcendent Wizards. They could use their massive mental power aided by Wizard Tools to instantly lock onto any unit within the world, but these students couldn't perform such ridiculous feats. It had taken them quite some time.
After relaying the news to the Vampire Academy, they remained in observation mode, monitoring the enemy's movements.
"At this speed, the Witches will encounter the Vampires in half an hour at the earliest. Time is running out for the Vampires."
"Those Witches all left? Not a single person stayed behind on the Blood Slave Peninsula?" a Wizard apprentice asked.
"What? You want to go to the Blood Slave Peninsula and reclaim it for the Wizard Academy?" another person mocked, seeing through the questioner's opportunistic thoughts.
"Heh... I'm not stupid. They planted an Omni-Link Main Network Tree there. If we destroy it, heaven knows if that mad Witch will come to our Wizard Academy and pull a stunt."
"However, we can use this chance to complete the task assigned by the academy—destroying that place beneath the Blood Slave Academy first."
"The academy also gave us a task to take back the Blood Slave Peninsula! Why don't I see any of you doing that?"
Just as the group was about to start bickering, a female Wizard apprentice suddenly stood up.
"Stop arguing. News just came from the Witch Academy. That Yang Yuehan claims to have discovered the truth beneath the Blood Slave Academy."
As soon as she said this, everyone present looked bewildered.
"Where did you get this news?" someone asked with a frown.
"A statement released by the Witch Academy's United Club. You can find it with a quick search. I don't know what it means, but this might cause the academy to let the matter drop."
Everyone present knew that there was some secret beneath the Blood Slave Academy that they weren't privy to, but unfortunately, they couldn't interfere.
The last Wizard apprentice who suggested using the blood sacrifice ritual at the Blood Slave Academy to trap the Witch Academy had already been taken away by his furious Wizard Mentor to be used as an experimental subject.
Aside from knowing that the guy was now in a state worse than death, they couldn't find out anything about what had actually happened. The other Wizard apprentices who had led that blood sacrifice ritual had basically all been "dealt with" by their mentors.
However, it didn't seem like they were backing down to the Witch Academy; it felt more like... they had done something they shouldn't have.
"Alright, the relationship between the Vampire Academy and the Wizards is at the institutional level. We've never been allies with those Vampires. Isn't it better for everyone to just sit back and watch the show?"
"Don't you have even a shred of a sense of crisis? You're still in the mood for a show?"
"Then please tell me, my dear Wizard Herbert, what can we do now? Go attack the Witches? Or go to the scene and cheer them on?"
"Enough! Stop bickering. There's movement on the screen." A voice cut through the personal squabbles.
Everyone turned to look at the center of the screen—the top deck of the Witch battleship.
A figure had appeared on the top deck despite the battleship's high speed. Her long, bright silver hair was incredibly eye-catching.
It was the very Little Witch they had been talking about!
After walking out, she didn't make any unnecessary movements. She tilted her head up and looked straight ahead, as if crossing the boundaries of space and the screen to engage them in a silent stare.
Everyone present instinctively felt a chill run from the base of their spines straight to their brains!
"What... what is she doing?" the first person to react asked instinctively.
Though no one answered him, his voice pulled everyone back from their shock to reality.
They didn't know what the Little Witch intended to do, but they found out soon enough.
The figure generated a spell ritual. Even with the image zoomed in to the maximum, no one could identify what spell it was.
The students of the Witch Academy were the rivals of the other three top academies, and they knew the Witches well. While spellbooks were convenient, the basic ones they used could be analyzed through exhaustive search, and powerful spellbooks could usually be matched to specific students.
But they had truly never seen this one before.
They witnessed it soon enough. A massive falcon was summoned from the ritual, appearing on the battleship's deck draped in blazing fire!
As its wings unfurled, its massive form—instantly exceeding a hundred meters—streaked through the high-altitude air, leaving a trail of flames behind.
Before they could process it, the massive Flame Falcon flapped its wings and took flight. Moving even faster than the battleship, it vanished from the screen's perspective in the blink of an eye.
Only a vacuum path carved through the clouds by the fire remained, leaving the onlookers in a daze.