Chapter 148
Chapter 148
Iron Emperor — Chapter 148
After the meeting ended and he stepped outside, Phillian Gerard was troubled, wondering what he could possibly do to escape Jin-cheon's wrath.
"Hm?"
Frustrated, Gerard turned his head toward the shore, and something strange caught his eye.
"What is that?"
A soldier was walking along with a Giant Crab shell on his back, larger than his own body. There had been a time when Gauri sailors, dreaming of romance with the Sirens, had nearly wiped out the Giant Crab population.
And now this soldier was carrying a shell past him, which piqued Gerard's curiosity.
"What's he planning to use that for?"
At Gerard's question, Jang Bogo, who had come out behind him, stepped up beside him and answered with a smile.
"Oh, they're useful for all sorts of things. Some soldiers detach the legs and use them as farming tools to till the fields, and sometimes they weave them together for roofing."
"That soldier..."
Gerard pointed his finger at the soldier who had sat down and was doing something with the shell.
"It looks like he's making a shield."
The soldier who had been sitting stood up and lifted it with one hand.
"Now that I think about it, Giant Crab shells are so tough that even our arrows can barely pierce them. Even if you can't reshape them, they'd be excellent as shields!"
"Indeed, and they're light too..."
Giant Crab shells, which couldn't even be scratched by a blade, certainly looked effective as shields. But even with the soldier standing, the shell was large enough to cover his entire body. It was too unwieldy for combat.
"Ha ha, we'll have to cut it, of course. It's far too large."
"Still, it's quite good in its own way."
Gerard chuckled and turned to walk away, then abruptly stopped as if something had suddenly occurred to him.
"Fleet Commander Jang."
"Yes?"
"What were all the things you said it could be used for?"
At the sudden question, Jang Bogo tilted his head but answered again.
"Detach the legs and use them as farming tools..."
"No, not that."
"They use them for roofing when building houses. Since they're so large, you only need to weave a few together."
The moment those words ended, Gerard turned around.
"Wouldn't the house collapse?"
"That soldier is carrying a shell two mir in diameter with one hand and moving easily, so how could a house collapse under it? If anything, it's lighter and harder than other materials."
As he listened to Jang Bogo's explanation, Gerard's face brightened.
"Have you come up with a good idea?"
When Bogo tilted his head and asked, Gerard suddenly clapped his hands and burst out laughing.
Clap!
"That's it! Pu-ha-ha-ha!"
"Excuse me?"
To Bogo, who was growing more bewildered, Gerard, practically leaping with joy, came over, slapped him on the back, and shouted.
"We'll put a roof on a ship!"
"What? Ah!"
Jang Bogo asked blankly, then suddenly let out a cry of admiration. If you put a roof on a ship, it would be safe from enemy arrow attacks, and though he didn't know for certain, its defensive power against enemy ballista attacks would also be high.
And because it was light, there was no worry of the ship capsizing.
"We cover the ship with it, like a turtle's shell!"
"Yes, that's it!"
Their minds met perfectly. As soon as Gerard's idea came out, Jang Bogo's head began racing.
"If we cover a flat-bottomed boat, which has excellent turning ability, with that, it will become an invincible ramming ship!"
"Yes! Ramming into the enemy formation, colliding forward, backward, left, and right to break their ranks—like a kind of cavalry!"
"Oh, right! We'll attach blades or spear tips on top of that roof! That way the enemy can't even jump aboard, can they!"
Their imaginations were shining brilliantly.
"What shall we name this ship, do you think?"
"Since it takes after the form of a turtle, how about Turtle Ship!"
"That's perfect!"
The Turtle Ship.
This was the moment that gave birth to the world's strongest, unprecedented ramming ship—later called the Turtle Dragon, a terror that would come to dominate the Central Seas.
"Ku-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Gerard's agonized search for an escape route from annihilation (?) was producing an unexpected result from an unexpected direction.
Once the decision was made, the soldiers grew busy. They began collecting the Giant Crab shells they had caught over time. They even tore off the ones that had been used for roofing.
"What're they doing?"
"Dunno. They say they're making some kind of turtle thing."
"Making what?"
Despite the soldiers' puzzlement, the work continued. They only needed to cover existing flat-bottomed boats with a roof, but under the plan to build them as ramming ships, they began constructing a new type of vessel with a reinforced keel.
The size was not large, but the Turtle Ship—lower in profile than other ships—was a vessel designed with an emphasis on ramming power and turning ability. Then the Giant Crab's huge claws were attached to the bow so they could punch holes in the lower hulls of enemy ships upon collision.
As the shape gradually began to reveal itself, the grumbling soldiers and carpenters started to throw themselves into the work with growing enthusiasm at its formidable appearance.
"We'll install the Yudonno (Young Pig Crossbow)—six on each side of the Turtle Ship, twelve in total, plus two at the bow."
"I see."
Gerard nodded at the words of the artisan in charge of the design.
Normally, when ships engaged in close combat, there were two methods: raining fire arrows into the enemy ship, or hooking grapnels onto the enemy ship and boarding it.
Once within arrow range, ballistae or the Gauri Yudonno, which were highly exposed and took a long time to reload, became nearly useless. But in a protected state like the Turtle Ship, they could actually become a strength.
"In that case, let's eliminate the archers entirely and mount more Yudonno."
"You mean the archers?"
The shipwrights' eyes widened in surprise at Gerard's words. Then Fleet Commander Jang Bogo, who was standing beside him, stroked his chin and slowly nodded.
"That would be best. The mission of a ramming ship is to break the enemy formation anyway, and if we mount many Yudonno, we can inflict heavy damage on enemy ships in a short time. Rather than doing a little of this and a little of that, I believe maximizing a single combat capability is optimal."
"Exactly!"
When Jang Bogo concurred, Gerard smiled brightly and nodded. A moment later, a shipwright who had been calculating something slowly nodded and spoke.
"In that case, we can install ten on each side, for a total of twenty."
"And to prepare for recoil when firing, collisions, or waves, we can lay stones on the bottom to hold the weight steady..."
The ensuing discussion among the shipwrights showed no sign of ending, even as night fell.
* * *
"Yaaawn."
The hour when the long night passed and dawn approached was a vulnerable time for the watch. On top of that, keeping watch on an empty sea made it all the harder not to let attention slip.
When a young man yawned wide enough to split his mouth, a middle-aged man clicked his tongue and warned him.
"You're gonna split your face open. Stay alert. This area especially has a lot of pirate activity."
"Tch, we've got an escort fleet. What's there to worry about?"
It was a large-scale transport—five ships in total were advancing under the escort of eight warships. At the young man's curt reply, the middle-aged man who had warned him frowned and retorted.
"You still have to be careful. It's not even light out yet, and with this fog it's dangerous. If we hit a reef, you and I are finished—finished!"
"What reef is there in this area—a reef? Is this your first voyage?"
"You know what I mean!"
Their bickering continued beneath the dawn sky that was pushing away the chill of night.
The young man, who had been grumbling under the middle-aged man's scolding, clicked his tongue and turned his head, then tilted it as if he had suddenly spotted something.
"Huh? That..."
"Get a grip."
When the young man trailed off, the middle-aged man snapped at him as if his irritation hadn't subsided. But the young man's eyes went wide and he tugged at the middle-aged man's sleeve.
"A reef! A reef!"
"You crazy bastard! Did you already forget what you just said yourself? Where in this area is there a reef... There is one!"
As the middle-aged man turned his head while scolding the young man, something began to come into view through the fog in his eyes as well.
"Did we take the wrong sea route?"
"Could be. We might've veered off a little because of the fog. We need to report it fast."
"Yeah."
The middle-aged man, who had been tilting his head, sent the young man off and muttered as if something was off.
"That's strange. I've never seen a reef cluster on this side before..."
A short while later, the fleet began to change course to bypass the reef. The young man, who had returned to his post, kept tilting his head.
"Weird."
"Did you even report it properly?"
The reef they had spotted wasn't getting any farther away. No, they were starting to feel like it was actually getting closer.
Finding this strange, the middle-aged man shouted downward.
"Hey! I said there's a reef cluster ahead! Are you even changing course?"
"What are you talking about! Can't you see we already changed course!"
All that came back from below was an irritated-sounding answer. Then the young man's shout reached them.
"The reef... the reef is moving!"
"Now what kind of crazy talk is that!"
"Gasp! I'm telling you it's speeding up!"
At the young man's words, the middle-aged man looked again. Even with his own eyes, he could see it approaching rapidly. They weren't the only ones who had noticed—the other ships were growing rowdy as well.
"Turn the ship around, quick! We're going to collide at this rate!"
Warning cries rang out everywhere, and sailors, sleep completely driven from them, were scrambling frantically. In the midst of this, the young sailor's eyes were growing wider and wider.
"Gasp! N-no... no way!"
"What is that thing!"
The two men stared at the reef in the fog with expressions of horror. And the sailors at the bow of the ship began screaming in terror as well.
"A d-dragon!"
"No! It's a Turtle Dragon!"
"Aaaagh! Get away, hurry!"
Even while the panicked fleet was changing direction, the Turtle Dragons approached swiftly.
"Aaaagh!"
A sailor's scream burst out. The eyes of the dragon bearing down on the fleet had met his own.
CRASH!
A heavy crash resounded.
"The ship is listing!"
"Turtle Dragons have appeared in a swarm! Scatter! Scatter or we're dead!"
The officers who had belatedly shaken off sleep struggled to command the screaming sailors, but it was already too late to regain control.
Whoooosh!
"Breath attack!"
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
The Turtle Dragons that had wedged themselves among the fleet were hurling fireballs in every direction. There was nothing they could do. The arrows they loosed in desperate resistance didn't even embed themselves—they just bounced off the hulls.
"The ship is sinking!"
"Aaaaagh! Save me!"
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
A thunderous roar echoed as one of the escort ships split in half and began to sink.
"Eek!"
The Turtle Dragon that burst through the sinking ship had countless spikes bristling from its back like a porcupine, and impaled on those spikes, several sailors were screaming or hanging limp, pierced through chest and abdomen.
It was hell.
"Hard to port."
"Hard to port!"
When Gerard gave the order, the soldiers repeated it back and moved into action.
"Collision imminent!"
"Collision!"
WHUMP!
The moment the soldiers' warning cry ended, a heavy tremor shook the ship. Yet what could be seen in the soldiers' eyes was not fear, but a strange kind of exultation.
"Enemy to starboard!"
"Load the Yudonno!"
"Kkwi-ik!"
"Kku-iik!"
The shouts and movements continued as if mechanical. The piglet orcs loaded the Yudonno, shrieking under the soldiers' whips as they turned the windlass.
"Loading complete!"
"Fire in sequence, even numbers first!"
Gerard's forceful command rang out. There was no need to aim or even bother. At this close range, they could hit blindfolded.
THWANG!
THWANG!
The log arrows, springing forth with elastic force, soon brought thunderous roars in their wake.
"Direct hit!"
The elated voice of the spotter exhilarated the soldiers. Meanwhile, they were already craning their necks to find the next target.
"Enemy dead ahead!"
"Light them!"
The tips of the logs loaded into the forward Yudonno were coated in pine resin and caught fire easily.
"Fire!"
THWANG!
The log arrows, carrying flames, flew toward the enemy ship.
THUD!
At such close range, the sound of the logs punching into the hull reached even Gerard's ears.
"Commander-in-Chief Gerard! Two enemy escort ships are breaking away!"
At the spotter's shout, Gerard nodded, then called to the signalman.
"Don't pursue! Tell the main fleet to come scoop up the rest and plunder them!"
"Understood!"
A soldier accompanied by a hobgoblin swiftly relayed the message.
The Turtle Ship's first battle ended so easily it was anticlimactic.
In that day's battle, four Turtle Ships sank five escort warships and crippled one more. Even the two escort ships that fled escaped after sustaining near-crippling damage.
Furthermore, the main fleet that swept in afterward was able to capture all five transport ships, whose crews had fallen into panic, without any difficulty.
After that day's battle, the surrounding waters were declared a Turtle Dragon-infested zone, and navigation was forbidden.