Hence, the people of the Fifth Fleet saw an even more horrifying scene. The giant alchemical battleship that was sucked up into the sky suddenly began to disintegrate in midair, and all the metals were broken down into a substance that was like fine sand before being deposited into the giant mouth of Garl.
“It devoured our battleship!” This time, the people of the Fifth Fleet were really frightened. Although it seemed to be a better thing than having the battleship dropped on the port, watching the huge giant alchemical battleship being disintegrated and devoured was even more agonizing for them.
“Listen, people of the Gilded Kingdom, I need some time to digest now. If you still don’t release The Star and the sailors on it, then I’ll have to keep reminding you.” While digesting the battleship he engulfed, Garl once again issued a warning to the people of the Fifth Fleet below.
Actually, Garl had never eaten to his heart’s content like he did now ever since he submitted to Lin Li. It was an entire giant alchemical battleship that contained a large number of magical crystals that acted as a mana source for the Magical Crystal Cannons on the ship. The mana that Garl gained was enough for a person who had just entered the Legendary-realm to reach the peak of the Legendary-realm immediately.
Unfortunately, to break through to the Sanctuary-realm, it took more than a simple condensation of mana. Otherwise, Garl would probably become the first ever to step into the Sanctuary-realm through devouring mana. In fact, it was also because the Devouring Demon had the ability to devour all the mana that it was more difficult for it to break through to the Sanctuary-realm compared to ordinary people or creatures.
At this moment, the people of the Fifth Fleet below were also stunned by Garl’s words. If only the giant alchemical battleship was sunk to the bottom of the sea, it could still be fished up and sent for repair, or the materials from the battleship could be reused elsewhere. However, the problem now was that the giant alchemical battleship had already been devoured entirely by the monster Garl. That was considered a huge loss for the Fifth Fleet.
“Hurry up and send an urgent letter to inform Lord Delano to order all battleships to prepare for battle and aim all weapons at that monster. Once you receive the order, shoot it down immediately,” said Hajis, who still did not dare to take matters into his own hands at the end of the day. In his opinion, even if they had to start a war, it should be Delano’s responsibility. Anyway, he already had an impressive father who would ensure that he wouldn’t be punished even if he got into trouble.
The naval fleet of the Gilded Kingdom often fought battles at sea, and they relied on more than just semaphores to communicate with each other. The Gilded Kingdom had inherited their alchemical technology from the early Dark Age, and it was far more profound than that of the Rotterdam Kingdom. Hence, using Alchemy Arrays to send messages and communicate over long distances wasn’t too difficult.
After receiving the order, the soldier in charge of communication immediately went to the communication room of the flagship, activated the Alchemy Array used for communication, and began to contact Delano who was in the capital. Just as they were about to start doing so, the Lord Devourer Garl outside also began to send his second reminder. Another giant alchemical battleship was sucked into the air and disintegrated into mana of various nature.
At this moment, Delano, who was in the capital, was still arguing with Forcus, completely unaware of how horrendous of a time his fleet was having. All he could think about now was how to deal with the person who had made him embarrass himself. He was hoping to see the other party regret ever offending him.
Furious because of Delano, Forcus had no idea why Delano was so courageous today. Even after he mentioned the king and Elder Zumar, that idiot Delano still refused to change his mind.
However, while the two were arguing, one of Delano’s subordinates suddenly scurried over holding a crystal carved with magic runes. He reported, “Lord, there is an urgent message from Sea Dragon, do you want to communicate with them?”
“Damn it, is the fugitive causing trouble? This bunch of wastrels really can’t do anything right,” said Delano, who didn’t actually sound very angry. Instead, he looked at Forcus smugly, and he was obviously trying to say, “Yes, I’m detaining them, but what can you do about that?”
“You!!” Forcus was so furious that he was on the verge of vomiting blood, wishing he could just leave him to die.
At this moment, the magical crystal that was used for communication had also lit up, ready to map out a somewhat blurred picture above. In the image, a grimacing person anxiously said, “Lord Delano, the people of the Tower of Dusk have summoned a monster, and they want us to release their ship and sailors immediately.”
“Damn it, do you have to ask me for instructions even for something as simple as that!? Tell them that we suspect that they are related to a few bands of pirates, and that investigations are ongoing.” After saying that, Delano was ready to cease communication.
However, the man over there hurriedly called out to stop him. “Lord, that monster is devouring our battleships. He said that if we don’t release their ship and sailors immediately, he will devour one of our battleships at intervals until all of them are gone!”
“What!?” Although Delano was shocked, he soon looked stern, and again yelled, “How brazen of them! You bunch of wastrels, don’t you know how to retaliate? Notify the military immediately to take all the battleships over. No matter who they are, we have to kill them before doing anything since they have the audacity to touch our battleships!”
However, Forcus, who was at the side, had already been petrified at this point. Things were really going awry. Once they went to war, it would be impossible to salvage their relationship regardless of which party won.
“Delano, do you know what you are doing? Do you really want to cause a war between us and the Tower of Dusk!?” Forcus roared furiously.
“War? Lord Forcus, you really think too highly of that Tower of Dusk. It’s just a local force in the Breezy Plains. Once we set foot in the Breezy Plains, wouldn’t it be easy to exterminate them?” Delano said with disdain.
Indeed, the Gilded Kingdom was also one of the several powerful nations in Anril. They not only had a powerful naval fleet, the strength of their army was also not inferior to the Ledin Kingdom’s or Felan Kingdom’s. However, the Tower of Dusk was just one of the many forces in the Breezy Plains, even if they had a high status. After all, the forces in the Breezy Plains were in disunity, and the Tower of Dusk might have a few powerhouses, but the Gilded Kingdom did too. Besides, the Gilded Kingdom had the support of the Illuminati.
Hence, no matter how he looked at it, Delano did not think that the Tower of Dusk, a local force in the Breezy Plains, would be a rival to the powerful Gilded Kingdom. As for how much His Majesty valued it, he felt that it was only because of the development needs of the Gilded Kingdom in the Breezy Plains. Even if they fell out, it was unlikely that His Majesty would take the Tower of Dusk’s side.
“Don’t you know? President Felic is a Sanctuary powerhouse!” Forcus really wanted to slap Delano.
“A Sanctuary powerhouse? So what? My father’s a Sanctuary powerhouse too, and there are so many of them in the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati. Why should we be afraid of him just because he’s a Sanctuary powerhouse?” Delano said nonchalantly. Although he wasn’t very competent, his father, High Priest Poer, was a true Sanctuary powerhouse. Hence, he wasn’t afraid of Sanctuary powerhouses.
“Even the corpse of the ancient dragon that once caused a great disaster was severely damaged by a single blow from that Sky Castle belonging to the Tower of Dusk. Do you think we can withstand such an attack?!” Forcus hollered at Delano, seemingly in hysterics.
“What’s so great about the Sky Castle? At the end of the Dark Age, the High Elves’ Sky Castles were struck down too. If that Sky Castle touches our airspace, my fleet can shoot it down with a single salvo,” Delano said proudly with his arms folded.
Hearing Delano’s reply, Forcus suddenly felt like dying. He really couldn’t imagine how a respectable Sanctuary powerhouse like High Priest Poer could have such a foolish son. He knew that it was useless for him to say anything now as Delano wouldn’t be scared until death was in his face.
“Lord Forcus, if you have nothing more to do, I would like to leave first. We still have some questions for that Felic, and we will need him to cooperate with the investigation.” Delano waved his hand smugly, and swaggered off with his many subordinates to the embassy.
“You…” Staring at the backs of Delano and the others, Forcus stretched out his hand powerlessly, but could not say anything else. There was nothing he could do now, and it seemed that he had to find some time to report this to his teacher in hopes that the latter would be able to appease Lin Li lest disaster struck the Gilded Kingdom.
However, Forcus couldn’t leave yet. Even though Delano had angered him greatly, he could not really just let Delano wander off. If Delano was killed by Felic, it would be an irreparable situation.
Hence, Forcus had no choice but to perk up and follow Delano and the others closely in hopes of saving Delano even when they got into a dispute.
At this moment, Helena Port had already turned into a battlefield. The battleships that were guarding The Star at the port and the ones that had just received orders to come from the military port to support them were all there. There were tens of battleships of various sizes, and they were all pointing their weapons at the sky as giant mana cannons were shot into the sky.
The power of the mana cannons probably could not be matched by any magical beast even in the Endless Ocean. Even if an ancient dragon appeared there, it might be blasted away at any time. However, although the Lord Devourer Garl’s strength was only the peak of the Legendary level, its ability to devour everything would definitely make every one of its opponents get a huge headache.
In the Well of the Sun at the beginning, Lin Li and several peak Legendary powerhouses and the elites of the various forces failed to do much to Garl even when they joined forces. In fact, they even let Garl devour quite a few Alchemy Colossuses of the Rotterdam Kingdom. Later, Lin Li managed to subdue Garl only after using the Heart-piercing Potion.
However, the people of the Fifth Fleet of the Gilded Kingdom now were not aware of the true origins of Garl the Lord Devourer; hence, they didn’t know its weakness. Besides, even if they did, no one would be able to formulate the Heart-piercing Potion at this moment.
Hence, although the Fifth Fleet’s attacks seemed so powerful that they could allegedly destroy the world, they were just supplements for the Lord Devourer Garl. The solid mana cannons were made of the purest mana, and Garl didn’t have to digest it at all. He could turn it into his own power directly after devouring it.
“Haha, come on, come on, go all out and attack!” Garl said while guffawing without restraint.
The people of the Fifth Fleet below were all dumbfounded. Although they were still keeping up the attacks, they were getting more and more scared. What kind of monster is this? Why can it devour even the powerful mana cannons? Other magical beasts would have probably had their bodies pierced through. Damn it, how do we fight this? That monster devours all our attacks, and even spews out a magic storm every now and then. The battleships were blasted to pieces in a matter of moments.
“Damn it, let’s go!” Seeing that that powerful battleships were losing their usefulness in front of that monster, those Legendary powerhouses knew that if they continued at this rate, they would definitely be in a disadvantageous situation. Hence, more than 10 Legendary powerhouses flew into the air from the battleships, and they exerted all their power one by one and besieged Garl the Lord Devourer.
At this moment, Delano was already leading many of his subordinates into the embassy of the Gilded Kingdom in Hopra City where Lin Li and the others were.
“President Felic, we found…” As soon as Delano entered, he spoke with gusto, but before he finished his words, he felt that something was amiss. Apart from Lin Li whom he was looking for, the representatives of the other forces of the Breezy Plains were also in the room.
Logically speaking, the issue with The Star should have been a problem between the Gilded Kingdom and the Tower of Dusk. In the past, the people of the forces of the Breezy Plains would have been overjoyed to see the Gilded Kingdom and the Tower of Dusk fighting. However, things were now different. Putting aside the fact that the Tower of Dusk had a high status in the Breezy Plains, and the fact that they had gained plenty of benefits from Lin Li along the way, their interests alone were reason enough for them not to stand by and not do anything at this juncture.
