The Airsh.i.p.s from Aljun City were their sole pride and the crown jewel of all their possessions. Their citizens were immensely proud of their air force. In particular, the constant creations of new airsh.i.p.s were considered to be one of the strongest feats that had allowed them to become a force to be reckoned with among the neighbouring cities. It had allowed them to attract both investors and talents into their city. However, as the saying goes, when they faced Demopolis and Pandapolis forces combined, pride came before the fall.
The Air Force of Aljun City could have never imagined that their latest prototype of airsh.i.p.s could be defeated by a bunch of dragons and wyverns. Then again, they had never before regarded these flying worms a threat until they witnessed them move at the same speeds as their fighter airsh.i.p.s, which had the reputation of being the most agile air force in their regiment. Yet even those who had were having difficulty fighting toe to toe with them.
In their experience, typical dragon riders should have already been decimated by the speed of Aljun City's fighter airsh.i.p.s. Marquis Forneus, the esteemed leader of the Devil Dragons had also admitted that his Devil Dragons could barely win against them in a head on fight despite their overwhelming offensive powers. (Of course, that was before he and the rest of the Devil Dragons had been captured and upgraded by the System)
At that point, speed and manoeuvrability would decide the outcome of a dogfight and those Fighter Airsh.i.p.s which were equipped with high density crystals had been able to outclass them. Thanks to the ingenuity in their airship design, many talented human engineers sought to join Aljun City for the sake of glory and fame, hoping to establish themselves by further improving their air force.
With the City's Lord loving his airsh.i.p.s to a fault, it was the easiest way for them to become rich. All they had to do was join the yearly design contests to see who could create the best prototype for the air force. This in turn promises a whole lot of rewards which would set them for life.
Alas, all those did not matter in the face of the newly fused Devil Dragons whose speed had finally caught up to their prowess. The augmentation which Jin had granted them during the Southern War in the Farming World had become a boon they would forever thank him for.
Especially since it had allowed them to finally retake their rightful 'King of the Skies' status from the Goblin Wyvern Knights. In the current battle, they displayed overwhelming skills compared to the Goblin Wyvern Knights.
Yet, this did not deter Wy Striker and the rest of his knights. They knew their limits without augmentation but never stopped improving themselves with minor tweaks to their equipment or their tactical formations. Even though the Devil Dragons dominated this particular fight, most of the Dragon Knights were fighting as individuals compared to the Goblin Wyvern Knights's teamwork.
While Marquis Forneus was delighted by his newfound powers, he was still a bit envious of the goblin team's coordinated efforts. Hence, he understood that there was more to do in the future to make his troops bond further as one.
However, the total destruction of Aljun City's air force had never been the main concern to Kraft. He was more interested in the airsh.i.p.s themselves and that was where the Eld Enclave came into the picture. While the entire sky was in total chaos with magic and explosive projectiles flying around, there were some targets which Kraft warned the fighters to keep intact.
One of them was the Aljun City's main battlecruiser which Kraft and the War Room Council had codenamed 'Flying Fortress', an airship that was as large as Stalingrad if not bigger. It was equipped with multiple air cannons which would bring any enemy down with their fires of judgement…(or that was what it was the City Lord had been advertised with when they were building it.)
For its first maiden voyage, it had indeed provided the necessary support such as acting as the sole airship carrier for many fighter airsh.i.p.s as well as a plethora of services like refuelling, rearming and emergency maintenance. Unfortunately, this Flying Fortress happened to have the dumbest luck to meet Jin's augmented aerial force.
Both their conventional and magical cannons were not strong enough to destroy or render a Devil Dragon wounded and to put insult to injury, they noticed that for some reason the enemy was ignoring them completely. The entire enemy force was concentrating on reducing the rest of the fleet into scrap metal because of Kraft's orders. (He had made sure to stress that just the slightest scratch would result in a private session with him)
That was because the Eld Enclave was tasked to take over the Flying Fortress with the help of Wyrstriker after he had set up a coordinate for the System to mass teleport the mafia family into the battlecruiser.
So why did the Eld Enclave cave into this particular order?
It's mainly due to the fact that they were interested in the dense magical crystals the Flying Fortress was using to power this particular ship. They did not need to possess it as long the Shadow King of Eld Enclave was allowed to touch it and learn more about it. She was interested in the crystal powering this entire chunk of metal to keep it afloat.
Kraft didn't mind entertaining her as long as she didn't break anything. He just wanted it intact, for future expeditions. It might also prove to be useful for Rei, the Mecha World Engineer to use it as a basis to create more spacesh.i.p.s. Therefore, it was a win-win situation for both of them.
The only obstacle they encountered was that half of Aljun City's land army was still on board that ship. Fortunately, it did not pose much of a problem to the Shadow King as she had one very important person right beside her as part of the contract to fight alongside with the System.
Rex.
The King of Demopolis had agreed to accompany Eld Enclave's Shadow King 'Starry Mood' into battle (upon her request). As her name was a description of her demure and looks, Starry Mood was carrying an astrometer. It's an instrument that she used to compare the relative amount of light in the stars shining over the Dungeon World. But if one would think that she received her powers from the light of the stars, they wouldn't be entirely correct, but also not completely wrong.
"Show me how you align the fate of your star." Starry Mood spoke softly and slowly that it could annoy almost anyone who was not used to her.
Thankfully, Rex did not bother with such an issue as he raised his sword to a group of soldiers cladded in modern iron armour. It seemed as if the army of Aljun City should not be underestimated. They would have surely been able to fight valiantly if only their opponents were generic soldiers from a human city.
Regrettably for them, they were confronting one of the most powerful members of the Fox bellators and a Shadow King of Demopolis.
Death was inevitable!
