Chapter 663-Fall of the Invincible Squadron
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Even the heart of the calm and collected Alvaro could not help but jump after he listened to this report. He could not imagine how the enemy managed to chisel all the warships in just one night without them noticing.
“There’s no time to wait. Send down my orders, abandon the warships and board the small boats to leave.” As expected from an old general, decisive and quick to make decisions.
“Yes!” The chief officer bowed and turned around.
Alvaro stood on the deck; he stood straight, and his tightened brows had not relaxed yet.
“Since the enemy designed such a scheme, they definitely have further plans.” He ordered the troops to escape on the small boats solely because he was depending on luck.
Alvaro, who had fought wars for his whole life, knew that the battlefield was often as such; what you hoped would not happen would often happen. Considering the worst circumstances was a skill of great generals.
However, there was no second way out in this vast ocean. Alvaro could pretty much see the war scene of floating bodies and blood.
10 minutes later, thousands of small boats were lowered from the Galleons. The sailors busily transported some essentials onto the small boats.
The NPC army was restricted by military law and discipline, so they were able to maintain their calm. Under the orders of their officer, they lined up to orderly board the small ships.
The adventure gamemode players were far different. Since there were too many of them, it was unavoidable that some people would try to squeeze past others and cut the queue. Anyone with common sense would know that the emergency boats prepared could not fit them all.
Furthermore, the boats also needed to carry some resources.
Hence, even though they squeezed, some still would not make it in the end. Boarding the small ships meant a glimmer hope while not boarding meant certain death.
In the front of the threat of death, very few could maintain their calm. Compared to the NPC army, the adventure gamemode players cherished their own lives far more.
The longer this dragged on, the more chaotic the situation grew.
Seeing small boat after small boat being filled up, those on the decks could not maintain their calm any longer. They pushed, squeezed, scolded, and even fought.
Apart from adventure gamemode players, even the sailors on board panicked. They did not have the mind to work anymore and threw themselves into the fight.
It was total chaos.
“Scram you scum!”
Amidst it all, this shout was truly ear piercing.
On the left, on one of the Galleons, stood a cold looking teen with a saber in hand. He stabbed though the body of a middle-aged sailor, killing him on the spot.
Fresh blood dripped onto the deck, extremely glaring.
The teen pulled out his saber, casually cleaning it on the corpse of the sailor before sheathing it. When the nearby sailors saw this scene, fury filled their eyes, but their eyes also contained a hint of fear.
The crowd was in an uproar.
When he saw the other sailors looking over, the teen did not feel that he did anything wrong. He even scolded out, “What are you looking at? What rights do you scum have to be in front of us?”
One had to say, since the start of the game till now, there were still many players that did not treat NPCs as people. In their eyes, these NPCs were just a cluster of data. Even if they died, it was nothing major.
In front of the NPC sailors, many of the players naturally felt superior.
Hence, not only did the other players not intervene, some even followed him. Some pushed away the sailors in front of them while some even used weapons.
Even if some players did not agree with them, they would keep to themselves and not stand out to stop their actions.
How could these sailors be the opponents of the adventure gamemode players? Without mentioning them, even the combat strength of the NPC soldiers could not be compared to the players.
In just a short 10 minutes, 20 sailors collapsed into pools of blood. With numerous people injured, the squeezy place suddenly seemed roomier.
Their actions finally caused people to explode.
The sailors were humans too. At a moment of life or death, an unusual power broke out.
“Brothers let’s go all out!” a male raised the polearm in his hand.
“Fight them! Since they don’t want to let us live, we won’t let them live either. At most, we die together!” They would die if they could not board the boats, so why should the sailors fear fighting the players?
The chaos on the deck increased just like that.
The players and sailors fought one another. Although the sailors suffered heavy causalities, it was unavoidable that some players were killed. These deaths in turn infuriated the players.
Earlier in the morning, the huge sense of failure made it hard for them to breathe. Now, even these scums dared to rebel, so how could the players not be angry?
Some players who were hesitating started to join in.
With that, both sides suffered heavy casualties. A small region of mess slowly spread into an all-out brawl. Even players and sailors who had boarded the ships started to fight one another.
Both groups started to split apart.
Even the NPC soldiers felt furious when they saw their brothers slain. If the officer did not suppress them, the mess would escalate even further.
When Alvaro heard the news, he was so enraged that his beard trembled. At this time, it was just unbelievable for the players to be so uncontrolled.
“Ask those scums to stop. If not, do not blame me.” Alvaro’s face sunk.
“Understood!”
The Commander-in-Chief had practically zero power over the adventure gamemode players as these players had volunteered to come out. The only thing that could control them were Lords and guild leaders.
The Lord players were similarly unhappy about the current chaos. After all, these sailors were their people and not some cabbages. How would they not feel unhappy when they saw the players harvest them like that?
At this very moment, a player with a huge beard stepped out and hollered, “Stop now, do not go too far!”
The loud voice spread across the entire ocean region.
Weirdly, after hearing that shout, a large portion of the players stopped and backed out from the battle. The sailors did not have the courage to continue, so they also backed down quietly to tend to their wounds.
This man was the guild leader of the Madrid Mercenary Guild, and the strongest player in Spain – Pepe.
Amongst the Spanish adventure gamemode players, he held an immensely high prestige. Most of the players gave Pepe face and stopped.
Because he stood out, the entire situation mostly settled just like that.
As time went on, the amount of water that entered the cabin increased, and the water flowed in faster and faster. Galleon after Galleon continued to sink down an increasing rate, forming whirlpools in the water.
“Quick, immediately retreat; let’s not care about the resources!”
Alvaro jumped onto a small boat and ordered.
“Retreat, a whirlpool is about to form!”
“Quick, row quickly, quickly!”
Without needing Alvaro to remind them, the 1500 small boats of the 1st combat group had escaped in a panic. Even a normal sailor would know that the moment a whirlpool formed, it was a catastrophe for small boats.
On the vast ocean surface, such a magnificent scene occurred.
Galleon after Galleon were like giant beasts diving into the marsh as they quickly sank to the bottom. First was the body and then the deck; lastly, even the poles and sails disappeared.
Along with them was the glory and honor of the Spanish Invincible Squadron.
Whirlpools started to form on the ocean surface, combining together. Like how rainwater fell into a pool, a huge whirlpool soon formed. This unusually large whirlpool was extremely dangerous.
The little boats squeezed at the surroundings of the whirlpool, fearful and helpless. The players on the boats were filled with despair. Last night, they were still thinking about defeating the voyage squadron and winning glory for their country.
After waking up, they lost everything.
The massive difference resulted in a huge blow that made the Spanish numb. Even a famous general like Alvaro could not raise their morale.
Half an hour later, the news from the other battle groups were passed to the Commander-in-Chief.
The Spanish used white seagulls for ocean communications. Hence, even though such a change had occurred, communication could still occur without problem.
Just looking at the report, his heart sank.
It was not only them; the other three were also affected. Only the 5th battle group, the reserves, remained safe.
The 5th were only a reserve force, so they had less than 20 Spanish Galleons. As for their other ships, they only had Carracks and random sailing ships.
Before the battle, Alvaro did not even think about throwing in the 5th battle group. Now, however, they had become their only fighting chance.
The four battle groups on the 1500 small boats gathered toward the 5th battle group under Alvaro’s command.
Such small boats, a slighty greater wave would capsize them.
Let’s hope that we can send this group safely back, Alvaro hoped.
Although he knew that it was weird that the 5th battle group had escaped unscathed, he had no other route to choose.
It was like the enemy had laid a trap, you knew it was a trap, but you had no choice. After all, in this trap, there was a bait that gave one hope.
This was the brilliant strategy of the voyage squadron. According to the words of Zheng He, “The 5th battle group is bait. When they all gather together, we will sweep them all up.”
