Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 722: Port Invasion

TL: Rui88

The night sky was filled with dark clouds, completely obscuring the moon and stars. A black veil shrouded the entirety of Lion’s Port.

Only the lighthouse in the dock district still burned with a blazing fire, providing navigation for ships in the distant waters.

A fleet of ships followed this beam of light and approached the port. The dutiful on-duty staff of the port authority noticed the situation and immediately dispatched a small boat to investigate.

The small boat drew near the lead ship. According to regulations, they needed to check the newcomer’s entry permit and get a general idea of the cargo on board. After the ship docked, more people would board for a detailed inspection and collect a certain amount of tax based on the type and value of the goods.

“Jess! Is that you, Jess?” someone on the lead ship suddenly shouted down to the small boat.

“Martin, is that you?”

“Haha, it’s me! I thought it was you just from your build, and when I asked, it really was. My permit is still valid, you remember!” the man on the fleet’s ship continued to shout towards the boat.

On the port authority’s boat, a staff member asked his colleague, whom the man on the ship had called Jess, “Do we still need to board and inspect?”

Jess shook his head. “No need. Martin is a regular here. He’s right, their entry permit is still valid. Let them into the port. We’ll take a closer look after they dock.”

The port authority’s boat guided the fleet of five large ships into Lion’s Port, inching closer to the pier amidst the sound of crashing waves.

A team was already waiting in formation on the pier. Although the fleet had an entry permit, the necessary inspection procedures could not be skipped, especially during this tense and sensitive period. The security in Lion’s Port was much stricter than before.

The gangplank was lowered with a thud, connecting the ship to the pier. A port official, carrying a lantern, stepped onto the gangplank and asked as he walked, “What cargo are you carrying?”

But just as his foot touched the ship, a flash of silver light suddenly appeared in the darkness. The next moment, it plunged into the unfortunate man’s abdomen. He only had time to let out a sound like “Ugh…”

Before the port officials on the pier could react, a continuous series of whooshing sounds broke the silence of the night. Countless sharp crossbow bolts were fired from the deck towards the pier, instantly felling more than half of the men there.

“Enemies!” The survivors were terrified. Those with quicker reactions immediately turned and ran towards the shore, screaming at the top of their lungs.

It wasn’t just this one ship; the same thing was happening on all five ships that had just docked. Agile “crewmen” armed with swords, spears, and other weapons, under the cover of crossbows, quickly seized control of the nearby docks.

“Thank you, Mr. Martin!”

On the lead ship, a man in a black cloak thanked Martin.

The man he called Martin was a middle-aged man of about forty, with a slender build and a shrewd glint in his eyes.

“Haha…” He gave a somewhat forced laugh. “It is my honor to be of service to Grand Duke Jars.” 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The man in the black cloak nodded. “His Grace the Grand Duke rewards meritorious service and will certainly grant you the franchise you desire.”

Martin’s heart did not seem to be entirely filled with joy. From the expression on his face, it was clear he was of two minds.

Glancing at the “crewmen” who had already jumped ashore and were now charging towards the inner port, Martin said, “Security in Lion’s Port should be very tight right now. Are you confident?”

The cloaked man sneered, as if mocking Martin’s cowardice.

“Do you know what kind of army this is?”

“What?”

“They are called—” The cloaked man paused, then enunciated with emphasis: “The Undead Army!”

“The… Undead Army? The legendary Undead Army?” Martin’s mouth hung open in an ‘O’.

He had heard that the voracious Grand Duke Jars had a powerful army under his command. The soldiers of this army were brave and fought fearlessly, each one possessing immense strength and superb martial skills. They could march and fight without sleep, food, or water, their physical endurance far exceeding the limits of ordinary men.

Moreover, this army had only six thousand men, and its size had never grown or shrunk. Its members seemed to be the same people all along, which was why they were called the Undead Army.

Grand Duke Jars had actually dispatched such an elite force to seize Lion’s Port?

The cloaked man laughed sinisterly. “These Northwesterners were so focused on defending against threats from the land that they probably never dreamed an enemy would come from the sea. How arrogant of them!”

“Still, we can’t be careless. I heard there are several thousand men stationed here!” Martin reminded him.

“Then let’s make this place even more chaotic! Let the whole city erupt into chaos!”

The cloaked man suddenly stretched out his arm, palm facing forward, and continuously chanted.

Martin and the others could feel something gathering in the palm of the cloaked man’s hand.

At that moment, a scorching heat suddenly erupted from that palm, followed by a dazzling flash. The cloaked man’s hand had conjured a ball of fire out of thin air, which then detached from his hand and shot towards the shore.

On the shore was a pile of wooden crates, stacked as high as a small hill. The sudden flame collided with the pile of crates, and with a whoosh, it burst into a raging fire.

“I will set the entire city ablaze!” the cloaked man roared with laughter.

“Wiz… wizardry!” Martin was dumbfounded. Jars had a spellcaster under his command?

But the stone in his heart finally dropped. With both the Undead Army and a spellcaster, it seemed Jars was determined to take this city.

Although he felt a little sorry for the city—he honestly quite liked this port—siding with Grand Duke Jars was perhaps a better choice.

Just as Martin was thinking this, the situation changed slightly.

To his direct left, a roar like muffled thunder suddenly erupted!

Immediately after, a bright light burst forth—strictly speaking, it came before the sound. Everyone on deck instinctively turned their gaze to the left.

Only then did they see that it was a ball of orange flame, so brilliant that it illuminated an area nearly a hundred meters around it, also revealing the behemoth that had spat out the flame.

A behemoth. That ship was truly a behemoth! Or perhaps… a castle had been built on a ship?

“Whoosh!”

Martin could feel something brush past him at high speed, the resulting airflow causing a sharp pain across half his body.

While everyone was still trying to figure out what was happening, a second ball of fire exploded, followed by a third, a fourth… Clusters of flames erupted from the massive ship.

They did not know that the ship they were on had been “lucky” enough to moor next to the Alda Navy’s Sea Fortress. The dark, moonless night had prevented the invaders from noticing the giant vessel nearby at first.

When Jars’s men began their attack, the sentries on the Sea Fortress immediately noticed the abnormality nearby and sounded the alarm bell.

Because they were on a war footing, the combat personnel on board were awakened and entered a state of battle readiness in a very short time.

The captain who had remained on the ship made a decisive call—bombard the invaders’ ships.