Extraordinary Voyage

Starting from the evening, the sparse snowflakes in the sea area where Forward Island is located gradually became dense, eventually evolving into a sizable snowstorm.

At midnight.

Woo woo woo——

The wind blowing from the Eternal White Land formed an irresistible cold wave, under the triple assault of nature's cold wind, snowstorm, and low temperatures.

Except for the two patrolling warships still drifting on the sea, most of the lightly dressed guards had long since retreated into their tents.

In such weather, even the base commander found it difficult to order the soldiers to continue patrolling at the risk of frostbite, with only the key strategic points of fixed watchtowers and turrets burning enough firewood to stay at their posts.

Crackling....

Beyond the firelight of the crackling campfire, it seemed like another world forbidden to humans.

Near the camp area towards the inner side of the island.

As time passed, the snow gradually thickened, even forming a thick layer of ice on the surface of the tents with fires within, connecting them into what looked like mounds of snow.

Crack!

A mound of snow suddenly split open, letting the howling cold wind invade, and amid the curses of a half-awake soldier near the entrance, a figure quickly darted out.

"Brrr... So cold!"

Not planning to stray far from his warm bed, Private Makazi had just exited the tent and loosened his belt.

Drip drip drip——

"Ah, I couldn't hold it any longer after all this time. If the temperature drops any further, I might need to bring a stick when I go to the bathroom..."

After dealing with his physical needs, Makazi shivered violently and suddenly noticed that the snowy night was brighter than usual.

"Hmm? What's going on?"

Looking up, he saw a massive blaze rising in the distance, his jaw dropping.

The flames, which faintly lit up the sky, doused the last remnants of sleep from his eyes like a bucket of cold water.

In just a brief moment, the enormous blaze mixed with a hint of eerie green shot into the sky. Coming to his senses in the next second, he shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Enemy attack——!"

The shrill, broken voice echoed throughout the camp, unable to be muffled even by the roaring snowstorm.

Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!...

In the neighboring tents, a scene of chaos erupted, with soldiers instinctively jumping out of their sleep.

Under the leadership of junior officers, ignoring the severe cold outside, they hurriedly put on clothes, those with access to wrapping themselves in a piece of tent canvas, grabbed their firearms, and rushed out.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"

As a world-class elite force, they certainly possessed this level of military skill.

"Ah! That's our supply warehouse!"

By the time they charged out, it was already a bit too late.

The warehouse closest to the port was already engulfed in flames, with flames mixed with strange green streams. Two other warehouses had also caught fire, with the blaze gradually getting out of control.

And in just the time it took to glance up, the transshipment warehouse by the dock had also become a fiercely burning torch from a single ghostly green flame bullet, as if struck by artillery fire.

Amidst the flickering flames, several teams of mysterious individuals clad in white cloaks completed their tasks and were rapidly retreating towards the island's periphery.

Bang! Bang! Bang!....

Ah——

They engaged in fierce combat with the Hilus soldiers who had noticed the commotion and were gradually pouring out, the clashing of metal, gunfire, and screams incessantly echoing.

"Quickly support, don't let them escape! Everyone else, hurry to the warehouses and put out the fire!"

Support was feasible, but the adjacent emergency water storage tanks at the warehouses were completely out of order.

Even though seawater has a lower freezing point than freshwater, being separated from its marine environment and combined with the sudden cold wave had already turned it into ice blocks, making it impossible to put out the fire.

"The mission is complete; don't entangle with the Hilus people. The intelligence mentions that there's at least one Great Knight here. If we delay any longer, we won't be able to leave!"

The forces from Atlant and Sak, under the leadership of two Tier 2 Peak captains, broke through Hilus's encirclement at all costs.

Finally regrouping at the port, they jumped onto the hidden boats and swiftly glided towards their respective warships.

At this point, besides the landing assault troops, the naval artillery battle had also commenced. After all, such a significant disturbance could hardly escape the patrol cruisers on the periphery.

Boom! Boom! Boom!...

The orange-red artillery fire had already illuminated the sea surface.

Previously.

Due to the sudden snowstorm, even on the sea surface with excellent visibility, the visible range had been reduced to less than five hundred meters. Two "Pirate Ships" took advantage of the patrol interval of the Hilus warship to speedily advance to the shore closest to the warehouses and then split up into action.

The howling gale greatly aided them, as even slight disturbances failed to attract the attention of the few available sentry points.

Within the firelight, looking into the darkness of the blizzard outside, vision was extremely limited.

After racing against time to deal with the sentries and warehouse guards, they ignited the mission-target warehouses using kerosene precisely according to the plan, completing their task despite significant personnel losses.

However.

Both sides quickly realized that the mutually agreed time limit had long passed, yet no fire had appeared at the remaining three, largest warehouses.

Moreover, after fires at the other four warehouses, defensive measures were bound to be strengthened at the remaining ones, making it impossible for even a bird to approach them!

"Damn it! This guy called White Knight is so unreliable. If the mission fails in the end, it's all his fault!"

Coordinated attacks emphasize consistency, and if a segment launches prematurely and exposes the entire operation, it achieves at best a minor objective but fails the overall mission.

Thus on this occasion, Sak and Atlant, even while assigning the toughest tasks to Aiven, did not plan any sabotage against their allies in this respect.

If the mission failed due to deliberate sabotage, neither of them was the King's beloved; they would face dire punishments upon returning, regardless of mission completion!

At most, they just want to minimize their losses while completing the mission.

If Aiven adopted the same tactics as them, when the flames ignited, he would be forced to break through numerous obstacles to return to the coastline. Even if they managed to retreat in the end, the losses would be severe, and it would attract more enemy fire to himself, which was part of their initial little plan.

"Forget about him, let's focus on overcoming the hardest part of this mission first!"

After braving the cannon fire to board their respective warships, both sides dared not hesitate for even a moment and fled in a hurry.

After all, there wasn't a single Tier 3 power in their team; they merely succeeded thanks to an element of surprise and the blessing of the Goddess of Fortune. Of course, Wolf believed that the abrupt snowstorm was the grace of "Frost Breath"!

"Damn it! Where do you think you're going?!"

Behind them, the furious base commander, Great Knight Major General Orcott, wearing nothing but a thin white shirt, was already chasing them down to the shore.

His residence was located in the center of the fan-shaped island, providing an overlook of the entire island during normal weather conditions, allowing him to notice any discrepancies immediately and provide support for impending dangers. But tonight, it ironically gave the arsonists a chance for successful escape.

Step—

Without hesitation, he stepped over the water and hopped onto a cruiser, quickly closing in on them.

Although their side had two Level 3 battleships with firepower far stronger than the cruiser, who has ever seen a shipborne artillery, with its limited accuracy and angle, hit a Great Knight at sea?

Without any intention of engaging in a naval battle, the two Black Sail Battleships only wanted to flee!

However, just watching the faster cruiser continue to close the distance wasn't a solution either.

On the Sak's Black Sail Warship, Heather stood on the ship's quarterdeck, displaying his abilities to his allies for the first time.

Mala—

A spinning green flame ball gathered in his palm, then soared into the air like a bullet and flew across hundreds of meters, crashing toward the cruiser behind them.

[Magic: Assault Flame Bullet!]

Bang!

A sword light infused with Combat Qi suddenly emerged at the ship's bow and crushed the flame bullet.

Even though the green flame bullet was split by the battle-hardened, keen-sensed Major General's sword, the scattered sparks from the explosion still ignited parts of the ship's wooden structures and the foremast sail. The green flames clung to the flammable surfaces, making them extremely difficult to extinguish.

While the crew was busy fighting the fire, Orcott coldly locked eyes from a distance with Heather on the ship ahead, saying:

"An Evil Fire Mage?!"

.....

The adjutant on the shore watching the Major General depart wasn't worried about an enemy ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain, quickly issuing orders:

"Enhance the alert, and send teams to guard the remaining warehouses!"

"Yes, Sir!"

Beside him, a group of raggedly clothed and poorly equipped soldiers, ignoring their lackluster gear, divided into squads with high morale and ran into the depths of the island...

"Indeed, even after experiencing a disastrous accident, they remain exemplary soldiers of the Kingdom!"

The adjutant slightly nodded, affirming these soldiers from the Vice-Kingdom of La Plata. He then turned to the Order Officer beside him, saying:

"Quickly, summon Great Knight Daos to preside over things!"

Moments later, the Great Knight Daos, perhaps the sole remaining survivor from the initial exploration ships that once landed on Potosi, was respectfully led into the command center by the soldiers.

But currently, he wasn't in good shape.

"Cough, cough..."

Having reached the Great Knight Level, being a powerful Tier 3 Extraordinary meant that he should have been impervious to cold and heat. Yet, he was wrapped tightly in thick furs, even concealing his military uniform underneath.

To outsiders, wearing fur might symbolize status, but only he knew he was genuinely afraid of the cold...

Back when the exploration ship first landed on Silver Island.

After repelling the first wave of Atlant's attacks, he was besieged by reinforcements from both countries that arrived later, and despite his excellent swordsmanship, facing two at once was still beyond his means.

Severely wounded, he barely escaped by leaping into the sea, struggling alone in the icy waters for days. Although a Great Knight's body is comparable to a demon's, this experience was exceedingly exhausting.

Moreover, for reasons unknown, his once astonishing self-healing ability diminished significantly, and he later contracted a lung disease that caused stabbing pain whenever he coughed.

A Great Knight with a body that should have been as strong as iron now turned into a feeble invalid!

Others only believed that he hadn't fully recovered from his injuries and still had utmost confidence in him.

The adjutant was clearly one of them.

"No matter how the Great Knight suffers from illness, he is still a formidable presence, enough to hold this island without any... hmm? What's happening?"

Before he could finish speaking, a thick red glow suddenly erupted from the direction of the last three warehouses on the island, dyeing the snow-filled night sky a bloody crimson!

Boom—

With a loud blast, one of the ammunition depots had exploded in sympathetic detonation!

Thud!

His heart skipped a beat, his face twisted in utter terror at the thought of losing the last three warehouses.

"Hahahahaha...."

"Hahahahaha...."

Suddenly, bursts of maniacal laughter echoed through the command center.

Wrath surged in the adjutant's heart. How can you still laugh at a time like this?!

But before the thought could fully form.

"How... How come I am also... Hahahahaha...."

Looking around again, everyone in the command center was in fits of laughter, even... Great Knight Daos wasn't spared!

It wasn't just the command center; half of the island was drowning in laughter...