I Pioneered Scientific Magic

"I've disappointed you this time, under the crown of Lucia... I will search for other candidates," sighed the Pope. Finding the right candidate wasn't easy; faith and talent were crucial but not everything.

For nearly a decade, Edweil had been the only qualified individual.

Unfortunately...

As the Pope pondered, Judge Joshua stepped forward, bowing respectfully to the Church's saint. "Under the crown of Lucia!"

Saint Lucia, having taken a few bites of dragon fruit and returned it to the offering table, spoke softly, suggesting a different offering next time, before turning to Joshua, casually remarking, "Seems even you failed this time."

Ignoring the saint's seemingly disrespectful act of returning the half-eaten fruit, Joshua knelt, reciting war results as if he were a mechanical device. "The Imperial Fleet lost a hundred and forty-three warships without gaining any substantial victory..."

Listening to Joshua's report, Lucia's beautiful emerald eyes narrowed, her tone turning icy. "Speak, what happened? As far as I know, most powerful wizards have already gone to the kingdom. The defense in the wizard's land should be unprecedentedly vulnerable now..."

The first Imperial fleet boasted over three hundred warships, all state-of-the-art sailboats, carrying over eighty thousand elite Imperial troops and nearly a thousand clergy members. It should have been effortless to crush the defenseless land of wizards!

And what do you mean by no victory?

So many dead, half the Imperial fleet annihilated, and yet the adversaries remain unscathed?

Even with the leadership of a foolish camel, such results were impossible!

Joshua recounted their sea ordeal. "Before we reached the wizard's land, we encountered a blockade in the Misty Sea. Those wizards had developed a new type of steel ship, conservatively weighing at least a thousand tons, moving at three times the speed of our sailboats..."

"Wait... a steel ship weighing thousands of tons floating on the sea? And it's faster than sailboats? Are you sure you're not mistaking it for some sort of optical illusion?" The Pope interrupted Joshua, furrowing his brow in disbelief, doubting the credibility of the story.

How could a steel ship float on the sea, let alone outrun sailboats by multiple folds? That defied the laws of the world!

"I am certain!" Joshua asserted firmly, recounting the entire battle.

Especially the enemy's peculiar long-range tactics, maintaining a distance of one kilometer at three times their sailing speed, incessantly suppressing them with relentless firepower, denying any chance to approach or escape.

This was the reason for the fleet's heavy losses without any gains.

"These are nothing but a cunning pack of hyenas!" The Pope uttered coldly, struggling to find a solution from Joshua's perspective.

Joshua had attempted to use powerful legendary spells, but the ships vanished in thin air, impossible to hit. Every half hour, the steel ships would reappear from the mist, continuing their relentless bombardment.

Sending the flying archbishops for pursuit wasn't a good idea either. They couldn't match the speed of the steel ships and would only exhaust their magical energy under constant cannon fire.

Of course, the first fleet wouldn't have suffered such a dire fate if it weren't for the blockade in the Misty Sea. Things might have been different without the mist covering the entire area.

"Afterward, I sacrificed thirty ships to encircle their fleet, but their reinforcements arrived too swiftly..." Joshua regretfully explained, that was his only opportunity to severely damage the steel fleet.

However, after weighing the pros and cons, Joshua had no choice but to retreat. Those alchemical creations floating in the air, capable of projecting 'Hellfire' to the ground, spotted in the kingdom's reports, would easily lead to deaths for everyone except him and a few archbishops.

It was an unprofitable deal...

"It seems we underestimated these wizards." Lucia snorted lightly.

Previously, in her eyes, the wizards hiding on that island were inconsequential, mere nuisances like mice hiding in holes, nothing that could disrupt the greater scheme. As far as she was concerned, the true enemies of the Church were the extradimensional evil gods and demons...

So, upon learning of the wizard's occupation of the kingdom, the Empire dispatched two consecutive expeditionary forces from both sides, aiming to eradicate this threat at once!

Never did they expect such a dismal defeat...

These novel weapons piqued Lucia's curiosity immensely. She remembered, a few years back when Kashimo reported to her, there was no mention of these steel ships or the alchemical creations known as 'Skyborne Airships,' supposedly moving at a speed of merely twenty to thirty kilometers per hour.

Now, these figures had multiplied five or six times over.

All these modern weapons seemed to have emerged suddenly...

"Now, most of the Divine Punishment Legion is still engaged in battle beyond the dimensional rift with those demons. Should we recall them?" the Pope suggested. The threat posed by the wizards had reached a point where they needed to muster their strength and eradicate this threat entirely!

"No!" Lucia shook her head. "These wizards possess some tricks in group combat; let's not squander our elite forces needlessly."

"Didn't we discover a giant tribe during the Empire's conquest of the western borders two years ago? Since they lack any divine talent, let's consider them expendable for this war," Lucia mused.

Giants were robust, exceptionally strong, and with the blessing of divine arts, equipped with specialized iron armor, they should withstand cannon fire and smash those iron boxes that run away.

However, they ate too much, creating logistical pressure...

"This time, I'll intervene personally!" Lucia's demeanor turned solemn as she adjusted her tone.

"Under the crown of Lucia, these wizards are troublesome, but not to this extent..." Joshua intervened, suggesting that involving the Church's saint in combat was their incompetence and dereliction of duty.

"No matter. This body has reached its limit anyway. It's perfect for recycling," Lucia said casually, cold determination glinting in her eyes like she had spotted prey among the stars.

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