The Exalt Cultivation Fantasy

Act 3: Empire's Stand - Chapter 473: Garantulem, Move Out!

Act 3: Empire's Stand - Chapter 473: Garantulem, Move Out!

Garantulem, Isaac's and Gol-4's design of the pinnacle aerial fleet, was a strange gathering of airships. Oscar was reminded of the long day and nights he had spent toiling away when he saw the modified airships ascend. These airships, ranging from lower class to higher class, small to big, looked vastly different from when he first saw the fleet. The shape of the keel and hulls did not change on the bottom, but the top was covered up. These modified ships resembled eggs, covered and protected on all sides, not a single place exposed.

Every single one was coated in iron. Looking at the port, Oscar felt apologetic again at the bare state of the once-stalwart port. To have more materials for Garantulem, he and the others bitterly stripped all the metal from the houses, the fortress, and the walls, enduring the citizens' complaints while doing so.

"Connect!" Oscar shouted, garbed in his armor and brown robe.

The egg-like iron airships arrived at their designated positions and extended out bridges. Their bridges would meet with others and connect. The entire formation was like a many-sided dice made of triangles as its faces. The first layer was comprised of the smaller airships, and they connected to the second layer of medium airships. The second layer connected to the third layer of the six higher-class airships, positioned in each direction. Finally, at the center was the flagship, the largest of them all and the core of the entire structure. The Garantulem was ready, and all it needed was its crew.

Excited to the brim, Oscar flew in and entered the flagship in the center. Many citizens and non-combatants of Drakken Port greeted him, though some didn't seem too pleased at his arrival. It couldn't be helped since he forced them to leave their homes to live on this flagship from now on. Everything went into the Garantulem, draining the port of its resources and the barrier that protected it. The once-proudly standing port became a scrap of wood and stone. Anyone who once lived in its ironclad beauty would surely hate him for what he did.

He wanted to apologize but continued walking, knowing it would have no impact. These people were dragged from the homes they'd lived in for years, the homes their forefathers and predecessors had lived in. Oscar quickened his pace and arrived at the main bridge, where everyone was gathered, a thousand Exalts, the last defenders of Drakken Port. He regretted being unable to finish his work faster to reduce the number of losses before they set out.

Oscar turned silent and walked to the center of the main bridge. He placed his hand and pushed it into an imprint on the floor. The imprint sank into the floor, and the sound of mechanisms at work resounded across the main bridge as the large metallic pillar in front unfurled, retracting from top and bottom. A glowing orb stuck out from the floor, hums of Ein pulsing across the main bridge. Reaching his two hands out, Oscar surged his Ein into the orb, and it fluctuated. It rose into the air, hovered in the open pillar, and retracted its bright light. It revealed its translucent, glass form, sparkling with radiant stars inside, each one representing an airship in Garantulem.

"Set out! We embark!" Oscar shouted, turning his hand over. Turbines spun, loud as a storm at first, until utterly silent. The main bridge shook for a brief moment, and outside the window, the clouds came to their level, or rather they came up to the clouds.

Garantulem was operational. Oscar lowered his hands and flicked his finger around, fiddling with the stream of Ein connected to his chest from the translucent orb. Through this connection, he became in charge of Garantulem and its movements, every weapon aboard his to use and aim, perfect for a shorthanded army like theirs.

"You've arrived. Good." Reni walked forward with Elias and Hugh. She waved off the rest of the army, who were awestruck, to go about their business. "I can't believe those ridiculous designs actually worked. It's completely stable and mobile."

She waved her hands in the air, signifying her resignation and defeat. Her red eyes soon sharpened, and she said in an electrifying voice that sparked confidence and a roused fighting spirit, "What shall be our plan? Break through the enemy lines and merge with our allies on the other side?"

"Can we see the map of our surroundings? We need to strike fast before the enemy attacks again." Oscar reviewed the map on the main bridge, placed firmly on the wall for everyone to see. The large map depicted the eastern shoreline with Drakken Port in the center, borders drawn to show the current frontlines of what they knew before being cut off.

"Hmm. Maybe." Oscar mumbled. He had a thought, a strange idea. The current frontlines were too chaotic, and they had far too much ground to cover to reach the other side. The best use of their arsenal, the Garantulem, was elsewhere. He didn't want to do it, but there was no choice. Personal feelings or not, this was war, and there was a way to contribute, overturn the eastern front for his home. The safest and most optimal choice was along the coastline of the eastern shore, not deeper inside.

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He raised a stick and pointed to a large dot on the map, identified by the words written nearby. "Hathefin, our city south by the rocky shores. It has many roads and clear sky routes for their armies to move."

"They may have also set up a teleportation network around there. It's very expensive but worth it since it can supply several of their frontlines." Hugh Freud said from his chair, sipping some hot tea. "This structure is impressive, but we cannot blindly run into the thick of their forces."

"So strike at other areas. Draw their attention, give our forces on the borders some breathing room, and possibly create an opening." Elias stood beside Oscar, hands behind his back, and smiled. "We could never have done this while surrounded by enemies. Thankfully, your Garantulem accounts for that."

"Very well then. All forces!" Reni spoke into a wide tube that spread her voice across all the airships and bridges. "At last, we shall fight as the aggressor, not the pitiful defenders who were. Be ready for war!"

Oscar willed the Garantulem to set out. It moved fast despite its large size and set a course into the ocean toward Hathefin. The previous lackluster reaction to Reni's motivated words from the army was troubling. To them, the Garantulem must have appeared to be a gimmick, a bluff, and Oscar couldn't blame them for thinking so. He paced around the main bridge and was bothered by the crew's unenthusiasm. The Garantulem needed to prove its strength to them fast, or else they might crumble at Hathefin. Then, his ears perked up, hearing the shrill whistling in the air coming from far outside.

"Enemy attack!" One crewmember shouted, sounding the alarms. Bells and whistles rang through all of Garantulem. Oscar closed his eyes, using his connection to Garantulem to see the enemy forces.

They surrounded his Garantulem from all angles. A fleet of forty airships, all medium-sized, approached. Flickers of red light flashed from their shapes, and explosions blasted in the air before Garantulem, obviously warning shots.

"Surrender now or be exterminated. Give up your vessels." A loud voice shouted and reached Garantulem.

"What's the range of those?" Oscar asked Hugh, the oldest and most knowledgeable.

"A step forward, and we'll be in their range. They don't seem to realize that three Marshal Exalts are on board. We can deal with them." Hugh stretched his wrinkles with a smile.

"No. Garantulem can handle this. We must show the rest of our army the power it can wield. Or else they won't be ready to fight later." Oscar sent his command to the control orb in the main bridge. Garantulem shot several warning shots back at the enemy, shorter than their blows but covering them in smoke.

The enemy moved as expected, their great airships decreasing the distance between them and Garantulem. Oscar shouted at the crew to remain calm through the tube and said to wait. Every enemy ship fired a rain of powerful cannons and harpoons, the noise of their collective shooting deafening the sky.

Oscar felt no fear, believing in Gol-4's design. Everyone around him except for the Marshal Exalts tensed up and surged their Eins, probably to survive the onslaught. However, nothing reached them, and the cannons and harpoons all failed to reach even the smallest airship at the edges of Garantulem.

It worked! Oscar turned to the translucent orb of stars. A thin film of colored Ein compassed it, a successful deployment of the barriers. Garantulem wasn't just a unique gathering of airships. It defied the common sense of barriers. Every airship had a barrier and still needed Exalts to protect them while they focused their firepower on their targets. The barrier acted as the last line that caught the debris of battle. The highest-class airships had barriers on par with cities, but they required an immense amount of resources to maintain and specialized components that were too costly.

In Garantulem, the airships on the outer layers were more focused, the barriers forming and condensed only in the direction of the outside, shaped like a square curving out. Every square barrier was overlapped by several other square barriers from the surrounding airships, layering on each other. The airships of the other layers funneled their Ein for the barrier through the connecting bridges to further empower the outer ships' defenses. To finish it off, Oscar put the core of Drakken Port's city barrier in the flagship and had it work with the formation of Garantulem, the bridges acting as links and airships as nodes, to layer again on the outer barrier.

A triple overlap of barriers made its defenses sturdier than the norm. The enemy's attacks hit like pebbles on a boulder. Garantulem remained undisturbed, brushing off the useless assault.

"You've all seen its defense. Now witness how powerful its attacks are." Oscar spoke to all of Garantulem and activated the weapons. He had great confidence in the weapons since all of them were specially designed by Gol-4.

The outer layer of small airships fired first. By all conventions, their weaponry should not have the capability to reach far, but they hit the enemy who was out of the normal range for those types. The onslaught didn't end there. The second layer of medium airships fired, then the third of the larger airships, and finally, the flagship. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Oscar heard the repeated firing and saw the enemy airships explode and break apart, their barriers unable to withstand the heavy firepower of Garantulem.

The forty airships fell, burning trails of smoke and landing in bursts of flames and collapsing metal. The enemy Exalts, who were supposed to protect the airships, tried to scramble, but Hugh and the other Marshal Exalts were quick on the response and led their Knight Exalts into victory. Oscar smiled at the battle report, forty ships sunk and salvaged, a thousand enemies dead and searched, and no losses on his side.

"Now then. Shall we go to Hathefin?" Oscar asked into the tube, and everyone gave an empowered shout in return. Sighing in relief, Oscar commanded Garantulem to continue on its set course. Now, they were ready to enter the war.