DOTM: Chapter 488/489

Chapter 488: Prinz Eugen's Debut

Since Ethan arrived at the Sea of Miracles, he had been leading his crew, piloting the Prinz Eugen and avoiding the adventurers in this sea area, so he wasn't clear about the mindset of the adventurers here.

In this Sea of Miracles, because they could almost despairingly never see the end, all adventurers would frantically hoard supplies.

Since they didn't know how long they would drift at sea, if they were unlucky for a period of time and couldn't encounter a floating island, the people on the ship would run out of food. Even if they could get some food from the sea, it wasn't enough to solve all the problems, such as the various seafaring diseases caused by malnutrition.

Long voyages also required considering ship maintenance. If they couldn't make any gains, even if they returned to Miracle Island successfully, they wouldn't have the funds to deal with these troubles.

So in this sea area, besides discovering and clearing out floating islands, the biggest profit came from robbery.

There were no pirates in the Sea of Miracles.

All adventurers in the Sea of Miracles were pirates.

As long as you were not strong enough, you faced the risk of being plundered by other adventurers. And in this sea area, the size of the ship and the scale of the naval guns very directly reflected the hard power of an adventure team.

The best way to avoid being seen as a fat sheep was to make yourself look strong enough so that the adventurers you encountered at sea didn't dare entertain the idea of plundering you.

Therefore, the doctrine of big ships and big guns was very popular in this sea area.

But correspondingly, the larger the ship, the greater the consumption, and even the crew's consumption was not easy to replenish. Therefore, after a certain size, warships were simply not affordable for some adventurers who advocated peace. Thus, sailing in this sea area with a giant warship was like shouting to everyone: Everything you have is mine.

This was also an important reason why those two ships immediately fled upon seeing the Prinz Eugen.

The two warships encountered this time, according to the data detected by the Prinz Eugen, had a displacement of around five thousand tons and were pure ironclads. This type of warship could only be owned by very powerful adventurers in this sea area, which was why they were able to operate so far from Miracle Island.

But compared to the Prinz Eugen, they were still far inferior.

With the Prinz Eugen's displacement, it could carry more powerful naval guns and thicker armor, which was also the reason why the other party turned around and fled as soon as they spotted the Prinz Eugen's massive size.

What Ethan didn't know was that the Prinz Eugen had nearly scared the captains of those two ships to death. They kept praying in their hearts that the other party didn't intend to rob them.

But thinking that the other party had built such a large warship, and wouldn't be able to survive without plundering, attacking all the adventurers they saw was almost an inevitable choice.

So they turned to praying: This ship is built so big, its speed must not be fast enough, maybe we can escape in time.

After running blindly for a long distance, the two captains breathed a long sigh of relief when they confirmed that the giant warship hadn't pursued them.

At the same time, they began to wonder in their hearts: When did such a large warship appear in the Sea of Miracles?

Once a warship of this scale appeared in the Sea of Miracles, it was impossible for there to be no rumors at all, right? At this moment, they also thought that this was the edge of the mysterious Lost Sea, and they couldn't help but start imagining things.

"Is there something in the Lost Sea? Could that ship have been built in the Lost Sea?"

Although the Sea of Miracles was not small, there were no secrets left under the exploration of countless adventurers. The only mysterious place was this Lost Sea.

No one knew what was inside, and even though some brave adventurers had driven warships into the Lost Sea, wanting to figure out what was actually there, no one had ever been able to return safely.

All adventurers who entered this area completely lost contact, as if they had been swallowed by the sea.

At this moment, they suspected that a powerful force was hidden in this sea area, and the adventurers who entered were either absorbed by the other party to become their own people or eliminated. With such a powerful warship, eliminating the entering adventurers didn't seem like a difficult task.

"Should we go in and take a look?"

As soon as this thought emerged, it was a bit hard to suppress, but thinking of that giant warship, this captain felt a bit uncertain in his heart. Finally, after the hesitant captain discussed with the captain of the other warship for a while, they just lingered in the periphery like this.

They wanted to see if that powerful warship would come out again after rushing straight into that sea area. They wanted to use this to determine if their guess was correct, and then decide whether to take the risk and rush in to try their luck.

Adventurers in the Sea of Miracles never lacked the courage to give it a shot. If they could gain huge benefits, it was not uncommon for them to even use their own lives as a stake.

The situation of these two ships didn't escape the observation of Ethan and the others. Although the Prinz Eugen didn't pursue them, Ethan released a detector to keep an eye on these two ships.

Seeing them linger on the sea after leaving a certain distance, he immediately guessed that these two guys wanted to judge something by observing the movements of the Prinz Eugen.

"Desperados."

Hill didn't like the style of these two adventurers, but Betty understood very well.

"For them, taking a gamble might solve their lifelong survival problems. No one can resist such a temptation."

When she participated in the assessment, similar things were constantly happening in the sea area ahead. Even though the technology of the local natives at that time was far inferior to the technology mastered by the students like them, countless indigenous people were still driving the most ordinary sailboats, constantly charging towards the Death Route, just to obtain more survival supplies.

Aside from his first voyage, Ethan had never been troubled by supply issues since then, but this didn't mean he couldn't understand the thoughts of these people.

"As long as they don't cause us trouble, we don't need to bother with them."

Ethan had the intelligent system Eugen recall the detector and focused his attention on the front.

Before entering the sea area, Ethan had also dispatched a Quinjet to scout the area ahead. Logan and Laura, the two druids who could use Eagle Eye, were sitting on that aircraft, helping the Prinz Eugen expand its detection range.

"Logan hasn't found anything currently. This sea area looks no different from other places, and there are no traces of fleet activity."

The Prinz Eugen had already sailed into the Lost Sea, and nothing strange happened, such as tornadoes, lightning storms, or giant whirlpools.

It seemed no different from the surroundings here. Ethan sat in the captain's chair, starting to ponder where the Guild's fleet was hidden.

It seemed unlikely to be in the sky. Because this world had a lid, no one had thought about developing upwards, and if they couldn't hide in the clouds, they would be too conspicuous in the sky, unless they had mastered stealth technology.

Did the Guild master stealth technology?

Ethan suddenly remembered that the first set of equipment he got back then had stealth capabilities, and it was an energy field stealth that seemed to be able to block various senses.

There was no reason why the Guild wouldn't have mastered this method of shielding detection. Perhaps they possessed even more powerful stealth technology, allowing them to guard this area without being discovered by any adventurers.

"Call Logan and the others back."

Although the Quinjet was called a fighter jet, it was actually a small armed transport aircraft. The firepower it carried wasn't strong, and it wasn't very durable itself.

"Eugen, turn the detection devices to maximum power and pay attention to all energy reactions."

"Yes, Captain."

Following Ethan's series of commands, the people on the bridge gradually became serious. Perhaps this trip would have some unexpected trouble?

After all, the Prinz Eugen incorporated too many black technologies. When operating at full capacity, no matter how well the Guild's fleet was hidden, Ethan and the others still found some traces.

"Not in the sky?"

A not-very-conspicuous energy reaction made the Prinz Eugen detect something abnormal. They conducted multiple repeated detections using various methods targeting this reaction, and finally determined the enemy's position.

After determining the target's location, the subsequent matters became easier. Moreover, the Prinz Eugen not only locked onto the opponent's position but even sketched out its specific form.

It was a huge artificial facility. This facility wasn't hidden in the air, but was hidden in the sea.

"Target shows energy fluctuation reaction."

With Eugen's reminder, everyone also saw the opponent's reaction from the holographic image.

Not only did Eugen discover the opponent, but the opponent also discovered the Prinz Eugen. Ethan and the others hadn't hidden their traces, so it would have been abnormal if the other party hadn't discovered them.

As violent fluctuations appeared on the sea surface directly ahead, a gigantic facility, comparable to a small island but unclear what it was (a prototype underwater building?), surfaced.

As this massive building surfaced, Eugen reminded everyone that ten underwater vessels were approaching below the surface: four from the left, four from the right, and two trying to circle behind the Prinz Eugen.

"Should we launch an attack on these submarines?"

Hill watched as the opponent tried to surround the Prinz Eugen from underwater, while the artificial island opposite seemed to be unfolding a large dock, and warships moored inside could be vaguely seen.

"Sink those few small fry below."

He wasn't going to see what tricks the other side had up their sleeve. It was already confirmed they were enemies, and the other side had already shown their intention to attack, so what was there to hesitate about? Just start fighting.

This warship designed by Tony Stark was equipped with quite a few attack methods targeting underwater targets. Ethan was very curious whether these strangely shaped submarines could withstand those specially designed underwater bombs.

He quickly saw the answer: They couldn't withstand them.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 489: Complete Victory

The underwater attack weapon Tony designed specifically for the Prinz Eugen could not only lock onto and automatically track targets, but was also extremely powerful.

Considering the possibility that the enemy might also possess magical energy defense equipment, Tony's design incorporated targeted improvements, for example, launching multiple warheads at the same target simultaneously to break the energy stability of the defense layer through sustained, dense attacks in a short period, thereby destroying the target.

The effectiveness could be seen from the ten oddly shaped submarines that were all blasted into fragments.

"The enemy warships have left the port."

Perhaps not expecting the Prinz Eugen to have a means of attacking underwater vessels, the enemy clearly panicked for a moment, and two warships even collided while leaving the port.

The quality of the warships was quite good. No disastrous accidents occurred as a result, and both colliding warships successfully reached the surface of the sea, confronting the Prinz Eugen from a distance.

"How are the missiles preparing?"

"Ready to launch."

Looking at the more than twenty warships that had appeared opposite, some data could be roughly obtained through the detectors, such as displacement and the more obvious number and caliber of naval guns.

The warships that appeared this time were generally over ten thousand tons, with even two massive ships approaching fifteen thousand tons. Judging by the array of cannons on them, like a porcupine, one could tell how fierce the firepower of these warships was.

What a shame...

Ethan was not prepared to engage in a traditional naval battle with this fleet, which could be called the most powerful in the Sea of Miracles. As most of the enemy warships had reached the surface and were slowly forming a formation, Ethan's intelligent system had already calculated all the parameters, and the anti-ship missiles carried by the ship were ready for launch.

"Launch."

There was no button, no loud roar. Ethan calmly gave the attack order.

Upon receiving the command, Eugen immediately launched the prepared anti-ship missiles, replenished new warheads through the internal automated loading equipment, entered new parameters, and continued launching.

From a distance, the Prinz Eugen's funnel area looked like a suddenly erupting volcano, continuously spewing out brilliant fire, while one anti-ship missile after another shot into the sky, then drew an arc in the air, turning to fly at high speed toward the Guild's fleet.

All of this happened too quickly, and more importantly, the Guild's fleet commander had no idea what these things were. Coupled with his confidence in their defense layers, he made no reaction.

A few seconds later, he realized how big a mistake he had made.

Missile after missile slammed into the energy layer, the terrifying impact tearing the energy layer to shreds almost instantly. The missiles that followed directly hit the hull, then erupted in dazzling fire.

Accompanying the fire were warships being blasted into fragments one after another. The few that were not completely shredded were not in good shape either, floating silently on the sea like burning iron coffins. The crew inside were likely mostly dead.

In this round of attack, the Prinz Eugen used up almost half of its missile reserve. After all, the Prinz Eugen was not a warship that primarily relied on missiles for attack, and not much space was reserved inside the ship to store more missiles.

Also, to deal with warships with shields, each warship needed to be hit by at least two or even three or four missiles to be sunk.

This round of attack destroyed over ten enemy warships and also shattered the shields of the remaining ones, an outcome that Ethan was very satisfied with.

"Begin shelling."

Naval gun battles on Earth evolved over several eras.

In the age of sail, gun battles, apart from two fleets lining up in a battle line to bombard each other, involved single-ship duels where distances were occasionally closed to ensure accuracy when exchanging fire.

Later, with technological development, the engagement range of warships gradually increased, and soon tactics involving gun battles at the maximum visual range appeared.

After another technological revolution, naval warfare entered the era of beyond-visual-range combat, and at the same time the mode of naval warfare underwent earth-shattering changes, after which naval gun battles gradually retreated from the mainstream stage.

However, in this sea area, the mode of naval warfare was still at the stage of warships exchanging fire in gun battles, and the mode of beyond-visual-range shelling had not developed.

The Prinz Eugen cruised in the distance, adjusting its direction. The modern turret drive system designed personally by Tony Stark ensured that the Prinz Eugen's main guns could adjust their barrels very quickly. Almost simultaneously with the Prinz Eugen adjusting direction, the gun barrels had already aimed at the enemy fleet and launched their first attack a few seconds later.

This was the first time the Prinz Eugen's main guns roared. Because it was a pure energy attack, there was no smoke or deafening sound when firing, which seemed a bit lacking in presence.

But when the energy shell crossed an extremely long distance, accurately hitting one of the enemy warships and blasting that ship, which had lost its shield, into a torch floating on the sea, those minor details could be completely ignored.

Compared to the Prinz Eugen hitting its target with a single shot, the enemy fleet, after a period of confusion and readjusting its formation, had a first attack that was quite off target.

"It seems the technical level of the enemy warships is very consistent with their corresponding era."

During this time, the Prinz Eugen's intelligent system had been analyzing the detected data and generally concluded that the technical level of the warships in the opposing fleet was roughly equivalent to the Dreadnought era.

Comparing them horizontally with Earth's naval warships, the engagement range of warships during this period was still within visual range. Although the effective range of magical cannons might be farther, issues with observation and aiming systems limited their ability to attack from greater distances.

Moreover, although the Guild had secretly built more advanced warships, they lacked sufficiently powerful enemies, preventing them from exploring correct tactics and the correct direction for technological research.

Therefore, this enemy fleet was still using old tactics for naval warfare, the fleet forming a battle line, relying on a greater number of main guns to increase the probability of hits.

Ethan was naturally happy to see this situation. He only needed Hill to control the Prinz Eugen, cruising outside the enemy's range, and slowly wear down the enemy ship by ship.

The enemy fleet gathering together actually increased the Prinz Eugen's probability of hitting them. As for wanting to disperse and surround the Prinz Eugen?

The prerequisite was that they could outrun the Prinz Eugen.

Although the Prinz Eugen was a large warship with a displacement of over twenty thousand tons, the largest in this world, its speed was faster than many small ships. The Prinz Eugen at full speed was not a target that these outdated warships could catch up to.

Even though these warships using Core-grade magic stone propulsion devices also had speeds far exceeding Earth's warships of the same era, they still couldn't compare to the Prinz Eugen.

Besides power, propulsion systems, and other factors, the design of the hull also determines a warship's speed. Tony Stark put a lot of effort into this aspect.

Looking at the enemy, although the Prinz Eugen treated the Guild's warships as equivalent to Earth's Dreadnought-era warships, their hull designs were very unscientific. Turrets were piled up everywhere, the layout of various facilities was chaotic and disordered, the main guns on a few warships were placed on both sides of the ship, the entire warship appeared bloated and its speed was incredibly slow. These few should be experimental warships.

In this situation, the Prinz Eugen could very leisurely increase the distance and pick off the enemy ships one by one. By the time the enemy realized this strategy wasn't working and began to actively disperse, only six of their warships were still able to move normally.

These six warships were not undamaged either. The shields of these few warships had been heavily damaged. The more serious ones needed to return to the factory for a thorough repair. Those in slightly better condition also needed some time to repair their shields.

But Ethan wouldn't give them any time at all. This time, he wasn't prepared to have any contact with the enemy. From the beginning, he planned to eliminate all of them.

He had been relatively calm during this period, thinking about whether the large circular building opposite was the control room he was looking for.

Only Betty could answer this question. She came here for the assessment and should know something.

Unfortunately, Betty didn't know either, because when she arrived here, the initial explanations were given on the spaceship she was on, and then she was sent directly to the central starting point, so she had no idea what the endpoint and control room looked like.

In that case, the only hope was the Prinz Eugen's intelligent system, to analyze whether the technology used on the island opposite, through various observations and analyses, had a high probability of being the control room.

To facilitate the Prinz Eugen's analysis, Ethan had previously taken out the hibernation pod Betty used and let the Prinz Eugen compare the technology.

After analyzing for some time, the Prinz Eugen finally gave an answer.

"After comparison, there is a significant technological gap between the circular building opposite and the hibernation pod. The technology is closer to that used by the warships opposite."

Hearing this answer, Ethan knew that this thing was also built by the Guild, not a facility that was originally part of this training ground.

Then there was nothing to hesitate about. He was also getting a bit tired of circling around for so long.

"Fire at full power, let's end this boring battle."

Following Ethan's command, the Prinz Eugen's main guns began to output at full power, and the remaining missiles were also launched.

With a series of loud explosions, the last few movable warships were also turned into scrap metal by the Prinz Eugen. Only the Prinz Eugen was left moving in this sea area.

(To be continued.)