High Tarxan Nation, On The Ocean Near A Tarxan Port, Near Portville, On The Ocean Near The Country Of High Tarxan.

First Year Of God, First Day, First Five Days, First Month.

The sailors of Melian's fleet were all shuddering in nervousness as the mighty metal ship ahead cast flickering beams of light toward them. They were confused how they were able to conjure such a powerful beam of light. They saw nothing that bright before.

Melian was in an immensely tight position. The ship before them had just decimated an entire force of demons and sea monsters. She knew that if she reacted harshly, they might get blown into oblivion by the entire strength of the magi-cannons even from one ship alone.

The beam of the lights that was coming from the metal ship continues to flicker. However, after a few moments of it flickering, it finally stopped. What followed next almost made their souls leave their body. One of the metal ships before them suddenly started moving, and its unexpected motion alarmed her sailors.

The Elven sailors nearly rushed to man their battle stations, but Melian immediately ordered them to hold their positions. The colossal ship approached them at an unprecedented speed, unlike anything they had ever seen before. Melian's heart raced as she watched the metal ship draw nearer, unsure of what would come next.

Upon having a closer look, the metal ship that they were seeing was painted entirely with different shades of gray. This puzzled them why the metal ship was heavily painted gray as most nations use a wide variety of colors to paint their ships, as naval battle's also are a battle of prestige and always showcase their nation's pride.

In naval warfare, a ship's paint color often signified its importance or function, with wealthier or more powerful nations investing in elaborate designs.

Well, except for the Orcs, they typically painted their simple wooden ships with any color depending what they like, such as painting them red just to increase its speed faster than even their ironclads. And how does that work? Not even the most skilled magicians and wise scholars were able to understand, but that's Orc magic for you.

Anyway, back to the topic, the use of gray paint on the metal ship confused Melian and her crew. Gray was considered the cheapest color, implying the ship was of little significance.

Time passes by, and before they even knew it, the lone metal ship was already at their side. The distance between them was long enough for comfortable communication without triggering the other side to attack each other.

Now that they could see the metal ship at a much closer look, most of the sailors and Melian were surprised. The metal ship looked very sophisticated and advanced compared to their ironclads that were built crudely. Compare to their own crude ones, the metal ship was definitely one of a kind as their sleek form and modern construction stood out as remarkable. No doubt, their intricate design and engineering techniques spoke of superior technology and craftsmanship that are far beyond anything the Elven fleet had encountered before.

As soon as the metal ship approached, they were able to see figures coming out of the ship, and into its deck. They couldn't make out what kind of race they were seeing on the deck of the metal ship, they also couldn't recognise the flag that the ship was waving.

The flag of the metal ship had a shade of alternating red and black right triangles. In the middle of it sits a yellow-colored triangle with a sun at the top with eight rays. On the side of the yellow triangle was a moon with a star and a cross. The inside of the yellow triangle was a shield with peasants and soldiers with swords. The shield was surrounded by a crown at the top and on the sides were a star and a hammer.

They thought that the flag of the metal ship was eccentric and foolish. Furthermore, the flag doesn't give off an aura of grandiosity and lacked the regal or martial presence of the banners they were accustomed to. Instead, it seemed strangely complex, even chaotic. Each and everyone of the sailors were having a bad feeling about this, even the aristocrats had an anxious look on their faces as they observed the flag and the unknown crew with a growing sense of doubt.

Melian could sense the tense atmosphere on her ship. It is happening again. If they make any signs of aggression, they would be obliterated to damnation. She knew the metal ship must have detected them when it came out of the borders of the storm, indicating it was aware of their presence. Then it must be that there must be inhabitants there. She must not risk angering them, as there are probably many more of these ships beyond that storm.

She turned her gaze towards the storm and saw that the other side was immensely dark, that she couldn't see anything beyond it.

Furthermore, the fact that she brought a large amount of her ship means that they might have thought that they were an invasion force, and the metal ship signifies they are trying to communicate. It must mean that those men behind those metal ships are on high alert.

The figures on the metal ship then waved a different type of flag. However, the flag that they were using was much smaller. It was as if the flags were used for something.

Then suddenly another ship appeared behind the metal ship. This time, this ship was much smaller, but the speed of the smaller ship was so fast that they thought it might fly off the water.

When the small ship was about to get near them, the sailors aboard the vessel of Melian saw something preposterous.

"Humans?" an Elven sailor remarked in disbelief. "Aren't these the manaless ungifted Monkeighs?"

"Furthermore, these humans are mere slaves! How dare such slaves escape from their masters, they must have stolen that ship from an advanced nation!" another Elven sailor added, "Such things aren't uncommon and I ain't surprised that happened."

"Man your battle stations! We will shoot those escaped slaves and let them know their true place in this world!" an Elven aristocrat ordered, stirring a sense of superiority and hostility among the crew.

This set of events utterly shocked Melian. She attempted to say something and intervene to stop them, hoping to prevent a hasty and potentially disastrous conflict. However, just as she tried to speak, a chain of golden energy wrapped around her body and closed her mouth, restraining her movements and silencing her words at once.

"Mmph!?"

Melian was struggling to get off the clutches of the magical golden chains that bound her and she could only watch helplessly as the Elven sailors were now preparing to fire their magi-cannons and magi-muskets. Fortunately, Melian was able to break herself free from the chains within seconds and when she looked back to face who had cast a binding spell on her, she saw it was another fellow aristocrat.

"Traitor! You will pay for this!" Melian shouted as she used her magic to telekinetically push the elf against the wall and casted her own binding spell, but much more powerful that could even bind a dragon in place, making sure the elf was securely restrained.

Immediately after she dealt with him, Melian dashed towards the Elven sailors just as they were about to fire their magi-cannons and magi-muskets. Despite her efforts, she was too late to stop them and Melian could only watch in horror as the weapons fired.

Melian stopped and immediately headed towards the edge of the ironclad to see that the small ship was able to miraculously dodge the shots. Turning her gaze to the metal ship, Melian saw it had sustained numerous bullet marks, small burns, and large dents on its steel body. She was unsure of the extent of the damage, but the ship appeared to hold strong.

"Ready the combat air unit!" an Elven aristocrat ordered, escalating the situation further.

The admiral's actions had taken a dark turn, and Melian watched with horror as he unsheathed his broadsword and took to the air using flight magic.

"I didn't expect to fight some escaped slaves; guess I have no choice but to fo-"

BOOM!

Then the worst finally came, the one she hoped that would never happen. The magi-cannons of the metal ship flashed and in less than a second, a thunderous explosion came before them, and to everyone's horror, they saw what was once the admiral had his entire upper body obliterated before he could even react, his magic vanished and left his lower body to fall lifelessly to the ground.

Despite being at a higher tier with powerful magic in his disposal, the admiral is still physically weak unless casting any of his enhanced spells is enough to make him immune to any of their attacks. However, he doesn't have the time to cast anything before noticing the super-fast speeding navy shell hit him.

Not even a second had passed after one of their strongest members got obliterated without a fight, the magi-cannons of the other nine metal ships in the distance were restless as they began to obliterate their remaining fleet.

Melian was utterly terrified as she stared at the metal ships. She was about to cast a protection spell to shield her remaining fleet, but her own ironclad was already shot before she could complete the spell, to which it exploded and Melian was sinked into the depths of the sea along with the sinking ship. With her condition unknown.

In less than a minute, the fleet of forty ironclads were obliterated.

The metal ships advanced forward into the wreckage of the ironclads to search for survivors. The cold, indifferent efficiency of their movements left a lasting impression on Melian, even as she fought for her own survival underwater.