21st Century Necromancer-Chapter 906 - 900 Battle

Chapter 906 -900 Battle

The deafening roar of artillery echoed across the banks of the Sanzu River. Hundreds of shells rained upon the river’s surface, the massive explosions raising towering columns of water that nearly engulfed the entirety of the river.

This was the first time the human invention of artillery fire had thundered at the Sanzu River’s banks. It was also the maiden occasion where so many warships had unleashed their firepower here.

Over twenty ship-girls were present, even if half of them were cruisers; this formation would have been an extraordinary fleet during the World War II era. After all, at the start of WWII, the major countries could only field a limited number of capital ships as their main forces.

Though their firepower wasn’t at its maximum since they hadn’t fully summoned their actual ship bodies, the 100-plus mounted guns in their ship equipment form were still enough to level a city.

However, after three rounds of salvos, when Warspite signaled them to cease fire, a wooden ferry on the river—despite being battered to the verge of disintegration, with splinters flying everywhere—continued leisurely rowing toward the location of the ritual altar.

The ship-girls’ vision, equivalent to their bygone targeting devices, naturally allowed them to witness the battlefield’s condition clearly. Added to this, reconnaissance aircraft from their carriers scouted above, ensuring the results of the bombardment were undeniably visible.

Although the ship-girls’ artillery shells in their current equipment form were somewhat less powerful than actual ship-grade ammunition, their unique attributes endowed the shells with special effects. In terms of destructive power, these enhanced shells were no inferior to pure armor-piercing rounds and were even more effective against transcendent beings.

Yet, the ancient-looking, bottomless ferry, though riddled with damage and flying wooden fragments, seemed structurally unscathed. The three hundred or so shells fired during three rounds of bombardment by over twenty ship-girls inflicted remarkably limited damage upon it.

Seeing this sight, Warspite—serving as the fleet’s commanding officer—couldn’t help but wear a grim expression. She certainly didn’t wish for her first battle since her rebirth as a ship-girl to end in defeat.

Even worse, the ferry was heading straight toward the ritual altar. It was evidently not here to merely observe the proceedings. If it disrupted or sabotaged Chen Yu’s ritual, it would be a mark of profound disgrace to the ship-girls, who regarded loyalty to Chen Yu as their absolute creed.

“All units, switch to armor-piercing shells!” Warspite steadied her emotions and swiftly issued a new combat directive.

Earlier, out of caution for potential collateral damage, the fleet—apart from Missouri, who was using nuclear shells—had employed incendiary rounds. Unfortunately, these incendiary rounds failed to ignite anything on the Sanzu River and did not set ablaze the bottomless wooden ferry seemingly made of mere kindling.

Just as Warspite prepared to order another round of shelling, Constitution—who had specially accompanied the fleet this time—suddenly interjected to stop her: “Don’t waste ammunition; that ferry can’t be destroyed by mere firepower!”

“Miss Constitution?” Warspite paused from giving her attack order and turned toward Constitution.

“That ferry is no ordinary vessel. It sails upon the Stygian Water, shielded by the Power of the Stygian River. Conventional ammunition can only harm its outward appearance but cannot reach its core. Even Missouri’s nuclear shells would be futile,” Constitution quickly explained, aware of the urgency of the situation. She imparted her discovery to Warspite and the other ship-girls: “You must attack it using special attacks imbued with Rule Power. Physical damage will have little effect.”

“Special attacks?” Warspite’s eyes narrowed upon hearing Constitution’s explanation. She swiftly grasped the underlying meaning and nodded to issue a new command: “Cease fire! Use Divine Power to attack!”

As ship-girls summoned by Chen Yu, they all wielded demigod-level strength, able to interact with the rules. These rules manifested as the Divine Power they possessed in their capacity as demigods.

Following Constitution’s advice, all ship-girls switched their attack modes, channeling their Divine Power into their ship equipment. Infused with godlike energy, their artillery shells resumed bombardment targeting the ferry.

As summoned demigods, the ship-girls were effectively equivalent to Heroic Spirits, bearing necromantic attributes. Being embodiments of war machines, they naturally carried destructive and warlike attributes, while those transcending demigod-levels—entering the Divine Spirit Realm like Constitution, Warspite, and Missouri—each had distinct divine attributes.

Among them, Constitution’s power represented Courage, Missouri’s manifested Peace, and Warspite’s denoted Duty.

Of the three, Constitution and Warspite’s attributes weren’t suited for offense but rather for bolstering their allies. Much like an aura effect, they enhanced the combat performance of other ship-girls.

Courage and Duty allowed the fleet to attack faster, more efficiently, with greater accuracy, and maintained their morale at a high level.

While morale-boosting might seem redundant for ship-girls, elevated morale ultimately contributed to heightened operational efficiency, proving its utility in combat.

Missouri’s Peace attribute, however, derived from her historical significance as the venue for WWII’s surrender agreement signed on her deck—a symbolic event that earned her the titles of War Terminator and Peace Witness. This bestowed her a peace-related ability oddly paradoxical to the nature of warships.

Missouri had never employed this ability, as its bizarre manifestation and functionality were ill-suited to combat scenarios like this. Hence, like her fellow ship-girls, she simply imbued her ship equipment with Divine Power, continuing to fire nuclear shells at the ferry without utilizing her unique attribute as Constitution and Warspite had.

Meanwhile, as the ship-girls valiantly fought, Chen Yu had no attention to spare for their ongoing battle.

Atop the ritual altar, he had already harnessed the gathered energy to lock onto one of the world’s rules that had surfaced.

Extracting world rules resembled pulling a specific root from the tangled root system beneath a towering tree, without damaging surrounding roots or compromising the tree’s stability—a process highly intricate and precise.

Ordinarily, the roots were buried under soil. By creating vibrations within the rules, the surface dirt was displaced, exposing the root system beneath.

The ritual altar functioned as a tool to identify and separate these roots from one another.

Now armed with his tools, Chen Yu had targeted one such “root,” preparing to withdraw it from the complex web of the world’s rules.

This task demanded his complete concentration and strength. A minor error could result in catastrophic failure, leaving him vulnerable to the repercussions of the world’s rules.

Channeling the ritual altar’s accumulated power toward the locked-on rule, he cautiously avoided interference with other rules. Once the altar’s energy enveloped the entirety of the rule, he could detach it from the vast Network of Rules!