Chapter 293: Sheng Qi's Island Hopping Tactics
The ocean was used as a breakthrough point. One after another, the ratman warships sailed across the sea and came here, soon attracting the attention of the human side.

The isolated ocean province outside the main continent became the rat people's first target.

Sheng Qi finally climbed out of the crude tunnel in the cliff, and was surrounded by his most loyal guards, the ratmen's personal guards, and boarded the steel-forged warship, the flagship of this huge fleet.

Objectively speaking, the Ratman Empire's increased investment in the ocean has improved Sheng Qi's status.

In fact, among the pioneers of the Ratman Empire on the ocean, he is the only one who can be called famous.

Climbing onto the bow of the ship, everything is so familiar. The huge bell still makes a piercing sound without stopping in the surging waves, and the gears turn and there is a shaking feeling.

In front of him, many ratmen raised their heads and looked at him.

He hoisted the flag on the highest point of the ship.

If there is a choice, if he can choose, then standing here is definitely not what Sheng Qi wants.

It's just that inexplicably, he seems to have a great entanglement with this bitter and salty river.

This may not be a bad thing, but if there is a choice, if he can choose, Sheng Qi would never want to stand here.

He stood up tall and roared loudly.

"For the great god! For the great holy war!"

The rats on the battleship responded to this shout.

"For the gods! The great holy war!"

Sheng Qi started shouting again. He looked so miserable now. He was covered with too much dust during the days he stayed in the simple caves and tunnels. He was also not used to the overly humid environment of the island.

The hair on the body is stuck together in wisps, and you can see some crawling insects and condensed salt particles with a turbid yellow color among them.

But none of these affected him from cheering at this moment.

All inexplicable emotions are mixed into such cries.

There isn't much choice.

Fate pushed him into this bitter and salty river, bringing him great pain, and his choice was to hold on to it tightly.

Sheng Qi is more mature than before and no longer hesitant.

This is a kind of progress, and can also be described as growth.

The rats on the battleship responded to such shouts. They might not really understand what they were shouting, but it didn't matter. These guys always followed the crowd.

The rats on the battleship gave an extremely enthusiastic response at this moment.

At this moment, even the slave rats who were struggling to pull the chains and sweating from being whipped began to shout loudly.

"For the great god, for the great holy war!"

The naval battle began again, the naval battle between the Ratman Empire and the Human Empire, in this sea area, around this unknown island.

Battles on the ocean are no easier than wars on land, and may even be more brutal. Naval warfare adheres to a unified creed: the winner takes all.

The loser loses everything.

Well, at the beginning of this confrontation, things had not gotten to this point, or rather, the outcome of the confrontation was only so cruel for the ratmen.

The maneuverability of the ratmen's warships was really too poor, even though the fleet was huge and even though there was no disadvantage in firepower. Ever since the Big Claw Priests' terrifying series of catapults and siege crossbows, these strange gadgets on the land battlefield were gradually eliminated, the Big Claw Priests who were unwilling to give up used these big toys on the warships without reservation.

There was no consideration at all as to whether these things were really suitable to be placed on this circular battleship which was difficult to evaluate.

Nor did they consider whether the extra weight had really pushed the circular warship, whose maneuverability was already questionable, to a pitiful level where its speed was difficult to evaluate.

They couldn't catch up with the fleeing human warships, nor could they escape the pursuing rat-man warships.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to describe these bathtub warships as iron coffins on the ocean.

No, after all, the Ratmen’s warships do not act individually, but travel in groups, sailing through the sea in patches.

Swarms of iron coffins on the ocean.

Sheng Qi really had no choice. The flagship he was on was almost sunk several times.

In the warring waters, various marine hunters gathered, and the world fell into darkness, which brought a nearly devastating blow to the marine ecology.

Mass algae deaths bring about ecological collapse starting from the bottom of the food chain.

Although the emergence of the magic tide gave all creatures a chance to breathe.

In the paleness caused by the accumulation of algae corpses due to the massive death in the deep ocean, a faint blue light began to brew. Life always has to find its own way out, and some special algae that devour and rely on magic power began to sprout.

Perhaps as time goes by, a new ecosystem will first appear in this vast ocean, announcing the arrival of the magical age.

There is just a problem. It may take too long, and those former ocean overlords, those ocean overlords of the old era, may not be able to wait for this day to come.

Until the war between ratmen and humans broke out.

The battleship sank into the sea, and countless ratmen and humans struggling in the ocean became the best food and the hope for these guys to survive.

A large number of ferocious sea monsters, murlocs, nagas, and other creatures in this sea area gathered on the battlefield between humans and ratmen.

They began to actively follow the footsteps of the ratmen and human warships, making the war in this sea area even more dangerous.

Ratmen and humans are not vegetarians. A giant sea monster that had once become initially ferocious was not satisfied with waiting for the ratmen and humans to announce meal time, and began to actively attack the warships of both sides.

After being severely attacked by both sides, the huge sea monster was pierced by countless thick crossbow arrows with chains. It was easily killed and dragged on the ocean.

Even this was just a simple episode for humans and ratmen, and the fighting between the two sides broke out quickly afterwards.

The life and death of creatures in the ocean had no meaning to Sheng Qi. The best thing these strange creatures active under the sea contributed to him was a pair of huge sharp beaks. The remains from the giant sea monster were hung high up as a trophy.

In fact, the situation is quite unfavorable for Sheng Qi.

The disadvantage in maneuverability is almost irreparable, and the ratmen's warships are like bulky glass cannons.

In the naval warfare, the situation is almost like being at the mercy of others.

To this end, a tactic began to be used by Sheng Qi.

The rats are not good at naval battles, at least not now. So why not avoid the naval war part and drag the situation directly into a land war.

Sheng Qi gave up the idea of ​​commanding these circular warships to engage in a firefight with the human side on the sea. These unreliable things were completely used as a transport ship, an armed transport ship.

As soon as this thought came up, the situation suddenly became clear. The disadvantages of these disc warships in the past have now become advantages in a sense. They can accommodate enough ratmen warriors and have strong enough firepower. In addition, the terrifying production capacity brought by the continuous expansion of the rear. Everything became clear.

No matter how the war on the ocean develops, one thing is certain: neither side has developed to the point where they can be completely independent on the ocean.

Land supplies, ports, islands, and even fresh water are all vital things.

These are what Sheng Qi needs to fight for.

The ratmen warships gathered together to form an increasingly large fleet, avoiding the harassment of the human fleet and moving along the coast with full concentration.

In the war on the ocean, the rat people were defeated and achieved almost no victory.

But as the war progressed, it was the human fleet that became anxious first.

Like a frog leaping forward, the ratmen occupied every discovered island and every river estuary, and any human villages they found were ruthlessly destroyed, and the humans were helpless.

Of course, they could bypass this huge rat fleet to attack the rats' rear, the beacon supply points and ports established by the rats, but this would not be a serious blow to the rats.

Before you even reach the shore, the ratmen gathered in these places may scatter and run away completely.

When you leave, they come back again.

The effectiveness of these things will not be affected in the slightest.

Of course, you can also attack the rat-man warships that are arriving in an endless stream, but this is not cost-effective. The rat-man warships just can't catch up, which doesn't mean that their firepower is lagging behind in the slightest.

If you are not careful, these armed transport ships can easily knock out all your big teeth. For the rat people, exchanging them is a win-win business.

In the darkness, on the ocean, in an unknown sea area.

The crazy big-claw priest waved his arms, and amid the harsh sound of gears, the thick metal frame began to scream under the heavy load, and amid the rattling of iron chains, thick siege crossbow arrows were thrown out.

This was a lone Ratman warship that had traveled an extremely long distance from the hills to reach this sea area.

Blocked by the human fleet.

A fleet of human warships blocked this waterway.

They are very fast and agile, like a pack of wolves on the sea.

This Skaven warship is doomed.

The scorching fireballs streaking across the sky were so dense that it looked like a rain of fire from the sky, and the temperature was so high that it could melt steel.

Keep falling.

The Big Claw Priests fought back. For some reason, some of them became particularly excited, even a little crazy, when manipulating those dangerous and bulky toys.

Like this guy with his arms raised high now.

The Ratman warship began to sink without a doubt. Without divided cabins, multi-layer structures, or sealed doors, and without any safety guarantees, the Ratman warship was like a real iron basin drifting on the ocean.

Any damage could be fatal.

The lone Ratman warship began to sink, lost balance, and began to tilt. Screams of fear resounded in the calm sea.

That round of rain of fire did not send all the ratmen on the warship to see the gods. In fact, most of the ratmen survived, but in this situation there would not be much difference between surviving and dying.

Many things in the sea are waiting for their meals. In fact, they have been waiting for a long time.

One by one, the ratmen rushed towards the higher part of the gradually tilting warship that had not yet completely sunk into the sea. Those ratmen who did not have time to climb up to the higher part and were submerged by the sea water struggled frantically in the cold sea water. In the darkness, pools of blood burst out on the sea surface.

Apparently, it was time for dinner.

The battleship continued to sink into the sea. Hiding in a high place would not change anything, no matter how slow or fast it would go.

A group of Nagas drove away the sea monsters that had just gathered here, and emerged from the sea one by one, waiting for the ratman warships to be completely silent. In fact, this was a buffet.

These poor guys fell into despair, and at this time, another group of guys also began to struggle.

The crossbow arrows thrown by the ratman warship before it sank hit a target, and three thick metal crossbow arrows penetrated deeply into a human warship.

The guy who was directing all this would probably jump for joy when he saw this scene, but it was a pity that the big-clawed priest who was waving his arms, calibrating and shooting fell down in the first round of fire rain, and now he is probably eaten by those sea monsters.

There is now good news and bad news for this human warship.

The good news is that the three crossbow arrows did not hit the underwater part of the warship, and the sea water has not yet begun to flow into the hull.

The bad news is that the three thick crossbow arrows that were firmly nailed into the warship were still connected to the rapidly sinking ratman warship.

The taut chains were pulling the human warship towards the sea.

The human warriors on the battleships tried to cut off the crossbow arrows and the chains connecting them, but they underestimated how obsessed the Big Claw Priests were with their terrifying series of war machines.

The crossbow arrow with barbs was almost as thick as a pillar.

It was impossible to cut them off in a short time, and the rat warships sank unexpectedly fast.

Pulling the human warship down.

With a piercing sound, the human warship began to capsize.

At this time, while looking at the constantly surging sea, the human sailors on it were facing the same problem as the rat people.

What happened among the rat people is happening again among humans.

Desperate screams, peeking beneath the sea, patches of scarlet.

It all happened so fast that the rest of the human warships were unable to carry out the rescue. Of course, the humans were better off than the ratmen, and some lucky ones still managed to escape.

At least these human warships have small boats prepared.

Although the Nagas who had waited so long for the meal to be served were not very willing to see the delicious food on the table disappear like that.

But the rescue from other human warships arrived.

The Nagas surfaced and looked at the tall human warships with dangerous and eager eyes.

But he didn't do anything, just took the time to enjoy his meal.

The blood spreading across the area is attracting more things.

They had to hurry.

(End of this chapter)