The encounter began.

The battle began with the first round of bombardment from the Sea Mist. A loud noise like thunder roared across the entire sea. The shells whizzed across the sky and fell into the sea at the end of the parabola, stirring up huge columns of water and chaotic waves in a small area.

All the shots in the first round missed, and all the shots in the second round missed. It was not until the third round of shelling that the barrage from the Sea Mist finally just grazed the side of the Shixiang.

Raging spiritual flames burned in every seam and between masts of the Homeless. Duncan gripped the steering wheel tightly, steer this huge ghost ship across the sea like a moving mountain of flames. The majestic bow broke through the waves in front, stirring up a series of snow-white foam and ripples on both sides of the Homeless. In the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a black shadow swiftly rushing to the rear deck.

It was a cannonball from the Sea Mist - after missing many times in a row, the iron battleship seemed to have finally calibrated its artillery, and a cannonball whizzed straight towards the back half of the Lost Hometown, and this time it was finally unavoidable.

The scene of hitting the steering wheel to avoid the cannonballs will not appear in reality. The huge hull of the Lost Homeland still has to follow the most basic laws of physics when sailing in the real world... probably.

The ship was about to be hit.

But in the next moment, Duncan suddenly felt his vision become extremely sharp. He could even capture the complete trajectory of the shell as it tilted slightly and fell towards him. He saw the distorted heat waves around the shell, the airflow pushed away by the shock wave, the red-hot warhead and the blurred concave lines on the body of the shell - he stared at the hot steel, and the steel responded to his call.

At the last moment before hitting the Lost Homeland, a faint flame suddenly rose from the surface of the shell from the Sea Mist, as if it was instantly soaked and assimilated by the spiritual fire surrounding the Lost Homeland. It quietly turned into a green meteor and gently fell into the sea of ​​fire rising above the Lost Homeland in a slow and strange arc.

The shells burning with dark green flames landed on the deck of the Lost Homeland with a loud bang, and the whole ship seemed to tremble - but there was no additional damage.

"What a great catch!" The voice of the goat head suddenly sounded in Duncan's mind, bringing him back to his senses. "Captain, how did you do that?!"

"...subconsciously, without thinking too much." Duncan answered casually, and then more whistling sounds crossed the sky and came straight towards them.

His nerves tensed up instantly. He controlled the huge hull of the Lost Homeland to slightly adjust its course while tracking the dark shadows falling from the sky. In the next second, green "meteors" suddenly appeared one after another above the burning hull of the Lost Homeland.

But Duncan's capture was not without limit. As the distance between the Homeless and the Sea Mist got closer, the latter's bombardment became more accurate and fierce, and its many secondary guns and close-in defense guns were finally within the effective range. When a barrage of bullets fell from the sky, some shells finally began to evade Duncan's sight and hit the hull of the Homeless.

Amidst the continuous explosions, Duncan saw that a nearby ship's side was suddenly hit by something. A black shadow pierced through the wooden planks there and fell straight into the sea after causing severe tearing damage. The side of the ship that was hit exploded into countless pieces with a bang.

The torn and shattered structures flew out and rushed high into the sky, then stopped, remaining suspended in the air in sync with the Lost Homeland.

This was an extremely strange scene, as if the hull structures that were shattered in the real dimension were still integrated with the Lost Homeland in a higher dimension. They just appeared to be torn into pieces visually, but the fragments were still tightly held together!

This instantly reminded Duncan of the bottom of the ship, the fragmented but still fully functional bulkhead that was sailing in the warp.

And the next second, he saw the fragments that had collapsed from the side of the ship begin to slowly fall and return, as if time was flowing backwards and recovering rapidly.

Duncan finally withdrew his gaze from the side of the ship.

This was the first time he saw the Lost Homeland being damaged, and also the first time he saw the ship recovering after being damaged - this ship could actually heal itself so quickly! And the "healing" process... it looked like the ship was directly returning to its state before it was damaged? !

He finally understood why a steel battleship like the Sea Mist, which looked extremely advanced and fully armed, could not defeat a ghost ship from a century ago.

The warp has completely transformed the Lost Homeland, placing the entire ship in a strange space-time structure... It is impossible for it to be defeated by ordinary firepower in the real dimension!

The goat-headed voice sounded in his mind, with a smug tone: "Captain, the Lost Homeland is the best ship in the world, right?"

"…To be honest, it is true."

"So what are your plans next?"

Duncan raised his head slightly and looked at the Sea Mist which was getting closer and closer. "... I can beat the kid while I'm on the road. I'm free anyway, right?"

※※※

"Captain! That ship is speeding up!" First Mate Aiden's voice rang out on the bridge, with a hint of nervousness in his voice, "Something is not right... The effectiveness of our attack is not even as good as that hasty fight half a century ago. More than half of the shells inexplicably disappeared in the sea of ​​fire of the Lost Hometown!"

"I can see it," Tirian stood upright on the bridge, staring at the ghost ship that was speeding towards them and had begun to slightly adjust its course. His hands unconsciously grasped the guardrail in front of him, his face gloomy as if a storm was coming. "Half a century has passed, and 'he' has become more powerful than last time..."

"Then shall we continue to fight?" the first mate asked loudly. "It looks like it may not be easy to drive that ship back into the warp like last time! And I think your father must be very angry now... The speed of that ship is so damn fast now!"

Tirian just had a gloomy face. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke in a deep voice: "... continue to fight."

As he said these words, his eyes were still fixed on the huge burning sailing ship and the rear deck of the ship.

He knew that was where the steering wheel of the Lost Homeland was, and in those distant and yellowed memories, his father would always stand there.

Is he still there now? Is he watching the Seamstress?

A large cloud of smoke rose from the sea, followed by a faint roar that could be heard.

"The Lost Hometown is firing!"

A sailor exclaimed.

Tirian still stood firmly in the captain's seat, like an iceberg standing in the cold sea, but then he frowned.

The Lost Homeland did not fully adjust to the appropriate angle before firing, but instead cut into the direction of the Sea Mist's advance in a slightly inclined arc and fired while moving.

This meant that only about a quarter of the ship's broadside guns were operational.

Was it just a symbolic counterattack? It had no intention of fighting the Sea Mist to the end?

This was not my father's style, nor was it consistent with the experience of the battle half a century ago. In that encounter half a century ago, the Homeless fought with the Sea Mist until the very last moment, and the battle ended only when both ships were severely damaged.

The result of that battle was that the repair ability of the Lost Homeland reached its limit and it had to temporarily retreat to the subspace. The Sea Mist was almost sunk and it took a full three years to reappear on the Vast Ocean.

But the current situation did not allow Tirian to continue thinking.

The Lost Homeland's counterattack came - compared to the situation where the Sea Mist's first and second rounds all missed, every shot fired by the ghost ship after entering the effective range was chillingly accurate.

More than ten blazing green fireballs streaked across the sea and hit the hull of the steel battleship like meteorites. In an instant, roars rang out and spiritual fire boiled.

Layers of glow floated around the Sea Mist, and the ship's church and various holy relics were spontaneously activated to resist the spread of pollution brought by the flames. However, a large number of horrifying holes still appeared on the hull of the steel battleship in an instant - the burning cast iron shells were like fireballs falling into the snow, and everything that came into contact with the flames, whether it was wood or steel, was melted and swallowed up in the blink of an eye, disappearing without a trace.

No matter how strong the armor was, it was meaningless - the attack of the Lost Homeland did not rely on kinetic energy and explosion to be effective, but was based on devouring and transferring at a higher dimension. The Sea Mist was like a pencil drawing under an eraser, being "erased" by the continuously falling shells. Half of its main guns were wiped out in the first round. After the second round, several holes appeared on its side, which would have caused an ordinary ship to sink.

The attack of the Sea Mist was forced to stop, and even most of its power was lost in the blink of an eye.

Tirian's eyes widened.

Something is wrong... It's different, completely different from last time!

He didn't recognize this ship. This was not the Lost Homeland he remembered!

And in this astonishment, he noticed that the Lost Homeland suddenly stopped firing.

The ghost ship inflated all its sails, causing huge waves in the entire sea. Its speed suddenly increased to the limit, and it rushed straight towards the Sea Mist.

"...Full left! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

First mate Aiden suddenly yelled, and the helmsman had already begun to turn the wheel desperately, trying to steer the battleship away from the impending collision - but all efforts failed.

"The rudder is broken!" the helmsman shouted in horror, "It's turning on its own! We are taking the initiative to meet it!"

Just as the helmsman said, the Sea Mist was actively heading towards the ghost ship.

Tirian had already noticed the movement. He heard the abnormal roar of the machines under his feet and the clicking of all the windows around him. He saw the remaining turrets on the deck lowering their gun barrels one after another, and in the several large holes made by the Lost Homeland, green flames were rising one wave higher than the other.

This is a nightmare that had never appeared in the fierce battle half a century ago.

The Sea Mist recognized its flagship.