Capítulo 348: Chapter 348: Preparing for War

Ares flew higher into the air to get a good view of the rapidly shifting Federation beneath him. The links between each boat, a bunch of metal wiring, were being overrun by earthen magic for some strange reason. Ares had no idea what this Freefire Federation art was but the fact that it contained the name of an entire country was a wild ride in and of itself. To create an art that's only usable when you're in a specific country... And while already on top of one of your other arts... Whatever Geordie was doing here was going to pack some serious firepower and there was no doubt about that. While the Scylla was still approaching from over the horizon, the Federation was still being coated in rocky chunks and it seemed like it wasn't going to stop until every inch of the connecting links were completely covered. This was a slow process and took about five minutes overall but he had time for this as the Scylla was only just arriving now. It was a stone's throw away... As long as you ignored the fact that Ares would have to chuck a stone with both his Converter boost and his annihilation enhancement to reach that far... But that was still close enough for attacks on both sides to start being launched so it was a good thing Geordie's magic was finally taking shape... Whatever shape that would be exactly.

It's lifting? The centre of the Federation was slowly rising into the sky, off the Run Aground island, and dragging everything nearby up with it. This formed a sort of chain wherein the Federation was slowly floating upwards and towards the centre like a cone extending vertically but also collapsing in on itself at the same time. Are wasn't sure what the point of this strange show was but it continued on none the less with each layer of boats slowly stacking underneath one another and forming a kind of mock pyramid structure. The HQ of the Federation was smack dab in the middle at the top while there were about four boats resting underneath it with their flanks facing the four cardinal direction. There were about eight boats underneath the square of four and then it kept expanding all the way down to the base where there were a couple thousand boats dotted about the area. The civilians were likely buried deep within the core of this pyramid and protected from external attacks, which was a great safeguarding measure for them, but Ares still didn't quite get what the point of this was. Sure more defence was great but at some point you had to actually put the fear of God into your opponent with violence otherwise the fight would never end! Still, Ares knew he was judging too early because there was no way this thing was called 'FreeFIRE' and didn't have some more tricks up its sleeve.

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There it is! Ares was a little giddy watching the ensuing transformation of the Federation because every single external boat had just opened up slots on the side of their hull and through them came cannons galore! There were at least twenty cannons, all magically loaded with earthen cannonballs and various other elemental projectiles thanks to the sailors manning them, on each and every single ship. Given how many ships there were it was impossible to count all the cannons but Ares guessed that a couple hundred thousand was in the rough ball park in total. Sure some of them were aimed in different directions but even if you divided that number by a quarter you still had upwards of fifty to sixty thousand cannons pointed in any direction at any given time! This thing was perhaps the single greatest fortress that had ever existed in any domain at this level or lower ever! Atop an island sized earthen pillar in the middle of an ocean was a boat-country-pyramid-fortress with magical cannons staring down a behemoth Scylla's shadow and its loyal army.

This was cool and precisely the kind of stories Ares read about in his books when he was a kid. He'd always wanted to get involved in crazy events like this, and be able to say he'd been there when it all went down, so everything that was happening here was tingling all the right emotions inside of him and stoking his excitement. This would be his first real war and it was shaping up to be a real memorable one! Granted the disparity in strength between the approaching army and Ares was enormous, so this presumably wouldn't take too long at all, but it was still fun anyway! Ares almost preferred the fact that he had an army of his own to fight alongside, even though he realistically didn't need them and could do this on his own by Voidwalking over the ocean and endlessly raining down destruction-based death, because it felt more immersive to him. He'd never been in a war before and, though this only really just barely counted as one, he was still enjoying very last second!... Although really war was not something to be enjoyed for most normal people. Sure Ares could wave his gonads around and do whatever he liked here but the normal humans down in the ships waging war like their life depended on it, because it kinda did, were having a very different experience. Luckily for them Geordie's defences meant they'd likely come out unscathed but it must have still been quite daunting for them. Kudos for not running away like cowards! They could have easily resigned from their jobs with their excellent pay and gone to live on land instead of dealing with this crap every year, sometimes multiple times even.

Things would be different for the Federation this time though. They usually lost a lot of good men, even in spite of Geordie as the Scylla and its army were persistent in climbing and somebody needed to fight them in melee range when they arrived on the Federation itself, but now with Ares here? Zero casualties was the goal and it was very achievable if Ares really put some elbow grease into going ballistic with his magic and worked alongside the Federation. It was finally time to put his assumptions about Grim Cessation and the Converter to the test and see if he really could just fight without ever running out mana in large sale combat! Ares was pretty sure the answer was yes because there was technically another tool in his arsenal that would enable it even if his treasure and his art somehow couldn't. Pressure! Even if by some miraculous chance he ran out of mana, all he'd have to do was kill some random cannon fodder with pressure bombs and wide scale attacks and he would be right as rain.

Ares almost didn't even really need to ever test this, because the writing was on the wall regarding how long he could fight wars for, but why on earth would he pass up on an opportunity like this? This would be the first time he was ever put into a situation where he could effectively near-endlessly cast arts without worrying about his mana reserves! Based on his estimates, Ares could throw out a thousand grand Annihilations in a row and still be at, or near, full mana! It was an all you can eat buffet of gold, black, and red murder in the forecast, and Ares was looking forward to it, so he Voidwalked down a bit to prepare himself by talking to Geordie and Hunter who were both on the second top-most layer of the pyramid. It seemed only combat capable officials were here while the real elite were sat comfortably in their penthouse view at the top and could spectate the fight freely. It might have looked exposed up there but there were typically no flying creatures anyway so it was fine. Plus Geordie was literally right underneath them and if his earthen magic couldn't defend them then nothing could. Hiding in the middle of the pyramid was somewhat pointless as Geordie was the last line of defence to begin with so, if he fell, their position in the Federation made no difference. Also... The ruling class didn't want to go near the commoners.... In fact it was basically the auction site all over again as they relished sitting directly atop everyone's heads. The lengths these people would go to in order to fuel their superiority complex was actually a little impressive. Ares rarely saw people this dedicated to anything and yet these people were falling over themselves for no reason other than to be petty to poor mortals. They clearly didn't have enough going on in their lives and really needed to get a hobby! And not this one! Bullying poor people was not a hobby!

With the transformed Federation's posturing over and done with, next up would be the Scylla's turn but there was still another minute or so left despite the thing being relatively close. It wasn't far, it was deep. It had to climb up from the very depths of the ocean and it was a likely a slow process because moving its giant body around through the water must be a laborious nightmare. Ares did not envy the Scylla but he wasn't going to dwell on it as he was more so interested in chatting with Geordie and Hunter, the latter of which had just finished directing people to various locations. It seemed like he was very much a second in command and Geordie was happy to have him in this position because he was observant and good at what he did. Nobody knew the monsters assaulting the Federation better than Hunter and, as a result, nobody knew what better ways to deal with them than him to boot. He knew which magic affiliations did well against each and every single beast that was about to come and try biting people's heads off and so Geordie appreciated having him around so he could focus on his own work. Given that Ares saw the Aejaz group a couple of layers down the pyramid, they must have already spoken to Hunter while the Federation was transforming and asked him for guidance on where to stand. They were stronger than most other cultivators, if not all of them, and so were placed near to the top where aiming the cannons would be easier and they could assist the Federation in keeping back the monster onslaught. It was only natural the people with stronger magic should have priority on the better placed cannons and Aejaz in particular, with his stolen destruction magic, was probably going to be doing a lot of good work with them. Onno was also very helpful here as he could custom tailor his magic to deal with whatever the biggest threat was in the moment so it was to be expected that this group was kept close by. That being said, they weren't at the very top essentially just because their aim was going to be somewhat poor. The sailors here had been doing this for years and there was a point where a person's lack of magic was made up for by incredible aim and they were placed on the few layers that were above the Aejaz group. It wasn't in-preference, these people were just really good at making waves, sometimes literally, with their aim. Of course their magic also had to be up to snuff but the requirements in that area weren't particularly high as even regular cannonballs fired from these cannons would come with an earthen tint that could really lay the hurt on.

Ares landed outside the captain's quarterdeck and spun a ship wheel shaped handle to open up the metal door and enter. A few workers here and there turned to look at this unexpected guest and almost kicked him out as they weren't aware of who he was. Thankfully they didn't act without permission and waited for Geordie to do it but he seemed ok with this visitor so they went back to... Whatever it was they were doing. Likely sending magic down the pyramid to remotely man cannons that didn't have any sailors behind them as well as direct people with specific magic to the optimal locations by keeping track of, and analysing, the battlefield in real time. If anybody with fire magic was needed to burn a hairy sea beast with flammable fur as it was climbing up the west side then these guys would make sure that was dealt with quickly, and before it could become a major issue, by directing a suitable cannoneer over. The people they directed would have to run through narrow corridors inside the core of the pyramid just to fire one or two cannonballs before being run ragged yet again and being sent elsewhere so it wasn't easy for anybody involved in this process. Though these guys, up in the quarterdeck, individually were weak they played a pretty important role all things considered. The people on this layer of the pyramid were paramount to the Federation's survival and so everyone was well trained, calm, and prepared for all eventualities, death included. They would go down with the ship long before they ever stopped fighting and there was an admirable determination in their general auras. These were definitely the kind of people you wanted running an entire country and, though they might not be politically savvy, it was best to let them govern during times of conflict without a doubt as their efficiency, dedication, and professionalism really shone through.

"You lot what me anywhere specific or do I get to just run around like a heedless chicken blowing up whatever I want?" This was what Ares really wanted to know because it wasn't just about having fun here. Sure he could go freely play to his heart's content but there was no reason to throw everyone else here to the wolves and it was good practice for him to care about everyone else's lives in case something similar happened with the sect one day. He may be sect leader but if every single elder and disciple were dead, because he was off blowing up a planet or something along those lines while they were dying, then that title became pretty pointless pretty quickly. Sometimes he could go buck wild, if the circumstances permitted it, but not always and so he figured he would do the adult thing here and not childishly give into his whims to go AWOL. As it turned out, this was the correct decision because there was something about the Scylla that he didn't know.

"Actually, yes." Geordie, despite referring everyone with questions to Hunter, was the first to raise a request for aid. "See the Scylla has a very standard 'greeting', you could call it. Every ten minutes or so that big dumb monster can fire a giant laser beam from its mouth and that's usually the first thing it does after emerging from the water. It takes a while to fire, about ten seconds, but it packs a punch that can't be ignored. Most of the Federation's losses come from that one attack because even I struggle to deal with it fully. Normally all the responsibility is on me, because nobody else knows any defensive arts that can go up against it, but now that you're here I'm hoping you can help with it? I don't know if you have any defensive arts, though, as you seem to be more offensively oriented as a cultivator... If you don't, then never mind, but if you do then you'd be doing us a massive favour. You're also free to do as you please afterwards as the Scylla usually doesn't even fire the laser more than once. It must be a tiring attack to use so it shies away from multiple castings of it for the most part. Doesn't mean it can't do it more than once, just that it likely won't"

Ares nodded but he wasn't entirely sure what to do here. "I can throw up some arts that might weaken its attack before it arrives but I don't think I have anything that can outright defend against it... Unless... Ok, you know what, I might actually have an idea. You can leave the beam to me as I might be able to get rid of it completely..." Ares didn't sound or look 100% sure so, although Geordie also nodded in response, he was probably going to throw up some walls as a precautionary measure just in case. Someone claiming they could block the entire laser beam on their own, without having seen it before, was not something that Geordie or Hunter were going to believe ever. They'd seen the ridiculous firepower Ares' pillar packed but defensively? Against the also-ridiculous firepower the Scylla packed? They would rather not entrust their fate to someone who wasn't specialised in what they wanted of him. That being said, Ares idea wasn't exactly safe for himself either so he wouldn't be doing this if he wasn't confident he could. He was putting himself directly in he firing line here and was planning on blocking the laser with his Primordial Blade...

Kinda.

It wouldn't be Ares doing it, no, it was up to Dominus to cleave through the laser like the professional he was! If anyone could do it, it was him and so when Ares asked internally he seemed very excited to try and wield the Blade for the first time. He must have really liked the weapon because, from what little Ares could hear of his response, he seemed really into the idea. Ares would throw up a Not Even Light to slow the laser down a bit for Dominus and, after coating the Blade in disintegration, he could go all out and make Ares proud. It was a win win as Dominus got to rear his head and say hello to the world again while Ares' body got to experience masterful swordsmanship and learn from it once more. Also also, though it didn't really matter, Ares would look incredibly imposing to everyone aboard the Federation as he stood in the air and sliced a laser beam a hundred times his size into two and sent both halves careening off into the distance. Dominus was still a relatively unknown figure down in these lower domains so any weapon exemplar feats were going to be going squarely under Ares' name. Stolen valour! Still, if it helped boost Ares' reputation then it was a good thing overall! Not that Dominus cared about such trifling matters like 'credit' for his hard work, he was just happy to get some fresh air and swing a powerful sword around for a while.

If anything, Ares would be the one paying the price later for trying to wield the damn weapon. Even in its sheathe, just swinging the Blade hurt every bone and nerve in his body. From head to toe, every inch of his flesh became somewhat bruised and battered after using that treasure. Dominus was going to do a real mighty swing too so Ares' body would not be happy with him for a day or two. Thankfully the krakyrn's territory wasn't near here, obviously otherwise it and the Scylla would be butting heads twenty four seven, so Ares would get plenty of time to rest after today and he could go about pressurising the Converter. That was a very worthwhile task to focus on as it would still take some time but the end result would no doubt be incredibly beneficial to Ares and the rate at which it converted absorbed souls to magical power might even go up. It was unquestionably worth prioritising the usable Converter, and increasing the magic conversion multiplier early, than improving the Blade that he could barely even use right now. With the Firestarters rounded up, Hunter's gadgets in place to deal with twisted and seagulls, Fin in the afterlife, and the Scylla swatted away and maybe even killed, there would be nothing left to ambush the Federation save for the krakyrn. What was that? Ares was going to get to relax for more than a couple of days? He would have nearly a week of holiday to himself?! He had spare time to temper his body some more, pressurise his treasures, practice passive cultivation, improve his pressure under water duration, and just generally kick back for once?! What a miracle!

Ares left the quarterdeck and took to the skies with Voidwalk. Being able to use this art freely was such a wonderful feeling as he no longer felt his time, until mana exhaustion, ticking down in the background. Ares almost wanted to Voidwalk all around Sheryashka just because he could but that was long, would interrupt his current schedule, and was not a fitting thing for him to do when people were waiting on him to become sect master. As such, despite the overwhelming temptation to maybe even go pay Vraizon a visit, he just hovered above the Federation and watched as the Scylla, and its army, started to emerge from the water. It was about damn time! Not that anybody other than Ares was complaining about how long it took because they were actually grateful for the delays as it gave them time to set up and prepare for what was to come.

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The skies turned a deep red and were muddied by the visible crimson aura of the creature that breached through the surface of the water with domineering splendour. The Scylla stood tall, tall enough to look down upon the Federation from above as its army slowly emerged from the water beneath it. It bore resemblance to a thin and graceful woman's skeleton after being painted black, was shrouded in an ominous shadow, and only its four red, beaming eyes, resting side by side across its face, could really be easily spotted through the mist and underneath the dark, silken veil covering its diamond shaped head. It wore ragged clothes that bore resemblance to a shipwreck as it was torn all over and there were small flashes of a pulsing red heart beneath the upper part of the ripped black gown. Two shadowy arms extended off the main body alongside five undead tentacles that were completely structurally hollow and made of nothing but bone. The tentacles were curved in a 'u' shape so the tips were stretching about fifty feet into the air even though most of it was underwater which just went to show how massive they were.

Within the Scylla's two hands were held firmly two corrupted, gigantic glaives that had red veins running along the lengths of them and were emitting a dull throbbing sound that echoed in the hearts of everyone nearby. The two bottom halves of these glaives were submerged in the water, creating blackish red whirlpools at their bases from which the Scylla's army arose like hell spawn from a portal to the afterlife seemingly without end. A small hum could be heard coming from the Scylla like that of a siren song but it was less of an attracting force and more of a repugnant, repelling dirge that made the listener feel uncomfortable to their core. It was presumably the summoning song that that acted like a flare for its army to heed its call and fight but also a way to frighten foes before the war even begun. Black embers were flickering off the creature's body at regular intervals that dropped to the ocean below and even turned large areas of water into burnt ashes that drifted away in the other nearby waves.

This bony, black, demon-fire spewing, undead creature was the undisputed king, or more accurately the queen, of all Sheryashkan waters. It was a majestic creature but gave rise to a feeling of despair if stared at for too long. It was almost like an alien in some ways and seemed quite unlike anything that belonged in this world, like it ha been dumped here by some otherworldly being as an experiment. Even reality itself struggled to accommodate this creature as the nearby reddish air was constantly being lit on fire, becoming hazy, and spawning more red and black embers that drifted around the creature and obliterating anything that dared come into contact with them. To make matters worse, it looked like it really knew how to use those weapons in its hands and so it was clear to Ares that this was going to be a tough fight. Honestly, this thing, to Ares at least, looked far stronger than the krakyrn...