章 597: Dragon Napalm

The Nilfgaardian fleet gets closer and closer but are still not in cannon range... However, that isn't all the Emperors troops can muster.

Reima spots three frigates that have robed men standing on the bow with staves in their hands, they are pointing their palms towards Cery's ship and chanting something... Suddenly the mages efforts coalesce into some sort of bird made from fire, it soars high before heading for the ship like a missile.

Yennefer "It's war magic!" she exclaims, preparing to intercept it, however Reima reacts first, grabbing the air which seems to halt the apparition mid-air, it struggles as if bound and is slowly dragged towards him.

Cerys "What is he doin'?" she asks, wondering if Reima intended to set fire to the ship with them on it.

Hjalmar "Relax sis, he knows what he's doing."

When the apparition is in arm's length of Reima he thrusts his hand into it's chest and absorbs it, shocking the mages that'd cast it, as well as the other less skillful mages on the other ships.

Geralt "Hmm, did you really have a spell ready for that Yen?" he asks.

Yennefer nods, "Of course, it is typical Nilfgaardian war magic. I came prepared and had Reima not stopped it, I would have."

Geralt grunts and nods, giving no indication to whether he believes her or not... He could tell by her reaction that she hadn't expected such a spell so soon, but letting this be known was a quick was to the dog house.

Cerys "Men! Cannons ready!" she shouts as the Corvettes get in range and start turning to allow their cannons to fire."

The Longboats mimic the Corvettes and begin turning in preparing to fire, once in position a tense silence overtakes both sides... Until finally, a Nilfgaardian Corvette fires the first shot, signaling to everyone else to unload their armaments as well.

*BAAANG!*

The deafening sound of hundreds of cannons firing at once fills the once calm sea, ships on all starts start exploding into wood splinters a cannonballs blow huge holes into their hulls. A warrior on Cerys ship gets obliterated by a direct hit, turning him to red mist and leaving a cannon unoccupied, Geralt rushes over and takes control as two other men begin reloading it. Once done he aims at the Corvette nearby that'd presumably killed the man and tries to hit the helmsman controlling the ship.

His eyes contract as he judges the distance, the falloff and power of the previous cannonballs fired by the Skellige canons. It finally shoots and strikes the Helmsman directly, providing a similar treatment to fallen Skellige warrior. Without the Helmsman the ship drifts too close to the other Longboats, and while someone tries to take control and redivert it, it's already too late, the barrage sent at them is simply too much and the boat rapidly starts sinking to the bottom of the ocean as men throw themselves into the water and try to swim to nearby Nilfgaardian boats.

Unfortunately for them, their armour isn't designed for extended swimming... The Nilfgaards in their arrogance didn't believe that their ships would be sunk, even if they did the people controlling it were "Unfit" and deserved what they got... The men sucked in water and descended into the depths, their lungs slowly filling with water.

The initial barrage dealt heavy damage to both sides, but Nilfgaard came out ahead due to their superior firepower. Many Longboats were sunk with the Skelligan's being rescued by allied ships. Yennefer creates a large shield that blocks all shots from either side of the battle to allow the Longboats to rescue the overboard warriors.

The other side sees this as a sign of weakness however and starts pelting it with counterspells and spells designed to pierce it. Despite Yennefer's talent and power, the shield slowly dissipates and the battle continues...

Priscilla is stood on a ship with Quelana and Solaire. She'd stabbed her DragonSlayer GreatBow into the longboat to prepare to shoot it, destroying the floorboards underneath her. Quelana conjures a lingering flame which envelopes the arrow tip just as the halfbreed fires it at one of the further off frigates...

It flies true and hits the wooden part of the sail, the Luff and penetrates halfway through it, almost crippling the frigate with the initial shot. The impact causes the Nilfgaardians to duck and look at it, suspecting they'd been hit by a stray cannonball, but are confused when they see some sort of glowing spear sticking out from their sail... It's glowing slowly intensifies unil-

*BOOM!*

The explosion kills many, but it isn't the entire function of the timed explosive, lava is shoot out like a napalm bomb and coats the ship, killing any who weren't already dead. The ship goes up in flames almost instantly, which almost spreads to a nearby Frigate were it not for their quick maneuvering.

Gyrtrich Aep Heluhd, the Admiral of the Nilfgaardian Navy looks at the nearby ship that'd suddenly gone up in flames seemingly without reason. He's shocked by the attack and gives a pointed look to the mage who was accompanying him, imploring them to explain what'd just happened.

The mage's expression isn't a good one, truly they had no idea what'd caused this... Most magic capable of this was large, powerful, and slow-moving. Not at all compared to the silent ship killer that he'd just witnessed. "Perhaps there are bombs already planted on our ships!?!" he quickly questions, receiving a slap from the Admiral.

Gyrtrich "Of course not you simpleton! We checked many times these boats, and I myself personally inspected the Frigates! It must have been magic, though clearly out of YOUR league!" he exclaims, angered by this inept magic user he'd been given by the Emperor.