Chapter 1491: Legendary Warship: Holy Mother's Immaculate Conception! (Part 3)

This was the Strait Fleet of the Kingdom of Hightins at the time.

This fleet was only equipped with conventional sail battleships, primarily tasked with guarding against beast tides rushing out from the Sea of Monsters.

Recently, as the Blood Beast Nest had long been devoured by the Mother of Monsters herself, the invading sea monster tide lost its organization, and the damage decreased significantly, always independently resolved by the Deep Sea Fleet.

The growth in the extraordinary order of the fleet members was extremely rapid.

The legendary warship [Dragonhead Ship Valhalla] became the fleet’s flagship, and the fleet commander was the Whale Hunter, Jack Harold, the father-in-law.

At this moment, it was the ship spirit Valhalla, transformed into a robust Valkyrie, who sounded the alarm horn.

Byron himself was still in Kingston, but his “Divine Sight” had effortlessly taken in the entire opposite fleet.

A mass of pure white holy light at the front was especially eye-catching.

Under the glow, a slender all-white oar-and-sail ship, equipped with sails and oars, glided like an arrow leading the entire fleet swiftly over the sea surface.

From afar, a grand and majestic chant resonated through the North Sea:

“Blessed be, Holy Virgin, blessed among women, and blessed be the fruit of thy womb, for thou art the mother of our souls’ salvation…”

Soldiers who heard this voice couldn’t help but have their souls stirred, wanting to kneel and bow, joining the voice in song.

That was precisely the legendary warship [Holy Mother’s Immaculate Conception] commanded by the Habsburg Dynasty!

The design was an ancient Olympia three-tiered oar-and-sail ship, exuding a strong mythological era style.

Powered by sails and oars, configured in three tiers of rowers, it could sail at high speed and maneuver deftly in narrow sea channels.

It was approximately 36.9 meters long and 5.5 meters wide, with a full load displacement reaching 47 tons, equipped at the bow with a 200-kilogram bronze ram.

At the ship’s center stood a towering main mast, adorned with a large square sail.

The sail bore a red emblem of “Mother Wolf Nursing Infant,” representing the origins of the Ancient Silver Empire: Mars’ two sons raised by a mother wolf, who built the initial city-state.

During sea combat, the main mast could be laid down to facilitate engagement.

With the wind, the sailing speed could reach 6 knots; powered by rowers, it could hit 8 knots; in warfare, using both sail and oars, the speed could exceed 11 knots.

Although the oar-and-sail ship design was entirely surpassed by the Great Nautical Age, the extraordinary power carried by this vessel was still formidable.

The ship was constructed from an entire piece of sacred cedar wood.

It was said that when this tree was still a pinecone, it was stained with the Holy Mother’s Blood. After taking root and sprouting, miracles appeared on its trunk.

In just a few years, it grew exceptionally sturdy, and the trunk surface revealed a relief of the Holy Mother cradling the Saint Heir, lifelike and vivid like a sculpture.

It was revered by the earliest followers then as the “Holy Mother Tree.”

But after the Saint Heir’s crucifixion on the Cross, this sacred tree was felled by soldiers of the Ancient Silver Empire and made into a warship popular in that era.

The relief-like Holy Mother statue was located at the ship’s bottom, silently overseeing the entire sea.

Due to its ancient existence, its legendary warship skill was something the high echelons of the continent, especially the Bayfolk who had contested (raided) against it for thousands of years, were extremely familiar with.

——[Monster Summoning]:

“When sailing on the sea, within a range of one nautical mile, all ownerless sea creatures are ‘Holy Mother’s’ protectors, willing to follow the captain’s orders even to utter destruction. Simultaneously, it can summon projections of powerful mythological era beasts from the collective unconsciousness of The Holy Silver Empire.[Big Vortex] Charybdis, [Six-headed Sea Snake] Scylla, [Deep Sea Siren] Siren… all can be conjured, with power levels reaching up to pseudo-gods.”

Besides this treasured legendary warship, the conventional fleet of The Holy Silver Empire was inferior to the Netherland.

A land power nation that did not engage much in overseas colonization naturally would not maintain a massive fleet.

[Holy Mother’s Immaculate Conception] was already famous in the Ancient Silver Empire era, often clashing with another oar-and-sail vessel [Dragonhead Ship Valhalla] that came for raids.

Both sides had wins and losses. In this grand battle between the two camps, meeting again served as a reckoning of old and new grudges combined.

On the oar-and-sail ship deck, the King of Solitude Ferdinand issued a thunderous challenge to the Deep Sea Fleet:

“Vile pirates, despicable heretics, you have no more chances to be arrogant this time. I will hang you all on the holy pillars of the church!”

The response from across was a V-sign gesture with the back of the hand outward from the Bayfolk sailors, led by the Whale Hunter!

Accompanied by waves of boos.

The soldiers of The Holy Silver Empire immediately turned livid, burning with rage.

“Courting death!”

An anecdote exists regarding the origin of this reverse V-sign.

During the Hundred Years’ War between Hightins and Iris, the Hightins army, nearly defeated, turned the tides with a new secret weapon—a longbow made of yew.

Under Henry V’s leadership, they reversed their disadvantage in the Battle of Agincourt.

The Iris Flower Army, having suffered significant losses of archers, issued a death order in their fury. If they captured archers from Hightins, they would sever the right middle finger used for drawing the bow and then hang them to death.