Chapter 83: Open With A Bang To Show Respect
Anse raised the telescope, shifting his gaze to the row of crosses by the river, his heart jolting.
Hanging on them were not prey, but people—not natives clad in animal hides and coarse cloth, but Faerun people in proper fabrics that exuded an air of civilization everywhere!
He hurriedly had Nolnos hide behind a tree, only to discover a large amount of wood debris and miscellaneous items floating at the junction of the river and waterway.
“Hull? Could it be another Faerun sailing ship that strayed into this place?” He frowned; the situation was somewhat unexpected.
At this moment, those tribe members were gathering, unclear if they were heading out to hunt or had already spotted them.
Anse patted his horse’s back, Nolnos lightened his steps, and they quickly retreated, much faster than before.
Once back on the ship, he immediately found Salian: “Slow the ship, there’s a situation!”
Salian promptly ordered the first mate to reef the sails, his expression tense: “What happened?”
“That primitive tribe probably isn’t friendly…” Anse briefly described the situation.
“Are there many of them? How far from the riverbank?” Salian pressed.
“Not many, three or four hundred perhaps, not too close or too far from the riverbank, a few hundred meters maybe.”
“What’s your idea?”
“There’s risk; it’s up to you.”
It wasn’t Anse shirking responsibility; he simply couldn’t make the decision. Salian was the captain, responsible for these dozens of people.
If real danger struck, Anse could take to the sky or dive into the water, even outrunning most dinosaurs on land—he could leave anytime. But the ship and crew couldn’t, so their perspectives differed.
“Not many of them can enter the water. We’ll go full speed after we pass, no contact with them.” Salian judged based on past experience.
Such a small tribe generally wouldn’t have powerful professionals. Besides, they were just passing through, not attacking anyone, no grudge or enmity—impossible to be attacked for no reason.
“Fair enough.” Anse thought it over carefully and felt there was no issue.
【Quesser】 has cannons; not great against monsters, but fine against people. There are often cases of a single warship robbing a village—that tribe should be grateful for their mercy.
“All hands to stations, prepare for combat—” Salian roared.
The crew tensed up, hastily grabbing their weapons and rushing to their positions to get busy.
Anse rode his horse in the center of the deck, an orb in his palm—fighting on horseback was more flexible than on the ship.
Trees on both sides sped by; after the elf ship rounded a giant wood, the current suddenly quickened, carrying the hull downstream into a river of moderate width.
Sunlight fell, shining on everyone’s faces. They squinted and saw no obstructions ahead—clear skies, open views, the gloom in their hearts dissipating by more than half.
“Water’s deep enough!” Salian’s suspended heart eased halfway; the elf ship was a sharp-keeled ocean vessel, too shallow and it wouldn’t work.
Anse smiled faintly, raising the orb and silently casting.
“
Control Winds!
The surrounding wind quickly strengthened; seconds ago it was a gentle breeze, seconds later gales howled, blowing so hard people could barely stand.
Cloud sails flapped loudly, mast and hull creaking, ship speed increasing faster and faster.
Salian stood at the bow, letting the gale tousle his hair, his smile growing ever more exuberant.
He knew of Anse’s battle record but not the details; he hadn’t expected Control Winds—this spell was rare, most wizards didn’t bother learning it.
Wild spellcasters had even fewer chances to learn spells, prioritizing survival and attack spells.
The distant tribe spotted the sailing ship bursting from the forest right away. The already assembled hundred-plus warriors charged at them without hesitation.
Their formation looked chaotic—most running, a few riding triceratops, ankylosaurus, allosaurus, duck-billed dinosaurs, etc. The crowd and sky mixed with various small and medium dinosaurs; at a glance, there were more dinosaurs than people.
“Are they insane?”
Anse never imagined they’d attack on sight—no brains? What were they after?
The enemy had more dinosaurs than people, but over a hundred managed the momentum of a thousand heavy cavalry, an unstoppable oppressive force bearing down—many crew paled in fear.
Salian had no time to think, shouting reassurance: “Don’t fear, we’re in the river, they can’t cross. Steer to the east bank, load cannons with grapeshot, on my command…”
This battle was unavoidable; even at top speed, the sailing ship managed only a dozen kilometers per hour—slower than human running, let alone dinosaurs.
Seeing ship speed up, Anse decisively ended Control Winds, focusing on observing the dinosaurs and enemies.
Most were small to medium carnivorous dinosaurs, few flying ones, no tyrannosaurus rex—he’d confirmed that earlier.
He locked his gaze on the lead giant allosaurus—highest threat.
The other giant dinosaurs were herbivores, fierce-looking but with weak combat intent, hesitant steps quickly falling behind.
Dice spun slightly, popping up target info:
【Dasuo Barbarians chieftain, beastman, level 8 barbarian（dinosaur）】
【Allosaurus, giant beast, challenge rating 5】
“Beastman? Do barbarians have a dinosaur path?” He knew beast heart path, giant path—first time hearing of dinosaur path.
By now, the dinosaur horde charged within three hundred meters of the west bank, speed unabated, seemingly planning to wade straight over.
“Fire—” Salian roared.
“Boom boom boom boom—”
The hull shook; four cannon blasts from the starboard side merged into one, a swarm of black bullets scattering in air, forming several fan shapes that slammed into the dinosaur group.
Dull impacts of flesh and blood rang like death knells—wherever they passed, people and dinosaurs toppled, blood mist bursting, limbs flying, wails and shrieks echoing across the riverbank.
Injured and panicked dinosaurs stampeded, trampling the wounded and crashing into the crowd; the barbarians’ charge stalled, fewer than half the barbarians and dinosaurs maintaining momentum.
“Like idiots; clearly never seen cannons before.” Anse truly felt bad for the Faerun people who’d died by their hands.
Cannon lethality was decent, but many shots missed—the real value was the disruption and chaos caused.
“Bang—”
Flame cannon fired, an orange-red flame bullet landing straight in a dense crowd area.
With a boom, the flame bullet exploded, covering a four-to-five-meter radius around it, successively hurling several dinosaurs and beastmen.
The barbarian chieftain glanced back—formation shattered, completely broken, only under twenty barbarian warriors left by his side.
“Charge charge charge, no stopping!” he shouted loudly.
He didn’t know cannons, but knew their firing rate wasn’t high—slow down and you’d just get pounded.
By then, Anse had already activated metamagic, mana surging around him, poised to strike.
Seeing the barbarian chieftain distracted, he immediately focused and cast.
“
「Metamagic」+「Metamagic: Empower, Reach, Seeking」+「Fireball」!
The orb danced; a small bright flash burst from his fingertip, whooshing toward the barbarian chieftain, crossing over 150 meters in a blink.
The barbarian chieftain completely missed that glint in the sunlight, but 「wild instinct」 and 「danger sense」 sharpened his senses extraordinarily. His mind jolted; too late to warn, he flipped to hide under his mount.
But his peripheral vision clearly caught the glint slightly changing direction, instantly hitting his shoulder and back.
“Boom—”
Searing flames erupted abruptly, red light flashing, sweeping a nearly nine-meter radius around—vegetation to ash, beast armor ablaze, flesh curling, even iron weapons slightly discolored.
Heat waves rolled, air distorting; a distant glance showed terrifying heat.
A circular area nearly twenty meters across lay strewn with fallen bodies.
The barbarian chieftain curled motionless, his slightly rising chest declaring the body still alive.
The battlefield fell silent…
【…Dasuo Barbarians chieftain hit, takes 43 fire damage, current life 39/82】
【…Allosaurus hit, takes 81（critical hit） fire damage, current life 14/95】
“Barbarians are tough; if it were a rogue, this would’ve finished them.”
Anse narrowed his eyes, ripples of mana spiritual light swirling on the orb again.
