CHAPTER 501: 503. NAVAL BATTLE

"Raise the sails!" Barnabas shouted.

The massive crest on the sail was rolled back, and twenty men sitting on leather benches each grabbed an oar made of fir wood, ran to the sides of the ship, lifted the oars, threaded them through leather loops, and placed them on the oarlocks. With a rhythmic splash, the wooden oars hit the waves in unison.

The Adrestia was not a particularly large ship—of course, this ’not particularly large’ was in comparison to the triremes in the city-state fleets.

Among private vessels, it was agile and efficient, with adequate armaments. Its size was between that of a galley and a trireme.

Lann and Cassandra stood at the command seat on the deck, with Barnabas acting as an advisor on the side, while Phoebe was directly placed inside the cabin by Lann.

After all, this was not the time to freely sail on the Aegean Sea... Megaliss was now within reach.

As Barnabas described the battlefield here—Sparta had committed a considerable amount of army, while Athens had blockaded the sea with their fleet.

Blue striped sails fluttered in the air, beneath them stood the fir masts and lacquered hulls. Each ship was filled with heavy armored infantry wearing linen armor plated with bronze, archers, and light shield soldiers.

Some ships were even laden with fine Thessalian horses, and to prevent the horses from being frightened by the sight of the sea, each horse’s head was covered with a cloth to conceal their view.

The symbol of Athens was a blue background with white stripes, forming an owl.

This bird of prey was considered a symbol of wisdom and the Goddess Athena, and Athens even engraved this symbol on their drachma coins.

The abstract pattern of a crouching owl looking back was quite cute initially, but when it appeared in large numbers on fierce and menacing warships, it was downright unsettling.

The Adrestia continued to approach the coast of Megaliss.

The Icarus in the sky let out a nervous call, while Lann’s cat-like eyes contracted incessantly.

Cassandra and Lann simultaneously saw the expressions of the soldiers and officers on the opposite Athenian warship.

Nervousness, fear, and ferocity driven by fear.

Most soldiers of ancient warfare bore these expressions.

The harsh atmosphere of military camps, along with the fear of being sent to battle and possibly killed by the enemy, lingered in the hearts of every soldier.

Unless the advantage overwhelmingly favored one’s side, these emotions wouldn’t dissipate.

And as is well-known, the string of reason in a human’s mind is highly fragile under long-term extreme tension...

As the Adrestia crossed an invisible boundary, three ships from the Athenian fleet broke from the blockade like lions angered by mice, and sailed towards them.

The soldiers on board shouted loudly, pointing towards the Adrestia, and their commander roared for them to raise their javelins and aim at the enemy.

The wind and waves of the Aegean Sea weren’t particularly large, thus the ship designs differed from later ones, lacking higher bulwarks on the sides to prevent crew members from falling off amidst the rocking.

The entire deck of the ship appeared as a large flat surface, where the primary means of combat were soldiers standing on the deck, shooting arrows and javelins, sometimes wrapped in oil cloth for added impact.

And if positioned correctly, the warship would use its sturdy prow to directly ram into the enemy’s fragile hull.

All this made it easier for Cassandra and Lann to observe the opponent’s actions clearly.

"Raise Shields! Immediately!"

"Prepare the shields!"

Lann and Cassandra shouted loudly in unison.

Barnabas, who was still commanding the course, saw the approaching Athenian warship, but remained somewhat bewildered.

"Raise shields? Shouldn’t we..."

Before he could finish the next part of ’adjust the position of the ship’, the sky suddenly roared with a sound like a swarm of locusts swooping down.

Lann pulled Barnabas down to crouch, and Cassandra mirrored their action.

The handrail of the command seat served as adequate protection.

The crew, who had previously taken down their large round shields and held them over their heads as instructed, were unscathed after the wave of arrows.

Under the arrow rain akin to a downpour, the crew under their shields looked at each other in surprise.

Faced with arrows fired at them, and not a single one of them was hurt... they had never encountered such a situation before!

"By Zeus!"

Barnabas, pinned down by Lann, muttered unintentionally.

Conversely, Cassandra and Lann remained exceedingly calm from start to finish.

In this era and region, the attack methods of warships were all deployed on that flat deck surface.

For individuals like Lann and Cassandra, whose vision surpassed that of ordinary people, they could even see the small braids beneath the helmets of Athenian soldiers at the edge of the arrow rain’s range.

The extended range of vision brought about an enhanced observation capacity on the battlefield.

Every move on the opposite side was, in fact, within the gaze of both of them.

"What’s going on over there?" Lann calmly asked Cassandra, pointing upwards in the process. "I can’t easily peek out; what has Icarus seen?"

Cassandra’s eyes bore an unfocused, hollow look. This was because she wasn’t using her own eyes to see anything at the moment.

An eagle’s screech resounded from above.

"The arrow rain was intercepted by another ship, the Athenian commander is well-trained. Meanwhile, another galley is maneuvering to try and split us in half horizontally."

Barnabas, sandwiched between Lann and Cassandra like a helpless little girl, glanced left and right, wrinkling his old face like a walnut, realizing he couldn’t comprehend what exactly these two were up to.

But in the end, he rather energetically yelled out with robust spirit.

"Comrades! Turn the bow! Don’t let them strike head-on, let that ship brush past us! With the help of the gods, we won’t sink here! Poseidon’s coral palace hasn’t prepared a place for us yet! It’s what your two captains have said!"

The sudden burst of enthusiasm from Barnabas left Lann and Cassandra momentarily stunned, emerging from their respective sensory states to exchange puzzled glances.

Oh, they both forgot. Barnabas was a devout believer, after all.

"Javelins ready!"

Cassandra shouted with her head buried under the arrow rain.

"No need to remove the shields, listen to my command! Prepare to the port side!"

The approaching Athenian warship missed the predicted position to directly snap the Adrestia in half, only grazing past instead.

The Athenian soldiers on the warship didn’t mind, thinking they could simply attempt another ram.

After all, they hadn’t...

"Javelins! Release!"

The heavy, sharp projectiles cut through the air, simultaneously shattering the eas释omaxgesehen of the Athenian soldiers.

To their death, they couldn’t understand how the crew on that ship had prepared javelins for throwing while holding shields against the rain of arrows.

But now, none of that mattered.

A significant number of Athenian soldiers were struck by the forceful javelins; the projectiles pierced through their bodies, even lifting them slightly off the ground!

Like cutting wheat, the deck of the Athenian warship was swiftly littered with fallen men.

In the brief span of contact, this warship instantly suffered casualties to the point of being rendered incapable of counterattack!