At present, the skies were bright and clear. The weather was a temperamental thing, though, and it would take about two days to reach Fort Purledo. All Shin could do was pray that the good weather lasted.
I need to make the next airship safe to fly in bad weather. That, and build it out of something other than wood─something that doesn’t burn, hopefully. That’ll cut down the risk of the enemy setting fire to the ship, too.
Even while scared for his life, Shin found himself preoccupied by his plans to improve his airship.
Two days came and went. Whether by virtue of Shin’s prayers or just plain old good luck, the weather had remained consistent and the airship had sailed along at a steady rate.
“That must be Fort Purledo,” said Shin.
The fortress had just appeared on the horizon, meaning the airship had safely made it to its target. The ship had overtaken Ars and his army some time ago─they were still on the march, at the present moment. The plan had always been for the ground troops to stay a safe distance away during the airship’s assault, so the airship arriving earlier than them wasn’t a problem at all.
Shin steered the airship toward the fort, just as planned. As the ship closed in on the structure, its defenders soon took notice. A spell was unleashed from the fort’s tallest tower─earth magic, from the look of it─propelling a large boulder through the air, up toward Shin.
“Hey, they’re shooting at us!” Charlotte called out.
“Not an issue,” Shin replied. His calm attitude was soon validated. The boulder that the fort’s mage had created was soon seized by gravity, and plummeted back towards the ground long before it got anywhere near the airship, ultimately slamming into the earth just in front of the fort.
“Oh, huh! Not even close,” said Charlotte.
“They don’t have anything that could touch us at this altitude,” Shin confidently declared.
The fort’s defenders turned one of its siege engines─a ballista─on the airship next. Weapons like it fired large, arrow-like projectiles. They weren’t nearly as powerful as a typical spell, but were still in common use thanks to their lengthy effective range. In this case, however, that range wasn’t long enough. The ballista’s bolt flew higher than the boulder had, but still plummeted to the ground long before getting anywhere near the airship.
“Oooh, yeah, looks like this is gonna be a pretty one-sided attack,” Charlotte cooed, clearly impressed. “You made this thing, right? That’s some pretty incredible work.”
“W-Well, of course it is! I could’ve told you that I’m incredible!” Shin replied with a satisfied smirk. Charlotte’s praise had gone right to his head.
Nothing that Fort Purledo’s defenders could throw at the airship was able to get anywhere near it, and the vessel had sailed right over the structure in no time at all. The crew brought the ship to a halt at Shin’s orders. The ambient wind caused it to drift in the air a little, but it was a notably calm day with barely any breeze to speak of, so the airship felt like it was still.
Once again, Fort Purledo’s mages attempted to shoot the ship down. The boulder they fired didn’t reach the ship, of course, and fell straight down toward the fort again, colliding with an invisible wall and crumbling to pieces before it could do any damage. That was the fort’s anti-magic barrier in action, and the fort’s defenders had just damaged it themselves.
“Ooof! Should’ve just left it alone,” Charlotte commented.
“Come on, this ain’t a show!” Shin shouted. “It’s time for you to do your job! Get ready!”
“All riiight,” Charlotte droned. She stepped below decks, working her way to the bottom of the vessel where a mid-sized catalyzer had been installed. “So, I can’t actually see what I’m firing at. That’s not gonna be a problem?” Charlotte called out.
“Not an issue!” Shin shouted back. “We’ll give you the signal when it’s time. Just cast your spell then!”
“Can do!”
The ship was sitting far enough above the fort that it looked quite small, from Shin’s perspective. He carefully adjusted his position, making sure the airship was just where it needed to be. Thankfully, the lack of wind made that fine-tuning easy.
“All right, let ’er rip!”
“On it!”
Charlotte cast her spell, and a burst of explosive magic was unleashed from the hull of the ship. It traveled straight downward, slamming into the fort and exploding. Charlotte’s spell had been even more effective than expected─not only had it shattered the top of the fort’s barrier in a single hit, it had also destroyed the tower that the fort’s mages had been firing at the airship from.
“All right! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout!” Shin let out a yelp of triumph as he watched Charlotte’s spell hit home.
“Aww, what? I can’t even see it! Way to take all the satisfaction out of blowing stuff up,” Charlotte whined from her position belowdecks. All she’d done was cast a spell without any context on what it had done. She had no clue what sort of state Fort Purledo was now in.
“Well, one thing’s for sure: our aim’s on point right now,” said Shin. “We probably won’t hit the exact same spot again, considerin’ the range we’re at, so let’s just keep on blasting from here! We might start drifting, though, so keep an ear out─I’ll let you know if you should stop so I can adjust.”
“Got it,” Charlotte droned. She was a lot less motivated than usual, but she still followed Shin’s directions and started letting loose one explosive spell after another.
○
“What do you mean, we can’t hit it?!” Count Barth bellowed with rage as he gazed up at the airship hovering above Fort Purledo.
“I-It seems it’s just too high up, Your Lordship,” a pallid soldier explained.