Chapter 109 - The Crimson Fleet.

After listening to the address of their Staff Sergeant that explained their current circumstances to them and the mission, the 1000 soldiers under Barnes' command were motivated.

Queen Auralis was a figure of reverence in Atlantis, not only because of her fierce combat power and exploits that were recorded in history but also because she was the Queen which meant she was a favored of the gods.

With the knowledge that this mission came from the Queen herself and the fact that it was against their most hated enemies- Sea Kings, nothing could stop the yearning in their hearts to finish the mission as soon as possible.

Now, all they wanted to do was to swim out there, bȧrė their weapons, locate this shark and stab the hell out of it till it died.

They wanted to start screaming their made-up chant for their crimson fleet but they forced themselves to stop, this was because theirs was not the only fleet in this military base.

If every fleet started chanting like them, it may irritate the Captains and once that was done, it meant direct death to the offenders no matter who they were.

"Now, get your ȧsses up and start working". Staff Sergeant Barnes roared.

"Yes Sir!"

While the nerd control crew revved the engines, bringing the 17 warships back to life, a female soldier swam towards the fleet from far away.

Feeling the water vibrations behind him, Barnes turned to look only for his face to twitch slightly. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down until the Atlantian lady was close enough.

"What are you doing here?" He asked with the same stern look still on his face, making the situation awkward immediately.

The lady didn't feel awkward though, it was like she was used to it as she only giggled. "You're ugly you know when you make that face. With that face of yours, do you really think you can attract a girl to marry you?"

"I never thought of doing that, why are you here?" Barnes's face was unchanged as he asked in a deeper tone.

Seeing his unchanged look, the lady gave up. "Never mind, I'm here as your partner for this mission..." 

"What???" Barnes blurted out, shocked.

The lady continued unfazed like she already expected such a reaction from him. "I just came after speaking with the Captains and it's been confirmed so don't even waste your time, you don't want to irritate them".

Staff Sergeant Barnes opened and closed his mouth repeatedly but couldn't find what to say, in the end, he simply turned around and swam towards the biggest warship of the Crimson fleet.

"Sergeant Raila". 

Of the 17 warships belonging to the Crimson fleet, the only named warship among them, the Bloodhound was the biggest and main ship.

Putting aside its enormous size, it had 5 main cannons; 2 purely mechanical, 2 purely magical, and the last one powered both mechanically and by magic.

It had a strong energy conversion system that could directly convert the magic power in the water to form pure arcane energy inside it which powered the laser weapons all installed in it.

Its armor was super thick and sturdy and could tank the full damage of a newly advanced purple tier creature for about a minute which was already frighteningly impressive.

It had strong propulsion systems that could enable it to accelerate to speeds of 120km/hour and this was when not being overloaded by magic. When overloaded, it could easily reach twice the base speed.

Apart from these 4 main strong points, its other armaments and add-ons were pretty decent, putting it at the top when it came to small budget warships.

Of the other 16 ships of the Crimson fleet, 3 were a miniaturized version of the Bloodhound while the others were randomly built for specialized purposes in battle. This combination made the fleet one of the best around.

After everything was set, Staff Sergeant Barnes finally gave the order and the fleet moved towards the gate.

While the portal's energy recharged, inside the Bloodhound, Staff Sergeant Barnes turned his head to address his partner for this mission.

"Sergeant Raila, this is my fleet and I want you to know some things. I make the rules here and you better obey them…"

"Chill man, when have I ever broken your rules?" Raila interrupted while munching on some seafood. 

"I heard our destination is close to an Ocean Volcano, so perfect!" She cheered. "That'll be the ideal location for me to train my fire elemental affinity, I can't wait for it".

Barnes clenched his fists and took a deep breath to calm himself down, then he looked away. "Whatever relationship we had in the past, it's all gone now. If I ever notice you dragging me back, I'll evict you with immediate effect".

>Announcement! Teleportation portal active<

As soon as the announcement was made, the Bloodhound entered first then the other 16 warships quickly followed. In seconds, they were teleported away.

Inside the Bloodhound, Staff Sergeant Barnes felt his body become weightless all of a sudden but he didn't panic as he was already used to this. It only took a few seconds before his body became normal again.

When the vision of the warship came back to life, they were now in a world dominated by red. They were directly transported to their destination.

Under Barnes' command, all 17 warships moved forward as reconnaissance teams with swift sea shuttles were sent across to scout the area.

As they scouted, they killed any sea creature on sight, clearing the area of all obstacles that may hinder their goal. About 15 minutes later, they finally arrived at a location that was better than what they'd seen till now.

Barnes finally spoke. "Stop! This will be our base location".

"Yes Sir!"