Chapter 394 Contact! I Repeat! Contact!



The time for the battle drew near and by near, it was minutes away because the minutes bled into hours and that meant that the day had advanced much further.

"VIKINGS!!! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!" A voice echoed, carried through the air as they could see a boat quadruple their size approach but it was not just one boat either.

Everyone sprung to their feet, ready for battle and despite their morale, the fatigue was taking a toll on them and this battle could not drag out or there was no way that they would survive this.

Tyr knew he had to be careful, he could not use the same trick as before because the boat was a lot bigger in terms of height meaning that his hands would not be able to reach the edge of the boat.

The waves were a lot gentler but Tyr knew how vulnerable he would be in water.

Hagen's jaw dropped the moment he saw the size of the boat, he could not believe something like that was even possible.

"What is this beauty?" Hagen blurted out, this could very well be the boat that kills them yet he admired it, which was a fascinating occurrence.

Hagen was a lover of art and he assimilated this structure and burned it into his mind.

"Hagen, what do you think we should do?" Bjorn, despite being the leader, sought the counsel of the more experienced Hagen.

Hagen was a boat expert so he should be able to find a weakness that they could exploit.

There was no way they could conquer that boat because he saw how much difficulty they had with something a lot smaller.

"I need time to think! I have to see what it is capable of before I can check for these weaknesses," Hagen responded as he observed the boat.

It was stationary, he noticed that the boat was not advancing towards them which made it strange because what were they waiting for?

Ragnar commanded his men to stop rowing and everyone followed King Ragnar's lead as the other boats halted in their tracks.

Grjötgard had taken back command from his younger brother and he trusted Ragnar's judgement the moment he halted. 

Bjorn did so as well but Rolf was not a fan of this decision, he found it strange even because this seemed like an overreaction.

They should be able to encircle them, their boats were smaller so the probability that the enemies could even catch up with them was slim.

"Why are you not moving? We can go around them and head straight to Northumbria…" Rolf said, his tone was neither commanding nor suggestive.

"You are right…" Hagen said, agreeing with the Vikings and this was a good idea in hindsight because they could not have a drawn-out battle at sea as they were already at a huge disadvantage but what happens after they go around them?I think you should take a look at

"But there is a problem, what do you think would happen after we go to Northumbria?" Hagen questioned, he wanted to see if the young warrior had thought that far ahead.

"We kill every Christian and take over the land…" Rolf said without hesitation.

Hagen was happy that he had so much faith in their battle prowess but this only showed his inexperience when it came to warfare.

"We will lose even more men on land, if we engage in this battle then there is no doubt that men would unite with the All-Father. If these men do not back up their comrades on land, they would no doubt block off our path to retreat. With fewer men, we cannot overcome this obstacle nor can we receive reinforcements. We also have no guarantee that the other Kingdoms would not try to attack us. We will not survive that onslaught," Hagen gave a level-headed assessment but Rolf looked indifferent.

"Do you fear death, Hagen?" Rolf asked and this put an instant stop to the conversation that was being had.

"Death? I welcome it." Hagen responded immediately, without skipping a beat.

"Then that is settled. If we do not conquer Northumbria, we die. That is all there is to it," Rolf said; Bjorn was taken aback by such an extreme ideology but he found it refreshing because this could prove to be useful.

"Rolf is right…" Bjorn said and Hagen was surprised that Bjorn was agreeing with him but he was not going to draw any conclusions yet, waiting for him to finish what he wanted to say.

"... We will conquer Northumbria or die trying…" Bjorn said to which Hagen let out an exhausted sigh. He knew he was getting old because the next generation of warriors had a mentality that made him realize that the fate of the Viking race was in good hands.

"You are both crazy…" Hagen said as he conceded, he was not going to try and stop them anymore because he could not.

Hagen was more worried about the man that built this boat, he wanted to meet him because this was a rare occurrence that he would have the opportunity to meet someone with this much creativity.

The last person he met was Kåre but he could not converse with him for obvious reasons as this man tried to kill his best friend, Ragnar with his very strange invention even though Ragnar soon bested him in combat once the weapon was rendered ineffective.

-

Salgard was interested in this battle, this was the first time that he had experienced something like this and his heart was racing.

He wanted to start the battle but he knew that he could not rush in or they were prone to make a fatal mistake if they did.

Salgard wanted to see what else they had in Northumbria; this boat was something he wished to take back to Rogaland as a trophy.

It was too beautiful to be destroyed at sea but more so, Salgard needed to satisfy his blood lust right now but they were currently at a stalemate.

Neither side was eager to break it because they knew this battle could either make or break the expedition.