Chapter 15: Departure—Hunting the Lava Spiders!

Early morning.

With a heavy rumble, the great gates of Roland Fortress slowly creaked open.

The Tomorrow set off, heading toward the wilderness. Behind it trailed the Conqueror and Azure.

Li Ye stood by the railing, gazing toward the direction of the Firefeather Forest.

Before long, a great battle was destined to erupt.

“Hope everything goes smoothly...” he thought quietly.

At that moment, everyone on the Tomorrow was nervously preparing. Upon hearing the news that the three moving cities had allied to attack the wild boss, they were all stunned.

Amidst their shock came waves of tension, fear, and excitement.

Near the cannons, Ning Wen, the newly appointed gunner, anxiously adjusted the weapon, occasionally giving a thumbs-up to measure the distance—he needed to get into the right mindset before battle.

A sound came from above; Li Ye turned to see Lin Wu approaching.

After learning the terms of the agreement, Lin Wu nodded and gently adjusted his glasses.

“The terms are acceptable. Only alliances based on mutual benefit can endure...”

With that, the three moving cities departed, and inside the urban area of Roland Fortress, a man leaned weakly on his sickbed, silently watching them through the window.

He was a middle-aged man, pale and frail, with a gaunt frame, occasionally covering his mouth to cough.

He was the lord of Roland Fortress.

What Li Ye and the others didn’t know was that the lord hadn’t personally welcomed them because he was too ill to leave his bed.

And Roland Fortress was not as impregnable as imagined. After years of mining, the surrounding mineral veins were nearly exhausted, and the freshwater lake was almost depleted. Outside, the formidable Crimson Hound loomed as a threat, while inside, factions vied for power.

Within Roland Fortress, two main factions existed.

The radicals believed resources were nearly gone, and the fortress could no longer support so many people. They argued the fortress should revert to a moving city and set out again to seek resources. Given the limited supplies, at most 500 people could leave. So they wanted to select 500 from the fortress and abandon the rest.

The conservatives considered this plan too cruel and heartless. Regardless of how to choose fairly, such a move could provoke premature conflicts. For now, the resources could sustain them for a while longer, and perhaps solutions might be found.

The reason tensions hadn’t erupted was that the lord’s prestige still held the factions in check.

But his time was running short.

The lord of Roland Fortress watched the three moving cities quietly, occasionally rubbing his forehead as if deep in thought.

With a soft sound, the door opened, and the steward entered carrying a tray of medicine.

“It’s time for your medicine,” he said softly, looking at his lord whom he had served for over a decade with gentle eyes. “By the way, you always watch like this whenever a moving city departs.”

The lord coughed lightly.

“Old Li, sometimes I wonder...” he began slowly.

“If the Roland had never become a fortress, how much farther could it have traveled by now?”

...

Upon reaching their destination, Li Ye in the cockpit brushed his face and took a deep breath.

Everyone on the Tomorrow was in position. Since Captain Zhou had been taken hostage, Li Ye was in command of the battle.

As the three moving cities gradually closed in on the forest, the Lava Spider Queen, the wild boss, tensed and hissed warily. Surrounding her, the lava spiders and spider guardians surged like a tidal wave.

On Li Ye’s command, the Tomorrow sounded three long whistles.

The signal meant... the attack had begun.

In an instant, the cannons on all three moving cities fired simultaneously, engulfing the Lava Spider Queen in explosions.

“Excellent! We hit it!” Ning Wen’s lips curved into a delighted smile.

Amid his excitement, his hands trembled slightly.

As the new gunner aboard the Tomorrow, he had expected his first battle to be an assault on a monster-held mine or forest, not against a wild boss.

The two cannons on the Tomorrow, operated by him and another fighter, had him nervously calculating wind speed, distance, and humidity before firing.

But just seconds later, the smile vanished abruptly.

After the smoke cleared, the lava spiders and guardians suffered few casualties, and the Lava Spider Queen remained nearly unscathed.

Li Ye’s expression grew grave.

This outcome was actually expected. The barrage of ordinary cannons could not inflict significant damage, at best providing suppressive fire. After all, these creatures were elites, captain elites, and wild boss level. To truly harm them required level 1 firearms, level 1 heavy machine guns, or even level 1 cannons.

The spider swarm, enraged by the bombardment, surged forward like a tide.

1000 meters... 900 meters... 800 meters... the distance between them was rapidly shrinking.

At the forefront, the Lava Spider Queen suddenly crouched and leaped, her massive form soaring through the air and landing over 500 meters away in an instant.

No one had anticipated such a move. Now less than 300 meters away, everyone could clearly see her grotesque, fearsome compound eyes.

For a moment, countless machine gun bullets and shells rained down upon her. Yet the effect of these ordinary weapons was minimal.

The Lava Spider Queen pressed forward under heavy fire, closing the remaining distance rapidly.

At that moment, the level 1 cannon on the Conqueror opened fire.

A fierce explosion erupted on the spider queen’s body, shattering one of her side limbs and slowing her movements.

“So this is the power of a level 1 cannon?”

Li Ye felt a mixture of surprise, relief, and envy.

Among the firepower of the three moving cities, only the Conqueror’s level 1 cannon could effectively suppress the Lava Spider Queen.

Sharing the same emotions was Li Jin.

As a moving city lord, both of them longed deeply to possess a level 1 cannon.

Suddenly, the Lava Spider Queen made an unexpected move.

She sprayed webs like cannon fire, swiftly entangling the wheels and treads of all three moving cities.

The sudden turn stunned everyone.

At the same time, the spider swarm surged densely forward.

“Open fire! Everyone, target the spider swarm!” Li Ye shouted.

The Tomorrow unleashed a furious barrage on the spider swarm, joined by the Azure—both cities tasked with eliminating the spider horde, while the Lava Spider Queen would be handled by the Conqueror with its level 1 cannon.

Meanwhile, the mechanical arms of the three moving cities activated, beginning to clear the webbing from their wheels and treads.