Inside a warehouse within the Royal Palace, piles of metal and wood lay, ready for use.
Archie inquired, "System, how many ballistas can I create with these available materials?"
The System responded, "There should be enough to equip each ship in the navy with 4 each, so around 400 ballistas."
"Good, I'll need to work quickly to get these into production."
With that, he got to work. Archie infused his mana into the piles of metal and wood on the ground.
First, he envisioned the frame he would use for the ballistas, using wood and mana to reinforce it.
Next, he constructed the launch ramps and attached them to the frames, ensuring their sturdiness.
He proceeded to design the launching mechanisms, infusing them with mana to strengthen and enhance their capabilities.
While he wasn't proficient in formation arrays, his work still exceeded standard designs.
Afterwards, he created the slides and supports for the projectiles, adding four grooves to allow the ballistas to shoot four shots simultaneously.
With the firing mechanism completed, he moved on to produce thousands of metal projectiles. They were dense yet light, infused with his mana to cause explosions upon impact, creating a spectacular effect.
After a day of hard work, the warehouse was filled with pristine-looking ballistas neatly arranged.
Archie asked Lilly to inform his father that the task was complete.
Within minutes, Henry and Butler Alfred arrived with Lilly as their guide.
When they walked into the room, they all looked at the marvelous sight, feeling amazed.
"Wow, Archie, you made all of these?" His father inquired.
"Yes, they're all ready for deployment in the navy. We should call in Saint Maritus." Archie replied.
"No need for that, I'm already here."
A voice echoed from the corridor as a large man entered, his eyes gleaming with excitement as he observed the weapons.
Saint Maritus expressed, "Your Highness, your talent is truly remarkable. I can't imagine how we would have managed without your assistance."
Archie humbly responded, "There is no need for these formalities. I simply did what I could for the best interests of our people."
The System rolled its virtual eyes and chimed in, "Bah, you only started working because of the quest."
"Ding! Quest completed: Support the Royal Navy in defending its shores."
"Reward: 40,000 AP and +2 added to all stats."
Archie protested, "No way! I would have helped them anyway, hmph."
The System replied, "Sure."
Archie turned to his father and inquired, "Dad, have you discovered the source of the pirate attacks on us? It's unlikely they would have done this, fully aware that the Edenian Empire would have sent support to us."
Henry explained, "Unfortunately, we haven't found the source yet. All we know is that someone commissioned them to corner us. The pirate fleet targeting us is the Sea Titans, the most notorious private crew out there."
He continued, "Their leader was last seen near the shores of the Serpent Kingdom, which makes us suspect their involvement."
After pondering, Archie added, "It's unlikely that they acted alone. Given their economic output, it seems like a collaboration between nations benefiting from this blockade."
He continued, "We also need to consider that the Derean Kingdom and the Sunfire Empire seem to benefit from this conflict."
"You're right. It's probably them. We should inform the Edonian Emperor if he hasn't already figured it out." Henry suggested.
"Alright, let's install these weapons on our current ships. It should take 2 days for the transport and equipment process." Henry instructed.
With that, the guards focused on replacing their existing cannons with the newly designed ballistas.
Two days later, all the docked ships left the harbors, going on the offensive for the first time since the conflict began.
…
On one of the navy ships that had just equipped the ballistas, they were patrolling the designated route assigned to them.
The pirate fleets significantly outnumbered the Royal Navy, with three pirate ships for every one navy ship. This made the battle quite unfair, especially as the pirates had sea monsters dragging their ships, giving them an advantage in terms of speed and power.
While cruising along the sea, the lookout on top of the ship spotted something in the distance, and upon closer inspection, they identified three pirate ships that were part of the blockade.
The lookout announced, "Three ships ahead!"
In response, the sailors swiftly took their positions, preparing the four newly constructed ballistas with their projectiles. Each ballista had four launchers, allowing them to launch four projectiles simultaneously.
The ship's captain declared, "Aim and get ready!"
...
On the pirate side of the conflict, they were enjoying their success, excited by the effectiveness of their blockade.
"Haha, Captain, look, there's a navy ship approaching us. What should we do with it?" a pirate asked.
The captain ordered, "Destroy them, we don't have time for this nonsense."
He continued, "Order the fleet to prepare."
As the skirmish began, unbeknownst to the pirates, the Royal Navy had already initiated their offensive.
"Captain, what are those?" The lookout asked, pointing to the large ballistas on the deck of the navy ship.
"It seems like they have new toys to play with, haha," the captain remarked.
He added, "Pay no attention to them."
BOOM!
A deafening noise echoed from the direction of the navy ship. Sixteen lightning projectiles were launched towards the pirate fleet. Purple lightning bolts struck the base of the ships, causing them to explode into smithereens.
"What the hell is going on!?" The pirates panicked, as they had never experienced anything like this before.
The projectiles kept coming.
The navy reloaded and fired another bombardment, carpet-bombing the pirate fleet into the depths of the ocean.
The pirates quickly abandoned their ships, realizing they had no chance to use their advantage of expert rank cultivators in close combat.
As a result, the first pirate fleet of the blockade sank.
This wasn't the only incident that occurred, the same scene repeated throughout the transportation route as pirate fleets one after another were obliterated, causing chaos in the pirates chain of command.
Reports flooded in to the pirate admiral.
"What the hell happened!?" He yelled.
"Boss, it seems the Avalonian Navy has launched an offensive to break the blockade apart, and it's causing it to crumble." Responded his henchman.
"Shit, tell those ships that are still afloat to retreat. We need to reorganize our fleets." The Sea Titan boss ordered.
"Yessir!"
Once the subordinate left the room, the pirate admiral angrily smashed a bottle of rum into the wall, splashing it all over the place.
"What went wrong? We were overpowering the Royal Navy, there shouldn't have been any unexpected developments."
After pondering for a while, the Admiral came to the conclusion, "Those damn commissioners, it was definitely them who betrayed us!"
"Ah!"