Chapter 341: The Automated Global Balancing Event Strikes Again
The black waters off the western coastline boiled violently. Massive hulls of rotting timber and rusted iron breached the surface of the ocean, dragging seaweed and crushed coral up from the deep trenches.
A corrupted armada materialized through the crashing waves, displaying tattered sails woven from decaying biological matter. The game engine had registered the expanding borders of the Red Spiral and spawned a naval catastrophe to balance the server.
Torix stood on the edge of the reinforced concrete pier and watched the decaying fleet align their broadsides.
He adjusted his grip on the four barbed spears held in his upper arms. His six crimson eyes tracked the erratic movements of the anomaly ships bobbing against the violent current.
Torix clicked his mandibles. "The system targets the newly established trade routes. They intend to sever our oceanic supply lines."
Old-Shell stepped up beside Torix, cratering the concrete under his immense weight. He turned his massive shield-arm toward the sea and braced his boots against the dock. Internal gears whirred beneath his carapace as the artillery cannons mounted on his back pivoted to lock onto the encroaching armada.
Old-Shell ground his teeth together. "Sink them."
Black smoke belched from the exhaust stacks of the Vanguard dreadnoughts anchored in the bay.
The newly constructed warships utilized the internal combustion engines extracted from the corporate memory scrape to replace the vulnerable sails of the old world. Star-iron propellers churned the dark water, driving the armored vessels out of the harbor to intercept the corrupted fleet.
The anomaly armada fired the first volley. Hundreds of glowing green spheres of necrotic magic launched from the rotting decks and arched across the sky. The corrupted projectiles plummeted toward the Vanguard line.
Old-Shell activated his defensive arrays to project a glowing kinetic barrier over the harbor. The necrotic spheres slammed into the translucent shield and burst into showers of green sparks.
He vented scalding steam from his boiler plating, creating a thermal curtain to obscure the docks from the enemy gunners.
The Vanguard dreadnoughts returned fire with their upgraded rifled ballistics. Machined steel barrels spun into position and unleashed a barrage of explosive-propelled munitions.
The aerodynamic shells tore across the ocean and punched clean through the rotting timber of the enemy galleons. Alchemical fire detonated deep inside the corrupted hulls to blow the anomaly ships into burning splinters.
A galleon covered in barnacles and bone plating rammed straight through the burning wreckage of the front line.
The ship crashed against the reinforced hull of a Vanguard dreadnought. Grappling hooks forged from twisted ribcages latched onto the star-iron railings to drag the two vessels together.
Hundreds of bloated corpses spilled over the gunwales to swarm the dreadnought’s deck.
Torix fired a line of silk into the rigging of the Vanguard ship and swung across the churning water. He landed flawlessly on the main mast. Deploying his silk-spinners, he cast a wide net of monomolecular webbing directly across the boarding path.
The invisible threads spanned the gap completely unnoticed. The charging corpses ran straight into the trap.
The razor-sharp silk sheared cleanly through waterlogged flesh and rusted armor, slicing the boarding party into cubed debris before they could even raise their weapons. Torix dropped from the mast and drove his four spears into the remaining anomalies to pin them to the wooden deck.
Old-Shell waded directly into the shallow waters of the bay. He unleashed a resonance quake from his emerald-infused core.
The concussive shockwave traveled through the ocean, slamming into the underside of the corrupted galleon. The kinetic impact shattered the rotting keel and snapped the bone grappling hooks.
The enemy vessel capsized violently, dragging the remaining infantry down into the dark currents.
Up in the orbital sanctuary, Rubedo watched the naval engagement through his primary monitor. The internal combustion engines and rifled cannons provided an absolute tactical advantage over the procedurally generated fleet.
The Vanguard systematically dismantled the automated balancing event with flawless industrial violence.
Rubedo tapped his fingers against the obsidian armrest and reviewed the updating kill-feed.
The ocean belonged entirely to the Red Spiral.
The remaining dreadnoughts aligned their starboard cannons with the crippled flagship of the corrupted armada. Machined steel barrels sparked with ignition fire and unleashed a synchronized volley of explosive munitions. Armor-piercing shells tore through the rotting timber of the galleon to detonate deep inside the lower decks.
The blast blew the stern completely off the vessel and sent massive splinters raining into the churning ocean.
Torix scrambled up the listing mainmast of the sinking flagship. He deployed a wide net of monomolecular webbing across the deck to ensnare the surviving crew of bloated corpses. Razor-sharp silk sheared through their limbs and dropped them into the rising tide.
Leaping from the crow’s nest, Torix drove all four of his barbed spears directly into the chest of the mutated captain attempting to steer the ruined wheel.
Old-Shell waded deeper into the coastal shallows to intercept a trio of frigates attempting to flank the harbor. He anchored his boots into the seabed and angled the artillery cannons mounted on his back toward the approaching vessels.
A concentrated barrage of alchemical fire erupted from his weapons. The projectiles struck the frigates at the waterline and ignited the volatile gases trapped within their decaying hulls.
The frigates exploded into columns of blinding light and raining debris. Torix kicked the impaled captain off his spears and vaulted from the sinking flagship onto the deck of a passing dreadnought.
He wiped the dark sludge from his weapons and looked out over the harbor. The entire corrupted armada burned and sank beneath the waves.
Rubedo sat on his throne and watched the tactical grid update on his primary monitor. The hostile crimson markers dotting the coastline vanished completely. Golden text populated the screen to detail the conclusion of the automated balancing event.
[ AUTOMATED EVENT CONCLUDED: OCEANIC QUARANTINE ]
[ ENEMY FLEET ERADICATED. ALLIED LOSSES: ZERO ]
[ REWARD: 15,000,000 DP. + 2,000,000 SALVAGE POINTS ]
Rubedo dismissed the notification window and pulled up his faction registry. The new internal combustion engines and rifled ballistics performed flawlessly during the naval engagement. He tapped his fingers against his armrest and closed the coastal surveillance feed.
"Recall the dreadnoughts and secure the harbor," Rubedo projected his voice through the neural tether.
’If I go by the pattern, the automated global balancing event would now occur in the third continent. I should station Gulag and iron-Scale there as they work best in their environment considering their elemental powers of wind and earth.’
Ever since Rubedo had gained the ability to open spatial portals in his governed territory, the commute had become very easy.
Sure, it required DP to operate and maintain, but the Rebate Trait was in full effect, and all the expenses were investment for Rubedo, resulting in guaranteed 10x return.