"We're really flying."
"Let's fly!"
"To think this would be possible."
"Yes. Not only the Rune Magicians, but common people can also fly too."
The people couldn't believe that the airship managed to take them into the sky. Unlike the Rune Magician who had the help of runes on their bodies or equipment, this airship marked a change for common people.
However, Noel's eyes had been staring at a much further future.
Noel raised his hand and waved it forward, "Onward!"
Sophia hurriedly ordered the people to activate the Enhance Forward Rune.
It was then that the airship began to move forward. As expected, the influx of air was quite strong when they opened the window, which caused a drag for the airship.
Still, the consumption was still manageable, considering they brought a lot of crystals for this trip.
"We're currently flying at 100 meters above the air," said Anna with a big smile on her face. A hundred meters was definitely very high. The bows wouldn't be able to reach this height. Unless they were the birds themselves or a fighter specializing in long range attacks, they wouldn't be able to reach this ship.
"My Lord. I have spotted several demons." Felicia suddenly raised her voice while pointing down.
Noel stepped to the edge and took a look. There were about fourteen demons on a small plain. They were looking up, but they couldn't do anything as it was impossible to reach them.
On the other hand, it was different for them.
"How far can you control your runes before they are dispersed?" Noel asked.
"I think it's about fifty meters. Most members can only get thirty meters, I think," Felicia answered while putting her hand on her chin.
Noel nodded and turned to Sophia. "We'll lower the altitude to thirty meters and hover in the air."
"Mhmm? May I know the reason?" Sophia was worried that this action would cause them to be attacked.
However, Noel simply stared at her continuously, pressuring her to do as ordered.
"…" Sophia gulped down and ended up giving the instructions to the workers.
When they reached the desired altitude, the beasts began to panic. Noel simply pointed at one of them while saying, "Can you kill that one?"
Felicia's expression turned serious as she pointed her hands down. "Rune Spear!"
A spear was formed by spiritual energy. Felicia aimed at it carefully and released the spear forward.
The spear flew like an arrow and pierced the ground. Unfortunately, it was hard to aim for them so accurately from this distance and altitude.
"This… I apologize, my Lord. I'll attack it again." Not wanting to disappoint her master, Felicia activated the rune once again. But before she shot the spear, Noel grabbed her hand and said, "Use the Rain of Light Rune instead."
Felicia followed the order and changed the rune. This time, numerous beams of light rained down on the area. Some of them hit the demons, but most actually missed. Even so, the beasts couldn't do anything other than run away. They wanted to attack this airship, but they couldn't reach it.
"This is…" Anna's expression turned serious as if she understood what Noel was trying to do.
The answer was revealed the moment Noel said, "Use the Meteor Rune."
Felicia nodded and changed the rune once again. This time, the meteor rune fell like a big boulder. It caused a massive explosion when it touched the ground, creating a crater and injuring a few demons.
"Ah!" Felicia seemed to have noticed something. However, the Meteor Rune caused such a big disturbance that the demons in the area were alerted.
"Incoming demons. There are a lot of them." Felicia shouted, warning everyone.
Noel said, "All the people who can use the Rain of Light Runes step forward. Anna, you're going to participate too."
"Alright." Anna smiled, feeling a bit excited. Felicia also gathered all four people who could use the Rain of Light.
"Aim at them!" Noel shouted as he also pointed his palm at the incoming demons. There were a total of seven people activating their runes. "Fire!"
All of them were unleashed, showering the demons with hundreds of beams.
*Roar!*
*Roar!*
*Roar!*
The demons were trying to protect themselves. There were a few stronger demons that formed a barrier with their spiritual energy.
However, the majority of the demons ended up getting heavily injured or dying. It might be due to the fact that they were gathering together.
"Anna, Felicia. Change to Meteor Rune and blast those stronger demons."
Anna and Felicia nodded their heads. Once the Meteor Runes were unleashed, the lump of spiritual energy hit the shield that the demons created.
It simply stood no chance against the destructive force the Meteor Runes had. The shield shattered like glasses and the demons ended up dying. At the same time, the other Rune Magicians were still using the Rain of Light Runes, killing the lower level demons.
These demons couldn't resist the massacre. Not only was it overwhelming, but the altitude also rendered their resistance futile. Even if a few of them could hit them, the Spiritual Barrier could be activated to withstand their attacks.
"This is…" Sophia dropped her jaw to the ground. She couldn't believe the air superiority that they could have against demons.
"Kukukuku." Zel laughed while saying, "This is insane. This airship is the smallest one we have. If we can get a big one and have at least a hundred Rune Magicians on board, I can't imagine the destructive power it will have.
"With just a rough calculation, decimating a few cities shouldn't be that hard. And that is what a single airship can do… Imagine if we had multiple of them. The battle might be concluded before it even begins."
When Noel heard it, he couldn't help but smile. What Zel said was correct. The main point of the airship was to have air superiority. Just like what he showed, they could bombard anything below them and leave nothing other than complete destruction.
At the same time, this wasn't Noel's true intention. Zel's point of view was rather too narrow when he claimed that the Rune Magicians would board this airship.
In Noel's mind, the ones who would control and operate this ship were none other than common people. The Rain of Light? The Meteor Rune? He had the catapults that could launch the Meteor Rune, he had ballistas with unimaginable piercing power, and he had the shooting barrels that contained multiple Rain of Light Runes. He only had to modify them a little bit to suit the airship.
With normal people operating the airship, he could place the Rune Magicians in a different spot.
Still, the most terrifying thing about this ship was actually its mobility. Being able to move in the air like this while destroying the enemies on the ground would allow them to massacre any demons they wanted.
What if he had this airship in the previous battle? Those seventy thousand demons could only chase after the airship and would die one by one. The airship could also appear in a place no one ever expected.
Noel heard about his ancestors fighting against millions of demons. If a single airship could just destroy fifty thousand, having multiple of them would have erased a large portion of those demons.
He also had the battleship that came from cooperation with the Zaecuria Kingdom, as well as other inventions.
If he had all of that, he wouldn't have to be scared of the demons. What he should worry about were the Ancient Demons or even the Demon Kings. The Spiritual Barriers couldn't withstand the attacks from the Ancient Demons.
And the battle between his ancestor and the Demon King would cause a mountain to be destroyed and a ridge to become a valley.
Even he couldn't imagine how to deal with them yet.
Noel turned to Zel while saying, "Let's test everything here. I have three main tests: maximum altitude, mobility, and consumption. Let's not waste the demon crystals we have brought for this test."
"I've certainly heard your request. A single test like this is much better than crafting theory for ten years." Zel politely bowed his head. His nonchalant expression had disappeared. There was only excitement left in his eyes.
The test continued. Unfortunately, the people had a hard time withstanding the thin air, so they only reached three hundred meters in the sky. The cramped area, the number of people, and the flow of air played a huge role in this.
The second test was rather successful. The mobility was amazing as they managed to cross multiple areas easily without caring about the terrain. This might be the fastest mode of transportation.
However, there was one thing lacking. It was true that the airship could turn around while moving forward, but it couldn't rotate when it was only hovering in the air. It created a big problem since they would need to rotate to face their enemies.
So, Noel left Zel to perfect the design.
The last test was consumption. It was definitely much worse than the trains, cars, or any other inventions. Even with the air balloon reducing that consumption, it still costs a little too much.
They even had to consider the amount of consumption required to go back to the ground. This would probably be the biggest challenge.
But if one was rich enough to not care about consumption, it would definitely become a beast that could turn the tide of the war.
'We didn't have an airship in our previous lives… It would definitely bring a great change,' Anna thought. She couldn't help but recall the time when they lost their lives together so helplessly. If they had all this, the past might be different. But it didn't matter, now that she was here with Noel instead of opposing him, she would craft the new future.
On the other hand, after witnessing all this overwhelming power, Sophia couldn't help but think, 'With this kind of power, taking over the world is not impossible. The war will change in a fundamental way. With a lot of airships, who can actually stop us?'
