Well, I guess that I should have entered into action the moment that the vampire had struck the man. I had just not expected her to act. Well, it is not like I can get involved in the fight now.

  The two of them have already begun to fight, though it only looks like both of them are just standing there. The sword that has pierced Enrique is steadily petrifying him.

  The man is barely able to fight it by channeling all of his mana. Even now, a mist of shadows surrounds the man. Every second, this mist takes on a greyish tone as it collapses under the petrification. Still, the lady behind him is not in a much better situation. The only way that she can continue this is to burn through her mana reserves. She won't be able to maintain this for more than a few minutes.

  Looking at the lady, I finally snap back to attention. What in the hells am I doing right now? Even as I turn, the sounds of struggles have started to intensify. (Especially behind me.) I don't bother with all of this as I finally make my way to the entrance of the ship. There is nobody there, but I guess one of the Mayfires must have appeared.

  Even as I make my way onto the ship, I find myself relaxing. After all, I have finally entered my element. That is why I do not react as a hammer aims for my head.

  I do try to dodge it (and partially succeed too.) as the hammer stops in front of my eyes. It takes me a couple of moments to realise that the hammer is made up of fire.

  "Why are you guys taking so long?" Amelia Mayfire speaks as the hammer dissipated from her hands. "I had assumed you to be one of those bastards."

  "Well, sorry to disappoint you, I guess." I reply. "Why are you here though? Wouldn't you be better utilised on the battlefield?"

  "Well, Alfred felt that I would be able to do the least amount of damage to the ship if I were here." The lady speaks. "Thus, I have been stationed here to prevent anybody from sneaking onto the ship."

  Fuck, that reminds me of what I am supposed to do. What is happening to me today? You can't afford to be so relaxed in a battlefield.

  "Well, I will have to take my leave." I reply. "I have to activate this ship, after all."

  Saying that, I take my leave, weaving through the place. The Mayfire follows after me, almost as if she is my guard. Well, there is no use thinking of that. After all, the vampire will not be able to hold against the Navok for long. I have to assume that the others are also in a similar mess.

  Thankfully, it doesn't take me long to reach the formation room. Things are exactly as I left them. Good, because this is not going to be easy.

  "Why are you wasting your time?" The lady snaps at me. "We do not have a lot of time."

  "Well, have you ever wondered why nobody tries to make use of a ship in a shipyard." I reply, trying to cool the lady down.

  "Well, no. How is that relevant now?" The lady replies, clearly irritated.

  "Well, that is because it is almost impossible for a pilot to take control of a ship in a shipyard." I reply as I sit down on the ground, preparing myself mentally. "The shipyard is designed to boost the ability of a formation mage to control formations."

  "How does that matter to us?" The lady replies, finally more curious than angry.

  "Well, if I were to start any formations here, it is more likely that an enemy formation mage will take it over." I reply. "The only reason that they have not already done this is because they need somebody to activate it from here."

  "How can we escape from this place then?" The lady speaks. "You need to activate the propulsion formation to get out of here."

  "Well, I am the disciple of the greatest formation mage on this continent." I reply, as strings of mana finally leave me, connecting me to the formations. "It would be pretty embarrassing if I lost control against a third-rate formation mage."

  As I say this, a part of the room lights up as I finally activate the formations. I can feel my control strings connect to the formation. Even as I do so, the mana in the surroundings begins to rip into the mana strings. The ambient mana surrounding me is presently like a whirlpool trying to rip my mana strings apart. The whirlpool is strong enough that I can feel myself shaking along with it.

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  Thankfully, I was prepared for something like this. My control strings are about triple the thickness they normally are. Even then, I can feel the string struggling to maintain itself. Even as I link up with the formation, I can feel external control strings appear. The mana strings are like a piece of glass. Even a small contact with these will be enough to wreck my control strings. I don't allow that to happen as the strings twist under my control, flying away from the enemy's string.

  Thankfully, the enemy does seem to be a third-rate formation mage. (If he were even a bit better than I would be screwed.) That is why he is struggling to control his mana strings. Still, if I were to make even a small mistake, it would be enough to lose control of the formation. (As the enemy mage would be quick to take over the formation.)

  That is why the first formation that I had activated was the sensory formations. Even if an enemy were to take those over, they would not be able to do much with them. (After all, a formation mage would have a similar formation with them already.)

  Even as I am describing all of this, the mana string under me works to activate the formation. The control strings have twisted into impossible shapes under my control. (It is quite beautiful to look at, though.)

  I can suddenly feel the world around me as the sensory formations finally activate. The first thing that I do with this is study the vampire and Enrique. Even as the formation focuses on them, I can see that the lady is not in a very good position. The two of them have finally separated and are fighting against each other.

  The man holds the upper hand here. The lady managed to get in a pretty decent strike at the beginning. Right now, she is in a pretty bad position. The lady has already been hit by the man's blade a couple of times. She doesn't seem to be able to use her blood mana to heal up her injuries. (Well, she must have run out of blood mana.) Well, now that I am here, I can finally assist her.

  For that, I will need to activate the cannons. Even as I think this, new control strings pop up as I activate the coordination matrix. The number of strings I created is double the strings that I normally need. Their utility will be understood pretty quickly as I begin to charge up all three cannons. Even as I do this, the enemy formation mage has realised what I am trying to do.

  He goes all out as I suddenly find myself surrounded by those glass-like strings. For every string that I have, the enemy has put in three of those glass strings. That is why even though I have my entire focus on twisting the control strings, the enemy bites into my strings.

  Thankfully, I had prepared for something like this by adding dummy strings. Well, I would have been able to play around with the mage if it were not for the whirlpool surrounding me at the moment.

  Fuck, I really should be hurrying. Esmreleda has just taken a nasty strike to her stomach. She is still putting up a fight, but she won't be able to do it for long. If she is incapacitated, then the man will be entering the ship. Then getting rid of him won't be easy.

  Even as I am thinking this, the three cannons have finally charged up. (And I have lost about half of my dummy strings.) I don't think much as the three cannons explode. Now, aiming with cannons has always been a tricky affair. It is almost impossible now. (I also have to keep my control over the formations intact.)

  That is why both the fire cannons hit the ground behind Enrique. Thankfully, the third cannon does hit the target. (More like grazes him, really.) Well, it would be more accurate to say that it hit the targets, as Lady Esmerelda has also been caught in the light beam. Both seem to be alive for now, though neither can move.

  That doesn't really stop my work as I begin to charge up my cannons. (I have lost two-thirds of my dummy strings by now.) Right now, the question is who I should be targeting. I will only manage to get in a single shot. I don't know if any of the three targets I chose will even be hit. (Aiming is just becoming harder. I have lost three-fourths of my dummy strings by now.)

  That is why I aim two of my shots at the archers who are keeping Eric busy. The last one I aim at Anthony and the three Navoks that he is presently fighting. (The man might be an idiot, but he certainly knows how to fight.)

  He will be caught in the crossfire, but he is durable enough to survive that. There, my cannons have finally recharged as I aim.

  Thankfully, this time, I am a bit luckier as one of the fire cannons hits the five archers keeping Eric busy. Even as the fireball hits the five (And roasts them to kindling), Eric has shifted his focus to the others.

  Sadly, I don't manage to hit the people that Anthony was fighting, though. Fuck, there I go getting distracted again. The enemy formation mage has begun to break my link with the cannons. (I am out of dummy strings.) There is no way that I can allow that to happen as I deactivate the coordination matrix.

  Now I just need to make sure that the control strings will hold until it shuts down. (If it remains activated, the enemy can take over the coordination matrix.) Thus, I put my full focus back on the strings, as the control strings snap under my control. Thankfully, this slows down as the matrix begins to shut down. As the enemy party realised this, he has clearly doubled his effort, as it feels like I am standing in a storm of glass.

  Thankfully, I manage to hold on as the Matrix finally shuts down. Even as this happens, though, I finally return to the formation room. It looks like I have been taking a bath in my own sweat as I feel the dampness of my clothes.

  I return to my sensory formation. (Whose control strings were spared the assault that I have just faced.) I can see that the strikeforce has finally started to retreat. Presently, they are still being assaulted by the Navoks. They have been getting reinforcements if their numbers are anything to go by.

  Well, they will manage to retreat to the ship. That means that my present priority has to be to get the ship in the air. That is not going to be an easy task, as you have already seen with the cannons.

  I steel myself as I begin to make as many control strings as I can make. Even as I do so, I can feel the storm of glass return. The other party has clearly realised what I am planning here.

  Well, I am going to need all of my focus for this one, it looks like. Time to shut down this log.