Genshin Impact: A Mortal's Ascension to Godhood

Landing on the Lonely Island (Part 2)

The landing strategy, planned after discussion among all members of the combat team, consists of three steps.

The first step is for the marine aid team to thoroughly survey the hydrology and geography around the island and find a suitable landing site - this place cannot have too many reefs, otherwise it will be difficult for ships to approach; it cannot be a shallow beach, otherwise the ship will easily run aground at low tide; it cannot be a coast heavily defended by the enemy, otherwise it will be attacked by the enemy's long-range artillery shells again. This process may be long, but the marine aid team has enough time, energy and patience, because they have already suffered from the lack of patience.

The second step is for the sea aid team's combat vanguard to land on the island first, bringing with them some members of the surveying and observation teams, to understand the general topography of the island, find the pirates' lair, and find out the direction of travel and the roads on the island. This step must be completed as soon as possible, otherwise if the pirates discover the sea aid team's intention to land, the vanguard will be at risk of being driven into the sea or even surrounded and annihilated. After finding the enemy's lair, those who have no combat effectiveness will withdraw to the ship with intelligence, and the vanguard will stay on the island to act according to circumstances.

The third step is that, except for a small number of people who stay on the ship, all combat members will go out together. The vanguard team must take action at this time at the latest and cooperate with other combat members of the maritime aid team to attack the pirates.

These three steps are easy to say, but difficult to do. Not to mention that the first step takes a lot of time, the next two steps are even more dangerous. Without some strength, it is impossible to withstand the attack of the pirates. Moreover, everyone has to take the risk of being attacked by the [Baked Jade] that they have seen before - these difficulties and setbacks sound scary and seem daunting.

But this is the best solution at present. As a member of the Haiyuan Team, the combat team, and the vanguard, Li Tao knows that it is useless to expect others, and it is useless to be afraid of the enemy. He can only rely on himself. This kind of words sounds selfish and indifferent, as if there is no teamwork and solidarity in the Haiyuan Team, but it is true. After all, the Haiyuan Team is just an adventure team temporarily formed by the Maritime Department, and the strongest combat force should be Fengyuan Manye. And even Manye, facing this situation, can only admit that it is difficult for him to take care of others when fighting, not to mention that he, Li Tao, is just an ordinary member.

Of course, the Adventurer's Association does have a rule for adventurers that they cannot stand by and watch someone die, but that is only if they have enough strength. If their own life is also threatened, then they cannot be morally criticized for not caring about others.

"Without practicing to the level of a demon god, elemental force users are essentially glass cannons." Li Tao unconsciously condensed the water element in his palm, thinking with a little annoyance, "The destructive power of elemental reaction is far greater than the power brought by simply using elemental force. Even if elemental force can temporarily strengthen a person's body, the enemy can also use various methods to destroy the balance of elemental force and cause massive damage to anyone or anything through elemental reaction."

"To avoid this situation, there are two options. One is to continuously improve your physical fitness to increase the upper limit of the energy it can withstand, thus achieving an effect similar to that of a demon's body, which can accommodate a large amount of elemental power while not being injured by elemental reactions. In layman's terms, it means [building flesh to stack upper limit of health and magic resistance]. The second is to continue to take an unconventional approach, increase the frequency of output, and kill others before they kill you. In layman's terms, it means [using magic thorns plus magic power to stack magic penetration]. Although your body is fragile, it all depends on your positioning."

"Both options have their pros and cons, but I prefer the first one," Li Tao thought. "Obvious shortcomings are hard to accept. Although a large number of characters on the continent of Teyvat choose the second path, I am not one of them!"

Li Tao, who had figured it out, decided to focus on training his basic qualities after returning to Liyue. In a place he didn't notice, the water elemental power condensed in his hands seemed to become more solid and agile.

……

A few days later, the landing operation began.

Li Tao and several colleagues from the pioneer team sat on a landing craft that was smaller than the Guangzhou Ship and paddled towards the planned landing site. There was no other way. This was not a speedboat, so what else could they do without paddling?

Fortunately, the landing plan went smoothly, and the boat quickly reached the shore without being discovered by the pirates on the island. Li Tao and others quickly jumped off the boat, dragged the boat under a large reef to cover it, and then took a small number of members responsible for surveying the terrain and slipped into the woods on the island.

Two hours later, the vanguard team successfully completed the task of mapping the island and finding the pirates' lair, and returned to the beach where they came from to assemble. They brought back two pieces of news, one good news and one bad news. The good news was that although they had a battle with the Haiyuan team on the beach before, the pirates did not seem to take it seriously. Their patrol and defense forces were not strong, and their daily patrol and reconnaissance routes were also fixed. The vanguard team could easily deal with them. The bad news was that most of the enemy's forces were hiding in a cave in the northwest corner of the island - by the way, the northwest was where the Haiyuan team had tried to land on the island before - their ships, troops and settlements were all concentrated there, and it was as difficult to break through as to attack a city.

However, the vanguard team remained patiently on the island, and only asked the members responsible for surveying to send the island map back to the marine aid team.

Soon, Li Tao, who stayed on the island, found that the pirates were really not organized. The area they patrolled was too large, but they had too few people. At the same time, the pirates in charge of patrolling were lazy as much as possible and were very negative about patrolling.

So Li Tao suggested to the leader of the vanguard team, Wan Ye: "Team leader, before the main force catches up, should we capture a person and interrogate him about the situation inside the pirate base? We now have some understanding of the situation outside the island, but we know nothing about the situation inside the base."

Wan Ye nodded subconsciously, then frowned and said, "Isn't this too risky? If our actions alert the pirates and they discover our intentions, then all our plans will be in vain."

Li Tao spread his hands and said, "Team Leader, what plans do we have? Our actions have been exposed since we accidentally ran into the pirates on the coast! The pirates must have made some preparations, but we can't see them now. As for the pirates discovering our tracks - again, they have been discovered a long time ago. The question now is whether we can defeat the enemy, not whether we need to hide our tracks."

Wan Ye let out a long sigh: "That's right. I was a little too worried about gains and losses. To be honest, I don't think I'm suitable to be a leader... At this time, I always want to follow the routine, but I lose the sharpness that a warrior should have."

"That's because you are willing to think about us, Team Leader." Li Tao shook his head and said worriedly, "I am now worried that the pirates have some other tricks besides the [Baked Jade]."

"Maybe there is. Even if not, we still have to be extremely vigilant." Wan Ye tapped the hilt of the sword at his waist, thinking, "Yes, for us, unknown enemies are the most terrifying. Let's go and capture a pirate on patrol!"

......

The operation of capturing and interrogating the pirate was quickly completed, and after asking all the questions, Li Tao also gave the guy a quick death. However, the vanguard team still managed to pry some remarkable information out of the pirate's mouth - for example, the pirates were indeed well prepared, they gathered the [Baked Jade] and buried it in the ground, and set up a large minefield outside the cave where the pirates were hiding. Once the vanguard team dared to approach, an explosion would be triggered, and at the same time, the crossbows and catapults on both sides of the pirate cave would fire ammunition together to eliminate the invaders.

After hearing the news, everyone was scared for a while, but then they praised Li Tao for his foresight, otherwise they would have been killed. Most of the vanguard had the God's Eye and could use elemental power, but these 20 or 30 people were not invulnerable. If they were ambushed by pirates, at least half of them would be killed or injured.

At this time, Wan Ye also pinched his chin and said: "The Pirate Cave... According to that person, it is connected in all directions, like a maze, and there are all kinds of minerals and strange statues. In other words, it is a relic?"

A Qianyan soldier said with certainty: "It should be the ruins! There are many ruins near Liyue, all left by the demons, ghosts, and immortals who fell in the Demon War and earlier. It is normal for pirates to choose to station in the ruins."

Li Tao raised an objection: "Is it really normal? As far as I know, ruins are not a good place. The rich elemental power inside may create new monsters at any time. Some ruins also have traps left by predecessors. They are full of dangers and the roads are complicated. This is not an advantage that a good station should have. If this is true, then does it mean that these pirates also have the ability to clear the monsters in the ruins? Let's make a bolder guess. Do any of them have the ability to drive elemental power?"

The vanguard looked at each other in silence. In the end, they could only sigh, because although Li Tao's guess was bold, it was very likely.

Seeing this, Wan Ye clapped his hands unhappily: "What are you all standing there for? Speak!"

"In the face of a powerful enemy, we have no choice but to fulfill our responsibilities." A few Qianyan soldiers said with a wry smile, "How dare we disobey the call of the Seven Stars? We must do our best, serve the country wholeheartedly, and fight to the death."

Li Tao couldn't hold it in any longer. "Brother, I don't think the leader wants you to express your opinions. He wants everyone to make up their minds and think about how to face the most dangerous situations in advance. After all, the risks ahead are obvious to all. We can't overcome them by willpower or courage."

Manye also said seriously: "As the captain of the vanguard, I am responsible for all of you. Let me first tell you my solution..."

Manye's proposal was that he would deal with the minefield outside the cave by using elemental combat skills to detonate the mines in advance, and then send people to raid the two sides of the cave to eliminate the pirates who were ambushing nearby. Then the vanguard team would enter the cave, but they must keep the passage from the cave entrance to the cave open. There are many passages in the cave, and it is difficult to block the pirates, but the Haiyuan team does not need to completely block the pirates, they only need to burn the pirates' ships. Therefore, some people have to go to the northwest coast of the island to find pirate ships and cut off their retreat. As for the battle in the cave, as I said, we can only improvise.

Manye's response plan was approved by most members of the vanguard. Next, the real battle will begin in front of the pirates' lair.