Viking: Master of the Icy Sea

Chapter 383: Viking Fire and Greek Fire

Following the attack on Genoa, over a dozen mounted messengers charged out of the city gates, spreading the shocking news to the coastal towns.

Subsequently, other towns that fell under attack dispatched their own messengers. Horses traveled at a much faster speed than ships. By the time the Vikings raided Naples, the Eastern Roman fleet in Sicily had already received the news.

"Viking Fire?"

The fleet commander was amused by the novel name. He rallied the fleets scattered across ports like Syracuse and Messina, hastily assembling a hundred warships. Taking advantage of the strong southern winds, they set sail for Naples.

May 31st.

The Eastern Roman fleet arrived at the devastated city of Salerno. According to the locals, the Vikings had turned back north after ravaging the seaport.

"After them!"

The Eastern Romans pursued them northward, passing through Naples and Ostia in succession. Based on the intelligence relayed by the inland riders, the Viking fleet appeared to be lingering in the waters near Genoa.

The commander studied the nautical charts, adjusting their destination northwest toward Nice.

June 2nd, morning.Commodore Hadvard, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, stood on the stern deck of his flagship, gazing out at the boundless azure. The fleet carved thirty-six white wakes across the calm sea, their sailcloth drinking their fill of the southeastern wind.

Suddenly, a shriek from high up on the mast tore through the tranquility.

On the southwestern horizon, a shadow of sails began to spread, eventually forming a massive fleet that blotted out the sky. The red banners of Eastern Rome fluttered at the mastheads, and the colossal formation of a hundred warships was advancing at full speed.

"All hands, prepare for battle!"

Flag signals rippled across the entire fleet, prompting the Vikings to shift their formation. Four gunboats sailed to the very front, lining up as their broadside gun ports swung open.

The Eastern Roman fleet deployed into a broad front. Leveraging their numerical superiority, they surged forward rapidly. The oarsmen chanted rhythmic shouts as the warships carved through the waves, swiftly closing the distance between the two forces.

Two thousand meters, one thousand meters, five hundred meters.

"Fire!"

The four gunboats spat tongues of flame simultaneously. A wall of white smoke billowed upward as solid iron cannonballs howled, tearing through the air. In an instant, wood splinters flew and shattered oars spun wildly. The bow of a light galley warship was pulverized, while the mast of another snapped clean in half, its sailcloth draping over the struggling sailors like a shroud.

On the gunboat decks, the artillerists swabbed the scorching barrels with wet mops before reloading them with powder bags and cannonballs. The second volley was far more precise. An Eastern Roman warship took a direct hit to its waterline; seawater poured in frantically, and the vessel began to list.

As the distance continued to narrow, the remaining Viking warships used their ballistae to hurl fire pots, attempting to repel the enemy with overwhelming firepower.

The Eastern Roman fleet's offensive momentum stuttered. They had never endured such concentrated and terrifying ranged bombardment. The commander decided to change formations on the fly, ordering all light galley warships to flank both wings and encircle the enemy fleet.

The battle reached a fever pitch. The gunboats kept firing relentlessly, but they could not stop the encirclement from closing. Disregarding their casualties and enduring the relentless barrage of ballistae and crossbow bolts, the Eastern Roman light galley warships quickly engaged the outer Viking warships.

"What formidable morale!" Hadvard stood on the stern deck. A faint white mist drifted across the sea straight ahead as over thirty dromon warships approached. These heavy warships boasted thicker hulls; the cannonballs failed to pierce their waterlines and sink them, only managing to kill the crewmen exposed on the decks.

On the left and right wings, a massive number of light galley warships had completed their flanking maneuver and were attempting to seal the encirclement. Utilizing their numbers, the Greeks had two to four galley warships besiege a single Viking warship.

"Signal the fleet! Break formation and have the conventional warships cover the nearest gunboats! As long as the gunboats survive, it does not matter if we lose every conventional warship."

By ten in the morning, the two wings of the Viking fleet had descended into a chaotic melee. The azure sea was dyed a pale crimson, with corpses and splintered wooden planks floating everywhere.

At this moment, the gunboats were less than a hundred meters from the enemy. Thick white gunpowder smoke saturated the air as a captain issued his orders:

"Artillerists, fire at will! Use solid shot or grapeshot as you see fit, but watch out for friendly ships. Twenty armored marines will guard the broadsides. The remaining sailors, grab your crossbows and melee weapons—prepare for boarding actions at any moment!"

Receiving the order, a cannoneer rammed a powder bag and a large sack of iron beads down the barrel. He took aim at a steadily approaching galley warship, lit the fuse, and fired.

Instantly, over a hundred iron beads rained down on the deck of the galley warship like a violent tempest, wiping out the sailors and military officers topside.

"Beautifully done!"

The captain cheered loudly. However, before he could revel in the success, a streak of fire suddenly rushed straight at them. Soon after, a succession of fire-breathing ships entered range. The metal tubes at their bows spewed streams of scorching flames, incinerating any Viking warships in sight.

The naval battle entered its most brutal stage.

The Viking gunboats frantically unleashed solid cannonballs and grapeshot, while the Roman warships retaliated with Greek Fire. The four outermost conventional warships were ignited. The Vikings desperately pumped seawater to douse the flames, but the damnable Greek Fire could not be extinguished by water; instead, it floated on the surface and continued to burn.

Left with no other choice, the captain furiously struck the bronze bell, ordering the crew to abandon ship.

Stripped of the conventional warships that served as their shield, the inner gunboats were subjected to the scorching flame jets.

In less than half a minute, the powder bags at the broadside gun ports caught fire. The blaze spread with terrifying speed. Surviving crewmen frantically dove into the sea, clutching wooden buckets or shattered planks as they drifted with the waves, praying for rescue by friendly forces.

"These Greeks are insane. Is this really necessary?"

Hadvard stood by the ship's rail, observing the chaotic sea. The Eastern Roman fleet was not faring much better. One after another, their fire ships suffered ruptured hulls and destroyed siphon apparatuses, causing the leaking Greek Fire to ignite their own vessels. Other fire ships had their decks viciously swept clean by grapeshot; left entirely unmanned, they drifted silently on the water, obstructing the movement of surrounding ships.

The battle raged on until eleven o'clock. The Eastern Roman fire ships were completely annihilated. With only sixty warships remaining, the sailors' morale shattered, and the ships lingering at the edges of the battlefield began to retreat.

The Viking fleet had suffered equally devastating losses. They had lost two gunboats and thirteen conventional warships. The surviving vessels clustered into three groups, banding together as they disengaged to the north. The Eastern Roman fleet made no attempt to stop them, instead withdrawing toward the southeast.

As the battle concluded, the Eastern Roman fleet had taken heavier casualties, yet they achieved their primary objective: repelling the Vikings and preventing them from entering the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The achievements of the Viking fleet included devastating the major ports along the western coast of Italy, destroying Frankish ships, and crippling the Roman fleet, thereby drastically weakening their naval supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea.

Following this mutually destructive naval battle, the true beneficiaries were the Aghlabid dynasty of North Africa. Their pirate ships became active once again, launching raids on Corsica, Sardinia, and the Italian coast.