Hearing Stoick's words, Hiccup put down his telescope, turned his head, smiled faintly, and said, "Three days ago, there would have been only one Dragon left!"
"As for now, there are probably less than ten thousand Dragons!"
Upon hearing that number, Stoick's expression immediately grew much more serious. He muttered to himself, "I really should have brought all the Viking Warriors!"
Currently, there are only a thousand people on the warship, including the Dragon Knights, yet they have to face over ten thousand Dragons. This means each person has to kill ten Dragons.
But how difficult it usually is to kill a Dragon; otherwise, being a Dragon Knight would no longer be an honor.
Looking at Stoick's serious expression, Hiccup smiled and said, "Don't worry! We will definitely return victorious this time!"
"Alas~!"
Stoick sighed and then walked down from the lookout.
His sigh did not mean he was a coward, because in the original story, Stoick dared to face all the Dragons alone!
The reason he sighed so deeply was entirely due to his concern that Hiccup might underestimate the enemy. If the war failed, they could retreat, but if any accident occurred, he might lose his life directly.
The warship moved slowly forward, and on the surrounding sea, some Hot Pot Dragons and Thunderdrum Dragons could be seen following!
From a distance, the warship seemed to be moving very slowly, but in reality, the warship not only utilized principles of mechanics and leverage, but most importantly, it relied on human-Dragon cooperation, sailing in shifts.
In other words, the main power of the warship came from these Viking Warriors and Dragons!
It looked slow from the outside, but in fact, the Dragons in the sea were extremely fast, and they could only chase the warship from behind, unable to overtake it.
This was enough to show that the warship's speed was not slow at all; it was even faster than the Dragons in the sea.
Hiccup muttered to himself, "At this speed! We'll reach Hell's Gate in another hour!"
From a distance, the area of Hell's Gate was already visible, and it seemed to have expanded much more, possibly related to the last volcanic eruption.
After the warship entered Hell's Gate, the surroundings instantly became unusually quiet. Before, one could still hear the sound of the warship cutting through the water, but now even that sound was much fainter.
This situation was not unique to one person; almost everyone experienced it, and all the Dragons were also staring blankly around, not knowing what was happening.
In this mist, the lookout was no longer effective; the visibility from up there was the same as on the deck.
The warship's speed slowed down significantly, and then Hiccup commanded, "First Squad, come with me to scout ahead!"
"Roar~~!"
After Night Fury carried Hiccup into the air, he immediately let out a Dragon roar, beginning to use echolocation.
There were still many stone pillars rising above the sea nearby. The warship was too large and would definitely collide with these stone pillars. While it wouldn't be destroyed, it would certainly suffer wear and tear.
Night Fury's speed was extremely fast. At this moment, he had already led Hiccup back to Dragon Island, where it was clearly visible that the volcano on Dragon Island was a section shorter.
Perhaps it was partially collapsed during the last explosion. Or perhaps the Dragons directly shattered the edges when they flew out.
However, no traces of Dragons were found in the surrounding area; they must be hidden on this small island, or still inside the volcano.
"Retreat!"
After gathering the information, Hiccup immediately led First Squad back to the warship.
Then, Night Fury used echolocation on the deck to find a path for the warship to Dragon Island.
Following the previous plan, after docking, all the Vikings began to hammer stakes into the ground. These stakes had sharp points on both ends; one end was easier to drive into the ground, and the other sharp point was for defense.
This way, when the Dragons swooped down, their massive bodies would not collide with the Vikings.
Instead, they would impale themselves on the stakes.
In the original story, Stoick randomly pointed in a direction, and then the Vikings used catapults to directly create a hole in the volcano.
The Dragons inside hastily flew out.
However, this strategy could not be used this time, because now it was not a fairy tale world, but a real battlefield.
So, after Hiccup watched them set up their defenses, he directly commanded, "Everyone hide in the ship's cabin!"
"All Dragon Knights too! Everyone hide inside the ship's cabin!"
At this, everyone was bewildered. They really didn't understand; they had set out for battle, so why were they supposed to hide as soon as they arrived?
The Vikings' shortcomings were now apparent; they all stood in place, looking bewildered, waiting for an explanation.
When these Vikings encountered something they couldn't understand, or something new they had never seen before, their stubbornness would be fully exposed.
The Dragon Knights didn't ask so many questions; they directly rode their Dragons back into the cabin to hide.
Stoick shouted at the Vikings, "Everyone! Now! Immediately! Right now! Get back into the ship's cabin!"
Although he also didn't understand the meaning behind Hiccup's actions, as a father, he would certainly support his son.
Hiccup nodded to Stoick, then placed the jar filled with concentrated green mist onto the catapult, aimed at the volcano crater.
He directly launched it.
"Toothless! Run!"
After Night Fury heard Hiccup's command, he hopped and skipped towards the entrance of the cabin, still glancing sideways at Hiccup as he ran, as if to see who could run faster.
The sight of the man and the Dragon was much like setting off fireworks during the New Year; as soon as the fuse was lit, they would turn and run.
The glass jar loaded with concentrated green mist, forming a perfect parabola, was thrown into the volcano crater.
Inside the cabin, Hiccup counted down, "Three! Two! One!"
"Boom!"
Upon encountering the magma, the glass jar instantly melted, and the concentrated green mist inside would explode in the blink of an eye from that point. Even if it hit a rock, it would still cause an explosion!
The huge explosion caused the entire warship to begin shaking.
"Oh my god~!"
Everyone in the cabin couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
After all, in their understanding, the only thing that could make this warship shake was probably a tsunami-like wave.
"Rumble~~"
This explosion once again triggered a volcanic eruption.
Volcanic ash rapidly ravaged the land, making rumbling sounds as it rubbed against the air.
"Roar~~~~~~~~!"
Hiccup once again heard the Red Death's extremely angry roar.
And after hearing the Red Death's angry roar, he muttered to himself, "This shut-in really doesn't want to leave this volcano! I blew you up again! You must be furious, right?!"
If it weren't for the volcanic ash outside, Hiccup really wanted to see the Red Death's exasperated expression.