Flagship Be Tergis, 1st Strike Group, Gra Valkas Empire
If a Japanese person were to look at it, they’d feel that it closely resembles a Nagato-class battleship of the former Imperial Navy. On the bridge of this battleship, the Be Tergis, a siren hurriedly rings out.
Wooooooooooooo… Wooooooooooooo…
“All hands, to battle stations! All hands, to battle stations!”
Accompanied by the anxiety-inducing sound of the siren are soldiers hurriedly running around as orders from messengers to man battle stations resound within the ship.
“Number 3 high-angle gun placement on the port side is ready!”
“Number 4 rapid-fire machine gun on the port side is ready!”
Reports of deployment completions reach the bridge one after another as the entire fleet readies itself for battle.
“Commander, the fleet has completed combat deployments. At this relative speed, we will make contact in about 20 minutes.”
A flying fortress that spans more than 250 meters… An enemy that is basically an aerial battleship was closing in on them. In their previous world, Yggdra, things such as flying battleships are unheard of. Considering that they were able to annihilate an attacking squadron, this fight wouldn’t be so straightforward.
Operations officer Baht couldn’t hide his impatience at the reality that an unprecedented enemy is heading this way.
“Don’t be impatient, Baht. Your impatience spreads to our troops.”
“Of course! Forgive my transgressions.”
“So… what do you think?”
“What kind of object will come? I have not the slightest idea. What the hell… It pains me to understand this world where something like magic exists. Is the enemy strong? Are they weak? How strong is their armor? What kind of weapons will it use?
All of that, we don’t know. In this battlefield where we risk our lives that is the only thing we are certain of. This enemy whom we couldn’t analyze… I have no clue how best to fight them…”
Baht genuinely put his anxiety into words. Commander Kaonia lets out a weak smile.
“I see… We do not know what kind of enemy they are, so we’ll just have to do our righteous way of fighting!”
Commander Kaonia looks out towards the ocean. The view of 8 battleships, 8 heavy cruisers, and 20 destroyers parting the sea and advancing is nothing short of spectacular. Looking at the empire’s dignified fleet, one can’t help but feel confident that they will never lose.
However, the Gra Valkas Empire has already experienced fighting a naval battle with the enemy, the Holy Mirishial Empire. Regardless, he held deep in his heart that he will not be reckless enough to charge with a single ship.
Aerial battleship Pal Chimera
Various machines are lined up in the bridge and footage is shown on the advanced magical display floating in the air in front of the workers. If a Japanese person of today were to see this scene, it would seem like something out of an advanced science-fiction work. The large display in front of the captain’s seat shows the view in front of the ship, with the picture views of the top and bottom projected clearly.
“Meteos, sir, we will make contact in about 10 minutes. The enemy fleet consists of 2 ships on the level of a Mithril-class battleship, 2 ships about the size of a Gold-class battleship, 4 ships about a tad-bit smaller, 8 even smaller ships, and about 20 magic ship-level ships for a total of 36 ships.”
The person that reports and the person hearing the report both, while different in variety, wear masks. From a glance, it was an odd scene.
“I see… wipe out all of them.”
“Yes, sir!”
Meteos says with staggering confidence. It was as if there was no meaning in analyzing their enemy or that the enemy wasn’t worth looking at.
“Captain, we will transition into our battle state.”
“Permission granted.”
“All hands, to battle stations! Verify our systems!!!”
Personnel hurriedly tapped on their respective displays as they checked battle systems.
“All systems, normal.”
“Activating battle mode.”
“Raising outputs on magical circuits.”
A monotonous voice sweeps across the interior.
The aerial battleship Pal Chimera, a battleship used by the ancient sorcerous empire, the Ravernal Empire, which had once ruled the world and pushed all the other races into the depths of terror, was now being used by the Holy Mirishial Empire to single-handedly lay waste to the fleet of the other-worlders, the Gra Valkas Empire.
Around 14 minutes later
“It… it’s here!!!”
Commander Kaonia shouts out.
The aerial battleship, which was already showing up on the anti-air radar, was now visible in the skies to the northeast.
“It’s really floating!!!”
Even with the information provided beforehand, everyone was astonished that the thing floats.
“Prepare the main batteries!! Load anti-aircraft munitions!!”
The main batteries of the fleet are then loaded with munitions armed with timed fuzes. They shoot down enemies in the sky by exploding mid-air after a set amount of time.
“13 degrees to the right with an elevation of 27 degrees! Main batteries firing in ETA, 1 minute and 22 seconds!”
The relative speed to the enemy is calculated and the firing angle of the main batteries are distributed to every ship. The twin 41cm main batteries of the flagship Be Tergis slowly rotated to face the enemy aerial battleship.
“All soldiers evacuate the deck!”
As soldiers would die from the flames when the main batteries fire, they were evacuated from the exposed parts of the upper deck into the ship’s interior.
“Commander, the timing and calculations are vital to the anti-aircraft main battery munitions. We will fire them when the time comes, at your orders, commander… Will that be okay?”
Operations officer Baht verifies with the commander.
“Of course.”
He turns around and gives the order clearly.
“All ships, commence firing at the most suitable timing!!”
“Commence firing at the most suitable timing!”
The commander promptly relays through the radio.
“Main batteries, firing in 5! 4! 3! 2! 1!… FIRE!”
Gigantic shells, accompanied by thunderous sounds, are fired from flagship Be Tergis. 2 turrets armed with twin 41cm, 45-caliber cannons fired 1.5 ton-heavy shells, shaking the air around them, with the resulting flames from the propellant pushing back the surface of the ocean.
It takes about a minute for the main battery shells armed with timed fuzes to reach their target.
“The enemy has begun taking evasive maneuvers!”
The 250 meter wide ring-shaped enemy began to slightly change the direction in which it advanced. However, since it is moving at a speed of more than 200km/h, even a slight lean would bring it far outside the expected landing point.
Eventually, the timed fuzes on the main battery munitions kicked into life, spreading intense explosive flames radially, producing gigantic flowers of fire in the sky.
The main battery munitions fired from the other ships similarly took time to get to their expected landing points, eventually exploding and manifesting into numerous massive explosions. Ear-deafening sounds emanate from where the explosions are, shaking the surface of the ocean directly below them.
Boom… boom… boom… boom… booooooom…
Thunderous sounds reverberated throughout the vicinity. Furthermore, the aerial battleship was still attacking. The ocean directly beneath it billowed just like that of an intense downwash from a helicopter.
“They may have been praised for their use against aircraft, but these main battery munitions are useless against an enemy in the sky.”
Operations officer Baht tells Commander Kaonia.
“Indeed… Should we intercept it with anti-air arti-… huh?! What’s it doing?”
The aerial battleship, which has already gotten closer to the fleet by 20km, began to move what seems to be triple gun emplacements on the bottom section of its ring. The guns turned to face the fleet.
“Enemy attack inbound!!!”
The moment after Kaonia shouted the enemy fired something. The enemy that was tracing a blue tail in the sky fired 3 continuous shots from its triple-gun emplacements.
“Wha! Whaaaat?!”
The bullets of light flew past the flagship Be Tergis and found its marks on the heavy cruiser Rigel cruising behind it. All 3 shots land, producing explosions. After a short while, the high-pitched sounds of the aerial battleship’s guns firing echoed in the vicinity.
“Rigel has been hit! Currently verifying the extent of the damage!”
“The… their first strike hit?!”
Kaonia was deeply shocked, the shock running through his entire body like an electric current.
“Tha… that’s impossible!”
He can’t even begin to comprehend how they were able to pull off such a feat.
“The enemy ship’s ring has begun to rotate!”
This fact was apparent even without the lookout’s report. The enemy ship’s ring section, which was connected to the central structure, began to rotate. Looking closely, the cannons that landed direct hits on the Rigel were attached to 6 turrets underneath the ring. Those same guns turned to face the fleet.
In the following moment, the enemy ship fired again. In its sights were the Rigel, still conducting fire fighting measures. The heavy cruiser was engulfed again in flames…
The attacks continued, and a total of 9 more shots landed directly on the heavy cruiser, each shot producing a tower of flame on the ship, breaking it in half and sending it to the depths of the sea.
“Rigel, sunk with all hands…”
The bridge of the flagship Be Tergis was enveloped in dead silence.
A heavy cruiser was immediately sunk following the commencement of hostilities. That was too fast.
Everyone on the bridge was shocked. First, by the type of enemy they were facing and then the unthinkable accuracy of their bombardment.
“Enemy ship, changing course!!”
If we had rushed in recklessly, our anti-aircraft artillery would have been able to land hits. However, the enemy maintained a certain distance from our fleet, turning around us and attacking from outside the range of our anti-aircraft artillery.
Far outside the range of our high-angle anti-aircraft guns and the ships that can reach the enemy ship are only responding with their main batteries, it was obvious they wouldn’t hit the fast-moving enemy.
“Destroyer Titan, heavy cruiser Elara, sunk!”
He was thinking of closing the distance with the enemy but they were far too slow. If it lay flat along the sea, they may be able to have a chance in attacking it. However, an enemy ship flying in all three dimensions can never be hit by shells flying in a parabolic trajectory.
“Tell the quicker destroyers to set course for the enemy!!”
The Gra Valkas Imperial Navy that enjoyed invincibility in the previous world and in this one were being led by the nose by a single Pal Chimera of the Holy Mirishial Empire.
Aerial battleship Pal Chimera
“Enemy medium-sized ship has been sunk… proceeding to the next target.”
A monotonous voice sweeps across the interior. The huge display installed in the bridge shows an enemy ship in flames from their attack.
“The ancient sorcerous empire… their ancient superweapons are indeed terrifying…”
Meteos muttered to himself.
An enemy that has subjugated its neighbors in the blink of an eye, toppled the superpower Leifor, overwhelmed the 2nd strongest superpower Mu, and then laying waste to the empire’s strongest, the Zeroth Magic Fleet…
They, who have put the empire’s home fleet at loss, are now being made fun of by a single excavated superweapon. As soon as they took control of this weapon, their enemy’s fleet suddenly seemed extremely fragile.
The ancient sorcerous empire which had produced many of these frightening weapons…
It doesn’t matter how grand the Holy Mirishial Empire is, if the ancient sorcerous empire, a country that boasts insurmountable amounts of magical power, were to be restored, the empire would be no match. Once the enemy of mankind has come back, it won’t matter how much everyone resists them… Meteos’ head hurts from thinking of facing their coming enemy’s might.
While Meteos was lost in his thoughts, a slender man approached him from behind. While it is a rule to wear masks, the man’s elven ears were noticeably jutting from behind his mask which extremely suits him. It was Colmed, the technological supervisor supervising the ship’s technology.
“Meteos, sir, the ancient superweapons of the old empire truly are frightening!”
“Calculating the relative speed of the enemy, our speed, and the muzzle velocity of the cannons to produce the enemy’s future position and then aiming for it… It’s our first time operating this in actual combat with a relatively comparable enemy but for us to score direct hits…”
The shells launched from the triple 15cm magic cannons mounted underneath the aerial battleship had extremely high chances of hitting. Since the cannons are mounted underneath they couldn’t be aimed higher than the horizontal orientation of the aerial battleship, and so their range is limited but if they are fired from a height of 200m, their range becomes far better than those of normal horizontal gun placements.
Responding to Meteos’s remarks, technological supervisor Colmed slowly expresses his thoughts.
“We still haven’t figured out the ancient sorcerous empire’s magical arithmetic unit. If we are able to better the empire’s arithmetic unit, precisely measure the distance to the enemy in three-dimensions, and then certainly grasp our own moving state, then we should be able to replicate it in theory… If we then manage to make it practical then our war potential will increase to incomparable levels…
However…”
“Right… There’s an enormous difference between weapons still on paper, theoretical ones, experimental ones, and those that are already in combat use. The ancient sorcerous empire is far beyond our empire’s level of technology.”
“Indeed. Our empire being able to make something like that practical is far, far into the future… Nevertheless, the enemies that have to fight this superweapon sure are pathetic.”
“Heh… It is the fate of idiotic apes to perish by their own hand. By my mercy, I gave them the opportunity to live. Sure, they are certainly worthy of surprise that they got to their level without magic but… Despite warning them about the weapons of the ancient sorcerous empire, they are fools to turn their faces towards us.
You see… I… hate idiots.”
An enemy ship on the display was burning. The small ships had particularly frail defensive capabilities such that they sank as soon as they were hit.
“I wanna fire on the heart of the enemy…”
After destroying this small group of ships, they planned to strike into the main force nestled within the enemy fleet. Similar to how they are currently fighting, they can lay waste to their ships by attacking far outside their range. However, this will take too much time when it comes to the main force.
He considered that they must first hypothesize how they will fight within range of the enemy artillery before striking into the main force. Coming up with a militarily improbable decision, he gives out an order to the personnel.
“Attack the enemy flagship!”
“We will enter the range of enemy anti-air artillery! Will that be okay?”
“Don’t worry. I want to have experience with small-scale fights before we head for their main fleet… Are there any enemy aircraft in the vicinity?”
“No responses on the radar.”
“Spread out magic particles! Reinforce the armor on the bottom section and attack the enemy flagship!”
“Affirmative.”
The aerial battleship Pal Chimera ceases its attacks from outside the fleet and begins its daringly dangerous charge towards the flagship.
・・・
“Destroyer Dione, sunk!”
Another destroyer bursts into flames, causing numerous deaths. The ships that possess long-range main batteries return fire but they all completely miss the flying enemy.
Commander Kaonia and operations officer Baht, with no means of closing the gap with the staggering might of their single enemy, couldn’t do anything but stare at the aerial battleship.
“The enemy is changing course!!”
The enemy ship has changed its course and is now heading for the flagship. At this rate, it will enter the cloud of anti-aircraft fire from the destroyers positioned on the outskirts.
A slim chance for victory has come.
“Come!! Once it enters the range of our guns, shell it! Hit it with everything!”
The orders are sent out.
“The enemy is finally entering the range of our guns!”
“The enemy’s so proud with our shots going amiss… our anti-air will bring them down!!!”
As the enemy ship advanced further, it came into range of the anti-aircraft artillery on the destroyer Phoebe and cruiser Hyperion.
“Fools!! Open fire!!!”
For the Gra Valkas Empire, in naval battles, it is expected for ships to fight with aircraft that can attack and bomb ships. The Gra Valkas Imperial Navy, which specializes in fighting with said aircraft, finally starts to unleash its barrage against the aerial battleship Pal Chimera.
Cruiser Hyperion
Daphnis, a soldier manning one of the anti-air artillery emplacements, precisely sets his sights on the massive enemy ship. He gets the sense that the enemy was so big, he misinterprets that the enemy has already entered range when they still haven’t.
“With a target as big as you, I won’t miss!!!”
I will be the lance that first subdues you, you monster!
“Open fire!!!”
He hears the order to attack. Offering a prayer to the allies they have lost, Daphnis firmly presses the button to fire.
Lines of fire run from the fleet towards the sky. Rounds fired from the 40mm autocannons of the cruiser Hyperion accurately find their mark on the underbelly of the aerial battleship.
The lines of light, which have tracers mixed in, hit the aerial battleship, and with violent sounds of metal hitting against metal they bounce off and ricochet in other directions.
“Are you kidding me?! That thing is thickly armored?!”
Looking up close, it was clear. The tracers that hit the ship light up upon impact as slightly bright waves of something rippled away from where they hit.
“You… you monster!!!”
The 40-caliber 127mm high angle artillery guns mounted on the ship also began to fire. The timed fuzes kick into action, causing explosions to appear close to the aerial battleship, but it seems that even those had hardly any effect.
Soldiers hurriedly move about. They seem to be reloading regular rounds for the high-angle anti-air artillery.
Shouts of anger echoed throughout the battlefield as the high-angle anti-air artillery cannons spouted fire… However… they were hopelessly missing their shots. The enemy ship was so close… even though it was so massive, their shots hardly even grazed the enemy.
“Fuck!!”
The autocannons that rapidly fired managed to hit but did not have any effect. The high-angle anti-air artillery cannons which are thought to cause substantial damage have missed their marks. In the end, the Pal Chimera repelled rounds fired from their autocannons as it passed right above their ship.
・・・
Exploding anti-air rounds… The explosive power from the timed fuzes had no effect and regular autocannon rounds ricochet off the enemy armor. Having said that, regular anti-air artillery rounds completely miss their target altogether. The troublesome enemy ship marched towards the flagship Be Tergis as it repelled fire from autocannons.
“We have to keep firing and hitting it!!!”
Kaonia has prepared for the worst.
“The enemy ship’s ring has begun to turn!!!”
“Incoming attack!!!”
Kaonia barks. In the following moment, the enemy ship fires its guns. The shells fired from the ship, followed by ear-piercing sounds, land on the most thickly armored sections of the Be Tergis, unleashing their power. However, the armor was designed to withstand a direct hit from a 40cm round, and so the fruit of the Gra Valkas Empire’s technology development bears the brunt of the enemy attack.
However, the attack doesn’t stop, and multiple shots fired in rapid succession hit the Be Tergis.
“High-angle gun number 3 on the port side, catastrophic damage!!!”
“Autocannon number 11 on the starboard side, catastrophic damage!!!”
The structures on the unarmored parts of the deck are being destroyed. Ear-piercing sounds… the bridge violently swayed from the explosions…
However, the vital parts of the ship are thickly armored, so attacks from the enemy were being repelled.
“Ba…bastards!! I can’t ascertain what’s going on! There are too many explosions!!”
“But, the enemy attacks are much weaker than anticipated! The Be Tergis can surely outlast this attack!”
The heavy cruisers and destroyers may have been sunk, but a battleship will never yield. Faint confidence wells up within Kaonia.
Aerial battleship Pal Chimera
“20 shots from the magic artillery have hit. Temporarily ceasing bombardment to verify the effect.”
By chance, the direction of the wind seems to be blowing parallel to the enemy ship, and so the entire ship was blanketed in thick smoke. The enemy ship was engulfed in flames from the bombardment.
The medium-sized warships that they had dealt with, despite being wrapped in flames, had a recognizable internal explosion that was different from an explosion when a round hits, and so the scope of the damage was easy to determine. However, no such internal explosion appeared on the flagship, and smoke from the explosions simply blanketed the ship.
“It seems that there were no internal explosions, huh~…”
Meteos mutters.
“It is possible that the structure housing their fuel is difficult to set ablaze… However, at this rate, they will simply eat all of our attacks. If these guys cannot reinforce their armor by spreading magic particles, then the armor on the superstructure also cannot be reinforced.”
Technological supervisor Colmed replies.
The enemy anti-air rounds that occasionally hit the underbelly made unpleasant sounds, but the magically reinforced armor simply repelled them. Eventually, the smoke engulfing the battleship parted away, revealing the enemy ship.
“Woah…”
Voices of astonishment resounded across the bridge which made it seem like the monotonous personnel actually had emotions.
“How dense could their armor be?! Didn’t we just fatally wound it?!”
Meteos was shocked.
“For something that isn’t magically reinforced to be this resistant… I can’t believe it.”
Sweat from shock also flowed from the forehead of technological supervisor Colmed.
The enemy displayed on the screen had destroyed escape boats, anti-air cannons and other unarmored objects, but its main batteries and bridge were still in good condition and the ship even seemed like it only suffered minor damage.
“Well, well… So it seems that you were there when you soiled the Zeroth Magic Fleet… Only firepower on the level of the main batteries of the magic battleships can defeat an enemy battleship, huh…”
A momentary silence.
“Use the Jibil.”
The bridge bustles with whispers.
“Are you sure?”
Colmed verifies.
“I’ll say it again. Use the Jibil to annihilate the enemy ship!”
“Yes, sir!”
After analyzing the technology of the ancient sorcerous empire, the recently battle-ready super magic bomb Jibil, in comparison with the ancient sorcerous empire’s core magic, is substantially weaker but is the biggest and most powerful bomb currently in use in the Holy Mirishial Empire.
It is too heavy for regular floating ships of the heavens to carry, but for the empire’s trump card that is the aerial battleship, Pal Chimera…
The Pal Chimera advances towards the sky directly overhead the Gra Valkas Empire battleship Be Tergis and stops midair.
・・・
Flagship Be Tergis
Waaooon… waaooon… waaooon…
The enemy aerial battleship eerily hovers in the sky above…
“Fuck!! What does it intend to do?!”
The enemy ship is parked directly overhead. The battleship’s high-angle anti-air artillery and anti-air machine guns were destroyed from the attack earlier and are unusable. The angle of elevation of the main batteries and secondary armaments couldn’t go high enough, and so they did nothing.
“Grr… I know it’s too much to ask but… Right now, I’m holding back from deciding that every ship should attack even though the enemy right now is a sitting duck…”
Operations officer Baht mutters.
The ship hovering directly above them right now… they have slowed themselves to the slow speed of the fleet, making them a perfect target. If the order is given, they can deliver rounds that are actually effective against the aerial battleship.
However, if the flying object that is way bigger than their flagship were to fall… It certainly is an order that guarantees their death.
Naturally, they undertook endeavors to get away from being below the enemy ship. However, the enemy ship in the sky surpassed them in terms of movement.
“…Everyone, I’m sorry… This enemy has clearly proven to be a grave threat to the Gra Valkas Empire. The fact that there is only a single ship is evidence that this is precious to those bastards. They are strong… if we let this chance slip, we will have done a true disservice to the empire. I am currently holding back on letting every ship conduct their own attacks but… for the future of the empire, I will give them the order to attack.”
Commander Kaonia’s heart brims with penitences towards the crew. However, if they let these bastards live, far more citizens of the empire will be sacrificed to enemy fire.
No one objected. Everyone prepared for the worst.
“All ships, resume attacks!!!”
The order was passed down to every ship in the fleet.
Cruiser Piperion, 1st Strike Group
“Ceasefire!! Ceasefire!! If we attack them, they’ll fall right onto the flagship!!!”
The enemy ship hovers over the Be Tergis. Orders from the captain to temporarily cease attacks were given.
“What are they going to do?!”
Waaooon… waaooon… waaooon…
Heavy, low-frequency sounds echoed from the thing that hovered over the skies. It was easy to aim at but if it falls, the flagship will surely sink with it. The anti-aircraft guns on the deck of the Be Tergis have already been silenced by the previous attack.
“All ships, the enemy hovering over the flagship is now a perfect target. Resume attacks!”
Orders from the flagship swept across the bridge.
If they attack now, they’d kill their fellow soldiers… However, it was obvious to anyone that if they left the aerial battleship as it is, it would pose a grave threat to the empire.
Just as he was about to give the order to attack, the captain, who was watching the enemy from the bridge of the Piperion, felt something weird about the aerial battleship.
“What the hell?!”
Something enormously long fell straight down from the center of the enemy bridge.
“!!!”
Crash!! KABOOOOOM!!!
At the same time, the jettisoned thing hit the flagship Be Tergis, and a fierce light emanated from the ship. Within the next moment, a fireball far bigger than the flagship appeared, engulfing the entire ship. After a short delay, a tremendous shockwave and a huge mushroom-shaped explosion, which they have never seen before, manifested.
The shockwave rippled across the surface of the sea and an extremely loud bang reverberated… Eventually, silence fell across the vicinity, contrasting the emergence of smoke from the explosion.
Pal Chimera
“All magical responses within the enemy flagship have ceased. It appears the ship has been annihilated.”
The report conveys the fact that everyone on board has been killed.
“Hmph. Obviously. It’s a direct hit from the Jibil. There also shouldn’t be anything left.”
The smoke clears.
“Wha… what?! No way!!!”
Voices of shock run through the bridge. Since there were no longer any magical responses, everyone has already been killed. However, the shape of the enemy ship Be Tergis was preserved and it still floated on the ocean.
The hull of the former Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Nagato, which strongly resembled that of the Be Tergis, was so absurdly strong, that it even remained afloat after receiving direct hits from the 2 nuclear tests in Bikini Atoll.
The powerful hull structure similarly withstood a direct hit from the Holy Mirishial Empire’s super magic bomb Jibil.
“Apparently… we have to revise our evaluation of the enemy a bit, huh~… Temporarily move out of their range while doing evasive maneuvers. Attack and sink the enemy ships one by one.”
“Affirmative.”
They left the skies over the flagship and then attacked and crushed each ship in a single run.
40 minutes later, the 36-ship 1st Strike Group of the Gra Valkas Empire was annihilated before the aerial battleship Pal Chimera of the Holy Mirishial Empire. They then headed straight for the main fleet.
・・・
Battleship Grade Atlastar, Gra Valkas Imperial Navy main fleet
“Incoming message from the flagship! The enemy aerial battleship has made contact with the 36 ships of the 1st Strike Group today at 1011 hours. At 1112 hours, communications ceased and they are presumed to be annihilated. Furthermore, the enemy aerial battleship is currently advancing towards the main fleet.”
Captain Luxtal’s eyes shine.
“They downed an air squadron and then sunk an entire strike group with just a single ship… XO, what do you think of this?”
“Sir! The enemy is formidable. They must never be underestimated… however, our numbers are different. We will prevail.”
“I see.”
“42 ships from the 8th Strike Group will soon make contact with the fleet which, going by their numbers, is their main fleet. The naval battle is getting more and more complicated, no?”
“They’re the… World Union, right? Their numbers are truly staggering. However, this enemy is said to be the world itself. If we win over them, there will no longer be any more enemies against our empire.”
“That country from the far east… Japan… Do you think they pose a threat?”
“Ahh, the country which has splendid anti-air cannons… Their armor is paper-thin, it seems… If that cruiser was the embodiment of their design philosophy, then the ships at their disposal are nothing to be afraid of.
However, given enough time for research, they may be able to produce ships that would pose a threat to the empire… The higher-ups acknowledge that, so the matter will be resolved within a few years.”
“It seems that sooner or later, we will come toe to toe with Japan, huh…”
“Indeed… and by then, the empire will prevail just like always.”
Captain Luxtal, onboard the empire’s largest and most powerful battleship, the Grade Atlastar, remains in wait for the coming of the aerial battleship Pal Chimera.
・・・
Flagship La Erdo, Mu Naval Task Force, the continent of Mu to the north
“42 enemy ships have been sighted about 120km west of the World Union Fleet! They’re heading straight towards us!”
“All 500 knights of the Union of Second Civilization Dragon Knights are joining in on the attack on the enemy ships!”
“All fleets are mobilizing onto their battle stations!!!”
The Gra Valkas Empire, which had downed a lot of allied aircraft in the previous battle, has finally come with their warships.
“A decisive battle, huh…”
There was no doubt that the enemy was extremely powerful. Raider feels a pang in his stomach.
“All hands, to battle stations!!! The number of imperial ships are few! The World Union Fleet will send them to the depths!!!”
The World Union Fleet moves towards all-out war.
Flagship Be Tergis, 1st Strike Group, Gra Valkas Empire
If a Japanese person were to look at it, they’d feel that it closely resembles a Nagato-class battleship of the former Imperial Navy. On the bridge of this battleship, the Be Tergis, a siren hurriedly rings out.
Wooooooooooooo… Wooooooooooooo…
“All hands, to battle stations! All hands, to battle stations!”
Accompanied by the anxiety-inducing sound of the siren are soldiers hurriedly running around as orders from messengers to man battle stations resound within the ship.
“Number 3 high-angle gun placement on the port side is ready!”
“Number 4 rapid-fire machine gun on the port side is ready!”
Reports of deployment completions reach the bridge one after another as the entire fleet readies itself for battle.
“Commander, the fleet has completed combat deployments. At this relative speed, we will make contact in about 20 minutes.”
A flying fortress that spans more than 250 meters… An enemy that is basically an aerial battleship was closing in on them. In their previous world, Yggdra, things such as flying battleships are unheard of. Considering that they were able to annihilate an attacking squadron, this fight wouldn’t be so straightforward.
Operations officer Baht couldn’t hide his impatience at the reality that an unprecedented enemy is heading this way.
“Don’t be impatient, Baht. Your impatience spreads to our troops.”
“Of course! Forgive my transgressions.”
“So… what do you think?”
“What kind of object will come? I have not the slightest idea. What the hell… It pains me to understand this world where something like magic exists. Is the enemy strong? Are they weak? How strong is their armor? What kind of weapons will it use?
All of that, we don’t know. In this battlefield where we risk our lives that is the only thing we are certain of. This enemy whom we couldn’t analyze… I have no clue how best to fight them…”
Baht genuinely put his anxiety into words. Commander Kaonia lets out a weak smile.
“I see… We do not know what kind of enemy they are, so we’ll just have to do our righteous way of fighting!”
Commander Kaonia looks out towards the ocean. The view of 8 battleships, 8 heavy cruisers, and 20 destroyers parting the sea and advancing is nothing short of spectacular. Looking at the empire’s dignified fleet, one can’t help but feel confident that they will never lose.
However, the Gra Valkas Empire has already experienced fighting a naval battle with the enemy, the Holy Mirishial Empire. Regardless, he held deep in his heart that he will not be reckless enough to charge with a single ship.
Aerial battleship Pal Chimera
Various machines are lined up in the bridge and footage is shown on the advanced magical display floating in the air in front of the workers. If a Japanese person of today were to see this scene, it would seem like something out of an advanced science-fiction work. The large display in front of the captain’s seat shows the view in front of the ship, with the picture views of the top and bottom projected clearly.
“Meteos, sir, we will make contact in about 10 minutes. The enemy fleet consists of 2 ships on the level of a Mithril-class battleship, 2 ships about the size of a Gold-class battleship, 4 ships about a tad-bit smaller, 8 even smaller ships, and about 20 magic ship-level ships for a total of 36 ships.”
The person that reports and the person hearing the report both, while different in variety, wear masks. From a glance, it was an odd scene.
“I see… wipe out all of them.”
“Yes, sir!”
Meteos says with staggering confidence. It was as if there was no meaning in analyzing their enemy or that the enemy wasn’t worth looking at.
“Captain, we will transition into our battle state.”
“Permission granted.”
“All hands, to battle stations! Verify our systems!!!”
Personnel hurriedly tapped on their respective displays as they checked battle systems.
“All systems, normal.”
“Activating battle mode.”
“Raising outputs on magical circuits.”
A monotonous voice sweeps across the interior.
The aerial battleship Pal Chimera, a battleship used by the ancient sorcerous empire, the Ravernal Empire, which had once ruled the world and pushed all the other races into the depths of terror, was now being used by the Holy Mirishial Empire to single-handedly lay waste to the fleet of the other-worlders, the Gra Valkas Empire.
Around 14 minutes later
“It… it’s here!!!”
Commander Kaonia shouts out.
The aerial battleship, which was already showing up on the anti-air radar, was now visible in the skies to the northeast.
“It’s really floating!!!”
Even with the information provided beforehand, everyone was astonished that the thing floats.
“Prepare the main batteries!! Load anti-aircraft munitions!!”
The main batteries of the fleet are then loaded with munitions armed with timed fuzes. They shoot down enemies in the sky by exploding mid-air after a set amount of time.
“13 degrees to the right with an elevation of 27 degrees! Main batteries firing in ETA, 1 minute and 22 seconds!”
The relative speed to the enemy is calculated and the firing angle of the main batteries are distributed to every ship. The twin 41cm main batteries of the flagship Be Tergis slowly rotated to face the enemy aerial battleship.
“All soldiers evacuate the deck!”
As soldiers would die from the flames when the main batteries fire, they were evacuated from the exposed parts of the upper deck into the ship’s interior.
“Commander, the timing and calculations are vital to the anti-aircraft main battery munitions. We will fire them when the time comes, at your orders, commander… Will that be okay?”
Operations officer Baht verifies with the commander.
“Of course.”
He turns around and gives the order clearly.
“All ships, commence firing at the most suitable timing!!”
“Commence firing at the most suitable timing!”
The commander promptly relays through the radio.
“Main batteries, firing in 5! 4! 3! 2! 1!… FIRE!”
Gigantic shells, accompanied by thunderous sounds, are fired from flagship Be Tergis. 2 turrets armed with twin 41cm, 45-caliber cannons fired 1.5 ton-heavy shells, shaking the air around them, with the resulting flames from the propellant pushing back the surface of the ocean.
It takes about a minute for the main battery shells armed with timed fuzes to reach their target.
“The enemy has begun taking evasive maneuvers!”
The 250 meter wide ring-shaped enemy began to slightly change the direction in which it advanced. However, since it is moving at a speed of more than 200km/h, even a slight lean would bring it far outside the expected landing point.
Eventually, the timed fuzes on the main battery munitions kicked into life, spreading intense explosive flames radially, producing gigantic flowers of fire in the sky.
The main battery munitions fired from the other ships similarly took time to get to their expected landing points, eventually exploding and manifesting into numerous massive explosions. Ear-deafening sounds emanate from where the explosions are, shaking the surface of the ocean directly below them.
Boom… boom… boom… boom… booooooom…
Thunderous sounds reverberated throughout the vicinity. Furthermore, the aerial battleship was still attacking. The ocean directly beneath it billowed just like that of an intense downwash from a helicopter.
“They may have been praised for their use against aircraft, but these main battery munitions are useless against an enemy in the sky.”
Operations officer Baht tells Commander Kaonia.
“Indeed… Should we intercept it with anti-air arti-… huh?! What’s it doing?”
The aerial battleship, which has already gotten closer to the fleet by 20km, began to move what seems to be triple gun emplacements on the bottom section of its ring. The guns turned to face the fleet.
“Enemy attack inbound!!!”
The moment after Kaonia shouted the enemy fired something. The enemy that was tracing a blue tail in the sky fired 3 continuous shots from its triple-gun emplacements.
“Wha! Whaaaat?!”
The bullets of light flew past the flagship Be Tergis and found its marks on the heavy cruiser Rigel cruising behind it. All 3 shots land, producing explosions. After a short while, the high-pitched sounds of the aerial battleship’s guns firing echoed in the vicinity.
“Rigel has been hit! Currently verifying the extent of the damage!”
“The… their first strike hit?!”
Kaonia was deeply shocked, the shock running through his entire body like an electric current.
“Tha… that’s impossible!”
He can’t even begin to comprehend how they were able to pull off such a feat.
“The enemy ship’s ring has begun to rotate!”
This fact was apparent even without the lookout’s report. The enemy ship’s ring section, which was connected to the central structure, began to rotate. Looking closely, the cannons that landed direct hits on the Rigel were attached to 6 turrets underneath the ring. Those same guns turned to face the fleet.
In the following moment, the enemy ship fired again. In its sights were the Rigel, still conducting fire fighting measures. The heavy cruiser was engulfed again in flames…
The attacks continued, and a total of 9 more shots landed directly on the heavy cruiser, each shot producing a tower of flame on the ship, breaking it in half and sending it to the depths of the sea.
“Rigel, sunk with all hands…”
The bridge of the flagship Be Tergis was enveloped in dead silence.
A heavy cruiser was immediately sunk following the commencement of hostilities. That was too fast.
Everyone on the bridge was shocked. First, by the type of enemy they were facing and then the unthinkable accuracy of their bombardment.
“Enemy ship, changing course!!”
If we had rushed in recklessly, our anti-aircraft artillery would have been able to land hits. However, the enemy maintained a certain distance from our fleet, turning around us and attacking from outside the range of our anti-aircraft artillery.
Far outside the range of our high-angle anti-aircraft guns and the ships that can reach the enemy ship are only responding with their main batteries, it was obvious they wouldn’t hit the fast-moving enemy.
“Destroyer Titan, heavy cruiser Elara, sunk!”
He was thinking of closing the distance with the enemy but they were far too slow. If it lay flat along the sea, they may be able to have a chance in attacking it. However, an enemy ship flying in all three dimensions can never be hit by shells flying in a parabolic trajectory.
“Tell the quicker destroyers to set course for the enemy!!”
The Gra Valkas Imperial Navy that enjoyed invincibility in the previous world and in this one were being led by the nose by a single Pal Chimera of the Holy Mirishial Empire.
Aerial battleship Pal Chimera
“Enemy medium-sized ship has been sunk… proceeding to the next target.”
A monotonous voice sweeps across the interior. The huge display installed in the bridge shows an enemy ship in flames from their attack.
“The ancient sorcerous empire… their ancient superweapons are indeed terrifying…”
Meteos muttered to himself.
An enemy that has subjugated its neighbors in the blink of an eye, toppled the superpower Leifor, overwhelmed the 2nd strongest superpower Mu, and then laying waste to the empire’s strongest, the Zeroth Magic Fleet…
They, who have put the empire’s home fleet at loss, are now being made fun of by a single excavated superweapon. As soon as they took control of this weapon, their enemy’s fleet suddenly seemed extremely fragile.
The ancient sorcerous empire which had produced many of these frightening weapons…
It doesn’t matter how grand the Holy Mirishial Empire is, if the ancient sorcerous empire, a country that boasts insurmountable amounts of magical power, were to be restored, the empire would be no match. Once the enemy of mankind has come back, it won’t matter how much everyone resists them… Meteos’ head hurts from thinking of facing their coming enemy’s might.
While Meteos was lost in his thoughts, a slender man approached him from behind. While it is a rule to wear masks, the man’s elven ears were noticeably jutting from behind his mask which extremely suits him. It was Colmed, the technological supervisor supervising the ship’s technology.
“Meteos, sir, the ancient superweapons of the old empire truly are frightening!”
“Calculating the relative speed of the enemy, our speed, and the muzzle velocity of the cannons to produce the enemy’s future position and then aiming for it… It’s our first time operating this in actual combat with a relatively comparable enemy but for us to score direct hits…”
The shells launched from the triple 15cm magic cannons mounted underneath the aerial battleship had extremely high chances of hitting. Since the cannons are mounted underneath they couldn’t be aimed higher than the horizontal orientation of the aerial battleship, and so their range is limited but if they are fired from a height of 200m, their range becomes far better than those of normal horizontal gun placements.
Responding to Meteos’s remarks, technological supervisor Colmed slowly expresses his thoughts.
“We still haven’t figured out the ancient sorcerous empire’s magical arithmetic unit. If we are able to better the empire’s arithmetic unit, precisely measure the distance to the enemy in three-dimensions, and then certainly grasp our own moving state, then we should be able to replicate it in theory… If we then manage to make it practical then our war potential will increase to incomparable levels…
However…”
“Right… There’s an enormous difference between weapons still on paper, theoretical ones, experimental ones, and those that are already in combat use. The ancient sorcerous empire is far beyond our empire’s level of technology.”
“Indeed. Our empire being able to make something like that practical is far, far into the future… Nevertheless, the enemies that have to fight this superweapon sure are pathetic.”
“Heh… It is the fate of idiotic apes to perish by their own hand. By my mercy, I gave them the opportunity to live. Sure, they are certainly worthy of surprise that they got to their level without magic but… Despite warning them about the weapons of the ancient sorcerous empire, they are fools to turn their faces towards us.
You see… I… hate idiots.”
An enemy ship on the display was burning. The small ships had particularly frail defensive capabilities such that they sank as soon as they were hit.
“I wanna fire on the heart of the enemy…”
After destroying this small group of ships, they planned to strike into the main force nestled within the enemy fleet. Similar to how they are currently fighting, they can lay waste to their ships by attacking far outside their range. However, this will take too much time when it comes to the main force.
He considered that they must first hypothesize how they will fight within range of the enemy artillery before striking into the main force. Coming up with a militarily improbable decision, he gives out an order to the personnel.
“Attack the enemy flagship!”
“We will enter the range of enemy anti-air artillery! Will that be okay?”
“Don’t worry. I want to have experience with small-scale fights before we head for their main fleet… Are there any enemy aircraft in the vicinity?”
“No responses on the radar.”
“Spread out magic particles! Reinforce the armor on the bottom section and attack the enemy flagship!”
“Affirmative.”
The aerial battleship Pal Chimera ceases its attacks from outside the fleet and begins its daringly dangerous charge towards the flagship.
・・・
“Destroyer Dione, sunk!”
Another destroyer bursts into flames, causing numerous deaths. The ships that possess long-range main batteries return fire but they all completely miss the flying enemy.
Commander Kaonia and operations officer Baht, with no means of closing the gap with the staggering might of their single enemy, couldn’t do anything but stare at the aerial battleship.
“The enemy is changing course!!”
The enemy ship has changed its course and is now heading for the flagship. At this rate, it will enter the cloud of anti-aircraft fire from the destroyers positioned on the outskirts.
A slim chance for victory has come.
“Come!! Once it enters the range of our guns, shell it! Hit it with everything!”
The orders are sent out.
“The enemy is finally entering the range of our guns!”
“The enemy’s so proud with our shots going amiss… our anti-air will bring them down!!!”
As the enemy ship advanced further, it came into range of the anti-aircraft artillery on the destroyer Phoebe and cruiser Hyperion.
“Fools!! Open fire!!!”
For the Gra Valkas Empire, in naval battles, it is expected for ships to fight with aircraft that can attack and bomb ships. The Gra Valkas Imperial Navy, which specializes in fighting with said aircraft, finally starts to unleash its barrage against the aerial battleship Pal Chimera.
Cruiser Hyperion
Daphnis, a soldier manning one of the anti-air artillery emplacements, precisely sets his sights on the massive enemy ship. He gets the sense that the enemy was so big, he misinterprets that the enemy has already entered range when they still haven’t.
“With a target as big as you, I won’t miss!!!”
I will be the lance that first subdues you, you monster!
“Open fire!!!”
He hears the order to attack. Offering a prayer to the allies they have lost, Daphnis firmly presses the button to fire.
Lines of fire run from the fleet towards the sky. Rounds fired from the 40mm autocannons of the cruiser Hyperion accurately find their mark on the underbelly of the aerial battleship.
The lines of light, which have tracers mixed in, hit the aerial battleship, and with violent sounds of metal hitting against metal they bounce off and ricochet in other directions.
“Are you kidding me?! That thing is thickly armored?!”
Looking up close, it was clear. The tracers that hit the ship light up upon impact as slightly bright waves of something rippled away from where they hit.
“You… you monster!!!”
The 40-caliber 127mm high angle artillery guns mounted on the ship also began to fire. The timed fuzes kick into action, causing explosions to appear close to the aerial battleship, but it seems that even those had hardly any effect.
Soldiers hurriedly move about. They seem to be reloading regular rounds for the high-angle anti-air artillery.
Shouts of anger echoed throughout the battlefield as the high-angle anti-air artillery cannons spouted fire… However… they were hopelessly missing their shots. The enemy ship was so close… even though it was so massive, their shots hardly even grazed the enemy.
“Fuck!!”
The autocannons that rapidly fired managed to hit but did not have any effect. The high-angle anti-air artillery cannons which are thought to cause substantial damage have missed their marks. In the end, the Pal Chimera repelled rounds fired from their autocannons as it passed right above their ship.
・・・
Exploding anti-air rounds… The explosive power from the timed fuzes had no effect and regular autocannon rounds ricochet off the enemy armor. Having said that, regular anti-air artillery rounds completely miss their target altogether. The troublesome enemy ship marched towards the flagship Be Tergis as it repelled fire from autocannons.
“We have to keep firing and hitting it!!!”
Kaonia has prepared for the worst.
“The enemy ship’s ring has begun to turn!!!”
“Incoming attack!!!”
Kaonia barks. In the following moment, the enemy ship fires its guns. The shells fired from the ship, followed by ear-piercing sounds, land on the most thickly armored sections of the Be Tergis, unleashing their power. However, the armor was designed to withstand a direct hit from a 40cm round, and so the fruit of the Gra Valkas Empire’s technology development bears the brunt of the enemy attack.
However, the attack doesn’t stop, and multiple shots fired in rapid succession hit the Be Tergis.
“High-angle gun number 3 on the port side, catastrophic damage!!!”
“Autocannon number 11 on the starboard side, catastrophic damage!!!”
The structures on the unarmored parts of the deck are being destroyed. Ear-piercing sounds… the bridge violently swayed from the explosions…
However, the vital parts of the ship are thickly armored, so attacks from the enemy were being repelled.
“Ba…bastards!! I can’t ascertain what’s going on! There are too many explosions!!”
“But, the enemy attacks are much weaker than anticipated! The Be Tergis can surely outlast this attack!”
The heavy cruisers and destroyers may have been sunk, but a battleship will never yield. Faint confidence wells up within Kaonia.
Aerial battleship Pal Chimera
“20 shots from the magic artillery have hit. Temporarily ceasing bombardment to verify the effect.”
By chance, the direction of the wind seems to be blowing parallel to the enemy ship, and so the entire ship was blanketed in thick smoke. The enemy ship was engulfed in flames from the bombardment.
The medium-sized warships that they had dealt with, despite being wrapped in flames, had a recognizable internal explosion that was different from an explosion when a round hits, and so the scope of the damage was easy to determine. However, no such internal explosion appeared on the flagship, and smoke from the explosions simply blanketed the ship.
“It seems that there were no internal explosions, huh~…”
Meteos mutters.
“It is possible that the structure housing their fuel is difficult to set ablaze… However, at this rate, they will simply eat all of our attacks. If these guys cannot reinforce their armor by spreading magic particles, then the armor on the superstructure also cannot be reinforced.”
Technological supervisor Colmed replies.
The enemy anti-air rounds that occasionally hit the underbelly made unpleasant sounds, but the magically reinforced armor simply repelled them. Eventually, the smoke engulfing the battleship parted away, revealing the enemy ship.
“Woah…”
Voices of astonishment resounded across the bridge which made it seem like the monotonous personnel actually had emotions.
“How dense could their armor be?! Didn’t we just fatally wound it?!”
Meteos was shocked.
“For something that isn’t magically reinforced to be this resistant… I can’t believe it.”
Sweat from shock also flowed from the forehead of technological supervisor Colmed.
The enemy displayed on the screen had destroyed escape boats, anti-air cannons and other unarmored objects, but its main batteries and bridge were still in good condition and the ship even seemed like it only suffered minor damage.
“Well, well… So it seems that you were there when you soiled the Zeroth Magic Fleet… Only firepower on the level of the main batteries of the magic battleships can defeat an enemy battleship, huh…”
A momentary silence.
“Use the Jibil.”
The bridge bustles with whispers.
“Are you sure?”
Colmed verifies.
“I’ll say it again. Use the Jibil to annihilate the enemy ship!”
“Yes, sir!”
After analyzing the technology of the ancient sorcerous empire, the recently battle-ready super magic bomb Jibil, in comparison with the ancient sorcerous empire’s core magic, is substantially weaker but is the biggest and most powerful bomb currently in use in the Holy Mirishial Empire.
It is too heavy for regular floating ships of the heavens to carry, but for the empire’s trump card that is the aerial battleship, Pal Chimera…
The Pal Chimera advances towards the sky directly overhead the Gra Valkas Empire battleship Be Tergis and stops midair.
・・・
Flagship Be Tergis
Waaooon… waaooon… waaooon…
The enemy aerial battleship eerily hovers in the sky above…
“Fuck!! What does it intend to do?!”
The enemy ship is parked directly overhead. The battleship’s high-angle anti-air artillery and anti-air machine guns were destroyed from the attack earlier and are unusable. The angle of elevation of the main batteries and secondary armaments couldn’t go high enough, and so they did nothing.
“Grr… I know it’s too much to ask but… Right now, I’m holding back from deciding that every ship should attack even though the enemy right now is a sitting duck…”
Operations officer Baht mutters.
The ship hovering directly above them right now… they have slowed themselves to the slow speed of the fleet, making them a perfect target. If the order is given, they can deliver rounds that are actually effective against the aerial battleship.
However, if the flying object that is way bigger than their flagship were to fall… It certainly is an order that guarantees their death.
Naturally, they undertook endeavors to get away from being below the enemy ship. However, the enemy ship in the sky surpassed them in terms of movement.
“…Everyone, I’m sorry… This enemy has clearly proven to be a grave threat to the Gra Valkas Empire. The fact that there is only a single ship is evidence that this is precious to those bastards. They are strong… if we let this chance slip, we will have done a true disservice to the empire. I am currently holding back on letting every ship conduct their own attacks but… for the future of the empire, I will give them the order to attack.”
Commander Kaonia’s heart brims with penitences towards the crew. However, if they let these bastards live, far more citizens of the empire will be sacrificed to enemy fire.
No one objected. Everyone prepared for the worst.
“All ships, resume attacks!!!”
The order was passed down to every ship in the fleet.
Cruiser Piperion, 1st Strike Group
“Ceasefire!! Ceasefire!! If we attack them, they’ll fall right onto the flagship!!!”
The enemy ship hovers over the Be Tergis. Orders from the captain to temporarily cease attacks were given.
“What are they going to do?!”
Waaooon… waaooon… waaooon…
Heavy, low-frequency sounds echoed from the thing that hovered over the skies. It was easy to aim at but if it falls, the flagship will surely sink with it. The anti-aircraft guns on the deck of the Be Tergis have already been silenced by the previous attack.
“All ships, the enemy hovering over the flagship is now a perfect target. Resume attacks!”
Orders from the flagship swept across the bridge.
If they attack now, they’d kill their fellow soldiers… However, it was obvious to anyone that if they left the aerial battleship as it is, it would pose a grave threat to the empire.
Just as he was about to give the order to attack, the captain, who was watching the enemy from the bridge of the Piperion, felt something weird about the aerial battleship.
“What the hell?!”
Something enormously long fell straight down from the center of the enemy bridge.
“!!!”
Crash!! KABOOOOOM!!!
At the same time, the jettisoned thing hit the flagship Be Tergis, and a fierce light emanated from the ship. Within the next moment, a fireball far bigger than the flagship appeared, engulfing the entire ship. After a short delay, a tremendous shockwave and a huge mushroom-shaped explosion, which they have never seen before, manifested.
The shockwave rippled across the surface of the sea and an extremely loud bang reverberated… Eventually, silence fell across the vicinity, contrasting the emergence of smoke from the explosion.
Pal Chimera
“All magical responses within the enemy flagship have ceased. It appears the ship has been annihilated.”
The report conveys the fact that everyone on board has been killed.
“Hmph. Obviously. It’s a direct hit from the Jibil. There also shouldn’t be anything left.”
The smoke clears.
“Wha… what?! No way!!!”
Voices of shock run through the bridge. Since there were no longer any magical responses, everyone has already been killed. However, the shape of the enemy ship Be Tergis was preserved and it still floated on the ocean.
The hull of the former Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Nagato, which strongly resembled that of the Be Tergis, was so absurdly strong, that it even remained afloat after receiving direct hits from the 2 nuclear tests in Bikini Atoll.
The powerful hull structure similarly withstood a direct hit from the Holy Mirishial Empire’s super magic bomb Jibil.
“Apparently… we have to revise our evaluation of the enemy a bit, huh~… Temporarily move out of their range while doing evasive maneuvers. Attack and sink the enemy ships one by one.”
“Affirmative.”
They left the skies over the flagship and then attacked and crushed each ship in a single run.
40 minutes later, the 36-ship 1st Strike Group of the Gra Valkas Empire was annihilated before the aerial battleship Pal Chimera of the Holy Mirishial Empire. They then headed straight for the main fleet.
・・・
Battleship Grade Atlastar, Gra Valkas Imperial Navy main fleet
“Incoming message from the flagship! The enemy aerial battleship has made contact with the 36 ships of the 1st Strike Group today at 1011 hours. At 1112 hours, communications ceased and they are presumed to be annihilated. Furthermore, the enemy aerial battleship is currently advancing towards the main fleet.”
Captain Luxtal’s eyes shine.
“They downed an air squadron and then sunk an entire strike group with just a single ship… XO, what do you think of this?”
“Sir! The enemy is formidable. They must never be underestimated… however, our numbers are different. We will prevail.”
“I see.”
“42 ships from the 8th Strike Group will soon make contact with the fleet which, going by their numbers, is their main fleet. The naval battle is getting more and more complicated, no?”
“They’re the… World Union, right? Their numbers are truly staggering. However, this enemy is said to be the world itself. If we win over them, there will no longer be any more enemies against our empire.”
“That country from the far east… Japan… Do you think they pose a threat?”
“Ahh, the country which has splendid anti-air cannons… Their armor is paper-thin, it seems… If that cruiser was the embodiment of their design philosophy, then the ships at their disposal are nothing to be afraid of.
However, given enough time for research, they may be able to produce ships that would pose a threat to the empire… The higher-ups acknowledge that, so the matter will be resolved within a few years.”
“It seems that sooner or later, we will come toe to toe with Japan, huh…”
“Indeed… and by then, the empire will prevail just like always.”
Captain Luxtal, onboard the empire’s largest and most powerful battleship, the Grade Atlastar, remains in wait for the coming of the aerial battleship Pal Chimera.
・・・
Flagship La Erdo, Mu Naval Task Force, the continent of Mu to the north
“42 enemy ships have been sighted about 120km west of the World Union Fleet! They’re heading straight towards us!”
“All 500 knights of the Union of Second Civilization Dragon Knights are joining in on the attack on the enemy ships!”
“All fleets are mobilizing onto their battle stations!!!”
The Gra Valkas Empire, which had downed a lot of allied aircraft in the previous battle, has finally come with their warships.
“A decisive battle, huh…”
There was no doubt that the enemy was extremely powerful. Raider feels a pang in his stomach.
“All hands, to battle stations!!! The number of imperial ships are few! The World Union Fleet will send them to the depths!!!”
The World Union Fleet moves towards all-out war.
