CH 49

Chapter 49

Holy Mirishial Empire, port town Cartalpas, southwestern skies

After Gra Valkas’s 200 aircraft easily shot down Mirishial’s fighters, they proceeded toward the port town of Cartalpas. The first stage of their offensive involved intercepting and attacking the fleets from this world, then going on to bomb Cartalpas. This would induce fear of the Gra Valkas Empire while simultaneously showing the rest of the world how weak the Holy Mirishial Empire was, tearing down the perception that they were the strongest country in the world. This would encourage other countries to distance themselves from Mirishial and come under Gra Valkas’s wing instead.

There were no precise military goals for this operation; there were both targets to attack and broad objectives, but how to go about accomplishing all of it was left to the discretion of the leaders on site.

Commander Sbawl of the Gra Valkas Empire’s Third Carrier Squadron observed the ships below him. “Hmph… Sailboats, huh. Laughable. Commence attack on the target fleet!”

“Commencing attack! Commencing attack!”

The dive bombers’ engines revved loudly, then began to fall through the sky at an angle of 60 degrees below the horizon. Underneath them, a large number of ships left churning water in their wakes, most of them sailing vessels. Sbawl decided to aim for the ships at the very front of the fleet.

“Hey, otherworlders! Better keep your eyes peeled! That way, you can burn the might of the Gra Valkas Empire into the backs of your skulls!!!”

The Sirius-class dive bombers swooped right at the elite ships that represented the world’s strongest countries.

Holy Mirishial Empire, port town Cartalpas, southern seas

Third Civilization, Great Magic Duchy of Pandora, diplomatic escort fleet (8 magic ships)

“Gra Valkas’s iron dragons are diving… They’re coming right for us!!!”

There was an aerial battle taking place high up in the air. The Gra Valkan Sirius dive bombers squeezed through the gaps between Mu’s fighters and the Nigrato Union’s wyvern lords.

“Pfft! Impudent fools, getting full of themselves. Ready the rune arrows! Don’t hold anything back!!!”

“Yes sir!!!”

The sailors moved quickly and promptly retrieved the weapons. What looked like bowguns were loaded and pointed at the sky.

“Firing preparations complete!”

“Fire—!!!”

The line of bowguns all fired at the same time into the air. The arrows’ initial velocity from being propelled by the bowstring didn’t deteriorate at all as they cut through air because of the explosive magic sealed within their magic gems. The arrow nocks shone red due to being continually pushed forward by compressed air. Created to combat wyverns, these arrows could reach an altitude of two kilometers.

“Second round, ready!!!”

The bowguns were loaded again, and they shot more arrows up into the sky.

“Wha—?! Enemies! They’re shooting light bullets at us!!!”

The closest planes in the Gra Valkan squadron sprayed out bullets from their 12.7mm machine guns. Those bullets pierced through the wooden upper decks of the ship, reaching their magazines and igniting them. The resulting explosive pressure expanded in all directions, and a magnificent column of flame erupted through the top of the ship, sinking the ship.

“Magic ship Umis has been sunk!!!”

“Wh-What?! It can’t be, that quickly?!”

“Bullets of light are heading for us!!!”

Seconds later, the flagship Dohla’s hull was riddled with holes. The ensuing blast ripped the ship in half before it sunk to the ocean floor.

Gra Valkas Empire, Third Carrier Squadron

“Pull out of the dive and regain altitude!!!”

Before they dropped their bombs, the plan was to bait out any anti-air measures by strafing with their machine guns. However, upon realizing that they already sank the ships before dropping, Sbawl quickly countermanded the dive. Normally, they would have dropped their payload so the climb wouldn’t be that bad due to the decrease in weight, but since they hadn’t dropped yet, it was much harder to actually gain altitude.

“What fragile little boats…” he commented, stunned at how defenseless the enemy ships were.

“Whoa!”

A large arrow passed by right in front of him. He was startled to learn that arrows could actually reach them at this altitude. Since it was so easy to mow down ships with just their machine guns, the Gra Valkan planes began to aim for all the other countries’ ships.

Coast guard patrol ship Shikishima

“What a crazy spectacle…” Captain Seto muttered under his breath as he watched the fight up in the skies.

Battling it out were World War II-era fighters, biplanes, and those dragon things called “wyvern lords.” The dragons spat out balls of fire, while the fighters shot tracer bullets. Closer to home, a number of ships had ignited from the machine gun fire, and tense shouts streamed out endlessly from the magical communication device they had borrowed.

<<Pandora’s magic convoy has been annihilated!>>

<<Nigrato’s dragon knights need assistance!>>

<<Another Mu fighter has been shot down!>>

<<Agarta’s magic convoy is now entering battle!>>

Various cultures were jumbling together as the battle progressed. Surely this was a historic moment, a story to pass down through the ages.

“Two aircraft are diving at us!”

Seto had been observing as though he were wholly unrelated to the events that were unfolding, but the sudden report snapped him back to reality. In order to ensure they didn’t take any machine gun fire, he instantly gave the order.

“Shoot them down!!!”

The forward Oerlikon 35mm twin cannon pointed up into the air. The FCS minutely adjusted the angle to precisely follow the enemies’ movements. Smoke began leaking from the anti-air machine guns, which had a maximum range of 3.5 km against aircraft. With a dull sound, a mix of regular ammunition and tracer bullets shot out into the sky, hitting the Sirius dive bombers and blowing open large holes in them. Both the fuselages and pilots had been rendered into Swiss cheese, then all the leaking fuel ignited, consuming the planes in flames as they fell. Eventually, the damage from the bullets and the fire set off the bombs on board as well, causing them to explode brilliantly in midair.

The explosions were like filthy fireworks, replete with shockwaves. The enemy aircraft were quickly and easily dispatched.

The Japan Coast Guard’s patrol boat Shikishima continued to target other planes, and its machine guns kept on firing. They accurately hit the diving Sirius aircraft, tearing off their wings and sending them down in tailspins; those planes ended up crashing against the surface of the ocean and bursting violently.

“Ohhh! The Japanese navy’s warship shot down all those enemies with such ease!!!”

On the La Kasami’s bridge, cheers went up at the sight of the Gra Valkan planes dropping like flies.

“Their accuracy is astounding! So the rumors were true?” Mu’s fleet commander asked the young officer next to him.

“That was their electronics-assisted firing system… We would love to obtain that technology ourselves.”

“Report!!! There are two diving aircraft coming at us!” came a panicked interjection.

“Prepare for anti-air combat! Hard to starboard!!!”

The flagship La Kasami began to slowly turn clockwise. A soldier sat down at the anti-air cannon and manually took aim.

“Fire——!!!”

A stream of regular ammunition and tracer ammunition surged into the air. However, unlike the gunfire from Japan’s ship from earlier, nearly all of it missed its intended target. Not only that, the Gra Valkan planes fired back with their own machine guns. The bullets slammed against the La Kasami’s thick armor, thundering loudly. The soldier manning the anti-air cannon took a hit from the unrelenting attack, which caused the attacks being launched from the cannon to clearly decrease.

“The enemy planes are dropping their bombs!!!”

HYUUUuuu… HYUUUuuu…

The whistling sounds of the falling bombs reverberated across the oceanic battlefield, instilling fear in all who heard them.

“Hard to port!!!”

The battleship tried to reverse its direction of rotation in order to avoid the bombs. However, between the dive bombers’ speed and the acceleration of gravity, a bomb ended up hitting the La Kasami and releasing its full explosive power. The ship was first washed in an intense flash of light, then a violent conflagration. The ensuing shockwaves rocked the huge ship.

“The foredeck has been hit!!!”

It was rather obvious even without the report, since there was a raging pillar of flame in the front of the ship.

“Damage report, now!!!”

“The forward main cannon’s gun barrel has been damaged, currently inoperable!!!”

“Heavy damage to the fourth, eighth, eleventh starboard anti-air cannons, second, sixth, and seventh portside cannons!!! Furthermore, we’re taking on water! Begin firefighting procedures!!!”

“Navigation capabilities are unaffected, sir!!!”

Reports came in one after the other. Of the two bombs dropped on them, they had evaded one and been hit by the other. The superpower Mu’s battleship had taken serious damage.

“Dammit all!!!”

The captain had been painfully made aware of the stark difference between Mu’s anti-air capabilities and that of Japan’s warship.

Japan, coast guard patrol ship Shikishima

The “magic comms” device installed on the Shikishima spewed out endless screams of terror.

<<Mu’s fighters have suffered losses of over fifty percent!!!>>

<<The Nigrato Union’s dragon knights have been wiped out!!!>>

<<Some of the enemy bombers appear to be heading for Cartalpas!!!>>

Things were clearly not going well…

<<A giant warship has appeared from the south side of Cael Isle! Confirming its identity now… It appears to be the Gra Valkas Empire’s Grade Atlastar !!! It’s currently sailing from Cael Isle to the entrance of the strait!!!>>

“Wait… What was that?! Hey, did you hear that just now?!?!” Captain Seto, who couldn’t believe his ears, shouted at his executive officer.

“Yeah, it’s the Grade Atlastar… in other words, that Yamato-looking battleship is heading for the entrance to the strait. If they set up a blockade, then we’ll all be stuck in here,” the executive officer answered, sweat pouring down his forehead.

“How the hell… If something as big as a battleship were this close, why didn’t they detect it earlier?”

“I can’t begin to fathom why. The Holy Mirishial Empire couldn’t even detect it… Well, Japan did participate in fleet combat during World War II, so maybe their detection capabilities are simply worse than we imagined.”

“What do you think of the fact that they only sent a single ship?”

“Unclear, sir. Maybe they have an overabundance of confidence… Or, maybe they’ve determined that with the amount of air cover they have, they cannot lose.”

Due to the enemy’s aerial attacks, the combined fleet was now in an inferior position. Even still, only sending one ship to face this large of a fleet could only be considered reckless.

Since Mirishial’s detection capabilities were so lacking, there was still the possibility of more forces waiting in ambush. From the information reported via magic comms, as far as they could tell, the enemy battleship would reach the strait before they could.

“Shikishima versus Yamato, huh… Even with all these other ships on our side, this is patently absurd!!! While the enemy is targeting other ships, the best we can do is run interference then try to slip through the strait!”

Knowing they’d probably be facing off against a legendary ship from the age of the Empire of Japan, Captain Seto felt like he was developing a stomach ulcer and couldn’t help pressing down on his stomach.

Holy Mirishial Empire, port town Cartalpas, near the entrance to the southern strait

The seven armored ships-of-the-line from the Magycaraihi Collective had the good fortune of not being attacked from the air and were approaching the entrance to the strait. Fleet Commander Glyze steadily observed the sky. The fighting was fierce up there. It was a big melee involving Gra Valkas’s fighters and dive bombers, Mirishial’s fighters, and Eimor’s wind dragon knights. The wind dragons were attacking the dive bombers first, then engaging with the fighters.

Even though wind dragons were said to be as strong as a thousand men, they were evenly matched with Gra Valkas’s fighters, it seemed. Since things were chaotic up there, it seemed no one wanted to use their anti-air cannons for fear of friendly fire.

Magycaraihi’s armored ships-of-the-line were steam-powered, sporting two waterwheel-looking propellers on both flanks with magic cannons installed above them for cover.

Glyze glared at the sea before them. “…Here they come…”

He could see the silhouette of a gigantic ship materializing before his eyes. It was the Grade Atlastar, the Gra Valkas Empire’s super-dreadnought. The legendary ship that single-handedly sunk the superpower Leifor’s entire navy then went on to attack their capital, causing the fall of the entire superpower nation.

But Magycaraihi had blended together Mu’s mechanical technology with magical technology, and they had developed warships that, when comparing individual ships, should be superior to Leifor’s. Even if the enemy had that monster of a ship, the rest of the combined fleet was also right behind them.

Fleet Commander Glyze searched for a route to victory. The distance to the enemy ship steadily shrunk. Seeing how quickly it decreased, though, it was hard not to wonder how fast they were capable of sailing.

“The enemy’s gun turret is turning! They may be preparing to fire!!!”

The enemy was still over 15 kilometers out. Their own improved magic cannons had a range of three kilometers, so to see the enemy turret already beginning to rotate, it was hard not to think of the legendary fall of Leifor. Those tales of mind blowing firing distance, impossible accuracy, and overwhelming destructive power… Completely unbelievable tales, if not for the cold truth that Leifor was indeed destroyed.

Considering that the cannons on Mu’s newest battleships had a maximum range of ten kilometers, it wasn’t an impossible stretch to make, though.

“Brace for cannonfire! Full speed ahead, we’re charging them!!!”

The enemy ship was now cloaked in smoke.

“The enemy has fired!!!”

The Grade Atlastar’s main 46cm triple cannon had a maximum range of 40 kilometers. It used radar assistance to fire its shell accurately at Magycaraihi’s armored ships-of-the-line.

The shell hit the water very close to an allied ship with a deafening boom. A mountain of water many times taller than the ship rose into the air, then fell back down, battering the ship.

“Waaaaagh!!!”

“What… What the hell is with this firepower?!?!”

Fleet Commander Glyze couldn’t hide his shock. The waves that were generated from the shell caused the flagship Magi to rock back and forth unstably.

“The enemy is firing again!!!”

Once again, there was a sharp flash of light followed by a burst of smoke from the enemy ship. Suddenly, the ship sailing ahead and to the right, the Carla, became engulfed in six pillars of water. Smoke could be seen mixed in with the water. When the water settled back down into sea, nothing of the Carla remained except for some pieces of wreckage drifting on the surface of the ocean.

“!!! Th… The Carla has… vanished!!!”

The words 'sunk” or “destroyed” simply felt insufficient. Just as implied, after being hit by cannonfire so tremendous, as far as they could see with the naked eye, the Carla had been pulverized with barely a trace remaining; it literally “vanished.”

They continued to get closer to the enemy ship. The enemy had begun firing with their secondary cannon as well, meaning that both the frequency and accuracy of their attacks was steadily rising. On the other hand, the Magycaraihi fleet still hadn’t gotten in range yet. Their ships were smashed to pieces one by one. The speed at which their fleet was being sunk, the enormous gap in strength, caused Glyze to fall into despair.

“Fuck… FUUUUUUUCK!!!”

This gap was insurmountable. The feeling of hopelessness spread to every cell of his body.

The Magycaraihi Collective’s fleet of armored ships-of-the-line was dispatched by the attacks of the Gra Valkas Empire’s single ship, the super-dreadnought Grade Atlastar.

<<The Magycaraihi Collective’s fleet has been annihilated. Ships should group together to avoid being sunk individually as we advance toward the enemy.>>

The orders from Mirishial lacked conviction, but they still went out in order to maintain unity on the battlefield. The Magycaraihi Collective, one of the leaders of the Second Civilization, lost all of their armored ships-of-the-line—that shook the members of every other country. The orders conveyed the belief that sticking together would be effective to prevent losing more ships. They had already lost a bit under half of the combined fleet of diplomatic escort ships to machine gun fire and other aerial attacks.

The Gra Valkas Empire’s battleship had suddenly appeared at the entrance to the strait. If they left it alone, it would most certainly proceed to attack Cartalpas. For the Holy Mirishial Empire, even if it was out of plain stubbornness, it was absolutely crucial to dispose of it now. For the other countries, while their escort fleets had lost quite a few ships, there were still Mirishial’s eight magic cruisers, Mu’s mechanical fleet, and Japan’s “patrol ship” left, so while they were intimidated by Gra Valkas’s might, they hadn’t lost hope in the superpowers supporting them.

Gra Valkas Empire, Imperial Judgment Force, Super-Dreadnought Grade Atlastar

The woman who had been sent to the leadership conference to convey the empire’s will, the foreign affairs eastern otherworld division chief Cielia, was on the bridge observing the progress of the battle with the ship’s captain. Before the might of the largest, strongest warship in the history of this world, the otherworld barbarians’ boats were sinking like pebbles. Witnessing this overwhelming difference in power, she was absolutely confident that the Gra Valkas Empire ruling the world would become reality. In the aerial offensive, they did suffer some casualties, but by and large it appeared that their objective had been accomplished.

“Hm?”

Ahead, on the horizon, she noticed that more of the enemy fleet could now be seen.

“If I remember correctly… that’s…”

Within that fleet, there was a single remarkably conspicuous white ship.

“That patrol ship belongs to another country, Japan, that was transferred here, same as us… Captain!” Cielia called out.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Could you attack that white ship? As a diplomatic measure.”

“There are many other vessels in front of that ship. If we were to try to get in range before dealing with them, we would be putting ourselves at risk. Therefore, we should proceed with the closest ships first. Is that all right?”

“Ahh, that’s fine. Once there is no risk to us, I would like you to aim for Japan’s white ship and sink it if possible. Even if they did transfer here just like us, our standings are like heaven and earth, we must consider them to be like all the other otherworld barbarians. For the sake of our future rule, though, we should deal with both the Holy Mirishial Empire’s ships and Japan’s ships now, if we can.”

“Understood. However, before the Grade Atlastar can get in range, the second stage of our carrier-based aerial offensive will reach them first. If they happen to sink them before we can, I can only ask for your understanding.”

“I see. If that is what happens, then you may disregard my request.”

The super-dreadnought Grade Atlastar had set its sights on the Japanese patrol ship Shikishima.

Gra Valkas Empire aircraft carrier fleet, second stage attack wing

The second stage attack wing consisted of 60 aircraft: 14 fighters, 22 dive bombers, and 24 torpedo bombers. They had launched with a clear target and objective to fulfill: the target was the area around the strait to the south of the Holy Mirishial Empire’s port town Cartalpas, the otherworld fleet currently sailing south; the objective was to inflict as much damage as possible on Mirishial’s ships.

Their formation quickly approached the target area.

“Commence attack.”

The Holy Mirishial Empire’s aircraft and the Eimor Kingdom’s wind dragons came to intercept them, and they fell into a melee with the Antares-class fighters. The Sirius-class dive bombers locked on the fleet sailing below and began to dive, to lay waste to them.

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