Chapter 62
"Fire as soon as you're ready!"
At that command, the destroyers and light cruisers began firing their guns like mad.
Deafening cannon reports erupted one after another, muzzle flashes flickered without pause, and long trails of white smoke stretched out on the sea breeze.
The result was horrifying.
A merciless carpet bombardment rained down over the Eastern Fleet. Dozens of columns of water erupted in succession in the middle of a sea packed with sailing ships.
Among those eruptions, some were a different color from the water.
Thud!
A 76mm shell slammed into the port side of a 2nd-rate ship of the line. Thick oak planks dented inward and split apart, while finely splintered pieces of wood shot into the sky.
The ammunition magazine of a 3rd-rate ship of the line exploded, setting off a spectacular series of secondary explosions, while frictional heat from the shells ignited the sails of the frigate following behind it.
In the blink of an eye, ten sailing ships exploded. The proud ironclad's mast snapped, and the sound of wood bursting apart rang out from all directions several times every second.
"Damn it, stop the fleet! Reform the line and retreat—"
KABOOM-!
A 152mm high-explosive shell from a light cruiser plunged down above the head of an unnamed captain who had been trying to bring the situation under control. The moment it struck the hull, flames spewing in every direction from the shell engulfed the massive 2nd-rate ship of the line.
- Aaaagh!
- Fire, the fire...!
- It's hot! I said it's hot! Get out of the way!
The 2nd-rate ship of the line caught in the high-explosive shell's blast listed with a heavy groan. Sailors engulfed in flames screamed and threw themselves into the sea, but there was no one to rescue them.
Dozens of shells flying in irregular trajectories began mercilessly pounding the fleet's front rank.
In that one-sided massacre, where everyone was being melted down equally, having the time to save anyone was a luxury.
Even amid the chaos, the ironclad converted from a 1st-rate ship of the line remained relatively unscathed.
Was it luck?
The Southern Fleet's opening salvo from the Dreadnought had caught the slowly listing 1st-rate ironclad in its crossfire, but had not struck it.
Thanks to that, Admiral Ernst of the fleet was able to open his eyes amid the carnage.
"Ugh..."
The sounds of the battlefield seemed very far away.
The tilted deck of the sinking ship felt utterly unreal.
The first thing that entered Ernst's view as he lay there was the sky.
A blue sky was barely visible between periodically rising columns of water and blazing, acrid smoke.
Red streaks of light were pouring down across it without pause.
Only when he lowered his gaze did he finally see the sea.
The proud ships of the Royal Navy were listing. People were burning to death on the surface of the sea. A 4th-rate frigate that charged toward the enemy line in one last desperate struggle was focused down by the barrage and crushed.
The proud Royal Navy that had ruled the Empire's seas for a thousand years.
The invincible fleet that had never once suffered defeat until now.
It was collapsing one-sidedly without even putting up a proper resistance.
"What... what is happening?"
A damp metallic smell filled the air. Having spent his entire life on battlefields, Ernst immediately recognized it as the smell of blood.
If so, whose?
Answering that question was not difficult.
The blood washing across the deck was the remains of the proud officers of the 1st-rate ironclad Tempest.
Even seeing it with his own eyes, he found the situation impossible to believe.
"Wasn't our Royal Navy... the strongest navy...?"
The power accumulated over a thousand years was by no means insignificant. If they were fighting at the same range, he had been certain the Royal Navy could never lose.
But...
KRA-KA-KA-BOOM-!
Along with a terrifying thunderclap, a massive explosion erupted from the ironclad beside him. It did not even have the chance to use the hundred-plus cannons it proudly carried.
A one-sided barrage coming from outside their range.
It was an attack of a kind Ernst could not understand.
"The uncivilized South bastards clearly don't even have proper mages. No, even if they did have mages, it would be impossible for them to reach this far..."
A fleet of a hundred ships could not come to an abrupt stop.
With the command structure needed to move the fleet destroyed, the Royal Navy's ships of the line could only continue forward on inertia, shoved along by the vessels behind them.
The fate of the fleet that collided, shoved one another, and continued forward was the same for all of them.
What unfolded before his eyes could no longer be called an 'engagement.'
- Aaaagh!
- My arm! My arm!!!
- Run! It's divine punishment! The gods are angry!!!
The soldiers' cries and screams. The fleet melting beneath the barrage. Flames surging up in every direction.
If hell existed, this had to be it.
Ernst, the admiral of the East, could not help thinking so.
Everything built over a thousand years was collapsing. The grandeur of the grand fleet filling the sea. The honor of a fleet that had called itself invincible. The glory contained in the name of Admiral of the Royal Navy.
At the hands of that gigantic steel fortress across the sea.
"Haha, hahahaha..."
Ernst could not accept what was happening.
CRASH-!
The defensive magic a mage of the 8th tier had deployed with all his strength shattered like glass beneath a single barrage. Wyverns boldly approached and sprayed beams of light, while sailing ships caught in the barrage collapsed helplessly.
The air was filled with acrid smoke.
Wherever he turned his gaze, there was nothing but the wreckage of shattered ships, and the sea was burning.
Something he had believed could never happen in his lifetime was unfolding before his eyes.
That was why he simply could not accept reality.
"This can't be, this can't be."
He instinctively made his way to the bridge and took the helm. After wiping away the shattered glass and sticky blood, he started the engine once more.
It was an ironclad boasting a displacement of 8,000 tons. It was not a ship that could be brought down by an attack like this.
"There's no way our fleet could have fallen apart like this!!!"
Grrrrrrr-
Along with a low-frequency rumble that vibrated through his heart, the ironclad's magical engine started up once more. The listing hull began moving through the sea filled with blood and splintered wood.
At that moment, several stray shells from the destroyers struck the ironclad's outer hull.
Fortunately, the shells glanced off the bow and bounced into the sea.
Seeing that, Ernst regained his confidence.
"Our fleet is the strongest! It's a fleet those uncivilized South bastards, who've only been around for a few years, can't even dream of challenging!"
The sight of the shells ricocheting away bolstered Ernst's confidence once more.
He turned his gaze away from reality and fixed it on the fleet arrayed in a line across the sea.
We only need to bring those bastards down.
Then even losing would be all right.
The East still had a massive undersea monster force.
Carrying that confidence, Ernst rejoined the very front of the fleet, and an intense flash caught his eye.
It was the light of the battleship's simultaneous salvo fired from a distance of 5 kilometers.
"Huh?"
Along with a death rattle, a blinding white light filled Ernst's vision.
That was the final scene ever seen by the Eastern Navy's last admiral.
The five 305mm shells that pierced the ironclad's steel armor like tofu struck the magazine where the ammunition for its hundred-plus cannons was stored.
Along with a massive explosion that seemed to press down on the sea, a mushroom cloud billowed upward.
***
"Portside lookout report! Shell No. 13... hit!"
The detonation of the Eastern Navy's flagship, the 1st-rate ironclad Tempest, was clearly visible even from the bridge of the battleship 5 kilometers away.
The explosion engulfed even the surrounding ships. With that, the East's last ironclad was completely destroyed.
And the destruction of the ironclad carrying most of the mages meant...
"Katarina Air Wing, all wyverns dive!"
It meant that the fleet's antiair defenses, which had protected it from the wyvern assault, were now gone.
The wyverns that had been idly flying overhead and watching the battle until just moments ago folded their wings and plunged into the middle of the fleet.
"Message from the Horizon Air Wing! Ammunition and aerial bombs replenished! We're joining the engagement!"
The wyvern knights of the Horizon Air Wing, who had just returned after completing their resupply, also joined the battlefield.
The wyverns ravaging the fleet that had lost its antiair defenses looked like wolves plunging into the middle of a flock of sheep.
KABOOM-!
The fourteenth salvo shook the ship. Black smoke covered the deck.
The massive shells fired into the sky above the chaotic battlefield began striking the fleet's rear, sinking the ships trying to escape.
"The enemy fleet's rear is attempting to retreat!"
"It's about time we wrapped up the battle."
With the fleet already annihilated, there was little point in maintaining a line-ahead formation. Keeping the fleet tied together like this would only restrict the destroyers' range.
"All ships, free maneuver! Pursue the retreating sailing ships!"
At that command, the destroyers broke away from the line and began advancing at maximum speed.
The sailing ships' top speed was about 11 knots. The destroyers' top speed was 30 knots.
The moment they turned their backs on the destroyers, their fate was already sealed.
Only one battlefield remained.
Our submarine force and the enemy's undersea monsters.
"Contact the submarine force. Tell them we've annihilated the enemy fleet, so they no longer need to keep their distance."
It was time to begin the hunt beneath the sea.