BXBX NOVEL Chapter 73
—- Arakawa Shuichi Point of View —-
“It’s time”
Luis who was checking the time said that in a calm voice. Claire, who was recently acting as Kouki’s adjutant, and Ellis, who was in charge of information gathering and Miki’s adjutant, are standing next to him. Speaking of which, we haven’t work together for a long time. When was the last time that we work together… While I was thinking such things, I grabbed the microphone and made a broadcast.
“We will soon enter the enemy defense line, expect the enemy to fight back”
I only said those words, get off the mic and light up a cigarette. Ellis who is standing next to Luis said “Is that all you have to say?” while having a disappointed look while Luis is just silently looking straight outside. The vibration of the ship let us, on board, know that the speed is increasing.
According to our original plan, the flagship of the 4 united naval forces, namely Noah, Russia, Merkava and Ursna should be the ‘Pyotr-Class Nuclear Missile Cruiser’ which is owned by the Russian Navy. However, due to Kon’s cooperation it became possible for the magicians of Merkava and Ursna to cast magic in this world. Due to that, the flagship was changed to the ‘‘Improved Iceberg-Type power suit carrier – Mermaid’. According to the Technical Department, this ship can withstand missile bombardment and laser attacks which enemy would likely possess. In addition to that, above all of this things──
(TN: ‘Pyotr-Class Nuclear Missile Cruiser’ is reference to ‘Russian Battlecruiser, Pyotr Velikiy‘. It is the fourth Kirov-class battlecruiser of the Russian Navy)
“Our propulsive force are squids…”
“Captain, Miki-san will be angry again. They are not squids, they are Krakens. It was because of their cooperation that this huge ship can move at 80 knots” (Ellis)
“I know. It was thanks to them that Mermaid which has a total length of 700 meters can move 150 kilometers per hour. However, don’t you feel uneasy when moving at such speed without hearing any engine noise?” (Shuichi)
“Ma~ I can relate to that but thanks for its quietness, torpedoes from enemy submarines can easily be neutralized except for those that are wire-guided. I’m really thankful to them” (Ellis)
“And if there are any torpedo approaching according to wired system, it is caught by the Kraken’s tentacle and eaten…” (Claire) (TN: Wire-guided is a system where a target is set and the torpedo is launch following a route homing to the target position)
“Eh. Honestly, I don’t want to become enemies with them” (Shuichi)
In G-88, I was surprised to know that the Krakens are buying torpedoes and it is their favorite snack after their live mock battles. Miki was so happy since we got a huge amount of rare metals that the Kraken used to trade for torpedoes.
“We got transmition from the ship that have the Transfer Gate. Dragons began their transition into this world and will immediately conduct their flight patrol above the fleet”
When the operator on the bridge said that, magic circles appeared on the port side of the ship and 5 dragons came out from it. Currently, there is no weapon to effectively shoot down flying dragon. (TN: Port side is the left side of the vessel/ship. The right side is called Starboard)
However, there are some exceptions. There is one person who played with a dragon and did flight exercise. They had a dog fight in the sky and when the fool hit the face of the dragon with its pilebunker, the dragon fainted and was defeated. They are just playing that’s why he was able to defeat it but if the dragon is serious, it can fly at a maximum speed of Mach 5 and are able to shoot plasma flames that can melt the armor of powersuits.
“Luis, How can we defeat a dragon?”
“Wasn’t Kouki-kun able to defeat it in the last battle exercise?”
“Idiot, that was just them playing tag. Its different story when the dragon is serious”
“That’s true… Maybe if we had the aircrafts equipped with the Imaginary Weapon that we are currently developing──”
“The sonar detected a stationary torpedo!” (TN: Stationary Torpedo is an old term for mine. In 19th century, the word ‘torpedo’ was generally applied to all underwater explosive devices)
Damn, Stationary torpedoes!? I unconsciously look at Luis then wait for further information from the operator
“Some of the escort Kraken left the fleet… The 18th and 3rd Kraken are heading to the torpedo── the torpedo is now lost in sonar”
Looks like they have eaten their favorite torpedo. However, why 2 of them go there? Under normal circumstances, only 1 would deal with the torpedo. I asked one of the Ursna Mages to contact the Kraken specifically the 18th and 3rd Kraken.
“Submarines detected in Sonar! It seems that it is rapidly trying to escape! The 3rd Kraken starts chasing it. Eh, no…way “
“What’s wrong?”
“The speed of the 3rd Kraken is more than 240knots”
“400km per hour!?” (TN: I wished author would stick only on one measurement)
Certainly, you cannot call the speed of grom torpedo slow but for that thing, that speed is not even a joke… If I remember correctly, the top speed of the torpedo during exercise is 210 knots. However you think about it, 240 knots is too fast.
“Shuichi-sama, according to the Kraken that we contact earlier, the sea water around here is cold and light that is why they can swim faster”
An Ursna Magician answer the question on my mind on why their speed is increasing.
“I understand the cold part but what do you mean by light?”
“Yes, its probably the concentration of magic. In this world, there is little to no magic so the magic in the atmosphere does not interfere with the magic of one’s own”
“I see, so its somewhat similar to no friction…”
“Destruction on part of submarine is detected. It seems only the propeller shaft is destroyed, just like the plan”
Yoshi, First of all we need to have 1 submarine stop their movement. The Kraken did a good job, it is easy to sink them down but it is better to incapacitate them with their communication still intact. The other party will feel fear and confusion while not knowing what really is happening. They won’t even figure out that it was a huge squid that destroyed their propeller shaft.
“Yoshi! That’s good! If we can clean up all the submarine in this area as it is──”
“We are getting response in our anti-air radar. High speed projectiles are approaching the fleet. They seem to be cruise missiles!”
“How many?”
“30!”
“Prepare our anti-air defense! The Dragon Race are also welcome to help”
Are they attacking through the sky right after their attack in sea? In theory this kind of attack method is amazing but is the person whom Miki and Kouki calling a genius will really do such kind of attack. This attack is like an exercise in training books.
“The Dragons are approaching the interception point”
“Captain, something strange is going on. What happening right now is just like an exercise in training books”
Luis seems to have the same idea as me. However, there is nothing else we can do. Its not like we can change our current strategy. There are squads for land operation already standing by in Hakone Base’s Transfer Gate.
“The Cruise Missiles had re-accelerate! It went through the Dragon Race! Also, it seems the missile are gaining altitude! The missiles will be above the fleet in 60 seconds”
“Attention all ships! As soon as the missiles in range, begin in shooting those down”
A two-stage accelerating cruise missile. Ma~ even if a few of them pass through, it won’t be a problem as long as it did not hit us on dangerous parts. We should be more wary of the submarine who can attack us and cause confusion on our landing operation, I should tell this to the operators.
“For now, warn all ships to be careful of the submarines as they might try to attack again”
“Roger that”
“30 seconds before we make contact with the missiles! Th-This is… The missiles splits into many pieces! High number of them are falling from high altitude. Their number is cannot be measured!”
Cluster Missiles? It would be one of the best missile 100 years ago but it is now useless against current military ships. What the hell are they trying to do?
“Impact in 3, 2, 1, now!”
At the same time of the countdown it fell and hit us but these are not cluster missiles, this is──
“The Alarm, Missile Salvo(ミロスラーフ) and all notification and detection system are down… No, we also received same message from other ships. All of the ships detection system are down!” (TN: I tried my best to know what “ミロスラーフ/Mirosurafu” is but I really have no idea. For now, I use Missile Salvo but it is too different and since it is Katakana it should be a foreign word but I think it is not English. Either way, let me know if you know what it is)
“They just used a jamming ammunition, switch in using our submarine detection system and restart the Anti-air radar”
We already expected this situation, we assumed that the enemy will use an EMP attack but did not expect it to be of such magnitude. More than that…
“In our system, we detect the sound of submarine propeller… the number is unknown”
“Shuichi-sama, we got a message from Kraken. We cannot see them but we have confirmed the existence of submarines. The number is more than 40 but all of them seems to be trying to go away from the fleet. What should we do?”
Since they are going away, are they trying to withdraw? Anyway, since they cannot see them it is possible that they are using Stealth Camouflage underwater. Stealth Camouflage in water… No way, could this be their strategy? However, the spy who infiltrated──
“Please tell the Kraken not to chase them. For now, lets maintain the current situation. It is fine if the enemy withdraw. Luis, contact Miki in Hakone Base”
“Understood”
“Roger that”
At the very least, there is no damage in the fleet so we don’t have any problem. However, we should consider on what the enemy is thinking. In that case, we should ask for the advice of Miki and Kouki here──
Author Notes: The founder of New World, Dr. Sandra Zelenskaya is a genuine monster-class genius who surpasses Miki in this world. She is a Russian beauty who can foresaw the future.
Look forward on future developments!
bla bla bla bla bla bla