He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 243

Of course, I didn’t immediately launch a military operation based solely on fragmentary intelligence.

It’s not that I distrust the intelligence brought by agents risking their lives, but cross-verification is necessary, and even after cross-verification, separate reconnaissance is required.

“Already three reconnaissance ships have been hit?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We attempted reconnaissance with frigate-class fast ships, but all were hit by unidentified rays. Fortunately, all but one managed to return, but the ships had to be abandoned.”

“So, it wasn’t an empty boast that it was fortified.”

Moreover, it’s armed with unidentified, powerful ray weapons. This alone is quite burdensome.

“We have no choice but to accept the damage.”

“That would be the case with our current forces, Your Majesty. But we also have new weapons.”

“Are you thinking of using them already? I thought training wasn’t complete yet?”

“Using this actual combat as training wouldn’t be a bad choice.”

Thinking of using ‘that’… Now that we’ve already brought out the airships, there’s no reason to hide it.

Above all, technology is advancing quite rapidly after absorbing the Celestial Realm.

“Alright, let’s give it a try.”

* * *

The quiet sea was being crossed by the Imperial Navy.

The sky was full of airships, and the sea was full of ships.

Their target was an island in the southern sea of the Western Territory, occupied by the Beast King’s beastmen.

Although they are well-armed, it didn’t seem difficult to defeat them with this scale of navy, so we revealed the navy.

“Admiral! We’ve reached the vicinity of the enemy’s maximum range.”

“Good, let’s begin. All ships, disperse formation. Prepare for the enemy’s response.”

The Imperial Fleet’s direction was to strike from the south and east.

The naval fleet would encircle from the south, and the airship fleet from the east.

Although some reconnaissance frigates were hit, the ships deployed this time were battleships.

After the Beast King crossed the sea, the Imperial Navy had also been paying attention to naval developments.

They anticipated that someday the navy might have to fight the demons as well as the beastmen of the Southern Continent.

Of course, they didn’t expect the Beast King to take over the entire Southern Continent in just 10 years.

“They fortified the island? Then let’s see if they can handle a sea fortress.”

The admiral said confidently and looked at the island through a telescope.

Then, movement was detected on the island.

“Is that the enemy navy?”

“So, the enemy also had a navy.”

“They should, unless they’re idiots. It’s as we expected.”

The beastmen of the Southern Continent tame ‘Krakens’ to use as ships. Considering that even the Abyssals used ships like assault boats, it feels unbalanced.

But there was a reason why they made that choice.

“Those are Prism Krakens. They’ll try to shoot rays, so prepare for fire.”

There was a huge crystal core embedded in the head of the Krakens, and what was emitted from that core like reflected light was the identity of the rays that destroyed the reconnaissance ships.

They couldn’t use conventional ships because they used bio-energy to emit destructive rays. The beastmen were excellent at creating these unique ‘chimeras’ [genetically modified creatures].

Ziiiiiiii-

“Direct hit by a ray! The Orlant has been hit!”

“The Calival is sinking!”

“Fire on the Emperor’s Grace!”

“Respond calmly! Ships without damage, quickly prepare for counter-fire!”

We’re losing in the range battle. Gunpowder or magic-triggered weapons can’t reach as far as rays.

But battleships had their own toughness. They had higher durability than most creatures, and some of these battleships had experimental attempts added to them.

“Armored battleships lead the way! Activate the magic engines!”

“Aye, aye, sir!”

Ordinary battleships don’t have iron armor. It’s not that they can’t, but they rely on wind power, so they become too heavy and slow down.

But that means, conversely, it would be a problem that could be solved if they obtained power other than wind power.

The huge paddle wheels of the ‘Armed Armored Battleship’ equipped with magic engines began to move, gaining additional speed.

In addition, the iron armor of the armored battleships could not be easily burned by the rays that easily burned other ships.

“Good! We endured! Battleship fleet, fire all at once! Target the enemy navy!”

About 200 cannons per ship began to fire all at once.

The target was the beastman navy, including the Prism Krakens.

Solid bullets fired from the cannons relentlessly battered the huge Krakens. Many of them became bloody messes.

They were biological weapons, no matter how large, and could not be completely invincible against mass weapons like cannons.

It’s just that they were still enduring because the distance was far; if they were closer, they would have been smashed long ago.

“Good! Full speed ahead again! Close the distance and finish them off!”

The admiral made an even bolder decision. There’s no reason to insist on a long-range shooting battle.

Trust the durability of the battleships and go and finish them off.

It was calculated that the power of the rays could be overwhelmed if the distance was narrowed.

In fact, his calculations were not wrong. But not everything goes according to plan.

“A, Admiral! Look there!”

“No……!”

At that time, a huge being hidden on the other side of the island rose into the sky and revealed itself.

It was a being that looked like a giant whale.

“They also had air power!”

“Be careful!”

The huge body itself replaced a huge ship.

Prism crystals were embedded all over the body, and the numerous wyvern riders on top of the body began to fly.

They ignored the airships firing cannons and targeted the ships first.

Airships are relatively agile and difficult to target, but ships are not.

The rays were also more powerful than those fired by the Prism Krakens, exceeding the limit that battleships could withstand.

“Wyvern riders are coming!”

“Damn it, we have no anti-air measures!”

As a last resort, the marines of the battleships fired muskets into the sky, but that was not enough.

Soon, bombs thrown by the wyvern riders began to strike the battleship fleet.

Bang! Kwakwang!

“Kuk!”

“Admiral! Orders! We must retreat immediately!”

“There is no retreat for the Imperial Navy! Hold your ground!”

“But at this rate…….”

“Look there, look there!”

“……!”

As they began to be relentlessly hit by bombs, the adjutant who had requested a retreat was soon delighted to see the direction the admiral was pointing.

Boooooo-

Those who flew in with a sound like bees flying, shooting rays and rockets at the wyvern riders.

Pweeong! Bang! Pweeong!

They were magic-powered airplanes launched from airships.

“Our secret weapon.”

“It was true that small aircraft were being developed in addition to airships!”

The secret weapon that the Emperor had envisioned for this battle was that.

A small fighter that is far smaller than an airship, but therefore more agile and can be produced in large numbers.

It was an excellent aircraft for dealing with a large number of flying objects, like now.

Of course, it was a woefully inadequate sight in the eyes of the Emperor, who had lived in modern society.

Even though the engine was replaced with a magic engine, it still had the form of a biplane due to a lack of research on flight dynamics.

Even more unsatisfactory was the armament. They shoot lightning and rays with technology harvested from the Celestial Realm, and concrete-level rockets, but they were inferior weapons compared to machine guns.

Due to the circumstances of the Empire, which still could not escape the musket for various reasons, machine guns could not be attached.

Even if they were forcibly made, the size and weight would be too large, hindering flight and making it impossible to mount them.

But even if it wasn’t a machine gun, it was enough to deal with wyvern riders.

At least, there was no need to give up the sky defenselessly.

“Now is the time, leave the sky to them and we will advance at full speed again!”

“Aye, aye, sir!”

Following the admiral’s orders, the battleship fleet, emboldened, began to advance at full speed again.

* * *

“Very satisfactory for the first time.”

There were many unsatisfactory aspects of the ‘first airplane’ in many ways, but I decided to stop saying bad things after seeing the pilots fighting without being inferior to the wyvern riders, even though it was their first actual battle.

“I am sorry, but there are still many shortcomings. Shamefully, there are still things that have not been unlocked due to technical restrictions…….”

“Can you expect to be full with one spoon, Ambassador James? I am grateful just for your efforts.”

Ambassador James seemed to be slightly dissatisfied with the ‘rules of the game’ that could not keep up with the technology of the Human Federation, but there was no way to help it.

Well, if we are at this level, we should assume that the enemy is at a similar or slightly lower level, so we have no choice but to be satisfied with that.

“There are some losses of pilots. They will be treated as knights from now on.”

“Existing knights may be dissatisfied.”

“Commander of the Guard, from now on, knights must know how to do more. You must understand that a knight who only knows how to wield a sword is no different from a commoner.”

“…Unfortunately, that is the flow of the times.”

It’s a bit of a fading word in the jet age, but even up to World War II, pilots were called knights of the sky.

Well, that’s actually the story up to World War I, and by World War II, chivalry was already given to dogs, and they were just fighting each other.

“Anyway… it seems like they knew we were coming. The defense was more than I expected.”

“I’m glad we weren’t careless, but at this point, we have to doubt their intentions.”

“Yes… that’s right.”

Those guys knew we were coming.

It wasn’t that our intelligence was exposed.

They just threw out some delicious bait. Or they made a military provocation that we couldn’t stand without stopping.

But why would they do something that they knew would be blocked like this? If they can’t float the floating island, they’ll just bring us one unfinished floating island?

“There’s no possibility that what they’re making isn’t a floating island. The intelligence wasn’t wrong. But it hasn’t been clearly revealed yet what the floating island is for.”

“Do you have any guesses?”

What I can guess… there are many things that come to mind, but in this situation…….

“Trojan horse…….”

“Yes?”

“There is such a thing. If those guys were planning to hand over that floating island to us in the end, it means there’s something trapped in it.”

What that is was a problem that had to be carefully investigated.

“If we occupy that spare floating island, we should explore it once. However, it must never be brought into the Imperial Territory until it is confirmed to be safe.”

I’m not stupid enough to let in a Trojan horse [a deceptive tactic] knowing it’s there.

As soon as I made that decision, the enemy navy began to retreat.