Previous Chapter: Battle for the Defense of the Mainland 1
Task Force 44
Task Force 44 was a fleet consisting mostly of destroyers. Commander Zem stared at the ocean from the bridge of the flagship of this fleet, the cruiser Dascht Ozean.
“We are now past Riem’s territorial waters and still maintaining radio silence.”
“Hm. The seas have indeed become rough.”
52 ships move in concert through the dark of night as a blanket of radio silence hangs over the fleet.
“Commander! More and more sailors have been wondering about the meaning of our attack tonight.”
The captain asks Commander Zem.
For this operation, their air attack served as their main force. With that in mind, doubts arose as to why their small destroyer force was taking part in the attack. There was no shortage of sailors who held doubts as to why they were there in the first place.
“The meaning… you say?”
“No one feels any doubt about our absolute victory in this attack but in terms of the operation, won’t an air attack be more effective? It’s believed that there’s an operation by the Home Fleet to strike the enemy before we do and if that is indeed the case then the Imperial Army Air Corps should suffice. As such, many sailors also seem to question why the Super Heavy Bombing Unit, considered to be the empire’s prized trump card, is leading the attack.”
“Hmph. I agree that those lot from Navy HQ are acting funny. They don’t know shit. No matter what era we are in, there’s always a disconcert between the top and the scene of combat. They’re taking a country like Japan too fucking seriously. ‘On the same level as Kain’??? If they’d just take a look at their cruiser in Cartalpas then maybe they’d think twice about what they’re saying. At any rate, let’s wipe ‘em out and go home.”
Zem remembers their meeting a while back. They were told to treat Japan’s military capabilities to be on the same level as the Kain Divine Kingdom or higher. Even if their scale were as strong as Kain’s, there were still some reservations regarding the operation. Despite the faint anxiety arising, it was snuffed out by experience and instinct.
“These are our orders. Let’s go and set their city on fire.”
“Yes, sir! As the undefeated Imperial Navy, we will carry out the simple task of shelling Japan and instilling terror into their hearts! With our undeniable skill, we will exhaust our shells on Japanese flesh and steel!”
“Insolent bastards. Only punishment awaits those who had abducted our Crown Prince. They will writhe in pain with the raging flames of… Oh?”
He sees a faint light out at sea. Suddenly, a bright, dazzling light flashes over the ocean.
Boom!!!
After a slight delay, the sound of a violent explosion reverberates across the fleet. A fireball seemingly bigger than a destroyer appears ahead.
“Wha-! What the fuck was that just now?!”
“That looked like it came from the destroyer Stone!!!”
Swoosh… Boom!!!
Another something followed up and sounded like it hit something hard. Another explosion appears.
“A-an enemy attack?!”
“But how?!”
A faint silhouette passes the side of a burning destroyer.
“Is that a rocket? Wait no, it’s changing direction!”
“Bullshit! It changed direction? Don’t be absurd!”
He couldn’t wrap his head around the statement that just came in. For a rocket to change direction like it was guided and hit its target was something impossible. They have never faced such an enemy before. The lack of information among the sailors further accelerated the tragedy.
Buzzers ring out within the ship. The enemy attack which landed successively from God knows where agitated everyone.
“No more!!! Get the radar and radios up and contact home!!! Get us air support, now!!!”
“We can’t reach them through the radio!!! The radar screen is completely white!!! Nothing is showing up!!!”
“F-fuck!!! You gotta be fucking kidding me!!!”
While they were talking, more explosions appeared over the ocean. Agitated and afraid, some anti-aircraft guns fired randomly into the sky.
“M-my men!!!”
The raging flames brought about by a single explosion took from them around 200 men. They were quickly mounting losses. It was agitatedly one-sided.
“W-what do I do-”
Boom!!!
A dazzling flash of light, a shockwave, and scorching heat beset Zem.
“Argh!!! H-hot hot hot!!!”
A missile lands directly on the flagship Dascht Ozean, bathing the superstructure in raging flames in which Zem was caught within. While almost everyone else was killed immediately, he survived the initial hit and was beset by hell-like fire for 3 minutes and 24 seconds until the next missile landed.
5 minutes after the first hit, not a single ship remained unscathed. The Gra Valkas Imperial Navy’s Task Force 44 slowly disappeared into the jet black ocean without even being spared the luxury of reporting back. 15 F-2 fighters of the Japan Air Self Defense Force conducted a saturation attack of air-to-ship guided missiles on them, annihilating every single one.
・・・
Hilkiga, Kingdom of Riem
Voooooooooo
The heavy sound of propellers spinning reverberated across the royal capital.
“Look!!! The Super Heavy Bombing Unit is taking off!!!”
“Woah!!! They’re so massive!!!”
“I could see it now! This is the end of Japan’s cities! Long live the empire!!!”
The soldiers of the Imperial Army watching the Super Heavy Bombing Unit take off scream with great joy. To them, absolute victory awaited them just like always. With victory in sight, they felt proud and well. While there were no doubts they’d win again this time, the sight of the empire’s prized bombers setting out convinced them of their overwhelming success. The Imperial Army Air Corps and the Super Heavy Bombing Unit began to take off.
Facing east, the Imperial Army Air Corps and the Guti Maun bombers from several bases merged into their respective formations. At the same time, the dragon knights of Riem took off and headed south.
The battle for the skies was about to begin.
・・・
Mainland Defense Command, Tokyo, Japan
“Enemy aircraft are now taking off from Riem. Hm?”
“Something wrong?”
“These slow flying objects are headed south towards the direction of the Parpaldia Empire.”
“So wyverns are heading for Parpaldia, huh? This is worrying. Tell Parpaldia that wyverns are heading for them. How many aircraft are taking off from Riem?”
“There are currently 400… 430… It’s still rising!!! There’s so many of them!!!”
Nervousness runs through the command room.
“A total of 548 aircraft have taken off!!!”
Everyone felt irritated that they couldn’t preemptively destroy such a large force of aircraft which were clearly hellbent on attacking them.
“Are we ready to intercept them?”
“We currently have 80 F-15Js and 50 F-2s armed for anti-air combat which are ready to take off. 20 F-15Js are already circling the skies west of Fukui Prefecture on stand-by. Furthermore, 15 F-2s and 40 BP3-Cs armed for ground attack are ready to launch. The MSDF and the GSDF are also ready.”
The dragon carriers of Riem that were headed south have already been sunk by the BP3-Cs. Returning to base after the attack, those same BP3-Cs are now ready to pulverize the airbases.
“Good. Commence anti-air operations! Protect Japan! Don’t let a single one fire a bullet or drop a bomb on Japanese soil! One missed plane could mean the deaths of Japanese citizens!!!”
“Affirmative!!!”
The command room, enveloped in fiery passion, began to get busy. Everyone is determined to eliminate every single enemy.
・・・
The skies east of Riem
“We will soon be leaving Riem’s airspace.”
Division Commander Arley Tolliger was onboard one of the bombers in the center to command the unit personally.
The Guti Maun super heavy bombers were cruising in the stratosphere. A formation of over 200 of these bombers gave off an overwhelming sense of intimidation and even the confidence that they’ll never lose.
“How’s the Army Air Corps doing?”
“They should still be flying low 100km ahead of us. Still, our speed is faster so we may be able to reach Japan’s mainland ahead of them.”
“Once the enemy picks us up on radar, they’d probably find a large formation flying below us. Since we are flying high and fast, they shouldn’t be able to catch us so they’d probably focus on attacking the Army Air Corps.”
“Even if we fly low the enemy would notice that we’re attacking at the same time. We should still be able to deceive them in terms of numbers.”
“So the Army Air Corps is simply a decoy? I feel bad for them.”
“Our speed and power projection is better than the Army Air Corps. I wonder if HQ thought the same. Still, they’re a pretty big formation for a decoy and they’re the dignified and skilled Army Air Corps. Even if they were a decoy they should be able to annihilate Japan’s air corps on their own. There’s no way they’d fall behind a country like Japan. According to the rumors from another country, Japan’s fighter force seems to only consist of 200 fighters. They naturally won’t send every single one of them and even if they were to we still outnumber them.”
“I sure hope that’s the case.”
While they were talking, the crew member manning the radio started to get flustered.
“What’s going on…”
“Something wrong?”
“The Army Air Corps should be in radio silence but it seems that there’s radio chatter coming from them. The sound is bad but…”
Arley Tolliger felt a bad chill run down his spine.
“Connect it to the speaker!!!”
“Bzzzzt-Flight 3 has been wiped out!!! What the f-bzzzzt”
“Bzzzzt-fast!!! I can’t shake ‘em off-bzzzzt”
Silence…
Despite being in the thin air of the stratosphere, the atmosphere within the cabin got heavy.
“What’s happening to them?”
No one was able to answer.
“Tell everyone that the enemy may have possibly made contact with the Army Air Corps!!! Watch your surroundings!!!”
The gunners manning the machine gun turrets glared at the seemingly empty sky. There was no way they’d be able to reach their altitude but it’s possible that their comrades have suffered heavy casualties. Tensions run high.
“Exercise maximum caution!!! Don’t give in to your carele-”
Boom!!!
“B-Bomber 15 has been hit!!!”
The Guti Maun called Bomber 15 flying ahead of them was engulfed in flames. The flames reached the munitions it carried, enveloping Bomber 15 in an intense secondary explosion.
“What the fuck was that just now?!”
Arley Tolliger shouted but no one knew how to respond.
Boom!!!
An unseen attack successively landed hits on the Super Heavy Bombing Unit. The Sky Fortress, supposedly boasting defensive capabilities which prove invincible against machine gun fire, was enveloped in flames one after the other as more of them fell into the sea of clouds below.
“Flight 3 has been shot down!!!”
“Where the fuck are they attacking from?!”
“Something’s flying towards us!!!”
“I can’t control it!!! I’ve lost control!!!”
Several more explosions bloomed into fiery flowers which dotted the clear sky. Having their wings cut, the bombers spun as they fell out of the sky in pieces like shooting stars. The flames of despair fall like rain, signaling an undeniable truth that the operation is lost. The radio was filled with unrecognizable chatter as the formation descended into chaos. Unable to ascertain what was being said, they have no other option but to witness the scene for themselves.
After the storm-like attack ceased, only 83 super heavy bombers were left. In just a single moment, around 120 bombers were wiped out of their ranks.
“What the fuck happened?! This isn’t right! This isn’t right!!! What happened to the Army Air Corps?!”
“I don’t know!!! I’m getting no response!!!”
They lost more than half of their unit in a single attack. In the thin air of the stratosphere, the enemy showed no signs of holding back their attacks. Adding insult to injury, they have not caught a single glimpse of the enemy. In the face of a staggering, irreparable force ratio, Arley Tolliger was convinced their bombing raid on Nagoya had failed.
“Tell all units to fall back!!! Turn back and return to Riem!!!”
“But if we do so then this operation is done for!!! It would be unacceptable for the empire’s prized bombers to fail!!!”
“Are you a dumbass?! There’s less than half of us left!!! We have barely left Riem and yet more than half of us have been shot down!!! This operation is already done for! Our force ratio is clear! We’ve lost more than half of our force and we haven’t even seen a single blemish of the enemy force! ‘They’re on the same level as Kain’??? Don’t give me that shit! Kain doesn’t even compare to these bastards!!! If we continue now we will be annihilated before we even report back!!! Even if we had a thousand Army Air Corps planes we’d probably end up in the same position!!!”
The crew members cowered at Arley Tolliger’s cutthroat expression.
“Y-yes, sir!!! Still, the state of our radio channel is still bad. There’s so much chatter that anything we say won’t go through…”
“Still tell them! They’ll somehow understand. Quick!!! Turn around now if you don’t wanna die!!!”
The order to retreat was issued to everyone. The bomber carrying Arley Tolliger has begun to conduct a bank maneuver to turn around. A sense of relief was felt within the cabin.
“Enemy fighter approaching from below!!!”
At the same time the gunner shouted he began firing a barrage of bullets downwards. Noticing it, the other bombers also began to fire their machine guns. A hail of machine gun fire rained down on the sea of clouds below.
“Something’s coming!!!”
“Bomber 112 is hit!!!”
“I saw it!!! I fucking saw it!!! It was a rocket that hit Bomber 112!!! It was clearly chasing after Bomber 112!!!”
Arley Tolliger lost his words at hearing his subordinate’s statement.
“A-a guided bomb?! No way… Those reports were real?!”
The Gra Valkas Empire is completely used to fighting wars. Countless examples of battlefield legends have been born and some of them were simply exaggerated information. HQ has considered the possibility of guided munitions seriously but when Caesar, commander of the Combined Fleet, requested for the Super Heavy Bombing Unit to sortie, they thought that the unit would achieve a level of success. In other words, he thought that a frontline operation personally led by a commander would be successful and that guided munitions are simply an exaggeration.
Several dozen enemy fighters appeared and climbed up to meet them. They possessed an arrowhead-like airframe with 2 jets of flame jutting from behind them as they displayed an impressive speed and climbing power which trumped their own air superiority fighters. Despite them being already high up in the stratosphere, the enemy fighters slipped past them and disappeared further up into the sky. As they flew past them, several more bombers were engulfed in flames.
Once they slipped past, a deafening and spine-chilling thunderclap reverberated through the cabin.
“They’re fast!!! Where did they come from?!”
“Those bastards had no propellers of any sort!!!”
“Fuck!!! They’re gone!!!”
The gunners whined.
The combat ratio was helplessly clear. Their mood of absolute victory has now completely faded away. They were being shot at as if they were targets in a carnival shooting game, slow and easy to target. Their supposedly flawless bombers were being dropped out of the sky like flies. It was exceedingly maddening.
“They’re back!!!”
The enemy fighters seemed to have turned around with their noses primed towards them. From beyond the range of their machine guns, the enemy fighters launched a guided bomb similar to what they had seen just before.
“Enemy rocket heading for u-”
Arley Tolliger felt a strong, pressing force on his body accompanied by an intense sensation of heat. For a brief moment, he saw the cabin he was riding in get obliterated to pieces before losing consciousness. The commander of the Gra Valkas Empire’s Super Heavy Bombing Unit was killed in the blast that fatally wounded the bomber he was riding in.
150 F-15J and F-2 fighters of the Japan Air Self Defense Force made contact with the 548 aircraft of the Gra Valkas Imperial Army Air Corps and Super Heavy Bombing Unit above the Sea of Japan, shooting down all of them.
・・・
Gra Valkas Empire airbase, Hilkiga, Kingdom of Riem
“Is the radar malfunction still not fixed?”
Murnow, deployed by HQ to the airbase, couldn’t hide his irritation at the radio and radar anomalies which broke out the night before and right after their operation started. They verified in the past that Valkyries base in Mu was attacked when they experienced this same anomaly. There’s a possibility this is by the enemy jamming their radar but what was worrying was that this also happened last night. It might even be possible that the enemy found the radio silent Task Force 44 and attacked them. However, if the airbase tried to reach out to them and they answer back, that would mean that the operation is doomed. Murnow felt even more anxious.
“Changing the frequency and rebooting the radar…”
The person manning the radar rebooted it. Murnow was also glued to the radar screen.
“!!!”
Several dots of light were shown in an area where there shouldn’t be any. Furthermore, the area where the Super Heavy Bombing Unit should be is completely clear. Right after the radar screen returned, it whited out again.
“N-no…!!! The enemy is coming!!! Prepare for anti-air combat!!! Get interceptors up and maximize security in the airspace around the base!!!”
An air raid siren rang out across the airbase. Crewmen hurriedly moved about as interceptors which were already up in the air turned eastwards. Aircraft on standby were rapidly prepared for takeoff.
“N-no… No way…”
Murnow trembled as he mumbled to himself.
“Did the operation fail???”
A terrifying chill ran down his spine as sweat poured from his forehead.
・・・
The skies above Hilkiga
15 F-2 fighters of the Japan Air Self Defense Force were rapidly approaching their target airspace. The fighters’ single engines groaned as they flew ahead. Their objective: to destroy the Gra Valkas Empire airbase’s radar and runway and silence their anti-aircraft guns.
Following protocols, they selected their targets.
“Commence attack! Commence attack!”
LJ-DAM guided bombs dropped from the F-2 fighters accelerated as they fell to rob the Gra Valkas Empire airbase of their eyes and hands.
Previous Chapter: Battle for the Defense of the Mainland 1
Task Force 44
Task Force 44 was a fleet consisting mostly of destroyers. Commander Zem stared at the ocean from the bridge of the flagship of this fleet, the cruiser Dascht Ozean.
“We are now past Riem’s territorial waters and still maintaining radio silence.”
“Hm. The seas have indeed become rough.”
52 ships move in concert through the dark of night as a blanket of radio silence hangs over the fleet.
“Commander! More and more sailors have been wondering about the meaning of our attack tonight.”
The captain asks Commander Zem.
For this operation, their air attack served as their main force. With that in mind, doubts arose as to why their small destroyer force was taking part in the attack. There was no shortage of sailors who held doubts as to why they were there in the first place.
“The meaning… you say?”
“No one feels any doubt about our absolute victory in this attack but in terms of the operation, won’t an air attack be more effective? It’s believed that there’s an operation by the Home Fleet to strike the enemy before we do and if that is indeed the case then the Imperial Army Air Corps should suffice. As such, many sailors also seem to question why the Super Heavy Bombing Unit, considered to be the empire’s prized trump card, is leading the attack.”
“Hmph. I agree that those lot from Navy HQ are acting funny. They don’t know shit. No matter what era we are in, there’s always a disconcert between the top and the scene of combat. They’re taking a country like Japan too fucking seriously. ‘On the same level as Kain’??? If they’d just take a look at their cruiser in Cartalpas then maybe they’d think twice about what they’re saying. At any rate, let’s wipe ‘em out and go home.”
Zem remembers their meeting a while back. They were told to treat Japan’s military capabilities to be on the same level as the Kain Divine Kingdom or higher. Even if their scale were as strong as Kain’s, there were still some reservations regarding the operation. Despite the faint anxiety arising, it was snuffed out by experience and instinct.
“These are our orders. Let’s go and set their city on fire.”
“Yes, sir! As the undefeated Imperial Navy, we will carry out the simple task of shelling Japan and instilling terror into their hearts! With our undeniable skill, we will exhaust our shells on Japanese flesh and steel!”
“Insolent bastards. Only punishment awaits those who had abducted our Crown Prince. They will writhe in pain with the raging flames of… Oh?”
He sees a faint light out at sea. Suddenly, a bright, dazzling light flashes over the ocean.
Boom!!!
After a slight delay, the sound of a violent explosion reverberates across the fleet. A fireball seemingly bigger than a destroyer appears ahead.
“Wha-! What the fuck was that just now?!”
“That looked like it came from the destroyer Stone!!!”
Swoosh… Boom!!!
Another something followed up and sounded like it hit something hard. Another explosion appears.
“A-an enemy attack?!”
“But how?!”
A faint silhouette passes the side of a burning destroyer.
“Is that a rocket? Wait no, it’s changing direction!”
“Bullshit! It changed direction? Don’t be absurd!”
He couldn’t wrap his head around the statement that just came in. For a rocket to change direction like it was guided and hit its target was something impossible. They have never faced such an enemy before. The lack of information among the sailors further accelerated the tragedy.
Buzzers ring out within the ship. The enemy attack which landed successively from God knows where agitated everyone.
“No more!!! Get the radar and radios up and contact home!!! Get us air support, now!!!”
“We can’t reach them through the radio!!! The radar screen is completely white!!! Nothing is showing up!!!”
“F-fuck!!! You gotta be fucking kidding me!!!”
While they were talking, more explosions appeared over the ocean. Agitated and afraid, some anti-aircraft guns fired randomly into the sky.
“M-my men!!!”
The raging flames brought about by a single explosion took from them around 200 men. They were quickly mounting losses. It was agitatedly one-sided.
“W-what do I do-”
Boom!!!
A dazzling flash of light, a shockwave, and scorching heat beset Zem.
“Argh!!! H-hot hot hot!!!”
A missile lands directly on the flagship Dascht Ozean, bathing the superstructure in raging flames in which Zem was caught within. While almost everyone else was killed immediately, he survived the initial hit and was beset by hell-like fire for 3 minutes and 24 seconds until the next missile landed.
5 minutes after the first hit, not a single ship remained unscathed. The Gra Valkas Imperial Navy’s Task Force 44 slowly disappeared into the jet black ocean without even being spared the luxury of reporting back. 15 F-2 fighters of the Japan Air Self Defense Force conducted a saturation attack of air-to-ship guided missiles on them, annihilating every single one.
・・・
Hilkiga, Kingdom of Riem
Voooooooooo
The heavy sound of propellers spinning reverberated across the royal capital.
“Look!!! The Super Heavy Bombing Unit is taking off!!!”
“Woah!!! They’re so massive!!!”
“I could see it now! This is the end of Japan’s cities! Long live the empire!!!”
The soldiers of the Imperial Army watching the Super Heavy Bombing Unit take off scream with great joy. To them, absolute victory awaited them just like always. With victory in sight, they felt proud and well. While there were no doubts they’d win again this time, the sight of the empire’s prized bombers setting out convinced them of their overwhelming success. The Imperial Army Air Corps and the Super Heavy Bombing Unit began to take off.
Facing east, the Imperial Army Air Corps and the Guti Maun bombers from several bases merged into their respective formations. At the same time, the dragon knights of Riem took off and headed south.
The battle for the skies was about to begin.
・・・
Mainland Defense Command, Tokyo, Japan
“Enemy aircraft are now taking off from Riem. Hm?”
“Something wrong?”
“These slow flying objects are headed south towards the direction of the Parpaldia Empire.”
“So wyverns are heading for Parpaldia, huh? This is worrying. Tell Parpaldia that wyverns are heading for them. How many aircraft are taking off from Riem?”
“There are currently 400… 430… It’s still rising!!! There’s so many of them!!!”
Nervousness runs through the command room.
“A total of 548 aircraft have taken off!!!”
Everyone felt irritated that they couldn’t preemptively destroy such a large force of aircraft which were clearly hellbent on attacking them.
“Are we ready to intercept them?”
“We currently have 80 F-15Js and 50 F-2s armed for anti-air combat which are ready to take off. 20 F-15Js are already circling the skies west of Fukui Prefecture on stand-by. Furthermore, 15 F-2s and 40 BP3-Cs armed for ground attack are ready to launch. The MSDF and the GSDF are also ready.”
The dragon carriers of Riem that were headed south have already been sunk by the BP3-Cs. Returning to base after the attack, those same BP3-Cs are now ready to pulverize the airbases.
“Good. Commence anti-air operations! Protect Japan! Don’t let a single one fire a bullet or drop a bomb on Japanese soil! One missed plane could mean the deaths of Japanese citizens!!!”
“Affirmative!!!”
The command room, enveloped in fiery passion, began to get busy. Everyone is determined to eliminate every single enemy.
・・・
The skies east of Riem
“We will soon be leaving Riem’s airspace.”
Division Commander Arley Tolliger was onboard one of the bombers in the center to command the unit personally.
The Guti Maun super heavy bombers were cruising in the stratosphere. A formation of over 200 of these bombers gave off an overwhelming sense of intimidation and even the confidence that they’ll never lose.
“How’s the Army Air Corps doing?”
“They should still be flying low 100km ahead of us. Still, our speed is faster so we may be able to reach Japan’s mainland ahead of them.”
“Once the enemy picks us up on radar, they’d probably find a large formation flying below us. Since we are flying high and fast, they shouldn’t be able to catch us so they’d probably focus on attacking the Army Air Corps.”
“Even if we fly low the enemy would notice that we’re attacking at the same time. We should still be able to deceive them in terms of numbers.”
“So the Army Air Corps is simply a decoy? I feel bad for them.”
“Our speed and power projection is better than the Army Air Corps. I wonder if HQ thought the same. Still, they’re a pretty big formation for a decoy and they’re the dignified and skilled Army Air Corps. Even if they were a decoy they should be able to annihilate Japan’s air corps on their own. There’s no way they’d fall behind a country like Japan. According to the rumors from another country, Japan’s fighter force seems to only consist of 200 fighters. They naturally won’t send every single one of them and even if they were to we still outnumber them.”
“I sure hope that’s the case.”
While they were talking, the crew member manning the radio started to get flustered.
“What’s going on…”
“Something wrong?”
“The Army Air Corps should be in radio silence but it seems that there’s radio chatter coming from them. The sound is bad but…”
Arley Tolliger felt a bad chill run down his spine.
“Connect it to the speaker!!!”
“Bzzzzt-Flight 3 has been wiped out!!! What the f-bzzzzt”
“Bzzzzt-fast!!! I can’t shake ‘em off-bzzzzt”
Silence…
Despite being in the thin air of the stratosphere, the atmosphere within the cabin got heavy.
“What’s happening to them?”
No one was able to answer.
“Tell everyone that the enemy may have possibly made contact with the Army Air Corps!!! Watch your surroundings!!!”
The gunners manning the machine gun turrets glared at the seemingly empty sky. There was no way they’d be able to reach their altitude but it’s possible that their comrades have suffered heavy casualties. Tensions run high.
“Exercise maximum caution!!! Don’t give in to your carele-”
Boom!!!
“B-Bomber 15 has been hit!!!”
The Guti Maun called Bomber 15 flying ahead of them was engulfed in flames. The flames reached the munitions it carried, enveloping Bomber 15 in an intense secondary explosion.
“What the fuck was that just now?!”
Arley Tolliger shouted but no one knew how to respond.
Boom!!!
An unseen attack successively landed hits on the Super Heavy Bombing Unit. The Sky Fortress, supposedly boasting defensive capabilities which prove invincible against machine gun fire, was enveloped in flames one after the other as more of them fell into the sea of clouds below.
“Flight 3 has been shot down!!!”
“Where the fuck are they attacking from?!”
“Something’s flying towards us!!!”
“I can’t control it!!! I’ve lost control!!!”
Several more explosions bloomed into fiery flowers which dotted the clear sky. Having their wings cut, the bombers spun as they fell out of the sky in pieces like shooting stars. The flames of despair fall like rain, signaling an undeniable truth that the operation is lost. The radio was filled with unrecognizable chatter as the formation descended into chaos. Unable to ascertain what was being said, they have no other option but to witness the scene for themselves.
After the storm-like attack ceased, only 83 super heavy bombers were left. In just a single moment, around 120 bombers were wiped out of their ranks.
“What the fuck happened?! This isn’t right! This isn’t right!!! What happened to the Army Air Corps?!”
“I don’t know!!! I’m getting no response!!!”
They lost more than half of their unit in a single attack. In the thin air of the stratosphere, the enemy showed no signs of holding back their attacks. Adding insult to injury, they have not caught a single glimpse of the enemy. In the face of a staggering, irreparable force ratio, Arley Tolliger was convinced their bombing raid on Nagoya had failed.
“Tell all units to fall back!!! Turn back and return to Riem!!!”
“But if we do so then this operation is done for!!! It would be unacceptable for the empire’s prized bombers to fail!!!”
“Are you a dumbass?! There’s less than half of us left!!! We have barely left Riem and yet more than half of us have been shot down!!! This operation is already done for! Our force ratio is clear! We’ve lost more than half of our force and we haven’t even seen a single blemish of the enemy force! ‘They’re on the same level as Kain’??? Don’t give me that shit! Kain doesn’t even compare to these bastards!!! If we continue now we will be annihilated before we even report back!!! Even if we had a thousand Army Air Corps planes we’d probably end up in the same position!!!”
The crew members cowered at Arley Tolliger’s cutthroat expression.
“Y-yes, sir!!! Still, the state of our radio channel is still bad. There’s so much chatter that anything we say won’t go through…”
“Still tell them! They’ll somehow understand. Quick!!! Turn around now if you don’t wanna die!!!”
The order to retreat was issued to everyone. The bomber carrying Arley Tolliger has begun to conduct a bank maneuver to turn around. A sense of relief was felt within the cabin.
“Enemy fighter approaching from below!!!”
At the same time the gunner shouted he began firing a barrage of bullets downwards. Noticing it, the other bombers also began to fire their machine guns. A hail of machine gun fire rained down on the sea of clouds below.
“Something’s coming!!!”
“Bomber 112 is hit!!!”
“I saw it!!! I fucking saw it!!! It was a rocket that hit Bomber 112!!! It was clearly chasing after Bomber 112!!!”
Arley Tolliger lost his words at hearing his subordinate’s statement.
“A-a guided bomb?! No way… Those reports were real?!”
The Gra Valkas Empire is completely used to fighting wars. Countless examples of battlefield legends have been born and some of them were simply exaggerated information. HQ has considered the possibility of guided munitions seriously but when Caesar, commander of the Combined Fleet, requested for the Super Heavy Bombing Unit to sortie, they thought that the unit would achieve a level of success. In other words, he thought that a frontline operation personally led by a commander would be successful and that guided munitions are simply an exaggeration.
Several dozen enemy fighters appeared and climbed up to meet them. They possessed an arrowhead-like airframe with 2 jets of flame jutting from behind them as they displayed an impressive speed and climbing power which trumped their own air superiority fighters. Despite them being already high up in the stratosphere, the enemy fighters slipped past them and disappeared further up into the sky. As they flew past them, several more bombers were engulfed in flames.
Once they slipped past, a deafening and spine-chilling thunderclap reverberated through the cabin.
“They’re fast!!! Where did they come from?!”
“Those bastards had no propellers of any sort!!!”
“Fuck!!! They’re gone!!!”
The gunners whined.
The combat ratio was helplessly clear. Their mood of absolute victory has now completely faded away. They were being shot at as if they were targets in a carnival shooting game, slow and easy to target. Their supposedly flawless bombers were being dropped out of the sky like flies. It was exceedingly maddening.
“They’re back!!!”
The enemy fighters seemed to have turned around with their noses primed towards them. From beyond the range of their machine guns, the enemy fighters launched a guided bomb similar to what they had seen just before.
“Enemy rocket heading for u-”
Arley Tolliger felt a strong, pressing force on his body accompanied by an intense sensation of heat. For a brief moment, he saw the cabin he was riding in get obliterated to pieces before losing consciousness. The commander of the Gra Valkas Empire’s Super Heavy Bombing Unit was killed in the blast that fatally wounded the bomber he was riding in.
150 F-15J and F-2 fighters of the Japan Air Self Defense Force made contact with the 548 aircraft of the Gra Valkas Imperial Army Air Corps and Super Heavy Bombing Unit above the Sea of Japan, shooting down all of them.
・・・
Gra Valkas Empire airbase, Hilkiga, Kingdom of Riem
“Is the radar malfunction still not fixed?”
Murnow, deployed by HQ to the airbase, couldn’t hide his irritation at the radio and radar anomalies which broke out the night before and right after their operation started. They verified in the past that Valkyries base in Mu was attacked when they experienced this same anomaly. There’s a possibility this is by the enemy jamming their radar but what was worrying was that this also happened last night. It might even be possible that the enemy found the radio silent Task Force 44 and attacked them. However, if the airbase tried to reach out to them and they answer back, that would mean that the operation is doomed. Murnow felt even more anxious.
“Changing the frequency and rebooting the radar…”
The person manning the radar rebooted it. Murnow was also glued to the radar screen.
“!!!”
Several dots of light were shown in an area where there shouldn’t be any. Furthermore, the area where the Super Heavy Bombing Unit should be is completely clear. Right after the radar screen returned, it whited out again.
“N-no…!!! The enemy is coming!!! Prepare for anti-air combat!!! Get interceptors up and maximize security in the airspace around the base!!!”
An air raid siren rang out across the airbase. Crewmen hurriedly moved about as interceptors which were already up in the air turned eastwards. Aircraft on standby were rapidly prepared for takeoff.
“N-no… No way…”
Murnow trembled as he mumbled to himself.
“Did the operation fail???”
A terrifying chill ran down his spine as sweat poured from his forehead.
・・・
The skies above Hilkiga
15 F-2 fighters of the Japan Air Self Defense Force were rapidly approaching their target airspace. The fighters’ single engines groaned as they flew ahead. Their objective: to destroy the Gra Valkas Empire airbase’s radar and runway and silence their anti-aircraft guns.
Following protocols, they selected their targets.
“Commence attack! Commence attack!”
LJ-DAM guided bombs dropped from the F-2 fighters accelerated as they fell to rob the Gra Valkas Empire airbase of their eyes and hands.
