The Mighty Divine Dragon Ilx

Battle of the Folk Strait (Part 3) ①

Gra Valkas Imperial Navy Eastern Fleet

"What did you say!? Annihilated!?"

"Y-yes, sir... According to the transmission, it seems we couldn't inflict any damage on the enemy fleet..."

"How is this possible...?"

At the bridge of the Pegasus-class aircraft carrier Enif, Varitas, serving as the acting commander of the fleet, staggered involuntarily. It was unavoidable. After all, out of the massive formation of 200 planes, only 17 survived, with the added disappointment of being unable to inflict even the slightest damage to the enemy fleet.

...To be precise, they did manage to hit the Kingdom of Irnetia's Twilight with a 500 kg bomb, but no one could confirm it, and the fire was quickly extinguished, so it went unnoticed.

"W-with this, the second wave will..."

"It's impossible... I'm afraid."

In the original plan, the first wave was supposed to return a bit more intact. The Divine Dragon hasn't come to this place—because the mainland served as its deterrent, it shouldn't be able to come—such speculations were made, and it was believed that they wouldn't fall behind to barbarians if not for that! The perception that the Zigrant 2s, which had shown up in the battle against the 0th Magic Fleet, were weak, further fueled this belief.

However, the results showed only 5 Sirius dive bombers and 12 Rigel torpedo bombers returning. Not all of them were in working condition, so the second wave could only launch around 40 planes, and not one among them would include the Antares. The exact remaining strength of the enemy was unknown, but launching them now would likely result in a repeat of the first wave, as they would be nothing more than targets without escort.

"Incoming transmission from the Magellan. They have made contact with the enemy formation."

"Ugh..."

At that moment, a transmission came in from the Magellan, which was sailing to block the strait.

"Magellan... you must endure..."

Watching the aircraft landing, he muttered anxiously to himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"FIRE, FIRE, FIIIIIIIIREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Explosions, bursts, and more explosions. The Gra Valkas Empire's largest battleship, the Magellan, was currently engulfed in such chaos. The sky was covered in black smoke, and tracer rounds filled the gaps. Occasionally, air units caught in the chaos would burst into flames and crash.

At this moment, a small fleet consisting of the Magellan, two Taurus-class heavy cruisers, and three Canis Minor-class destroyers was under attack by the Holy Mirishial Empire's airstrike launched from a naval base near Cartalpas. The close air support planes had already been wiped out by surviving Elpacios, lightning dragons, and wind dragons. There was a total of 42 planes, including 38 multirole Zigrant 2s and 4 new Zigrant 4s. In particular, the Zigrant 4s were equipped with the new aerial magic torpedo capable of sinking even battleships with sufficient numbers. With a significantly increased speed, reaching a top speed of 690 km/h, it surpassed any aircraft in the Gra Valkas Empire, making it capable of engaging in aerial combat even against an Antares, provided the torpedoes were jettisoned.

"Portside high-angle gun hit!! Fire outbreak!!"

"Extinguish the fire quickly!"

Even now, a 520 kg magic bomb dropped from a missed aircraft hit the Magellan. Although it didn't cause significant damage to its massive structure, the explosion undoubtedly destroyed the AA gun and incinerated the machine gun crew, effectively diminishing the morale of the soldiers. Furthermore, the dive bombers had been targeting the port side intensively since earlier. With that bomb, most of the anti-air weapons on the port side had been destroyed. If it happened again—