30 km north of Erde city
10 AM
The Gra Valkas army that attacked Erde city from the direction of Leigor's capital, Leiforia, was approaching Erde city. The Mu Empire air force constantly attacked Gra Valkas troops. The result was the same as the troops attacking from the south, they were exhausted from almost 24 hours of battle. However, the advantage of the troops attacking from the north was that there were no Mu Empire troops attacking from the rear, and the troops could always be resupplied even if most of the supplies were lost due to attacks by Mu Empire aircraft.
Similarly, although the casualties were very high, they were able to slowly replace the lost forces because the route to Gra Valkas' power center, Leiforia, in Leifor was still open.
Since the morning, the Mu Empire troops have carried out hit-and-run attacks followed by aerial attacks that have hampered the movement of the Gra Valkas troops. But slowly but surely, the Gra Valkas troops continued to advance towards the city of Erde. The Mu Empire troops also knew that, so they continued to strengthen their defenses on the north side of the city before the enemy troops arrived. They used a delaying tactic so that the attacks from the north and south did not happen at once in the city of Erde.
After the defeat of Gra Valkas' troops in the south of Erde city, most of the troops in the south were immediately moved to the north. Similarly, the newly arrived Field Army C was positioned in the north to make a breakthrough in the enemy forces if possible. The Mu Empire was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Field Army A and B, as the arrival of the two groups would cause them to have enough strength to break the enemy and make a breakthrough or counterattack towards Leiforia.
The 76mm caliber cannons that the Mu Empire had were all placed on the front line so that they would be able to bombard the enemy when they reached a distance of 20km from Erde. However, vehicles to pull the cannons to the back line were also prepared, so that if the enemy could later approach the position of the cannons, then they could move them to a safe place near the city of Erde.
The hit-and-run attacks from the Mu Empire troops took the toll of almost half a division of Gra Valkas, plus each attack caused a choke point that made the follow-up airstrikes from the Mu Empire very deadly. The combination of the two attacks had already caused Gra Valkas to lose the equivalent of nearly two divisions, as well as a large number of tanks and combat vehicles. But the attacks also took their toll on the Mu Empire's side. Almost one company from the Mu Empire fell victim to the Gra Valkas.
Eventually, Gra Valkas' troops reached the range of the Mu Empire's field artillery. Not only were they harassed by hit-and-run attacks and air attacks, but they also received almost continuous field artillery attacks from the Mu Empire. This caused the pace of the Gra Valkas army to slow down.
In the end, the schedule of the Gra Valkas attack was so delayed that at dusk, they were still about 15 km away from Erde. The almost continuous explosion of mines caused the Gra Valkas troop leader to conclude that the road from where they were to the city of Erde was filled with mines, so an attack at night was really not possible. In the end, they stopped at that place, and although they could not set up tents, the Gra Valkas troops tried to rest.
The Mu Empire troops' artillery, air, and small attacks kept the Gra Valkasi troops from sleeping for almost the entire night. It was enough to cause the already exhausted Gra Valkas troops to be unable to rest and become even more exhausted at dawn.
---oOo---
10 km from Leiforia, the capital of Leifor
Leiforia military complex.
12:00 noon.
Leiforia military base is a military base that was once used by the Leifor army to protect their capital. It is currently used as the headquarters of the Gra Valkas forces in Leifor. However, most of their top leaders were based in the former Leifor defense ministry building in the capital Laifor itself,because it had better facilities and was not far away.
The military base had excellent air and ground defenses because it was home to more than three army divisions. It is almost impossible to carry out a surprise attack on the military base, especially because of the current conditions. The base is in a state of constant readiness. All weapons are always manned. especially considering that the Mu Empire nearly completely destroyed all of the radars in Laifor.
Because it was currently lunchtime, the bustle inside the military base was quite loud, and as a result, no one inside could hear the distant roar of the airplane engines. The aircraft were the F1 and Marin fighters of the Mu Empire. A number of F1 fighters were configured to carry 2 AS-1 missiles and 2 AA-1 missiles, while the Marin fighters carried 2 100 kg bombs reinforced with magic stone dust boosters and a FFAR canister containing 5 FFARs. There are a total of 20 F1 fighters, of which 12 are configured as ground attackers carrying AS-1 missiles and the rest carrying only AA-1 missiles. In addition, there were also 24 Marin fighters who participated in the attack. They flew at very low altitudes to avoid detection from the Gra Valkas.
The Mu Empire's fighters fired the AS-1 missiles at extreme range, slightly below 25 km, at a very low altitude, making it difficult for the enemy to detect. The AS-1 missile soon reached a speed of 1,150 km/h and took less than 1.5 minutes to reach its target.
In the midst of the busy lunch and break at the military base, there were 24 powerful explosions that destroyed the air defense system of the military base. The AA cannon positions were blown to pieces. Because of the suddenness of the attack, it took several minutes for all military personnel on the base who were in a state of shock to quickly take up defensive positions. This precious time allowed Marin's fighters to reach the firing range of his FFAR. The FFAR salvos were aimed at targets such as the canteen building, the fort, the ammunition depot, and others. All of these targets were already known using satellite observations by the Myto Empire. As a result, many Gra Valkas soldiers were trapped in the buildings, and the explosions also began to ignite the stored ammunition.
Almost simultaneously with the explosions from the FFAR, F1 fighters passed by the military base and began strafing several areas of the military base, causing casualties on the Gra Valkas side to increase. The F1 fighters then immediately climbed to an altitude of 2000 meters to protect the attacking Marin aircraft.
Less than a minute later, Marin from the Mu Empire arrived above the base and began bombing all the buildings. The 100 kg light bomb reinforced with the magic stone dust booster exploded with an explosion equivalent to a 250 kg bomb, which was strong enough to destroy the buildings in the military base. No building was spared from the bombardment.
Because the AS-1 missiles had destroyed the base's air defense system, the Marin fighters were able to bomb unopposed. The Gra Valkas troops below could only fire handgun and occasionally rifle fire, which, of course, could not hit the Marin fighters. Sometimes the Marin fighters fired back at the Gra Valkas soldiers with a barrage of 12.7mm fire.
The Marin fighters circled back towards the base after the bombing. They began firing the remaining FFAR they carried at groups of Gra Valkas soldiers or at the combat vehicles parked at the military base. Once the FFAR was exhausted, the Marin fighters began firing their 12.7mm machine guns at all remaining targets.
After nearly 5 minutes of attack, all of the Mu Empire fighters finally began to leave the military base to return to their bases. The Marin fighters quickly gained altitude to join the F1 fighters, and all flew away from the Gra Valkas military base.
The Mu Empire's fighters left the Gra Valkas military base badly damaged. The casualties on the Gra Valkas side were very high. Flames were still towering from a number of burned military buildings and vehicles. Explosions of ammunition coming from the ammunition depot sometimes threw burning ammunition boxes or ammunition in different directions, making it difficult to put out the fire. This caused additional damage at the military base.
Since the buildings, including the communication center, were destroyed, no news of the attack reached the military leadership office in Leiforia. They only became aware of the attack nearly 20 minutes after the Mu Empire attack ended. Fire-fighting assistance and ambulances arrived to help extinguish the fire and treat the victims of the Mu Empire attack.
---oOo---
Gra Valkas Empire
Ragna, Imperial Palace.
Emperor Gralux Office
Afternoon, 5:00 p.m.
Emperor Gralux held an emergency meeting in his office to discuss the ongoing war with the Mu Empire. The military requested the meeting. Attending the meeting were:
- Xand Pastal, military leader of Gra Valkas
- Kaisar, Imperial Navy Eastern Fleet Commander
- Myrkaenes, army commander
- Kurtz, Secretary of the Office of the Sovereign
The failure of the Gra Valkas military infuriated Emperor Gralux, who opened the meeting without ceremony.
"I would like to know why, until now, our troops have never won?" asked Emperor Gralux angrily.
"Please pardon your majesty, the Mu Empire turns out to have at least the same technological capabilities as us. They already use monoplane aircraft and even propellerless aircraft that are said to be jet aircraft, similar to those owned by the HME. Their tanks are categorized as very heavy, almost none of our anti-tank cannons can take them out. We are severely outclassed." Myrkaenes said.
"How did you not know this? What is our intelligence doing?" asked Emperor Gralux in a high voice.
"We don't understand either, sire, all our intelligence results show that the Mu Empire only uses biplanes and has no tanks. They only started using monoplane passenger planes about 2 years ago, and those were purchased from the Myto Empire. Therefore, we assume the Myto Empire has slightly higher technology than the Mu Empire. But the reality is that right now they have the same level of technology as us." Xand Pastal said.
"Are you saying that our intelligence is not working properly?" asked Emperor Gralux.
"No, sire. I rather believe that the Mu Empire is deliberately giving out false information for our spies to see." Xand Pascal said.
"That's right, sire, they must have known that we were in a possible war condition. They seem to have calculated that." Kurtz said.
"But how can they improve their military capabilities so quickly? We know that it takes a long time to build battleships and carriers." Emperor Gralux asked.
"We don't know that either, but we can safely assume that the Myto Empire is helping the Mu Empire." Xand Pascal said.
"How is information about the Myto Empire known? All I know is that they were able to defeat the superpower Palpadia Empire in just a few days." Emperor Gralux asked further.
"We cannot put spies in their country, Your Majesty. We tried to conduct insertions using submarines, but it appears that the Myto Empire also destroyed our submarines. They did not stop communicating with us and were never seen again." Kaisar said.
"That means their anti-submarine capability is very good. Are they also participating in this war? If they are, then we will have tremendous difficulties." Emperor Gralux said.
"Unfortunately, we have already declared war on all the countries participating in the 11-country conference. We have received information that their ships have already arrived at Mykal port in the Mu Empire." Xand Pascal said.
"How can they arrive that fast? The distance between the Mu Empire and the Myto Empire is very great. Have they anticipated this war?" asked Emperor Gralux.
"That too we do not know, sire. But there is no way they knew of our move to declare war at the 11-country conference. They were just as surprised as everyone else." Kurtz said.
"That's right, I remember the report about Mu and HME's surprise that we declared war with the Myto Empire. Is the Myto Empire that strong?" Emperor Gralux said.
"We really don't know. They really are very secretive. We also encountered another secretive country, the Anonrial Empire. But from the outside, they look like a 3rd civilization country." Kurtz said. "We can't put spies in those two countries at all."
"Hmm, that's a weakness we have to address. I ordered that somehow we must have information about those two countries. We've already been setback by only the Mu Empire, how about these two mysterious countries join into fry?" said Emperor Gralux.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Kurtz said.
"Then what about our war with the Mu Empire? What can we do?" asked Emperor Gralux.
"It seems that it will be difficult for us to defend Leifor for the time being. We ask for your permission to conduct a national mobilization so that we can activate the reserve fleet and gather all forces to attack the Mu Empire and prepare to face other countries, especially the HME and Myto Empire." Xand Pascal said.
"Well, although this is not desirable, as it will hurt our economy, we must consolidate all of Elysia under our control as soon as possible. I give you permission to mobilize all our forces." Emperor Gralux said.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. We will use delaying tactics in Leifor to buy time until we can complete our national mobilization. After that, we can crush them with our mighty military power." Xand Pascal said.
"Very good. Make sure that the casualties on our side are as small as possible. Then, from the existing operations, are there any tactics we can use?" asked Emperor Gralux.
"One of the things we observed is that it seems that the ships of the Mu Empire cannot conduct sustained operations. They may only be able to conduct two major battles. Maybe it has something to do with their new weaponry, they only have a limited number on their ships. Much less than conventional bullets like those on our ships. They have to go back for rearming. If we can get them to spend their new weapons on unimportant targets, then we can destroy them with conventional weapons." Xand Pascal said.
"What about the war on land?" asked Emperor Gralux further.
"Unfortunately, we will have a very difficult time there. We are severely outclassed and outmaneuvered." Myrkaenes said. "For now, we can only win if we can mobilize troops in overwhelming numbers. For the time being, our forces on Leifor actually outnumber the Mu Empire's, but we lack the opportunity and momentum to regroup and counterattack. Our troops there are still in a state of shock from the enemy's resistance."
"Your job is to get our troops back up in morale and able to hold off the enemy while regrouping before counterattacking the Mu Empire." Emperor Gralux said.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Myrkaenes said.
Thus ended the meeting with Emperor Gralux at that time. But they did not yet know the defeat of Gra Valkas' troops in the city of Erde.
---oOo---
Mu Empire, Mykal port city
The military port of Mykal became a very busy hub of activity. Ever since the arrival of the Myto Empire's ships, the military port has been continuously busy. A large number of freighters were filled with military necessities for the amphibious assault. This included several brand-new LST (Landing Ship Tank) ships that the Mu Empire built using the Myto Empire's design. The ships were busy loading tanks, armored cars, and trucks that would be carried in the amphibious operation.
LST (idea from Newport Class LST)
Displacement: 4,800 tons light, 8,500 tons full, Length: 160m, Beam: 21.5m, Engines 6 x diesel engines 2,500 HP on 3 shafts, total 15,000 HP, Speed: 20 knots max, range: 5,000 km at 14 knots, Cargo: 30 tanks and other vehicles, 400 troops, Weapon: 2x2 40mm cannons, 4x2 20mm cannons 1 x BM-1 rocket projector.
The Myto Empire's ships have yet to depart. They will be dispatched at the same time as the Mu Empire's ships. In addition, there were also three 'La Kasami' class battleships, several aircraft carriers and light carriers, and dozens of destroyers that were also busy resupplying before they left for war. In addition, thousands of soldiers were also neatly lined up, entering the transport ships.
The bustle was certainly a spectacle for the residents of Mykal City. Many of the townspeople were watching the military equipment that was once a state secret and is now clearly visible in front of them. They marveled at the 'Essex' class aircraft carrier that looked so large compared to other ships, even when compared to the 'La Kasami' class battleship.
"So proud, isn't it?" said a spectator who was watching the bustle from the 2nd-level veranda of a restaurant.
"That's right, it's unexpected that our country has such modern military equipment. I can say that our military power exceeds that of HME." Said his friend, who was eating cake.
"Hah, I guess the current HME is nothing compared to the Mu Empire. They only rely on the ancient designs of the Revernal Empire. Did you know that the Gra Valkas' airstrikes severely damaged their strongest fleet during the battle with them? Although their individual ships are very strong, they are using outdated warfare concepts." Said his other friend, who was eating a steak.
"That's right. I heard that the Gra Valkas ships that managed to damage the HME fleet were successfully sunk." Said his friend, who was eating cake.
"That's it, how can you say you're the strongest country if you can't defeat the Gra Valkas?" said his friend, who was eating steak.
"Right now, I haven't heard that any of our ships have been damaged, let alone sunk. Even though we have sunk many Gra Valkas ships," The first spectator said it with pride.
"But at the moment, the Gra Valkas doesn't seem to be serious about us. I got news that we are trying to complete the operation in Leifor as soon as possible so that we can face the main force of the Gra Valkas, which is currently not in play." Said his friend, who was eating a steak.
"I'm willing to bet that we can take Leifor in a few days—a week at most. The Gra Valkas might be able to sink some of our ships later, but it seems they are destined to lose, especially since HME is also moving to deploy its ships to help us." Said his friend, who was eating a cookie.
"I guess it's true, there's no way Gra Valkas can fight the combined forces of the superpowers." Said the first viewer.
The three excitedly continued their conversation while commenting on every piece of military equipment visible in Mykal Harbor that they could see. They spent hours just talking while looking into the Mykal harbor.
Similar conversations were happening at almost every table in the restaurant. Everyone was confident in the Mu Empire's military capabilities. But at one small table, there was a person who was enjoying his own meal, smiling to himself at the people's conversation. His thick clothes covered a special tattoo that could only be seen with ultraviolet light that stated he was from the Gra Valkas intelligence agency...