Chapter 132 : The Compassionate Gatling Goddess
Chapter 132: The Compassionate Gatling Goddess
They had no desire to be trapped in their home port and shelled to pieces by that fleet, so the only option left was to charge desperately to close the distance — but that kind of action was truly suicidal.
The cruisers’ 210 mm main guns could fire a broadside roughly every six to ten minutes; as the two sides drew closer, their accuracy continued to improve.
And as the range closed, the four 152 mm quick-fire broadside guns also began to project fire, and that ten-odd-second-per-salvo rain of shells struck with even more impact than the large 210 mm rounds.
Each 210 mm broadside produced such powerful recoil that the warships would lurch and sway briefly at the waterline.
High-explosive shells with magical-powder charges and 152 mm armor-piercing rounds swept across the shields of battleships like No. 123. Some battleship shields were pierced and the shells slammed directly onto the decks.
The blast waves ripped up the surrounding crew and hurled splinters throughout the hulls, turning decks and compartments into human hellscapes.
Under such assault, many captain-class Mechanical Bodies could no longer endure; they launched themselves into the air and flew toward the Federation Navy, attempting to board and sabotage.
But the Federation Navy, which had foreseen this, did not panic. Damn it — you already got one victory in the capital and thought you could do it again?
Torpedo boats that had been circling the area violently angled their autocannons into the air to lay down covering fire; the cruisers’ self-defense autocannons did the same.
At the same time, Federation Mechanical Soldiers stationed on the warships hoisted heavy recoilless rifles and large-caliber rifles to provide precise heavy fire.
The 152 mm quick-fire guns also swiveled their barrels; any attacker that stalled in midair would immediately be met with armor-piercing rounds.
Two unlucky ones were shredded into fragments under concentrated fire; the rest were driven back by the dense suppressive fire. The closer they came, the more autocannons overlapped their firing zones — even six- or seven-meter-tall captain-class bodies could not withstand that density of fire.
As for long-range attacks, they were useless: when the Church’s Magic Crystal Cannons could not threaten the cruisers, the cruisers’ shield generators were sufficient to shelter the small boats.
Moreover, the torpedo boats were fitted with soldier-grade magitech shield packs; unless a captain-class body singled one out for a point-kill, they could easily withstand the residual effects of an attack.
Although the battle raged, Admiral Doolittle kept his gaze fixed on the Church flagship, the “Light of the Goddess.” Unfortunately for the Church, their protection around it was extremely tight; there was almost no opening to exploit.
Whenever the first- or second-rank battleships in front were sunk, new battleships immediately filled the gap.
Doolittle did not mind; in fact, he used that to his advantage and continuously ordered the cruisers to perform over-shot fire on the “Light of the Goddess” with their main guns.
Because of density, even if the “Goddess” itself was not hit, several of the escort ships around her would take hits. And since the Church had only mastered gunpowder and cannons a few years ago, they did not fully appreciate the dangers of powder.
Their placement of shells and the protections around their magazines were mediocre, so now and then an unlucky battleship would have its powder magazine or powder barrels hit, triggering the ship to explode entirely.
Chasing and being chased, the Church fleet was soon reduced by more than a third. The “Light of the Goddess” herself suffered little damage — short legs had their benefits: at greater ranges the accuracy fell.
Only then did they finally realize they had no way to deal with this special iron fleet: the Magic Crystal Cannons on first- and second-rank battleships were powerful, but at several kilometers out their hit rate depended entirely on the fervor of their faith in the Goddess; even a lucky hit could be bounced off by a shield.
As long as they were not struck repeatedly, the magical shields could recover strength over time.
White smoke and muzzle flames spewed by gun barrels played a dirge of death across that stretch of sea.
As the Church fleet drew closer, the T-formation fleet in front no longer restrained their engine power; they began to accelerate hard. Thick smoke billowed from the boilers, quickly widening the gap, while still maintaining high-density, high-frequency bombardment.
This spectacle utterly crushed the Church fleet’s hope. They could not hit them, could not catch them, could not run, could not hide — what could they do?
“Damn it! What kind of monster is this? Why are they so fast? Didn’t Oligovich say that this country’s military was nothing to fear?” the captain-archbishop on the “Light of the Goddess” snarled as he looked at the burning hulks of his ships on the horizon and the soldiers in the water crying for help; the veins on his hand bulged as he gripped his scepter.
Those steel warships opposite did not have a single hull larger than the Church’s glorious flagship beneath his feet; they seemed to carry only a handful of guns, yet such a small force had wrought devastating damage on their fleet.
Extremely fast navigation, guns with terrifyingly long range and frightening accuracy, no sails, no oars, yet remarkably agile in calm weather.
He did not wish to face such a troublesome enemy any longer, but reason told him retreat was absolutely impossible; trapped in the bay, they had no way out. All they could gamble on was that the enemy’s ammunition stocks were insufficient to annihilate all their ships.
They would use ships, lives, and everything available to close the distance.
【Goddess, bless me. When I return this time I will certainly tell the Pontiff of Oligovich’s crimes. I swear I will kick Oligovich’s ass, that damned man!】
It had been Oligovich who had pushed a series of opportunities for the Continent upon the Church: he moved hearts and minds, reasoned, dangled benefits; he claimed the Federation had many strange but extremely effective war machines.
He argued the Continent was the Church’s base and should not be abandoned. In short, he had used every trick, and had indeed convinced the Church’s high command.
In Oligovich’s mind,
if the Kingdom of Paria could be taken, it could be used as a springboard to radiate influence to the surrounding regions. Even if he could not reestablish the once-vast Continent Church, occupying half the land would still be possible.
He could also pin down the rapidly rising Seris Federation, and with Dmitria close at hand, the Continent Church’s support could be obtained at any time.
Then he would still be the Pontiff basking in glory, rather than a nominal pope on the Continent who did not even have a church to call his own.
A large warplane appeared on the far horizon — it was the air support Doolittle had requested from the Federation Air Force.
This aircraft looked better than the earlier bombers: it used two newly developed high-thrust propeller engines and could carry just over a ton.
But its role differed from that of the previous bomber squadrons: it was a gunboat plane.
As it arrived above the “Light of the Goddess,” it began lighthouse-style circling maneuvers, orbiting the slower “Light of the Goddess” at low speed.
Three apertures opened on the sides of its cabin, and two 40 mm autocannon barrels protruded to pour high-explosive shells onto the Goddess.
Through the largest opening, a five-barrel Gatling gun poked out and in an instant spat dense tongues of fire, a downpour of tracer-flame in the air drawing a long, fiery dragon.
The Gatling gun’s codename was 【Death Goddess】.
It was still a laboratory-handmade product, only two of them existed as experimental weapons collecting data.
Aside from the gunboat, almost no other platform could support this weapon: its terrifying weight and enormous ammunition consumption made it unusable for equipment without sufficient self-sustainment.