Her Majesty’s Ulysses!
「Calm down, Astraea. What did you see?」
『I apologize. How careless of me. I just saw something that simply exceeded my understanding, and I was so shaken that my thought processes momentarily halted.』
「That sounds really scary. –Aki, let’s retreat for now. Just tell them we will be reinforcing the rear for now.」
「Understood.」
Silhouettes of ships gradually approached.
A pure-white super-dreadnought aerial carrier battleship was followed by an equally pure-white naval aircraft carrier. Carrier-based planes were parked on their decks.
The pure-white aircraft carrier was 300 meters high and 1 kilometers long. It was essentially a moving megafloat.
Various escort ships formed a circle around it.
When Aimer was about to ask Astraea for more details, they received a transmission from the Gracious Queen.
「This is Admiral George of the Ulysses’ Gracious Queen. It’s a delight to have your acquaintance, Admiral Aimer.」
「It’s nice to meet you as well, Admiral George. Her Majesty’s Ulysses, we thank you for accompanying us on this undertaking.」
「You’re very welcome, my lady. I would like to answer to your expectations. First, allow us to lead the way. We have already finished discussions with the chaps from Gogyou.」
「Understood. If you please.」
The Gracious Queen plunged straight through the middle of the holes that the Souya made.
A section of the shelter crumbled to rubble after being subjected to a bold charge.
The rectangular pure-white aircraft carrier quickly followed after the Gracious Queen.
「Astraea, I’ve never seen an aircraft carrier like that before. What do you use to refer to that type? Cross-type?」
『I do not think anyone in the present era has seen anything like it……』
「Hm? You mean people in a past era have seen one?」
『Indeed.』
Astraea’s voice sounded truly worn out even though she was an AI.
At this time, Admiral George was conducting a mission briefing on the Gracious Queen.
「As Admiral Aimer had acknowledged, we are Her Majesty’s Ulysses! Hence, we cannot afford to lose with that illustrious name on the line. It’s now time to show spirit worthy of John Bull! I’m counting on you all.」
「Aye. We’ll knock the wits right off those Argonauts.」
The one who responded was Abel Seal Halloway. He was a C-Class Development Engineer and George’s right-hand man.
He was currently piloting the aircraft carrier from an MCS-type cockpit.
「Admiral Aimer, Captain Eri. Do you read me? This is Abel, a Development Engineer of BAS. This is the aircraft carrier Moby Dick. This carrier will now proceed to attract as many enemies as possible, so please handle the interception of the enemy aerial forces.」
「This is the Jun’you. Roger that. You’re planning on making a mess again, aren’t you, Abel-san?」
「How rude. We’ll be conducting a right and proper operation, thank you very much.」
It seemed that Abel and Eri were already familiar with one another. Abel retorted lightheartedly and smiled.
「Astraea, positioning to assist. Is the Moby Dick equipped with an A-Carbuncle?」
Attracting the attention of enemies should be dangerous with regular armor plating, especially with a ship of Moby Dick’s massive size.
「I’m afraid it isn’t. It’s only equipped with a regular A-Spinel reactor.」
「Are you going to be okay?」
「Just leave it to us.」
Abel grinned widely. His demeanor was filled with confidence.
「All the planes stationed on Moby Dick are attack aircraft. They don’t possess anti-aircraft capabilities, so we’ll leave the anti-aircraft combat to you all, ladies and gentlemen of Gogyou. After Moby Dick sinks, please proceed with landing operations on your own.」
「You intend to sink your ship?!」
It was a very unconventional tactic. Hence, Aimer couldn’t help but exclaim loudly in response.
「This ship was built with the premise that it would sink eventually. You’ll understand when you see our performance later.」
The aircraft carrier’s huge hull stood proud and tall as it trudged ahead toward the Fortress Area.
The Moby Dick was now in the lead, and the Gracious Queen was positioned a distance away from it. And the escort ships had lined up on its left and right.
Jun’you’s fleet and Astraea followed behind them.
The enemy should still be preparing their aircraft for launch. They were now preparing to engage in a large-scale land battle as well.
The Fortress Area was enclosed by a ceiling after all. It was dome-shaped, and the highest point was 3,000 meters. It wasn’t suitable for high-speed fighters to fly in.
The enemy ground forces were gathering one after another along the coast and harbor. They should be planning on launching artillery attacks from land.
While the Argoforce was having trouble, planes took off from Moby Dick one after another.
The battle for Fortress Area R001 where an orbital elevator was located was about to commence in earnest.
「A large number of aircraft are launching from an enemy aircraft carrier. There are more than 200 of them!」
「They only launched carrier-based aircraft huh? First, sink that aircraft carrier in the lead!」
It seemed that the Argoforce fighter packs have finally finished switching their loadouts to an anti-ship configuration.
Sniper Silhouettes have also taken their positions on top of a 300 meter tall skyscraper.
Railguns and ground-to-ground missiles were fired at Moby Dick one after another.
However, even though the carrier continuously received direct hits, and even though its deck had eventually ended up shattering, it still soldiered ahead without slowing down.
The Argoforce was very perplexed. Armor-piercing shells were simply sucked in, while high-explosive shells merely caused small explosions that quickly fizzled out without setting anything on fire.
「Eei! Those should have been direct hits! How come they haven’t managed to open up even a single hole through that damned ship’s hull!?」
「Captain, um……」
An NCO was hesitating to say something. He found his commanding officer difficult to deal with because the latter was quick to anger.
Even if what he was planning to say was true, he would probably still get yelled at.
「What? Come out and say it already, soldier!」
「We’ve finished analyzing the carrier. It’s actually composed of ice.」
「Huh? Ice?」
「Yes, sir! Ice! Ice blocks! It’s one gigantic block of ice.」
「Are you kidding me?! Fine, let’s suppose that it is ice! What about those fighters and attack planes?! It would quickly melt due to their jet exhaust!」
「Err, about that…… We have no definite proof as of now, sir. But……」
「Eei, stop hemming and hawing. It’s irritating. If you have something to say, just say it clearly!」
「They’re probably all propeller planes, sir. Ones with piston engines. Judging from their shape, they should be piston engine-powered planes. That’s what I believe, anyway.」
「Huh?」
「Uh, they’re planes that fly using propellers, sir. Propeller planes.」
「Are you out of your mind?!」
The NCO flinched. See. He just knew he was gonna get yelled at. He grumbled inwardly.
「We’re in an era where lasers and railgun rounds are flying around all over the place, and you’re saying there are idiots who actually decided to build propeller planes?!」
As if he could hear the poor Argoforce commander’s retort, Abel’s lips formed a wry grin.
The enemy forces should be confused by now. It was exactly as planned.
「Yes, this is indeed an aircraft carrier almost entirely made of ice, and those are certainly twin-engine propeller attack aircraft. Lovely, aren’t they?」
His smile warped to something akin to that of a mad scientist’s.
The twin-engine contra-rotating propeller attack plane was called the Boon. Although it was incapable of dogfighting, its fuselage was equipped with electromagnetic armor.
「In any case, that block of ice or whatever is in the way! Hurry up and destroy it already!」
「That’s……」
「Is there more?!」
The commander was already tired of surprises.
He actually might have been better off facing the highly destructive panjandrum instead.
「The enemy carrier seems to be fixing the damage to its hull by absorbing and freezing the surrounding seawater.」
「W- Wha-……」
「It’s restoring itself in real-time. It’s like we’re only making shaved ice with bullets.」
「How are they instantly making ice?! Is the enemy planning on making shaved ice for Silhouettes or something?!!!」
An aircraft carrier that instantly regenerates after taking damage and an air raid conducted by propeller planes.
It was simply nonsensical to the extreme.
The interception forces on the coast fell into disarray due to the utterly bizarre situation before them.
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