The American In Another World
Chapter 27: The Invasion of Altaras (2)
Washington DC
President Lee and his advisers, along with military attaches, analyzed real-time satellite data as they tracked the Parpaldian fleet. Hundreds of miles to the west, the Altaran fleet was deployed from their home port, establishing defensive lines along their shores. President Lee sat quietly, listening to his subordinates' discussions when something caught his eye. Someone called the submarine, USS Texas .
President Lee raised his right hand, causing the room to become silent. "Where is Texas now?"
A naval officer replied, "Master, USS Texas is on its way to intercept, ETA 16 hours."
President Lee sees an opportunity. "good. The Parpaldians don't have sonar or anything, I guess. No magic can help them detect our submarine, Dr. Holden?”
A man in a lab coat nodded his head, a sign identifying himself as the Director of Magic Research. “Betul, Mr. President,” he said while fixing the location of his glasses.
"It's so good." He crossed his arms. “Let's help Altaran and get rid of that wyvern carrier.”
A foreign affairs official protested, "But sir, is it wise to show our capabilities as early as this?"
President Lee raised his eyebrows slightly, preparing an answer. However, the Secretary of the Navy got there first, explaining for him. “No, I think the President has a good idea here. Rumors and fairy tales are rampant in this part of the world, as well as 'sea monsters'. The torpedo that hit the carrier was definitely not going to look like a sea monster attack, but what else could be attributed to this destruction?
Supposing approval confirms the fairness of this strategy.
“Yeah, fine then. Steven, let me know if there's an update. I had to start several speeches and condemnations against the Parpaldian Empire.
——
Le Brias, Kingdom of Altaras
King Taara listened to American manacomm with his military leaders. They collectively felt a stinging unease around their necks as the Parpaldian fleet approached.
The device starts to turn on when another update comes along. “The current track is the capital city of Altaran Le Brias, the estimated arrival time is 24 hours. The cloud cover began to disappear; the estimated number of ships was 324.211 line ships, 12 wyvern carrier ships, 101 carrier ships and suppliers.”
Hearing the number was like an arrow piercing through the heart; despite the Altaras' great wealth, they still could not match the strength of the Parpaldian Empire. As Americans have warned, they will most likely be destroyed on the high seas, which is why ambushes and unconventional tactics are recommended. Wooden spikes and other obstructions are placed throughout the most likely landing zone. Mines and traps reminiscent of Vietnamese-era tools were randomly placed in the forest separating Le Brias from the northern coast.
The angry altar did not care about dirty play; they only cared about revenge against the humiliation and oppression they suffered under the Parpaldian rule. Although the Altar was very skilled in the concept of honor, they excitedly set it aside for the chance to punish their arrogant master. They enthusiastically invest most of their magic gems to exterminate the invading army, realizing that if the Parpaldians succeed, they will lose everything and not just the gems.
Meanwhile, the navy remained near the coastline, hoping to counter the Parpaldian fleet with wyvern support from the mainland. Thanks to King Taara's paranoia about the Parpaldian invasion and the information provided by the Americans, most wyverns and Altaran military wizards were ready to defend the capital. The land-based Ballista faces several cliffs, armed with magic bolts infused with the power of fiery red magic gems.
King Taara observed his city, seeing a dramatic increase in activity as workers built defenses and brought supplies. Without turning away from the window, he spoke, "General Tellsa, are all wyverns already here?"
General Tellsa saluted behind him. “Your Highness, we have 180 wyverns. Five more squadrons are on the way, which should give us a total of 240 wyverns at night.”
“Prepare them to ship tomorrow morning. Give them good food and a good night's rest; the upcoming battle will decide the fate of this kingdom.”
——
Altaras Strait, North Sea
The setting sun slowly shrank below the horizon, bathing the clouds above in orange light. General Cius smiled at him. “Tomorrow, we will see the same beautiful scenery. There is only one difference: the golden radiance comes not from the sun, but from the fire of Le Brias!”
His officers cheered in agreement, enjoying the fact that they would be able to plunder a dying kingdom without consequences. Their cheers were drowned by the sound of a huge explosion on their left. Sailors working on the deck were punctured and scorched by debris from the wrecked wyvern carrier that sailed next to them. Some were lucky enough to duck and dodge shrapnel, but the rest were punctured by pieces of wood and an anti-magic coating. Before General Cius could react, another wyvern carrier spontaneously exploded to their right, followed by several others.
"What madness is this ?!" He shouted, protecting his eyes from the dazzling fireballs.
In a split second, he and his entire fleet witnessed the destruction of their eight precious wyvern carriers, leaving only two remaining. His mind, unable to process the destruction before him, wondered if this was the deity's doing. Did he somehow anger one of the sea gods? His mouth gaped as he saw smoke billowing from the burning ship.
He flinched from his shock and issued an order. “All surviving wyvern operators, send your wyvern lord NOW! All ships, disperse and maintain direction towards Le Brias!”
The night sky was illuminated by a dim orange glow as the fleet left the sunken ship on fire. Most of the aircraft carriers were destroyed so thoroughly that General Cius considered it an unnecessary risk to search for survivors. No one wanted to stay in these dangerous waters, and no one thought there were still sailors to be rescued.
They continue the journey in a terrible silence, wondering if a similar attack will happen again. Minutes passed, then hours, but nothing happened. Despite the increased sense of security, many Parpaldians still felt tense, as if death could come at any moment. While the sailors continued to search for anything suspicious, Cius pondered the nature of the attack himself. Who can do this, and why?
Could it be a sea monster? The explosion that occurred on the aircraft carrier — that does not carry flammable or explosive materials in significant quantities — is too artificial. Sea monsters couldn't possibly cast such explosive magic. The explosion threw a lot of water into the air, so the explosion must have happened somewhere near the water line, maybe even below it. The only countries he knew capable of using such explosive weaponry were Mu and the United States, but both countries generally attacked through cannons. In the case of the United States, Cius did hear about the explosion of a light arrow, but this arrow was fired from the sky, not from under the sea.
After ruling out all other options, he only had one: sabotage. Someone — possible Altaran — must have planted a bomb on a wyvern carrier, then detonated it in a coordinated attack. Fearing the presence of more of these hypothetical saboteurs, he informed his officers of the situation.
With the spy issue now under investigation, Cius again devised a strategy. The destruction of 8 operators meant that they had only 80 wyvern rulers left, divided between 4 operators. The strength of these 80 wyvern rulers could easily deal with a force double, even tripling in size. However, the casualties experienced from such a battle would hamper Parpaldian —'s air capabilities to such an extent that air support is virtually impossible except for the largest operations. Thankfully, he still had the option of naval bombing. Although the landing zone was far from the capital itself, he was able to seize the port of Le Brias and assign a fleet to provide support once the main forces reached the capital.
——
The next morning, he awoke to the sound of seagulls in the air and the sailors were busy preparing their gear and equipment. Emerging from his residence, he immediately plunged into his job and issued an order. Satisfied with the fleet formation and combat readiness, he checked the magic detector for signs of Altaran deployment.
"You're there," he pointed to a witch who operated the detector. "Have the Altar sent their wyverns?"
"No sir. Wyvern they still haven't been seen.”
Curious, thought Cius. "And their ship?"
“Their ships maintain the defensive formation, hugging the coastline. I saw no more than a hundred Vessel.”
Cius smiled. “Easy targets for our cannon. All ships, maintain arrowhead formation. The ships that survive will try to flank us. Operator, deploy the wyvern lord and have them target the group of ships along the designated landing zone.”
As soon as the wyvern lord was sent out, the magic detector displayed hostile contacts emerging from within the city. "Master," said the magician, "I saw at least 200 contacts in the detector, coming from Le Brias!"
Although Altaran had quantity, Parpaldian had quality. However, the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Altarans posed a significant threat to the Parpaldian wyvern rulers. Cius wanted to eliminate enemy wyverns as effectively as possible. “For our team to be two. Two squads will attack the defending fleet while the other two squads will pinch wyvern Altaran!”
Command implemented. The two wyvern ruling groups maintained their trajectory while the other two groups rose, hiding in the clouds and waiting for their chance to descend.
——
The Royal Navy Altaran
Admiral Bordo stared at the modified balista bolt with curiosity and a hint of doubt. "Are you sure this will work?" He asked the bearded magician next to him.
The witch replied in a hoarse voice. "Yes yes. I myself have tested it many times; this American is really smart in designing this modification.”
Bordo knocked on the bolts. "What is this modification, again?"
The witch's eyes twinkled, eager to lecture. "ah! I'm glad you asked. The standard application of our magic gems in warfare mainly involves wind magic, especially the Wind Tear God applied to balista bolts. Only by adjusting the design of the bolt fletching can we make it more efficient and increase its range. We can also use Tearing for compressed air, which can help push our bolts further. This modification is very easy to do, so all our bolts are able to hit targets as far as 3 kilometers — is almost the same as the Parpaldian cannon. However our bolts have more accuracy than their cannon balls.”
Now Bordo is intrigued; he is fascinated by how such small microadjustments can drastically increase his naval firepower. "And the bolts, why do the ends look different?"
The witch smiled, “That is our secret weapon against the Parpaldians. Admiral, this bolt is usually made of what?”
Bordo scratched his head, unsure of where the witch would go with this. “Well, usually the bolts are made of solid iron. Sometimes made of steel or even bewitched, if the budget allows.”
“Due to the increase in budget, we can install a new series of bolts: these are made of steel, but also hollow.”
"empty?"
"Yes. Inside, there was a compartment containing volatile magic gems. By activating the red magic gem inside before the weapon is fired, we can time the bolt to explode when it reaches the target. The heat accumulated until a few seconds passed, then exploded, sending shards of steel in all directions. Without weapons like this, I doubt we will be able to break through the heavy anti-magic layer of the Parpaldian Empire.”
Bordo looked at the ballista in wonder. “And this...this is the knowledge given to us by Americans?”
"Indeed. I myself am quite surprised by the simplicity of this improvement; we can think of it for ourselves.I am also surprised that they still claim to be a country without magic. But again, they reaffirm that this design comes from scientific principles.”
"Huh," Bordo nodded in agreement. “Then, thank you for the time, Witch. I will revise my defense plan accordingly. He chuckled a little, feeling grateful for the new improvement. “This is truly a blessing! Now I don't have to worry about closing the gap between our ship and the Parpaldian ship!
“Unfortunately,” said the magician, “They can not increase the speed of our ship, so in the end we will get a condemnation from the fleet of Parpalldian.”
"I understand. Here, convey this message to all the magicians in our fleet. I want as many witches evacuated as possible. If we want to win against the Parpaldian Empire, we need to maintain our magical prowess.”
“But Admiral, how about you? We will be short of talented officers .. ”
Admiral Bordo ignored his concerns. “Do not worry. Talented officers will become famous, forged by battle. There will be many more like me and those under my command.”
The witch nodded. "All right then. May the blessed victory be upon you.”
“Hin winning chances are slim. I would rather be blessed with the most Parpaldian murders, ”said Bordo while grinning.
The witch chuckled. “Then may you be blessed with the most Parpaldian murders.”