Chapter 632: Miracle Airship Squadron

Eight years could be long or short. The heroic spirits who had reincarnated would still be little brats. Still, the Northlands which had experienced multiple defensive battles had completely started flourishing thanks to a sufficient amount of benefits from drawing powerful individuals there.

The power of the newborn Mist Alliance in comparison to the human mega empires… It would probably only need a battle to prove its strength.

Eich was quite different from the far more peaceful Earth. Everyone knew that the Holy War was about to arrive, so naturally all countries focused on improving their military strength first and foremost.

The Northlands had been profiting greatly from munitions sales over the past few years. However, the most advanced and complete weapons and equipment were only for our own people… What? You’re saying that you saw the newest Northlands weaponry on other battlefields, weaponry which even the Mist Alliance’s members weren’t using?

Err, those newest weapons would perhaps soon reach the Mist Alliance members’ hands as well, or perhaps they would never reach our hands. After all, these were experimental weapons, such as the goblins’ super death grenade which had a much larger explosion radius than you could possibly evade when you toss it, or the goblins’ highly unstable super flamethrower which would supposedly self-destruct within three seconds… Well, these weapons were now termed “super bombs”, and some major countries were actually buying them in large numbers.

Over the past few years, the Mist Alliance’s military observers, weapons merchants, and great engineers had been travelling all around the world. Various weaponry and equipment was gradually completed through experiments and data from actual combat. However, some things we simply wouldn’t sell.

“The new Borealis Squadron, the most advanced floating airship unit in the entire Mist Alliance. Compared to the first-generation Borealis Squadron, these airships have longer bodies, heavier armor, and stronger cannon fire—”

“I know better than you. No need to explain it to me.”

I sent off the engineer who was excitedly trying to explain the data to me. I then carefully began to inspect the data of the new Borealis ship.

The new Borealis. The mothership, and North Star airship type. It had a length of 302 meters and width of 60 meters. It possessed 20 heavy magical crystal cannons, four defensive mage towers, and one offensive mage tower. Two main cannons at the front had a range of 30 kilometers. The airship’s storage contained 16 Vulture assault airships, two Hurricane submarines, and 40 Goblin Phoenix assault airships.

If this didn’t seem like much, the differences would be quite obvious if I compared the data to the original Borealis.

The original Borealis mega airship had a length of 243 meters and width of 40 meters. It possessed nine heavy magical crystal cannons, seven mid-sized mage towers, and one super mage tower. It also possessed 32 small- to mid-sized cannons. The main cannon’s range was 30 kilometers, and the storage had only enough space for 3 Vulture assault airships.

Back in the day, the Borealis was a prototype that the Auland Empire had spent great effort on researching. It was indeed quite powerful. It had a powerful main cannon, mage towers to increase mages’ strength, and storage for smaller assault airships. Its functions were overall quite complete. However, the Borealis had still exposed many defects in actual combat.

Whenever the main cannon was used, its attack power would be strong to the point that even a SemiGod beast would be unable to take the attack head on. However, the energy used in it would be tremendous. Any mage tower that lacked energy would become nothing but a decoration. And if aerial knights attacked the Borealis, the airship could then only rely on the regular cannons which had been removed from castle walls. The accuracy and trajectories of ground cannons against aerial knights would be absolutely terrible, even to the point of ignorable.

Nor was the main cannon usable in most circumstances when attacking ground forces. The regular engineered cannons still acted as the main firepower. Although the Borealis was an airship, it still basically specialized only in air-to-ground combat. This would be far too dangerous and wasteful. As for the Vulture airships, nobody would be counting on those.

The original Borealis was a classic example of a theoretical blueprint. Although it seemed quite wonderful with so many all-around functions, it was still filled with problems in actual combat. All-around generalist would mean incapable of being the top in any area. If it hadn’t been for the fact that I changed the Borealis into an undead airship with endless energy, it probably would have sunk long ago.

Meanwhile, the new Borealis was far more focused on its functions.

The new Borealis gave up on the overly expensive and impractical larger mage towers. Only a few defense-focused mage towers were chosen as the primary towers. The main role of the mages on the airship would be to provide various sorts of defensive spells for the airship. As for the one attack-oriented mage tower, it was likely that it wouldn’t even be activated unless an archmage was on the airship.

The new Borealis also completely abandoned the engineered cannons which had become obsolete in the current generation. Magic crystal cannons which used magic metals and gems as the attacks had instead doubled in number. After abandoning most mage towers, which were huge energy drains, an extra main cannon was installed for dual main cannons, directly doubling the overall attack power. The midrange attack power of the airship had also greatly increased.

As for air-to-ground and air-to-air capability, the most important factor would be the different types of airships contained within the airship’s hangar. The Borealis itself had been transformed from an assault airship into a mothership. This was doubtlessly the best explanation of its new most important function.

I also saw from the data that several hundred griffin knights and twelve Aurora Knights were residing on the new Borealis. This doubtlessly meant that Reyne was determined to strengthen its aerial capabilities… It was likely that even two dragon knights would be swiftly defeated by the Borealis.

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The Mist Alliance’s engineers were no idiots. Even if I didn’t do anything, they would gain practical experience from combat and unhesitatingly abandon the previous generation’s doctrine of exchanging cannon fire and magical attacks. Instead, they chose to have a mothership with a fleet of smaller airships, strengthening the general aerial and ground support capabilities. This maximized the floating airship squadron’s overall strategic meaning.

“All seven airships in the new North Star Squadron are motherships?”

I recalled that none of the ones under construction at the time had been mothership types.

“All ships in the North Star Squadron are motherships with significant attack power. The older generation’s models were either sold off or directly modified. These new motherships are all primarily focused on being aircraft carriers. Practical battles have testified to the strength of this new combat doctrine. However, our aircraft production capabilities are limited. Only four out of the seven North Star airships are currently completely outfitted with smaller airships…”

I nodded without needing to ask about the reason. Indeed, building airships would cost a lot of money. It would also require a significant amount of industrial, magical, and alchemical technology as the foundation. The Northlands was weak industrially, so I was highly satisfied with what we had already accomplished. It would seem that we had earned much money over the years from munitions sales.

Additionally, since all of these ships were now designed as motherships, it would take lots of time and effort to equip them with smaller assault aircraft.

“So are the other three motherships currently empty?”

“No. This time, Her Highness Reyne brought the Avalanche Squad, the Silver Cross Knights, and several dozen other infantry and knight squadrons. She also brought archers and mages from the Northlands elves. They’ll be used in ground battles. Also, sixteen adult dragons are with the airship squadron. However, they’re all rather young dragons who are only ten meters long in size.”

I nodded in satisfaction. So far, everything seemed quite reliable. Reyne and her airship squadron had already arrived before us. It was just that the new Borealis was sent here to pick us up.

As for the dragons, this was because the black and red dragons from Underground had already become the Mist Alliance’s mercenaries as the Mist Alliance became ever closer to the Underground Dragon City. Although the dragons would have ridiculously high salary requirements, they cooperated excellently with the motherships. They had swift attacks, powerful aerial combat capabilities, and could cast magic. This would make up for the lack of maneuverability on the motherships’ side. The dragons were quite popular with the Northlands military.

Of course, the older dragons were quite prideful. Even Dragon Queen Little Red would be unable to command them. Only the younger black and red dragons with no homes (dragon nests) and money (treasure mountains) would be willing to work for money as they didn’t have much sense of shame to begin with. Besides, since the Dragon Queen had given the command, they wouldn’t lose face, and would also earn money. Battles between humans were quite easy for dragons, so this would be far less risky than trying their hands at robbery and potentially meeting dragonslayers. There was also guaranteed high income with good reputation and glory, so of course the dragons would be willing to work.

“It would seem that Reyne isn’t only here to save the elves…”

If she had purely come here to save the elves, it would have been far better to keep the airships completely empty for the sake of carrying more elves. Reyne had come here with all her firepower and strongest warriors, so it was obvious that she wanted to have a good fight.

“Her Highness said that this is the first major battle of the Holy War, so our Mist Alliance airship squadron should make the best showing possible…”

“…And then the fairies will spread the news, acting as free advertisement for more munitions sales?”

The young captain of the new Borealis smiled without responding. However, his silence already proved my guess was on the mark.

“Are the weaker versions of the motherships already being mass produced?”

“…The first one was sold to Bardi two months ago. However, please don’t call it the weaker version. It’s officially known as the Bardi version.”

I smiled without saying anything else. The motherships had limited capacity, and were supposed to be here for saving elves. Reyne wouldn’t be foolish enough to fill her airships to the brim with elite soldiers. It was likely that she had only brought one squadron of each troop type, intending on using actual combat to obtain data and test the Mist Alliance’s various troop types against the demons of the Chaos Abyss.

“She’s really becoming more like a proper leader…”

I could only exclaim at how things were. Perhaps Reyne wasn’t a queen talented in all areas, as she was unskilled at politics. However, she was outstanding in all military affairs. Her constant victories in battle had given the Princess Knight endless glory. Her outstanding decisions had always been correct and farsighted. As the Mist Alliance gradually became stronger, her reputation was becoming ever more brilliant. She was faintly becoming one of the greatest military authorities in her age group.

“It would seem that I truly chose an outstanding successor.”

One day later, the new Borealis and North Star squadron met up again. I also saw Reyne, but this time, something was odd about her situation.