Chapter 131: Exchange of Fire

Shells crossed over the sea in both directions.

From the air, I watched where our battleship’s shots landed and reported corrections by radio.

“Enemy light cruiser off the starboard bow. The shot fell short. Increase the range.”

“Understood. Correcting aim.”

The battleship fired again.

This time the shells passed beyond the target.

“Too far. Reduce the range slightly and correct to starboard.”

“Understood. Firing.”

The next salvo struck the enemy light cruiser.

An explosion tore through its side, and black smoke began pouring from the ship.

“Direct hit. The enemy cruiser has stopped.”

One light cruiser had been disabled.

There was no time to celebrate.

One of our destroyers was already burning, and the enemy still possessed far more ships than we did.

Until then, we had concentrated on escaping. Now our two battleships had turned their guns toward the pursuing cruisers.

The magic aerial soldiers gave us an important advantage.

By driving the Friez Kingdom’s observers from the decks, they made it difficult for the enemy to correct its gunfire.

Their shells still fell around us in great numbers, but their accuracy had worsened.

The Lunoa Kingdom also had me observing from above.

“Ignore the disabled ship. Shift to the next target.”

“Yes, sir.”

I searched through the smoke and found another pair of light cruisers.

“Two light cruisers off the port bow. Aim at the ship in the center of their formation.”

Our battleship fired.

The first salvo missed.

I watched the splashes, corrected the range, and ordered another shot.

The next shell struck the center of the enemy cruiser.

Flames and smoke swallowed its deck.

For the moment, we were winning the exchange against the enemy’s forward ships.

But their numerical advantage remained overwhelming.

Even without reliable observers, the Friez fleet could fill a wide area with shells and wait for one to hit.

More light cruisers continued advancing.

Beyond them, enemy battleships were also closing the distance.

Our own fleet had slowed because it was turning and firing instead of concentrating entirely on escape.

Every minute we spent fighting allowed the enemy’s main force to draw nearer.

Then I looked toward the route leading back to the Orline Empire.

A line of ships was appearing on the horizon ahead of us.

The enemy wasn’t merely pursuing us.

They had moved to block our escape route.