SWNOVELXO Chapter 192
Episode 192. USS Arizona
USS Bristol.
“Prepare for engagement!”
It takes a few minutes to launch anti-ship missiles.
The battleship USS Arizona, sunk during World War II, has been resurrected by the grace of the Clockwork God. No, wait, it was resurrected by the grace of Dr. Kim.
Ganymede tested its new body.
Arizona’s main guns twitched, and its broken engines were revived by the power of the Clockwork Devices.
The enemy fleet took about 3 minutes to grasp the situation. Ganymede also took 3 minutes to locate the 8 destroyers guarding Pixel’s facility. Ganymede pondered for a moment.
“Should I fire?”
USS Arizona is a warship built in the 1910s, but that doesn’t matter. When you’re hit by 356mm and 127mm guns, the year of construction becomes irrelevant.
The target is eight warships.
All eight are trapped in this lake.
Lake Superior is indeed as vast as a sea, but there aren’t many places to escape from Arizona’s main guns.
Modern warships’ defenses are designed to protect against missiles or small suicide boats. They don’t have thick armor or heavy artillery.
If Arizona fires, there’s no way to counter it.
Can’t afford to hesitate and miss the opportunity.
Boom!
Twelve 14-inch guns and twenty-two 5-inch guns fired simultaneously. One enemy destroyer was disabled.
Well, a destroyer without armor would be crippled by just a graze from a 14-inch shell.
Reloading and aiming take 1 minute.
Ganymede wondered. Is it really this easy? Why aren’t the enemies reacting?
2 minutes.
3 minutes.
4 minutes.
5 minutes.
6 minutes.
7 minutes.
Arizona’s guns fired eight times.
Ganymede scanned the surroundings with its Clockwork Eye, but there were no warships left in the lake. Only coast guard-level frigates and patrol boats. It’s only been 7 minutes. Is it already over?
That was easier than expected. Ganymede moved toward the next target. It needs to find and destroy Administrator Pixel’s headquarters. Where could it be?
It’s probably protected by supernatural phenomena, but since its location is narrowed down to this lake, finding it shouldn’t be impossible.
Pixel couldn’t close his mouth.
What just happened? Not only did the plan go awry, but even the precognition, the chain of events, was disrupted.
“Admiral Bradley. Just now—”
[All destroyers deployed to the lake have been disabled. I apologize. I am ashamed.]
Administrator Pixel didn’t even get angry. What on earth just happened?
“What is it?”
[If I may speculate. The battleship’s main guns take 1 minute to reload, while anti-ship missiles take several minutes to prepare.]
Just that?
Because of that, eight of the Foundation and the U.S. Navy’s state-of-the-art warships were wiped out by a 1910s-era battleship? More than that…
“There are no warships left. What are we going to use to stop it?”
[I apologize. Even if we prepare and deploy cruise missiles or aircraft as quickly as possible, it will take several dozen minutes.]
Other weapons besides anti-ship missiles won’t even scratch the battleship’s armor. Even if it takes 20 minutes to destroy it with anti-ship missiles, that’s enough time to devastate the forces surrounding the lake.
“I’ll deploy the Special Forces to suppress it, and catch Jörmungandr rampaging in the lake— Ah!”
Pixel slapped his forehead. The navy that was supposed to catch Jörmungandr just got wiped out. There’s no way to catch Jörmungandr rampaging in the lake or to stop that monstrous battleship within an hour.
Even if boarding is theoretically possible, how are we supposed to catch a giant sea serpent that can dive? With underwater Special Forces?
For now, we can only pray that the giant battleship doesn’t find Pixel’s headquarters within 20 minutes. If we can hold out for 20 minutes, reinforcements will handle Jörmungandr and that battleship.
The most important target, Dr. Kim, is still unlocated. Could he be wandering somewhere in the lake, hiding in the night?
The combat assets Pixel could mobilize are scattered, guarding data centers in Pyongyang and various U.S. locations. Some were killed by Dr. Kim.
Especially.
The powerful combat asset, the Mecha Crocodile, and the superhuman Aski are dead. I thought those two could definitely kill Dr. Kim. Now that I think about it, it’s a shame.
Should’ve just had them guard the facility.
“Admiral Bradley.”
[Yes.]
“Has the location of the Clockwork battleship been confirmed?”
[No.]
“Deploy all remaining ships to ram and immobilize the battleship. Tie its feet. There are still frigates and patrol boats left, right?”
[Yes?]
This is the only card we can play now. Since the lake fleet is already neutralized, we’ll throw everything into stopping the Clockwork battleship to buy time.
“That thing is like the avatar of the Clockwork God. We can’t be sure anti-ship missiles will sink it, so we need to tie it down first. I’ll deploy the Special Forces to retrieve the supernatural phenomena.”
Admiral Bradley didn’t respond.
[You’ve lost every battle against Dr. Kim so far, haven’t you? Isn’t it time to act cautiously rather than recklessly?]
“Admiral Bradley—”
[More importantly, the flagship is slowly sinking after being hit… I’ll go board a lifeboat now. Good luck, Administrator.]
The communication cut off.
Administrator Pixel sighed. It seems we can’t expect U.S. support for a while. The list of people to kill just keeps growing.
It’s too quiet.
Anyone who’s heard the sound of missiles, fighter jets, or the engines of large battleships knows modern weapons are loud.
Especially the sonic booms from fighter jets and missiles can be heard from kilometers away. Explosions, the firing sounds of battleship guns.
They should be audible, so why is it so quiet?
At the very least, we should see searchlights from the coast guard ships searching the area. I thought they were deployed.
“Miss Hasti. Check why it’s so quiet.”
“Ah, yes.”
The staff went up.
“Clairvoyance.”
Hasti closed her eyes, and a sphere of light appeared above her head. She must be checking the surroundings with magic. Hasti opened her mouth after a while.
“There’s nothing there.”
“Pixel prepared a fleet and surrounded the lake with the National Guard. That can’t be.”
Hasti looked confused.
“There’s really nothing there.”
Weird. I grabbed the radio. Ganymede might know the situation.
“Ganymede. Report the situation.”
[The enemy is fleeing.]
“Why?”
[Anti-ship missiles take several minutes to warm up, but the battleship’s main guns only take 1 minute to reload. I wiped out all the enemies in 8 minutes, and it seems their command structure just collapsed.]
Does that make sense?
“What are the enemies doing now?”
[Nothing.]
“Why…?”
[Either their command structure collapsed, or there’s infighting. I’m not sure.]
I scratched my head. What’s going on?
In the distance, Ganymede’s Clockwork battleship loomed on the horizon. The battleship seemed to be cruising at full speed.
[By the way, I found the target. They can’t hide it forever, given the spatial limitations.]
A white fog spread ahead. It looked similar to the fog we saw at Yulje-myeon.
It’s probably an information-degrading fog meant to hide something. We took an Anti-Hallucinogen Pill and headed straight into the fog.
Ganymede’s battleship accompanied us. Isn’t there any way to clear the fog a bit?
The radio crackled beside me.
[Clench your teeth.]
After Ganymede’s warning.
In the distance, the Clockwork battleship’s turrets turned. With the sound of the lake being overturned, the guns’ fire split the fog.
We finally faced some real resistance.
Several missiles instantly struck Ganymede’s battleship. Will it sink immediately? The battleship didn’t tilt or anything, but if it keeps taking hits like this, sinking is just a matter of time. Let’s run for now.
To avoid getting caught up in it, we need to get as far away from Ganymede’s battleship as possible. I think it can still recover from this much damage.
The rubber boat carrying the three of us also moved forward. We’ll charge ahead. It seems we’ll soon break into the enemy facility.
Water splashed behind the rubber boat.
“Ganymede. Can you survive?”
[It’s possible. But more than the anti-ship missiles, I think a helicopter just took off. I’m worried the enemy Special Forces might board the ship.]
“We’re breaking into the facility. If we kill Administrator Pixel, the Special Forces under his command will likely stop fighting.”
[Understood.]
I covered my ears. The massive sound of the battleship’s guns firing caused waves. Are we going to collapse before even breaking into the facility?
I hope so. If only Administrator Pixel and the building would just disappear together, so we don’t have to fight him. The facility is now visible.
A thick fortress made of concrete. Parts of the concrete were cracked from the battleship’s hits, but the effect didn’t seem significant.
[Luddite. Entering the facility.]
[Catfish. Entering the facility.]
[Blade. Entering the facility.]