At the top of the Red Line.
Click.
The last heavy cannon finished turning, its barrel dipping.
Below, the sea was packed with flags of justice as far as the eye could see.
"Target locked!"
"Marine flagship in range!"
"Flying Fleet entering the secondary firing zone!"
The commander swept his hand down.
"Fire!"
Boom, boom, boom, boom—!!!
The Red Line itself seemed to shudder. Hundreds of heavy cannons spat fire at once, sending shells plunging toward the sea from thousands of meters above.
For a moment, the sky over the Marine formation went black.
"Brace for impact!"
"Raise the port guns!"
"Intercept—!"
The Marine formation had barely begun to move.
At the front, Rock raised his right hand and flicked his index finger upward.
Crackle.
Countless threads of lightning, almost too fine to see, shot out at once.
Bang!
The first cannon burst apart on the spot.
Then came the next.
A second.
A third.
Boom, boom, boom, boom—!
Lightning burned through targeting systems. Smoke poured from the command towers' communication lines, and ammunition stores that had just been opened exploded.
Even the shells already in flight were detonated one by one. Fireballs filled the sky, but not a single shell landed among the Marine flagships.
The cannon fire from the Red Line fell silent by more than half.
Rock did not even look up.
"Keep advancing."
The fleet pressed on without slowing.
Atop the Holy Land, fresh alarms immediately sounded.
"First artillery battery has lost over sixty percent of its guns!"
"Activate the rear batteries!"
Rumble—
Higher up, sections of camouflaged rock slid apart, revealing super-heavy artillery that had been hidden for years.
The guns stood so high that a slight dip of their barrels brought the entire outer sea into range.
On the Marine side, a lookout's