The Charging Battleship

“What the hell is going on!? Why did the Renew explode!?”

Admiral Dimitria burst onto the bridge, flushed red in the face, not even fully dressed in uniform. He stared in disbelief at the once-proud Imperial battleship now engulfed in flames.

Only three battleships existed within the colonial fleet—and now, one of them had suddenly exploded like a bolt from the blue. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, the reality before his eyes could not be refuted.

“It seems to have started from the shell storage area.”

An officer, watching through binoculars, pointed out the origin of the largest flames. Hearing this, Marquis Dimitria’s expression twisted in disbelief. That meant this disaster occurred due to negligence in managing the shell storage.

“Find out immediately who was in charge!”

He roared, while the battleship continued to burn. A moment later—BOOM!—an even larger explosion erupted, likely from the secondary shell storage. Everyone instinctively ducked as the shockwave swept over them. Even from a distance, they could feel the searing heat.

‘Damn it… what am I supposed to do now?’

He already felt ashamed that they couldn’t take the colonial city of the Polia Kingdom. Now, they had lost one of the Empire’s most important war assets to what seemed like sheer incompetence. He had no idea how he could face His Majesty. How would he survive the Emperor’s wrath?

While he stared at the burning wreck in dismay, an officer rushed in with documents. Dimitria held out his hand without a word, and the officer handed them over.

“Jackson? He was newly assigned as the shell handler today? And what is this… he was a prisoner of the Polia Kingdom just two months ago?”

“The previous handler fell ill and had to disembark. Jackson was urgently reassigned.”

The officer had skimmed the file before delivering it and now explained how Jackson had come to be on the battleship. Admiral Dimitria’s voice turned furious.

“Arrest the clerks who approved this, and arrest that former handler too! There’s no doubt some scheme is behind this! Yes, since he was a prisoner, he must have been acting under Polia’s orders!”

He refused to believe this was mere incompetence. He chose instead to believe it was terrorism, born of a clever plan. After all, a former prisoner couldn’t be trusted.

Just as the admiral barked orders, the bridge door creaked open—but no one noticed. Normally, someone would have reacted immediately, but amid the chaos, no one registered the presence entering the bridge.

A man walked slowly toward the helm.

“Hmm? Who are you?”

The helmsman, startled by someone behind him, looked back. The expression he saw was… off. The stranger muttered, just loud enough for the helmsman to hear.

“Must… steer… the ship… must steer… the ship…”

“What are you saying? Who are you! How did you get in here!?”

The helmsman raised his voice, finally drawing the attention of others. Even Admiral Dimitria turned toward the disturbance. Just then, the man lunged forward.

“Whoa!?”

Trying to wrest control of the helm, the stranger shoved the helmsman aside. With shocking strength, he grabbed the ship’s wheel. The helmsman fell helplessly, unable to resist.

“Must… steer… the ship…”

His words were sluggish and vacant, yet his movements were swift. Still, despite turning the wheel, the ship didn’t move. It was impossible to operate a battleship alone. The crew quickly recovered from their shock.

“Who is that guy!?”
“Restrain him!”

People surged forward to subdue the intruder. Admiral Dimitria could only gape—utterly baffled. But then, incredibly, the man began pushing back against a dozen officers.

An Expert…? Was this one of the extremely rare combat elites within the Doichen Empire? No—it didn’t seem so. True Experts were far more powerful than this.

“He’s pushing us back!”

“Pin him down!”

“He’s too strong!”

“Just shoot him!”

A lieutenant drew his pistol and aimed at the intruder’s head, pulling the trigger.

BANG!

The man froze mid-motion, his head blown through. Relief washed over the crew. But then the admiral’s aide shouted.

“Why did you kill him?! We needed to find out who was behind this!”

“M-my apologies!”

“Dammit!”

Now they couldn’t trace the mastermind. The lieutenant who fired the shot turned pale. But Admiral Dimitria quickly interjected.

“It’s fine. Protecting the bridge was the priority. You did the right thing. I promise on my name—you won’t be punished.”

“Th-thank you, sir.”

Relieved by the admiral’s words, the lieutenant bowed gratefully. Still, as Dimitria stared down at the corpse, he couldn’t shake the unease.

‘A man barges into the bridge just after our battleship explodes and tries to seize the helm? That’s insane. And yet… why do I feel so unsettled? Could this really be a coincidence?’

Just then, a new report came in.

“The Mythos is charging toward enemy-held Beyru!”

“What!?! Order it to return immediately!”

“We’re signaling, but they’re not responding!”

“Stop it! Ram it if you must—just stop it!”

Even with Admiral Dimitria’s command, neither cruisers nor destroyers could stop the battleship’s advance. Even the flagship was positioned too far away. Meanwhile, the bridge of the Mythos was in a completely different state than the flagship.

Three individuals had taken over the bridge. In their hands were blood-stained daggers and hammers. Unlike a single infiltrator, their group of three had managed to overpower the crew upon entering the bridge.

Coincidentally, their battleship was near the already-exploded Renew, and had already begun moving. In the end, despite their injuries, they succeeded in occupying the bridge. Though the sound of pounding on the bridge’s steel doors echoed constantly, they had locked it tight, making it impossible to break through quickly.

By chance, all three had been assigned to this ship, and when they acted together, they managed to seize it—something that hadn’t happened on the flagship. Now that the ship was in motion, they were steering it toward land, following the imprinted command.

The Mythos was pushing forward, parting through the anchored fleet. The abrupt movement left everyone stunned. With both the captain and first officer incapacitated, the command structure aboard the ship had collapsed.

Thus, the battleship passed cruisers and destroyers nearby and continued its advance. The Empire’s warships tried to stop it, but nothing could halt the 30,000-ton juggernaut.

The pounding on the bridge door grew louder as the Mythos approached the shoreline. Naturally, the coastal batteries of the Polia Kingdom began to roar. To them, the oncoming battleship appeared to be an attack.

Shells rained down on the rampaging Mythos, which looked precarious under the bombardment. Some shots missed, and those that landed were absorbed by the heavily armored hull.

Historically, no one had ever tried such a mad charge with a battleship. Who would dare risk a nation’s greatest naval asset in a reckless move like this? The Polia Kingdom, understandably, was thrown into confusion and unable to respond properly.

It was a single battleship—charging toward Beiru, a colonial port city of the Polia Kingdom. As its massive form loomed ever closer, panic spread among the defenders.

Air-raid sirens blared, shells and machine gun fire erupted, but nothing could stop the Mythos. Destroyers stationed at the harbor attempted to block it with their own hulls, but the size disparity was far too great.

Even if they tried to block it, they would be capsized and sunk. Still, the destroyers made the attempt. At that moment, one armored cruiser began rapidly approaching the rogue battleship. It was the Luda, commanded by Prince Ian.

“Are we really ramming it?!”

“We must. If we don’t, that battleship will charge into the city.”

For the first time, Ian issued a command truly befitting a captain. Hearing this, his first officer Derian’s heart sank. Though Ian had proven himself capable in many battles, the idea of ramming a battleship was terrifying.

In truth, they had arrived this quickly only because Ian had ordered an immediate response the moment a massive explosion erupted from the Doichen colonial fleet. While everyone else was paralyzed in shock, they had moved swiftly, allowing them to confront the enemy in time.

“If we collide, we could sink.”

“We won’t sink.”

“Can you guarantee that?”

“Of course. I can guarantee that they’ll be the ones to avoid us.”

Derian was bewildered by Ian’s confidence. Still, whatever happened, they had to stop that ship. He swallowed hard. The massive battleship was charging straight at them, but the real fear was that it might unleash a full broadside from its heavy guns.

‘If it fires, we’re finished.’

Derian couldn’t help but admire Ian’s boldness. He had never seen the prince so decisive. Meanwhile, the enemy battleship drew ever closer.

Their own cruiser had a displacement just over 10,000 tons. Could it survive a collision with such a behemoth? Probably not. Still, the enemy ship remained silent, its guns unused—adding to the mystery.

Then, suddenly, the battleship began to turn.

“Huh!? The enemy battleship is veering off!”

“They’re dropping anchor!”

“Their speed is decreasing rapidly!”

The crew on the bridge looked on in disbelief. Despite the commotion, Ian remained calm and issued another order, a faint, triumphant smile on his face.

“Drop our anchor at the same time as we reduce speed!”

“Uh, excuse me?”

“Did you not hear me? Drop the anchor—now!”

At Ian’s unusually forceful tone, the crew rushed to obey. The anchor dropped rapidly and soon scraped the rocky seabed. Though it dragged for a while, it eventually caught, rapidly slowing the ship.

The Mythos, now directly in front of them, also came to a near-complete stop. Its enormous weight meant the anchor alone couldn’t halt it entirely, but its speed dropped enough to draw it closer and closer to Ian’s cruiser.

Eventually, the two ships came to a halt, their sides nearly touching. On the deck of the Mythos, confused Doichen sailors could be seen. Ian turned to First Officer Derian Zeko and issued a bold command.

“Immediately seize the enemy battleship. Can you do it?”

“Wait—what did you just say?”

“I said seize that battleship! Get the men ready!”

“Wh-what!?”

Shock rippled through the crew. Seize that battleship? Was that even possible? Then it hit them—they were in friendly territory. The massive enemy ship now lay stranded in the middle of their lines.

They weren’t alone. Reinforcements would surely arrive soon via nearby destroyers and transport boats. Realizing this gave everyone chills. They were going to seize an enemy battleship.

Excitement swept through the ship as the crew rushed to arm themselves.