Blackstone Code-Chapter 385: Holding Back the Trump Card

“Don’t panic! Stick to the rhythm we trained with!”

On the deck of a warship, officers roared and shouted. This was the moment that tested the soldiers’ mental endurance.

A destroyer had just sunk before their eyes. Aboard were familiar comrades, respected superiors, and the Federation Navy’s pursuit of strength. Right from the opening clash, the morale of the Federation Navy hit a low point.

For the Federation Navy, there was one good news and one bad.

The bad news was that the enemy was stronger than anticipated. This strength wasn’t something war simulations could reflect. It wasn’t in weaponry or tactics, but in execution. From the first adjustment shot to the first full volley that took out a target, their speed was overwhelming. The combat ability forged through countless real battles gave the Gephra sailors an edge that the Federation couldn’t catch up with in the short term.

The good news was that after suffering a blow to their morale, things couldn’t get much worse. The Federation sailors abandoned any naïve assumptions.

They were thrown into the worst possible scenario from the very start. The pressure was immense, and those who couldn’t handle it would be dealt with immediately. Even in a country that prided itself on freedom like the Baylor Federation, desertion on the battlefield would not be tolerated.

But for those who endured and gradually boosted morale, they would become the very core of the Navy’s spirit.

Besides, how much worse could it get?

“Seventeen seconds left…” an officer directed the gunners to adjust their aim. They had studied Gephra’s rate of fire—about once every 28 seconds. It had already been 11 seconds since the last volley.

They had to fire back before the enemy’s second salvo. If not, morale would plummet further.

In war, people become dull. High-intensity combat numbs their thinking. All they’d feel was frustration that the Gephrans could fire twice while they only managed once.

Accuracy wasn’t critical, but they had to match the pace.

With four seconds remaining, the signalman waved his flag, and the ship’s whistle blared. The advancing vessel seemed to jolt slightly as if nudged by something. A rumble passed through its hull.

The roar of their own guns made the soldiers momentarily deaf. But the instant the shells blasted out, morale surged.

Perhaps it was acceptance setting in—after the initial chaos, the sailors were now fully focused on the battle.

This volley, besides being a hopeful strike, helped calibrate aim and boost confidence.

At this stage, long-range volleys were the primary method of naval combat—the purest expression of naval strength.

Shells pierced the clouds like rain, not only wrecking enemy warships but also crushing their confidence.

Spotters relayed data. Gunners adjusted coordinates. Loaders cleared the spent shells and fed in fresh rounds.

Everyone had a role. Everyone was under immense pressure.

Then came the shrill whistles—Gephra’s second salvo. Two ships took hits, but fortunately, they remained mobile and combat-ready.

Naval tactics still revolved around artillery duels. Whoever had the bigger guns and thicker armor held the upper hand.

This doctrine had dominated naval warfare since its inception. The Gephra Royal Navy had perfected it.

The Federation’s command had once entertained the idea of engaging the Royal Navy head-on, believing only a direct, honorable victory would truly count.

But the reality didn’t allow for that. The Federation’s own volley had been ineffective, not even grazing an enemy ship.

It could be considered a test volley, but the gap in accuracy was alarming. If they stubbornly stuck to exchanging volleys, the Federation risked heavy losses.

So they reverted to their original plan: shift to variable-speed tactics.

The fleet commander immediately ordered all ships to maximum speed. Except for four battleships still engaged in artillery duels, the destroyers surged forward. ℞ÀΝo͍ᛒΕ𝘚

The Federation knew Gephra’s ship specifications well. Gephra, complacent in its past invincibility, underestimated its opponent. The sudden acceleration from the Federation ships startled them—though only briefly.

The Gephrans calmed quickly. Even if the enemy closed the distance, they believed the Federation ships couldn’t do much. They had destroyers and escorts too, and unless their magazines were hit, their main battleships didn’t fear being sunk.

The second round of mutual volleys commenced. This time, the Federation battleships scored a hit, sending a plume of smoke skyward. The morale boost was immediate.

That was all it took—just one hit.

The sailors moved with more fluidity, their pressure slightly eased.

Everyone said the Gephra Royal Navy was invincible. They even had flawless victories in battles of equal scale. But now, right at the start, their ship was smoking. Even if the Federation was weaker, the gap wasn’t insurmountable.

The battle drew global attention. Outside the combat zone, observation ships watched closely.

Some knew the truth—that the Federation was up against Gephra. They came to see if Gephra remained unbeatable.

Others came just for the spectacle. It was the Federation’s first large-scale military operation in an international zone.

Initially, they mocked the Federation Navy for overreacting—deploying an entire fleet just to eliminate pirates, even using strange submarines.

They thought it was overkill and prepared mocking reports for their defense departments, calling the Federation cowards or born weaklings.

But when they saw these pirates, they realized the Federation wasn’t overreacting. They had no choice but to go all-out.

They weren’t facing mere pirates. They were facing one of Gephra’s elite fleets, only missing a few battleships and destroyers. This was one of their strongest naval task forces.

When the first Federation destroyer was sunk, silence fell. Gephra’s Royal Navy was as formidable as ever, draining all will to fight.

But then the Federation adjusted its formation and changed speed. An imposing momentum, worthy of any naval power, began to emerge.

They didn’t panic. They engaged the Gephrans with precision and rhythm, even scoring multiple hits during the exchange.

The battle raged with intensity—evasion, maneuvering, volleys—all in a tense 20-minute span. For the first time, people saw that the Federation Navy wasn’t as weak as they’d imagined.

The shift in perception was complex—like seeing a plain girl remove a loose coat to reveal a stunning figure beneath.

At the 47th minute mark, with ships from both sides taking damage, a sudden development occurred.

A destroyer facing the Federation’s charging fleet sank abruptly, stunning the military observers. They scrambled to find out what had happened.

If it had been due to a shell hit or explosion, there would’ve been a massive fireball or smoke. In naval warfare, a ship losing combat capacity or propulsion was one thing—but for it to sink outright, there were usually only two possibilities.

The magazine detonation—like what happened to the first Federation destroyer that was targeted—had split the ship in two. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Another possible cause was an attack below the waterline, where the inability to quickly seal compartments led to excessive flooding, robbing the vessel of buoyancy and causing it to sink.

Other than that, if the shelling only hit the deck or parts of the hull above the waterline, it was unlikely to result in a sinking.

There was no explosion—so what caused the destroyer to sink?

A torpedo?

But torpedoes still faced many unresolved issues in actual combat. While all nations were developing them, the main focus remained on increasing cannon calibers and improving armor.

Not only were the military observers baffled, but the commander of the Gephra Royal Navy fleet was also at a loss. How could it have just gone down like that?

Could it be that the Federation’s torpedo technology had advanced enough to reliably sink a destroyer-class warship in real combat?

“Don’t let their ships get close to our firepower zone. Drive them back. Also, watch for underwater torpedoes—they may have made a breakthrough in torpedo technology.”

“All those spies embedded in the Federation should be hanged. They missed such critical information!”

The commander no longer looked as calm as before—his face had turned icy cold.