Chapter 244: Spirit Turtle
“Something incredible just appeared…?”
“Wow! This is amazing, Big Sister! Let me calculate… The weight is roughly proportional to the cube of the length, so using a standard tortoise… it’s about 477,000 tons!”
“That’s a bit too heavy for me to comprehend.”
“Don’t worry, Big Sister! The specific gravity of water isn’t that far off!”
Of course, the weight was an estimate, but it shouldn’t be too far from the truth. The Reflector lifted its massive body on six legs and began to walk slowly.
“Hmm… The species name is Spirit Turtle.”
“Yes, Ma’am. The individual name is The Reflector. Registering species name as Spirit Turtle.”
“Oh, Spirit Turtle! The one said to carry Mount Horai on its back!”
As they continued this rather trivial conversation, they could see The Reflector stretching its neck in the footage.
In that instant, the image shook violently.
“Yikes! Wh-what’s happening?”
“An anomaly detected in the telemetry of the surveillance drone.”
“Big Sister, an enormous shockwave just occurred! It’s likely a sonic wave!”
Was it a roar? The footage trembled violently. Upon closer inspection, the surrounding trees seemed to sway dramatically.
The sound was so loud that it was almost beyond recognition.
“The sensors on the surveillance drones are detecting abnormal values. Mechanical malfunctions seem to have occurred due to the sonic shockwave. Flight and recording can continue, but the aircraft status is now under caution (Yellow).”
“Big Sister, I’m launching a replacement drone!”
“I’ll rotate the nearby drones as well!”
While Utsugi and Erika requested permission, Commander Eve checked the view from a different wyvern.
“Over here… Ugh, one of the wyverns is moving toward The Reflector.”
Just as Eve said, one of the two wyverns was heading straight for The Reflector.
“Big Sister, confirming electromagnetic wave emissions! The source is The Reflector! It seems to have biological radar capabilities! Wow, the wyvern is also sending waves our way! The microwave region is in a massive traffic jam!”
It was already known that The Reflector had the ability to reflect electromagnetic waves. It was no surprise that it possessed an electromagnetic wave transmitter. However, if it was functioning as a biological radar, that changed everything.
“It might have anti-air capabilities! It seems like a threat creature that is aware of the sky!?”
“Ugh, don’t say such unpleasant things. It looks like deploying the Gigantia Unit will be tough…”
At Asahi’s cheerful prediction, Eve frowned. If there was a threat creature with anti-air capabilities, it would complicate the deployment of the paper-thin Gigantia and Titan units. Due to their massive size, they would be easy targets for continuous attacks.
“The wyvern is preparing to attack. It appears to be about to unleash Dragon Breath.”
One of the wyverns aimed its mouth wide open at The Reflector.
A flash of light erupted.
“Electromagnetic radiation detected. Charged particle attack. Direct hit on The Reflector!”
“It’s a magical barrier! The wyvern’s breath is being scattered by The Reflector’s barrier!”
The sub-light speed charged particles struck The Reflector’s shell. However, they seemed to be completely blocked by the geometric patterns of light covering its surface. The breath attack was deflected like fireworks, scattering in all directions. Some of it struck the trees of the forest, igniting fires.
“This is like a monster showdown…”
“This is bad! Can our current weapons even counter this!?”
As Eve felt a sense of dread from the spectacular scene, Asahi was gleefully cheering.
“The magical barrier is a problem, but even if it gets through, I think most attacks will be nullified due to the mass difference.”
Reacting to Asahi’s words, Akane began to explain, as if considering various countermeasures.
“It depends on the hardness of the shell, but based on past experiences, it should have incredible strength. Even if we strip away the barrier and hit it with a Bunker Buster, I’m not sure we can penetrate the shell.”
“Akane’s right! A standard Bunker Buster probably won’t have enough penetration power! We might need a specialized Ultra Hypersonic Missile!”
Considering the characteristics of the threat creatures they had faced so far, that seemed accurate. In addition to the troublesome magical barrier, the body structure itself was robust. In fact, the Mountain Boar they had fought previously had ultimately been unable to inflict any damage. There was no reason to expect that this much larger The Reflector would be any weaker.
“Should we fire a penetration-specialized shell or a missile? Hmm… I really need to start seriously considering the recreation of magic; otherwise, we might end up in a serious situation…”
“That’s true! It feels like the entire Demon Forest is getting restless! This incident is likely to stir things up even more!”
“I feel like it’s mostly our fault for stirring things up…”
The stampede incident in the Forest Country (Lebresta) was originally caused by The Tree defeating a wyvern. That had significantly altered the territory of the threat creatures. However, they had never anticipated that such widespread and chain-reaction effects would occur.
“Big Sister, The Reflector is…”
“Huh?”
Called by Ichigo, Eve turned her gaze back to the display, leaving her conversation with Asahi.
The Reflector was extending its neck toward the wyvern behind it. Around its head, several objects were rapidly increasing in size.
“Huh?”
“Eight rocks have appeared around its head, rapidly increasing in volume.”
The rocks grew larger before their eyes. As they reached a diameter of 5 meters, they accelerated as if repelled.
“The rocks are estimated to be 5 meters in diameter based on video analysis. Currently at 250 km/h. Accelerating. Reaching 350 km/h.”
“Huh!?”
“Oh, could this be Stone Bullet!!”
Eve shouted in surprise, and Asahi echoed her excitement.
The eight rocks flew through the air one after another. Accelerating rapidly, they closed in on the approaching wyvern.
“Trajectory correction confirmed.”
The rocks weren’t just flying straight. They continued to accelerate while taking a direct course toward the target wyvern.
“The wyvern is changing its course.”
The wyvern seemed to have noticed the rocks, spreading its wings and climbing rapidly. However, the rocks pursued it into the sky. Dashed lines indicating the future positions of the wyvern and the rocks appeared on the footage, perfectly overlapping.
“The rocks have broken the sound barrier.”
The wyvern’s flight speed was about 300 km/h. In the blink of an eye, the rocks caught up to the wyvern, and then—
An explosion echoed.
The rocks shattered into pieces, and the wyvern was sent flying in an unnatural position.
Then, the remaining seven rock fragments collided one after another.
“The initial explosion sound was a sonic boom caused by the rocks reaching the speed of sound. The wyvern’s damage… is not confirmed. However, there is a possibility of internal damage. It seems to still be conscious.”
The blasted wyvern flapped its wings frantically, trying to regain its balance.
At that moment, The Reflector raised its front leg—then brought it down.
At first glance, it seemed like a meaningless action. However, as its leg struck the ground, the wyvern, which had completely lost its balance, plummeted as if it had been struck by a massive hammer from above.
“Is that… a long-range attack!?”
Asahi’s (gleeful) scream.
In that instant, the other wyvern unleashed its Dragon Breath, hitting The Reflector’s head directly.
A blinding flash erupted.
As The Reflector deflected the breath and opened its mouth, it let out a short roar.
The space around the wyvern releasing the breath distorted, and in that moment, a massive explosion occurred. The caught wyvern fell in a spiral.
“Eh…?”
“Yay!”
The bewildered voice of Commander Eve and the delighted scream of Asahi echoed in the command room.