Chapter 247: Family

Three men ran, brandishing large machete-like knives.

They weren’t just swinging their weapons wildly.

They were deflecting the 7mm full metal jacket bullets fired from the machine guns installed in the fortress ahead. Despite the considerable strain, their running posture remained unwavering.

In the first place, they were too fast. In the blink of an eye, the men reached the foot of the rampart.

A flash.

The swung machete sliced through the log-built rampart. The kicked-away remains of the logs spread like buckshot inside the fortress, injuring a considerable number of soldiers. The three men jumped through the breach and immediately began to defeat the soldiers.

In less than ten minutes, the only ones moving inside the fortress were the three men who had invaded.

Entering a makeshift tent, the men gathered information. They checked maps and directives to grasp the positions of the surrounding resistance forces. They opened stacked wooden boxes, pilfered wine and food, equipped themselves, and then ran off.

They were the Prawa Theocracy’s strongest force.

The Chimyera Clan, the strongest warriors formed with the aim of recapturing the holy land.

“So, that’s the situation.”

“Ugh, no thanks. That’s why I hate this kind of unreasonable stuff (fantasy).”

Eve shook her head as ＜Ringo＞ explained the local situation.
However, a Communicator Doll clad in a fully-energized Assist Suit would be capable of similar movements. From their perspective, which side was being unreasonable?

“By the way, here’s the footage of a sniper attack from a distance of 1,400 meters.”

Inside a simple hut camouflaged with plants and trees in the forest.
Inside, a soldier was holding a 13mm anti-material rifle.
The sniper was a special soldier who had undergone some training. Only those who had completed a certain period of training at the request of the Repuytari Kingdom were allowed to call themselves that.

Visible in the scope was a Chimyera, presumably taking a short break inside the captured fortress.

If the sniper scope fell within the range of the Spybot network, the footage could be relayed. How awful.

The image shook violently. The sniper had fired.
But the image quickly stabilized, and they began to assess the results.
The sniper scope, equipped with a certain degree of correction function, transformed an inexperienced soldier into a skilled sniper.

The Chimyera flipped over. But he wasn’t dead.
The sniper probably tried to follow up, but before he could, the Chimyera rolled away and disengaged.

“Even though they’re 1,400 meters away, it’s a supersonic full metal jacket bullet. It should have the power to easily penetrate even the average iron plate armor, but…”

“If it hit a living body, it would explode, right…?”

So, they had deflected an Armor-Piercing Shell with their bare bodies.

Threat Creatures were unreasonable (fantasy) beings that embodied big, strong, and hard, but humans seemed to possess tremendous abilities as well.

“Still, if they get hit directly, it seems like they’d take damage.”

“Yes, Ma’am. It is believed that they can be defeated by appropriately pursuing them. However, even if they are hit in the head, they can retreat without losing consciousness, so it will be quite difficult with the current front-line equipment.”

Still, if they could snipe them successfully, they could stop that strongest force in its tracks. 7mm bullets were useless, but 13mm seemed to be able to hold its own somehow.

“I’ll talk to Amadio-san about changing the weapon ratio again.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“How’s our preparation going?”

In response to Eve’s question, ＜Ringo＞ nodded and displayed a new blueprint and an overhead view of the transport in progress.

“The transport fleet that departed from Fortress Two (Black Iron) yesterday is currently sailing in the sea north of the Stepping-Stone Fortress.”

“Stepping…?”

“Yes, Ma’am. It is a fortress built by the Repuytari Kingdom in the Northern Islands.”

“Oh, right, right. I remember now.”

The Repuytari Kingdom had seized the Northern Islands to build an advance base. The original plan was to develop a sea route to the Southern Continent centered on that, but in the end, the plan had stalled due to the turmoil following the establishment of diplomatic relations with ＜Paraiso＞.

“Arrival at the landing point is scheduled for 80 hours from now. If that’s the case, we’ll want a base somewhere in that area as well.”

“That’s true. Sea transport might be difficult in terms of deployment speed.”

An overhead view from the sky showed the ＜The Tree＞ transport fleet being relayed.
A circular formation with the transport ship in the center. The escort was the Hringhorni-class second ship, ＜Breiðablik＞. The air defense was handled by the Naglfar-class second ship, ＜Mürkviðr＞.

Both of these giant ships were on their maiden voyage.

And protecting those two ships and the surrounding fleet was an even larger transport ship.

“The semi-submersible transport ship, ＜Midgard＞. It is a large ship whose main purpose is to transport a large number of land weapons to enemy territory, as in this case. It is possible to submerge 95% of its structures below the surface of the water to reduce visibility.”

“Hmm… it’s huge when you look at it again…”

745m in total length, 93m in width. The Naglfar-class is 388m, so it’s almost twice as long. This huge internal space is packed with a large number of land weapons. It has the capacity to carry over 1 million tons of supplies.

After deciding to deploy the Land Battleship, a construction dock was built in Fortress Two (Black Iron) in a rush, and it was assembled. Since ＜Ringo＞ was in charge of the design itself, it was launched in two weeks.

“Once we deploy this, there’s no turning back, ＜Ringo＞. Are you sure about this?”

“…Yes, Ma’am. It can’t be helped.”

＜The Tree＞ secretly colluded with the upper echelons of the Repuytari Kingdom to seize control of the southeastern part of the Northern Continent.
The main target of the attack was the Prawa Theocracy.
The threat level of the surrounding countries had been measured, and the Threat Creatures that would be obstacles had been almost completely identified. At least, they could be dealt with within the sphere of influence that ＜The Tree＞ envisioned.

Seize vast territories and swallow up underground resources.

There were many dangers on this planet, but it seemed that the resources had been left untouched. Commander (Eve)’s decision was to acquire even a portion of them as soon as possible.
Gradual expansion wasn’t bad, but Threat Creatures of extraordinary size kept appearing out of nowhere. To counter this, they had no choice but to maintain a large force. If they dawdled, there was a possibility that everything would be razed to the ground by some incredible super-organism.

“Leave the front line as is. Cut off the rear communication lines to divide the forces, and then seize the main base. After that, encircle and Zistroi the front-line forces. Yes, it’s a wonderful plan. Well, thanks to the Threat Creatures, we were able to draw out the hidden cards of the Prawa Theocracy, so this time it’s turning out for the better.”

“Yes, Ma’am. We will clash eventually, but there is no need to take action at the moment.”

If they shared this great power, even Amadio Silverhead would be taken aback, she thought.
Eve scrolled through the operational overview.

The progress was still only about 5%.

The operation table was meticulously simulated and planned by ＜Ringo＞. Moreover, it was a model that incorporated the war situation in real time and flexibly changed the operation to achieve the final goal.

It would be more accurate to say that she had created an arithmetic logic for carrying out the operation, rather than creating a timetable for the operation.
If you looked at the war zone from a bird’s-eye view, you could see how each combat group was organically linked together like a living thing.

“With this, we’ll be releasing about 80% of the resources and units we’ve accumulated so far…”

“The operation will succeed. And if it succeeds, we will acquire many resources.”

＜Ringo＞ was right.
At least, several promising mines had been identified in the Prawa Theocracy, and the surrounding areas could be captured without any problems. Originally, it was a place where almost no one lived.

And the Prawa Theocracy itself was not much of a threat.

The Chimyera Clan were each as strong as a main Multi-legged Tank, but they were still just human beings. They couldn’t deal with multiple units at the same time, and they didn’t fly at supersonic speeds. Their direct combat power was high, but they could be countered with indirect tactics.

“The only concern is the surrounding Threat Creatures, right?”

“Yes, Ma’am. According to Asahi, the possibility of being noticed without using magic is extremely low. I don’t quite understand it.”

“She said something about how magic attracts magic. I can’t understand it.”