Chapter 277: Supersonic Human
“Yes… It’s definitely exceeding the speed of sound. What about the shockwave?”
“Yes, Commander. No shockwave has been observed.”
“Elder Sister! Something exciting is happening, isn’t it?!”
At last, Asahi had poked her head into the conversation. This seemed to stabilize Akane’s Emotion Graph just a bit. It appeared that the series of unreasonable phenomena had caused her some stress. Perhaps Asahi had sensed this and decided to chime in.
“Asahi, are you alright over there?”
“Yes, well, I was just observing the Threat Creatures.”
Asahi’s avatar suddenly popped up on the display.
“The walls are inanimate, but the barrier against the Threat Creatures is properly deployed. Quite intriguing.”
“Iris wants to confirm the deployment status above and below ground, as well as how it reacts when infantry-class units make contact.”
Utilizing her unique characteristic as the Backbone, Akane could project Iris’s thoughts onto her Brain Unit. As time passed, the divergence would become more challenging, but since it had been less than a year since their division, synchronization was still possible.
“We’re planning to seize the southern gate and its surroundings. After eliminating a certain number of enemy units, we intend to attempt an infiltration using the Communicator Androids.”
“I see. It’s a test to see what the barrier reacts to. At least it seems to block shells, but how will it respond to entering humans?”
That was indeed a point of concern.
“If it’s blocking everything, then it must have an ON/OFF mechanism for the barrier. If not, it must be identifying something.”
“Ah, that’s right, Elder Sister. It does feel like it’s automatically deploying, though.”
As they discussed this, a shell struck the sky above the Holy Capital. Yes, above.
“Elder Sister, a barrier is deployed in the air as well. The continuity with the one on the walls is unclear.”
The armor-piercing shell fired from the aerial Mune-Moshine was blocked by a spherical glowing barrier, exploding harmlessly. It seemed that unrestricted entry from above was not an option.
“Still, it’s surprising how easily the Jotun…”
Eve was observing the Jotun, which had lost four main cannons. The priest had dashed in at supersonic speed and swiftly severed the barrels. Given its massive structure and precision machinery, it had been unable to execute an emergency evasion.
Once they got that close, there was little that could be done. Normally, the expectation would be to eliminate threats before they could close in that much. However, they had ignored the weapons deployed at the front line and had not been able to buy any time for retreat.
“For now, it has been confirmed that we can eliminate them through concentrated use of laser cannons. That’s already useful information. Let’s tag the powerful units and control the battlefield.”
“Understood. Tagging identification has begun. Iris has identified six target units.”
If that priest class were allowed to move freely, it wouldn’t be long before all the Jotun were rendered powerless. That was unacceptable. For now, the only countermeasure was the concentrated use of laser cannons. If they could strike from a distance without being detected, the ultra-supersonic shells might also prove effective.
“Is it possible to eliminate them with our current equipment?”
“The local Tactical AI has determined that we have no choice but to conduct a saturation attack. Iris agrees.”
“Delivering an overwhelming amount of attacks is a basic strategy against an opponent that excels in quality.”
The enemy possessed the capability to respond to the projectiles directed at them. They had learned from experience that simply targeting with laser cannons would lead to evasion.
“I’m tracing their movements, but it seems they are communicating with each other.”
“It looks like they are exhibiting swarm control behavior. There’s a high likelihood that the units are communicating among themselves.”
Asahi and Erika’s analysis results were met with a nod from RINGO.
“The Selket species also communicate within their swarm. It would be natural to assume that humans wielding magic can do the same.”
Meanwhile, on the ground, the Quadrupedal Tanks and Monk Soldiers were locked in a fierce struggle. They were mutually depleting each other’s forces in a muddy melee. However, the Quadrupedal Tanks were accumulating experience, and the situation was gradually tilting in favor of The Tree. The kill rate was on the rise. Nevertheless, the Jotun’s decline in strength had suddenly tipped the scales.
“If it’s just about annihilation, the aerial fleet’s bombardment should suffice.”
“Yes, Commander. However, that would yield no information. Iris is prioritizing information gathering while advancing the assault plan. In the worst-case scenario, if we can obtain information, she has instructed that the current unit can be sacrificed.”
If the goal were merely to annihilate the enemy, they could continuously bombard from out of range. However, that would only result in a one-sided wasteland.
“By cornering them, we might be able to extract information from the infiltrated BOTs. After all, the information about this barrier had been kept secret until now. We can now send BOTs deep into the center.”
“And what we found was that large Magic Stone, right? Did you see it, Asahi?”
“Yes, Elder Sister! It’s quite fascinating. It’s clear that the Magic Stone is at the core of the barrier, but the mechanism is completely unclear.”
The enormous Magic Stone, housed deep beneath the Holy Capital, was the object of worship for the faithful. The BOT that had infiltrated along with the moving believers had observed this scene closely. However, there were too many eyes on it for them to approach just yet.
“Elder Sister, Iris has decided on ground bombardment by Mune-Moshine as a measure due to the Jotun’s declining strength.”
“If we leave it as is, we might face another attack, so that seems reasonable.”
The aerial escort ship, Titan No. 11, Mune-Moshine, was flying at an altitude of about 2,000 meters, beginning to unleash explosive shells from its belly. The aim was to destroy ground facilities and simultaneously suppress the powerful priest units.
They were clearly a threat, and it was best to eliminate them quickly.
“The only countermeasure with local forces is to incinerate them with laser cannons. Well, given that they rely on visual perception of the external world, there’s no way they can dodge attacks at the speed of light. If they do, that means they possess some sort of foresight skill!”
“So far, no such threats have been observed.”
Asahi said this cheerfully, and Akane responded normally. It was a blunt exchange, but this was how the two usually conversed, and they likely enjoyed it.
The ground was being churned by bombardments, creating a massive cloud of dust. With poor visibility, attacking with laser cannons would be difficult. At the very least, sniping from the dust-covered Quadrupedal Tanks would be unlikely.
“Iris has ceased the use of explosive shells. Misjudgment.”
“Oh?”
Since it was Iris’s first battle, it was natural for her to overlook some considerations on-site. If RINGO, capable of utilizing The Core, were in charge, near-perfect predictive calculations would be possible. However, Iris’s predictive capabilities were limited by her computational resources. In that sense, this assault on the Holy Capital also served as a training ground for Iris.
“She is attempting to take down another unit with a laser attack from above. Precision sniping control by the corresponding unit has begun. … Now.”
In the footage, a flash of light flickered like a flash. The combat power evaluation for the Prava Divine Nation dropped sharply. The heat concentrated to the point of evaporating the dust, turning the material at the focal point into plasma.
The problem was that firing the lasers simultaneously would temporarily deplete the power capacity of the Microwave Power Transmission System. The unit using the laser cannons would have its internal capacitors drained, resulting in reduced output. Despite the aerial bombardment, the Monk Soldiers were energetically destroying the Quadrupedal Tanks.
It’s a given that physical phenomena are dealt with through magic. If someone were to say, “It’s an afterimage,” while moving at supersonic speed, the resulting sonic boom would surely be deafening.