“Huh… They’re exceeding the speed of sound, aren’t they? What about the sonic boom?”
“Yes, Ma’am. It was not observed.”
“Onee-sama! Things are getting interesting over here!!”
Asahi finally chimed in.
Akane’s emotion graph regained a bit of stability because of it.
It seemed she was feeling stressed due to the continuous observation of irrational (fantasy) phenomena. Perhaps Asahi noticed this and spoke up.
“Asahi, is everything alright on your end?”
“Yes, well, I was just observing the Threat Creatures.”
As she said that, Asahi’s avatar popped up on the display.
“The city walls are inanimate, but the Threat Creature’s Barrier is properly deployed. How fascinating.”
“＜Iris＞ wants to confirm the deployment status above ground and underground, and how it reacts when infantry-class units make contact.”
Akane, utilizing her characteristic as the Backbone, can deploy ＜Iris＞’s thoughts onto her own Brain Unit. It seems that it becomes difficult as time passes and the divergence increases, but since it has been less than a year since it was branched off, synchronization is still possible.
“We are planning to capture the southern gate and its surroundings. After eliminating a certain number of enemy units, we will attempt infiltration using a Communicator Doll.”
“I see. It’s a test to see what the Barrier reacts to. It blocks Cannon Shells, at least, but what about humans entering and exiting?”
Indeed, that is something to be concerned about.
“If it’s blocking everything, then there must be an ON/OFF mechanism for the Barrier’s deployment. If not, then it must be identifying something.”
“Ah, exactly as you say, Onee-sama. I have a feeling it’s deploying automatically, though.”
As they were talking, a Cannon Shell landed in the Holy Capital’s sky.
Yes, in the sky.
“Onee-sama. A Barrier is deployed in the sky as well. Its continuity with the one deployed on the city walls is unknown.”
The Armor-Piercing Shell fired from the airborne ＜Mnemosyne＞ was blocked by a spherical, glowing Barrier and detonated. It seems that it’s not possible to simply invade from above.
“Even so, for a Jötunn to be taken down so easily…”
Eve was observing the Jötunn, whose four main Cannons had been destroyed. The priest, running at supersonic speed, had cut off the barrels in the blink of an eye. Because they were massive mechanisms and precision instruments, they couldn’t perform an emergency evasion.
Once they get that close, there’s nothing that can be done.
Normally, they would be eliminated before they got that close. However, they ignored the deployed weapons on the front lines and approached, so there was no time to buy for retreat.
“For now, it has been determined that elimination is possible through the concentrated use of Laser Cannons. That alone is useful information. Let’s tag the powerful units and control the battlefield.”
“Understood. Initiating tag identification. ＜Iris＞ has identified six target units.”
If those priest-class units are allowed to move freely, all the Jötunn will be neutralized before long. That’s not good.
The only countermeasure, for now, is the concentrated use of Laser Cannons.
Hypersonic Cannon Shells might also be effective if fired from a distance where they can’t be detected.
“Is it possible to eliminate them with our current equipment?”
“The local Tactical AI has determined that a Saturation Bombardment is the only option. ＜Iris＞ agrees.”
“Unleashing an overwhelming amount of attacks is a basic tactic against opponents who excel in quality.”
The opponents possess the ability to react to Cannons aimed at themselves or others. At least, it was already experienced that simply aiming and firing with Laser Cannons would be evaded.
“We’re tracing their movements, but it seems like they’re communicating with each other.”
“They’re moving in a swarm-controlled manner. There’s a high possibility that the units are communicating with each other.”
＜Ringo＞ nodded at Asahi and Erika’s analysis results.
“The ＜Serket＞ species also communicates within their swarms. It’s only natural to assume that humans who wield magic can do the same.”
As always, Quadruped Tanks and Warrior Monks were fighting on the ground. It was a chaotic, muddy battle where they were mutually depleting their forces.
However, the Quadruped Tank side was accumulating experience, and the situation was gradually tilting in favor of ＜The Tree＞. The kill rate was increasing.
However, the weakening of the Jötunn’s forces had drastically shifted the balance.
“If it’s just annihilation, a bombing run by the Aerial Escort Ship fleet would probably do the trick.”
“Yes, Ma’am. However, in that case, we won’t be able to gather any information. ＜Iris＞ is prioritizing information gathering and proceeding with the strategy. At worst, ＜Iris＞ has instructed that even if this unit is annihilated, it doesn’t matter as long as we can obtain information.”
If the goal was simply to annihilate the enemy, it would be possible to keep sending Cannon Shells from out of range. However, all that would be obtained is a unilaterally devastated ruin.
“By cornering them, it might become easier to obtain information from the infiltrated BOTs. In fact, the information about this Barrier has been kept secret until now. Currently, we have been able to send BOTs to the center.”
“And what they found was that large Magic Stone. Asahi, did you see it?”
“Yes, Onee-sama! It’s fascinating. It seems certain that the Magic Stone is at the core of the Barrier, but the mechanism is completely unknown.”
A massive Magic Stone was enshrined in the underground center of the Holy Capital. Believers were offering Maritova to this Magic Stone. The BOTs that infiltrated with the moving believers were carefully observing the situation.
As expected, there are too many eyes on it, so they haven’t been able to approach it yet.
“Onee-sama. ＜Iris＞ has decided to carry out a ground bombardment by ＜Mnemosyne＞. This is a measure following the decline in the Jötunn’s forces.”
“If we leave them as they are, they’ll probably be taken down again, so isn’t it reasonable?”
The Aerial Escort Ship (Titan), the 11th ship ＜Mnemosyne＞, was flying at an altitude of about 2,000m and began firing Fragmentation Shells from the Cannons installed on its ventral side. The purpose was to destroy ground facilities and, incidentally, to deter the strong priest units.
Since they are clearly a threat, we want to crush them as soon as possible.
“The only countermeasure the local forces have is to incinerate them with Laser Cannons, huh? Well, since they rely on vision for external recognition, there’s no reason they should be able to avoid an attack at the speed of light. If they do avoid it, that means they have a skill like future sight!”
“So far, no such threats have been observed.”
Asahi said that cheerfully, and Akane replied normally. It was a curt response, but these two usually converse like this, so they must be enjoying themselves.
The ground was being tilled by the bombardment, and a large amount of dust was being generated. When visibility is poor, attacks with Laser Cannons are difficult. At least, sniping by Quadruped Tanks covered in dust cannot be expected.
“＜Iris＞ has stopped using Fragmentation Shells. A misjudgment.”
“Oh.”
Since it is ＜Iris＞’s first battle, a lack of consideration on the ground is normal. If it were ＜Ringo＞, who can use ＜The Core＞, a near-perfect predictive calculation would be possible, but there are limits to the predictive functions that can be executed with the computational resources possessed by ＜Iris＞.
In that sense, this Holy Capital capture is also a training ground for ＜Iris＞.
“They are trying to crush another unit with a Laser Attack from above. Precision sniping control by the corresponding unit has begun. …Now.”
In the video, a flash-like light flickered. The Prawa Theocracy side’s combat strength value dropped sharply.
Enough heat to evaporate the dust concentrated on one point, and the substance existing at the focal point was turned into plasma.
The problem is that firing the Laser Cannons simultaneously temporarily depletes the power transmission capacity of the Microwave Power Supply System. The machine that used the Laser Cannon has its internal capacitor emptied, so its output decreases.
Even in the midst of the aerial bombardment, the Warrior Monks were energetically destroying Quadruped Tanks.
The standard procedure is to somehow deal with physical phenomena with magic.
If you move at super speed saying “It’s an afterimage,” it should be really noisy with the Sonic Boom.