Despite the desperate resistance of the Warrior Monks, the Quadruped Tanks continued to cross the walls and invade the city. The enemy Warrior Monks outside the South Gate wall had already been Zistroi, making it impossible to stop them.
The only option was to run along the top of the walls to get close, but they were completely pinned down.
Construction Multi-legged Heavy Machines, escorted by Quadruped Tanks, crossed the walls. Trailing from their bellies were communication cables. First, they hammered communication units and information-gathering sensors into the walls, then descended into the city.
This dramatically increased the internal information, which had previously been gathered only from telescopic images and incomplete data from the infiltrated Spybots. Furthermore, multiple Heavy Machines succeeded in invading the city, successively driving information-gathering piles into the ground.
“Information analysis of the city interior, start. Transfer the main analysis processing from ＜Iris＞ to ＜Ringo＞.”
“Authority received. Starting feedback of analysis results.”
＜Ringo＞, having received a vast amount of sensor information, began analyzing the Holy Capital at once. The analysis results were immediately sent back to ＜Iris＞, where they would be used for formulating strategies.
“I heard that more than half of the Holy Capital was Warrior Monks, but it’s deserted.”
“Yes, Ma’am. It is believed that non-combatants have been evacuated to the north, and the Warrior Monks have been gathered.”
Considering the size of the country, the Holy Capital was quite large, but there were hardly any reactions that seemed to be ordinary citizens. Most were Warrior Monks who had been mobilized as defense forces.
And a considerable number of those Warrior Monks had already been killed in battle.
Nevertheless, with the appearance of the Bishops and Archbishops, the estimated combat strength evaluation value had actually increased since before the start of the war. On the other hand, the ＜The Tree＞ side’s combat strength, which had been more than double, had already halved. The outcome of the invasion operation could have gone either way.
“We have managed to restrain the maximum combat strength outside the walls.”
“＜Iris＞ will proceed with the capture of the Holy Capital as is.”
Flying Drones were being successively deployed near the captured South Gate. From a distance, they looked like a swarm of gnats. Maintaining distance from each other, the Drone swarm crossed the walls and invaded the Holy Capital.
Most of them scattered into the sky, but some descended the walls and landed. After purging their flight blades, they entered the interior to suppress the inside of the walls.
“If it’s a wall of this size, there must be passages inside.”
“Yes, Ma’am. The investigation was minimal due to the small number of Spybots, but there is a device for operating the gate doors inside, so we will suppress it.”
After Zistroiing several Warrior Monks with their numbers, the Drones reached the gate door opening/closing device. The winding machines and such had been destroyed, but if they could somehow manage to deal with the fixing device, the Quadruped Tanks could pry it open.
“＜Iris＞ has declared the complete capture of the South Gate.”
Thus, the South Gate of the Holy Capital of Prawa was opened, and a large number of automated machines began to flow in.
Meanwhile, outside the walls…
The Jötunn in charge of the West Gate, with a large hole in its abdomen, was barely maintaining its running function. The Archbishop, who had been the greatest threat, had been driven away to the north by the bombardment from the Gigantia Squad. This meant there were no obstacles hindering the Jötunn.
The number of operational Quadruped Tanks was less than 40% of what it had been at the start of the operation. But that was still a sufficient number. The Jötunn brought its massive body close to the West Gate and fired hooked wire ropes one after another. The South Gate had already been breached, and now it was the West Gate’s turn. The surviving Warrior Monks gathered, but they were not enough to stop the momentum of the automated machines.
The monster that the Archbishop had supposedly defeated was approaching as if nothing had happened, even with a gaping hole in its belly. It must have been quite terrifying.
In reality, one of the three Fusion Reactors was completely destroyed, and another had its output reduced to 20%, with internal energy lines torn to shreds and functions stopped in various places. About 60% of the running wheels were silent, and it was barely able to move on its own, practically scrap.
However, that state was not apparent from the outside.
The infiltrated Drones skillfully opened the city gates. With nothing blocking the gates, there was no resistance to entry. Quadruped Tanks and Drones began to pour into the walls in large numbers.
At the East Gate, the Archbishop was steadily eliminating Quadruped Tanks. Sometimes dodging, sometimes deflecting the barrage of Cannon Shells and Maser cannons, he did not stop his advance as he pounced on his next target.
＜Eurytus＞, judging that it would be difficult to defeat him with ground forces, continued its attacks with the main objective of hindering his movements. It concentrated lasers on his movement starting points and carried out synchronized Armor-Piercing Shell bombardments before he could begin his attack motions. It was depriving the opponent of his processing ability and suppressing the attrition rate of the Quadruped Tanks even a little.
And then, the North Gate.
The Archbishop from the west and the Archbishop from the north merged. The enemy’s combat strength evaluation value soared, but the bombardment density on the ＜The Tree＞ side, which had been dispersed, also doubled. Laser and Maser beams were fired, even taking into account the scattering caused by the numerous shields deployed by the Archbishop.
Lasers and Masers use the heating caused by energy irradiation as their attack power. Even if dispersed, the energy itself does not diminish.
And even if they were blocked, the blocked areas would be heated accordingly.
The fired Cannon Shells restricted the Archbishop’s movements.
And the thoroughly calculated energy radiation was poured into a specific space.
The matter that existed in the area where the energy was concentrated instantly turned into plasma.
Even in spaces that were not, high heat was scattered by radiation.
The battlefield at the North Gate was transformed into a localized inferno.
“…In addition to direct attacks, environmental damage, huh.”
“It is unknown how effective it will be.”
While being scorched by the high-energy beams, the Archbishop fled. The characteristics of the shield changed slightly, and the beams were scattered again. However, the heat generated did not disappear easily.
＜Iris＞ calmly issued instructions to corner the Archbishop.
＜Eurytus＞, which dominated the battlefield, was using radiant heat, i.e., infrared radiation, to inflict continuous damage on the Archbishop.
The Jötunn in charge of the north side was still intact for the time being. The situation was such that the Archbishop was being pushed back.
The Archbishop, who had been generating shields, stopped. At the same time as he shouted something, a large number of shields appeared, surrounding him. The Archbishop, who had been carrying out long-range bombardments, jumped into the group of shields.
“＜Iris＞ requests full bombardment.”
“Ah, he’s starting to charge, Onee-sama!”
“I wonder if he’s going to fire a big move.”
The concentrated lasers and Masers were reflected and scattered, and did not become effective hits. The rushing metal Cannon Shells could not penetrate all the shields either.
All Cannons with a line of sight aimed at the target Archbishop. They fired all at once.
However, if they did such a thing while leaving the enemy in front of them unattended, they would be exposing their defenseless flanks. In the next moment, about 10% of the Quadruped Tanks were judged to be heavily damaged.
But thanks to those sacrifices, more than 600 Cannon Shells were launched. The firing timing and aiming of each Cannon Shell were precisely adjusted. They were fired with a slight time difference so that they would not collide with each other in the air unnecessarily.
A large number of metal Cannon Shells slammed into the shields. Because of the close-range attack, there was almost no deceleration due to air resistance. The supersonic mass converted its kinetic energy into destructive power.
The image flashed white.
Some of the kinetic energy was converted into heat, and the impact point was enveloped in high temperature.
Various things, such as plasmaized atoms, evaporated metal, and melted steel, scattered.
Eve watched the grand spectacle with a difficult expression, while Asahi, whose audio was muted, enjoyed watching the stereoscopic image excitedly.
“Jötunn No. 6 has sustained critical damage. Operability is less than 10%.”
“The Archbishop escaped!”
“Into the walls!”
Akane, Utsugi, and Erika, who had been analyzing the data, reported.
Due to the long-range attack launched by the Archbishop, the Jötunn in charge of the North Gate was heavily damaged, losing almost all functions.
On the other hand, the Archbishop did not come out unscathed, and seemed to have retreated with significant damage. And at the same time, the Archbishop of the East Gate also retreated.
What remained were Jötunn No. 6, which had been judged to be completely destroyed, Jötunn No. 5, which had sustained fatal damage to its legs, and a large amount of wreckage, and the Quadruped Tanks, which had been reduced to one-tenth of their original number.
“Report from ＜Iris＞: The Quadruped Tanks and Drones that have infiltrated the walls are being destroyed by the Archbishop and Bishops who have retreated into the walls.”
The city defense battle, a guaranteed loss event, marks the beginning of the protagonists’ retreat.
We defeated the enemy’s great demon beast, and the protagonist (Archbishop) party somehow survived. Easy peasy.