“The occupation of Wheat Hill City by ground forces dispatched from the Flattala City Outskirts Base has been completed without significant resistance.
The Yūgi Knight Territory Village has been surrounded by cargo plane airborne forces, and the surrender of the local lord has been confirmed.
The Afrasia Royal Capital is currently undergoing neutralization operations by descending forces.
Gigantia, Titan, Oceanus, and Coeus have reached the skies above North End City, and are conducting airborne deployments of forces. Within 10 minutes, subsequent cargo plane groups are scheduled to begin releasing airborne forces as well.”
Currently, the ＜Paraiso＞ army is conducting a blitzkrieg invasion of various cities within the Afrasia United Kingdom that are engaged in relatively sound economic activity.
And the situation is that the operation is about 60% complete.
“I was a little nervous when the Multi-legged Tank was slashed, but well, the damage is within the expected range.”
“Yes, Ma’am. The destroyed Multi-legged Tank is currently being recovered by Multi-legged Heavy Machines (Walkers). We are sending an Albatross flying boat to Jewelry Lake, north of the Royal Capital, and will bring it back from there by air transport for analysis.”
The real-time monitored combat footage. When she (Eve) was shown the video of a living human slashing a Multi-legged Tank over 10m in length with a single sword, even she got a little excited.
Apparently, in this world, if you reach the pinnacle, you can fight Giant Creatures with just a single sword.
Naturally, Asahi, who was watching with her through the communication window, was cheering.
“Onee-sama!! Will Asahi, will Asahi be allowed to analyze it too!? I want to directly converse with the AI of that slash, the Multi-legged Tank, and ask about it!”
“Calm down, Asahi. I’ll make sure you participate properly. Besides, you’re the leader, Asahi. Calm down?”
“Kyaa-hoo!!”
＜Ringo＞ appropriately lowered the volume, protecting the Commander (Onee-sama)’s eardrums.
◇◇◇◇
North End City is the northernmost city in the Afrasia United Kingdom.
It is both a pioneering base on the northern side of the country and, in a sense, a frontline city.
This city fights Monsters every day.
However, it’s not that Monsters are attacking.
Further north from this city lies a vast mountain range called the North Wall Mountains. These are huge mountains with peaks so numerous that even ＜The Tree＞, which did not have satellites, could not see the other side.
And their height exceeds 10,000m.
The foot of the North Wall Mountains is covered in vast forests, and it is said that many Monsters inhabit them.
The residents of Afrasia United Kingdom, North End City, only know the surface of that forest. No one knows what lies deep within the forest.
Even so, venturing into the surface of the Demon Forest is life-threatening, but it was also a place where one could bring back rewards commensurate with the risk.
Therefore, North End City had an ethos that valued strength above all else.
If this city had been in a decent location instead of in the middle of nowhere in a rural country, it would have become the most successful city. However, in reality, it was just a backwater in a backwater country, with almost no interaction with other countries.
If they had put a little more effort into trade, they might have developed further.
However, the location was bad.
North End City is a city of Adventurers.
Adventurers venture into the Demon Forest, hunt Monsters, and bring back their materials.
Food and resources, almost all of it, are provided by the blessings of the forest.
Those with strength fight powerful Monsters and bring back their prey.
Those with wisdom dissect Monsters, collect plants, and use their materials for combat and daily life.
Thanks to the many materials with mysterious properties derived from Monsters, North End City has developed to a certain extent and maintains a standard of living where it is not difficult to survive.
And so, invaders from the distant heights attacked the city, which was enjoying a certain kind of peace.
◇◇◇◇
It suddenly appeared in the southern sky.
Something is floating in the sky.
And, before they knew it, they completely covered the sky.
Naturally, the city is in a panic.
The threat of Monsters was too close to home.
Therefore, it was perceived as a giant flying Monster.
Even the Adventurers who constantly challenge the Demon Forest can only think of running away because of its sheer size. In the first place, they are people who have developed the habit of not challenging Monsters they cannot defeat, not approaching them, and running away immediately.
However, there is no place left to run.
Since they are coming from the south, running in that direction is not an option. Usually, highly dangerous Monsters come from deep within the forest. No one would deliberately run in the direction from which the Monsters came.
However, even if they run north, it is the Monster’s nest.
Therefore, a policy was shown to scatter and run, and gather after the threat has passed, and that decision was about to be communicated to the residents.
At that moment, something came down in large quantities from the Giant Creature in the sky.
Of course, it was the Multi-legged Tanks, the main force of the ＜Paraiso＞ army.
The Multi-legged Tank group, blowing rocket motors, descends to the ground so as to surround North End City.
In other words, the residents’ escape routes were blocked.
Still entrusting a glimmer of hope, the residents, divided into multiple groups, began to flee separately from multiple gates.
Staying in the city would only lead to being trampled.
No one thought that they could coexist with Monsters or that surrender would be accepted, which could be said to be a miscalculation on the ＜Paraiso＞ side.
However, this does not change what the ＜Paraiso＞ side has to do.
Once Airspace Control is secured and the safety of the sky is confirmed, numerous cargo planes fly in from the southern sky.
The cargo plane group scattered the Multi-legged Tanks and a large number of Multi-legged Attack Aircraft it carried in its belly.
It is truly a perfect encirclement that leaves no ant to escape.
They intimidate groups of Adventurers and residents who attempt to break through the encirclement, stopping them in their tracks, reducing the threat level, and then deploying Communicator Dolls to urge surrender.
Communicator Dolls are easy-to-use terminals for ＜The Tree＞, but unlike Multi-legged Tanks, they are structurally very fragile, and they are not intended to be used in combat situations.
Currently, the Multi-legged Attack Aircraft, which are about 2m in length, are responsible for mopping up the remaining enemies and neutralizing the enemy.
With the large-scale advance of air power, the microwave power supply range has expanded, and detailed power supply control has become possible for a large number of friendly targets, so they decided to introduce them in large quantities for the capture of each city.
Communicator Dolls are easy to use, but they are expensive, and the Brain Unit, which is an important component, has low defensive performance, so they are not units they want to use in actual warfare.
And the neutralized Adventurers and residents finally understand that this invasion is not by Monsters, but by some kind of enemy force.
Well, there’s nothing they can do about it even if they understand.
It’s not a good story for the ＜Paraiso＞ side, but there have been sporadic reports of damage and destruction of the Multi-legged Tanks and Multi-legged Attack Aircraft that were sent in.
It seems that there are several Adventurers who possess individual strength.
However, the forces allocated for the capture of North End City are 212 Multi-legged Tanks and 848 Multi-legged Attack Aircraft. Furthermore, Gigantia, Titan, Oceanus, and Coeus are circling as aerial forces, and numerous Drones are being launched at the same time.
There are also multiple Multi-legged Tanks on standby in the sky with transport Drones as reserve forces, and even if the Adventurers whittle them down to some extent, the overall strength is not diminished at all.
A group of Multi-legged Tanks, Multi-legged Attack Aircraft, and Communicator Dolls escorted by anti-personnel Drones entered the walls of North End City.
A group that gave up on escaping is holed up inside the lord’s mansion.
The role of the Communicator Dolls is to call for the surrender of that group.
Eventually, the last of the resisting groups is neutralized.
The Afrasia United Kingdom is completely incorporated into the sphere of influence of ＜Paraiso＞.
A huge sky Fortress was slowly circling over North End City.
◇◇◇◇
“Emergency.
Unknown object detected.
The Gigantia battle group has shifted to combat readiness level one.
Escort fighters, scramble!
Initiating launch preparations for all combat aircraft.
Unknown object, eleven o’clock.
Altitude 1,200m, ascending.
Estimated total length, over 100m.
Closing in on Battleship No. 2 (Oceanus) at a speed of over 600km/h.