Episode 336: Blow Away!
“Onee-sama. The course of ＜The Reflector＞ has been confirmed.”
“Tell me.”
Approximately 18 hours after confirming ＜The Reflector＞’s movement.
Eve straightened up, ready to listen to the report from ＜Iris＞.
“It is undoubtedly heading towards Fortress Gladiolus. The course wavers, but it is almost directly oriented towards ＜Gladiolus＞.”
Iris displayed ＜The Reflector＞’s movement path on the map.
The plot showed it meandering but continuing to move westward.
Ahead of it lies the frontline fortress in the Demon Forest, ＜Gladiolus＞.
“It seems they cannot pinpoint the location accurately from a distance. They are likely picking up some kind of signal. Even in its meandering state, it appears to try to return when it faces too far in another direction.”
“Looking at this, well, there’s no mistake. …Guess we have no choice.”
＜The Reflector＞ is moving almost directly towards Fortress Gladiolus.
Based on past experience, this is highly likely to be a hostile act.
“I propose executing the ＜The Reflector＞ interception operation.”
“Very well. I approve the execution. Do it.”
“Yes, Onee-sama. Commencing Operation ＜Blow away!＞. Moving forces.”
At Eve’s command, the Sentient Entities of ＜The Tree＞ began to move in unison.
Led by ＜Iris＞, the core of the operation planning, all automated machines began to move organically.
Watching the scene out of the corner of her eye, Eve zoomed in on the world map displaying the bright spot of ＜The Reflector＞.
“Even so, with this behemoth moving around this much…”
“Yes, Ma’am. A considerable frenzy has already been confirmed inside the Demon Forest. A Stampede will likely occur before long.”
A colossal body with a length of 280m is moving. Just by walking, it destroys the forest over a width of 180m, turning it into a wasteland. Naturally, the Monsters and animals that lived there are being pushed out to the surrounding areas.
Even the Mountain Boar looks like an adult and child in comparison.
Naturally, no Threat Creatures would dare to attack ＜The Reflector＞, and they were beginning to flee to the surroundings.
“At this rate, the Piata Empire and the Reidia Kingdom are going to suffer damage.”
“There is a possibility that large Threat Creatures will be pushed beyond the Demon Forest boundary.”
Eve traced her finger over several villages or towns located on the Demon Forest boundary.
There is the problem that many towns were lost due to the war, but these are tenacious places that have continued to exist.
“Originally, they were already having trouble containing the Monsters, right? If a Stampede occurs here…”
“Annihilation, likely. The Demon Forest boundary will shift significantly. Humanity’s territory will be reduced.”
However.
At least, as for the former Reidia Kingdom, ＜The Tree＞ has already taken control.
The same goes for the Piata Empire.
In other words, if a Stampede occurs, ＜The Tree＞ will need to take action.
“Initial response?”
“We are prioritizing dealing with ＜The Reflector＞. We cannot move large weapons. The surplus forces are the previous generation Multi-legged Tanks and Drones that were relegated to reserve forces, but they were also heavily worn down in the previous battle with ＜Fenrir＞.”
The boundary with the Demon Forest is extremely long.
Extracting the forces to suppress all the Monsters that overflow from that boundary is currently very difficult.
“Hmm… It’s impossible to have ＜Iris＞ handle this response as well. ＜Kakitubata＞ needs to assist ＜Iris＞, and the only one with leeway is ＜Ayame Zero＞. Should we add more AI soon? This is getting bad, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Ma’am. From the perspective of ensuring diversity, we do not recommend having one AI cover a wide area.”
In terms of force management, it is desirable to have one top.
However, when events that need to be addressed occur simultaneously, processing capacity becomes insufficient.
And if the will to control them is one, the events to be prioritized may conflict.
In that case, it may not be possible to select the optimal solution for the whole.
Of course, it would be enough for ＜Ringo＞ to follow up on that, but it is preferable to have local phenomena handled within the local area if possible.
“Let’s consider adding one after this operation is over. This time, well… Ichigo, you handle the Stampede. Of course, I won’t restrict the use of resources.”
“Yes, Onee-sama. ＜Ringo＞, use computational resources.”
“Permission granted. …Let’s consider a Class I addition. We have accumulated operational experience in the Afrasia United Kingdom as well.”
“That’s right. Let’s leave territorial governance to Class I.”
While the top two of ＜The Tree＞ were having such a conversation, each responsible AI was updating the situation one after another.
＜Iris＞ has selected a super-long-range attack against ＜The Reflector＞.
From the previous battle with the ＜Wyvern＞, ＜The Reflector＞’s combat capabilities are judged to be very high.
Therefore, it is judged that bringing large weapons close is not a good idea.
If Land Battleships are carelessly brought close, they are likely to be easily destroyed by ＜The Reflector＞’s long-range attacks.
It is most desirable to be able to attack unilaterally without making our weapons aware.
Therefore, Burnstone-equipped Smart Cannon Shells are used.
These are fired from the Battleship Breiðablik at sea and sniped from the stratosphere at hypersonic speed.
If the attack is from the sea more than 1,000km away, ＜Iris＞ assumes that the firing point will not be detected.
Asahi also agrees with this, judging that there is no problem because the attack does not directly involve will. However, this would not be the case if AI was used in the control device installed in the Smart Cannon Shell.
However, there is also a problem with this method.
If ＜The Reflector＞ does not know what it was attacked by, it may not be able to stop its progress in the first place.
If it is judged that it received an attack that has nothing to do with the place it is heading, it will only end up ravaging the area around ＜The Reflector＞ with the attack.
However, at the very least, it is possible to confirm ＜The Reflector＞’s response capabilities.
If the attack by ＜The Tree＞ is effective, there will be more options for future responses.
“Smart Cannon Shells, completely autonomous, right?”
“We have planted a marker in ＜The Reflector＞ in advance. A directional radio wave transmitter. If the marker is lost, use GPS guidance.”
It is predicted that ＜The Reflector＞ itself has organs capable of transmitting and receiving Electromagnetic Waves.
However, it was predicted that if the radio waves emitted from its back to the outside, it could be deceived to some extent.
In fact, even now, radio waves that become markers are being transmitted periodically, and by using them, it is possible to grasp the accurate location information of ＜The Reflector＞ via satellite.
So far, it has not shown any signs of being concerned about the marker.
The problem is that if the first attack hits, the marker will likely be lost.
However, we will pack as much as possible into the first attack.
If this attack is ineffective, we will be in the sad situation of having almost no remaining options.
“The second option is a Saturation Bombardment from flying machines… If shooting down from the stratosphere doesn’t work, it looks pretty tough…”
“Onee-sama, I’d like to add that the purpose of using flying machines is to clarify our hostile forces! Of course, Smart Cannon Shells are the best in terms of attack power!”
“Ah, I see.”
In this area, we have no choice but to respond flexibly.
In any case, we must stop the movement of ＜The Reflector＞.