With a sharp, high-pitched whistle, a bullet—no, a shell—streaked by just narrowly missing us.
When the distance to the enemy had closed to about 4 kilometers, they finally seemed to have recovered from the confusion, adopting a strategy of indiscriminately firing as much as possible and driving them off with a thick barrage.
However, firing so wildly meant broadcasting wavelengths of sound and light, which would trigger attacks on the vulnerable parts of the enemy that weren’t as heavily armored as the main body.
“All turrets, simultaneous fire. We’ll silence the enemy’s defense weapons.”
Selene adjusted her aim based on the ranging data sent from the “gnat” she’d deployed earlier, hiding the rest of the vehicle behind a hill and exposing only the cannon like a scorpion’s tail, silencing their nearby armaments one by one.
It seemed that “Target Alpha,” while capable of attacking while moving, didn’t have the processing power to do so effectively—or perhaps they were too fixated on maintaining the frontline—and had not changed position. Given that they were still taking fire from the Tupiarius, they likely hesitated to change tactics.
Or, thinking it over, they were too far back from here. Even though the Aigaion Class was equipped with advanced communications equipment, they needed satellite support to go all out. Firing at maximum effective range suggested that a data link with the Kottos Class wasn’t established.
That’s why the assault was limited to just one ship. They were calculating their approach position because the Kottos Class further back—hereafter referred to as “Target I” —couldn’t adjust their line of fire to aim at us due to the risk of friendly fire. Their fire control system restrained launches to avoid hitting allies.
In a unified military force, they might prioritize crushing enemy assault units even at the risk of hitting allies. Hell, “Target Alpha’s” captain might gleefully volunteer as a decoy shouting, “Fire on me too!!” weakening the IFF system to allow for such tactics. But in the current state, relying on simulated intelligence, they couldn’t take such gambles.
Rather, they wouldn’t. Standard simulated intelligence prioritizes the preservation of allies and itself, so it’s set to avoid such risky counterattacks.
After all, they were originally designed for use by the old humans. If there were explosions inside the ship, those fragile beings would suffer casualties in the dozens. They would never entrust such judgment to an AI capable of self-destruction.
“Remaining 2km! The pressure is weakening. All units, random avoidance patterns!”
The convoy, which had been weaving in a line while maintaining a safe distance to avoid secondary damage, followed the order—repeatedly adjusting their speed to form a horizontal line and shifting from wheeled armor mode to quadruped mode for more unpredictable organic movements that made aimed shots more difficult.
Fortunately, at the moment, there were no losses. Though Galatea and Tech Gob had been hit by shrapnel from near misses, there was no real damage, and they were still capable of continuing the fight. This was largely thanks to Selene, who, despite the ongoing electronic warfare, managed to maintain a data link. Seeing the faces and vital signs displayed in the corners of their vision without any disappearing counted as a stroke of luck.
And now, the second gamble.
“In five seconds, we’ll be within a thousand meters!”
” Mortar prep! Simultaneous fire… Now!!”
The armor plate on the starboard side of “Target Alpha” opened almost simultaneously with the sound of our modified mortars firing. Excellent, victory was ours. It seemed the enemy hadn’t deviated from the default settings and had a “counter personnel fragmentation mine” set to activate just as we passed the thousand-meter mark. The emergency armaments, normally hidden under armor, revealed themselves at the exact moment our barrage of shrapnel bombs rained down upon them.
Knowing the enemy’s specs truly is an advantage. Emergency defense weapon systems must function when they’re needed most, but there’s always a moment of vulnerability when they activate. If you can predict when they’ll fire, countering becomes easy for us who live in accelerated time.
But luck doesn’t last forever. A gun that had switched from autonomous firing to manual human operation managed to score a direct hit on our group.
“Arghhhh!!”
“Are you alright!?”
The group, hit by a storm of coilgun fire from the rear of their vehicle at a rate of a hundred rounds per second, scattered, and Sylvanian, who had been riding it, was hurled through the air.
Twirling through the void, Sylvanian was ejected with the inertia from the group and disappeared into the ground after rolling several times.
“Uh, mount destroyed! W, why am I still alive!?”
But thanks to the enhanced exoskeleton, the rider survived, though their vitals were disrupted, turning the face in the shared photo a sickly yellow.
“Either retreat or take cover in the holes left by the barrage!”
“Gh… It’s painful, but I’m withdrawing! Blessings of the stars!”
Fifteen units remained, 500 meters left. The fact no one had withdrawn thus far was due not just to the enemy’s inexperience with frontal assault tactics but mainly to sheer luck. It seems we are truly blessed by the Three Holy Saints.
“Selene, I trust you!”
“Anti-climb surface treatment, coming up!”
Hardly had the sound of another round of artillery fire echoed than Selene plastered the starboard side of “Target Alpha” with an invisible—though highlighted in our enhanced vision—special coating.
It’s an equipment used to counter the anchors deployed in three-dimensional mobility attacks, coating the area with a material that makes grappling hooks stick even when normally repelled. The specially magnetic coating rapidly solidified, painting over the standard camouflage and creating gripable surfaces for our troops.
These measures against the so-called “Gecko troops” that enemies feared were applied to tanks, heavy equipment, and sometimes structures, but we had countermeasures of our own.
The essence of warfare lies in countering effective tactics with effective counter-tactics, and then countering those counter-tactics, progressing endlessly. ECM and ECCM and further ECCCM, overlapping counters drive the acceleration of weapon advancement.
Of course, this stems from a reflection on our inability to escape a primitive encirclement tactic during the assault on Keperion 6 during the Lyra Consortium’s offensive—an attack prompted, if memory serves, by an act of terrorism that destroyed our research station.
“Boarding now!”
“Affirmative!”
“Yes! My arm is itching!”
“Eeeeep! It’s high! It’s scary!”
Grateful for the sacrifices of those who came before and the relentless preparation, we moved in swiftly to the starboard of “Target Alpha” as they hesitated to retreat, firing our anchors and climbing aboard while abandoning our group to their own fate.
“Our aim is the entry hatches! They’re weakly defended!”
Though unable to breach the hull, the access hatches, with their moving parts, were more vulnerable. Unable to create an opening from the side without creating chaos, we’d just have to break down the front door.
Had this been a prolonged artillery duel with our allied land battleship that ended without resolution, perhaps there would be a means to infiltrate through an unexpected hole. Lacking the means to breach the armor, we’re going in gentlemanly fashion through the front door.
Among the various access hatches on the side, we pasted breach explosives on one likely nearest the central command and detonated them. The first blast didn’t fully destroy it, but a second weakened the armor enough that the third blast exposed a boarding entry.
“Everyone, armed with blades! Grenades up next!”
“Grenade confirmed! Draw your blades!”
“Arming! This is gonna be fun!”
Huddling by a barely human-sized hole, we pulled the pins and threw in grenades. Knowing there would be enemies within, we aimed to blast them out before moving in.
The Magius Geanaite drew their swords and prepared to guard the vanguard, while the coilgun users fitted bayonets. Once ready, OQ bombs detonated within the hull, and the barely connected hatch blew open from the internal pressure.
“Cry out!”
“Here we goooo!!”
“Entry!!”
Now begins the job of close combat. Following the tradition of commanders leading the charge, as we breached the internal space, the charred exoskeleton of a hastily arrived land warrior lay by the door, indicating that their doctrine lacked preparation against foes who toss grenades prior to entry.
That’s not good. Such is the basic rule in shipboard combat. Barring extreme circumstances, we’re capable of tossing grenades and sending reconnaissance drones before we breach, so vigilance is necessary.
Having succeeded in boarding without authorization, it was now time to visit the central control and seize command. Therefore, I deployed the four “gnat” drones mounted on the exoskeleton’s belt and charged ahead.
“There!”
“Guuh?!”
Immediately, the head of a Magius Geanaite attempting to fire a holy bow from the corner was blown away by a railgun, allowing me to cut into their group of five with a mono-molecular atomic blade.
Tracing a character’s outline in one fluid stroke, the blade sliced cleanly through the armor’s seals, causing blood to rain like a shower.
Good, there are plenty of enemies here. This way then.
“Nozomu, there’s someone coming from behind!”
“Leave it to me! Keep moving forward and eliminate them!”
“Got it. Falken, I’ll provide covering fire. You, cut through!”
“Affirmative! Waaaaaaa!!!”
As Galatea delivered impeccable shots at enemies emerging from around the corner after her warning, I entrusted the rear to others and moved forward for the counter-attack.
Knights flawlessly destroyed the enemy’s rearguard while the front assault was handled with personal combat and melee skills I instilled in them. Here, the difference between the specialized dragon-fighting knights and those whom I trained in personal combat for self-protection was apparent.
Indeed, in situations like these, lacking the skills to fight human opponents slows you down. That’s precisely why I went through such lengths to teach them.
“Have you cleared them? How do you plan to seal this off, Nozumou?”
“This time, no sealing. Maintain the escape route!”
Unlike in the previous battle, there might be a need to promptly escape after taking the ship—should the Aigaion Class abandon “Target A,” we would be crushed. Blocking our own escape route would be disastrous.
Most importantly, the enemy’s control is still active. Giving up efficiency in troop movement for a complete seal of bulkheads would exhaust all available breach explosives.
We advance with moderate pressure, hoping for a repulsion.
“Too many! There’s so many!”
“Damn! The pressure is insane! How much effort do you intend to put into turning a single corner?!”
“Of course! This is the enemy’s frontline! Now, let’s sweep through methodically!”
As Magius Geanaite came rushing in, various weapons deployed within the ship for repelling intruders woke up. Machine guns integrated with surveillance cameras protruded from the ceiling, and combat drones stationed in cavities on the corridor walls stood upright.
Though machine guns, common in military installations for repelling infiltration teams, are generally easy to deflect with shields as they’re only equipped with coilguns with relatively weak armor, the combat drones are a bit trickier.
Their resemblance to food-serving machinery crawling the interior of civilian ships belies their combat readiness. Equipped with close-range high-caliber shotguns and small grenade launchers, these drones must be neutralized before the Magius Geanaite.
Not that the force of the knights under Virgil’s command should be underestimated; their holy bows pack quite a punch. It’s a busy affair.
“Waaaah!? I, my right sub-arm is damaged!!”
Advancing too far forward, Sylvanian’s shield-wielding sub-arm was blown off by the volley of a holy bow. Indeed, at such close distances, entrusting shields to the sub-arms meant the base structure couldn’t hold, indicating a design in need of revision.
“Don’t force it! Withdraw! Suppression fire! Chief, where’s the weak point on these boxes?”
“Target the sensors I just activated! Disrupt their aim!”
The combat drones onboard are wheel-based, designed only for flat terrain. They can easily be rendered useless by flipping them over, but our current gear makes approaching them through a hail of bullets too dangerous. In heavy combat gear, they’re as trivial as weeds, but our light armor makes both shotguns and grenades terrifying.
Thanks to highlighting the sensors revealed through shared enhanced vision, our gunfire concentrated there, allowing for swift destruction. Left without targets to aim at, the drones then enter a self-lockdown mode, falling silent.
Once they’ve turned into ominous tombstones, our forward units could use them as obstacles for hopping over. Suppressing enemies leaning out from the corners with a barrage and cutting through them became our way, until we eventually spotted a passage marked by a large bulkhead.
“That’s the CIC! Let’s take it!”
The protruding bridge section of the Kottos Class is densely packed with detectors and serves little function beyond being an auxiliary bridge should visibility be compromised. The command center, well-protected, was concentrated in the central region near the stern where attacks were least expected.
Before us, Magius Geanaite formed up in a horizontal line of shields, while bowmen peeked out between them, prepared and in full battle posture.
While enemy combat drones were present, we had one distinct advantage over them. Breaking this ship’s equipment doesn’t matter unless we completely disable it.
“Grenades!”
“Yaaaah!!”
“Take thissss!!”
Captives may be preferable, but the regular Magius Geanaite likely hold little significant intel, so it’s irrelevant. If they hold a grudge, let them lament choosing their side. Throwing OQ bombs through the gun shots, the group of shields offered no defense and blew apart, scattering in every direction.
Facing combatants of our level, their battle experience falls short. These grenades, capable of dealing significant damage to exoskeletons of the B-type—designed for high-mobility light combat—indicate that clustering tightly together is not just a mistake, but a grave one. Effective in Magius Geanaite battles, yes, but against someone wielding bombs, this is the worst possible maneuver.
“Show mercy to the nearly dead and regroup! Prepare the breach explosives!”
Though heavily packed, allies and drones formed a wall against the blast and not all died instantly. Groans resounded from all around. Given the anti-dragon combat gear’s heavy armor, mobility suffers but defense is superior, explaining their survival despite the bombardment.
The reason why they didn’t completely die off is pitiful, but the time we can afford them is enough to administer final blows. After incinerating forests so far, we have no intention of listening to their complaints.
Now then, let’s open the gates and proceed.
