Spraying dirt and sand, fragments of rock, and broken trees.
A Mountain Boar with a massive body was closing in on Frontier Village No. 1, Raran, protected by <Paraiso>.
“At that speed... it will reach us in less than thirty minutes.”
“T-There’s no way we can stop that huge thing! Evacuate immediately—!”
They could not tell whether the Mountain Boar was coming straight toward them, but it was probably not even 10 km away.
The camera position of the multi-legged tank perched on a rocky mountain was about 15 m above the ground surface.
From that height, the range it could visually confirm was roughly 18 km. Even accounting for the view being blocked by trees, the fact that the camera had captured it meant it was certainly within that range.
“Escaping will be difficult. ...Detected moving-object reaction ahead. Size, over 10 m, under 20 m. Most likely the Hidden Player.”
Even now, fighting with Shadow Players continued around the village.
If they abandoned the village’s defensive walls and retreated, they would be exposed directly to that threat.
And on top of that, as if delivering the finishing blow, the Hidden Player was drawing near.
“What...! Damn it, did we make the wrong call...!”
“Predicting this situation from preexisting information alone is impossible. Regretting it is pointless.”
For a while longer, the Hidden Player would not come here.
With that premise, they had chosen to hunt the Shadow Players, but they should have abandoned the village and evacuated before the Hidden Player arrived.
But could anyone predict, with only limited information, that a Mountain Boar would appear from behind, and that a Hidden Player driven forward by it would approach?
<Cosmos>, calmly, concluded that it was impossible.
“At worst, we can choose to have us pin down the Hidden Player while you flee, but—”
“We can’t do that.... If we survive and you suffer casualties, we won’t be able to hold our heads up in daylight. Even in the worst case, the defense unit will serve as the rear guard...!”
Well, if they had pride as defense personnel, that was how it would be.
At the defense officer’s words, Dissecta=<Cosmos> nodded and returned their gaze to the surveillance monitor.
“I accept your resolve. But first, we must eliminate the threat in front of us. If we can do something about the Hidden Player, there may still be a chance to withdraw.”
“...That’s right. If we can hold it down and concentrate attacks with those who can use penetration, even if we can’t kill it, we might be able to make it flinch.”
Even so, they could not leave the still-attacking Shadow Players unattended.
Of the three multi-legged tanks, they decided to assign two to the Hidden Player, and have the Shadow Players held back by the remaining one and the doll-machine communicators.
Also, among the hunters who used bows, it seemed about five of them could load penetration onto their arrows.
It was not that powerful, but compared to normal arrows, the penetration performance became far higher.
The aim was to pierce the Hidden Player’s magic barrier with this penetration-attribute attack, or weaken it.
And the remaining hunters would continue handling the repulsion of the Shadow Players.
“There isn’t much time. We’ll hold out to the end, but I want you to be prepared for the worst case.”
“...Yeah, I understand! Messenger, tell the front line! And the ones with Pierce, I’ll give them orders personally—someone guide me!”
Giving those instructions, the defense officer ran out of the command post.
Dissecta lowered the head-mounted display they had flipped up on their forehead with a click.
They were going to join the interception battle with an anti-materiel rifle as well.
In the end, the worst case envisioned by Dissecta=<Cosmos> and the worst case envisioned by Raran’s defense officer ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) passed each other without meeting, and each took their positions.
The defense officer carried grim resolve.
<Cosmos> began sending environmental data for support bombardment to the strategic AI <Eremulus> mounted on Gigantia.
In order to conduct a cross-border strike by ultra-long-range bombardment if the current force could not hold them back.
*****
Behind the defensive wall, two multi-legged tanks, Hopper, lined up.
It was to intercept the Hidden Player that was certainly approaching.
Their field of view was secured by the multi-legged tank positioned on the rocky mountain behind them.
Because of its insect traits, the Hidden Player had camouflage coloring, did not radiate heat, and moved silently, making it extremely hard to visually confirm.
And in normal times it did not move at all, so it made sense that it could not be found.
However, right now, due to pressure from behind, it was moving at a decent speed.
No—it might even be fleeing at full speed, for it.
It was difficult to see, but with the performance of the information-processing device mounted on the multi-legged tank, its outline could be captured easily.
The moving Hidden Player was completely within the surveillance range.
After a moment, from atop the defensive wall, the Hidden Player peeked its head up.
Its appearance was a mantis no matter how you looked at it. But its size was abnormal. It was even larger than one hundred times a normal mantis.
A multi-legged tank raised the club it held, as a warning.
It was the long striking weapon prepared for the multi-legged tank’s physical attacks, a massive 3 m bludgeon: <Smasher>.
Perhaps the Hidden Player recognized this as an attack action, because it climbed over the defensive wall and approached the multi-legged tank.
At the monster that approached carelessly, the multi-legged tank brought down the raised club, <Smasher>—
At the starting point of the motion, one of its scythes extended in an instant and seized the club.
A mantis’s scythe is not for cutting. The protrusions growing along the inside of the bent edge are for fixing prey in place so it cannot escape.
The moment the club was seized, the other multi-legged tank reacted.
It aimed the railgun on the upper turret and fired.
A shell that burst out at 5,000 m/s struck the Hidden Player directly.
Light scattered.
The magic barrier deployed over the Hidden Player’s body surface completely blocked the shell.
The metal warhead that collided with an indestructible obstacle had its kinetic energy converted into heat, scattering into fragments while glowing white-hot.
From the shell’s impact, the Hidden Player staggered.
But that was all.
It shed the shell’s kinetic energy through joints across its whole body, and turned its inorganic head toward the multi-legged tank that had fired on it.
As expected, magic barriers and physical shells were extremely incompatible.
The pressure occurred only for the brief instant the shell made contact, and it was not suited for breaking through a barrier that required sustained shock pressurization.
If they could keep landing multiple shells in continuous succession, that would do it, but right now, they did not have the force capable of that.
However, there were local residents here who used magic.
“Fire!”
On the command, the hunters with Pierce used magic.
Hyo, making a sound, arrows wrapped in mana tore through the air.
Perhaps sensing something, the Hidden Player tried to move its body.
But here, the multi-legged tank whose movement had been stopped by having its club <Smasher> seized applied pressure.
High-performance motors built into its legs let out a roar.
It looked smaller than the Hidden Player, but it was still a lump of metal. Its total weight far exceeded that of the slender monster facing it.
As a result of having the motions of dodging or swatting away disrupted by the multi-legged tank’s force, the Hidden Player received five arrows into its abdomen, completely defenseless.
The arrows bearing penetration attribute, upon contacting the magic barrier, emitted light as if to pierce it.
But just as they had said it was not very strong, it did not manage to penetrate, and it lost its force.
Even so, those arrows fulfilled their role.
Without delay, another main-gun shell was fired, pierced the magic barrier, and struck true.
However, a monster’s threat is not only its magic barrier.
In the first place, the strength of its body tissue itself was abnormal.
The shell slammed into the joint between the abdomen and the chest, but it could not pierce the carapace.
Even so, the impact of the shell’s direct hit transmitted properly.
The Hidden Player blocked the shell while leaving a wound on the body surface, but perhaps it flinched at the fact that it had been wounded at all.
Still gripping the club with its left scythe, it arched its body back.
Compared to a multi-legged tank, it looked far more slender, but the sheer strength it exerted exceeded expectations.
The multi-legged tank was dragged, shlurrrk.
