Multi-legged tank Hopper A Alpha, its front torn to shreds, went down—disabled.
At point-blank range, multiple ground-attack missiles and anti-tank high-explosive shells had detonated.
The scattered metal fragments shredded the armor, and severe failures had occurred even in the internal mechanisms.
“Any injuries?”
“Ah, n-no...”
While helping the surrounding hunters back to their feet, Five Dissecta=<Cosmos> called out.
Because it had been anticipated that explosive collateral damage would occur from this attack, everyone had hidden behind the installed defensive wall, and there were no human casualties.
The other three doll-machine communicators had already shifted to perimeter watch.
The threat of Shadow Players had not gone away yet.
“Prepare to evacuate immediately. We will continue the watch. Monsters won’t be limited to that mantis Player alone. And the threat of that has not gone away either.”
The ground shook.
It was only a slight vibration, but it was proof that the Mountain Boar was drawing closer.
There was no time left.
“...A Alpha is a loss. C Gamma will serve as the rear guard. Now, quickly.”
“Got it...! ...H-hey, isn’t one of your companions still riding that golem!? Is it okay!?”
The hunters’ gaze was fixed on the disabled A Alpha.
They had, in fact, been told there was a doll-machine communicator inside it.
It couldn’t be helped.
It had taken critical damage, so the plan had been to discard it along with everything inside, but with eyes on them, that was difficult.
<Cosmos> judged that, and decided to recover the damaged doll-machine communicator.
“One is inside. We will take them with us, so there is no problem. You protect the villagers.”
“...Yeah. Sorry—and thank you for protecting this village!”
The defense officer and the hunters broke into a run, patting each other on the shoulder. Their hearing was probably messed up from the explosions.
After seeing them off, Five Dissecta ran up to A Alpha to recover Eighteen Dissecta, who was stored in a riding state.
By remote control, they tried to eject Eighteen Dissecta from the inside storage.
But the hatch opening mechanism had also malfunctioned, and it wouldn’t open.
BOOM.
Using the emergency explosive bolts, they blew the hatch off.
Naturally, Eighteen Dissecta, who had been stored inside, fell with gravity.
They had confirmed there were no eyes on them.
Five Dissecta grabbed the falling doll-machine communicator and dropped them straight onto the ground.
They checked the situation quickly.
A metal fragment that had entered the inside of the multi-legged tank had, with unbelievably bad luck, stabbed in under the neck.
The pod storing the doll-machine communicator was placed almost at the center of the multi-legged tank. Under normal attacks, damage reaching that far was almost unthinkable.
But with the front armor nearly collapsed, the scattered fragments had flown in, threading through tiny gaps inside the tank, and seemed to have pierced the pod.
Going forward, considering the possibility of housing living organisms inside, a design change would be necessary. Or else, they would need to add armor to the pod.
Either way, the embedded fragment had pierced the ganglia, and the doll-machine communicator had fallen into a nonfunctional state.
The microwave power-reception function itself was barely still alive, so at minimum, camouflage like breathing was possible. They could at least act like they had survived.
After that, if they could merge with the caravan, repairs would be possible.
The AI used in all equipment dispatched to the frontier villages this time used an optical-circuit photonics neural network.
If it was damaged and became unrecoverable, it was assumed it would transmit a backup to another unit, then undergo complete destruction—that is, abandonment by detonation or burning.
All configuration data for multi-legged tank A Alpha and Eighteen Dissecta had already been transmitted, and informationally, it had been completely initialized.
After confirming there was no problem with that state, Five Dissecta hoisted what had been Eighteen Dissecta onto their back and began running toward the center of the village.
C Gamma followed behind as the rear guard.
After confirming a sufficient distance had been secured, A Alpha forced its built-in power source into runaway and burned out its electrical systems. After that, it ignited the thermite fuel planted inside and completely destroyed the central control unit.
*****
The villagers stared blankly at the disabled golem, flames rising from it.
Even the village guardian that had seemed invincible couldn’t stand up to a powerful monster.
That heavy air was blown away the moment they spotted the other golem that appeared—and the girl walking at its feet.
“Ah...!”
One girl was being carried on another girl’s back. At the limp, dangling legs, everyone there assumed the worst.
But—
“No need to worry! She’s only unconscious!”
A Dissecta=<Cosmos> attached to the evacuees raised their voice.
“Now, in order, onto the wagons! Parents and children, climb onto the backs of the multi-legged heavy equipment golems!”
Right. Just as she said.
The threat of monsters still hadn’t gone away.
A legendary-class monster they had only heard about in bedtime stories—the Mountain Boar—was closing in on the village.
“...Hunters—sorry, but we can’t fit you! You’re going to have to run!”
“What, no time to rest either!?”
Villagers and hunters alike. The evacuees were packed onto the backs of work golems and into wagons, and those with stamina ran alongside.
“On the highway! In two hours, we can merge with the supply-team caravan heading this way! They’ve got room even if they load everyone—hang on a little longer!”
“Miss, get on here! Hey—you run! You’re the hero who protected us, don’t you go making her run!”
“...I appreciate it.”
Several villagers cleared space in a wagon, laid down cloaks and clothes, made a simple bed, and laid the unconscious girl down. Keeping her carried on a back the whole time was too much, even for them.
“I-is she really okay?”
“She’s injured and unconscious, but we’ve done first aid. If we can merge with the caravan safely, there’s no problem.”
Fresh cloth was wrapped around the girl’s neck. No blood was seeping through, and she didn’t look severely wounded, but the girl still didn’t move even an inch—and the women riding with her voiced their worries one after another.
“It’s fine. Depart!”
The accompanying girl called out, and the golem pulling the wagon began to walk forward slowly. Even so, with that stride length, it moved at about the speed of a person’s jog.
The road wasn’t paved, but it had been leveled to an extent by the caravan going back and forth.
If they could keep moving smoothly, they should be able to escape the monsters somehow.
The ride wasn’t very good, but they couldn’t afford to complain.
The girls would have to endure inconvenience for a while too.
“Looks like the Shadow Players are almost gone...”
Combat golems ran at the front and at the rear guard, securing safety.
But it was still possible for monsters to suddenly burst out from the side.
The hunters running alongside—and the girls of <Paraiso>—kept running with weapons at the ready.
Even if it was only a jog, they had been fighting nonstop until just a moment ago for the defense.
They didn’t have the stamina left to keep running for two hours like this.
“Have about half of them rotate in! If they run nonstop, they’re gonna drop!”
“Yeah, I can run!”
“I’ve got stamina too, you know!”
Trading lines like that, the villagers fled down the highway.
They had only what they were wearing, but their mood was comparatively bright.
Because <Paraiso>, protecting them, was far too dependable.
If they could escape—if they could merge with the caravan the girls mentioned—they could move safely to another village farther back. Supplies, too—there was the issue of payment, but for now it wouldn’t be a problem.
<Paraiso> had prepared more than enough.
And so, every last villager of Frontier Village Raran completed ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) evacuation without a single person falling behind.
They kept running along the highway, merged with the caravan that had been heading toward them, and everyone was taken into the enormous vehicles <Paraiso> had prepared.
For the moment, they would probably be able to get away.
But that powerful monster called the Mountain Boar was still out there.
With a breath finally taken, they noticed again the vibrations of the ground that still continued.
“...There’s nothing we can do against a monster like that...”
Who murmured it, exactly, they didn’t know.
It wasn’t as though that line triggered it, but—
A shadow fell over their heads.
Everyone who looked up went speechless.
Up in the sky, something—huge.
Something unimaginably enormous was flying.
