A drilling arm extended from a construction vessel, smashing apart the seabed with high-pressure water. Another arm sucked up the resulting sediment, sorted it by particle size, and fed it into a resource recovery machine, the Reuser.
At Yaakari Port, now under the control of <The Tree>, vast numbers of construction machines were currently building at a speed that looked almost like fast-forward footage.
They were dredging the harbor to secure sufficient depth while simultaneously carrying out shoreline reinforcement work. Berthing piers were also under construction.
There was nothing in particular for the residents to do, so they had simply been informed that entry into the construction zone and the temporary base was prohibited, but otherwise they were free to do as they pleased.
That said, because nearly all of their former work had vanished, some sort of support would be necessary.
Since logistics had come to a halt, they were currently living entirely on distributed rations.
In the short term, perhaps they should be assigned to management duties within the port town. In the medium term, labor on farms. After that, duties could be assigned while watching how the situation developed.
(No divergence from the progress chart. Error within ±3%. Within acceptable range.)
O-class Strategic AI <Lotus>, temporarily installed aboard the fourth land battleship Jotun, was directing operations on site while receiving support from <The Tree>.
Once the ground facilities were complete, <Lotus> would be installed there instead, but for now the AI was being protected inside the land battleship.
(The emotional-value readings of the local residents are also within acceptable range. Due to the supply of luxury goods, hostility values are trending downward.)
It had been anticipated from the advance reconnaissance data, but the citizens of the Prava ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) Divine Kingdom were basically oppressed and had no resistance to entertainment. It had been assumed that providing entertainment would make it easy to win them over.
(Impose labor obligations while providing moderate entertainment. I have been instructed to continue supplying it from our side for the time being, but to make the finer judgments appropriately on site. Difficult.)
Troubled, <Lotus> sent instructions to the doll-machine communicators under the AI’s command.
◇◇◇◇
Several days had passed since merchant caravans from the surrounding area had stopped arriving. The upper ranks had finally recognized that something was wrong, and the relay city of Gheni began dispatching investigation teams.
But naturally, by that point the encirclement by the forces of <The Tree> had already been completed.
What those investigation teams discovered were giant fortress-like structures occupying the highways leading east, south, and west.
On top of that, enormous spider-like monsters were roaming the surrounding area.
From the information each team brought back, Gheni concluded that it was surrounded by some gigantic force—most likely monsters. But by the time that was understood, there was already nothing to be done.
There was no escape.
To the north lay one of the country’s largest lakes, while the highways were blocked.
As a large city, Gheni had many cleric-soldiers stationed there, but even the number of spider monsters reported by the investigation teams was already several times greater than that force. And beyond them, three giant fortresses stood in reserve.
The decision was made to defend the city while evacuating the residents across the lake behind them, and transport ships were gathered.
And as <The Tree> watched those movements, it began the operation.
The heavily armed flying boats SG-1 Gannet, which had taken off from Yaakari Port, splashed down onto the lake one after another. The residents who had been boarding ships in an attempt to escape erupted into panic.
The Gannet carried multiple ground-attack guns mounted along its sides. They could be reconfigured freely, but this time 18 mm multi-barrel cannons and 28 mm autocannons had been selected.
As sailors began moving to raise the sails on the ships, the 28 mm autocannons opened fire.
The high-explosive shells slammed into the water’s surface, throwing up towering sprays. Screams rang out, and several sailors, their legs giving way beneath them, fell over the sides of the boats.
Thus did <The Tree> blockade the harbor of Gheni.
Gheni was now completely encircled.
With every route of escape cut off, the Grand High Priest dispatched by Gheni made a decision.
All forces would be concentrated against one section of the encirclement, break through it by force, and let the residents escape through the gap.
The revised plan was announced, and the residents began moving under the guidance of the cleric-soldiers.
There were not enough wagons for everyone to ride.
In the first place, there were not enough horses.
For the shortage, some of the cleric-soldiers would make up the difference by pulling the wagons themselves while running.
The adults who could not fit would go on foot.
Together with the women and children, and the wagons and carts packed with as much baggage as they could carry, they gathered in the plaza at the east gate.
After confirming the flow of events up to that point, Erika issued the final decision from within <The Tree>.
The invasion by land battleships and a large force of multi-legged tanks began.
“The force ratio is 1 to 93. But because the current force distribution is uneven, locally it might go down to 1 to 5~”
“There’s still enough margin, but is it cutting it close?”
Hearing that from Erika, Eve knit her brows.
A fivefold superiority should be enough, probably, but compared to the overall figure of ninety-three times, it felt a bit less reassuring.
“We’re shifting forces on our side too, so three minutes after contact it’ll be 1 to 58~ But I think the first minute is the real contest~”
“I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but since they’re moving together with the residents, it makes it hard to crush them with bombardment...”
They could simply bombard the area anyway, but even Eve would sleep badly after wiping out huge numbers of noncombatants along with the enemy. The AIs understood Eve’s will, so they would not eliminate everyone without question.
“A decision to force a breakthrough and let the residents escape.”
“It had been estimated that if the lake side were blockaded, there would be more than a 60% chance they would choose that course of action.”
By gathering the enemy forces together and crushing them in a single blow, the plan was to strip them of the ability to continue fighting and also blast away their will to resist. It was a merciful—or perhaps merciless—choice of operation.
Since Eve had ultimately approved it, there was no point in complaining, but it was true that she thought it was pitiful.
She only thought that, of course.
They were still going to carry it out.
“Begin the lure~”
The multi-legged tanks started moving.
They did not fire their main guns, since the damage behind the target area would be too great. Instead, they used their close-combat arms and swung at the leading group of cleric-soldiers.
“Wah—! It got kicked away!!”
In the footage, one of the cleric-soldiers appeared to have moved at a speed like stop-motion frames and kicked up the torso of a multi-legged tank. Despite the absurd difference in mass that should have existed between a human and a tank, it had been blasted away by a single kick.
The multi-legged tank, subjected to a ridiculous burst of acceleration, suffered actuator damage throughout its body. Its central processing unit remained intact, but most of its moving parts reported some kind of abnormal status and it became immobilized.
“Ugh. Yeah, there really are some outrageous forces stationed there...”
Still, this had been anticipated.
Large cities had many cleric-soldiers with considerable power stationed in them. Some had apparently been reassigned for the invasion war, but even so, Gheni still had a large number deployed there.
In close combat, they displayed unmatched strength.
If the multi-legged tanks were simply thrown at them head-on, they would just be defeated one by one.
“Okay, okay, and there we go.”
Utsugi was sending orders to each unit.
The prearranged action table had already been transmitted, but she was making adjustments to match the situation.
The multi-legged tanks coordinated with one another while gradually peeling away Gheni’s forces. Thirteen multi-legged tanks were already disabled. Another twenty-seven had suffered leg damage or similar impairments affecting movement. At this point, the attrition rate was spiking sharply.
“A little more~”
The cleric-soldiers—most likely those called Holy Soldier Saldard, high-ranking cleric-soldiers second only to the priests—
formed the front group and carved through the swarming multi-legged tanks. The Grand High Priest and two priests stood at the head of the evacuating residents, guarding them. Lower-ranking cleric-soldiers secured the surrounding area as they all ran.
But compared with the Holy Soldier Saldard who were fighting, the ordinary residents were slower.
The coordinated groups of multi-legged tanks gradually controlled the battlefield in a way that split them apart.
“Now~”
The local strategic AI made its situation judgment.
Probability of bombardment causing harm to noncombatants: zero.
The multi-legged tanks that had driven all six legs into the ground and taken up precision bombardment posture fired their main guns all at once.
Armor-piercing rounds flying in from outside visual range at Mach 20 literally pulverized the group of Holy Soldier Saldard.
In a single strike, 80% of Gheni’s military strength vanished.
In the footage from various angles, the Grand High Priest shouted something and leapt forward.
If the Grand High Priest was voluntarily taking distance from the noncombatant group, that only made things easier.
The main gun of a multi-legged tank, its sights locked onto the charging Grand High Priest, fired another armor-piercing round.
A single flash.
The camera of the firing multi-legged tank and the Grand High Priest’s line of sight met.
The shell, which should have flown straight ahead, was slapped off course by a machete the Grand High Priest had somehow drawn without anyone noticing.
In the zoomed footage, the Grand High Priest moved at a speed too fast for the camera’s frame rate to fully track, appearing at the feet of the multi-legged tank, whose legs had been fixed in place for firing.
And in the next instant, the multi-legged tank had been sliced clean in two.
