“Hey. I just got a notice out of nowhere saying the operation started.”
“We’ve begun the conquest of the Prava Divine Kingdom!”
A message from Amajio Silverhead had come in almost immediately, so Eve answered in an upbeat voice.
“...You didn’t think to notify me ahead of time or anything?”
“...I forgot!”
Never underestimate a shut-in. As a rule, the option of contacting other people simply did not occur. <Ringo> had, of course, noticed that no notice had been sent, but had not gone out of the way to say anything. If she had to put it bluntly, it was on the schedule, so he should have checked it himself.
“Well, whatever. I’m half an outsider on this one anyway.”
“I’m not putting any information restrictions on this, so watch as much as you like...”
While that heartwarming exchange was going on in the background, the army had already begun marching toward the Holy Capital of the Prava Divine Kingdom.
The first to move were the masses of four-legged tanks. They started running toward the Holy Capital, then split left and right roughly 1 km short of the defensive line. Behind them came the land battleships Jotun.
Naturally, all of that movement was plainly visible from the Holy Capital. In response to the movement of <The Tree>’s forces, the clergy assigned to the defense also began moving frantically.
Bells began ringing all over the city, and cleric-soldiers came rushing out from their standby positions.
Strategic AI <Iris> had numbered the units slated to deploy to the east, west, south, and north respectively as Group A through Group D, and was feeding real-time combat-power assessments into the tactical link back to <The Tree>.
For this invasion, <The Tree>—or more specifically, <Ringo>—was basically not providing informational support.
All operational progress had been entrusted to the local Strategic AI and Tactical AIs.
“Iris is doing her best.”
“Yes. She seems a little tense, but she’ll be fine.”
Akane, effectively <Iris>’s creator, watched restlessly. Since U-class and E-class Tactical AIs were also participating in the operation, Utsugi and Erika were pressed in close on either side of Akane as well.
From the seat beside them, Eve watched over the three of them.
<Ringo> had evaluated the success probability of this operation at over 80%.
The remaining 20% was magic-fantasy-style uncertainty. Basically, there were no ordinary factors that could cause failure.
That information had been shared with all AIs, but worry was still worry.
That kind of emotional instability was also one of the characteristics of the Brain Unit. The neural network’s reactive regions were not determined solely by numerical correctness. Which regions responded strongly differed depending on the individual’s accumulated experiential data.
“The Prava Divine Kingdom side’s response intensity is within the expected range.”
“So far, there’s no anti-air attack.”
“Just as predicted.”
The Titan airborne escort ship that had been circling over the sea was the eleventh ship, Mnemosyne.
Mounted aboard it was U-class Tactical AI <Wederia Eleven>.
The gigantic bird made of steel and carbon slowly altered its course.
It was closing in from high altitude to bring itself within range for support bombardment in the assault on the Holy Capital.
And the one coordinating each unit from the rear was E-class Tactical AI <Lily>. Lily was currently mounted temporarily aboard a land battleship Jotun, directing operations from Yaakari Port.
Under Lily’s control were the four Jotun units advancing on the front line, along with the mass of four-legged tanks.
“So far, there’s no major reaction. The selected option is Plan A.”
“Right on schedule.”
“The network is stable too.”
“...Akane, you’re really tense.”
“It may be better to provide some care.”
Seeing the misshapen form of Akane’s emotional graph, Eve felt a flash of alarm and rose from her seat. She had been watching fondly, but apparently Akane was under more stress than she had realized.
To calm her down, Eve moved behind Akane and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Come on, Akane. It’s fine, so relax.”
“...Big Sis.”
“It’s all right. Even if something happens, we can back everything up immediately. You just have to trust her and watch.”
“...But...”
Eve glanced sideways at the emotional graph.
Akane was in an extreme state of tension. Utsugi and Erika both had high levels of anxiety and tension. Ichigo was calm, but her activity rate was elevated, likely because she was analyzing the tactical link data. Olive seemed concerned with the four-legged tanks on the front line and was focused on those.
“See? Everyone’s with you. Calm down.”
From behind, she wrapped her arms around Utsugi, Akane, and Erika together. The larger the area of physical contact, the more emotional stability rose.
After the four of them remained like that for a while, the emotional graphs of all three gradually began to settle down. The power of skinship was mighty indeed.
And while that heartwarming exchange continued, the first stage of Operation <Beheading Road Roller> was drawing near its end.
The encirclement by the four-legged tanks and land battleships had been completed.
“Stage I complete. Transitioning to Stage II.”
<Ringo> thoughtfully gave the progress update aloud.
Stage II was the phase for measuring enemy strength.
In other words, reconnaissance in force.
In the end, ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) they had never previously clashed on a full scale, and had at most only faced a few cleric-soldiers garrisoned in towns—perhaps 10 at the upper end. That was why they were now trying to measure the enemy’s actual combat power accurately.
The higher-ranking clergy in particular remained an unknown quantity. Naturally, they had not been dispatched to rural villages and towns.
“Beginning deployment of the reconnaissance-in-force detachment.”
From the units assigned to Group C on the southern side, a formation of about 50 machines started running across the grassland.
These were four-legged tanks sent out on the assumption that they would be completely wiped out.
The four-legged tanks kicked off the earth and accelerated. Their top speed was 60 km/h, but on an ungraded grassland like this, they naturally could not reach that. Even so, they were probably exceeding 40 km/h.
First, they would strike once at that speed.
◇◇◇◇
The Holy Capital’s defending cleric-soldiers had begun moving at full speed the moment they sensed movement from the enemy side.
They rushed out of their barracks, and the cleric-soldiers who had been waiting on standby leaped into the trenches along the defensive line.
If the attack had come from only one point, they could have concentrated their forces there.
But <The Tree>’s forces had dispersed across the entire perimeter in order to complete a full encirclement.
Because there was no way to know where the attack would come from, cleric-soldiers had to be deployed along every section of the defensive line.
A war in this form was something the Prava Divine Kingdom had never experienced before.
In the foreign campaigns they had been conducting up to now, they had always been the attacking side.
Fortunately for them, however, the current upper command included Grand High Priests dispatched from the Chimiya Family.
Those men had fought continuously in the <Demon Forest>, and had experienced defensive battles against attacking monsters time and time again.
First came the anti-cavalry barricades used to slow the enemy.
They were called anti-cavalry barricades, but in practice they were sturdy walls designed to delay vicious monsters even slightly.
By combining carved logs and driving them into the ground, they could even stop the charge of a massive creature. Even a large boar-type monster would likely find it difficult to break through head-on.
And in combination with the barricades, trenches and earthen ramparts had also been built.
By digging down in front of the barricades and piling the earth behind them, their defensive strength had been raised even further. By hiding behind them, defenders could also shield themselves from the enemy’s long-range attacks.
The advantage of these anti-cavalry barricades was that as long as there were logs, a sturdy wall could be built anywhere.
Everything from transporting and installing the logs to digging out the ground and piling up the embankments was carried out in the blink of an eye by the cleric-soldiers, those human heavy machines.
The defending cleric-soldiers had built those defensive works all the way around the Holy Capital.
But when set against the gigantic war machines now charging toward them, the defenses looked terribly flimsy.
For defense, the cleric-soldiers held spears in their hands.
Their plan was to halt the enemy with the anti-cavalry barricades, then deliver fatal blows from medium range without letting them come close.
But those spears were not even long enough to match the length of the four-legged tanks’ legs.
Even so, there was nothing they could do now.
They steeled themselves and leveled their spears at the giant machines rushing toward them.
