“Do you think something on the level of a high-output combat machine the size of a doll-machine communicator still wouldn’t be any match for that?”
“...If it were specialized entirely for combat, it should be able to hold its own. With the current energy budget, it is possible to reproduce Superior-class molecular structures. If we ignore mass-producibility, we can manufacture special-purpose machines using ultra-high-performance materials as raw input.”
The strength and energy output achievable with elements that can be gathered on the ground and molecular structures that can be formed through chemical reactions had limits. Ringo’s explanation was that by pouring in super-energy, it was possible to forcibly manufacture higher-order materials and break through those limits.
Naturally, it would have almost no mass-producibility. In the end, overall efficiency would probably be higher if the enormous energy required for manufacturing were diverted into resource collection instead.
The idea of being able to prepare a high-performance machine was appealing, but—
“Well, no, we obviously aren’t making one. It’s hard to imagine a situation where we’d need individual combat power like that.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am.”
For the moment, they had learned one side of the enemy cleric-soldiers’ combat capabilities. Next was their response to long-range attacks.
Strategic AI <Iris> had already sent the command.
The fourth land battleship Jotun, having received that command, began to move.
One of Jotun’s main guns slowly rotated. Anyone with sharp enough eyes could probably see the motion even from the Holy Capital’s wall.
It fired.
A metal shell launched at a speed far beyond the speed of sound struck the wall before anyone could even blink.
If that were enough to punch through the wall, taking the city would not be difficult at all.
“I’ve confirmed a defensive membrane.”
But it did not go that easily. The shell that should have easily penetrated the stone wall was shattered. A pattern of light ran along the wall.
It was a luminous defensive membrane, the kind believed to be maintained constantly by some threat organisms.
“Oh... Akane, how similar is it?”
“Similarity in the pattern has been confirmed. It closely resembles the defensive membranes deployed by threat organisms.”
The armor-piercing shell that had slammed into the defensive membrane turned into splinters under its own kinetic energy and scattered around it as smoke.
“...So at the very least, they have the technology to create a barrier like that on a city-wide scale.”
“It is something we would very much like to secure.”
“Should I tell <Iris> to consider stealing the technology?”
Akane reacted to Ringo’s murmur. Ringo nodded a few moments later, presumably after running a simulation of what the situation would look like if she left it to <Iris>.
“Basically, let’s leave it to <Iris>. However, it is true that the load will increase. As backup, I’ll divert the third Gigantia-class airborne carrier, Eurytos.”
“Understood.”
While Akane issued the instructions to <Iris>, Eve was reviewing the impact footage from a moment earlier in slow motion.
The shell, which had collided at the hypersonic speed of roughly 8,000 m/s, spread out almost like a liquid before shattering and scattering apart. It was valuable academic footage showing that when something struck a rigid body at ultra-high speed, even metal behaved like a liquid.
“A perfectly rigid body. I see.”
“It is a theoretical material, but it appears to be reproduced through magic.”
A perfectly rigid body was an ideal material that never deformed under any circumstances. At the very least, as far as Ringo’s analysis of the footage could tell, there had been no deformation whatsoever on the barrier side.
“If it is the same kind of barrier used by threat organisms, saturation attack can neutralize it.”
“For example, could we neutralize it by ramming a Jotun into it?”
Even against a barrier that behaved like such a rigid body, they had already established ways to deal with it through numerous battles against threat organisms. If they kept up continuous bombardment like this, they could break through it. Or they could ram something with enormous mass into it, like a Jotun.
That said, if a Jotun actually rammed it, the damage would obviously be extreme.
“If multiple units were to use rams and apply continuous damage, then yes, it would be possible.”
“A ram... yeah, it really does have a mechanism that looks like one...”
An external ram could be attached to a Jotun. A shock-dispersion structure running through the center of the hull from {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} bow to stern had already been built into it from the start. It was meant, at least in part, to keep the ship from taking fatal damage if it collided with some kind of obstacle, but apparently operating it with a ram attached had also been assumed from the beginning.
“Well, it looks like bombardment should be enough, so there’s no need to go out of our way to do something dangerous like ramming.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am.”
Each Jotun was equipped with six main guns. Every one of them was a multi-stage electromagnetic projector, a coil cannon. Their muzzle velocity, at about 6,000 m/s, was inferior to a railgun, but the diameter of the shells they launched was on an entirely different scale. Naturally, the kinetic energy they delivered was proportionate.
There were four Jotuns equipped with such main guns. A total of twenty-four coil cannons pointed at the Holy Capital.
“Fire in sequence.”
The screen flashed at Akane’s murmur. The shells, launched with slight time differences between them, slammed into the Holy Capital’s wall. The defensive membrane deployed, and every shell was blocked.
“Analysis in progress... judged to have a longer duration compared to <Rein Kroin> and wyverns.”
“It looks like the cleric-soldiers are moving.”
The staggered bombardment applied sustained pressure through tiny timing differences, but apparently the barrier could endure at least twenty-four coil-cannon shells. Still, perhaps something about it was causing trouble, because cleric-soldiers could be seen hurriedly climbing onto the wall.
The cleric-soldiers began lining up across the top of the wall at regular intervals.
“...What are they planning to do?”
“Communication from Asahi. She says it may be ritual magic.”
Apparently Asahi had sent in her opinion over the network. She was tied up with threat-organism analysis, but she seemed to be monitoring this over the network as well.
“Ritual magic... So basically some big spell cast by a bunch of people together, I guess. Attack, or defense...”
“Let’s find out. Akane.”
“Understood. I’ll propose it to <Iris>.”
Akane sent <Iris> a proposal to continue the bombardment. <Iris> incorporated the possibility of ritual magic into its predictive calculations and approved the proposal.
The twenty-four gun barrels once again launched hypersonic shells.
“Impact confirmed. No change in the barrier.”
“Continuous bombardment, or breakthrough along the outer perimeter. <Iris> is requesting opinions. If there are no specific proposals, it will begin the outer-perimeter breakthrough as originally planned.”
“Hm. Those cleric-soldiers bother me, but... prioritize the outer-perimeter breakthrough, and revise as needed if anything happens, I guess. It doesn’t look like they’re about to attack immediately, so maybe it’s more defense-oriented.”
Eve’s opinion was relayed to <Iris> at once, and <Iris> began to act.
The encircling groups of four-legged tanks all moved at once.
The frontal assault force, and the rear bombardment force.
While the main guns of the Jotuns remained pointed at the wall, their secondary guns and smaller turrets locked the field fortifications into their lines of fire.
“Attack commencing.”
Akane murmured.
Then hundreds of turrets fired shells.
The plasma light generated by the railguns lit up the battlefield.
The falling shells blasted away the anti-cavalry barricades and trenches. The precisely controlled firing lines avoided every charging four-legged tank and destroyed only the enemy’s defenses.
The raining shells plowed up the ground. The anti-cavalry barricades were blown to pieces, and dirt poured into the trenches. It seemed that if a hypersonic armor-piercing shell landed a direct hit, even a cleric-soldier could not survive it. The combat-power evaluation dropped at a terrifying rate.
“The four-legged tanks have made contact.”
And once most of the defensive works had been crushed, the four-legged tanks surged in.
The cleric-soldiers who had withdrawn into the trenches noticed and leaped back out. On battle lines other than the southern front, where the initial reconnaissance in force had taken place, Grand High Priest-class individuals had been added as well.
In an instant, the front collapsed into chaotic close combat.
“Eek...”
The combat-power values for the Prava Divine Kingdom side and for the assault force both fell visibly, one after another. The rate of decrease favored the assault force. However, no immediate reinforcement was scheduled for that force.
To be honest, the number of kills was higher than expected.
“<Iris> is considering a change in the strategic plan.”
Because of that situation, Strategic AI <Iris> was trying to update the battlefield parameters.
