Despite the desperate resistance of the cleric-soldiers, more and more four-legged tanks crossed the wall and pushed into the city. The enemy cleric-soldiers outside the south gate wall had already been wiped out, so there was no longer any way to stop them.
The only option left was to run along the top of the wall to get close, but that route was already completely pinned down.
Engineering multi-legged heavy machines crossed the wall under escort from the four-legged tanks. Dragging behind them from their undersides were communications cables. First they drove communications units and information-gathering sensors into the top of the wall, then descended straight into the city.
With that, the internal information that had previously only been gathered through telescopic footage and incomplete data from infiltrated bots suddenly increased all at once. More of the heavy machines succeeded in entering the city as well, and one after another they drove data-gathering piles into the ground.
“Beginning analysis of the information inside the city. Transferring primary analysis processing from Iris to Ringo.”
“Authority received. Beginning feedback of the analysis results.”
Receiving that massive flood of sensor information, Ringo immediately began analyzing the Holy Capital as a whole. The results were sent back to Iris at once and would be used for operational planning.
“They said the Holy Capital was more than half cleric-soldiers to begin with, but it’s an empty shell.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. It is believed that the noncombatants were evacuated north, and the cleric-soldiers were concentrated.”
The Holy Capital was quite large for the scale of the country, but there were almost no signs of what appeared to be ordinary civilians. Most of them had likely been mobilized as cleric-soldiers for the defense.
And a considerable number of those cleric-soldiers had already been killed.
Even so, with the appearance of the Bishops and Archbishops, the estimated combat-power evaluation had actually risen above its pre-battle level. Meanwhile, <The Tree>’s forces, which had started with more than double the difference, had already been cut in half. The outcome of the invasion could now go either way.
“We’ve managed to keep their maximum-strength units tied down outside the wall.”
“Iris will proceed with taking the Holy Capital as is.”
Flying drones were being fed into the area around the southern gate that had already been secured, one after another. From a distance, they looked like a swarm of gnats. Maintaining their spacing from one another, the drone swarm crossed the wall and entered the Holy Capital.
Most of them scattered upward into the sky, but some descended the wall and landed. In order to suppress the inside of the wall, they jettisoned their flight blades and pushed inward.
“So a wall this size has passageways inside it too.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Because the number of spy bots was limited, the investigation was minimal, but there is a gate-control mechanism inside, so we will secure it.”
After exterminating several cleric-soldiers by weight of numbers, the drones reached the mechanism that opened and closed the gate. The winding mechanisms and related parts had been destroyed, but if they could deal with the locking mechanism alone, the rest could be forced open by the four-legged tanks.
“Iris has declared complete suppression of the south gate.”
And just like that, the south gate of the Prava Divine Kingdom’s Holy Capital was opened, and a large number of automatic machines began pouring in.
Meanwhile, outside the wall—
The Jotun assigned to the west gate had a huge hole blown through its belly, but it had barely managed to retain its ability to move. The Archbishop, which had been the greatest threat, had been driven northward by the bombardment from the Gigantia group. In other words, the obstacle blocking the Jotun was gone.
The number of operational four-legged tanks had dropped below 40% of what it had been at the start of the operation. Even so, it was still enough. The Jotun brought its massive body up ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ to the west gate and began firing out hooked wire ropes one after another. The south gate had already been breached, and now the next target was the west gate. Surviving cleric-soldiers gathered there, but not in numbers sufficient to stop the momentum of the automatic machines.
To see a monster that an Archbishop should have destroyed come bearing down on them as though nothing had happened, even with a hole punched straight through it—
That had to be terrifying.
In reality, 1 of its 3 fusion reactors had been completely destroyed, another had dropped to 20% output, the internal energy lines had been torn to pieces, and functions all across the machine had shut down. About 60% of its drive wheels had also gone silent. It was barely capable of moving under its own power, in a condition not far above scrap.
But from the outside, none of that could be known.
The infiltrated drones skillfully opened the city gate. Once there was nothing left sealing the gate shut, there was no longer any way to refuse entry. Four-legged tanks and drones began pouring inside the wall in great numbers.
At the east gate, the Archbishop was steadily eliminating the four-legged tanks. At times dodging the storm of incoming shells and laser fire, at times deflecting them, never stopping those feet as it leaped toward the next prey.
Judging destruction by ground forces alone to be difficult, Eurytos continued its attacks with the main goal of disrupting enemy action. Lasers were concentrated on the points where movement began, and synchronized armor-piercing bombardment was carried out before each attack motion started. It was stripping away the opponent’s processing margin and reducing the attrition rate of the four-legged tanks as much as possible.
And then, the north gate.
The Archbishop from the west side joined up with the Archbishop at the north side. The enemy combat-power evaluation jumped upward, but the bombardment density on <The Tree>’s side, which had been divided before, also doubled. Laser and maser beams were fired with even the scattering caused by the many shields deployed by the Archbishops already factored into the calculations.
Lasers and masers derived their offensive power from heating caused by concentrated energy irradiation. Even if the beams were dispersed, the energy that had been put into them did not itself diminish.
And even if the attack was blocked, the point that blocked it still heated up accordingly.
Incoming shells restricted where the Archbishops could move.
And then, meticulously calculated energy irradiation was poured into a specific volume of space.
Matter existing within that concentrated zone of energy was instantly turned into plasma.
Even the surrounding space not directly hit was flooded with intense heat through radiant transfer.
The battlefield at the north gate became a localized burning hell.
“...So it’s not just direct attacks. It’s environmental damage too.”
“How effective it actually is remains unknown.”
The Archbishops fled while being roasted by high-energy beams. The properties of their shields shifted slightly, and once again the beams were scattered. But the heat that had already built up did not vanish so easily.
Iris calmly issued orders to keep driving the Archbishops into a corner.
Eurytos, which was dominating the battlefield, was inflicting continuous damage on the Archbishops by means of radiant heat—in other words, infrared radiation.
The Jotun assigned to the north side was still intact for the moment. The situation was becoming one where the Archbishops would be penned in if this continued.
The Archbishop that had been generating shields came to a stop. At the same moment it shouted something, a large number of shields appeared and surrounded it. The Archbishop that had been carrying out long-range bombardment jumped into that cluster of shields.
“Iris is requesting full-power bombardment.”
“Ah, it’s charging something up, Big Sis!”
“So it’s planning to fire some kind of big move?”
The concentrated lasers and masers were reflected, scattered, and failed to land effective hits. Even the incoming metal shells could not penetrate every last shield.
Every gun with a firing line brought the target Archbishop into alignment.
Then they all fired at once.
But doing that while leaving the enemy directly in front of them alone meant exposing their flanks defenselessly. In the next instant, roughly 10% of the four-legged tanks were judged heavily damaged.
But in exchange for those sacrifices, more than 600 shells flew.
The firing timing and aim of every single shell had been precisely adjusted. They had been fired with slight differences in timing so they would not collide uselessly with one another in midair.
A vast mass of metal shells slammed into the shields.
Because the attack was happening at point-blank range, there was almost no loss of speed from air resistance. Supersonic mass converted its kinetic energy into destructive force.
The image flashed pure white.
Part of that kinetic energy was converted into heat, and the impact zone was engulfed in extreme temperature.
Ionized atoms, vaporized metal, molten steel—every kind of debris was blasted outward.
Eve watched the spectacular image with a grim expression, while Asahi, whose audio had been cut off, enthusiastically enjoyed it through her holographic projection.
“Severe damage detected on Jotun sixth ship. Operational rate is below 10%.”
“The Archbishop got away!”
“Inside the wall!”
Akane, Utsugi, and Erika, who had been conducting the data analysis, gave their reports.
A long-range attack released by an Archbishop had heavily wrecked the Jotun assigned to the north gate. It had lost almost all functionality.
At the same time, however, the Archbishop apparently had not come through unscathed either, and seemed to have withdrawn after taking major damage. And at the same time, the Archbishop at the east gate also withdrew.
What remained afterward was Jotun sixth ship, judged a total loss; fifth ship, with fatal damage to its running gear; a huge quantity of wreckage; and the four-legged tanks, whose numbers had been reduced to one-tenth of what they had been at the outset.
“Report from Iris. The Archbishops and Bishops that withdrew inside the wall are destroying the four-legged tanks and drones that infiltrated the interior.”
