“Data analysis is complete. May I report now?”
“Yes, please.”
Standing in front of Eve, who sat in the command seat, Akane began her report. If it had been between AIs, the data could have been shared instantly through direct transmission, but Eve still had a flesh-and-blood body, so everything still had to be explained through words and visuals.
Biological modification was also possible, but for now Eve felt no need for it, so she {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} had left herself as she was.
Part of the reason was that Ringo had not been actively recommending it.
“First, an accurate evaluation of combat power.”
At present, their ground-combat units consisted of human-sized bipedal machines, four-legged attack craft, four-legged tanks, six-legged main multi-legged tanks, ground carrier platforms, and land battleships.
Units such as multi-wheeled vehicles and tracked vehicles could also be produced, but for the time being none had been landed in the Prava Divine Kingdom.
“Against a normal human nation, four-legged tanks are sufficient. But against high-performance units like the Divine Kingdom’s cleric-soldiers, they’re somewhat underpowered. We need to commit the main multi-legged tanks.”
Against opponents up to the Divine Kingdom’s Grand High Priest class, deploying the main multi-legged tanks would be enough to deal with them adequately.
Four-legged tanks could also handle them, but the attrition rate rose, which made them less efficient in the end.
“Iris has already accumulated more than enough combat experience. By committing the main multi-legged tanks, it judges that complete suppression will be fully possible.”
“I see. They’re stronger than expected, but still within the forecast, then.”
“Ringo’s scenario can handle it. Iris is proposing a second invasion one week from now, as planned.”
One week was enough to restore all lost combat power.
The main multi-legged tanks were already prepared, so what had to be rebuilt were the four-legged tanks and the land battleship Jotun.
As for Jotun, construction could not be performed at the Divine Kingdom base, so it would have to be transported from Second Fortress Black Iron.
‘Force reconstruction plan has already been registered. Production of four-legged tanks has already reached 8% of the required standard number.’
“Oh my. Thank you, Iris. Resource production is going smoothly too, then. Looks like we’ll be able to recover the war costs more than adequately. The place was wealthier than I expected.”
What Iris displayed was a projected graph of force recovery, along with the state of resource production inside the Divine Kingdom.
The results of the reserve surveys for the discovered mineral veins, and the output from several veins where mining had already begun.
“As for the Divine Kingdom, the balance between consumed resources and produced resources is projected to turn positive within a few weeks. Production-related facilities are already being supplied entirely with resources produced inside the Divine Kingdom.”
“Mm-hm. Transport costs are brutal, after all.”
Transporting automatic machines produced at another base imposed an enormous cost.
It was not just the simple matter of fuel being needed to move them. Large ships for transport were needed, along with self-propelled machines for overland hauling. If railways were laid, their maintenance costs were huge as well.
More than anything, it took time.
Consumed resources could be made up by mining more. Time that had been spent would never come back.
‘The production bases required for the immediate future, including backups, have already been completed. For the time being, production resources are scheduled to be allocated to fortress construction. Invasion forces will also continue to be produced.’
After the Holy Capital was captured, they would move directly into suppressing the northern part of the Divine Kingdom.
At the same time, it would also be necessary to negotiate with the force known as the Chimiya Family.
That said, exterminating the Holy Capital’s fighting force came first.
“From here on, it’s me~”
Spinning lightly in place, Erika rose from her seat. Akane nodded and returned to her own.
“We didn’t commit air power in the first attack, so~ we measured all kinds of things, and if we do commit air power, we can handle units at the Bishop class~”
Bombers flying at more than 900 km/h. Supersonic fighter craft.
The assessment was that if those were committed, they could attack one-sidedly without being caught.
“If we combine that with a Gigantia group~ then with two groups committed, we can probably pin down even Archbishops~”
A Gigantia group.
An aerial fortress composed of one Gigantia-class airborne carrier and four Titan-class escort ships.
It was projected that by combining the striking power of the many gun batteries mounted on Gigantia and Titan with the firepower of the airplanes launched from them, even those Archbishops could be destroyed.
“I wonder if they could hold out against ballistic missiles too~”
If it was a heavy object dropping straight down from overhead at nearly Mach 10, then it might be possible to land the attack before they even recognized it.
Even without a direct hit, a detonation nearby could be expected to have a corresponding effect.
“Thank you, Erika. So in the next invasion, eliminating all cleric-soldiers becomes possible?”
“That’s right~ Of course, only if we actually commit the proper forces on our side!”
In other words, limited force commitment like this time would not work.
Still, they had gathered more than enough information.
Now all that remained was to grind them down.
“What bothers me~ is that we never confirmed the Pope, and the Chimiya Family didn’t show up either~”
“...If strength and rank are linked, then the Pope’s strength is an unknown variable. But is a Pope really decided by strength alone?”
In the previous invasion, the Holy Capital side had fallen into a fairly critical state.
The AIs were in broad agreement that the possibility of them still holding back forces in that situation was low.
The Chimiya Family had not appeared either, but since their chain of command seemed fundamentally different, that part at least was understandable.
“It is unknown, Commander Ma’am. However, because it is a structure in which promotion is achieved through force, we estimate that there is a high probability that a separation of roles is in place, with the top position determined not by martial strength, but by intellect.”
The Prava Divine Kingdom, at least at present, belonged to the category of successful state systems.
The assessment was that if the top were decided by brute strength alone—or magical power, perhaps—there was no way they could have maintained a social structure this effectively.
Of course, there was also the possibility that the Pope simply happened to possess both extraordinary intelligence and extraordinary martial power.
“Well, I suppose the only way to confirm it now is to collide with them again next time. All right, I understand the next invasion. Make it work.”
“Leave it to me~”
The ones controlling all the automatic machines on site were the Tactical AIs rooted in Erika’s line.
They were mainly mounted aboard the Gigantias, so that was likely where they would take part from.
‘And after that, Big Sis! The Holy Capital’s magic barriers!’
The last thing to confirm was the barrier spread across the city wall and the sky overhead.
The assumed source was the giant <Magic Stone> installed in the center of the Holy Capital, but—
‘As for the size of the <Magic Stone>, it looked at least one size larger than the ones from the <Wyverns> or <Rein Kroin>! By volume, it looked like it was about twice as large!’
The one recovered from inside the wyvern, and the <Magic Stone> from <Rein Kroin>.
According to the measurements, this one was considerably larger than either of those.
‘Right. A giant creature like that Mountain Boar from the Forest Kingdom of Levresta might have a <Magic Stone> about this size!’
The Mountain Boar was a gigantic boar observed in the Forest Kingdom of Levresta.
Its body length itself was on about the same scale as a wyvern, but its volume and mass were estimated to be more than ten times greater.
Certainly, with a body that huge, it would not have been strange for it to carry a giant <Magic Stone> inside it.
‘Well, there’s no point guessing where the <Magic Stone> came from! What matters is the mechanism that generates the barrier!’
A considerable number of the infiltrated bots had already been destroyed by the cleric-soldiers, so the amount of real-time data still coming in had dropped.
However, because they had deployed a large number of bots temporarily, they had been able to obtain high-precision information.
‘From that <Magic Stone>, something like cables were running toward the city wall through the pedestal! They didn’t seem to be metal, so they were pretty hard to detect!’
Apparently, something like buried conduits had been laid underground to carry those mysterious cables, and those had been detected.
They extended radially from the <Magic Stone> in six directions at almost equal spacing, reaching the city wall.
‘We managed to dig up part of one and confirm it, and it’s probably the blood vessels of some kind of organism!’
“...Blood vessels?”
‘Yes, Big Sis! Of course, blood wasn’t actually flowing through them! But they were obviously tubes made of biological cells, so they have to be blood vessels!’
Apparently, tubes made of biological cells were connected to the <Magic Stone>, buried in the ground, and extended all the way to the city wall.
They had not been able to confirm what lay beyond that point, but it was thought that they were probably spread throughout the inside of the wall as well.
“...So what, exactly? You mean a <Magic Stone> and blood vessels taken from some monster are buried throughout the entire city?”
‘Yes, Big Sis!’
