The land battleship <Jotun>.
It was a giant weapon that had been heavily damaged during the capture of the Prava Divine Kingdom’s Holy Capital, but since mass production had already been established, it had been replaced almost immediately.
Its full length was 176 meters, with a beam of 62 meters and a height of 69 meters. Its upper hull stood 32 meters above ground level.
It carried three fusion reactors and had enough output to supply surrounding units with microwave power on its own.
Its standard armament consisted of six multi-stage electromagnetic projection cannons, sixteen electromagnetic accelerator cannons, forty secondary turrets, twenty vertical launch cells, and two catapults.
Its carrying capacity, true to its massive frame, was equally enormous.
It was capable of sustaining full-power bombardment for over an hour.
Though that was, of course, partly because it used electromagnetic artillery that required no propellant charges.
This time, the forces committed to Operation Walking the Dog consisted of four <Jotun>s, plus large numbers of four-legged tanks and multi-legged tanks.
Far to the rear, a Gigantia formation circled overhead, while anti-magic-barrier missile launch platforms had also been deployed on the ground.
At the very least, there was no question that these were among the strongest forces currently available in the region surrounding the Prava Divine Kingdom.
That said, the possibility that this force could be annihilated had also been considered, and the latest equipment was already en route.
“Beginning troop movement.”
“Groups A through D have started moving.”
“Five kilometers to effective range~”
“ETA eight minutes~”
“...All <Jotun>s shifting reactor mode to combat status. Internal temperature and pressure rising...”
Akane, Ichigo, Utsugi, Erika, and Olive were once again serving as operator staff, delivering status reports.
Since Eve liked this sort of situation, they were going out of their way to report aloud.
Of course, it also doubled as training for the brain units.
On the screen, the <Jotun>s and the surrounding groups of multi-legged tanks had begun to run.
Each <Jotun> had been assigned three hundred four-legged tanks and one hundred multi-legged tanks.
That meant a total of sixteen hundred multi-legged machines were now on the move.
A <Jotun> could smash aside minor obstacles simply through the force of its charge.
The low brush covering the plain was pulverized, and the multi-legged units passed through the road that was formed in its wake.
“What an incredible sight.”
Gentle hills and sparse woods were hurled up, crushed flat, and carved open beneath that gigantic mass, all while great clouds of dust billowed into the air.
In fact, there had even been cases where <Jotun>s were used for land development.
At present, though, there still was not enough population to justify aggressively expanding farmland, so they were not used for that very often.
“Lead unit Jotun B has brought target <Froze> into effective range.”
“The moment all <Jotun>s enter effective range, they will begin simultaneous bombardment.”
The four <Jotun>s adjusted their course slightly.
They needed to bring <Froze>, their target, into the firing arcs of all main guns mounted along their centerlines.
“Target is in effective range now~”
“All <Jotun>s have shifted into firing posture~”
“...All turrets confirmed stable. Linking reconnaissance data. Ballistic calculations complete... Fire all batteries...”
The four ships were arranged in single column.
The region designated as the battlefield had few woods, forests, or mountains, and consisted mostly of grassland and scrub.
Around the <Jotun>s, the multi-legged machines clustered like some kind of colony organism.
“Impact in three, two, one... now.”
<Froze> of <Fenrir> had been strolling along on its territorial patrol.
Then metal shells fired from twenty-four barrels of multi-stage electromagnetic projection cannons came screaming toward it.
Their muzzle velocity was 8,000 meters per second.
They would hit the target in roughly five seconds.
“Impact confirmed.”
The moment had been captured by long-range imagery, but in ultra-high resolution and at high speed.
Trailing smoke from their protective coating, which was rapidly sublimating from aerodynamic heating, all twenty-four shells converged on <Froze> with slight time offsets between them.
The instant the shells struck, a film of light spread across <Froze>’s surface.
A magic barrier.
The first few shells failed to break through and shattered into fragments.
Then, from the force of the impacts, <Froze>’s posture shifted, and after that the remaining shells either skimmed off its body or missed entirely. No effective hits were observed.
“Oh my... Maybe its body really is just a little too small. When you’ve got this many barrels, that can happen.”
In the end, the surrounding ground was blasted apart by the shells, kicking up an enormous cloud of dust.
Final assessment: no effective attack.
<Froze> itself had vanished completely from view.
“Searching for target~”
“Can’t tell where it is for a sec... there!”
<Froze> burst straight through the wall of dust.
The image was analyzed immediately, but as expected, there were still no visible injuries.
Apparently, landing only a few shells on it had not been enough to count as an effective attack.
Still, they had managed to measure its movement performance to some extent.
“...Recalculating trajectory... complete. Firing another volley...”
The multi-stage electromagnetic projection cannons launched another salvo.
The shells used those few seconds to drive themselves toward <Froze>—
“Target confirmed taking evasive action.”
The ground exploded.
The surface had already been shattered by the force of <Froze>’s footing, and the resulting shockwave pulverized it even further.
<Froze> had dodged every shell.
Even though it had been struck by a surprise attack, it had immediately seen the next volley with its own eyes and moved that gigantic body at supersonic speed.
The shells were traveling far faster ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) than the speed of sound.
Which meant there was no possibility of hearing them coming. If it could not see them, it could not react to them.
<Froze> had visually tracked the shells, then sidestepped out of the way.
At <Froze>’s eye level, the horizontal distance to the horizon was about seventeen kilometers.
Its effective firing range had been set at twenty kilometers, meaning it had visually detected shells coming in over the horizon, recognized their trajectory, and executed evasive movement.
That was not a reaction speed any ordinary living creature could possess.
It was movement that outright defied the laws of physics.
“We’ve lost the target again.”
The shells that hit the ground kicked up yet another enormous curtain of dust.
Like a volcanic plume, dirt and debris spread across the surrounding area.
“What? It can dodge shells!? That’s impossible!!”
“It looks like we’ll have to fire from point-blank range.”
<Froze>—or rather, the threat organism called <Fenrir>.
Its body length was smaller than that of the threat organisms they had faced before, but at least for now, its threat level had to be judged extremely high.
If anything, because it weighed less, it moved more lightly.
If long-range bombardment would not work, then they would have to fight it at close range.
Looked at that way, it was an extremely dangerous opponent.
“The <Jotun>s have accelerated. <Iris> has selected close-range combat.”
“Looks like they’re going with laser attacks~”
“The four-legged tanks and multi-legged tanks are going with them too!”
The <Jotun> formation maintained its single-column alignment as it took the shortest possible course toward <Froze>.
That had the advantage of hiding the following ships from direct view by approaching head-on.
However, since only the lead ship’s turrets could be used in that orientation, they would need to turn before attacking.
“Target reacquired. Low-output radar has been selected. Jotun A is making limited use of fire-control radar.”
To conduct precise fire, the <Jotun>s began using the radar they had previously kept shut down.
Since the radar waves were being emitted from the ground, they were unlikely to provoke wyverns far in the distance.
And as a further precaution, the output itself had been reduced from the outset.
But <Froze> reacted to the radar activation.
They had expected as much, but it really did seem capable of detecting electromagnetic waves.
“<Froze> detected and locked. <Froze> appears to have visually acquired the <Jotun>s. It has begun moving.”
<Froze> burst through the dust cloud and started running toward the <Jotun>s.
Fast.
Doppler radar measurements gave them a fairly accurate read on its speed.
“It’s passed 200 km/h!”
“It still looks like it’s accelerating!”
It ran.
Driving its legs into the earth and blasting apart the ground beneath it, <Froze> came charging in.
The distance between the two sides shrank in the blink of an eye.
“...Jotun A and C turning right. B and D turning left. Firing arcs... secured.”
<Iris> immediately took control of the <Jotun>s’ movement.
Turning their broadsides toward <Froze>, the ships prepared their laser turrets.
The multi-legged units running alongside them also aimed their laser guns at <Froze>.
Every line of fire and aiming vector was being fully controlled and managed by Jotun A’s fire-control system.
“Firing solutions complete. Turret control complete. Beginning laser fire.”
At that moment, <Froze> was swallowed by a blinding white brilliance on the screen.
