“Commander Ma’am. Emergency alert confirmed. It is <Fenrir>.”
“Oof. Again?”
<Ringo> reported to Eve, who had been doing her daily run in the training room.
Eve stopped running and let out a long breath. <Ringo> swiftly approached and handed her an absorbent towel.
“Well, it’s a little short, but the timing’s about right. I’ll head to the command room while I listen.”
“Yes, Commander Ma’am.”
Eve quickly wiped her face with the towel and draped it around her neck. When an electrolyte drink was handed to her at just the right moment, she accepted it and started walking as she drank.
“Same as usual?”
“Yes, Commander Ma’am. No unusual behavior has been observed. It is believed to be a territorial patrol.”
A projected display appeared diagonally in front of Eve as she walked. Displayed on it was various data captured by motion-detection sensors.
“Footfalls, estimated movement speed, and point of appearance are all within the predicted range. Are we responding as usual?”
“Yes, Commander Ma’am. <Iris> has already begun responding.”
As <Ringo> answered, she swiftly draped a jacket over Eve. Then <Ringo> efficiently undid the hair Eve had tied up for exercise and the turban wrapped around it. Following Eve’s movements, she let the hair down, ran a comb through it, and arranged her appearance without interfering with her movements in the slightest.
It was the motion of an expert. Most likely, both mistress and servant were enjoying that little game.
“We have the burnstone warheads deployed right now, if I remember right... Yes, scheduled for use. I wonder how this will go.”
“The predicted result is that unless we clearly demonstrate that we can respond, there is a high probability that they will expand their territory again. A mass-based operation is easy, but the impact on the surrounding environment is too great.”
Incidentally, even after the previous battle, <Fenrir> had continued to appear near the boundary like this at irregular intervals.
At first, <The Tree> had braced for another invasion, but it apparently resembled a reconnaissance-in-force, and now it was believed to be something like normal territorial patrol behavior for <Fenrir>.
And each time, they intercepted it by firing enormous numbers of warheads and missiles.
“Contamination of the soil by radioactive material and heavy metals, right? It’s helped mature our removal technology, but when it happens this often...”
In order to increase their power, the shells used depleted uranium, which had a greater specific gravity than iron or lead, as their main structural material. There was also the aspect of disposing of stocks that had accumulated as a byproduct during the refinement of nuclear fuel.
In addition, missiles also used various heavy metals and hazardous chemical substances, so when a large-scale attack was carried out, the soil around that area became severely contaminated.
“Removal itself is possible, but it causes major destruction to the surrounding ecosystem, so we do not wish to do it frequently.”
And the decontamination work was carried out through brute force: stripping away the target region’s surface soil to a depth of several meters, shoving it into recyclers, and separating out the toxic substances.
Naturally, the animals living there were driven away, and the vegetation was completely destroyed.
Even if the area was limited, too much environmental destruction could create various problems, making it a troublesome operation that pointlessly raised the stress values of the intelligences belonging to <The Tree>.
“The burnstone warhead’s first real combat deployment, huh. I hope it actually works...”
“Let us trust Asahi’s verification results. The Jotun twelfth ship equipped with burnstone warheads has begun moving. Estimated arrival on-site in approximately fifteen minutes.”
And so Eve and <Ringo>, who had managed to put Eve’s appearance in order to some degree as they walked, entered the command room.
Inside, Akane and Ichigo were on standby, providing backup to the local Strategic AI /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ <Iris>.
“Akane, Ichigo, thank you for your work. Status?”
“Yes, Big Sister. The attack craft have completed scrambling. The hypersonic missiles launched in advance will arrive on-site shortly.”
Twenty-three seconds until impact.
That display was posted on the projected display.
Missiles with standard warheads for diversion were rapidly approaching the <Fenrir> that had appeared at the site.
“Identification complete. Individual designation: <Froze>. Estimated to be normal territorial patrol behavior.”
Several flashes occurred within the footage from the monitoring devices. Missiles that had flown in at the ultra-high speed of Mach 6 had struck around <Froze>.
There were only six missiles, and they had not even been precisely guided, so they were nothing but a diversion.
However, <Froze> showed signs of measuring <The Tree>’s response capability, which made it important to shorten the time required for immediate response as much as possible.
It was a display of information, showing that they had already noticed <Froze>’s approach and could respond at any time.
“Attack craft will arrive on-site in five minutes. Active radar has been activated. Our presence should be known.”
“<Froze>’s movement direction has changed. He is leaving the forest. He will enter the buffer zone.”
<Froze> leapt into the buffer zone set outside the boundary established by <The Tree>.
That said, this too was usual behavior.
He was confirming exactly where his territory was set.
Because he could accurately remember and judge these details, the threat level of the <Fenrir> species was set extremely high.
“Attack craft have launched missiles. Eighty seconds until impact.”
“<Froze> has reacted to the attack craft or the missiles. Estimated reaction to radar waves.”
Advanced information-collection devices buried at the site sent one analysis result after another.
<Froze> seemed to be measuring <The Tree>’s response capability, but the same was true for <The Tree>.
During these territorial patrol actions, which had occurred multiple times, <The Tree> had responded in subtly different ways every time. By observing the reactions to those responses, they were attempting to analyze the capabilities of the <Fenrir> species.
“It feels like we’re getting a decent grasp of <Froze>’s response capabilities during normal patrols.”
“Yes, Big Sister. We have gathered information on his reaction range to radar waves, reaction intensity to sound and vibration, the speeds he can respond to, and so on. However, we have no certainty that this information has not been falsified, so the estimation accuracy is not especially high.”
At the very least, <The Tree> had incorporated random elements into their response patterns so as not to give information to the enemy.
In the same way, the possibility that <Froze> was engaging in deception was always present.
Based on the results of behavioral observation thus far, the <Fenrir> species had been judged to possess very high intelligence.
If so, they might well be performing diversions as simple as feeding false information to an enemy.
“If we could communicate, there might still be a chance at mutual understanding.”
At present, however, it was hard to believe the other side had any intention of dialogue.
Or perhaps, if they kept dealing with him patiently, such a development might eventually happen.
But it was difficult to believe that a species living in the <Demon Forest>, ruled by struggle, would actively seek dialogue.
“Missiles entering terminal trajectory.”
“<Froze> appears to have entered an interception stance.”
In the footage, <Froze> planted all four limbs firmly on the earth and glared up at the sky.
No audio could be heard, but there was enough force in him to make one imagine the growl leaking from his clenched mouth.
What flickered out from between his interlocked fangs—were those atmospheric molecules exposed to high heat and turned into plasma?
“Missiles impacting.”
“<Froze> has released interception breath.”
A quantity of light great enough to blow out the footage erupted in an instant. The observation equipment, whited out, immediately adjusted the light level.
A crimson lotus blooming in midair filled the display.
“Eighteen missiles. All were shot down in the air.”
“<Froze>’s number of simultaneous attack targets, speed, and accuracy all exceed the previous instance.”
“Mmm, he’s strong...”
<Froze>, who appeared almost every time, was definitely growing. Or perhaps, he was accumulating methods of responding through learning.
Missiles that were merely fast would probably no longer be able to land an attack.
He also had the troublesome property that even if they attempted a saturation attack, if he devoted himself to escape, they could not keep him inside the attack area in the first place.
“At this rate, he’s going to break through eventually.”
“Yes, Commander Ma’am. <Iris> is also concerned about that point.”
“<Iris> has been looking forward to the burnstone warheads’ real combat deployment. His response ability has improved, but we can still land warheads. This timing is important.”
“It is believed to be the last possible moment to show that we possess a lethal means of attack. <Iris> reports that if there are several more clashes on this scale, <Froze> may fully adapt.”
And so—
While the aerial attack bought time, the land battleship unit was finally about to arrive on-site.
