“J-12 has reached effective range. Sensor synchronization rate holding above 95%. All main guns have begun indirect targeting.”
“Autonomous smart warheads have been selected. Planned muzzle velocity is 6,000 m/s.”
It seemed <Iris> intended to use the Jotun twelfth ship to launch a saturation attack.
The plan was to mix burnstone warheads in among the standard warheads. If they tried to snipe him too directly, there was a high chance he would dodge.
“J-12, begin bombardment.”
The Jotun’s six main guns in six turrets and sixty-four secondary guns in sixteen turrets all spat white smoke at once. The precisely controlled smart shells flew toward the target, making subtle course adjustments as they went.
“Continuous bombardment underway. <Froze> is taking interception action.”
“J-12, fire-control radar activated. Burnstone warhead has been fired.”
The distance between both sides was roughly two kilometers. From firing, it would take approximately 0.3 seconds for the shells ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) to reach <Froze>.
Just after he dodged the shells that had flown in immediately beforehand, a burnstone warhead plunged into a position where it was guaranteed to hit him directly.
“Impact.”
The metal cover surrounding the burnstone struck the magic barrier <Froze> had deployed. The burnstone sandwiched between the front and rear of the warhead was crushed, instantly generating an enormous amount of heat.
The heat generated by the burnstone ate into <Froze>’s barrier, and into the gap where the defensive function had locally failed, the following shell struck directly.
“Damage confirmed.”
In the image, red smoke spread explosively. A hypersonic armor-piercing round had pierced through part of <Froze>’s back.
Until now, bombardment from land battleships with standard armor-piercing rounds had only been enough to keep him in check. This had clearly inflicted major damage.
“Penetration confirmed. A remarkable success.”
“<Froze>’s behavior has changed. He is clearly flinching.”
“He only flinched after a shell hit and pierced him directly...?”
The wounded <Froze> hurriedly leapt backward. After confirming that, <The Tree>’s side also ceased its attack.
The objective was to show force and drive him off; extermination had never been assumed. If they carelessly eliminated this <Fenrir> parent and child, there was a possibility it would trigger a <Demon Forest> overflow.
The judgment was that dealing with <Fenrir>, whose countermeasures had been established to a certain extent, was preferable to some unpredictable powerful enemy appearing instead.
“We are measuring the degree of damage. The warhead appears to have penetrated near the back at the center of the torso. Scorch marks can also be confirmed on the surrounding fur. Judging from the through wound, part of the back muscles is damaged, but it did not reach the organs. It is believed he twisted his body at the moment of impact.”
Akane read out the analysis results.
Eve wore an indescribable expression at the subtle outcome of the attack.
The distance between them had been within two kilometers. Despite being targeted and shot at from extremely close range, he had sensed it just before impact and, on top of that, avoided it in a way that prevented a fatal wound.
Could they actually kill this species called <Fenrir>? It seemed they had run repeated simulations, but apparently the kill rate still had not exceeded 50%.
“Confirmed that one burnstone warhead can neutralize the barrier enough to let the following armor-piercing round through. An extremely effective warhead.”
“Details are still being analyzed, but it appears the magic barrier is neutralized across a diameter of approximately one to two meters, centered on the burnstone warhead’s point of impact. It does not neutralize the entire barrier.”
<Froze> slowly backed toward the forest, blood dripping steadily from him.
He seemed to have understood that this side possessed some kind of lethal means of attack.
And he had probably also understood that, as long as he did nothing careless, it would not become a fight to the death.
“<Froze> has withdrawn from the buffer zone. <Iris> has declared combat posture lifted. The boundary security force will shift to Combat Readiness Type Two.”
“J-12, fire-control radar stopped. Shifting to passive mode.”
After confirming that <Froze> had completely lost the will to fight, the deployed automated machine groups also gradually loosened their encirclement.
In particular, when the Jotun’s active radar shut down, he likely realized that <The Tree>’s side had also begun to withdraw.
Inside the forest, <Froze> turned on his heel and broke into a run at a speed that made it impossible to believe he was injured.
“He really is tough as ever... I wonder if there are more <Fenrir> out there...?”
“Unknown, Commander Ma’am. However, there is no doubt they are breeding. It would be better to assume multiple individuals exist.”
Adult <Fenrir> such as <Froze> and <Yarn> possessed enough power to toy with <The Tree>’s automated machine groups single-handedly.
At present, only two adults and one juvenile had been confirmed, but under normal circumstances they were highly stealthy and could not be found through optical-satellite searches.
In other words, they did not know how many of this species called <Fenrir> inhabited the <Demon Forest>.
Moreover, this species held territory and was proactive in maintaining it. It had also become clear that, given an opening, they would act to expand that territory further.
“If some trigger were to cause simultaneous combat against multiple <Fenrir> individuals, there is a possibility they would break through the defensive line. Ultimately, repelling them should be possible, but it would cause tremendous damage.”
“I agree. So the best position is to keep them in check as dangerous neighbors for now?”
“<Iris> has judged so. <Ringo> also supports it.”
The transcendent intelligences belonging to <The Tree> had chosen to maintain the current situation regarding <Fenrir>. Even if a chance arose to kill them with certainty, they would let them go, as they had this time.
“Well, that’s fine, isn’t it? They were starting to look down on us a little, and now this happened. I think it’ll make a good wedge.”
And with this result, Eve approved that policy. Going forward, at least in the regions bordering <Fenrir> territory, <The Tree> would halt its expansion.
◇◇◇◇
Rocks shattered and came crashing down from the towering cliff.
The installed sensors captured the scene in precise detail.
<The Tree> was wary of <The Reflector>, currently the greatest threat.
For that reason, several autonomous automated machines had been dispatched and had continued observing it while hidden.
And now, at last, <The Reflector> had begun to move.
<The Reflector> was a gigantic turtle-shaped threat organism measuring 280 meters in body length and 140 meters in height. Its species name was <Spirit Turtle>. Fortunately, at present, no individuals other than <The Reflector> had been confirmed.
However, monsters very similar to this <Spirit Turtle> had been confirmed.
They were turtle-like monsters ranging from about eighty centimeters in length for the smaller ones to nearly three meters for the larger ones.
These monsters were called <Iron Turtles>, and their shells contained various metals.
In the United Kingdom of Aphrasia’s Northend City, they were pitiable monsters hunted on sight as important metal resources.
And turtles were extremely long-lived. Considering the characteristics of monsters, it was assumed that the longer their lifespan, the more massive they would become.
At the outer edge of the <Demon Forest>, there was a high chance they would be hunted by human hunters and others, so no individuals that had grown especially large had been confirmed.
But if one went a little deeper into the forest, it was reasonable to think larger individuals had survived.
The shell of an <Iron Turtle> was extraordinarily tough, with high-purity alloys intricately combined with biological tissue, producing extremely high defensive power. Once the power of magic fantasy was added to that, half-hearted attacks would likely be unable to wound it at all.
Asahi’s prediction was that such a monster had survived for long years and become the giant monster known as <The Reflector>.
And now, <The Reflector>, which had never moved at all until this point, had twisted its body without any warning. The monitoring machines had sent that out as an emergency signal.
The previous confirmed movement had been when it was caught up in a fight between wyverns.
What had caused it to start moving this time?
Upon receiving the information, <Ringo> immediately began gathering intelligence.
