“J-12 has reached effective range. Sensor synchronization rate holding above ninety-five percent. All main guns have begun indirect aiming.”
“Autonomous smart warheads have been selected. Planned muzzle velocity is 6,000 m/s.”
<Iris> seemed to intend to use the Jotun twelfth ship to launch a saturation attack.
The plan was to mix burnstone warheads in among standard warheads. If the shots were aimed too precisely, there was a high chance they would be dodged.
“J-12, commence bombardment.”
The Jotun’s six main-gun mounts, with six barrels, and its sixteen secondary-gun mounts, with sixty-four barrels, all spat white smoke at once. The precisely controlled smart shells flew toward the target, making subtle adjustments to their trajectories as they went.
“Continuous bombardment in progress. <Froze> is taking interception action.”
“J-12, fire-control radar activated. Burnstone warhead has been fired.”
The distance between them was roughly two kilometers. From the moment of firing, the shells would reach <Froze> in approximately 0.3 seconds.
Just after he dodged the shell that had come flying in immediately before, a burnstone warhead plunged into a position where it was certain to strike him directly.
“Impact.”
The metal cover around the burnstone collided with the magic barrier <Froze> had deployed. The burnstone sandwiched between the front and rear of the warhead was crushed, generating an enormous amount of heat in an instant.
The heat produced by the burnstone ate into <Froze>’s barrier, and into that gap, where the defensive function had been locally lost, the following shell struck directly.
“Damage confirmed.”
In the footage, red smoke spread explosively.
A hypersonic armor-piercing round had pierced part of <Froze>’s back.
The bombardment from a land battleship had only served as a check when using normal armor-piercing rounds. Now it had clearly inflicted major damage.
“Penetration confirmed. A major achievement.”
“<Froze>’s behavior has changed. He is clearly flinching.”
“He only flinched after a shell directly hit and penetrated him...?”
The wounded <Froze> hastily leaped back. After confirming that, <The Tree> also ceased its attack.
The objective was to display power and drive him off, not to eradicate him. If the <Fenrir> parent and child were eliminated carelessly, it could trigger an overflow from the <Demon Forest>.
The judgment was that dealing with <Fenrir>, whose response methods had been established to a certain extent, would be better than having an unpredictable powerful enemy appear.
“We are measuring the degree of damage. It appears the warhead pierced through the back near the center of the torso. Scorch marks are also visible on the surrounding fur. Judging from the penetrating wound, part of the back muscles are damaged, but the round did not reach the internal organs. It is believed he twisted his body at the moment of impact.”
Akane read out the analysis results.
Eve’s expression turned indescribable at that awkward result.
The distance between them had been less than two kilometers. Despite being sniped at extremely close range, he had sensed it just before impact and even dodged in such a way that it would not become a fatal wound.
Could this species called <Fenrir> actually be killed?
It seemed they had repeated simulations, but apparently the defeat rate still had not exceeded fifty percent.
“One burnstone warhead confirmed to neutralize the barrier enough to allow a following armor-piercing round through. Extremely effective warhead.”
“Details are still under analysis, but it /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ appears the magic barrier is neutralized in a diameter of roughly one to two meters centered on the point where the burnstone warhead collides. It cannot neutralize the entire barrier.”
<Froze> slowly retreated toward the forest, blood streaming from him.
He seemed to have understood that this side possessed some means of attack that could be fatal.
And he had likely also understood that, as long as he did nothing careless, this would not become a fight to the death.
“<Froze> has withdrawn from the buffer zone. <Iris> has declared combat posture解除. The boundary security force will shift to Combat Readiness Type Two.”
“J-12, stop fire-control radar. Transition to passive mode.”
After confirming that <Froze> had completely lost the will to fight, the deployed automated machine groups also slowly loosened their encirclement.
In particular, once the Jotun’s active radar stopped, he likely realized that <The Tree>’s side had begun to pull back as well.
Inside the forest, <Froze> turned on his heel and broke into a run at a speed that made it hard to believe he was injured.
“As sturdy as ever... I wonder if there are more <Fenrir> species out there.”
“Unknown, Commander Ma’am. However, there is no doubt they are breeding. We should assume multiple individuals exist.”
Adult <Fenrir> species such as <Froze> and <Yarn> had 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, their stealth capabilities were extremely high, and they could not be found through optical satellite searches.
In other words, they did not know how many individuals of this species called <Fenrir> lived inside the <Demon Forest>.
Furthermore, this species held territory and was active in maintaining it. It had also become clear that if an opening appeared, they would act to expand that territory.
“If something triggers simultaneous combat with multiple <Fenrir> species individuals, there is a possibility our defensive line will be breached. We would likely be able to repel them in the end, but it would cause tremendous damage.”
“I think so too. So keeping them checked in their current position as neighbors to be wary of is best, I suppose?”
“<Iris> has judged so. <Ringo> also supports that judgment.”
The superintelligences belonging to <The Tree> had chosen to maintain the status quo regarding <Fenrir>. Even if there were a situation where they could kill one with certainty, they would let it go, as they had this time.
“Well, that seems fine. They were starting to look down on us a little, and then this happened, right? I think it’ll make a good wedge.”
And with this result, Eve endorsed that policy.
From now on, at least in the areas bordering <Fenrir> territory, <The Tree> would stop expanding.
◇◇◇◇
From the towering cliff face, rocks came crashing down with a rattle.
The installed sensors captured the scene in vivid detail.
<The Tree> was on guard against <The Reflector>, the greatest threat at present.
For that reason, several autonomous automated machines had been dispatched and had continued observation while concealed.
And at last, <The Reflector> had begun to move.
<The Reflector> was a gigantic turtle-shaped threat organism measuring 280 meters in length and 140 meters in height. The species name was <Spirit Turtle>. Fortunately, no individuals other than <The Reflector> had been confirmed at present.
However, monsters closely resembling this <Spirit Turtle> had been confirmed.
They were monsters that looked very much like turtles, with smaller ones measuring around eighty centimeters in length and larger ones approaching three meters.
These monsters were called <Iron Turtle>, and their shells contained various metals.
In Northend City of the United Kingdom of Aphrasia, they were unfortunate 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 larger they grew.
At the outer edge of the <Demon Forest>, there was a high chance of being 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, larger individuals were believed to have survived.
The shell of an <Iron Turtle> was extremely tough, with high-purity alloys intricately combined with biological tissue, producing extremely high defensive power. When that was combined with the power of magic fantasy, half-hearted attacks likely could not even scratch it.
Asahi’s prediction was that such a monster had survived for many long years and become the gigantic monster known as <The Reflector>.
And now, <The Reflector>, which had not moved at all until this point, had twisted its body without any warning.
That had been sent out from the monitoring machines as an emergency signal.
The last time movement had been confirmed was when it had been caught up in a fight between wyverns.
Why had it started moving this time?
The moment <Ringo> received the information, she began gathering intelligence.
