Chapter 227: Chapter 221: Bizarre Combat Losses
Allen had grown accustomed to sitting in the Odyssey’s cockpit, looking down upon the entire chessboard like a god.
’Since long-range bombardment won’t draw them out, I’ll just have to make a house call.’
The order was given, and every gear of the war machine began to mesh with precision.
Three Freedom Gundams, serving as the spearhead of the assault group, activated first.
Close behind them were ten stoutly built PX-1A "Pacifistas."
They were the backbone of the ground advance, their heavy armor capable of withstanding most physical and energy impacts—not to mention they now came standard with AT Fields.
On the flanks and in the rear of the formation, one hundred Spider Slayer Mk. IIs, like the most loyal of hounds, strode out on their long, metal-jointed legs, quickly fanning out to form a massive encirclement.
High above, ten Demon Eye Mk. II aerial fortresses adjusted to an altitude of twenty meters. Beneath their spherical chassis, the muzzles of their Magic Energy Cannons glinted with dangerous light, providing the entire assault group with complete battlefield surveillance and fire support.
"Target: the core of the Crystalized Forest, the spider’s nest." Allen’s voice, relayed by Jarvis, reached the core of every combat unit. "Begin the assault."
BOOM!
The three Freedom Gundams led the charge, brazenly crashing into the beautiful yet deathly silent forest.
One Freedom Gundam swept its Ship-Slicing Blade across.
Several giant crystal trees blocking the path were sliced in half, their massive canopies crashing to the ground and sending a shower of crystal shards into the air.
A wide path was forcefully carved out.
"HISSS—!"
From deep within the forest, furious screeches rose and fell in waves.
Their nest threatened, the Dream-Weaving Demon Spiders could no longer remain calm. They had clearly never seen such a spectacle, but driven by territorial instinct, they launched a counterattack.
Hundreds, even thousands, of translucent figures swarmed in from all directions. They leaped nimbly between the crystal tree trunks, spewing a deluge of grayish-white webs from their mouthparts.
These webs were incredibly tough and contained properties that hindered the flow of Magic Power, enough to trap an ordinary Official Wizard-level Magical Beast.
At the same time, invisible waves of spiritual attacks swept toward the mechanical army like a tsunami.
The Dream-Weaving Demon Spiders were best at two things: web restraints and spiritual piercing.
However, they were facing the Freedom Gundams.
The instant the webs were about to touch the mechs’ frames, a nearly invisible hexagonal lattice Force Field instantly deployed.
An AT Field!
The moment they touched the Force Field, all the webs were deflected by an invisible force, sliding off, completely unable to stick.
"Locking on to elite enemy units."
The ten Dragon Cavalry Floating Cannons on the back of one Freedom Gundam launched simultaneously, carving deadly arcs through the air. They bypassed layers of tree trunks to strike several noticeably larger Dream-Weaving Demon Spiders from impossible angles.
PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!
High-energy beams instantly pierced their carapaces, splattering purplish-black blood everywhere.
On the battlefield, the sight was incredibly satisfying.
The Spiritual Attacks that the Dream-Weaving Demon Spiders were so proud of had become a joke. Their spiritual shockwaves washed over the steel mechs, doing nothing more than causing a few meaningless flickers of static in the data stream. They couldn’t even make the mechs pause for a single millisecond.
If they were facing other Magical Beasts or humans, this kind of attack would certainly have had an effect.
Unfortunately for them, what they faced today was a horde of soulless hunks of iron.
’Spiritual Attacks?’ Allen watched the real-time battle feed on his screen and couldn’t help but scoff. ’Sorry, but my soldiers are fresh out of feelings.’
The assault group advanced like an unstoppable force.
The Freedom Gundams cleared the path ahead, with the Pacifistas following close behind, using the "Divine Punishment" main cannons in their chests to blast any approaching Demon Spiders to bits. The Spider Slayers on the perimeter steadily tightened the encirclement, precisely sniping any stragglers that slipped through.
[Distance Advanced: 50 kilometers.]
[ETA to target’s core area: fifteen minutes.]
[Enemy units eliminated: 117. Friendly casualties: 5.]
Jarvis reported the battle status.
Allen stared at the red dots on the light screen, which represented the Demon Spiders. They were rapidly retreating deeper into the forest.
’They’re falling back to defend the main nest.’
He narrowed his eyes.
The Dream-Weaving Demon Spiders’ nest was located in the forest’s core, where a large number of their young were located. For a social Magical Beast like this, the young were the hope for the species’ continuation; they would never abandon them easily.
"Increase speed. Don’t give them time to set traps."
The three Freedom Gundams accelerated in unison, the frequency of their Ship-Slicing Blade swings increasing. Swaths of crystalized trees collapsed, and the entire forest seemed to tremble beneath the feet of the Steel Giants.
However, just as the column was advancing into the central region of the forest, a notification popped up at the bottom of the light screen.
[WARNING: Spider Slayer unit 2-056, limb joint fracture.]
Attrition on the battlefield was normal; perhaps it had been corroded by a Demon Spider’s venom.
But immediately after, two more notifications suddenly popped up on the screen.
[WARNING: Spider Slayer unit 2-078, sniper module bearing fractured.]
[WARNING: Spider Slayer unit 2-091, power core output abnormal.]
Allen paused for a moment.
’What’s going on?’
He immediately pulled up the battlefield feed.
In the video, a Spider Slayer was moving normally across the rugged terrain. Suddenly, without any warning, a fine crack appeared on its front left leg, which was forged from a high-strength, black-patterned iron alloy.
The instant the crack appeared, it spread wildly.
CRACK!
In less than half a second, the entire metal limb shattered like a fragile piece of glass, breaking into dozens of metal fragments of various sizes that clattered to the ground.
"This..."
Allen’s brow furrowed tightly.
He switched to another feed.
A Spider Slayer was preparing to jump down from a crystal rock. It had just finished gathering its strength and then suddenly pushed off.
BANG!
All six of its long metal legs, used for support and propulsion, simultaneously disintegrated at the moment of the jump! The unsupported chassis crashed to the ground, rolled over twice, and came to a complete stop. Throughout the entire process, it hadn’t been hit by any attack.
’Something’s wrong.’
[WARNING: Demon Eye Mk. II-07, beam cannon unable to charge.]
[WARNING: Spider Slayer unit 2-127, large-scale cracks appearing on external armor.]
But before he had time to process it, a tide of piercing alarms washed over him.
Allen quickly switched feeds, witnessing even more bizarre scenes.
As one Spider Slayer aimed to fire, its entire sniper module suddenly fell apart, components clattering to the ground.
The strangest was Demon Eye unit 07.
It was hovering in the air, preparing to hit a Demon Spider on the ground with a beam strike. Its cannon muzzle was already lit, and energy was gathering.
However, just an instant before firing, the entire main cannon module suddenly went dead. All the glowing Runes dimmed in a flash, as if an invisible hand had choked off the power supply.
Within moments, on the holographic map, the blue dots representing the rear guard of Spider Slayers began turning yellow for ’malfunction’ one after another, or even going dark gray for ’offline’.
Massive non-combat attrition!
Allen’s pupils contracted as he stared intently at the bizarre "wrecks" on the screen.
’This isn’t combat damage.’
The way these Golems were being damaged defied all logic. There were no enemy attacks, no fluctuations in Magic Power—they were just inexplicably "breaking."
It was as if...
...the very structure of the metal itself was being destroyed by some unknown force.
"Halt the advance!"
Allen issued the command decisively.
"All units, retreat immediately! Maintain formation, provide covering fire! Recover the more intact Golem wreckage."
He didn’t know who the enemy was, nor where the attack was coming from.
But his instincts were screaming at him.
Could it be that deep within this beautiful, dreamlike Crystalized Forest, something far more terrifying than the Dream-Weaving Demon Spiders was lurking?
An unknown power... that could silently kill even steel.
