“If the enemy turns their zombies into soldiers, we can use unmanned craft as our army!” she announced.
The inspiration had come from the battle the other day when Grevanas had used undead soldiers. It had been made possible by embedding the model of a soldier into the living dead. Using that idea as a reference, Ruth had the diverse unmanned craft act like an army. Having done some research into the subject, she’d been able to apply it to the special circumstances they were in.
That’s normally not something that you can pull off just because you thought of it, Pardomshiha. Clan sighed. You can be quite a monster...
Making various kinds of unmanned craft act like trained soldiers was easy to say, but putting it into practice was head-splittingly complex. Being able to do that showed unbelievable talent. Even so, Ruth was only human. The controls were incomplete, and she was losing time making up for that, so she couldn’t fulfill her normal role—which was why Clan took over as the operator.
“We will support the front line with the unmanned craft!” she told Koutarou. “You just focus on that large mobile weapon!”
“Got it, I’ll leave that side to you!” Koutarou replied.
“Then let us go!” Alunaya cried.
“Go get them, Uncle!” Sanae cheered.
The ground trembled as Alunaya ran. His big body had a lot of blind spots, and enemies would normally aim for those. But there was no need to worry about that now. Alunaya was surrounded by the steel legion, so there were no concerns about the enemy circling around and attacking him. They had once fought a mechanical dragon that was ten meters tall, but this sphere was easily double that. Moreover, because of its shape, it was probably closer to twenty times more in weight.
“It’s unexpectedly fast! That must be because it’s spewing fire from all directions!” Alunaya noted as his claws missed their mark.
Before getting hit, the mobile weapon in question used its emergency boosters to rapidly change direction. It moved far faster than one might expect from its size.
“But of course!” Grevanas replied. “This Acturus has been made with all the knowledge gained from previous battles! Your data has naturally been integrated as well!”
Grevanas was in charge of controlling the mobile weapon. It had been created per his proposal, and he was more knowledgeable about it than anyone else. He’d named it “Acturus,” an ancient Forthorthian word that meant “ball,” “circle,” or “perfect.” The name was not just a reflection of its appearance, but also a sign of his confidence in the machine.
“It’s not technologically inferior either! The situation is different from two thousand years ago!” Grevanas added.
Acturus followed his instructions and bombarded Alunaya while moving rapidly. It was firing masses of spiritual energy. Alunaya was protected by mana and sturdy scales, but a direct hit would still chip away at his spiritual energy. Grevanas now had technology on par with Koutarou’s, and he understood its weak points. It wasn’t a reckless show of strength. Through countless battles, they had developed equal power. Acturus’s name was not simple vanity.
“Hyper Sanae-chan Barrier!”
A spiritual energy bullet was repelled moments before scoring a direct hit on Alunaya thanks to Sanae’s powerful psychic powers.
“Thank you, Sanae!” said Alunaya.
“Just charge right in there, Uncle! I will block the spiritual energy!”
“Of course!”
They fought back as a unified front. Alunaya was already very strong against magic and physical attacks, but his defense against spiritual energy was limited. If Sanae were to block it, however, his defense was perfect.
“Koutarou, a couple of them are coming your way!” Theia announced.
Her job was to take out the enemies in the sky. Ruth was stopping the ground forces with her steel legion, but flying units couldn’t be halted. They could take out Sanae, which would make Alunaya’s defense collapse, so Theia’s job was serious. Even so, given the number of enemies, some of them inevitably got through.
“Got it!” Koutarou nodded “That must be them!”
Taking out those enemies was his job. In a sense, he was the cornerstone of their defense. If he fell, Sanae and Alunaya would follow in a domino effect.
“I’m not all that good with ranged weapons...but I don’t really have the luxury of complaining!” he said.
Koutarou jumped off Alunaya’s head and repeatedly fired the beam cannon equipped on his shoulder. It was a piece of the additional equipment, Garb of Lord, which was a useful weapon that would automatically eliminate enemies that came too close. But when used on enemies farther off, it had to be aimed manually. Koutarou was better with swordplay than shooting, so he struggled a little, but fortunately, he was able to gun down the incoming unmanned craft.
“Curse you, Blue Knight,” Grevanas spat out. “Attacks by unmanned craft while other people are around! No matter. I will have them support the ground forces to avoid pointless waste.”
“Don’t think about the consequences, Grevanas!” Maxfern said. “The Imperial Army’s standard forces will be coming soon. Focus only on the enemy before you!”
“Maxfern-sama... I... Very well!”
He had almost been distracted by their enemies’ skillful cooperation, but Maxfern’s rebuke quickly calmed him down.
It is just as Maxfern-sama says. I should only focus on killing the Blue Knight and his party...
As an advisor, Grevanas had to think of a lot of things, so he had a habit of overthinking at times. Fortunately, Maxfern’s clear sense of purpose pulled him back to their true goal.
“Increase the generator output to 120 percent!” Grevanas ordered.
“Pardon me, Grevanas-sama, but doing so will make it burn down in a few m—” a soldier began.
“A few minutes is more than enough! The Imperial Army reinforcements will show up before then!” Having calmed down, Grevanas pushed Acturus to its limits. But he wasn’t without a plan. Since there was little time left, the machine only needed to last for a short while. It was a strategic recklessness.
The battle grew more intense, the clash of the forces on the ground becoming more confusing.
“Commander, it seems like the entire enemy force is made out of unmanned units,” a soldier observed.
“That was to be expected, since we were transferred here...but it’s hard to believe,” the commander answered. “How are they controlling them?”
“A soldier has also gone missing from Ulworth’s squad,” the soldier reported.
“Is that certain? They didn’t die in battle or go missing during the fight?”
“It has been confirmed that they were missing before battle.”
“What the hell are our superiors thinking with such a reckless transfer?!” the commander shouted.
The cause of their confusion was the Liberation Army’s low morale. The top brass’s recklessness in the battle had lowered the soldiers’ morale. Several people had disappeared, and confusion and anxiety rippled through the ranks.
“Seeing this, those rumors might not be untrue either...” the commander muttered.
“You mean Mulact’s eight mobile infantry. I have a bad feeling about it...” the soldier whispered back.