As the name suggested, it was a group of military buffs, specifically those who liked historical fiction or alternative history novels and manga. They found joy in using the technologies and materials of Infinite Dendrogram to research fictional military tech that might have really existed and develop actual weapons based on that.
It was similar, but at the same time quite unlike the Triangle of Wisdom, who’d given their all to create humanoid robots that could be piloted.
And being the head of such a group, Satomi Yamamoto simply couldn’t stomach Baldr—this ship so detached from reality that “fiction” didn’t begin to describe it.
“We are a group who seriously think about technologies that could have really existed! Your hovercraft makes zero sense! It’s unacceptable!”
“Again, my Baldr isn’t that much more outlandish than your Yamato times two—”
“NO!” Satomi wouldn’t listen. He was too enraged—furious, even.
“I mean, I agree the ship’s insane,” said Riella. “But is it somethin’ to get this mad about?”
“People who are all about their hobbies can get beary mad about things that the layman wouldn’t even consider. If you looked at Borjarnon and went, ‘Oh, I know this robot. It’s Zaku! Or was it Zaku II?’ I guarantee you someone would lose it.”
“That example makes no sense to me.” Riella couldn’t even begin to know anything about the anime they had in real life, so all she could do was shake her head.
“Well, whatever. Anyway...”
She then did a gesture much like beckoning, aimed toward Shu.
He instantly realized that she was asking for something and knew exactly what it was.
Thus, he linked Riella’s voice to Baldr’s external speakers.
“Damn it... An opponent like this is...”
“Yamamoto,” said Riella. “I see that Shu’s Superior Embryo ain’t the perfect comparison ya hoped for, but you’re not gonna run just ’cause of that, will ya?”
“What?” Strong words, aimed toward an irritated man. It seemed like she was trying to incite him, but she was only seeking confirmation.
“It’s already decided that Shu’s gonna play along with your comparison, and we already bet my life on this... Ya better not run just ’cause things aren’t like ya wanted ’em to be.”
She needed to make sure that Satomi wouldn’t make any excuses or back down from this.
Her words made him grind his teeth.
“Well, ya heard her. I get I ain’t what ya hoped for, but that doesn’t mean shit.” Shu joined Riella, driving in his own words. From Baldr’s bridge, he pointed one of his claws at New Yamato. “Your masterpiece, your selfish tests, and your pride...”
The words that followed were a declaration.
“...We’re gonna destroy it all.” It was King of Destruction’s declaration that he would topple King of Building and fulfill his agreement.
“Very well...!” The two’s words made Satomi bellow in rage. “I can’t stomach that ugly pile of scrap regardless! I’ll make it sleep with the fishes!” New Yamato’s main engine started operating at combat levels, its revolutions increasing.
The massive frame began gaining speed.
“Baldr, accelerate. Load all armaments with piercing. First, we’ll check how tough that armor is.”
“Affirmative.” Shu and Baldr also prepared for battle.
Riella sat on one of the seats in the bridge and watched the battlefield in silence.
Beneath a still, windless sky, only the engines of the ships resounded...
“Open Combat!”
...and when the combatants said that in perfect unison, the naval duel began.
The moment the fight started, the two combatants took completely opposite actions—Satomi’s New Yamato tried to widen the gap between them, while Shu’s Baldr followed after it.
“Too slow, hovercrap!” Satomi shouted. “Did you really think that toy you’ve got could keep up with this?!” Despite its massive size, New Yamato was awfully fast.
“Guess the guts of that thing are better than the real one,” said Shu. “No surprise there!” The blueprints of the original Yamato were lost, and while there were photos of the craft, there was no way to re-create its internal structure. Because of this, New Yamato must’ve been built using only the best technology available to Satomi’s clan.
This allowed the massive ship to cut through the waves at a near sonic speed. Its size made it easy to track, but if it were smaller, it could easily disappear from sight.
Meanwhile, Baldr’s speed was actually somewhat realistic—hardly different from the speed of warships in real life.
While it was very impressive for a hovercraft, it couldn’t hope to catch up with New Yamato. The speed difference was too vast—it was like a race between a hippo and an orca.
However, Shu cared less about New Yamato’s speed and more about how its captain would use that speed to his advantage.
He was already aware of what Satomi was planning: King of Building intended to use his speed advantage to keep New Yamato at the ultra-long range, enabling optimal usage of its main guns.
Baldr’s main gun was powerful too—enough to fell even High-Dragons—but New Yamato’s weapon likely had superior range.
The original Yamato had boasted guns that were monstrous enough—they were said to have possessed a maximum range of forty kilometers. New Yamato was twice the original’s size, meaning it could likely fire at least that far without losing any effectiveness.
“Baldr.”
“Affirmative.”
Shu’s call spurred his Embryo to take action.
“Stardust Genocider.”
And with that command, Baldr fired a massive swarm of missiles.
It was the same attack that had obliterated the chimera last night. The only difference were the warheads—just as Shu had ordered earlier, they had been replaced with rounds optimized for penetration.
New Yamato might have been fast, but not even it could escape the missiles speeding through the sky.
It didn’t take long for them to catch up...
“Naive!”
...but then the many machine and antiair guns, fixed to New Yamato like spines on the back of a hedgehog, began to fire.
The next moment, it appeared as though the ship was enveloped by a red curtain of light.
This was an illusion created by the firing speed of the craft’s many machine guns, which had been increased to an unreasonable level.
The endless antiair fire created a kind of barrier that destroyed anything that drew too close. Needless to say, each and every one of Baldr’s missiles was blown up before they could reach their target.
“Pretty sure the original wouldn’t have sunk if it had all that on it,” said Shu. That was the first thing that came to mind upon seeing New Yamato’s capabilities. The “Large Ship, Massive Gun” doctrine had been proven thoroughly worthless by World War II aircraft, but this level of firepower could have easily turned things around.
Though, there remained the question of how much this barrage was costing Satomi.
I don’t think I can expect him to run out regardless, Shu thought. The existence of Inventories made it easy to stock a ship with a volume of supplies greater than the ship itself. This applied not just to food and other necessities, but ammo as well.
Each and every New Yamato gun could very well have had multiple ammo Inventories attached, refilling the weapons as they fired.
This obviously would be quite expensive, but someone who could create a Yamato that was double the size of the original certainly wouldn’t be concerned about that.
“Aim the main gun!”
“Affirmative.”
Realizing that the missiles couldn’t break past the antiair guns, Shu switched to artillery using the weapon that extended on both of Baldr’s sides.
New Yamato quickly countered. The back of its deck began to move, and the place where you would expect aircraft to take off instead deployed something different.
“Twin Quintuple Cannon. Set to armor piercing. Barrage.”
A combined ten gun ports—five on each side—fired their shells all at once.
Though fast, New Yamato wasn’t nearly speedy enough to escape these supersonic projectiles. They quickly closed the distance...
Only to explode upon hitting something in the air.
The shells couldn’t have been stopped by New Yamato’s guns. What could have caused this, then?
The answer came from Riella, still observing the battle with her excellent eyesight.
“Mines!”