Baldr was by no means a weak battleship. Satomi could tell that much even though New Yamato completely neutralized its attacks.
In terms of total firepower, Baldr was easily among the greatest he’d ever seen, second only to his own ship.
However, this strength could only manifest in battles against many opponents.
“It’s a wide-scale exterminator. Not even this New Yamato of mine could surpass its might against vast armies.”
New Yamato’s antiair guns and air mines were meant for defense. On offense, it had its massive guns that usually guaranteed instant defeat, but if those failed, there were only a few secondary armaments that were usually less difficult to handle.
When it came to fighting great numbers, Baldr had the upper hand.
However, that also meant that if these vessels were pitted against one another directly, New Yamato would come out ahead, and it did.
This vessel could be described as a solo combat battleship. It wouldn’t make sense for it to lose against a wide-scale extermination-type, Superior Embryo or not.
“Once this is over, we will start the comparison test against the Adventure II.” Satomi voiced his intentions, but no one was there to hear it.
New Yamato was so fully automated that it could be controlled by just one person. Satomi was the only one on the bridge, and he was basically talking to himself.
He’d actually set out on his current quest to bring down Abyss Shellder and secure the adventure fleet all by his lonesome, without a single other member of his clan. That was because he wanted to test his battleship against Adventure II, and he figured that his clan would’ve stopped him from doing that.
However, that wasn’t the only reason.
Even he knew that the potential death of the adventure fleet’s commander or any of its members would cause strife, so he’d chosen to do this alone specifically so that all blame would fall on him instead of GFRS.
The obvious correct course of action in such a critical situation would have been to simply not engage in a selfish battle that might result in important casualties, but it was exactly this lack of restraint that had allowed him to make a ship like this and become a Superior in the first place.
“Hm...?” At that moment, Satomi noticed something on the radar.
“It’s accelerating... So it can go faster than that. Well, it still can’t keep up with my ship.”
The distance between the two ships was widening a bit slower, but it was still widening. New Yamato was still faster.
“In order to have any hope of winning, they must catch up to me—but I have no intention of letting them.”
Once they were at ultra-long range, Satomi’s victory would be sealed.
“I’ll fire once more, if only to keep them in check. I’ll use a standard shell this time.”
Satomi commanded New Yamato to target Baldr with its rear turret again.
This attack wasn’t meant to deal damage, so he refrained from using his Hihi’irokane Armor-Piercing Shells—though New Yamato’s massive guns made even standard shells immensely powerful.
Thus, the turret locked on to Baldr and fired.
As before, the ship tried to read the trajectory of the shell and dodge, but it wasn’t quite enough. A shell once again scratched Baldr’s surface armor.
And then, an explosion rocked the sea around them.
“...What?!” Even Satomi was surprised at this sight. The shell most certainly hadn’t hit, but despite this, Baldr was releasing black smoke as it was consumed by roaring flames.
“A deliberately induced explosion? But what...? Right, of course!”
Satomi recalled that Baldr’s upper armor was covered in missile silos.
“So the missiles were primed to fire, and the shell must have scratched them...” That had caused Baldr to explode and start burning.
Essentially, Baldr had self-destructed.
The damage seemed heavy enough to make Baldr start losing speed. In fact, even its hovering was shutting down.
The power that kept the massive vessel afloat had been lost, and it began sinking like so much scrap metal.
The battle had reached a conclusion.
Gazing at Baldr in silence, Satomi wondered whether to fire again.
It would have been a good idea, just to be certain Baldr was gone, but he ultimately decided against it.
There were two reasons for this.
First, this was intended to be a comparison, and New Yamato had won the moment Baldr began to sink.
The second reason was Riella.
Considering the explosions hadn’t reached the bridge, she was likely still unharmed. Her Brooch and water-breathing gear would surely keep her alive.
However, any follow-up attacks could seriously endanger her. He might’ve disregarded such things during this test battle, but he couldn’t afford to do that now that it was over.
Considering his mission and his upcoming comparison against Adventure II, Satomi refused to do this.
Even without any extra attacks, Baldr was obviously sinking into the ocean. The underwater radar showed this too—it was clearly headed for the seabed. The local waters were only about three hundred metels deep, and Granvaloan diving gear would allow anyone to surface from that depth without a problem. The relatively shallow water was actually one of the reasons Satomi had confronted the Adventure II here. This soon proved to be the right choice as a single girl surfaced from the site of Baldr’s sinking.
Needless to say, it was Riella.
“...Just her?” The bear costume... Shu was nowhere in sight.
The underwater radar showed clearly that Baldr was now resting in the deep. Since his Embryo was still present, that could only mean that he hadn’t received the death penalty yet.
He’s not a Granvaloan Superior, Satomi thought. Maybe he just didn’t bring any diving gear? In that case, he could’ve just put the Embryo away before sinking... Satomi tried to guess why Shu wasn’t surfacing. He talked really big before we fought, only to be completely destroyed. Perhaps he’s too embarrassed to even look at me? Is that why only the commander came up?
Underwater scans told him that Baldr was still active...but there was nothing it could do. It was a hovercraft, so now that it had sunk, it was incapable of surfacing. It might have been amphibious, but Satomi presumed that it wouldn’t also be able to function as a submarine on top of that.
He also considered that Baldr might have been able to fire missiles from under the water, but then he recalled the explosion that had taken it out. Clearly, that was not an option either.
It couldn’t have been more obvious that Shu and Baldr had no hands left to play.
“Anyway, time to bring up the commander and return to Mu,” Satomi said. “We sure ended up quite a distance away from it. I can’t even see it from the bridge.”
Intending to retrieve Riella from the water and return to Mu for the test against the Adventure II, Satomi took action.
Careful not to hit her, he approached Riella with New Yamato at a very gentle pace, far from the near sonic speed it had displayed in battle. He stopped only when he was close enough to let Riella swim to the ship.
But then, New Yamato’s radar launched into high alert mode.
“Huh?! What happened?!” Satomi glanced at the alert display and read the text there.
“A RAPID ASCENT?!” That was the text used to warn of massive aquatic monsters surfacing for a surprise attack. However, that was impossible in such shallow waters—and if there were such a monster present, New Yamato’s sensors would’ve caught it well before this moment.
Though he could hardly believe what he was seeing, Satomi still rushed to take evasive maneuvers...
“Ah! Wait...!”
...and realized he couldn’t, because Riella was still in the waters right next to the ship.
If he moved at near sonic speeds now, he could easily crush her—and if he used weaponry, the shock waves might kill her too.
“Ngh...!” Unable to move the ship, Satomi watched as something rose up from below. The entity displayed on the radar soon broke the surface, emerging from the water like a dolphin.
The sight left Satomi speechless.
The entity was simply too absurd.
Satomi wouldn’t have been too terribly surprised if it had turned out to be a UBM. He might even have predicted it was Abyss Shellder itself.
However, he couldn’t even begin to understand this.
After all...
“A GIANT ROBOOOT...?!”
...it was a metal, four-limbed giant.
“Hoverboost. Adjusting landing.” The robot used its momentum to rocket toward New Yamato.
The ship’s antiair guns and air mines moved to stop it, but they weren’t enough to break through the giant’s armor. As though it was tougher than Mythical metal, the robot paid no heed to the assault as it continued its descent—and landed directly on New Yamato.
“Whoa...?!” The ship shook, but didn’t sink. The robot was over a hundred metels tall, but New Yamato was a massive vessel over five hundred metels long, allowing it to function as a platform for the massive robot to stand on.
“What?! What is this?!”
The incomprehensible situation threw Satomi in a state of panic.
But then...
“Checkmate, ya military nerd.”
...the robot’s external speakers projected a familiar voice.
“Wh-What...?” Upon hearing that voice, Satomi finally understood.
At the same time, he realized that some parts of the robot, as well as its overall color palette, were strangely familiar.
It was a lot like Baldr.
“Y-You gotta be shitting me...!” That sudden understanding made Satomi bellow in rage...
“Just how insane are you... You damn anime nerd!”
...and he vented all of his anger at the giant.
After all, a battleship that transformed into a robot... Something so fundamentally anime went against everything he stood for.
He’d thought Shu had no hands left to play, but it turned out he had both hands and legs.