The XG-70b Susanoo II was crossing the sea.
As its pilot, Jinguuji Marimo could not help looking once more at one of the windows. It was a camera feed aimed at the heavy-metal cloud.
Within that metallic cloud layer, amid flashes that shone like lightning, the vague silhouette of a thunder god could still be seen, continuing to bring thunderous judgment down upon the ground.
Every time that judgment fell, the number of beams firing at it grew fewer.
By now, only three beams remained.
That meant the defensive line, or rather the laser network, had been nearly destroyed.
Her gaze shifted to another window. It showed the fighting along Sado Island's coast, where the troops had already begun landing.
"I hope everything goes smoothly."
That was Kouzuki Yuuko's involuntary murmur.
According to him, in the work he had seen that contained information about this world, the attack on Sado Island had taken place at the end of 2001, three years from now.
By then, Hive H21 had already been established for three years. Its strength had far surpassed its current state, when it had only been nesting for a little over three months.
However, that did not mean the current attack would be simpler than the one three years later.
For one thing, even if the Tactical Surface Fighters three years from now did not include a new generation that represented a full technological leap, they would certainly be stronger than the present models after continuous improvements in various areas.
More importantly, development on the next generation of TSFs was nearly complete. By then, production would likely have begun.
On the other hand, Operation Gwangju half a year ago had gone poorly, and the combined fleet had suffered heavy losses. Then, two months ago, the BETA army had invaded her nation's mainland, causing even more devastating losses.
So when it came to the forces that could be assembled, Yuuko had simulated and estimated the strength three years from now based on the information he provided. Her conclusion was that the current fleet's strength amounted to less than one-third of the combined fleet's strength three years later.
And even with only one-third of that strength, no one should assume that a Hive established for barely over a month would be easy to attack.
Hive H21 itself could not have produced too many BETA over the past month. However, far more BETA had invaded previously, and they had undoubtedly been brought under this Hive's control.
Based on past counteroffensives against BETA Hives, Yuuko had assessed that the current fleet's overall losses should already have exceeded twenty percent.
But in reality, losses had not even reached ten percent.
That was the effect of the outside aid she had brought in.
It seemed that machine truly was powerful.
Of course, if someone else piloted it, the result would not necessarily be the same, even if that person's operating skill matched his.
The difference came from a special system: the Lambda Driver.
How much power that system could produce depended mainly on the strength of a person's mind and the firmness of their will.
And in this world, there was absolutely no one whose mind and will surpassed his.
In the blink of an eye -
"All Valkyrie units, prepare for escort duty. The XG-70b will now begin landing on Sado Island."
Marimo issued the reminder. At this moment, the aerial fortress standing more than one hundred meters tall finally began setting down on the island.
Perhaps sensing the XG-70b's special nature, the battlefield situation began to change. The BETA that had originally been drawn toward the combined fleet suddenly split, with more than half turning back toward the XG-70b.
"Roger!" came the voices in unison.
Five minutes later -
"The Fort-class will enter attack range shortly. 19th Independent Guard Flight, intercept!"
"Roger!"
Tsukuyomi Mana answered and increased the thrust of her TSF, charging straight toward the Fort-class BETA rushing in.
Her TSF unit's mission was not to protect the XG-70b Susanoo II. Instead, they were responsible for clearing all BETA and other obstacles along its route of advance.
The Valkyrie Squadron was the close-escort unit, responsible for eliminating any BETA that slipped past Mana's unit and attacked the XG-70b.
But at the moment, Valkyrie Team 1, meaning the candidate pilots for the XG-70b Susanoo II, still had not appeared.
What were they doing?
It was not as if her unit commander had never asked Yuuko. The answer had been that they were already nearby, and that they would understand when the time came.
So, still carrying doubts and dissatisfaction over Team 1's absence, Mana began clearing out the BETA.
When the XG-70b was still three kilometers from its designated firing position, four beams of light appeared.
"Laser-class!"
"Damn it!"
The sudden irradiation instantly tore open the clearing line, ripping a gap in the defense and allowing the BETA to break through in a swarm toward the XG-70b.
After wiping out the BETA near her, Mana turned around and chased after the group that had broken through the line.
"Notice to the 19th Independent Guard Flight. Please withdraw immediately from the designated area."
The transmission came from the pilot of the XG-70b Susanoo II. The withdrawal zone sent with it made Mana's expression shift slightly.
Wasn't this basically telling the 19th Independent Guard Flight to completely let the BETA through?
With that many enemies, the Valkyries could not possibly intercept them all.
Was the XG-70b preparing to fire its main cannon?
"Please move away at once!"
Mana did not know what they were planning, but she could only obey. The other side had command authority over them as well.
Once the 19th Independent Guard Flight left the red-alert zone provided by the XG-70b, a sudden mass of missiles came flying in. They seemed to appear out of nowhere, but as the small missiles continued launching, four transparent silhouettes gradually revealed themselves.
Stealth?
Before Mana could even recover from her daze, those missiles plunged into the BETA swarm. With a glare of dazzling white light, silent destruction entered her field of vision one second later.
"What the...?!"
"They melted them directly?"
"Are those thermite rounds?"
Every BETA that had stepped into the red-alert zone was melted and vaporized beneath the white light. Even the ground looked as if it had been baked by extreme heat, vitrified into glass.
Immediately afterward, the four machines, each only half the size of a TSF, fired beam attacks as well, leaving Mana stunned again.
Beam weapons?
Humanity had those now?
Thanks to those four machines and the firepower of their accompanying aircraft, the BETA were cleared outside the safe zone.
Suddenly, Mana received a video feed broadcast to the entire army. She connected to it, and the image that appeared left her dazed once more.
"One machine did all this?"
"What kind of TSF is that?"
"If it can be mass-produced, humanity's victory is guaranteed!"
Excited, incredulous voices rang out one after another.
The footage captured by the forward units' cameras after they advanced near the BETA Hive was simply unbelievable. An unknown-model TSF was surrounded by vast numbers of BETA.
Around that TSF, countless BETA corpses lay piled up like small hills.
The TSF held a long-handled greatsword. With every swing, any BETA caught by the blade was sliced apart as easily as tofu.
At the same time, the three cannons mounted over its head periodically bombarded the entrance leading into the Hive.
Each shelling took hundreds of BETA with it as they continued pouring out.
It looked as if the TSF would have charged inside long ago if the BETA had not been surging from the entrance like a flood, packing the passage so tightly there was no room to enter.
The scene could only be described in one way:
One man holding the pass against ten thousand.
Hm?
The other party suddenly flew straight up. What was he doing?
He was climbing higher and higher.
"Set the Rutherford Field to maximum immediately! And notify all nearby TSFs to take cover behind the XG-70b!"
Inside the XG-70b's cockpit, Marimo looked faintly stunned as Mr. Kain suddenly contacted them on his own initiative and told them to do this.
"Do it now, Marimo!"
Yuuko immediately urged her. That man had definitely noticed something.
"Roger!"
Marimo immediately increased the XG-70b's defensive field while also issuing an emergency order to the Valkyries and the 19th Independent Guard Flight.
Once everyone had moved behind the XG-70b, it seemed as though nothing happened.
"We're... we're locked on."
Dulu suddenly spoke in a frightened voice. Her whole body was deeply uneasy, and she clutched her rabbit plush tightly.
Locked on by what?
Just as Yuuko was about to ask what she meant, a gigantic white light suddenly flared ahead.
In that instant, it was as if a silver sun had undergone a helium flash before their eyes. Silver-white light swallowed everything.
(End of Chapter)
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