Anti-fortress Rifle
Silhouettes greeted the innumerable number of Murders that were advancing relentlessly.
The Dragoon tanks that had gotten resupplied also rejoined the defense network to intercept the enemies.
The Quattro Silhouette corps with outstanding mobility were in charge of hitting the enemy formation from the sides, and they steadily reduced the number of Murders.
The three machines piloted by Kou and the others continued their rapid push forward.
Hyoue’s Accipiter took the lead.
Its two sword style was quite suitable for frantic melees such as this one.
Lanius Unit 5 and Hrafnagud closely followed after the Accipiter and supported it.
「Thunderstorm 1, resupplying complete.」
Blue had her aircraft’s ammunition swapped in the Astraea. She switched over to wire-guided anti-ship missiles. The rest of the Thunderstorm squadron also switched to anti-ship missiles as well.
Aside from their greater penetrating power, the missiles were also capable of withstanding hits from ant-air lasers due to being reinforced by Whis.
「Listeners! We will now switch to engaging the Ate. I’m going to switch to a medley for a while and ask for your understanding!」
After all, Blue wouldn’t be able to concentrate on fighting if she continued to host the radio broadcast live while taking on the Ate.
After apologizing to her listeners, Blue sped toward the battlefield once more.
The recent rapid evolution of Silhouettes diverged in two distinct directions.
These were the aerial fighter route and the tank route. Of course, on the planets where there was no concept of weapons development whatsoever until the advent of Transferee companies, the Silhouettes basically functioned as armored vehicles, combat helicopters, and infantry units in one.
With the advent of transformable Silhouettes and high-mobility Silhouettes, the price and performance of Silhouettes have greatly increased. They could now both serve as ground infantry units and aerial fighters.
However, fighters alone were incapable of maintaining the front lines. This required Silhouettes that were both high-performance and cheap to manufacture. The answer was the emergence of tanks and Silhouettes that combined heavy armor and heavy firepower.
The three Silhouettes leading the charge can be said to be representative examples of aerial fighter-type Silhouettes.
And now, they were about to engage the Ate which was said to have raged in battles during the Interplanetary War era.
This was a battle that not only caught the interest of the mercenaries, but also the so-called demigods as well.
The two Ates that have gotten defeated so far were brought down by what could be said to be unconventional and clever tactics. One was defeated by a super-large caliber railgun, and the other was finished off by an amphibious assault ship. This meant that as long as adequate preparations were made, the Ates could be defeated.
However, was it really possible for normal Silhouettes to defeat an Ate?
With the attention of virtually the entire Planet Asia focused on them, the three cutting-edge Silhouettes continued cutting down swathes of Murders while being covered by support fire from their allies.
The Murders were unable to keep up with the Silhouettes that were gliding rapidly just a little above the ground.
「I’ve asked something reckless of Kou and the others.」
Aki’s dog ears drooped down as she sighed. She was only putting up a false front earlier.
In truth, she really didn’t want to send the three of them to the very forefront of the action.
「That’s why we have to do our part nyaa.」
The Quattro Silhouettes routed the overflowing Murders one after another.
A group of Quattro Silhouettes sprinted at full speed using their four legs to keep up with Kou and the others.
It was something that was impossible for bipedal Silhouettes to replicate.
The effective range of the Ate’s charged particle cannons was 20 kilometers. They were now only ten kilometers away from entering its range.
「Aki!」
「Yes!」
Nyanta called out to Aki.
The two deployed long-barreled rifles attached to the lower bodies of their machines at the same time.
The total length of the guns exceeded 8 meters. They were super-large rifles that exceeded the length of the two’s Quattro Silhouettes.
The receivers and shoulder stocks were also unusually large.
They each held up their long-barreled rifles and aimed at the Ate.
The two caught the Ate firmly in their sights.
A Quattro wielding a large combat claw stood before them to serve as cover.
They steadied their aim and shot.
The projectiles penetrated the Ate’s armor and exploded from within. After a short delay, a thunderous roar rang out.
The two Quattro Silhouettes that fired the shots retreated several steps back due to the recoil.
Their surrounding allies were surprised that even a Silhouette like the Epona couldn’t completely deal with the recoil.
「Huh? What the heck are those things?!」
A Therianthrope squad mate couldn’t help but ask.
「They’re called anti-fortress rifles. They’re an evolution of the anti-material rifle that makes use of explosive rounds. They are fully capable of penetrating a Fortress Area’s barrier shelter.」
Aki answered nonchalantly and proceeded to reload her rifle.
The rifle’s recoil was so strong that it made it impossible to reload immediately after firing. Even with the Quattro Silhouette’s excellent stability, it still wasn’t able to negate the rifle’s recoil.
「What kind of principle would allow those things to do that?! And they use armor-piercing rounds to boot?」
「I’ll explain it in detail later.」
Nyanta softly giggled. Since the new rounds proved to be quite effective, she gained a lot of confidence.
「Kou developed the explosives, and I and Nyanta designed the rifle and ammunition for him. It’s gonna take a long time to tell the entire story.」
「You’re going to end up speaking fondly of the Hidden Boss again after all…… And we’re in the middle of combat too. I get why it’s gonna take long to talk about it.」
First, the two would probably go on to sing Kou’s praises at length again. The Quattro Silhouette pilots were used to it, but their premonition that it was going to be a really long story probably wasn’t wrong.
In order to support Kou and the others, the two brandished their anti-fortress rifles and continued to shoot.
It was the advent of a rifle that was capable of piercing the armor of the Ate, one of, if not the toughest weapons existing on Planet Asia.
As a result, the Ate can no longer carelessly use its charged particle cannons.
The Ate’s speed of advance has visibly increased. It probably came to the conclusion that it would be dangerous if it didn’t crush the new threats as soon as possible.
「Hurry up with the analysis! To think a rifle would be able to pierce through an Ate’s armor……」
Castor’s tone was distraught.
It was the appearance of a weapon that shocked the entire world. Such a thing was not supposed to be wielded by Silhouettes.
「And the shells explode after penetration? You have got to be kidding me! An armor-piercing grenade is too weak to be able to penetrate the Ate’s armor. And an armor-piercing shell shouldn’t be able to cause such a large and powerful explosion. Isn’t that right, Vasa?」
「It’s as you say. There are a lot of unknowns regarding that weapon.」
「Vasa, Alberto, do you have an idea about what kind of weapon that is?」
Alberto shook his head with a pensive expression. Vasa looked at the screen with great interest.
The screen projected footage taken from the Ate’s perspective.
Two four-legged Silhouettes held long rifles in the distance.
「It looks like none of us have any idea. They don’t seem to be railguns.」
「Control AI, tell us your conjecture.」
Vasa issued a command to the space carrier’s control AI.
『Conjecture impossible. It is impossible to design a rifle of that size with that much power using the currently available gunpowder.』
「Conjecture is impossible huh.」
Castor couldn’t hide his irritation.
「I’m widely regarded as the Artillery Lord and I’m completely stumped by artillery. It’s kind of refreshing, in a way. Did weapons like that exist during the Interplanetary War?」
「There’s no way they would have. Only a few methods are able to deal with an Ate. You either cut it down using an ultra-high performance Silhouette’s blade, fire at it with the charged particle cannon of a large battleship or simply ram it with one like what those guys did earlier. There were no ranged Silhouette-use weapons that were able to pose danger against it. Astraea was the reason why the balance between the planets broke down after all.」
「As expected…… So, is it knowledge that came from Asia then? Knowledge and technology that wasn’t passed down to other Development Engineers.」
「Come to think of it, there were no longer any further releases of newly unlocked technology after the second fragment of Asia was taken away. No matter how much the freeing of Asia has progressed, it shouldn’t have led to a further release of sealed technology. I can say this with confidence.」
「But it’s also possible that the restrictions were lifted even just a bit, and their Development Engineer had kept the technology secret.」
「That’s true.」
「So, you’re saying those weapons were the result of a bricolage? Are you telling me they have a genius who can create designs that even an Interplanetary War-era AI is unable to analyze?」
The three gazed intensely at the screen.
They wanted to confirm whether or not an Ate can be destroyed using present-era weapons.
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