Give Me a Heavy Laser, an Option, or a Bomb!
A transmission came through to the Harmonia as it flew through the atmosphere of Planet Libya.
「In five minutes, maintain your current course and detach from the transport plane, Unit 5.」
「We’ve got a message from someone calling themselves the Avalon Branch of BAS. Who are they?」
「Voy. Doesn’t matter, just drop me.」
「But—!」
「You remember the first tractor beam, don’t you? There’s a chance multiple factions are after me. Resisting now could get me captured by someone even worse.」
「So that’s how it is, huh? Got it. You’ve only got four minutes left. Get ready.」
As the designated airspace came into range, Voy released Unit 5.
「See you, Voy! I’ll handle this quick! You head back to the Astraea!」
「Easy for you to say! Get going!」
The tractor beam locked onto Unit 5, guiding its descent. Kou allowed Unit 5 to be pulled along—crash-landing didn’t seem to be a concern.
「Kou, Astraea sent out a signal indicating they engaged in combat the moment they landed, but the moment she did, communications were cut off.」
「What do you mean? Engaged in combat with who…?」
「I don’t know. But we have no choice but to go find out.」
「This place is the definition of an unknown planet. Planet Libya is a real mystery.」
「Seriously. It used to be one of the most peaceful planets.」
Asia’s Aimer chuckled wryly.
The moment Unit 5 touched the ground, the scenery vanished, replaced by an artificial corridor. It sloped gently downward, stretching out in a straight line. The monitor inside the MCS displayed the target location—over a thousand kilometers ahead.
「A passageway spanning nearly the width of Honshu, huh…」
Unit 5 engaged its thrusters and began cruising forward.
「This is a massive facility. Both radar and communications are jammed. I had to transfer all my consciousness into Aimer’s body, it was the only way to keep the link with her in this situation.」
Aimer’s consciousness had receded into the depths of her mind, leaving only Asia’s surface consciousness in control. By entrusting everything to Asia, Aimer ensured Kou’s safety to the greatest extent possible.
「This is more than just an underground factory—this is a secret base. Does Libya even know this facility exists?」
「Hard to say. Even on Planet Asia, there were countless underground factories. Because of the frequent meteor showers, subterranean structures have a natural advantage. Even if she were aware of them all, pinpointing which one this is would be almost impossible.」
「Countless, huh? I remember hearing about that before. And yet, only a handful of ruins have actually been excavated by explorers.」
「Exactly. If that’s the case for Planet Asia, then Libya likely has even more. The scale of these structures would be determined by spacefaring ships and Silhouette standards, after all.」
The slope stretched on endlessly.
「This would be the perfect time to listen to Blue’s Radio.」
「Yeah… I wonder if everyone’s okay.」
「Astraea and Libya are both here. They should be fine.」
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
「Prepare for interception! Eliminate all approaching enemy units!」
Eri’s command rang out.
「Astraea and Pericles, proceed ahead to the remains of the Fortress Area. The Izumo will hold the rear and keep the enemy at bay.」
Alone at sea, the Izumo fought fiercely. The Type-0 Unit and the Yoania Squadron launched one after another, each equipped with LD rifles.
「This is Kurose. Transmitting footage of the enemy units!」
The data came from Kurose, who was piloting the Dragon Slayer and leading the Yoania Squadron. The weapon that appeared on the screen—if it could even be called a weapon—was unlike anything they had seen before.
「What the hell is that…? I’ve seen something like it in ancient fish records. It looks like an armored fish.」
「And this other image… I’ve seen something like this before. It looks like the work of Giger, the Swiss illustrator… What is that grotesque, alien-like thing? It’s like something straight out of hell.」
Kinukawa was speechless, while Eri made no effort to hide her disgust. Flying creatures—neither wholly biological nor mechanical—filled the skies.
「Could this be what Kou was talking about, nya? That fish-like monster?」
「Looks like we just set off the flag he raised. Even if he’s not here to see it.」
「So it was Kou who jinxed this!?」
Kurose fumed at Nyanta’s remark.
「These resemble creatures from the Paleozoic Era of the Phanerozoic Eon.」
Astraea had already analyzed their shape and come to a conclusion—they were reminiscent of organisms that existed long before the age of dinosaurs.
「The transitional period between fish and four-legged creatures, huh?」
Kinukawa groaned. The creatures from that time period were certainly grotesque by modern standards.
「I recognize these things too! They look just like the enemies in that old side-scrolling shooter I played as a kid!」
「Side-scrolling shooter?」
「Huh? Captain Eri, you don’t know what a side-scrolling shooter is?」
「I have no idea.」
Kurose was more shocked that the term side-scrolling shooter didn’t register with Eri than by the sight of the enemy itself.
「At the very least, these aren’t Mythology Weapons. Libya, did you create these things too?」
「Of course not. MCSs can only be used in weapons designed for human pilots. I have no idea what those things are.」
「Still… they’re weak.」
The enemy swarm was closing in. But they had almost no durability. One shot from an LD rifle was enough to scatter them like mist. Even an AK2 would be more than sufficient to handle them.
As proof, even the Izumo’s anti-air laser was taking them down in an instant.
「Analysis complete. These enemies were originally large-scale unmanned weapons from the Interplanetary War Era. They also served as the foundation for the Murder series. Their design has deviated significantly from the original, but there’s no mistake.」
「Why would anyone need to build such massive unmanned weapons? Wait… is this a countermeasure against MCS ?」
「Precisely. Simple AI can be overridden by the system of the MCS. Small drone-type units are completely ineffective against weapons equipped with MCS. To counteract that, they had to scale them up.」
This was one of the key reasons why wired missiles were so commonly used in the Nemesis System.
The weapons equipped with targeting and autonomous systems were easily rewritten by the Fennel OS. As a result, the MCS could hijack launched missiles. The only countermeasure was a massive structure housing an advanced jamming system.
「The Merlin System was relatively easy to implement. It’s great that Panjandrums have no size limitations.」
「The problem right now is the sheer number of enemies!」
Some of the Type-0 pilots, deeming bullets too valuable to waste, had shifted into Silhouette mode and were cutting down enemies in close combat.
「Don’t be fooled by their appearance. Most of the attacking units are battery-powered, just like the Keres. The larger ones, however, are equipped with A-Spinel reactors, similar to MCS-equipped weapons. There’s a high probability that a Teras is acting as their mothership.」
「At this rate, we’ll be forced into a war of attrition. Kurose, you were good at side-scrolling shooters, right? Go take them out. If you can single-handedly defeat the boss, we might turn this around.」
Kinukawa delivered his command with the detachment of someone watching from the sidelines.
「These things are attacking in full 3D space, man! That’s impossible! At least give me a heavy laser, an option, or a bomb!」
「Weren’t bombs more common in vertical shooters?」
Kinukawa, completely unfazed, offered an unhelpfully logical correction. He had no mercy.
「Whatever, I don’t care anymore—just give me firepower!」
Kurose let out a scream at Kinukawa’s unreasonable demand. Meanwhile, Haino, oblivious to the chaos, was already demanding even more firepower.
AN:
A lot of readers probably assumed Planet Libya had a Zoids-like setting. But surprise! We suddenly have an overwhelming wave of side-scrolling shooter-style enemies!
Alongside creatures resembling Paleozoic fish, we now have hordes of beings reminiscent of the works of that famous Swiss artist—you know, the one whose designs were used in Alien—or even something straight out of a PC Engine RPG. Why is it that, aside from Gradius, everything in this genre is so grotesque?
Help me, Big Viper! (The transforming one.)
More details on these strange weapons will be revealed later! Don’t worry, this hasn’t completely turned into a side-scrolling shooter universe—there’s a proper reason behind it.
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