Great Explosion
Unit Five shot past the gauntlet of enemy Silhouettes and dealt with the escorting tank unit instead.
Although the allied Lanius and tank units that were supposed to back Kou up were just behind him, they were unable to get close.
As the battle lines shifted to and fro, a lone Lurcher half-tracked armored combat vehicle recklessly charged ahead.
Kicking up dust clouds, it passed through the enemy Silhouette squadrons without caring for being grazed by enemy fire and finally managed to reach Unit 5.
「Boss! Special delivery from Nyanta-san!」
It was the chinchilla rabbit-type Familiar from earlier.
His vehicle was armed with a 90 mm gun.
「Thanks!」
Unit 5 pulled off the 90 mm gun from the vehicle, and it turned into a grenade launcher-equipped AK2. The Lurcher started running again as Unit 5 pulled the weapon off of it.
The Lurcher was also an Analyze Arms model.
Unit 5 proceeded to fly into the air with the AK2 held in its right hand and the tachi in its left.
The enemies tried to intercept it by firing their tanks and anti-aircraft guns, but they couldn’t keep up with Unit 5’s maximum acceleration.
Unit 5 headed straight for the Silhouette-use ramp on the land battleship. The flustered enemy Silhouette pilots hurriedly to intercept.
「It wouldn’t be able to use its weapons properly in that state. Push it back!」
The enemy Silhouettes attacked with their hatchets and swords.
「This ain’t an 8-bit game!」
Kou grumbled. He was exasperated with how sloppy the enemy’s response was. The more confined the space, the better it was for Unit 5. It was akin to fighting on top of a narrow staircase without handrails.
It grabbed the enemy machine in the lead and knocked it down. There were very few machines that could rival Unit 5, which was equipped with twin reactors and armor muscles, in raw power.
A Silhouette that seemed geared toward melee combat attacked Unit 5 with its hatchet, so Unit 5 drew its sword and gave the enemy machine a good wallop.
When the enemy lost its balance, Unit 5 followed up with an overhead slash. It was a basic iai technique.
It then dealt with the enemy at the rear that was trying to raise its weapon. It was simply a process of mowing down and knocking off the incoming enemies from the ramp.
The enemy escort Silhouettes and tank corps in the outer perimeter were unable to do anything. That’s because there was a risk of them hitting the land battleship instead of Unit 5.
That’s why machines that were fresh off maintenance came out of the battleship’s hatch one after another to intercept Kou instead.
But then, Unit 5 suddenly jumped down from the ramp.
The land battleship’s Silhouettes quickly lost sight of it.
Before they knew it, Unit 5 was already above the Silhouette hatch. It kicked the Silhouette that was about to attack it down and jumped right in.
The hatch was sortieing Silhouettes one after another to intercept Unit 5 earlier. Therefore, they were unable to close it on time to prevent Unit 5 from entering.
「The Boss has infiltrated the enemy land battleship!」
「J-Just what are you planning to do, Kou……?」
Aimer, who just received the report, couldn’t help but furrow her brows.
「The enemy Silhouette has just infiltrated the battleship! It’s that monster from earlier! Should we close the hatch to trap it inside?」
「Fool! It’s better to defeat it outside! Hurry and drive it out!」
This time around, the Lakedaimon commander was genuinely screaming hysterically at his subordinates.
He could only see a future where they would be eaten to death from the inside.
The three Silhouettes standing near the hatch were quickly dispatched by Unit 5.
The sound of metal being cut apart rang out within the battleship’s narrow corridors.
「The internal structure’s just as I expected.」
Kou also had experience in developing ships. He felt relieved because what he found was mostly similar to what he had in mind.
A Development Engineer simply puts together different premade parts in order to build something new. There was no such thing as original or unconventional designs in their vocabulary.
Several hatches opened up all at once. It seemed that he’d be able to escape from the ship at any time.
「Guess they’re telling me to hurry up and get lost.」
Kou couldn’t help but display a wry grin.
The worker Silhouettes inside the ship practically had no fighting intent. They merely huddled around quietly in a corner.
The human workers also appeared to have evacuated.
Silhouettes that were in the middle of undergoing maintenance were scattered around the hangar.
There were no signs of them trying to attempt an attack. It seemed they were trying to probe the reason why the Lanius infiltrated their ship.
Kou already had a definite target.
Unit 5 advanced deeper inside the ship while scattering metallic sparks as it moved. Two Silhouettes that have probably just come off maintenance tried to get in its way, but they were quickly cut down.
Before long, Unit 5 finally managed to reach its target. It wasn’t located very deep inside the ship after all.
「There really was one. A metallic hydrogen supply storage facility.」
In order to maintain a large-scale military operation, a large amount of supplies were always crucial.
However, securing a supply route all the way to the front lines was actually quite difficult.
For something like a land battleship, it would only be natural to prepare facilities to operate and maintain a large number of ground combat units.
Among those equipment and facilities were the metallic hydrogen generation reactor and its storage tank. A Silhouette-size reactor had a limiter, but a full-scale metallic hydrogen generation reactor had a proper storage tank in order to store the generated metallic hydrogen and supply it to other weapons in need of it.
This was the target that Kou had his eye on. It was located in a section with the thickest armor plating, so it would be difficult to destroy it with external attacks.
But what if he attacked it from inside the ship?
The result was a foregone conclusion. Kou fully opened the supply valve, and shiny, black metallic hydrogen flowed out unabated. He didn’t dare to attack the reactor itself directly.
There was a worker Silhouette that attempted to stop the production of metallic hydrogen, but Kou quickly cut it down. The ones in command probably haven’t realized Kou’s intentions yet, so they haven’t ordered to stop the production of metallic hydrogen.
Kou quickly changed his weapon and switched to the AK2. Unit 5’s thrusters activated. Simultaneously, it fired a grenade from the AK2’s launcher. It then turned around and escaped at maximum speed.
The energy contained by metallic hydrogen was approximately 50 times more powerful than the same amount of TNT. The high-explosive shell landed squarely on the overflowing metallic hydrogen.
The metallic hydrogen storage tank of the land battleship exploded in a grand manner. Then, various weapons that made use of metallic hydrogen as well as liquid hydrogen and light gases ignited and exploded one after another.
The fact that the armor plating in that particular section of the ship was so thick turned highly detrimental. The deflagration failed to diffuse, and that made the resulting explosions several times more powerful than normal.
「A chain reaction huh?」
Kou suddenly felt nostalgic for some reason. He was reminded of a game he used to play where he triggered explosions consecutively.
After causing a huge explosion, Unit 5 successfully escaped.
A single machine managed to destroy a land battleship from within.
That lone machine began walking away, with explosive flames rising from behind it.
The Argoforce pilots who witnessed such a scene became absolutely terrified.
Cheers went up from each Metal Iris unit.
「This is Kou. I’ve completely eliminated the land battleship’s supply function.」
「That battleship’s half-destroyed already.」
「If it was in the ocean, it would have sunk by now.」
Aimer muttered, and Nyanta agreed.
The land battleship’s main gun was rendered useless, and its hangar was blown up from the inside. Many of its Silhouettes were also blown away by the explosion.
Even though it still had the ability to move, its combat capabilities had significantly decreased.
「Kou! Please don’t be so reckless next time, okay? I was so scared while watching all that!」
Aki admonished in an exasperated tone.
「As expected of the Big Boss. That sure was flashy.」
「You’re not one to talk, Heino!」
Heino expressed his admiration, and Blue quickly retorted.
「Hey, look! The land battleship has turned around. It looks like it’s retreating.」
「We don’t have that many forces on our side. Don’t chase them too far, everyone.」
Everyone nodded in response to Kou’s words. Even so, they still launched a fierce attack against the retreating enemies. They were able to destroy a large number of enemy machines.
「Kou, that was a splendid job. You did well.」
A transmission came from Barry.
「It was only possible due to everyone’s support. The one we should thank the most is Astraea because she’s the one who made me study and practice ship bricolage.」
「Even so, you still deserve the praise. You’ve been fighting in the front lines for a good while already. Return to Fortress Area P336 for now.」
「But……」
「Kurt-san and the others are worried about you. They said they’ll take over.」
「If it’s those people, then I can rest assured. Please, Kou.」
Aimer also pleaded with Kou through the transmission.
「Unit 5 has had its additional armor replaced several times already. It’s about time Voy gave it an overhaul.」
「True.」
Nyanta and Aki were also in agreement.
「I got it. I’ll return for now. Aimer. Nyanta. Aki. You guys should rest too. What’s the situation on your side, Barry?」
「We’re also having a rough time. But the real problem is coming from the ocean. A large enemy fleet is heading here from the Sphene continent.」
「The ocean huh……?」
Still, it was currently impossible for Kou to go all the way to the ocean to provide support. Thus, Kou had no choice but to trust the Ulysses troops who were protecting their own fleet.
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