I’ll Be Heading Out. A Sniper Should Deal With Other Snipers. It’s Only Natural, Right?
Fuyuki and Voy confirmed Kou’s arrival on the battlefield. A giant monitor displayed Kou’s footage to the ground forces.
Fuyuki nodded in satisfaction.
「It’s good that he made it in time. Great. I don’t intend to continue taking command. Blue, if you please.」
「Understood.」
Blue addressed the relevant troops using the troop-wide comm line in the broadcasting room.
『Fortress Area P336 to the Fortress Defense unit. Big Boss flew all the way here on his own all the way from the Orbital Elevator. He has joined up with Trooper-1. He’s now actively participating in the defensive battle and is currently fighting the Aberration Arms.』
Blue only relayed the necessary information.
The morale of the Familiars in each unit increased exponentially after hearing the news. Flying all the way from the orbital elevator should definitely not have been easy. The distance one needed to cover was quite vast after all.
However, Kou still made it in the end. And he’s now fighting on the front lines. This matter singlehandedly bolstered everyone’s confidence.
「The presence of a commander, or rather, a general fighting side by side with you on the front lines. I don’t think Kou fully realizes just how reassuring his presence on the battlefield is. Heck, I don’t think he fully acknowledges his own worth in the first place. We Japanese do tend to evaluate ourselves rather harshly after all.」
Fuyuki smiled wryly because what he said also applied to him.
「As expected of Kou-kun. He not only managed to raise the morale of Nyanta-san’s Trooper-1 unit and the Fierce Tiger unit, but he raised the entire army’s morale as well.」
「But Kou’s not really the type to serve as a battlefield commander, right? He said as much himself. He really thinks he’s better off as a shock trooper or something like that.」
Voy smiled wryly as well.
「A person can change depending on the position they find themselves in. It was the same for me. I also found myself serving as a battlefield commander before I knew it.」
Fuyuki was basically a Metal Iris engineer. Even though he was a veteran mercenary with a lot of experience under his belt, he was more of a behind-the-scenes guy.
Since he was from the same country as Kou, he often found himself acting together with the young man and working to promote the development of the Silhouette Base’s weapons in order to reinforce the Fortress Areas under them. But before he knew it, he was already being treated as one of the organization’s top executives and commanding officers.
The scene projected on the monitor switched to another. This time, it projected the northern forest area.
「Right now, our biggest problem is the sniper unit deployed in the north. Counter-sniper — an operation that employs a small sniper group in order to slow the opposing force’s advance. Quite troublesome.」
「But you had something prepared for them, right?」
「There’s only so much an engineer who’s not that good at head-to-head fighting can do.」
Fuyuki wasn’t especially good at shooting and slashing stuff.
「It does seem the trap we set for them did cause some damage.」
「Sounds pretty nasty. How unfortunate for them. Some must have suffered some pretty tragic deaths.」
Voy pointed out with an amused laugh. He was very familiar with Fuyuki’s skills.
「Oh, not really. The trap managed to destroy three Silhouettes at most. They merely failed to escape in time.」
「That still means they’re dead!」
The MCS also functioned as a very effective escape capsule. That’s why survival rates in the battlefield were usually pretty high.
Dying in a trap must have been quite a way to go.
「With that, there are only five sniper machines remaining. But they’ll still serve as a considerable threat if they spread out. It’s a thickly forested area, so we have no choice but to send in a smaller unit in order to suppress them. We’ll end up taking a lot of losses if we make a move carelessly.」
「You even know the exact number of enemy machines? Anyway, what do you plan to do then?」
「Fortunately, Kou’s here. I suppose we should head out as well.」
「Now you’re talkin’!」
Voy and Fuyuki quickly began preparations for sortie.
At another place, Blue, who had just come out of the broadcasting room, was sporting a grim expression on her face.
The northern garrison of Fortress Area P336 was annihilated.
Many destroyed Silhouettes were being transported back by tow vehicles and worker Silhouettes.
They were brought to the hangar one after another.
「There are many units whose MCS have been destroyed in one hit, so we can’t afford to rashly deploy our troops.」
The dog-type Familiar by her side reported in low spirits.
Judging from the resulting large bullet holes, what did them in shouldn’t be your average weapon.
「This weapon…… Its rounds appear to be thicker than a pile bunker, right? Is there really such a ranged weapon?」
Blue muttered under her breath. Even her prided sniper railgun didn’t sport such firepower.
「Analysis complete. The weapon used is likely a helical railgun. It’s one of the Silhouette-use weapons that sport the greatest firepower.」
「Asia!」
A grown-up Asia appeared next to them.
「It’s a multi-turn railgun that employs a coilgun mechanism for projectile acceleration. The technology was originally intended to be employed in mass drivers. So, they made it into a weapon instead.」
A mass driver was a type of catapult for launching cargo into outer space.
It didn’t really need to be mobile since it required a place that would receive the cargo it launches, but it was more than capable of launching warheads into space as well. Therefore, the anti-air performance of the helical railgun should be considerably high.
「Counter-snipers are really troublesome. They were able to suppress our troops with just a small number of units. At this rate, the focal point of our defenses will become our weak point instead.」
The northern forest area was also a key point connecting the Silhouette Base and Fortress Area P336.
If it were to be suppressed completely, the supply lines would be cut off, and it could turn into a fatal weakness for both bases.
「I can only do this much to help you. I’m sorry Blue.」
「It’s more than enough. Thank you Asia.」
After hearing Blue’s words of gratitude, Asia displayed a smile and disappeared.
Blue proceeded to the hangar.
The TSS-S1 Canary stood on standby within. Her Thunderstorm had been destroyed, so the Canary was being prepped for individual sortie. A fox-type Familiar was making final checks on it.
Its base was the newly developed long-range sniper variant of the Lanius, the Lanius C Sniper-type, and it also served as the Thunderstorm’s core control center.
Due to its use of armor muscles, it was saddled with the unfortunate drawback of being unable to utilize weapons that consumed a lot of power like railguns, but made up for it by taking advantage of the cutting-edge ballistic weaponry unique to the Silhouette Base.
Its main weapon was the anti-fortress rifle. It sported a carbine and pile bunker as secondary weapons.
In terms of pure destructive firepower, the anti-fortress rifle probably held the advantage. The helical railgun on the other hand presumably boasted higher projectile speeds.
「How’s the Canary, Gon?」
「It’s good to go.」
The fox-type Familiar answered Blue, but panicked when he noticed that Blue was actually trying to board the Canary.
「Now, just hold on! Where do you think you’re going?」
Blue responded with nary a change to her calm expression.
「I’ll be heading out. A sniper should deal with other snipers. It’s only natural, right?」
Snipers should deal with other snipers.
It was a universal truth that applied on any battlefield.
「You can’t be serious?! If you head out there without permission, I’m gonna get grilled by your manager. I’m just a proxy here!」
Gon panicked even more. Blue was also a valued and popular idol after all.
「Who the heck is my manager supposed to be……?」
「It’s Captain Jenny. I was appointed as her representative.」
「Mou, just what is she thinking? Honestly.」
Blue sighed in exasperation. She didn’t think there would come a day when she’d actually be more troubled by the prospect of being forced to do a swimsuit gravure photoshoot and radio hosting gigs compared to dealing with enemy snipers.
「It looks like Voy-san and Fuyuki-san have sortied already anyway.」
「Then that’s all the more reason I should head out there too. My presence will greatly bolster their counter-sniper tactics. There are still five enemy machines left. It’s gonna be tough to deal with them with only drill tanks and engineering Silhouettes.」
Voy wasn’t exactly limited to only piloting stuff with drills, but he certainly projected such an image.
「Understood. I’m gonna arrange for someone to pilot a media aircraft to facilitate a public radio broadcast then. And I’ll support you from the ground.」
「……Why do we need to do a radio broadcast in the first place?」
「We’re gonna conduct a media war. It’s to improve our side’s morale and discourage our enemies.」
「Ugh. Live broadcast sniper battles…… Just what in the world……」
「Hey, don’t knock it till you try it, I say!」
Gon displayed an expectant look.
Blue covered her face with one hand and audibly sighed.
「Fine. Let’s do it.」
Even though she outwardly responded in a half-hearted manner, Blue wasn’t actually as opposed to the idea as she let on.
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