There’s No Way our Quadrupeds will Lose to those Eight-legged Freaks!
A trooper corps composed entirely of Quattro Silhouettes. The captain of the first unit was Nyanta.
The large transport ship heading in their direction was still more than 100 kilometers away.
Even though they have already caught it on the radar, it still had a way to go before entering their range.
The Edge Swift fighters and Kurt Maschinenbau’s Falke were heading to intercept, but the enemy had also sent out pack fighters and Coulsons in response. They had already engaged in aerial combat.
Both parties were evenly matched. But then, the large transport ship airdropped weapons on the battlefield.
「Enemy airborne tanks confi– What the heck are those……?」
Nyanta muttered dumbfoundedly.
They were a bunch of strangely shaped weapons.
Their lower bodies resembled a spider. However, their upper bodies were humanoid.
「A bug version of the Quattro? No, that’s not it. Everyone retreat nyaa!」
Sensing danger, Nyanta ordered her troops to retreat, but it was a little too late.
The Epos took damage one after another.
Nyanta’s Epona also jumped to evade.
「That’s some range they’ve got. As expected of ramjet shells nyaa.」
Nyanta, who was a Wildcat ammo smith, understood such a fact well.
The rocket-propelled shells had a range of over 100 kilometers. The enemy machines were sharing targeting information and were working together to improve each other’s accuracy.
They then expanded their spider legs and proceeded to glide in the air.
Vectoring thrusters came out of their humanoid upper body’s backpacks.
「Spiders aren’t supposed to fly nyaa!」
Nyanta spat out in disgust. Being able to fly using eight legs was something she found quite crazy.
「This is Star-11. Captain Nyanta, those Aberration Arms are disgustingly tough. They’re as tough as MBTs. Anti-air weapons don’t work on ’em.」
A sparrow-type Familiar communicated with Nyanta.
「Understood. Don’t chase them too far and concentrate on anti-air combat guys.」
「Their upper bodies are aiming at us with railguns! Be careful. It looks like those monsters have pretty high combat capabilities.」
Another transmission came in. It was from Astraea.
『Nyanta, we are still analyzing the enemy machines. We still do not have enough data.』
「Okay! I’ll try to buy some time, but we’ll be pushed back eventually at this rate!」
Nyanta finally didn’t have the leeway to add nyaa to the end of her sentences.
She had switched her machine’s weapon. It wasn’t an anti-fortress rifle. That wasn’t suitable for the current situation. It was basically a weapon designed to attack enemy bases and fortifications after all.
Instead, she had equipped a large 90 mm chain gun. It was a weapon that shared ammo with the 90 mm cannon, but it had excellent rapid fire performance.
An ammunition belt was connected to the back of the Quattro’s horse body and fed the gun with a large supply of ammo.
It was a prototype weapon designed specifically for the Quattro Silhouette.
「Attract the enemy’s attention, match targets with the rest and shoot! Make sure not to engage them in close combat!」
The enemy machine’s close combat capabilities were unknown. However, it was obvious that they had superb balance and stability due to their eight spider legs.
The Epos of her subordinates were all equipped with AK2s. Their firepower should be sufficient.
「They look utterly disgusting!」
A fox-eared Therianthrope girl let out a disgusted scream.
The spider-like multi-legged machines certainly did induce a certain level of psychological aversion. Moreover, they were also faster than the Epos.
She fired her AK2 as if telling the enemy not to approach any further.
「How tough!」
Even the AK2’s shells only managed to dent the enemy machine’s armor a little. It didn’t employ a regular composite armor. Judging from the sparks flying off of it, the enemy machines should be employing electromagnetic armor.
Nyanta silently fired her chain gun. The armor-piercing bullets weren’t able to take the enemy machine down in one shot, but after a barrage of concentrated firing, she was finally able to destroy the spider.
「Wha–!?」
The spider was certainly destroyed. However, the upper humanoid body separated itself from the spider and fell back.
Nyanta’s Epona took a direct hit from the enemy’s railgun, but it didn’t manage to penetrate its armor.
「That spider-type weapon is actually a Dragoon tank!」
It was quite unexpected. The spider-shaped Aberration Arms was actually a type of Dragoon tank.
The separated humanoid Silhouette must also have a high performance, Nyanta inwardly mused. She found this fact quite annoying.
「Kyaa!」
The fox-eared girl from earlier screamed once more.
She was attacked by another Aberration Arms but the rest of her allies weren’t able to close in.
「Thread?!」
An Epos with a dog-eared young man onboard tried to approach the fox-eared girl’s position, but he sensed that he would get caught in a similar manner if he proceeded, so he backed down in the end.
「They’re even equipped with electromagnetic warheads that stop a Silhouette from moving!」
Nyanta proceeded to cut through the net with the kodachi made by Arges.
「Thank you, Nyanta.」
「Hurry and fall back! Can you move?」
「I can, but the drive systems are showing quite a few problems. What a disgusting attack……」
There weren’t many weapons that directly damaged a Silhouette’s drive system. Those were anti-Silhouette equipment, and most mercenaries preferred direct shootouts anyway.
「Alright. Make sure to share that info with everyone!」
「Okay!」
The aberrant Dragoon tanks continued to bear down on them.
『Nyanta, please listen. The enemy machines might be designed as a combination between a Dragoon tank and Silhouette, but their movements are handled solely by the Silhouette. They might be supplementing the lack of human will in the Aberration Arms using Silhouettes as substitutes.』
「Aren’t Aberration Arms nothing more than vehicles?! People are still riding those things, right?!」
『The moment they were installed in those weapons, those people have probably ceased being human. At least, this is the case for the enemy Silhouette pilots. And the spider-types are machines that make use of such a technology. The flight they performed earlier was essentially ballooning using an electric field. The thread is a weapon imitating the spider archetype.』
「In other words, it’s a high-performance tank in the shape of a spider, right?!」
『Correct. You should temporarily withdraw for now.』
「No can do!」
Nyanta’s Epona appeared in front of the enemy forces. She attracted a continuous barrage of ramjet shells before deploying her electromagnetic barrier.
All the shells were taken out.
「The Epona is the only one that can perform such tricks. The ramjet shells being rocket-propelled was fortunate.」
The Epona had taken some direct hits from the enemy’s railgun, but its electromagnetic armor successfully nullified them.
Nyanta planned to hold the line until all friendly troops have successfully retreated.
「However, the enemy machines seem to be better when it comes to close combat.」
The enemy Silhouette switched from a railgun to a huge halberd.
The other Aberration Arms were wary of the Epona’s unexpected mobility.
But then, the enemy suddenly sent a transmission using the open channel.
「So you’re the commander unit huh? I’ll make this short. Just give up and surrender to us.」
It was a commander-class man on the other end. He was probably an elite citizen-class Lakedaimon directly under the Stones.
The body of his machine was pitch-black, and its head sported two distinct antennas.
「The combat power of our Arachne-types far surpasses your quadrupeds.」
Nyanta got irritated by those words and responded.
「Sorry, but no. You’re probably gonna murder everyone who surrenders anyway.」
Nyanta felt that she couldn’t afford to show too much to the enemy. This was because they weren’t sure how much information about the Quattro Silhouettes have been leaked.
According to Astraea, information has been leaked to a certain extent through the Mercenary Association. Nyanta fully believed that assertion.
The Stones wouldn’t show mercy to Familiars and Therianthropes. It’s probably because they regarded them as useless due to them not being able to normally pilot Silhouettes, regardless of the machine being equipped with AI.
Therefore, there was no way she would surrender.
「Just as the rumors said……! A Therianthrope really is piloting a Silhouette. I understand why you don’t want to surrender. –To think beasts like you are piloting Silhouettes. Die.」
「Hah. You’re one to talk. You barbarian who latched on to a tank that used a human as a sacrifice like a damned parasite.」
「To think you’ve already analyzed the Aberration Arms. These machines are called the Black Knight and Black Widow. The combination of these two machines has resulted in the strongest weapon.」
Without being disturbed in the slightest, the Lakedaimon man calmly responded.
「You should use whatever you can use. At the very least, they should be thankful that they haven’t been directly disposed of.」
「Disposing of things just because they can no longer be used makes me wanna puke!」
It was sorrow that only Therianthropes best understood. After all, they have been called half-baked and useless all their lives.
「What does a defective half-human like you know?」
「This is a machine that only half-humans and half-beasts like us are able to pilot.」
Nyanta displayed a calm smile. The Quattro Silhouettes are the Therianthrope’s source of pride.
「Do you really think your quadrupeds can beat our arachnids? The difference between their speed and maneuverability is leagues apart. You should be aware of this, no? And the performance of this Black Knight is also very high.」
「Our quadrupeds that were made by Kou won’t lose to you eight-legged freaks!」
Nyanta’s Epona raised its chain gun.
「I have just received an order. I am to put you down in single combat.」
「I’ll gladly take you on. Hurry up and draw.」
The Arachne-type held its halberd aloft and closed in at high speed. It shouldn’t be its maximum speed, but it had easily surpassed 200 km/h.
The half-humanoid-half-spider (Arachne) engaged the goddess of cavalry (Epona).
With a conviction to win burning in her heart, Nyanta made her Epona advance.
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