Assault Colossus of the Nemesis Warfront - Chapter 103

Around the time the battle on Fortress Area F811 commenced, a large number of tanks appeared from the hidden camp at the foot of the mountain range housing the Silhouette Base.

They numbered thirty-two units in total. They were the newest state-of-the-art main battle tanks, the Fighting Bulls. The Fighting Bull was a new model of MBT that Kou designed within the Silhouette Base.

A large group of eight-wheeled armored combat vehicles appeared from another direction and quickly joined up with the tanks. They numbered sixty-four vehicles in all and ranged from tank destroyers, anti-aircraft types, and mortar types specialized in area bombardment.

Each troop started their invasion from different directions, but they eventually linked up and headed straight for their invasion target – Fortress Area P336.

The commander of Fortress Area P336, Sesto, panicked when he detected the invading force.

Although P336 was a relatively important base from a geopolitical standpoint, it wasn’t exactly a large-scale Fortress Area, and Sesto didn’t expect it would actually be subjected to an attack.

He did have an Enyo at his disposal. It was already deployed outside because the base was relatively close to the front lines.

「The enemy forces are only composed of tanks and armored vehicles?」

「We have only confirmed those for the time being.」

「What about those quadrupedal Silhouettes?」

「We haven’t detected any.」

The mercenary under his command answered without hesitation.

「Fumu. If so, then have 200 Ant Workers intercept them. They will serve as sufficient hindrances. You heard that, Control Center?」

『Understood.』

「The mercenary corps will guard the Control Center.」

「Sir!」

Sesto once again checked the information on the enemy troops.

「There are no Silhouettes accompanying the tanks and ground forces. It looks like they’re planning on destroying the shelter. But they should be well aware that even a concentrated railgun bombardment won’t be enough to deal significant damage to it.」

They were already aware that the battle occurring near Fortress Area F811 had become extremely fierce. That’s because it was a place where a fragment of Asia’s data was sealed up.

However, it was located deep within Stones-controlled territory. You’d have to get past several conquered Fortress Areas stationed with Stones troops standing in the way, making it normally hard to reach. The supply lines would need to be stretched out.

Currently, the Stones were in the middle of expanding the front lines for the purpose of seizing enemy factory facilities, so their defenses have naturally been thinned out. They had sent a significant chunk of their available forces to the front after all. They no longer had any resources to spare.

They did not expect a surprise attack being conducted by a large-scale force straight from the sea.

「From the sea?」

Fortress Area P336 wasn’t exactly far from the sea either.

However, it was still located more than 202 kilometers away from the coastline. Therefore, there shouldn’t be a high chance of enemy forces invading P336 from the sea as well. After all, most of their forces should be concentrated on attacking Fortress Area F811.

Suddenly, a transmission came in.

「What is it?」

『A warship named Aristides that’s currently at sea is requesting permission to dock near Fortress Area P336.』

「Hah!? What the heck do you mean by that!?」

『It is literally as I’ve stated. There was a formal request for us to open up the shelter and have the ship dock in the city area sent through Okeanos. Shall we give approval?』

「Absolutely not!」

Just what was the enemy thinking? Sesto responded to the control center’s AI administrator with a near-hysteric shriek.

The body he was possessing was of a D-Class Development Engineer. At most, he was only capable of activating the larger facilities within the Fortress Area. He was actually only capable of manufacturing Ant-types within the Fortress Area. He wasn’t capable of manufacturing higher-grade combat specialized Murders like Telkhines.

「Don’t let that warship out of our sight! There are only a few flight-capable warships under the control of the humans. It shouldn’t be able to fly, but that isn’t guaranteed.」

Sesto’s concern ended up coming true, much to his horror.

The Aristides did fly over.

「Uh– This is the ship, Aristides. Under the authority of Okeanos, we request permission to dock within Fortress Area P336. Over.」

Barry faced the large monitor of the ship’s pilot room and relayed an unmotivated spiel.

『Fortress Area P336 has rejected our request.』

The one who spoke was the AI in charge of managing the Aristides, Libra 1. This AI was also one of Astraea’s copies.

「Of course, they’d refuse.」

Barry offhandedly replied to Libra 1.

It was expected after all. Barry didn’t think for one second that the other party would actually agree to open the shelter and let them in.

What he did was simply a sort of rite of passage just so they wouldn’t get attacked by the satellite cannons managed by Okeanos. In other words, it was just a sort of ritual.

「This lead ship will now commence the assault. All hands, prepare for impact.」

The Familiars and Therianthropes working within the ship dropped whatever they were doing and hurriedly got ready.

「All pilots prepare for launch.」

The impact mitigation function of the MCS was virtually perfect. Hence, all the pilots boarded their machine’s MCS one after another. The other crewmembers evacuated to the shelter area.

Barry left the pilot room with a spring in his steps, headed to an MCS-type room nearby, and quickly got inside it.

「As I thought, I’m definitely more suited to be a Silhouette pilot rather than a ship captain.」

He displayed the parameters of the amphibious assault ship on screen. All systems were green. There were no problems.

「Let’s do this. Begin ascent. Let’s fly.」

『Roger.』

The high-output thruster on the rear of the Aristides roared to life and spat an intense jet of flames.

「Whis at maximum output. Gravity effect, maximum nullification.」

The power needed for a ship of the size of the Aristides to float was considerable. And it wasn’t equipped with an anti-gravity device.

Therefore, the high-dimensional energy called Whis was employed.

Gravitation was basically the resultant attractive force of a planet as it rotates. There are four fundamental interactions in physics. Strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravitation. Among these four, gravitation was by far the weakest.

The reason why gravity is the weakest of the four fundamental interactions was due to the force acting on gravity leaking to extra dimensions.

By adjusting the gravity flowing to these extra dimensions via Whis, even the huge hulls of spaceships can float using very little energy.

The Aristides ascended to the skies, causing the previously still waters to splash around.

「Begin converting the contents of the ballast tanks to metallic hydrogen. Do it at the maximum rate. Fill those ballast tanks to the brim!」

The seawater in the ballast tanks was converted to metallic hydrogen that will serve as the thruster’s propellant.

「Aristides, maximum combat speed. Target, Fortress Area P336. Commence charge!」

The Aristides gradually accelerated and shot to the sky.

It flew straight toward Fortress Area P336 at a speed exceeding 200 km/h.

『The enemy has opened the shelter. Bombardment from an Enyo, incoming.』

「Hard to starboard! Uryaaah!」

Barry pulled the joystick to the right with all his might.

「I bet it would make for a prettier picture if I were gripping a ship helm instead of a damn joystick!」

Aristides quickly changed course to the right. It managed to avoid all long-range artillery shots.

It was a textbook display of a spaceship’s mobility.

「Can’t we retaliate with our own guns, Libra 1?」

『This ship is currently not equipped with guns. It only has defensive equipment. Please have Kou hurry up with manufacturing them if you desire ship guns.』

「I got it! That guy keeps on developing weapons for the troops! I gotta tell him to outfit the ships too!」

The Aristides sped up even more.

When the enemy shelter came into view, the ship lowered its shutters.

「Transform the bulbous bow into Ram Mode! We’re gonna crush those walls in one blow!」

The bulbous bow was a spherical bow placed on the draft of the ship’s hull. It was mainly used to reduce wave-making resistance while the ship is navigating on water.

The amphibious assault ship Aristides that’s also capable of space navigation was now going to use this bulbous bow as a ram and charge at its target.

There were cases where bulbous bows were used as naval rams that pierced the hulls of enemy ships even during the 21st century.

「Err. Attention, Fortress Area P336. This is the Aristides. We are now going to conduct a forced docking sequence. Really sorry about this!」

Barry made sure to inform the enemy about what they were going to do. It was only proper, after all.

「Beginning countdown! All hands, brace for impact! Impact in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!」

The hull of the Aristides scraped the ground once mid-charge, but it didn’t lose speed at all and collided spectacularly with the enemy shelter.

As expected, it wasn’t possible to completely nullify the resulting shockwaves, and the interior of the ship shook violently. However, the crew didn’t suffer any injuries since they’ve all taken appropriate countermeasures.

The bulbous bow acted as a gigantic hammer.

It broke the shelter open and infiltrated the Fortress Area successfully. It slipped right through the bombardment launched by the Enyos and moved further inside the Fortress Area.

Before long, the violent shockwaves weakened, and Silhouettes began to appear on the ship’s deck. They headed out to intercept the Murders that were trying to swarm over.

An Enyo could be seen in the distance.

「Assault landing successful. All pilots, prepare to sortie. Don’t give me crap like waiting until the shockwaves have completely stopped!」

Barry acted all captain-like and yelled a command through the comms.

It was a side of him Kou had never seen before.

「Alright. All troops, head out! The left and right hatches will prioritize the tank corps. The Silhouettes will follow afterward. Aerial corps, deploy attack aircraft for close ground support. There’s no need to worry about aerial superiority inside a shelter.」

Barry continued giving out snappy orders to his troops. Multi-role fighters in ground attack specifications appeared on the deck via elevators.

Tanks headed out one after another from the ship’s left and right hatches and the ship’s rear well dock.

「The Aristides will not flinch against an Enyo’s bombardment! This girl is equipped with high-dimensional projection armor powered by an A-Carbuncle after all. But being pounded by that thing is still unpleasant. So take it down, but don’t act recklessly!」

Barry issued commands mixed with specific examples.

Why was he doing so? It was in order to prevent morale from dropping in a frantic battlefield. As explained to him before the operation, the trick was to briefly mix these remarks in with the commands.

「Support squad, make sure you guys avoid the main battlefield properly, alright? And Silhouette corps, especially you Quattros. Always keep your cool. Think of the tanks as a solid wall and trust in them. Alright, go!」

The bipedal Silhouettes and Quattro Silhouettes sortied one after another using the slope.

Each unit sortied out of the Aristides exactly as instructed.

「You sure went all out huh, Barry.」

The St. Bernard-type Familiar Rick appeared on Barry’s monitor with a smile on his face.

「I’ll leave the rest to you guys. I’m bushed.」

「Sure. You opened up a really nice big hole for us. Now, this is a breakthrough!」

The tank corps continuously poured into the huge hole in the shelter wall opened up by the Aristides.

「The Aristides Silhouette corps and Silhouette Base troops have successfully joined up. Our victory in this Fortress Area P336 capture battle is all but guaranteed!」

Barry issued a bold declaration of victory.

This was also an important job of a commander.

Inside the ship, multi-role fighters continued to be converted from air superiority to ground attack configurations as they were prepared for launch.

Meanwhile, the Enyo ate an intense concentrated bombardment from the Metal Iris troops. As it included the fire support corps from the Silhouette Base, the resulting firepower was considerable.

「Enyos used to be really scary opponents, but now they’re like this.」

Barry took a deep breath and muttered as he sank deeper into his chair.