Free Web NovelFringhornir-class battleship <Blazablik> had aimed its gun barrels at the sky.
Four triple-mounted multi-stage electromagnetic projection cannons. Twelve barrels in all. What leaked from their tips was steam turned into white smoke by cooling.
Then the signal to begin bombardment was transmitted.
Shells shot out from all twelve barrels at once. Their muzzle velocity was roughly eight thousand meters per second.
The fired shells were scheduled to fly through space for a little over ten minutes, then descend toward a target twelve hundred kilometers away.
And these smart shells would be fired at a rate of twelve rounds per minute per barrel, meaning the single ship alone could fire one hundred forty-four rounds per minute.
The continuous bombardment would last ten minutes. In total, one thousand four hundred forty shells would fly.
◇◇◇◇
“Smart shells are flying normally.”
Countless points of light moved at an altitude of roughly one thousand kilometers.
They were the anti-<The Reflector> shells launched by battleship <Blazablik>. freeweɓnøvel.com
“I wonder if they’ll work...”
The leading shell groups were burnstone warheads intended to neutralize the magic barrier.
The ones following them were depleted uranium warheads meant to break through the neutralized magic barrier and strike the threat organism’s main body. However, in order to penetrate flesh strengthened by magic fantasy effects, roughly the front ten percent of each was composed of burnstone.
Overall, from the values of the Kingdom of Lepuitari, these were outrageously expensive shells, every single warhead incorporating burnstone.
From <The Tree>’s perspective, however, they were only using part of the burnstone being produced in large quantities.
The shell groups traced parabolic arcs, passed their apex, and entered their falling trajectories.
<The Reflector>’s precise coordinates were being shared with the shells’ control units from communications satellites that had caught the transmitted signals.
The smart shells picked up GPS signals to determine their own positions, but after atmospheric entry, they would fall toward the target point using inertial guidance devices.
The inertial guidance devices made by <The Tree> were extremely precise, with an error of only a few centimeters per hour in known regions. At minimum, within the operational area this time, that degree of precision could be fully expected.
“<The Reflector>’s movement speed is within projected range. Calculation of final impact point complete. Transmitting point data to shell groups.”
The operational situation was being reported minute by minute by the doll-machine communicator controlled by <Iris>, who stood beside Eve.
It was a reward for <Iris>, who was doing her best on-site.
Meanwhile, the smart shell groups that received the impact point from <Iris> made minute adjustments to their fins as they fell. freewebnσvel.cøm
This time, the shells themselves were not equipped with propulsion devices. Their propulsion consisted entirely of the initial velocity at the moment of firing.
The shells had been designed with entry from space into the atmosphere in mind, and their shape reduced air resistance. They were also equipped with heat shields to protect the warheads from the high temperatures that would occur.
“What kind of terminal velocity will the warheads have?”
“According to simulations, roughly five thousand meters per second. A direct shot would be more powerful, but...”
“I definitely don’t want to get close enough for a direct shot...”
For some reason, on this planet, gravitational acceleration in the high-altitude region was roughly twice what it was on the surface. Because of that, even free fall seemed to produce a more powerful ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) attack than expected.
Of course, this was also because <The Tree> had designed the warheads, so air resistance had been minimized.
To improve terminal velocity immediately before plunging into the target, final acceleration with rocket motors or the like would be necessary. However, if they did that, rocket fuel and similar components would become wasted weight, so opinions would likely be divided on which option was superior.
“...Electromagnetic radiation confirmed from <The Reflector>.”
Then—
<The Reflector>, which had done nothing but move until now, began taking active action here.
“Microwave emission confirmed. Observing frequency bands of two to four gigahertz. Continuing, ten-gigahertz band confirmed. Pulse waves confirmed.”
“Big Sister, it looks like <The Reflector> noticed something!”
“...It noticed the shells in space?”
“Directional radar waves confirmed. The shell groups have been captured.”
In the ultra-long-range footage, <The Reflector> stopped walking.
It extended its long neck, and the direction of its gaze pointed toward the shell groups that had entered their falling trajectories.
The shells were still at an altitude of roughly four hundred kilometers.
They had not yet begun glowing from aerodynamic heating, and if there was any possibility of noticing them, it should only have been from the light they reflected from the primary star.
“It clearly started emitting radar waves after it noticed them. And visual confirmation came even after that. What is this, I wonder? Is it magic fantasy something after all? Danger sense, or something like future sight...”
“Future sight with that body...? No, maybe because it has that body...?”
As Eve and Asahi spoke rather casually beside it, the doll-machine communicator controlled by <Iris> updated the information on the front display with an attitude of complete indifference.
Of course, all of it could be handled remotely, but because it made her beloved Big Sister happy, she was deliberately operating it manually.
“...Approximately five minutes to impact. Entry angle normal. Impact error estimated within twenty meters.”
“With that size, twenty meters means an almost guaranteed direct hit.”
Pulled by gravity and accelerating, the shell groups fell toward <The Reflector>.
And without question, <The Reflector> had captured them.
◇◇◇◇
The shells’ altitude dropped below one hundred kilometers, and they had already begun glowing red from aerodynamic heating.
A vast number of small orange meteors appeared. Their count was an astonishing one thousand four hundred forty.
The sky that day was thinly clouded.
The glow of the shells flying in from space was visible without obstruction.
<The Reflector> stood still in place, facing the shell groups falling toward it.
Its enormous eyeballs seemed to be firmly seeing them.
The shells’ falling speed was roughly five thousand meters per second. In another ten seconds or so, they would impact their target, <The Reflector>.
<The Reflector> opened its mouth wide and roared.
The image wavered around its head.
A rapid change in atmospheric pressure had altered the refractive index of light.
Almost simultaneously, white light appeared roughly one hundred thirty meters above it.
At that point, the phenomenon was unknown, but later analysis determined that this, too, was a cloud produced by changes in atmospheric pressure.
It was something like a barrier, created by <The Reflector> generating some kind of magic fantasy effect.
If this had been a shock wave using the atmosphere, like the one it had shown before—
Or if it had been a physical barrier, such as creating rock in midair—
Then the subsequent developments would have been very different.
First, the burnstone warheads flying at the head collided with this membrane of light.
The burnstone warheads that collided were crushed by their own kinetic energy. If they had been ordinary warheads, they would likely have done nothing but shatter, but their primary component was burnstone.
Kinetic energy was converted into pressure, and the burnstone vanished in an instant.
Then that disappearance became an enormous quantity of heat, heating the surroundings to an ultra-high temperature of several tens of thousands of degrees Celsius.
That heating, accompanied by magic fantasy phenomena, ate through the deployed barrier and allowed the following shells to pass straight through.
Burnstone warheads had been fired in multiple stages.
The amount sufficient to saturate the magic barrier had been set at five salvos, sixty rounds, but in reality, three times that amount had been used: fifteen salvos, one hundred eighty rounds.
This was for the simple reason that, based on the idea that they should strike with ample margin, they had prepared three times the estimated combat strength.
The next-stage burnstone warheads that had passed straight through the barrier deployed in midair rained down on <The Reflector>.
And these, too, performed their function exactly as expected.
The magic fantasy effect possessed by burnstone, the ultra-high heat it emitted, saturated <The Reflector>’s magic barrier in the blink of an eye.
Even so, later analysis would reveal just how terrifying that magic barrier had been, given that it had blocked the burnstone warheads’ saturation attack even for an instant.
Immediately afterward, depleted uranium warheads slammed into the colossal body that had lost its barrier.
Its hide, scorched by the heat emitted from the burnstone, had lost its magic fantasy-like toughness.
The kinetic energy possessed by the depleted uranium warheads was unleashed at the points of impact.
Just as <The Reflector>’s body seemed to shine white, a shock wave visible to the eye spread outward.
But the following shells impacted one after another without being deterred by it.
A meteor fall that lasted roughly ten seconds.
The surrounding area was completely hidden by the earth and sand blasted upward.
