Free Web Novel“We’ve lost sight of the target.”
The long-range image on the front display showed nothing but the earth and sand blasted upward.
There had been no time to install sensors deep in the <Demon Forest>, so battlefield observation could only be conducted remotely.
“Information-collection unit is moving. Approximately ten minutes until arrival on-site.”
“We couldn’t exactly send it in ahead of time, so I guess that can’t be helped...”
To avoid alerting <The Reflector>, no automated machines had been dispatched nearby.
There had been a few devices attached to its enormous shell, but they had been caught in the previous attack and destroyed completely.
At present, the information-collection drones that had been held on standby were being rushed to the site.
“The dust cloud should clear in another few minutes. We should be able to visually confirm <The Reflector>.”
<Ringo> reported this while analyzing the information coming from the site.
The long-range image switched, displaying a distant view.
There, a gigantic mushroom-shaped plume of smoke—or perhaps a cloud—was visible.
“Oh... that’s turned into something ridiculous...”
The surrounding atmosphere had been exposed to the tremendous heat produced by the burnstone, raising it to an ultra-high temperature and generating a sudden updraft.
The mushroom cloud was still growing, rising with considerable force.
“Big Sister! The image analysis results are in!”
As Eve silently watched the image from the scene, Asahi ran over, shouting.
“Ah, I’ll send them to <Iris> too! Take a look if you have time!”
“Understood.”
Since <Iris> was controlling the situation on-site, there was no way she had enough leeway to check detailed data. Most likely, she was only reviewing the summary information Asahi had prepared.
Depending on those results, future operations would likely be heavily affected.
“We should be able to confirm it on the footage in a little while! For now, though, I estimated how much effect we had from the data we managed to capture up until the dust covered everything, so here’s my report!”
The direct impacts from the group of shells should have inflicted some kind of damage on <The Reflector>.
Much of the kinetic energy possessed by the warheads had been converted into light and heat upon collision.
Light, of course, and heat as infrared radiation, could both be observed remotely.
By integrating the information from multiple sensors that had picked up that data, they had estimated what had occurred on-site.
“Now, now! Something caught my attention, you see! When the burnstone warheads collided with this magic barrier, they generated an absurd amount of heat...”
In the ultra-slow footage, the burnstone warheads slammed into the magic barrier one after another. Each warhead was crushed in an instant, and immediately afterward, a dazzling sphere of light appeared.
The extreme heat generated at a single point heated the surrounding air, producing fireballs.
Then, the thermal radiation emitted from those fireballs scorched <The Reflector>.
As the footage was rapidly swallowed by the fireballs, they were able to confirm, for an instant, that it had pulled its neck back inside its shell.
There had been some hope that they might have gotten lucky and damaged its head, but apparently that had been too much to ask.
Even so.
The footage confirmed that the thermal radiation released by the burnstone had dealt sufficient heat damage to <The Reflector>’s shell.
Experiments using <Rain Croin> had demonstrated that the bodies of threat organisms scorched by burnstone heat suffered a drastic decline in durability.
In other words, there was a very high possibility that <The Reflector>’s shell had lost its magic fantasy-like toughness.
“As you can see here, we confirmed that the shell was thoroughly heated and that its surface deformed! In other words, heat is being transmitted through the magic barrier! In this state, the follow-up depleted uranium warheads should have scored direct hits, but...”
However.
The next footage was just as shocking.
“This is it! I’ll replay it in slow motion. We believe several warheads probably did score direct hits! However, this shell. Separately from the timing of the warhead impacts, it seems to have exploded all at once!”
In the footage, the shell exploded. Large and small fragments scattered like buckshot.
Around that point, the smoke and fireballs expanded, covering <The Reflector>’s body. As a result, the image analysis could provide no further information.
“The shell most likely exploded on its own! According to the analysis results, most of the follow-up shells may have collided with these fragments before they could directly hit the target!”
“Uh... What even is that...”
A shell surface that automatically exploded after taking damage.
It was almost like.
“Explosive reactive armor...? That monster even has that kind of function????”
Eve murmured, dumbfounded.
Asahi, however, added an explanation.
“The thing is, Big Sister! This is still only in the realm of conjecture, but the analysis results suggest that it probably didn’t have a reactive-armor-like function built into it from the start!”
According to Asahi:
Water, or some other substance, contained inside the shell had been heated to a high temperature and rapidly vaporized. That had caused explosive expansion, scattering the damaged shell surface.
“One of the hypotheses from the analysis AI is that this reaction happened precisely because the attack involved high heat! That said, this reactive-armor phenomenon is the problem...”
If those fragments collided with the shells flying in at high speed, they would deliver a corresponding impact to the warheads.
Then, that impact pressure would cause the burnstone installed in the tips to generate heat.
As a result, there was a very high possibility that the heat meant to weaken its magic fantasy-like toughness had been generated far too early, well short of the target.
“Under the original assumption, the shells would directly hit the main shell, bite into it while heating up, and punch through it all at once! But the heat damage dealt to the shell may have been significantly reduced!”
Of course, the destructive power of depleted uranium warheads plunging in at hypersonic speed was tremendous.
If the magic barrier had not been there, they should have been capable of inflicting sufficient damage.
But there was no doubt that combining them with burnstone would have transmitted a far greater impact.
“Apparently... if a material with high thermal conductivity is mixed into the shell’s composition, that kind of explosive phenomenon may occur. The analysis AI came back with quite a pointed prediction, didn’t it! Ah, all that training was worth it!”
“...It’s not going to be simple, is it. ...The smoke should clear soon.”
Even as Eve listened to Asahi’s explanation, the situation on-site continued changing from moment to moment. frёeωebɳovel.com
Caught in the violent updraft produced by the shell impacts, the dust and smoke had begun thinning in places.
And through one such gap, <The Reflector>’s form was finally confirmed.
“Oooh! There it is!!”
“This is... how does it look...!?”
In the footage, wavering with heat haze. freewebnσvel.cѳm
They confirmed <The Reflector>’s shattered shell.
And if the red wetness visible there was what it looked like, then that was proof of bleeding.
“Damage confirmed on target. Calculating damage amount.”
After receiving the information, <Iris> continued her real-time analysis.
How much damage had this series of bombardments managed to inflict on <The Reflector>?
If it could be confirmed as an effective means of attack, then all they had to do was repeat it.
But before long, that hope would be betrayed.
“Large-scale vibration phenomenon detected.”
<Iris>, who was closest to the front line, was the first to notice the phenomenon.
The earth was shaking.
A sound like a ground rumble, or perhaps a roar, echoed through the surrounding area.
“...!? It’s sinking!?”
In the footage.
<The Reflector>’s mountain-like bulk was dropping lower at a visible pace.
“...Ah! Big Sister, <The Reflector> is trying to escape underground!!”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait! That’s allowed!?”
Amid Eve’s shriek.
<The Reflector> vanished with tremendous speed, as though being sucked into the earth.
