Chapter 579: Hexagon Infiltration, Seven Falls, Eight Rises
Author's Preface
Wait, is there seriously a card game where cockroaches casually multiply and meteors casually drop from the sky? [*1]
『Everyone scatter!! We'll meet again inside the enemy ships!!』
At the signal of an unfamiliar voice acting like a leader, the players' small space combat craft sortied out all at once. There were NPC fighter jets mixed in, but the main force was the five transport shuttles packed to the brim with players.
"Look at that, it's 50,000 yen."
"That light is literally equal to a whole month's food budget..."
From what I heard, while it loses out in raw power to the current strongest weapon boasting the highest firepower in GalaTra, when it comes to pure destructive yield, it's an ultimate weapon vying for the top spot. To put it simply, it ignores physical defense. Pure insanity.
But naturally, it seems the enemy had formulated countermeasures. A disc-shaped... no, a canned-food-shaped space battleship moved to the front to cover the flagship of The Great Fleet of the Twin Hills, unleashing a brilliant light. Since it's a game, it probably isn't perfectly faithful to an actual Big Crunch, but still, against a truly vile laser whose sole effect is to "compress any object touched by the beam and erase it from the field," the force field they deployed completely protected both itself and the alliance leader, even while taking a direct hit from half-and-half destruction.
"You gotta be kidding me, it's totally unscathed!?"
"No, you're wrong. The other fleet moved in front of the Can. The Pearl Circular Casket probably just exhausted all of its energy."
"Gazelle! This is our chance!! Let's board the Can!!"
No, you're wrong. That's a foolish plan. It's true that the Can... the Pearl Circular Casket flagship, is currently incapacitated, but their 2nd Ship is completely fine. Meaning, the Can can still defend itself. On top of that, the fact that the other ships moved forward wasn't just to cover them; this is...!!
"Everyone, buckle your seatbelts and keep your mouths open! A hellish rhythm game is about to begin!!!"
The ultimate, utterly vile defense weapon of the Germanoid Third Reich—a faction that secretly departed from Earth into space and grew into a massive power! What happens if you stuff raw eggs into a metal box and throw it in the microwave? That right there is the forbidden weapon of the Germanoids, the Super-Charged Electron Diffusion Pulse... commonly known as the "German Microwave"! So players really can use it now...!!
Just to clear things up for anyone from Germany: it stands for "Slime Humans," so it has nothing to do with "Germany"! This is a work of fiction and bears absolutely no relation to real life.
"Hieeeh! Our entire field of vision is covered in it!!"
"Area-suppression from multiple battleship-class vessels...!!"
"Hey Gazelle-san, are we checkmated?"
"Don't be an idiot! The premium transport shuttles come equipped with proper countermeasures!!"
Eat this, Frontal Defense Shield! Its durability is absolute garbage, but against pulse-type attacks, this deceptively convenient paper-thin armor is guaranteed to withstand exactly one hit!!
Bachiin!! A satisfying sound, like a slap amplified a thousand times over, echoed out as the shield was blown away. We made it past the first layer... but this multi-layered barrage of instant-death attacks from several battleships lined up in a mille-feuille formation still has a second and third wave waiting for us.
Bachiin!! Bachiin!!
"T-This is bad for my heart..."
"Oh my, does Passenger Wolf wish to end up like that?"
"No, please look forward, Pilot Gazelle!?"
If the transport shuttle I'm piloting and they're riding in is just getting slapped, then I guess the transport shuttle that just exploded spectacularly in the top right corner got hit with a Powerbomb? Hahaha, over a dozen people just got forcefully sent back to Earth in a single blow.
"Please pay attention. I have good news, bad news, and bad news part 2. Which do you want to hear first?"
"I can tell just by looking forward. Can we make it, Gazelle? You must be pretty confident since you specifically chose a transport shuttle..."
"Don't worry, I just finished the tutorial."
"I see... Wait, what did you just say?"
"Here we go! After the rhythm game comes the bullet hell!!"
The good news is that the German Microwave has ended. The bad news is that we now have to withstand a barrage from over a dozen battleships like true men.
"You think area-suppression fire is enough to catch me...?!"
"We're totally getting hit right now, though?!"
"Look closely, you idiot! As long as we don't get shot down, we're practically unscathed!!"
The march of technology truly is wonderful. Just being able to manually execute the drift maneuver I used to pull off in UniStorm by abusing the physics engine is amazing enough, but being able to do a barrel roll without having to intentionally crash into space debris first?!
"This is just an endless series of ball-shriveling moments..."
"I totally get that~."
"Python, aren't you just digging your own grave?"
"We're talking about philosophical ball-shriveling here, so these are imaginary testicles."
"Testicles that exist under the premise that they don't exist...?"
"What exactly... are balls again?"
"The future."
"Hey, stop it, you idiots! You're gonna make me laugh!!"
Don't act like a cool character while perfectly playing along with the joke, Fox! Damn it, my hands—my hands are slipping!
But we can make it. I was warned beforehand that transport shuttles lacked maneuverability, but from my perspective, that's completely ridiculous. Just being able to animation-cancel with sudden brakes, drifts, and thruster misfires makes this a massive ball of unbridled freedom.
"Gazelle! The enemy is changing formations!!"
"I can see that! Damn, they figured out how to properly deal with us...?!"
The Supreme Flat-A Fleet consists of the grand flagship "Horizon of Love," followed by the 2nd Ship "Calm Horizon," 3rd Ship "Great Wall," 4th Ship "Parallel Line," 5th Ship "Houston," [*2] and the 6th Ship "Phantom Boing." In addition to those six Teraton-Class Battleships, they are escorted by four Gigaton-Class Battleships, making it the absolute largest solo fleet operated by a single individual. Ignoring the fact that the battleship naming sense gets progressively more like a middle-aged man's as you go down the list, the important point is that the enemy's total count of Teraton-Class Battleships is twelve.
Currently, both sides have had one ship disabled, functionally removing them from the battle, making it a five-versus-eleven scenario. It seems the enemy intends to annihilate Cutting Board's combat-specialized Teraton-Class ships by throwing their own Teraton-Class ships at them... and the only reason this is even a balanced fight is entirely due to Cutting Board's unga-bunga gorilla-brained playstyle. Living up to their boast of fighting like two ships for every one, the barrage formed by their absurd consumption of ammunition is single-handedly keeping the battle tied.
But here is a question.
Gigaton-Class Battleships are fundamentally useless against Teraton-Class Battleships, so in that case, what do the Gigaton-Class Battleships belonging to The Great Fleet of the Twin Hills target?
The correct answer is: Right after breaking through this kill zone!!!
"Crap, crap, crap! Another transport shuttle exploded! Counting us, there are only two left!"
"What about the fighter jet squadrons?!"
"Ah—sixty percent of them died to the German Microwave."
"Even flies live longer than that...!!"
Those useless mosquitoes. But it seems the surviving forty percent intend to do the bare minimum of their jobs. The fighter jets that slipped through the barrage closed in on the enemy Gigaton-Class Battleships and unloaded their missiles. Good, the path is clear. We're rushing in!!
"Alright, destination determined!!"
Damn it, enemy drones swarmed the other transport shuttle... Yeah, they're done for. Aaaaand they exploded.
"I have a sad announcement to make. Since the idiots who chose fighter jets can't land on enemy ships, we are the only ones left."
"Eh, seriously? Why can't fighter jets land?"
"Do you plan on politely asking the enemy ship for landing permission? The surfaces are basically covered in force fields, so if you touch them, you explode."
"Fox is exactly right. So, keeping that in mind, what exactly are we going to do~?"
Just watch. I'll draw in the enemy drones...
"Hey Gazelle-san?! We're totally getting swarmed!!"
"Witness this! Finishing Move: Controllable Uncontrollable State!!"
Firing the left and right thrusters in completely opposite directions, while simultaneously cutting the rudder to the absolute max without hesitation, the transport shuttle violently spins out of control as if rolling over!! Shaking off the drones while making everyone around us think we're going down!
"You idiot, whaaaaaat!!?"
"Gahahaha! I shall now announce our destination! Following this vessel's out-of-control trajectory, you will all be subjected to a forced evacuation, and we will reconvene on site at 'Hexagon Palace', the 2nd Ship of Hornet's Nest, operated by Player: Deer Horn!!"
While putting on a show of spiraling out of control with obviously unmanageable movements, we approached the Hexagon Palace—a structure that looked like hundreds of massive hexagons fused together—acting as if we had simply "lost control and accidentally drifted close." If it were a Gigaton-Class, they would have intercepted us, but for a Teraton-Class, where a mere transport shuttle crashing into it wouldn't even deal 1 point of damage...?
"Just as I thought, they ignored us...!"
Since they're operating massive ships, it's highly unlikely they're issuing precise, micromanaged orders to every single grunt NPC. That means the NPC fighter jets will completely ignore a half-dead transport shuttle and head straight for Love Board's main fleet instead. Well, if we actually tried to breach them while inside the transport shuttle, they'd definitely deal with us, and if we leisurely prepared to infiltrate while approaching, we'd obviously get targeted, so here's what we do.
"Do you guys know what happens when you open a door in outer space?"
"Hah?"
"Ah?"
"Eh?"
"What?"
"Then let's meet on site! Use the thrusters on your backs and get to the launch gate using pure willpower!! This transport shuttle will self-destruct after we evacuate!!!"
I don't care if it's a Hexagon or an Octagon, we'll smash it from the inside out. And now, initiating self-destruct!!!
Watching the Metal Animals get violently blown out of the opened doors, I pressed the transport shuttle's self-destruct switch and unbuckled my seatbelt. In the next moment, my body was forcefully ejected outside along with the air, and upon being thrown out into outer space, a gauge displaying my remaining oxygen levels appeared within the field of vision provided by the animal helmet... Well, exactly as expected. I saw this in the tutorial, after all.
This is the secret technique supposedly used only by a select few "Couriers" back in Universe Storm: "Disguised Accident Transport." It seems the nuclear bomb forced-ejection technique that utilizes the very nature of outer space is incredibly useful even in a different world... After all, if you honestly try to pull off a Space Drop instead of an Airdrop operation, you'll just get instantly targeted. Space games naturally have a high civilization level, so homing weapons are everywhere. Pulling off an ambush that makes even your own passengers think, "Eh! We're getting off here!?" is the absolute crux of space combat...
"Let's go!!"
While roaring with laughter as I watched the other players thrashing around wildly trying to navigate toward the Hexagon Palace, I caught up with them, using the shockwave from the self-destructing transport shuttle behind me as an extra speed boost.
Author's Afterword
The Teraton-Class Battleship Ownership Situation on The Great Fleet of the Twin Hills' Side:
The Great Fleet of the Twin Hills: 5 Ships
Hornet's Nest: 2 Ships
Hotel Rikumogami: 3 Ships
Pearl Circular Casket: 2 Ships
Fundamentally, Teraton-Class ships aren't meant for combat; their basic use is functioning as a type of space colony.
However, in Love Board's case, since they operate under the premise of always returning to Earth, they don't bother being self-sufficient. Instead, they stockpile massive amounts of food and resources on Earth, and when they run low, they either return or plunder. Because of this playstyle, they've completely converted the sections that other Teraton-Class ships use for colony functions purely into combat-specialized zones.
In other words, on an individual level, Love Board possesses top-tier firepower, and they are a hyper-militant faction that actively picks fights with Space Pirates and the Germanoid Third Reich to plunder them.
Translator's Notes
- [1] A reference to Yu-Gi-Oh! Specifically the cards 'Maxx "C"' and 'Nibiru, the Primal Being'.
- [2] Houston:"Hyuu" (the sound of the wind / whooshing down) and "Suton" (dropping flatly).
Comments
Post a Comment