novelThe Treasure of the Sea Dyed Deep Red >> Defensive Battle in the Solomon District (2)
| ← Ch.030 | Ch.032 → |
"Greek's primary exchange rate is tied to platinum. If its value crashes, their culture will fall into chaos. My true desire would be to personally send an Object in, but it does not necessarily have to be me who fills that role." Roybelz Oldnick gave a cunning smile."They expanded their influence through rather forceful methods. That has earned them a lot of hatred. Once their momentum has been slowed with the chaos over platinum values, others will tear into them."
Quenser and Heivia approached the facility through the sea in that old man's blind spot.
They double checked the point and then grabbed onto the edge of the giant float, but then a high-pitched gunshot rang out.
The edge of the float burst open slightly.
The two boys frantically let go and hid in the ocean once more.
"What the hell was that!? That wasn't Oldnick! It came from the wrong direction!!"
They could not see far through the moving ocean surface. However, sticking their heads above the surface would bring the risk of being shot.
A bullet ripped apart the ocean surface and shot by Quenser and Heivia while accompanied by something like a spear made up of air bubbles.
"It looks like they don't know exactly where we are." Quenser and Heivia swam away from that spot while thinking about what to do."Have some comrades of Oldnick's arrived?"
"Or have some guards from the Capitalist Corporations been sent out here?"
Heivia floated up near the surface and poked just the scope of his rifle out of the seawater.
Using it like a periscope, he checked around the area.
"Not good. I don't think those are Capitalist Corporations soldiers."
"What do you mean?"
"It's Valkyrie. Some of those Faith Organization elites are clinging to one of the plant's frames!!"
Quenser moved up next to Heivia and took the scope from him.
He checked for himself.
Sure enough, some women wearing familiar uniforms were there. Valkyrie was not running along on top of the frame. They were aiming their short-range sniper rifles with their elbows pressed against the frame for stability.
"It seems they're as aware as us that there is really nowhere to hide."
A small submarine could be seen sticking up above the water a bit away from them.
Quenser handed the scope back to Heivia.
"But why is Valkyrie here? Since they're from the Faith Organization too, is it related to Oldnick!?'
"If so, this could be even worse than running across some Capitalist Corporations' soldiers. But at the same time..."
Heivia trailed as more gunfire rang out.
The two boys hunkered down, but the bullets were not headed in their direction.
"What? Are they targeting our other comrades?"
"No, they aren't... They're firing at the giant float Oldnick ran onto!!"
"Why!?"
"That's their standard job. Valkyrie is a global divine punishment group that executes any 'enemies of god' who have violated religious rules. They're targeting Oldnick as members of the Faith Organization!!" Heivia reattached the scope to his rifle and then checked to make sure it was working right."But we can't assume the enemy of our enemy is our friend. Valkyrie is after the same target as us. At this rate, we can't avoid a conflict!!"
They were targeting the same person, but any argument between them could provide Roybelz Oldnick with a chance to escape. And any extra time spent gave Capitalist Corporations' troops more time to arrive to defend him.
"..." Quenser thought for a bit."Heivia, hand me your rifle."
"What? You've never had any marksmanship training. How the hell are you going to be of any use here!? Do you think they can't hit us at this distance because they have short-range sniper rifles? With their skill, they can hit us easily!!"
"No, not that." Quenser shook his head."I know a more effective method than bullets."
When he told Heivia what that method was, Heivia expressed his disapproval just as Quenser had expected he would.
"That's crazy. I already told you, the enemy of our enemy is not our friend! We're after the same target, so..."
"Just leave it to me." Quenser knew it would make the contents unusable, but he opened his survival kit underwater."As with everything, it depends on how you do it. So just hand me your rifle, Heivia."
Part 9
Valkyrie member Sarasa Gleamshifter clicked her tongue while clinging to a tungsten plant and commanding a small number of subordinates.
(I never expected to run into the Legitimacy Kingdom at this stage. )
Roybelz Oldnick's reckless comments were the same as ever, but she got the feeling he had intentionally gotten the Legitimacy Kingdom involved in order to help him escape Valkyrie.
He had intentionally disrupted the flow towards checkmate by causing a conflict between the Legitimacy Kingdom and the Faith Organization so that he could complete his escape to somewhere safe.
Normally, making a direct enemy of an Object was suicidal, but he could just barely get away with it by having the Capitalist Corporations eliminate it for him.
(We were deployed because those impudent ideas of his reached a level where they violated our religious rules. But our reasoning means nothing to the Legitimacy Kingdom. We cannot avoid a conflict here. )
"Maria, Rachel." Sarasa gave instructions to her subordinates over the radio."We must finish them off quickly. Prepare your 50 mm mortar. I will intentionally fire well off target. Once they know we are using short-range sniper rifles, they will assume we cannot hit them at this range and grow negligent. Fire at them once their heads surface."
"Understood. We can hold the mortar one-handed, so the setup takes no time at all."
"If we don't take care of this quickly and get out of here, we might even end up with that Object pursuing us."
After seeing Maria and Rachel dive under the water, Sarasa peered through her scope once more.
She then noticed something strange sticking up from the ocean surface
It was the standard issue assault rifle of the Legitimacy Kingdom.
She would have understood if just the barrel was sticking out, but for some reason, it was sticking out with the portion of the stock that pressed against the shoulder up. Also, some kind of white cloth was tied to the stock. She had no way of knowing, but the cloth came from a survival kit. The cloth could be used as a bandage for a wound, as a sling for a broken arm, or to hold a sprained ankle in place.
(Is that supposed to be a white flag?)
Sarasa frowned as she could not determine what they were trying to do.
When she looked at the rifle sticking up out of the water once more, she noticed something written in permanent marker on the white cloth.
It was a number several digits long.
She thought for a second and then pulled out her radio.
"What is the meaning of this? Are you trying to determine my location from the signal?"
"Thank goodness you have plenty of curiosity."
When she set the frequency, she heard a voice that clearly did not belong to anyone in her unit. For one thing, it was male.
The voice likely belonged to a Legitimacy Kingdom soldier.
"We are also targeting Roybelz Oldnick. However, only one of us can kill him. That issue could start an unnecessary firefight that will just give Oldnick a chance to escape.... Am I right in assuming you see this the same way?"
"It seems you are not an idiot." Sarasa gave a thin smile."I assume you are not thinking the enemy of your enemy is your friend. Valkyrie will eliminate any enemies of god no matter what. We have no intention of giving you his head. I do not like that he set this up, but we cannot avoid a conflict over this."
"You can have his head, " replied the Legitimacy Kingdom soldier immediately."We just need to get DNA evidence. After Oldnick is dead, we'll give you some time. You can chop off his head, but leave the rest of him for us. We'll retrieve that."
"..."
Sarasa thought for a bit.
"I will deem that an official proclamation. If you do anything that works against our interests, we will officially register you and your unit as enemies of god. It does not matter if it is intentional. If a single stray bullet hits me or my subordinates, the Faith Organization will pursue you for all eternity."
"That's fine." Whether he truly understood what it meant to make a promise with Valkyrie or not, the Legitimacy Kingdom soldier did not hesitate."Our orders were simply to confirm that Oldnick is dead. Unlike you, it does not matter to us who kills him. Also, I'm not about to fall into our enemy's trap and get into a pointless firefight during this age of clean battlefields. The fewer corpses in the end, the better."
Part 10
Valkyrie of the Faith Organization aimed toward the giant float and fired their short-range sniper rifles again and again. They did not use full auto, but this was not in order to raise their accuracy. They wanted to be constantly firing, and so they wanted to lower their rate of ammunition consumption.
As could be seen by the fact that they were not particularly concerned with accuracy, Valkyrie were not trying to hit their distant target.
They were providing cover fire for Quenser and Heivia as they climbed out of the water and onto the giant float.
They were ensuring that Oldnick would not shoot the two boys during that dangerous period by preventing him from coming out from behind cover.
"Shit!! They're firing pretty intensely!! Are you sure this is cover fire? They're not actually using this as a chance to kill us, are they!?"
"They can't aim too accurately at this distance with those short-range sniper rifles. Of course, that isn't exactly reassuring even if they aren't intentionally targeting us."
Quenser and Heivia climbed aboard the giant floating plant and headed for the control equipment while keeping low to the ground. Quenser pulled out a clay-like bomb, attached it to the center of the metal door leading into the facility, and stabbed in an electric fuse.
That was when Oldnick noticed them.
He aimed his handgun at the door and fired several times.
Quenser and Heivia frantically leapt out of the way.
"Shit! Let's get away from the door, Quenser!! That way you can blow it out of our way!!"
"I hope this kills him!!"
While remaining down on the ground, Quenser hit the switch on his radio.
With an explosion, the steel door was blown off its hinges and into the room. It did not hit Oldnick directly, but the shockwave seemed to have hit him. They saw him thrown forcefully against the communications equipment inside.
Heivia fired his rifle into the now-doorless entrance and sparks flew from several devices within. But Oldnick moved his unsteady legs and ran towards the staircase further within the facility.
"That persistent bastard!!" shouted Heivia as he ran for the stairs after Oldnick.
Repeated gunshots rang out.
They did not come from Heivia's rifle; they came from Oldnick's handgun.
When Heivia arrived on the 2nd floor, he leaned up against a corner in the passageway. Oldnick was periodically firing his handgun, so Heivia could not carelessly poke his head around the corner. When he did take a peek around the corner despite the danger, he saw that the old man had knocked over all the furniture along the wall of the passageway to create a simple barricade.
"What a pain in the ass." Heivia brought his radio's microphone to his mouth."Quenser. Hey, Quenser!! Give me one of your electric fuses! Toss one up to me right away!!"
"Why? And what about the explosive?"
"Just toss it up the staircase!!" shouted Heivia.
Quenser did as he was told and tossed the pen-like fuse from the bottom of the staircase. Heivia crouched down to pick the fuse up from the ground, and pulled out the spare round for his handheld anti-tank missile launcher. He then stuck the end of the electric fuse into the connector on the side.
He could now detonate it remotely.
"Just fucking die already!!"
While drawing back from Oldnick's gunfire, Heivia stuck just his arm around the corner of the passageway and threw the explosive.
Heivia immediately pressed his back against the wall and used his thumb to flip the panel off the switch on his radio.
He could detonate it at any time.
Even if Oldnick survived, the barricade between the two would have been blown away. Heivia could easily finish off the enemy while his movements were dulled by the shock.
Just as Heivia was about the hit the switch...
"Wait! Wait!!"
The old man's voice suddenly came from down the passageway.
Heivia could not peer around the corner. He preferred not to be shot between the eyes.
"I can give you information on the Capitalist Corporations Object!!" said Oldnick."You aren't from Valkyrie, are you!? You must be from the Legitimacy Kingdom then. You need information on the Capitalist Corporations Object you are fighting, right!?"
"Planning another slip of the tongue, are you? Sorry, but our primary target is you, not the Deep Optical. You really need to learn how to keep your mouth shut. Also, without you, the Legitimacy Kingdom and Capitalist Corporations have no reason to continue fighting."
"This time, maybe. But you will meet again on the battlefield someday. Wouldn't it be better to learn how that Second Generation Object works now?"
(Tch. He knows where we stand. Has he gotten some information on us from somewhere?)
"Also, the information could be used in developing your own Objects. It uses a liquid prism to safely combine multiple laser beams and it uses laser vibration detection to help absorb any shocks. Information on those technologies could help make them exclusive to the Legitimacy Kingdom."
It was true that information on Object technology could earn someone massive amounts of money. A hopeful designer like Quenser might even drool at the thought.
Oldnick continued speaking as Heivia remained silent.
"Stay your hand here. I will wait here for things to calm down. I do not wish to make an enemy of the Legitimacy Kingdom. All I care about is destroying Greece. And if that means I must oppose the entirety of the Faith Organization, it could work to your advantage."
"... I see."
Not only would he hand over information on some Object technology, but he would also destroy a major power within the Faith Organization.
After thinking on it, Heivia came to his conclusion.
"Then I think you need to die."
"Shit!?"
Just before Heivia unhesitatingly pressed the button on his radio, Oldnick leaped to the side in an attempt to get as far away as possible from the explosive. When he landed, he slid across the ground like a baseball player sliding headfirst into base.
With an explosive noise, dust was blown into the air.
"Gaaaahhh!?"
"Tch. So he can still scream!!"
The type of explosive and distance from the explosive were also important factors, but Heivia had seen a report saying the deadliness of an explosive blast differed by over 70% depending on whether the target was standing or lying down.
Oldnick tried to pull up his hurting body, but it would not move the way he wanted it to. The old man could only breathe heavily as he lay on the ground.
"You... idiot. Do you not know a good deal when you see one!?" said the old man.
"It's true that nothing could be better for us than for the Faith Organization to weaken itself with internal conflicts." Heivia carefully walked out from behind the corner and kept his rifle aimed at the old man."But you aren't distinguishing between the battlefield and the safe countries when you say you are going to destroy this Greek power. I have no intention of helping someone like that."
"... !?"
Meanwhile, Quenser remained in the room filled with large communications equipment on the first floor of the facility.
(Dammit, Oldnick. I know you don't want to die, but where do you think your goal is here?)
Quenser searched for a map of the facility to see if there was a heliport on the rooftop.
A handheld device sat atop the control panel. The plastic exterior was cracked, but the display was still lit.
(Is this Oldnick's?)
Quenser picked it up.
(It might have some information on him. If we know the scope of his power and what exactly he is after, we can figure out what to do next!!)
He found external links and collections of encryption codes, but the device's wireless functionality was broken, so he could not access any information stored on external servers. However, he did find a few temporary files still on the device. Quenser worked for a bit and finally found a way to read those temporary files.
Changes in the Value of PlatinumHow to Use TungstenThe Treasure of Electron Mathematics
He found a few fragmentary titles, but he could not access the full documents they linked to. Quenser clicked his tongue and called up more information.
OceaniaDomed Livestock Facilities = Information Alliance MadeThe Food Supply SituationSelf-Sufficiency and Importation
"What... ?"
Quenser frowned.
He found some data on Oceanian agriculture. Yet he had thought the Capitalist Corporations and Oldnick's connection was based on the Treasure of Electron Mathematics that created manmade platinum using tungsten. He saw no connection to agriculture or the food supply.
(No, wait... )
The Unstable Balance of Oceania's Natural EnvironmentThe Impossibility of Future Dairy Farming Based on Grazing Land70% of Meat Imported from the Capitalist CorporationsThe Effect of Manmade Livestock Facilities Supplied by the Information Alliance
Quenser audibly gulped.
"Due to the unstable balance between vegetation and desert in Oceania, grazing land was banned. This meant they had to rely on imported meat which mostly came from the Capitalist Corporations. But Oceania plans to use the funds from the platinum mined there to purchase dome-shaped livestock facilities from the Information Alliance. That means..."
A certain world power did not want Oceania to use artificial livestock facilities.
They wanted to drive down the value of the source of funds for those large-scale dairy farming facilities.
To do that, they had to destroy the value of platinum.
It was in the Capitalist Corporations' interests to cause a crash in the value of platinum using the Treasure of Electron Mathematics.
However...
The Information Alliance-made livestock facilities were needed to improve the unstable food supply situation.
Robbing them of that option meant...
The Negative Effects of CyclonesWorries Over the Possibility of Import Routes Becoming BlockedSevere Food ShortagesEstimated Starvation Levels of Over Half a MillionUp to 750, 000 Could Die Before a Solution is Found
"Those monsters!!!!!"
Just as Quenser very nearly crushed the handheld device in his grip, a staticky voice came in over the large communication equipment that had been partially damaged in the firefight.
"Oh, right." The speaker must have thought he was still speaking with Oldnick."Cardinal, there is one last thing I would like to make clear. It is about the method of creating manmade platinum you call the Treasure of Electron Mathematics. The truth is, we do not really need it."
"..."
"Basically, we just need the price of Oceanian platinum to plummet. The thing about the market is, an expected crash is enough to cause a panic even if there was never any real threat."
Quenser knew what the man was trying to say.
His face paled as the man continued to speak.
"And so we do not actually need to learn the details of the method from you, cardinal. We just need it to be known that we worked with you in some way or another. In fact, if you are captured or killed by the Legitimacy Kingdom or Faith Organization here, some might decide you never actually managed to give us information on the Treasure of Electron Mathematics. That would be a problem."
"Heivia!!" Quenser brought his own small radio to his mouth."Get out of here now! Now that Oldnick is cornered here, the Capitalist Corporations is going to-... !!"
"In that case, wouldn't the best way to keep those useful doubts alive be to turn you to ash there?" continued the man.
Quenser had no time to wait for Heivia's response.
He ran out of the facility as quickly as he could and leaped into the sea. Seawater got in his mouth, but he did not care. He covered his eyes with his right arm.
In the next instant, a great flash of light exploded out. It seemed like the light of welding multiplied several dozen times.
Even with his arm covering them, the light stabbed into his eyes. He could not even calmly deduce that the light came from a massive laser beam burning the structure away.
In all seriousness, Quenser went blind for a bit.
That violently bright light was the proof that it was an attack from a ridiculously huge weapon.
It was a Second Generation Object.
It was the Deep Optical.
(Uuh... !?)
"Cough!! Cough cough!!"
His vision started to come back, but an afterimage remained as if a film was being draped over his eyes.
Quenser started to panic. He completely forgot about the tube right next to his mouth leading to the oxygen tank on his back and headed for the ocean surface for air.
When his face breached the surface, the change to the environment became abundantly clear.
The giant, lightly-colored float had been polished like a silver mirror.
Except that was not what had happened.
(A portion of the steel facility was vaporized!?)
The metal had turned into a hot vapor, had been sprayed across the giant float, and then had cooled and hardened there. That made the surface of the float shine like it had been silver-plated.
(God dammit... )
As always, Object cannons were in a league of their own.
Quenser knew he had escaped the blast, but fear still filled him from the tips of his fingers and toes to the very core of his body upon seeing those effects. He could not feel any relief over having avoided it. He had to use his intellect to its fullest in order to come up with a plan to survive, but he could feel his thoughts falling to pieces in the face of his emotions.
That was when the upper floors of the facility fell to the ocean because the middle floors had been destroyed.
The sudden waves this caused tossed Quenser around, but he managed to not drown thanks to his oxygen tank.
When he surfaced once more, he spotted Heivia's head sticking out of the water nearby.
He had likely jumped out a window just before the laser beam struck.
"I almost died! Dammit, I almost died!! I can't think straight and I can't feel pain properly!! I still have all my arms and legs, right!?"
It seemed Heivia had begun to panic.
Quenser then heard a female voice come in over his radio.
It was from Valkyrie.
"Hey, we saw what just happened! What happened to Roybelz Oldnick!?"
The reply came from Heivia who had been pursuing the man up to the very last second.
"How the fuck should I know!? That old man was acting like he had all the answers while talking about liquid prisms and laser vibration detectors, but he sure got blown away with the entire 2nd floor easily enough!! I doubt there's enough left of him to feed a single fish!!"
"Tch!!"
Quenser heard someone click their tongue and then the radio transmission cut off.
Quenser tried contacting them again a few times, but he received no response.
"I think they ran off..."
"I want to join them!! Our huge-breasted commander told us not to let anything happen to the plant, and look what happened!! How many yellow cards is that now!? Can you even stock up red cards!?"
Quenser ignored Heivia and muttered to himself to gather his thoughts.
"Valkyrie was after nothing but Oldnick from the start. They have no reason to stick around to help with the Capitalist Corporations or Deep Optical."
But Quenser and Heivia were not so lucky.
The Deep Optical was fighting with the Baby Magnum. If the princess lost that battle, Quenser and Heivia at the very least would be persistently pursued if not the entire mobile maintenance battalion.
After all, they had given the Deep Optical enough of a reason to focus its fire on them with what they had done in the Loyauté district.
They had no idea when the Object's main cannon would be fired at them in the name of destroying the plant to drive up the price of tungsten.
"As always, we have to charge through the heart of hell in order to survive."
"Oh, what the hell! Why is it always an Object in the end!? We're getting a little too close to actually ending up in heaven here!"
While cursing their luck, the two boys reequipped their goggles and the mouth pieces for their oxygen tanks, and then dove down once more.
They were headed for the Capitalist Corporations' Second Generation Object.
They would not leave alive unless the Deep Optical was destroyed.
Part 11
As Quenser and Heivia headed through the ocean with their aqua scooters, the bombardment from the Deep Optical continued. Naturally, the bombardment was targeting the tungsten plant.
"Shit!! Our huge-breasted commander just won't stop yelling! We didn't manage to retrieve Oldnick's body and now the plant is being attacked. This is getting worse and worse!"
"If I have to choose between becoming fish food and being treaded on by a beautiful woman, I will always choose the latter! So let's focus on surviving this, Heivia!!"
The Deep Optical was unsuited to high-speed movements, so its strategies focused around deciding things quickly with its giant laser. However, it was now attacking the plant while holding the princess's Baby Magnum off almost casually.
It was clear which Object had the upper hand.
The Baby Magnum had not been directly hit by the enemy's main cannon, but it continued to just barely avoid it. The side effects of the giant laser had to be doing damage bit by bit. That Deep Optical seemed to have nothing to worry about.
But...
"How odd. They're only targeting the giant float with that facility on it while completely ignoring the frames that make up the majority of the plant."
"They just want to make the entire plant unusable. Afterwards, they can retrieve the filters and take the tungsten for themselves. It's a very Capitalist Corporations way of thinking."
The one piece of luck was that this strategy kept the rest of the group meant to pursue Oldnick from being targets as they helped the civilian workers evacuate via ship.
However, they could hardly relax.
"Either way, only one fate awaits us if the princess loses. The rest of the unit might survive, but we have given them enough reason to hunt us down."
Quenser was of course referring to the incident in the Loyauté district.
Sounding annoyed, Heivia said, "I know we have to do it, but how are we supposed to oppose that monster?"
"It's specialized for naval battles, so it uses an air cushion propulsion device. Its armaments are centered around laser beams. That gives us a few starting points." Quenser let his body float in place thanks to the buoyancy provided by the program-controlled oxygen regulation inside his diving suit."The air cushion propulsion device keeps the craft afloat using the power of air, so the situation between the floats and the ocean surface can greatly affect its balance"
"Yeah, it remains stable by keeping the air between two large flat surfaces."
"And it loses its balance if that is destroyed, " said Quenser."Luckily, this is the ocean rather than solid ground. That gives us a chance. We need to take a large chunk of the ocean water out from under the Deep Optical. If we do, it will capsize and sink.... A few years back, a Second Generation Object specialized for naval battles was sunk by a freak wave."
"But we can't just cause a freak wave, " said Heivia in disapproval."Freak waves are large enough to sink tankers and they occur unexpectedly. The exact conditions that cause them are unknown. It's true that they're like the grim reaper to ships on the sea, but how are we supposed to cause one when no one knows what exactly causes them?"
"That was just an example. Also, the Deep Optical has laser beam emitters on its side that it can use to detonate the air and recover like a self-righting doll."
"What other 'starting points' do you have?"
"That high power laser beam. Its main cannon indirectly helped us out in the Loyauté district. It gathers the energy of 8 laser beams and fires it all at once. If something goes wrong with the control of that energy, it might blow itself apart."
"What, are you going to climb up onto that main cannon?" Heivia shrugged within the seawater."Even if it's a relatively slow Object, it still moves at over 200 kph. If we tried to grab onto it, it would rip our arms off."
"Can we interfere with it from a distance?"
"There's no way we can get a hole-in-one firing an anti-tank missile down the barrel of the main cannon."
"What about interference with its programming?"
"If that was possible, the electronic simulation department would have tons of medals."
Quenser fell silent.
Heivia had plenty of negative opinions, but he was good at viewing the situation rationally (when it meant saving his own skin). Quenser had plenty of positive opinions, but he was bad at seeing the risk when he thought he had a way of winning.
Quenser was thankful for those characteristics of his comrade in arms. Your personality was not something you could change even if you were aware of its negative aspects.
Quenser suddenly stopped his thought process and spoke once more.
"Then there is one last thing we can rely on."
"Ahn?"
"Just to double check, Oldnick mentioned a liquid prism and laser vibration detectors before he died, right?"
"Yeah, he made it sound like the liquid prism was used to combine the 8 lasers and the laser vibration detectors were used defensively."
"... I see." Quenser thought for a bit."In that case, we might have a chance. We need to think up a way to get up on that thing."
"What could you possibly do on top of it!?" Heivia's eyes opened wide."Even if you climb up on top of the Object's spherical main body, the pilot Elite is hardly going to open the hatch to the cockpit. And the puny guns and explosives we have can't damage that main cannon!! Those monsters are specifically designed to keep that from happening!!"
"With its focus on lasers, the Deep Optical likely cannot keep its defenses up to the level needed in a real battle just with thick armor. Laser beams are delicate enough as they are, but they've combined 8 of them together. That main cannon is filled with delicate parts. It's like building a pyramid of cards higher and higher."
"So what!?"
"We can use that." While underwater, Quenser pulled out his handheld device."We overheard tons of information related to the Deep Optical before heading into the maintenance base in the Loyauté district. We can use some of that data here. But to use it, we have to get up on the Deep Optical first."
As he spoke, Quenser held a hand out toward Heivia.
"Hand me your knife, Heivia. The tiny little cooking knife in my survival kit isn't going to cut it here. I need your pointlessly large combat knife."
"What are you going to do with a knife!?"
"Get us something to use in place of a rope. The tungsten filters should do the trick. They're several dozen meters long and are more than strong enough to support our weight."
"Are you serious? Are you seriously thinking of using a rope to climb up that Object as it moves around the sea at over 200 kph? You'll just end up looking stupider than someone wiping out while water skiing!! And even if you do get up on it, the Deep Optical will just fling you off when it makes a wide turn!! This is not an environment conducive to rock climbing!!"
"I never said I was going to do that." After checking on the information he needed, Quenser put his handheld device away and pulled his radio out in its place."We can just take the elevator."
Part 12
As the Baby Magnum moved around at high speed, the Deep Optical moved at much slower speeds, parried with its various cannons, and bought time with its blinding weapon. All the while, a tremendous exchange of shells continued.
But then a change came over the Baby Magnum's actions.
All seven of its main cannon arms had been using the low-stability plasma cannon option, but one of them rotated like a revolver and switched over to the coilgun.
Amidst the many low-stability plasma cannon shots, a single giant metal coilgun shell was fired.
It was not targeting the Deep Optical itself. If it did, it would just end being deflected by a laser parry.
The princess was targeting the ocean surface below the Deep Optical. A crater several dozen meters across was created and a spray of water that was closer to an explosive blast than a wave dyed the air white.
The Deep Optical floated in the air using its air cushions, but it could still be greatly affected by the condition of the ocean surface.
As more and more metal shells were fired, the Deep Optical very nearly capsized.
But it managed to recover.
It fired a large number of lasers from its side to cause an explosive expansion of the air beneath the falling side of the spherical body. This pushed it back up. This momentum was used to force the craft back up from an almost 80 degree tilt.
How did the Deep Optical interpret that attack?
Had the Baby Magnum been attempting to slow the Deep Optical's evasive speed by destroying its footing?
Had the Baby Magnum been trying to damage the delicate equipment within the Deep Optical by shaking the entire Object?
Many ideas must have passed through its pilot's mind.
But all of them were wrong.
What the princess had been instructed via radio to do was...
Part 13
Quenser and Heivia stood near the very top of the Deep Optical's spherical main body. The filter cloth was bent in a U shape around one of the relatively small cannons. It was supporting them in the place of a rope.
"Shit!! The surface is wet so I keep slipping! If we fall from this height, even the ocean is deadly!!"
"You should be thanking your luck that there's seawater here to slip on! If the residual heat from a laser firing was still here, we might have been turned into human torches!!"
The two had not simply climbed up the side of the spherical main body.
They did not have the time for that and even if they had attempted it, the magnetic sensors and other sensors would have detected them and they would have been immediately shaken off.
They had taken a simple shortcut.
"I can't believe you would think to wrap the filter around a cannon on the top in the instant the Deep Optical lost its balance. As always, your ideas use our lives as collateral!!"
"But thanks to that, we could use the Deep Optical righting itself to pull us to the top all at once."
The princess's attack had brought the Deep Optical down by 80 degrees. In other words, it had very nearly fallen horizontally to the ocean surface. There had only been just over 20 meters between the ocean surface and the top of the spherical main body. With a weight on the end of the filter, they had been able to throw it that distance.
"Anyway, we need to hurry to the main cannon! When the Deep Optical has had to right itself like that previously it has focused on evasion and disturbance tactics, and does not use its main cannon for a few minutes. But once its automatic scan is over, it will begin the fight anew. If that happens with us here, the radiant heat will roast us!!"
"What exactly are we going to do!? The main cannon is covered in thick armor. Our rifle and explosives can't damage it!!" shouted Heivia as he headed after Quenser.
Quenser arrived at a portion of the main cannon's base to the upper right of the Object. He pulled some Hand Axe plastic explosive from his backpack, tore off a small bit, and stuck it on the side of the base. Once he was done, he stabbed an electric fuse into it.
Heivia brought his hand to his forehead.
"That's nowhere near enough to get through Object armor!!"
"You help too, Heivia!!" shouted back Quenser as he tossed a package of explosive to Heivia."We don't have time!! We need to set up 20 more just like what I did here!!"
"God dammit. This isn't going to do anything!!" swore Heivia as he moved up next to Quenser.
As he continued the work, Quenser said, "Make the explosives small. Don't make them too big. That would be pointless."
"What? Don't we need them to be as big as possible to have even the slightest chance of doing any damage to the armor?"
"I'm not trying to break through the surface."
They heard a metallic creaking noise.
The Deep Optical's main cannon was starting to perform minute adjustments to its aim.
"Time's up, Quenser!! If we don't get out of here, the heat'll kill us!!"
"Just 7 more!!"
"We're gonna get roasted!!"
"3... 2... Okay, done!!"
Quenser stood up and immediately started running down the side of the spherical main body. In other words, he ran down a steep slope heading to the sea.
Heivia lost his cool.
"You have got to be kidding me! You don't have a gentler means of escape!?"
"Hurry!! If that main cannon fires, we'll be burned more horribly than a newlywed wife's home cooking!!"
After seeing Quenser run off ahead, Heivia followed suit while half in tears.
The slope of the spherical main body gradually grew steeper and Heivia's feet eventually got tangled up on each other. He just barely managed to get the footing to take one last step and leap towards the sea.
He jumped from a height of over 30 meters.
He felt weightless for a few seconds, but an unpleasant pressure soon filled his stomach.
He struck the ocean surface in the next instant. Heivia felt a shock more powerful than if he had run full tilt into a sheet of plywood.
He very nearly passed out in the ocean, but a pure white flash of light that seemed to crush his eyes forced back his consciousness.
The Deep Optical had fired its main cannon.
"Cough!! Cough cough!!"
"Heivia, you have your oxygen tank, right!? Don't panic and use it!!"
Heivia heard Quenser's advice over the radio, but he could not respond. Quenser then reached a hand over from nearby and brought the mouthpiece to Heivia's mouth.
Once Heivia had regained oxygen and calm, he wrapped his hands around Quenser's neck.
"Die!! This is why I never want to go along with your horrible plans!!"
"Stop it, Heivia!! Are you in such a panic you want to cling to a guy!? Our job isn't over yet! If we do nothing, the Deep Optical will defeat the princess!!"
"But what can we do with those tiny explosives?" asked Heivia as he finally removed his hands from Quenser's neck.
Quenser pulled out his radio and said, "Remember all the information we gathered on the Object in the Loyauté district? The Deep Optical is a mass of laser technology with unbelievable firepower, but that also means it contains a mass of delicate equipment inside. They have to worry about shocks to the outside and even the G forces created by high-speed movements."
"And?"
"Just making the armor thick isn't enough to protect that delicate equipment."
Quenser moved his thumb repeatedly, and each time an explosive noise reverberated through the water.
The princess aboard the Baby Magnum heard every radio transmission between the two boys and could see the explosions.
And she probably knew the exact numbers involved better than the two idiots who had set up the explosives.
That level of explosion could not so much as scratch the Object's armor.
In fact, it was not even enough to blow up your average tank.
(What are they after? I hope that is not all they have. If so, I wasted my time helping them do it!!)
She then heard Quenser continue his explanation over the radio.
"That is why it has devices installed to electronically absorb the shocks. They keep a large gap in the armor and any shocks to the outer layer are sensed with laser vibration detectors. They can then counterbalance the shockwave running through the armor and cushion the inner armor. The shock will transfer through the countless pillars, but the lasers are faster. By cutting off any shocks that exceed the allowable limit, they can protect the delicate equipment."
"That just means their armor is more of a pain to deal with than just a thick wall, right? That just means the explosions will do even less damage!"
"Not necessarily, " replied Quenser immediately as he continued the seemingly meaningless explosions.
The princess frowned as she zigzagged the Baby Magnum around.
She still could not tell what he was after.
"The laser vibration detectors are meant to detect vibrations coming in from outside, but it is best not to move around too much if you want to up the accuracy. In other words, if you have it reacting to every little vibration, you run the risk of a delayed response to a larger shock you truly need to deal with. To keep the accuracy high, the shocks too small to have any negative effects on the delicate equipment are overlooked."
As the high heat caused when the lasers passed through ran the risk of disturbing the liquid, it was likely that either a fast-acting coolant was used or the liquid prism itself was divided into cartridges. But what if vibrations came from somewhere the designers never expected?
"The explosives send just a slight shock into the armor. By pumping in small shocks like that repeatedly, we can shift the position of the delicate equipment bit by bit. It may not even amount to a hundredth of a millimeter."
"What good is something on a level only a craftsman cares about?"
"Plenty. The liquid prism collects the optical energy for the main cannon. The light is bent by intentionally altering the density of the liquid inside the container by electrochemical means. By sending repeated vibrations into it, the intentionally-altered density will become uniform. And that means..."
Each individual shock made it to the prism.
And the result was as follows:
In the next instant, the Deep Optical's main cannon became wrapped in a brilliant flash of light and disappeared.
At that moment, the energy from 8 carbon dioxide lasers within the Deep Optical's main cannon was being gathered at the base of the giant main cannon.
Lasers were emitted by exposing excited electrons to external light. The stronger that light, the stronger the emitted laser.
In a way, the Deep Optical's main cannon was a laser beam weapon that created a massive stimulated emission by pumping in the optical energy of 8 standard main cannon laser beams.
A mere mirror could not be used to gather the energy from all eight.
It required a device called a liquid prism. A special liquid inside a clear container that had its density intentionally altered electrochemically so that the light was bent like a sugar sculpture.
The liquid prism could freely bend the light with changes in the liquid's density, but without an irregularity to the density in the clear container, it could not function properly.
What would happen if a set shock was continually applied to that clear container containing a liquid with an altered density?
The answer was simple.
The shaking of the container's contents would even out the density of the liquid that was supposed to be of irregular density.
And without that irregular density, the light would no longer be bent.
The light that was supposed to be bent would pass straight through it.
And this would tear the Deep Optical's main cannon apart from the inside.
The light of the explosion assaulted Quenser and Heivia's eyeballs even through their closed eyelids.
"Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?"
Quenser shouted in pain, but he breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. His plan had worked. The Deep Optical's main cannon had been blown off, and the energy of the explosion had to have done serious damage to the Object as a whole. Even if the entire Object had not been destroyed, it was no match for the princess without its main cannon.
But...
"What... ?" muttered Heivia in confusion.
The Deep Optical tilted to the side. The energy from the explosion was pushing it to the side and it was beginning to capsize. Not only had the main cannon been torn apart from the inside, but it had completely melted and the armor of the main body had been torn up near where it had been.
There was no way it could continue fighting.
In fact, it was entirely possible it was too damaged to use its lasers and right itself.
And the Deep Optical did not even try to recover from its tilt.
It simply rotated around.
... Almost as if it was switching to another mode.
"Wha-... !?"
Its silhouette changed. The two large parts on the back of the spherical main body opened up and spread out like curved wings. It was still hovering above the surface of the water, but it was no longer using air cushions; it was using nothing but the power of lasers. Lasers were reflected between the ocean's surface and the bottom of the craft to explosively expand the air. The ends of the portions that had functioned as "legs" up until then opened up and lenses for laser weapons could be seen within.
While staring in blank shock, Heivia shouted, "It transformed!! What the hell!? Are the reactor and cockpit installed like gyroscopes!?"
"Dammit."
They had thought it was finally over.
They had thought they could return to the maintenance base zone and continue their vacation.
But...
"Does this mean we've only now made the Deep Optical get serious about this!?"
They had finally reached a turning point.
The Capitalist Corporations' Second Generation Object began its counterattack.
Part 14
When Quenser and Heivia fought an Object, they were usually entirely ignored as actual threats by the enemy.
If the Object took actions to kill them from the very beginning and kept them in the center of its sights as a priority target, there was no way flesh-and-blood soldiers had any hope of winning.
They would be unable to run away or evade even if they tried. No cover would be of any use.
But...
Even if the Deep Optical had escaped any trouble by transforming, it was unlikely to ignore the people who had destroyed its original main cannon.
"Shit. Here it comes. That monster is headed this way, Quenser!!" shouted Heivia, despite the fact that there was nothing the two of them could hope to do.
One of its new main laser beam cannons turned toward them. Without hesitation, an orange beam of light flew directly towards Quenser and Heivia.
Just before it did, the princess's Baby Magnum interposed itself between them and the beam.
"Quenser!!" shouted the princess.
"Can't you be worried about me, too!?" complained Heivia, but it was hardly the time for that.
The overall impression given off by the Deep Optical had changed.
While creating great explosive noises, it slid back and forth and fired laser beam after laser beam at the Baby Magnum. Its speed had undergone a great change. Before, the Deep Optical had been unable to move faster than about 200 kph, but now it was dancing around the Baby Magnum at speeds 4 or 5 times greater. It was easily handling the Baby Magnum which had proven it could handle your average Generation Two in the past.
"Shit!! What is going on!?"
"Those C-shaped wings on the back of the Deep Optical are used to reflect lasers. It uses those to intentionally detonate the air and give it quick bursts of speed. This gives it acceleration you could never hope to get with rocket boosters!!"
"I thought it avoided sudden movements because of the delicate equipment in the lasers!"
"It must want to overcome this situation even if it ends up destroying its own main system! These main cannons are likely solid-state lasers that use YAG. That's the very first optical weapon ever developed and it therefore has the simplest design."
"Solid-state lasers have high outputs but can't be fired for long, right?"
"Yes, and as you can see, it can't put out as much heat, so the princess's armor can withstand a few hits. When the previous lasers roasted the dust and moisture in the air, it created a pure white beam, but this has fallen to orange." Quenser calmly analyzed the situation."Most likely, it fires repeatedly similar to a machinegun in order to make the best use of the short firing time. If it fires at the same spot repeatedly, it might be able to tear open the armor. However, the armor can hold up for a while if the princess makes sure it hits at skewed points."
"But either way the princess will be taken out eventually!! And once our shield is gone, we're dead!!"
"..."
Quenser thought for a bit and then took out some plastic explosive.
"Princess, how much time can you buy us against the Deep Optical?"
"Not enough to call it anything as cool as 'buying you time'."
"Just give us 10 minutes, " said Quenser as he breathed a sigh of relief that she was calm enough to joke about it."That should be enough."
Part 15
The first to notice the oddity was Froleytia Capistrano as she monitored the Baby Magnum and the battlefield as a whole.
"What?"
She could hardly be blamed for being confused.
An explosion had suddenly occurred amongst the frames that made up a large portion of the plant. And the explosion did not spread out evenly. It was vertical. A few of the frames were blown to pieces and a pillar of water shot a few dozen meters straight up into the air.
"Is there anything explosive there?"
"N-no! Most of the plant is filled with filters meant to collect tungsten from the ocean water. Gas turbines are used to draw in the filters, but an entirely different machine does that. It is not normally attached to them. There should be nothing explosive there."
As Froleytia received that report from the electronic simulation department, a second and third explosion occurred.
"Explosions from within the sea..."
"Even if the Legitimacy Kingdom funds it, that is essentially a civilian facility in a blank area. I have never heard of any sea mines being placed in the ocean around it. We are performing a satellite search to determine whether it is an enemy UUV or fish robot!"
Froleytia had a bad feeling about what it might be, so she opened a few new windows on her laptop.
(I need the test firing report lists for official Legitimacy Kingdom armaments... )
She called up a diagram displaying the test results of various explosives.
It contained data on the spread of the blast, fragmentation, heat, and other effects when detonated under various environments, in different forms, and under different conditions.
(How does the blast spread when the Hand Axe plastic explosive is detonated underwater?)
When she set those search conditions, detailed numerical data and a simple diagram of the spread of the blast appeared on the screen. It seemed the diagram would change in real time if she entered the amount of explosive and the depth under the water.
When Froleytia saw it, she felt a bit dizzy.
It was almost exactly the same as the pillars of water she had just seen.
"Those brats... Why in the hell are they blowing up the plant they're supposed to be protecting!?"
Part 16
As Quenser detonated the plastic explosives from a safe distance, he spoke to Heivia who was looking through his rifle scope.
"How high were those!?"
"The first one was 27. 1. The second was 30. 5! That's just barely there, right!? How are things going on your end!?"
"Well enough. Now it's just up to the princess."
"Hey, Quenser. Our huge-breasted commander has been screaming at us over the radio for a bit now. What are we supposed to tell her?"
"You're still connected to the channel? I cut it off a while ago."
"Sometimes I am truly in awe of your guts..."
As they spoke, the two boys moved on to the next step.
Even then, the Deep Optical was trying to attack Quenser and Heivia, and the Baby Magnum was taking the hits to act as their shield.
The princess used her brilliant talents (that she had been artificially given) to keep the lasers from hitting the same spot too many times, but the entire spherical main body had begun to glow orange.
They had no time.
"Heivia, you dive down and remove the weights from the bottom of the filters! I'll cut off the filters with the knife!!"
"Tch. I'm not gonna get decompression sickness am I!?"
As the filters were cut loose, the cloth floated up near the surface of the water. Quenser cut loose several dozen, so they quickly spread out amongst the surrounding water.
Quenser contacted the princess via radio.
"I've scattered some filters packed full of tungsten. Don't pass over them!!"
"How are you going to destroy the Deep Optical with filters?"
"Isn't it obvious? The shiny surface of the filters will reflect the lasers."
However, the Deep Optical was covered in various sensors.
It had surely noticed the large number of filters floating near the ocean surface.
It made quick movements back and forth to avoid the filters. And it did so with its propulsion device that detonated the air using lasers.
The princess gasped and said, "It's no good. They have noticed them!! You cannot interfere with the lasers keeping the Deep Optical afloat!!"
"Those aren't the ones I'm after, " said Quenser as he reached for the switch on his radio.
Yes.
The switch that sent the detonation signal to the electric fuses for the Hand Axe plastic explosives attached to the filters.
"I'm targeting the giant wings it uses for quick turns!!"
As he shouted, several plastic explosives detonated simultaneously. Instead of spreading in every direction, the underwater explosions shot pillars of water straight up.
And they brought the shattered fragments of the filters with them.
Some of them made it within the C-shaped wings on the back of the Deep Optical's spherical main body. At the same time, powerful lasers were being reflected around within the wings causing the air to explosively expand.
The tungsten that was blown into the middle of it all threw the reflection of the lasers out of order which in turn caused a massive error in the angle of the Object's turn. And this was at the same time that the Deep Optical was making repeated small curves to avoid the filters that it had mistaken for sea mines.
In the middle of one of those quick turns, it lost its balance.
The entire Object tilted far to the side.
Before, it had used reflected lasers to detonate the air and recover, but it could no longer use that once it had transformed.
That left only one fate for the giant weapon.
It had to sink.
It could not right itself and it could not rotate 180 degrees and transform.
While sending a great spray of water into the air like someone wiping out while water skiing, the Deep Optical attempted to recover.
But then one last strike finished it off.
This strike came from a low-stability plasma cannon equipped on the Legitimacy Kingdom's First Generation Baby Magnum.
And it exploded.
With a brilliant flash of white light, a great shock rushed across the surface of the ocean.
It was not clear if it was caused by the Deep Optical sliding across the ocean surface or if it was caused by the giant explosion that occurred afterwards, but a tremendous wave spread out across the area. And the wave did not just affect the surface. Quenser and Heivia had dived down below the surface, but they were still tossed around like ice in a glass being shaken.
"Cough!! Cough cough!!"
Quenser had a stable source of air from his oxygen tank, but the sudden loss of any sense of up or down confused him so much he felt like he had forgotten how to breathe.
"Is it over?"
"We still haven't gotten the white flag signal from the Capitalist Corporations. It seems they still wish to fight, " replied the princess.
"Sink their lifeboats or something. They'll change their minds once they see firsthand that nothing but a watery grave awaits them if they don't surrender here."
With that comment, Quenser headed for the bright ocean surface.
He could not think of a single reason to stay in the dark depths any longer.
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