Chapter 38: CH 36

While Kou and the girls were discussing the upcoming operation in their hangar carrier’s briefing room, the people of Metal Iris were about to experience a slight state of turmoil.

「Blue! Bluuue!」

Jenny, who just ended her video transmission with Rick, immediately called Blue up afterward.

「What’s wrong, Jenny? Why do you look like you’re about to cry buckets?」

「I finally know what this operation’s goal is! We’re gonna release a part of Asia that was sealed up by the Stones.」

「Eh?」

Blue’s eyes widened in shock. She then asked Jenny to repeat what she said. What Jenny said didn’t register at first, but once she confirmed that she didn’t mishear anything, Blue was rendered speechless.

「Yeah, of course, you’d react like that. Heck, anyone would!」

「H-Hold on. Weren’t the location where Asia was sealed up as well as the method to release her unknown?」

「The area where she was sealed is underneath our operation’s target. The means of releasing her is apparently having Kou get in contact with her prison! He says it would be fine even if he’s inside a Silhouette!」

「……P-Please wait. I really can’t process all of this so suddenly.」

Blue sported a serious expression as she held her forehead.

The planetary control and management AI Asia was immediately sealed in the opening stages of humanity’s war with the Stones.

Although Okeanos served the roles of managing the world’s massive database and ensuring that society runs smoothly, it was Asia who handled the process of getting along and integrating with humans.

Although it was Sophia that conceived the concept of the Nereids, the ones that actually oversaw their production were each planet’s central control computers. Although Blue was born to a Nereid mother as one of the newer generations, it was a fact that Asia and her cohorts were the ‘parents’ of their race. Thus, she held strong feelings of kinship with Asia.

Her liberation was also a long-cherished wish of all Nereids. Hence, she found it a bit unbelievable when such a possibility was suddenly presented to her without any warning.

「I feel the same way too!」

It was obvious that Jenny had gotten overwhelmed by her emotions.

There were those who panicked and those who remained calm when presented with something unexpected. Blue was apparently the latter.

「It was my first time seeing a Familiar become speechless. Oh, and seeing you so surprised is rare as well Blue.」

「Forget about me. In the first place, wouldn’t a larger Underground Force be better for this kind of operation?」

「That’s no good, apparently. If a larger force moved in, there’s a risk that the enemy might opt to blow up the entire facility instead of defending it. Even Storm Hound agreed that our current numbers are ideal.」

「It feels like someone really is behind Kou, doesn’t it?」

「It’s real obvious at this point! He said we could withdraw if it looks like the operation would fail, but there’s no way we can do that dammit!」

Distracting the enemy while deploying a separate team that will handle Ashia’s rescue.

Certainly, such an opportunity might never come again.

「Hey, I just got an operation file from Rick of Storm Hound. It’s the details of the Asia Rescue Operation. Ei, I’m gonna send it to all our members right away. Yeaah!」

「Please don’t get so worked up. If you send an operation file with that kind of name suddenly, everyone would just get confused.」

「I’m sure they’d get motivated by this. I believe in the team!」

「Please just calm down, Jenny. If you don’t, I’m gonna get really angry you know?」

Jenny finally managed to regain her composure after hearing Blue’s chilly warning.

Apparently, Blue was really scary when she’s angry.

「……Haa. I feel much better now that I’ve vented my feelings out, Blue. Thanks.」

「I understand why you panicked. But let’s set things up first before you press that Send icon, okay? If not, info might leak out you know.」

「Ah… Damn, you’re right. They’re gonna message around like crazy if we don’t warn them.」

「There you go. See how rash you were acting?」

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Blue pointed out Jenny’s near-blunder in exasperation.

「With this, the mystery of the Stone’s initial invasion strategy has been practically unveiled huh. It was a strategy to completely seal Asia by simultaneously capturing specific Fortress Areas housing parts of her.」

「Asia’s terminals have been said to be scattered in different places on the planet. Her functions began to get restricted once the Stones began capturing some Fortress Areas during the initial invasion.」

Asia was the planet’s control and management AI. She has always been close with humans and kept a constant watch over their development. Her identity and whereabouts were not known to humankind.

The summoning of the transferees was said to have used up the last of her power.

Asia lost contact with humanity after the outbreak of the was with the Stones. Humankind would have already been defeated if not for the support of the Familiars, Therianthropes, and Nereids.

「This request will kick up a storm regardless of success or failure, won’t it?」

「Definitely. Though I don’t even want to think of the consequences if we fail.」

「Haha. True.」

The two looked through the contents of the operation strategy file. Their expressions turned serious afterward.

「Jenny, check the changes made to the operation strategy. It looks like Storm Hound is getting ready for an all-out attack. It’s mentioned that it’s for the fulfillment of their long-awaited wish.」

「Whoah, hold on. Eh……? What the heck is this?」

「They are pretty serious about this. This strategy also has instructions in the event that they get annihilated. You usually don’t even want to consider such an outcome in our line of work and do everything you can to avoid it.」

「They want us to support Kou with all our power and get him to the target? What do you think about this?」

「It’s not written in clear-cut terms, but I guess they’re expecting us to get the picture. They are going to go all-out in order to capture the control center with the A-Carbuncle. It would be to an extent that you wouldn’t even think what they’re doing is actually a diversion.」

「So they have at least enough power to do that huh. They might be able to succeed in capturing the control center if they were to face regular defense troops. But that’s a big “if”.」

When comparing their overall strengths, Storm Hound was undoubtedly ranked higher than Metal Iris.

Their tank squad still remains as an absolute overlord of land battles even in the current era rife with Silhouettes.

Firepower, armor, and mobility. They are unmatched by current-era Silhouettes in all three.

There is a reason why there are so few mercenary outfits that operate tank squads despite their advantages though. To put it simply, tanks were a lot more expensive to manufacture and maintain than Silhouettes. And the reason why they’re so expensive is that the manufacturing facilities that are able to produce them are extremely limited in number.

Thus, the overall strength of Storm Hound that mainly employs a multitude of tanks as their combat force, was extremely high.

However, Silhouettes also served as the natural nemesis of tanks.

The main weakness of tanks is close combat, and in this, Silhouettes were their natural enemies. Silhouettes were able to quickly close the distance to their enemies and possessed a good variety of close combat weapons.

So, generally speaking, tanks dominate medium-range combat while Silhouettes thrive in close-range combat.

The same applies to airpower. Attack helicopters and attack planes were several times more expensive than Silhouettes. The advantages of aerial weapons have been significantly hampered due to the development of high-precision railguns and light-gas rifles, so they were deployed less and less in combat. In the Nemesis warfront, it can be said that weapons were nearly exclusive to mercenaries, and many owned personal machines.

It was indeed good to gain air superiority, but that became near-meaningless when aircraft could easily be shot down from the ground once detected. Unmanned weapons were always at risk of being hacked and controlled by the enemy. The reason why fighter planes and other attack aircraft virtually disappeared from the sky was because of the advances of anti-air technology employable by Silhouettes.

「This…… Let’s send a proposal back to Rick. They have too few Silhouettes to serve as infantry. We’ll have them send tanks and armored vehicles our way in exchange. Some of us will join them to help out. We can’t just leave them to handle the most dangerous part of the operation after all.」

「OK. I’ll work on it. Oh, and I’ll be coming along with them as well.」

「I was planning on going myself though?」

「You handle supporting Kou, Blue. After all, I haven’t been getting any mail from him anyway.」

「Jenny! You’re still in the mood for joking around!?」

「Haha. Open field battles are more my thing. You’re more suited to urban combat in tight spaces. I’m counting on you, alright?」

Kou’s target destination was almost certain to be in a confined space.

Jenny specialized in high-mobility combat. Thus, she decided to participate in the capture of the control center where she could play to her strengths.

Although Blue was still feeling a bit conflicted, she began to consider her unit’s weapon loadout in preparation for combat in confined, narrow spaces.

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