Chapter 22

The reason why monsters attack Japan has been explained as mentioned earlier, but there is actually one thing that has not been explained.

What is it? To put it bluntly, it's "population control."

Needless to say, monsters are consumers. Of course, if the demon race orders them, they can till the fields. However, there are very few demons who are familiar with agricultural, fishing, or dairy farming, and above all, demons tend to dislike such time-consuming work. Therefore, the demon race turns the humans living in the territories they dominate into serfs and makes them work in primary industries.

However, no matter how much land and resources there are, it is never equivalent to infinity.

Moreover, small monsters have an ecology similar to wild animals.

In other words, small monsters reproduce and increase among themselves.

Furthermore, small monsters are omnivores and have the undesirable trait of nibbling on crops grown by humans or even eating humans themselves.

Small monsters do serve as prey for medium and larger monsters, so in that sense, they are producers. However, from the perspective of the demons, who possess human-like intelligence and thus similar tastes, small monsters are no more than stupid pets that only seek food and are of little use as combatants.

Similarly, medium and large monsters must eat to survive, but the amount of food they need is proportional to their size.

Even if they are a formidable fighting force, it is difficult to maintain a large number of large monsters that require tens of tons of food per day.

Therefore, the demon race selects the weaker monsters or those whose food consumption does not match their work and sends them out to attack.

If they drown on the way, so be it. If they successfully cross the sea and reach Japan, they can put pressure on the National Defense Forces and force them to use resources. If they can inflict damage on the National Defense Forces, that's even better.

Of course, the monsters are unaware of the demons' intentions. Therefore, they swim with all their might and fight with all their might if they encounter enemies upon reaching land.

Since they are basically wiped out after landing, their combat lessons are not fed back. The demons do not expect much from them, so there is no change in their behavior.

Thus, they always land in the same way, fight in the same way, and die in the same way.

That was the fate of the monsters.

...Until this day.

It all started when a newly born demon voiced a question to the monsters heading to Japan on orders.

He said, "Why does everyone swim individually? If they do, they'll just get tired and drown, right? The big ones can swim slowly, and the medium and small ones can ride or be pulled by the big ones, which would reduce their energy loss, right?"

It was not an order, but it was an opinion from a higher demon, and most importantly, their instincts understood that doing so would allow them to maintain more energy for their mission.

Even without intelligence, they must have instinctively thought, "I don't want to die in vain. I want to fight as ordered."

After that, the large monsters began to share the movement tactics that had previously been used only by the super-large monsters.

It was as if migratory birds formed a V-formation to manipulate air currents and reduce overall energy consumption.

What the monsters' acquisition of this simple yet effective movement method would bring to the enemy.

The Second Division, which was maintaining the defense line on the opposite shore in Japan, would experience it firsthand a few days later.

---

"Impossible! There are too many!"

Such a voice was heard from a corner of the command post three days after Keita arrived in Kyushu. They had just finished confirming their positions and conducting the final inspection of their weapons, and were about to engage in battle with the monsters in a fully prepared state.

In this world, where demons were summoned during World War II, there is no satellite surveillance system that is taken for granted in Keita's world. The military basically relies on radar-equipped surveillance ships and large ground-based radars for monitoring.

Incidentally, the ratio of surveillance ships to radars is about 1:9.

Ideally, the military would like to organize a surveillance unit with multiple ships and excellent surveillance personnel, but the fact that the crew on the ships would surely die if attacked by monsters at sea is a major obstacle.

After all, it is not feasible to lose trained surveillance personnel once or twice, so it is only natural that the number of surveillance ships requiring crew is limited.

Therefore, the military has placed disposable radars at several points and calculates the direction and estimated arrival time of the monster invasion by reverse-engineering the location and time of their destruction.

The drawback of this method is that it is impossible to determine the exact location and time of the monster's landing, and the number of enemies is unknown.

Therefore, the interception forces begin to move to the location where the monsters are expected to land as soon as the monsters' advance is confirmed, and complete their deployment before the monsters arrive, prepare for interception, and then try to determine the number of enemies.

Because of this sequence of actions, it is inevitable that the confirmation of the number of monsters is delayed.

Additionally, the detection range of the large radars installed on the ground to search for monsters is about 300 kilometers, and the wide detection range is also one of the reasons for miscounting the number of enemies.

This is because it takes about a day for monsters to swim 300 kilometers, and the military assumes that a certain number of monsters will drown during that time (the number of drownings is calculated based on past experience).

In this case, the drowning rate can also be lower depending on the sea conditions, so it is recognized that it is not uncommon for the number of monsters that successfully land to be higher than expected.

Therefore, it would be unusual for a seasoned commander to raise his voice just because the number of monsters is slightly higher than expected. -- Under normal circumstances.

"What is that number! What's going on!"

Colonel Shizuno Yuhei, the commander of the interception force, raised his voice at the number of monsters he could see with his own eyes.

As mentioned earlier, it is normal for the number of monsters to fluctuate to some extent. Shizuno understands this.

What he cannot understand is that the number of monsters is not just slightly higher, but rather, it has increased.

"I can understand why the number would decrease, but why is it increasing!"

The number of monsters observed by radar in advance was 15 large, 62 medium, and about 200 small, for a total of about 300.

This was the largest number ever observed by the Second Division.

Therefore, Shizuno requested reinforcements from other units as soon as the scale of the enemy was determined, and even recalled soldiers who were on leave. He even mobilized experimental machines that were supposed to be tested in the rear.

It was a situation where they were using every available resource.

The composition of the gathered interception force was 20 mech pilots using standard mechs, 40 mech pilots using beast-type mechs, and about 100 artillery pilots (mech pilots using specialized artillery known as coffin guns).

In terms of conventional weapons, there were 400 tanks and 4,000 infantry/artillery, which amounted to about 50% of the Second Division's total combat power. In terms of mech pilots, almost 90% of the Second Division's combat power was mobilized.

One might think that the number of mech pilots is small, but the mech pilot branch is a difficult branch to expand.

Indeed, the number of magic crystals and mech pilots in Japan has increased due to the Second Savior Plan, but the number is only about 100 per year, as indicated by the number of students enrolled in the military academy Keita attends.

Considering that the First Counteroffensive Operation, which was carried out after a certain number of people were gathered due to the Second Savior Plan, took place about 30 years ago, a simple calculation of 100 people x 30 years would result in 3,000 people. Of these, only about 30% have a high enough compatibility with magic crystals to use standard or beast-type mechs, meaning there are 900 mech pilots and 2,100 artillery pilots.

Of course, there are some people with high compatibility with magic crystals among the non-commissioned officers who do not attend the military academy, so there is some increase in both mech pilots and artillery pilots, but the reality is that the number does not exceed 30 per year.

As a result, the 900 mech pilots and 2,100 artillery pilots are dispersed among the nine divisions, so the number of mech pilots in one division is 100 and the number of artillery pilots is 230.

However, the Second Division, which guards Kyushu and the Chugoku region, is allocated more personnel than other divisions, so the actual number of deployed mech pilots is slightly higher. However, many of the recently deployed mech pilots have been prioritized for the expeditionary forces of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Divisions, and many have retired or been killed in action over the 30 years, so the current number of mech pilots assigned to the Second Division is 70 for standard and beast-type mechs combined, and 130 for artillery pilots.

Therefore, the mobilization of 60 mech pilots and 100 artillery pilots this time was the maximum possible number, excluding the reserve forces left for other landing sites.

However, even with this much combat power, it is difficult to deal with 15 large and 62 medium monsters.

(We can win, but we will lose a significant number of artillery and mech pilots in the counterattack.)

This was the thought of not only Shizuno but also the higher-ups of the Second Division.

However, before the monsters landed, they, especially Shizuno, would be made to feel the despair of their miscalculation.

Why? Because the base number was different.

According to the observations of the observers with their naked eyes (binoculars), the number of monsters that would successfully land was 10 large, 133 medium, and more than 500 small.

"Why!"

The number of large monsters decreased, but the others increased, and the number was nearly double the expected amount.

It was truly an unprecedented and abnormal situation.

"Why is there such a discrepancy!"

A swarm of over 100 medium monsters is something that the Fourth and Fifth Divisions, which are engaged in the counteroffensive on the continent, rarely encounter.

The Fourth and Fifth Divisions can deal with such a scale without causing significant damage because they are working in cooperation with local forces, but this number is not something that a single division should face alone.

Moreover, among the large monsters, there are several of the largest, 30-meter class.

"The number observed by radar was definitely not this high. It was not just one radar from one direction, but the number was calculated based on observations from multiple radars at multiple locations. And the number and types of large monsters. I've never seen a 30-meter class before. They suddenly appeared, and in multiple numbers... There's no doubt. The demons or the demon race must have done something!"

Shizuno, who was considering the reason for the increase in monsters. Indeed, if there was no abnormality with the radar, the most natural explanation would be that the demons or the demon race used their mysterious magical power to deceive the radar.

However, Shizuno's reasoning was off the mark.

To put it simply, the demons or the demon race did not consciously engage in deception.

The additional medium and small monsters were simply not counted because they were riding on the large monsters or were grouped together and being pulled by the large monsters, which were mistaken for a single monster.

The appearance of the previously unseen 30-meter monsters is simply because the monsters swam in a way that reduced their energy loss, so individuals that would have drowned due to fatigue because of their size were able to reach the shore safely.

"Colonel!"

"Damn!"

However, regardless of the reason, there are monsters in front of him.

Therefore, Shizuno must make a decision.

That is, whether to retreat or fight.

(What should I do? What should I do!)

Commander Shizuno of the interception force was being forced to make a decision.

Thank you for reading.

Points received from readers are the fuel for the author.

If you found it interesting and are curious about the continuation, please bookmark it or click the star at the bottom to rate it. Thank you very much.