Chapter 35

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The simulated battle in the [Wide Battlefield] with Mr. Taguchi only ended up happening once.

Specifically, it ended when I shot a normal shot because he said, "I want to see a sniper shot."

Before I could ask, "Do you want to continue?" he said, "I see. I understand. Let's do it in the next [Battlefield]." I couldn't really ask after that.

The second simulated battle in the [Battlefield] happened twice.

The first time, I ended it with a headshot as he was moving around normally.

The process was similar to what happened with Mr. Iketani, but Mr. Taguchi was moving cautiously with a low posture, so it took a bit longer.

The second time, Mr. Taguchi brought a shield, so I tried shooting 40mm cannon rounds over the shield... but it only lasted a few seconds before the shield was completely destroyed and the battle ended.

Isn't the Kusanagi-type too fragile?

Well, since the main body only weighs 15 tons, there are limits to the weight and material of the shield it can carry. It's probably made of medium-grade material, right?

A 40mm cannon that can mince a living medium-grade creature would be meaningless in front of it, wouldn't it?

If it gets hit by a large attack, wouldn't it and the shield both vaporize?

No, I don't intend to complain, as it's probably designed to defend against attacks from medium-grade or smaller monsters, but I think it would be better if it were made of a more durable material.

The final simulated battle in the [Arena] ended after two rounds, as declared beforehand.

It was an unconventional match with Mr. Iketani and Mr. Taguchi against me, but that's how it went.

In the first round, the two of them rolled to the side to avoid a charge, so I ended it by shooting them with the 40mm cannon. In the second round, I retired Mr. Taguchi with a shield bash while he was hesitating between rolling and defending, and then I dodged to the side when Mr. Iketani tried to aim at me from behind, and ended it by shooting him when he was left vulnerable.

I think if we did it two or three more times, they could have made better moves, but I guess it was too tough for them to lose one-sided battles and pay 100,000 yen per round.

In the end, before I could ask, "Do you want to continue?" Mr. Taguchi said in a tired voice, "That's enough. Thank you for today."

Actually, I thought about doing some entertaining play in the second round, but Mr. Iketani doesn't seem to like that kind of thing, and I don't have the skill to make him realize it, so I gave up.

But, I think it's also their fault.

Since the weight and speed are different, it's not a fair fight for close combat, and even for shooting, I input the next action while charging, but they aim after being charged.

Of course, I don't think the command system is the best, and I don't intend to lecture them from a superior position, but I think they need to be more aware that they are using a machine.

In the end, today's simulated battles were three in the [Wide Battlefield], four in the [Battlefield], and three in the [Arena], totaling ten battles.

The reward I received was 1.2 million yen in total.

"Didn't you say you were bad at close combat?"

What are you talking about, Mr. Saikou?

"Eh? I didn't do any close combat, did I?"

I didn't slash with a blade or kick them. I just used a shield bash to fool around, but if the enemy had the same level of mobility, they would have been shot after being pushed back or to the side.

Also, there's a lag of more than one frame when switching actions and movements, which is unacceptable.

This might be due to my skills, but at least it won't work against a named crow with superior skills.

Ah, no, it's pointless to use an example of something that may or may not exist.

To give Mr. Saikou an easy example, let's say:

"Wouldn't that be useless against a large monster?"

"Yeah, well, that's true."

Large monsters are bigger, heavier, and tougher than me. If I collide with one, I'll lose. I'm sure Mr. Saikou understands that.

In the end, techniques that don't work against monsters are useless.

That's why close combat weapons need to be improved, but...

If we prioritize romance, a pile bunker is the only choice.

A heat pile with a red-hot tip would also be good.

But if I were to ask if such a romantic weapon could be used against a 30-meter-long monster or a super-large one over 30 meters, I'd have to say I'm not confident.

In a game, I could do it with the expectation of being hit, but in reality...

Of course, I could hit it if I were prepared to self-destruct, but whether it would kill it is unknown.

Actually, it might not even be powerful enough to kill a large monster.

In that case, long-range sniping is definitely better.

It's safer, and I learned that I can kill a large monster by crushing its head.

In any case, what I learned from this simulated battle is that the magic crystals and the magic power stored in the machine can be applied in various ways, and when the enemy doesn't have a magic barrier, it's better to use it to assist mobility rather than for attacks.

It's not meaningless, but it's not particularly useful information. Yeah.

But, I got 1.2 million yen from this simulated battle alone, so that's enough, I guess.

The machine will be handled by Mr. Saikou.

"So, I'm thinking of going home early and having a good meal with my sister. What do you think?"

"I don't know what you mean by 'that's why,' but you can't just go home like that."

"Eh!?"

Why not!

---

Saikou Takafumi

"I don't know what you mean by 'that's why,' but you can't just go home like that."

"Eh!?"

"Eh!? What are you so surprised about?"

I'm the one who should be surprised.

After all, his claim of being "bad at close combat" was just his own statement.

We should have confirmed it, but we didn't, so we might be at fault.

But, even we, who built the machine, judged that normal close combat with this machine was impossible.

And he handled it so easily.

When I pointed that out, he said, "That's not close combat."

Probably, what he means by close combat is a sword fight where both sides swing weapons.

In that sense, what happened just now wasn't close combat.

But, in general, "close combat" refers to combat when you are close to the enemy.

A shield bash using weight and speed is a legitimate combat technique, and predicting and taking evasive action is a skill, and targeting a rolling enemy is also a legitimate close combat technique.

On the other hand, it's true that a shield bash wouldn't work against a large monster, and if a shield bash doesn't work, the bluff using it is meaningless, which I understand.

But that's only in the case of large or larger monsters.

Maybe he doesn't know that the enemies the Kusanagi-type and Yawata-type pilots are supposed to fight are medium-grade monsters?

(He might not know)

After all, he can pierce large monsters as if they were snacks. Medium-grade monsters that can be crushed with incendiary grenades might be considered just part of the crowd.

(What should I do here?)

It's easy to correct the misunderstanding, but if he says, "Then I won't fight large monsters," it would be a problem.

Moreover, if the military learns his fighting style, they might stop all current Kusanagi-type operations and replace them with the mass-produced type, even if it means stopping all current Kusanagi-type operations.

Of course, there probably aren't any pilots who can boost their mobility with magic power and move around freely like him, so they will likely focus on enhancing long-range attacks for now.

"Whatever."

Honestly, I don't care what happens to the machine that's already out of my hands.

Right now, I just need to focus on collecting data on Keita and this machine and feeding it back into the prototype three and subsequent machines. No, I should concentrate on that.

"Alright! Let's do our best! We got some good data beyond expectations!"

--- First, I focused on the task at hand. A few days later, a troublesome job came to me through the military.

Thank you for the bookmarks, points, and comments.

I'll do my best.

Thank you for reading.