Chapter 85

The ability to fly through the sky is an absolute advantage for any creature.

If it's hard to grasp just how significant this is, consider how difficult it is to kill a sparrow without using specialized weapons or traps.

At the very least, an ordinary human cannot kill a sparrow flying in the sky with their bare hands.

Even with a size difference of over 100 times, this is the reality. The superiority is self-evident.

Moreover, the opponent is a griffin. Not a fragile bird that can be hunted with a single shot of buckshot, but a mythical beast that appears in legends, classified as medium-sized and equipped with a size that is proportionate to its bulk, filled with meat and magic power (despite which, it's still a mystery how it can fly).

Its methods of attack are not limited to claws and beaks; it has been confirmed that it can also perform magical artillery attacks, which are possible for medium-sized or larger monsters.

Due to its possession of abilities that no existing creature has, the sight of it flying majestically through the sky, where it has no natural predators, is truly that of a king of the skies.

In terms of detection capabilities, combat power, and the difficulty of extermination, the Fourth Division, facing a high-dimensional existence, decided to treat the griffin as a special combat force, distinct from ordinary monsters.

Its threat level is more than five times that of a medium-sized monster.

Why is it so high? The kill ratio of the Kusanagi-type, the main combat force against medium-sized monsters, is 1:2. However, this does not apply when facing a griffin.

Why? Because attacks often miss, and even when they hit, they cannot kill it.

The Kusanagi-type primarily uses a 40mm machine gun, which has enough power to turn a 6-meter monster into minced meat with 10 to 20 shots.

Thus, in terms of durability alone, it should be possible to turn a griffin into a messy fireworks display with a similar level of attack.

However, this is only true when considering durability alone.

It should be clear with a little thought. The difference between fighting a monster on the ground and a griffin in the air.

Yes, the griffin dodges. It can fly around the sky as it pleases, making it extremely difficult to land consecutive attacks. In fact, with current technology, it is impossible.

Moreover, the threat of the griffin is not just its evasion. Its counter-attack capabilities are also a significant threat.

Being torn by claws, pierced by a beak, or hit by a magical artillery attack—each of these attacks has more than enough power to kill a human.

As a result, in just half a year since the griffin's existence was confirmed, the Fourth Division has lost five Kusanagi-type units, three Yawata-type units, and over ten Yuiti-type units.

Despite this, they have only managed to bring down two griffins.

From this, the Fourth Division decided to treat the griffin as a combat force with a threat level more than five times that of a medium-sized monster.

Incidentally, this "five times" does not mean five 6-meter monsters, but rather one 30-meter monster.

Is the threat level of the enemy exaggerated?

When facing a medium-sized monster that cannot fly, it is possible to defeat it with half the number of Kusanagi-type units—though sacrifices must be expected. However, the combat force and sacrifices required to bring down one griffin have yet to be calculated.

Even with ten Kusanagi-type units, they have not been able to bring down a single griffin.

For reference, ten Kusanagi-type units are equivalent to the combat power of twenty medium-sized monsters. The established theory is that the threat level of one large monster is equivalent to ten medium-sized monsters.

Given this, no one can claim that the Fourth Division's judgment that the threat level of a griffin, which cannot be brought down by ten Kusanagi-type units, is equivalent to that of a large monster, is incorrect.

According to Aya Seya, there are more than ten griffins confirmed to exist.

This means that the Fourth Division is currently in a situation where they are being dominated by a force equivalent to at least fifty medium-sized monsters or ten 30-meter monsters.

The stress they are under is unimaginable to those in the First Division, who are idly stationed in the capital.

The only relief is that there has been no all-out aerial bombardment by air power, the worst possible attack.

However, this will not last forever.

Because there are higher-level monsters, the demons, and the devils who command them.

They, the enemies of humans, must know what humans dislike.

They, the enemies of humans, must do what humans dislike.

This is not a prediction but a certainty.

The reason they have not done so yet is unknown, but the situation remains that they could do it at any time based on their mood. Therefore, the Fourth Division has no choice but to take action against the griffins.

One proposed method is to equip the Kusanagi-type with sniper weapons, but it is not easy to combine the operation of the unit with sniping, and the amount of damage that could occur during the training period is too much to even imagine.

Thus, the command of the Fourth Division is racking their brains to find a way to reduce the number of griffins, if not to completely eliminate them.

For now, they plan to report the information they have gathered to the homeland and request sniper rifles or artillery weapons.

---

Northern Vietnam, around Sapa.

"Fall, dragonfly."

*Gyow!?*

Can a griffin withstand 10 to 20 shots from a 40mm machine gun?

That's impressive, but it's meaningless.

The penetration, impact, and destructive power of a 120mm smoothbore gun's armor-piercing shell are literally on a different scale from the 40mm machine gun.

Thus, when hit, it dies. It bursts into a messy fireworks display.

And if I can take my time to aim and shoot, even I, an inexperienced sniper, won't miss. Mostly, the machine does the work for me.

I understand that the Kusanagi-type's machine gun and the Yawata-type's artillery were not considered threats, but to fly around so confidently in the open sky without any cover, are they sane?

"Too slow."

*Gyaa!*

Indeed, if the griffins change their movement or increase their altitude when hit by the Kusanagi-type's machine gun, and move when they hear the sound of the Yawata-type's artillery, and only attack when they can see the Yuiti-type, it makes sense that they felt safe.

Birds, when flying, are generally not wary of creatures on the ground, right?

...Maybe griffins are just birds with bird brains?

I'll leave the ecological studies to the great scholars.

"There."

*Gyaa!*

For me, it's enough to know that if I shoot, I will hit, and if I hit, they will die. And the fact that I can take my time to aim is a bonus.

"This is the third one. Just a scarecrow, really."

I can't kill them as quickly as a blink, but this makes them nothing more than targets.

The problem is that with a 120mm smoothbore gun's armor-piercing shell, the impact is so severe that it turns them into a mess, making it impossible to collect rare materials. But it's better than them escaping.

"Never thought we could bring down griffins so easily."

"It's the power of the engine. Of course, it's also thanks to the skills of the captain, who can fully handle the unit."

Captain Aya Seya looks surprised as Saegusa-san boasts, but the aiming and hitting are done by the machine. I'm just a fake sniper, pulling the trigger.

This is a bonus stage for me, but I don't want to use too strong words at this stage because I don't know what will happen.

Also, let's confirm this.

"Saegusa-san, we've made arrangements to bring down the griffins. We might raise their alertness if we do more, but what do you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do we bring down as many as we can here, or wait for reinforcements?"

"Reinforcements? ...Ah, I see."

"Yes, that's what I mean."

"Captain, what do you mean?"

I'll explain to the confused Captain Seya later.

The griffins I brought down with a single shot have not been able to share the information about their cause of death—me. Of course, they will sense the reduction in their numbers, and even if they share information, it will take time to find me. Finding a countermeasure to sniping will take even more time.

Even if the demons do something, it will still take time.

Therefore, we should bring them down when we can... but I thought:

'Maybe it's a waste to clear this bonus stage alone.'

Specifically, I thought we should let the boss and Itoh-san hunt them too.

"..."

Even Saegusa-san, who doesn't care much about the mass-produced units, must have some thoughts about the prototype No. 3, which Itoh-san rides.

However, for Itoh-san, who can shoot but is still inexperienced in movement, to gain experience in battle, she must take some risks.

Of course, there is no such thing as a risk-free battlefield, but as a superior, it is not wrong to want to give her and her subordinates, who are also her classmates, as safe an environment as possible to gain experience... I hope.

What? Normally, they would face small monsters surrounded by experienced veterans?

What's the point of that? If they only have such lukewarm experiences, they might freeze in a critical situation.

I'm doing something similar too.

Besides, since the military has entrusted us with the mass-produced and new models, let's show them what the new models can do with their sniping capabilities.

This is what a typical protagonist in a light novel would do.

Thank you for reading.