In my memories, Undine didn’t really have anything you could call armaments.
Naturally, because it had never drawn weapons in front of me.
Other than the five drones it had deployed to buy time against Fafnir, I knew nothing.
Still, let’s think within the bounds of common sense.
There’s no such thing as an unarmed Titan.
Linear movement is dangerous.
I fired my side thrusters, lowered my center of gravity, and swerved left.
Pshhh-veek!
A small needle fired from Undine’s body embedded itself in the floor.
Not long after, foam agent sprayed out from the needle.
“What the hell is that?”
It was a baffling weapon. It felt like something you’d use for fire suppression at a blaze.
Still, if it hit underwater or targeted drones, the situation would be different. If even one needle hit a joint, the foam agent would cripple mobility, and if it lodged between the core armor plates, it could crush the pilot to death.
First, calmly eliminate the drones.
“Ha, shit.”
I reached for the railgun, then folded the sub-arm back.
Attacking Undine would only make things worse.
It was better to resolve this unarmed.
It didn’t matter if this Titan got wrecked.
It wasn’t like I was piloting it out of any affection.
More importantly.
“Ian, pull back!”
“Moving the car.”
I heard Ian driving the car out from below.
As long as he wasn’t nearby, I could move freely while hovering.
Firing the main thrusters, I advanced.
A drone flew in, suppressing my path and aiming for my main camera.
Reverse thrust and braking simultaneously.
While hovering, I ignited only the left reverse-thrust unit.
I spun around, avoiding the light shooting at my main camera, then ignited the main thrusters again.
I’d already hit the buttons over a hundred times.
Without Aelli, two hands weren’t enough to pilot.
I’d crammed dozens of multi-input commands into every button and pedal.
Since my left leg was a prosthetic, I’d loaded all the multi-input commands onto the right leg alone.
Still, I wasn’t slow.
Rather, there was a thrill to moving the instant I pressed the button in the direction I wanted to go.
At the very least, I wasn’t slower than Undine controlling the drones.
That was enough.
Feigning an advance.
Hovering off.
Planting my feet on the ground, I swung the railgun on my back.
The drone flying in from behind hit the railgun and bounced off.
I immediately grabbed the unbalanced drone and slammed it into the ground.
It didn’t break, but it was stuck.
It would need repairs, but it wasn’t heavily damaged.
I resumed hovering and looked ahead.
Undine had stopped moving, its sensor blinking.
A sensor malfunction?
Then I’d subdue it now.
I maxed out the thruster output.
Undine raised its hand belatedly.
No, it had been responding even before that.
I could feel it.
Undine in front.
One drone flying in from behind at low altitude, trying to collide with the back of my knee joint.
Two drones moving on either side to disrupt my vision.
One drone flying in from the front, aiming for my main camera.
Even without a front monitor, I could feel everything distinctly.
Maybe because of the stimulants in the cigarette.
“Whoo.”
I don’t know.
There was no need to determine the source of the sensation.
Stimulants are a tool.
As long as the user’s intent isn’t impure, it doesn’t matter.
“One at a time.”
I said it while moving, even though no one could answer.
Reverse thrust.
Applying brakes, I kicked the drone stuck in the floor.
With a crack, the kicked drone collided with the one in front.
I grabbed the staggering drone and shoved it behind me.
It collided with the drone that had approached the back of my knee and got embedded in the floor.
The moment the drones on either side approached, I drew a dagger while reverse-thrusting.
The drone, aware of the dagger, slowed down to evade.
If Aelli had been here, she would have said it like this:
“Now.”
Shoving the stick and pedals forward, I accelerated sharply.
Pretending to ignore the pursuing drone, I ignited the side thrusters and evaded.
I had deliberately made frontal maneuvers to bait an attack.
But even then, Undine didn’t shoot the needles.
The sensor had been flickering for a while now; was it really malfunctioning?
Subdue it first.
I dodged the drone flying at my head and accelerated.
I toppled Undine, destroying its center of gravity.
I covered the needle’s ejection port with my palm and looked down quietly.
Undine’s hatch, which had been silent, opened.
Charlotte Keria, revealing herself, stared fixedly at my main camera.
“Didn’t the academy teach you tactical light signals, you idiot!!!”
Uh, huh?
“I told you to surrender! To surrender! I sent the signal over ten times. If the enemy’s sensor is flashing, you look at it properly at least once!!!”
Ah.
Belatedly, I pressed the speaker button.
“Give me an excuse, at least!”
I did have an excuse.
“Well, I have a condition where I instinctively go for the kill angle.”
How could I resist exploiting an opening when the enemy’s sensor is flickering?
***
Undine recalled all its drones and took off toward the western boundary line.
And accompanied me to the base.
“Why was the western commander in a place like this?”
I asked, and Charlotte answered readily.
“There was a request from the north.”
The western front had been continuously observing whether anyone was crossing over from the north.
The northern front had reportedly made contact with both the eastern and western fronts.
“But we’re short on personnel to dispatch too. They probably thought it’d be most efficient to have me, who can handle the most drones at once, take the surveillance post.”
It was efficient, but whoever was filling in for field command right now must be at their wit’s end.
By the way.
“Why are you short on dispatched personnel?”
“Because we’re at war right now. That was the case on the way here, and you couldn’t communicate with me either, remember?”
“Right.”
“Communication jammers are devices that allow only Titans officially registered to the Empire to communicate. That’s why you and I couldn’t talk.”
In the north, they’d somehow managed short-range communications, at least.
“If you want to solve the problem, you have to boost communication output enormously. But doing so carries the risk of eavesdropping.”
So that’s why Simon had said only encrypted high-output communication was possible.
Wait a minute.
“War?”
The situation in the west had definitely improved a lot since I was dispatched there.
Hadn’t they said we would occupy the western front soon?
Charlotte studied my expression through the monitor and frowned.
“You look like you’re wondering why we haven’t conquered the western front yet. It’s all because of the east.”
“The east?”
Did Fafnir come again?
That was unlikely.
“Fafnir didn’t come. Instead, the east sent a ton of reinforcements to the west. It’s obvious. If the Allied forces in the west are annihilated, where will the remaining Imperial forces in the west go?”
Where would they go?
They wouldn’t go south.
The south didn’t need additional troops.
Going north was ambiguous too.
In the unique environment of the north, the Imperial western army’s Titans—comprised of support types specialized in drone operations and bombardment types excellent at firepower warfare—were difficult to use.
Heavy snow and wind prevented drone use, and the risk of avalanches made firepower warfare impossible.
If neither south nor north worked, there was only one front remaining.
“They’d go east.”
“Exactly. The eastern Allied forces aren’t idiots. Of course they know that. Unlike you, who can’t even read light signals.”
There was one hell of a barb in her words.
I wasn’t used to surprise attacks of criticism.
Better to change the subject.
“But how did you know it was me?”
What I’m riding now isn’t Aelli.
Honestly, it looks completely different.
Instead of an aerodynamic, streamlined design like Aelli, it was boxy and standard.
Plus, the paint scheme was the exact opposite—snow white.
“If you have eyes, you usually notice, don’t you?”
I didn’t think it was that simple.
“Why?”
“You’ve got generators mounted on both thighs, a railgun mounted, and above all, I’ve never seen anyone move a high-mobility type that perfectly before.”
“Ah.”
“If there hadn’t been generators and a railgun, I would’ve thought it was that famous White Reaper. But thinking about the weapons, the generators, and recent news, the answer came out easily.”
“Recent news?”
“The news that Zeke Pride is joining the north, you don’t know?”
I stopped the Titan.
Ian, following behind, honked his horn.
Only after hearing the sound did I push the stick forward again.
“Why Professor Zeke?”
“The northern front officially announced it. They said Cadet Deep died in combat against the northern Allied forces.”
Wait.
Wait, wait. Wait.
Is there anyone in the north right now who can stop Professor Zeke?
Simon?
There’s no way Simon can stop him alone.
It’s true that Simon is an incredible powerhouse on the level of Professor Zeke.
But no matter how much I think about it, Professor Zeke has the advantage.
Besides, a master craftsman is always pickier about his tools.
Can the weight class of the Titan Simon uses beat Professor Zeke’s Valmung?
Absolutely impossible.
I don’t know if he can even hold out, let alone win.
To beat that, you’d need to be like Fafnir—an absurd weight class, capable of flight, moving impossibly as if ignoring the laws of physics, while also firing charged particle cannons.
What the hell is Fafnir?
What kind of crazy bastard made it?
“I figured someone like you wouldn’t die. I thought maybe you survived and joined the Allied forces somewhere. Though I didn’t know you and Zeke Pride were such close teacher and student.”
“When does Professor Zeke arrive in the north?”
Beep.
Charlotte sent an image.
Fortunately, while piloting a Titan, I could receive things like this even without a smartwatch.
“That’s the news that came up recently. It’s not confirmed yet, but if he joins, it’ll be within about a month.”
Within a month.
Did I have Professor Zeke’s contact information?
What’s the point even if I did? The smartwatch with my saved contacts is gone.
“Ran, Ian. Do you have Professor Zeke’s contact info?”
“No.”
“Nope. Why would we have a pilot professor’s contact?”
They’re not wrong.
They’re not wrong, but still, couldn’t they have it somehow?
“Ian, you’re in the Mercenary Club. Why don’t you have it? He’s the club advisor.”
“I never had a reason to contact him.”
He probably doesn’t.
Knowing Ian’s personality, he wouldn’t contact a professor first anyway.
“Um, Keria? Commander?”
“Just call me Charlotte. You’re not under my command right now, anyway.”
“Charlotte, there’s something I want to ask—not that I think I can pay you back, but I need to ask somehow.”
I have to make contact.
“What is it?”
“Please help me get in contact with Professor Zeke.”
If things go wrong, the northern Allied forces are fucked.