“Kaspar Squad has been wiped out.”
Preserved rations are usually tasteless. Unfortunately, even for Zeke, who had survived on battlefields for years, that rule still held true.
“Rosa Squad and Area Squad are engaging.”
“Who’s in first right now?”
“Zeus Squad. Five flags.”
Zeke stared fixedly at the screen.
Only a few hours had passed since the exam began. Engagements were breaking out at an absurdly active pace.
In last year’s joint exercise, most squads had used the strategy commonly known as turtling. This large-scale clash was likely a backlash against that.
Waiting for an enemy who might never come, waiting again, and continuing to wait.
It was akin to torture.
A junior professor’s muttering came over the comms.
“So the pilot professors are the only ones stuck on standby in Titans again. I hate it. As if making former soldiers suffer is anything new. Did you know Professor Sumeragi came by to make fun of us again?”
That man again. Frivolous as ever.
“Don’t mind him. And you know this already. We’re at war.”
“I know that. But if we think enemies might be able to infiltrate even this rear-line academy, shouldn’t we not be holding large-scale training like this in the first place?”
It was not entirely wrong, but did he know?
How many lives the front line was paying so that those of them at the Academy could train in peace.
That even they, deep in the rear, could be caught in a surprise attack at any time.
If waiting in the rear was tedious, waiting on the battlefield was dreadful.
It gnawed away at a person’s mental strength, and the tension made the body expend several times more stamina than usual.
All the squad leaders this time had experienced that dreadful waiting in last year’s joint exercise. Naturally, they would not want to go through that wait twice, so they had chosen active engagements.
“Foolishly.”
If a commander made that choice, most of the soldiers were bound to die.
Even if one won a single battle, if there were no soldiers left, one would lose the next battle. If there were no soldiers, in the end, one would lose the war as well.
“Karina Squad is engaging Ayla Squad—no, forming an alliance? It seems they have.”
In that sense, the operation of Ayla Squad and Karina Squad was, in Zeke’s eyes, the most correct one.
An alliance to overcome the immediate crisis. Preserving combat power. Enemies that would naturally weaken as time passed. If they could simply pick off what remained, they could win. It was an excellent strategy.
Provided that prey weakened as much as they wanted it to, and became something they could handle.
“Come to think of it, Senior, which squad are you watching?”
As he silently watched the screen, the junior professor’s voice came through.
Most people would be watching Zeus Squad. Its squad leader had executed the most aggressive strategy in last year’s joint exercise, and it was also the squad whose individual pilots had the greatest physical ability.
It was currently in first place, and it was also the squad the princess belonged to.
“Karina Squad.”
Zeke had no interest in that.
There were many watching Karina Squad as well.
“Ah, the squad with the first-year top student, right? Was it Levan? People say he only became top student because he got lucky. Is it worth watching?”
“Somewhat.”
Became top student because he got lucky.
The Academy’s professors were ultimately human too, so they could not help but have preconceptions and mistaken judgments.
How many years had it been since a commoner became the top student? He understood why people would say it was luck, but they all knew.
Becoming top student through luck was impossible.
Of course, Zeke was not watching the top student.
Embedded in the roadside, a still-sharp pebble had caught her eye.
How long would that pebble remain sharp?
***
Among the rules of the joint exercise, there was no rule forbidding alliances between squads.
That said, there was also no rule encouraging or mentioning alliances. It very implicitly meant that if you wanted to do it, do it, and if you did not, then do not.
I had heard that it was fairly common for squads to ally when they encountered a powerful enemy, or to respond to a strong candidate for victory.
If it were rare, that would mean the Academy’s cadets were fools.
“As expected.”
Karina muttered.
I had thought she was a rather unsightly person, but apparently her head worked better than I had imagined.
They said the Luna family had played one of the largest roles in the production of the Empire’s artificial intelligence. Since she was from that family, perhaps it was only natural that she was smart.
The squad list displayed on the left side of the screen kept colliding and disappearing at an incredible speed.
Through Allang’s observation, the squads currently surviving were being sorted rapidly. The pace was astounding. At the center of it was a single squad.
“Zeus Squad. I expected it, but they really are incredible.”
It was Zeus Squad, the squad the princess belonged to.
At the same time, it was also the prey of our two squads.
Karina had predicted from the start that Zeus Squad would actively hunt every squad. She had said that Zeus had also carried out the most aggressive operation last year.
What Zeus had lacked last year was an ally with overwhelming firepower, and she said that this year, that gap had been filled.
“Ha, she really is different. Different.”
Aron said with a laugh.
She was our enemy right now, so what was I supposed to do when he sounded so proud talking like that? Should I say it was nice because he was so pure-hearted, or should I say something to him?
Let’s go with the former. What am I going to say, anyway?
In any case, watching the princess fight through Allang’s drones, I had no confidence at all.
How was I supposed to beat that princess in close combat?
In fact, most squads were thinking the same thing, and getting beaten in the exact same way.
The moment they entered close combat, the Imperial Family’s Titan transformed into something like a tank before infantry. It did not stop even after several bullets slammed into it, and in an instant, it trampled and tore apart its enemies.
The best way for infantry to defeat a tank was not firepower.
“Installation is complete, they say.”
Senior Ayla’s French slowly approached. Literally, slowly. Without thrusters, it had no choice but to be slow.
French had no thrusters and instead carried six large side skirts. They were not armor to protect the lower body. They were storage compartments for traps.
Stake-type bombs that detonated remotely.
Normally, they were items used in things like pile bunkers, but French used them as traps by driving stakes into the ground or walls.
It was a special specification made only for French, but since its manufacturer was likely the Dis Pater family, there should be no problem.
“Did you leave some?”
“I left about three. I may have to fight myself, after all.”
French effectively had no direct combat armaments.
For the sake of storing an enormous number of traps, it had excluded not only armor but even propulsion. In a way, it was only natural that it had no combat weapons.
I was not sure how she intended to fight, but she would probably manage somehow. If anything, I was the one to worry about.
Even though this was an ordinary heavy-armored Titan, it had no weapons.
“Hey, lowborn.”
Before I could answer, the stick moved first.
With a metallic clack, Ailey’s hand grasped a knife. The tip was pointed, making it good for stabbing.
Aron spoke in a voice of disbelief.
“Even when you’re in a Titan, that’s the same? Just how well synchronized are you?”
Synchronized?
“What’s sync—”
“This is only a temporary alliance. I haven’t forgotten our last match.”
What the hell was that nonsense?
“Ah, Aron, you’ve never lost. N-not even once.”
Since that last match, I had been sparring with Aron every Friday. Needless to say, I had not beaten Aron even once yet.
So what exactly was he saying he could not forget?
“Hah? I won with my unit half-destroyed and on the verge of exploding. How is that any different from a draw?”
“The p-possibility of rescue is d-different.”
“Hey. If it’s half-destroyed to that degree, you don’t even know when it’ll explode, so they can’t rescue you! This is why lowborns who’ve never rolled around on a battlefield are like this.”
I did not think that had much to do with being lowborn.
“Anyway, if you don’t have equipment, use that knife at least. There’s a button at the bottom of the handle. Press it and it explodes.”
“Ex-explodes?”
“You, stop repeating things back whenever someone says something. Unless you want to get hit by a shell from behind.”
“No, if you say it explodes, th-that’s kind of important, so I might ask again—”
Smack!
At the sudden sound, Aron and I stopped speaking at the same time.
“You two, I know you’re close, but it’s time to focus. Are you watching the shared footage? You are seeing which direction Zeus Squad is coming from, aren’t you?”
We’re not close.
At Karina’s words, I turned my head. The drone camera was moving at a ferocious speed.
Toward us.
“Have we been observed?”
“I don’t think so. It’s more likely their direction of movement just happened to overlap with ours. However, Zeus Squad currently has at least five flags. That’s over twenty percent of all the flags.”
If we caught them, it would be a jackpot.
“Maybe because their path has been so destructive, most squads are moving to avoid Zeus Squad. It seems our two squads will be the only ones fighting them.”
“Since no one else can steal them, that’s better for us.”
Zeus Squad’s direction shifted slightly. It was probably coincidence, but they were heading in a direction a little away from us.
“Do we fire?”
At Rod’s words, White Bunny raised one hand.
Then lowered it.
“Fire.”
At the same time, a signal flare shot into the sky. With a sharp peal, it burst high above like fireworks, giving off a bright light.
It was no different from a provocation.
Because it meant, come at us right now.
“Rod, I’ll leave Zeus to you. As you know, Zeus’s Titan is…”
“The same type of Titan as my Heavy Machine.”
Before long, missiles began flying in.
Missiles began flying in.
“Wow, that’s pretty.”
Ailey said, sounding impressed.
Missiles, filling the entire sky, began flying in.
Even after at least five engagements, they still had that much ammunition left? There was no way they would pour out everything they had remaining, so they must still have plenty left.
“It doesn’t seem like the time to say that, but it is a spectacle.”
Like lightning striking down from the sky to the earth, because it specialized in a Titan built to carry countless missiles, it was called Zeus.
That was why Zeus’s Titan was called Zeus, the same as its pilot, Karina had told me.
It looked like a landscape created by a god, but the one who made that landscape was also human.
“Heavy Machine Rod.”
And the one opposing it was human as well.
“Open all gunports.”