As I sat in the cockpit surrounded by cushioning material, my back and buttocks were firmly fixed to the chair as if sucked in, and a tablet-sized thin green holograph appeared in front of my face.
[The OS is set to Japanese for now, but initial startup is voice-controlled.]
“What should I say?”
[Enzarkey!]
“What does that mean?”
“Hail to the Galactic Federation.”
I didn’t really understand space stuff, but if saying that would make things work, then I’ll go with it.
“Enzarkey!”
[Authentication complete. Startup sequence initiated. Connection with mothership not detected.]
“Okay, okay, skip that.”
[Starting in standalone mode.]
As Mars manipulated the holograph in front of my face with his paw, the cushioning material inside the cockpit disappeared like magic, and the outside scenery was displayed. In the center of my field of vision, large thin green letters [STAND ALONE] were displayed and disappeared in a few seconds.
[I’ve activated composite camouflage. Most things should be fine, but be careful not to collide with airplanes, or you’ll be exposed.]
“Okay, let’s go, Tonbo.”
“Alright, alright, alright! …So, how do we move this thing? It just occurred to me, but I haven’t had any training. Is it okay?”
“I wanted to train you if I could… well, it’s a hybrid of eye control and thought control, so I think even a complete amateur would be fine for something like large snake extermination. Grip the handle in front of the armrest, and imagine the movement you want with your head.”
“Okay… okay! Fly!”
At that moment, the ground on the rooftop seemed to recede, and suddenly my field of vision started spinning.
“Oh no! What’s happening?”
“Because you took off while still kneeling… imagine stopping.”
“Stop, stop, stop!”
I say this out loud, the view abruptly froze. Alongside the rooftop of the building I had been on just moments ago, the bustling station square with numerous people coming and going became distinctly visible. With a gulp, the sound of my own saliva swallowing echoed loudly. Third Eye and I remained silent, suspended in the Tokyo sky like gods.
“Hey, Hime, which way should I go?”
[Follow the navigation and head that way.]
At Hime’s words, 3D arrows appeared in front of my eyes on the surrounding display. Ah, so I just had to follow these. It was like a game, easy to understand.
“Let’s go slowly, and be careful not to collide with any buildings.”
“It’s like driving school.”
As I mentally directed the direction I wanted to go, Third Eye began to move slowly, emitting a faint, high-pitched sound. Simply by focusing on wanting to go faster, the speed increased smoothly, rapidly bringing distant buildings closer and causing them to zoom past at incredible speeds. Despite this, my body felt no strain whatsoever. It was as if I were watching drone footage or something similar on a room’s television screen.
“This thing, I don’t feel any G’s or anything, are we really flying? “
When I asked, Mars, perched on my knee, looked at me with a puzzled expression and pointed the direction of travel with a claw from their outstretched hand.
“We’re flying using gravity control, so if there were G-forces inside the cockpit, that would be a problem. Well, if we had the hatch open, the cockpit’s control would be compromised, and then you might feel the G-forces…”
[Don’t open it! It’ll compromise stealth mode!]
“Yeah…”
While the three of us conversed, Third Eye silently soared above the city. As I gazed at the warm sunlight illuminating Tokyo, I noticed a place in the distance where thick black smoke rose.
“Is that where the smoke is coming from?”
[The snake is moving east from Soka. There seems to be a debate in the Self-Defense Forces about whether to fire missiles into the urban area.]
“Is it okay to fly straight into that?”
“I’d prefer to avoid a direct hit. Let’s take care of it before it gets here.”
“Alright… alright!”
I slapped my cheeks with both hands, then raised both index fingers to my temples, focusing intently.
“What’s that?”
“I’m concentrating!”
[Tonbo. If you hit the base of its neck, one shot from the laser cannon should finish it off, so stay calm and aim well.]
“This gun is… a beam rifle!”
I pulled the rifle from Third Eye’s right hand and aimed it at the massive, two-headed serpent that had somehow gotten closer. The serpent seemed to be moving slowly along a main road, but I couldn’t see its tail anywhere.
“…Isn’t that snake really long?”
[Very long. Its body hasn’t fully emerged from the Soka Dungeon yet.]
“Why!?”
“I don’t know.”
“These creatures, the snake and the dragon, they’re all so strange.”
“Well, they’re not from our planet, are they?”
Well, no matter how long the snake was, crushing its head should do the trick. I maintained my concentration and looked at the two heads of the snake again.
“If we shoot from above, we might penetrate into the underground city where people are evacuating, so let’s dive underneath and aim for the sky.”
“Alright! Flames or cold, it shouldn’t be a problem, so don’t worry and get close.”
“Alright… let’s go!!”
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With foam flying from the corners of my mouth and a spirited shout, I propelled Third Eye toward the two-headed serpent. The city, which had seemed distant just a moment ago, suddenly expanded before my eyes. In an instant, the road stretched out to fill my vision, and Third Eye, sparks flying from its feet, glided over the asphalt.
BOOM! The deafening explosion and sparks echoed through the deserted city streets as Third Eye, its feet skimming the asphalt, closed in on the neck of the two-headed serpent.
“Fly! Fly! Fly!”
“Levitate! Levitate! Levitate!”
Pressing the finger against my temple as if stabbing it, I muttered, and the third eye rose slightly from the ground… With that momentum, it crashed into the wagon abandoned in the middle of the road. Bam! A loud noise echoed, and the wagon, tumbling sideways, flew up about two meters before being blown away.
“Whoa! I did it!”
[It’s okay, no one was in there.]
“It’s your fault for leaving it there.”
“I hope the insurance company doesn’t contact us later… Oh, here it comes! “
While I was holding my head in my hands, the third eye continued to fly just above the ground, and in no time, we were engaging the two-headed snake. The snake, towering above us even from atop the eight-meter-high third eye, had its heads raised and was advancing towards us.
“Are they really not seeing us from over there?”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, didn’t snakes have pit organs to see infrared?”
[That’s why, third eye stealth is supposed to be undetectable by visual, infrared, or ultrasonic sensors. It’s okay, it’s okay.]
“But I feel like it’s looking at us…?”
Even though I wanted to believe Hime’s lwords, I couldn’t help but feel that the two heads of the snake were staring right at us. While flicking its tongue, the two-headed snake clearly approached, targeting the third eye.
“Is this really okay?! Are we not found out?!”
[That’s strange, the stealth is still active.]
“Tonbo, it’s okay to shoot now.”
To steady my heart and ready the beam rifle, as I observed the snake closely… I couldn’t help but notice that one side of the snake’s throat was slightly swollen, like a frog. And the next moment, that mouth opened wide.
“Ah…”
For a moment, everything turned white, and it seemed like the center of the screen was swaying. It was when everything around the third eye suddenly burst into flames that I realized it was the crimson flames emitted from the snake’s mouth that had approached.
“We’re getting blasted by fire!”
[What!? Why!? Even though the stealth is working!]
“It’s okay! It’s okay! It’s okay!”
“Can I shoot?! Can I shoot this?!”
“It’s okay, but calm down!”
While I was panicking beyond control, Mars’s hand, sitting on my knee, slapped me sharply.
“As long as the paint doesn’t melt at this temperature, calm down and aim carefully.”
“Calm down… calm down…”
I took a deep breath to steady myself, aimed the beam rifle at the base of the snake’s body just before it split into two heads, and held my breath. Then, with a slight pull of the trigger in my mind, I fired. Instantly, there was a deafening boom, and the entire screen was covered in dust, making it impossible to see anything.
“Did it hit?!”
[…It missed! The snake dodged at the last moment and crashed into the building on the left!]
“On the left?!”
As I looked around at Hime’s words, a giant snake’s head came crashing through the left side of the third eye’s body, cutting through the dust.
“Oh nooo!”
With a dull thud, the third eye was blown away, and my vision spun. Then, there was a deafening sound that pierced my ears, and for a moment, I felt like I saw a place that looked like a kitchen in a restaurant and a ceiling lined with many fluorescent lights.
“…Huh? Did it stop? What happened?”
“It got blown away completely…”
Had it crashed into some building? When the third eye’s movement came to a complete stop, my field of vision was filled with debris. Wind was blowing in from where we had just made a big hole, and I could see frost forming on the debris around us.
“Frost…? Is this the ice breath they mentioned on TV!?”
“Calm down, it’s okay. No amount of freezing will damage a robot designed for space.”
Mars said it in a calm manner, but this opponent had managed to see through an invisible stealth and dodge the precious beam rifle. I didn’t feel very reassured.
“More importantly, earlier, he dodged the beam rifle?”
“Yeah… it’s a hypothesis, but that snake might be able to sense charged particles themselves.”
“Ah, yeah, if that’s the case, it wouldn’t be strange if it could penetrate stealth.”
“What are charged particles?”
“Probably what Tonbo calls the content of the beam. It’s also used in the fundamental technology of stealth systems.”
“Huh? So the beam doesn’t work?”
Third Eye only has beam weapons attached.
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