4
The mock battle against Taguchi-san in [Wide Area Battlefield] ended after just one round.
Specifically, when she said [I’d like to see sniping], I just shot normally and it ended.
Before I could ask “Want to continue?”, she said [……I see. I understand. Then please do the next [Battlefield]], so I couldn’t really ask.
So, the two [Battlefield] mock battles that were conducted.
The first one ended when I headshotted her while she was moving around normally.
The process was roughly the same as with Isotani-san, but Taguchi-san was moving while keeping a low posture and staying alert, so it took a bit more time.
In the second one, Taguchi-san brought a shield, so I tried shooting 40mm cannon rounds at her from above the shield… but the result was that she endured for a few seconds before the shield was destroyed along with her and it ended.
Isn’t the Kusanagi-type too fragile?
Well, since the main body is only 15 tons, there’s probably a limit to the weight and material of the shield it can carry.
That’s probably made from medium-type materials, right?
Wouldn’t it be meaningless against a 40mm cannon that has the power to turn living medium-types into mincemeat?
With that, if it took an attack from a large-type, wouldn’t it vaporize along with the shield?
Well, I suppose it’s meant to defend against attacks from medium-type or smaller monsters, so I don’t intend to complain, but I think they should at least use more durable materials.
And the final [Arena] mock battles ended in two rounds as declared beforehand.
It was an irregular match of Isotani-san and Taguchi-san versus me, but well, yeah.
In the first battle, the two rolled sideways simultaneously at the start, wary of a charge, so I shot them with the 40mm cannon and it ended. In the second battle, I crushed Taguchi-san, who hesitated between rolling or defending, with a shield bash and retired her. Isotani-san, who ended up behind me as a result, tried to aim at me, but I jumped sideways, and when the target suddenly disappeared from her view, she showed a completely open stance, which I shot to end it.
I think they could have moved better if we did it two or three more times, but I suppose fighting one-sided losing battles at 100,000 yen per match was tough for them in various ways.
At the end, before I could say “Want to continue?”, she said in an exhausted voice [……That’s enough. Thank you for today] and it ended.
Actually, I thought about going easy on them in the second round, but Isotani-san seems to hate that sort of thing, and above all, I don’t have the skill to not let them notice it, so I gave up.
But you know, I think they were at fault too.
Even if they wanted to fight in close combat, there’s no contest when weight and speed are different, and even if they wanted to have a shooting battle, I’m inputting the next action the moment I charge, while they try to aim after being charged at.
Of course they can’t hit.
I don’t intend to say that command systems that operate machines like button controls in games are the best for operating machines, nor do I intend to lecture them from a high horse… but I think they should have more awareness that they’re using machines.
In the end, today’s mock battles were 3 rounds in [Wide Area Battlefield], 4 rounds in [Battlefield], and 3 rounds in [Arena] for a total of 10 battles.
The reward obtained was 1.2 million yen, and that concluded everything.
“……You said you were weak at close combat, didn’t you?”
What are you saying, Mogami-san?
“Eh? I didn’t do any close combat, did I?”
I didn’t slash with a blade or deliver kicks. I’m calling it a shield bash to cover it up, but if that had been against an opponent with similar mobility, they would have jumped behind or to the side and then shot me to end it.
Also, having a lag of more than one frame when switching movement or actions is unacceptable.
This is probably also a problem with my skill, but at least this level wouldn’t work against named crows with exceptional abilities.
Ah, no, there’s no point giving examples of beings whose existence is questionable.
To give an example that Mogami-san would understand, let’s see.
“That wouldn’t work against large-type monsters, would it?”
“Ah, well. That’s true.”
Medium-types aside, large-types are bigger, heavier, and more durable than us.
If you collide with something like that, we’d be the ones to lose.
Even Mogami-san understands that much.
In the end, techniques that can’t be used against monsters are useless.
That’s why close-combat weapons also need improvement, but this is…
If prioritizing romance, of course pile bunkers would be the top choice.
Heat piles with red-hot tips would be good too.
But when asked if I could drive such romantic weapons into 30-meter-class monsters or special large-types over 30 meters… honestly, I’m not confident.
In games, I could go for it prepared to take hits, but in reality…
Of course, I think I could hit them if I went with self-destruction in mind, but whether that could kill them is unknown.
No, before that, they might not even kill large-types due to insufficient power.
In that case, long-range sniping is suddenly better.
It’s safe. And I found out that large-types can be killed by crushing their heads.
Anyway, what I learned from this mock battle is that magic crystals and the magic power stored in the machine are surprisingly versatile, and when the enemy doesn’t have magic barriers—meaning in anti-personnel combat—it’s better to use it to assist mobility rather than for attacks.
It’s not meaningless, but it’s not particularly valuable information either. Yeah.
But well, I got 1.2 million just from today’s mock battles, so that alone is enough.
Mogami-san will handle the machine somehow.
“So I’m thinking of going home quickly and eating something delicious with my little sister, what do you think?”
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘so’, but you can’t just go home like this.”
“Ehh!?”
Why not!
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
5 Mogami Takafumi
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘so’, but you can’t just go home like this.”
“Ehh!?”
“Don’t ‘ehh!?’ me. Why are you so surprised?”
I’m the one who wants to be surprised.
Though, originally, [weak at close combat] was just this guy’s self-report.
Maybe it was our fault for not confirming it.
But you know, even we who built it judged that normal close combat was impossible with this machine.
Weight aside, the main problem is the construction of the lower body.
Thinking normally, you can’t make proper steps or anything with four legs. If you can’t make satisfactory steps, you can’t make satisfactory strikes either. It’s common sense that even martial arts amateurs know.
So, if you can’t strike properly, it won’t be a proper fight.
That said, to attack like a real beast using the muscles and springs of the whole body, the human-like upper body gets in the way.
For this and that reason, in long-range combat where sniping is main, Mikage can be said to be the strongest, combining the brain and technique that humans possess with the agility that beasts have. But in close combat, we thought those would become weaknesses rather than strengths.
And yet, he handled it so easily.
Thinking about that and pointing it out, he says things like [That’s not close combat].
Probably for this guy, close combat doesn’t refer to distance, but to the fighting style. Specifically, it refers to sword fighting where both sides swing weapons at each other.
In that case, certainly what happened earlier wasn’t close combat.
But you know, when people generally say [close combat], they’re referring to combat in close proximity.
Shield bashes using weight and speed are also proper tactics, and predicting that to take evasive action in advance is technique. Using that as a bluff to shoot rolling targets is also proper close combat.
On the other hand, as this guy says, it’s also true that shield bashes wouldn’t work on monsters harder and heavier than yourself, and it’s understandable that bluffs using shield bashes would be meaningless if shield bashes don’t work.
But that’s only the case when the opponent is a large-type or bigger monster.
Could it be that this guy doesn’t know that the opponents that machine soldiers riding Kusanagi-types and Yatsufusa-types assume as [enemies they should fight] are medium-type monsters?
(……It’s possible he doesn’t know)
After all, he’s the kind of guy who shoots through large-types like they’re snacks. It’s possible he only recognizes medium-types that can be crushed with incendiary shells as [everyone else].
(Now, what should I do here?)
Correcting the misunderstanding is simple. But I’d be troubled if he says [Then I won’t fight large-types].
Besides, the current mass-production model of Mikage has been modified under the assumption that it would chip away at large targets with long-range bombardment. But if the military finds out how this one fights, there’s a real chance they might halt all ongoing operations using the Kusanagi-type just to replace it with the mass-production model instead.
Though, since there probably aren’t any machine soldiers who can boost mobility with magic power and move around freely like this guy, they’d probably rush to strengthen long-range attacks for a while.
“Well, whatever.”
Honestly, I don’t care what happens to machines that have already left my hands.
Right now, I should just focus on properly collecting data on Keita and this machine and feeding that back to prototype units three and beyond. No, I should concentrate only on that.
“Alright! Let’s work hard! We got better data than expected too!”
——First, concentrate on what’s in front of me. It was several days after I steeled myself with that resolve that troublesome work came to me via military factions.
TLNOTE:
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