Chapter 162 – Sorryyy! The Comm Noise Is Awful, I Can’t Hear a Single Word You’re Saying!

A sudden high-energy round scored a direct hit, and under the heavy impact Acuitas's posture collapsed.

It all happened in a single instant, immediately after Letaria's honed magic caught that overwhelming presence.

"That is...?!"

As Letaria drew a startled breath, a black-crimson mass of terrifying weight tore across the space before her eyes as if cleaving it open.

"That one's the enemy, right?!"

The owner of the lively voice that burst onto the comm line was someone Letaria knew.

◆◆◆

"Yes. The large machine over there is the enemy, and the other, silver one is the machine Miss Letaria is piloting."

On the other end of the comm, Priscilla reported the situation calmly.

"However... please confirm your target properly before you attack, all right? I could not bear to have our allies caught up in it."

"Y-yes... I'm sorry..."

The one who answered in a shrunken voice, sharply warned off by Priscilla, was her subordinate and comrade, Sergeant Adelina Kurie.

The machine she piloted was her dedicated Radure, customized to the extreme for her alone.

It was the heavily armored machine, combining overwhelming mobility with firepower, that had once fought a desperate battle against none other than Ethan in the mock battle with the Vigilante Corps.

"This big one looks like a tough customer...!"

Adelina smiled boldly and opened a channel to Caducus, where Letaria sat.

"Miss Letaria, it's Adelina! I'll hold them here, so please get out of this area fast!"

◆◆◆

"W-what is that thing?!"

Inside Acuitas's cockpit, Marei cried out in violent agitation.

The mysterious black-crimson intruder had burst in at tremendous speed.

By appearance alone, it was doubtful it even fit within the category of existing Makina -- a freak of a machine. In size, it boasted a bulk no less than Acuitas's, a machine that was supposed to be a large one.

"A mobile weapon?! Damn it, no match in the database...! Affiliation unknown, and it even has stealth fitted!"

"Marei!"

Carol's frantic interrupt came over the comm.

"Carol! What is that thing?! I was never told about a monster like that!"

"I don't know! But... five of the Grido I sent as reinforcements were destroyed in an instant! Its affiliation is unknown, but by any measure it's a Seldia-side machine!"

Clear panic and agitation mingled in Carol's voice as well.

"Damn it...! I wanted to crush that Letaria for good right here, and now a monster like this shows up too!"

Roaring in anger, Marei forcibly righted his machine and poured rapid-fire photon bolts at Adelina's Radure.

But -- in the black expanse of space, where there was not a single obstacle, Adelina's mobility was on another level entirely.

The Radure, racing through space with tremendous thrust, left the incoming photon bolts behind and dodged them at leisure. Without a pause, it unleashed countless missiles all at once from all over its body.

"Gah...?!"

Exposed to a rain of missiles that filled the whole of space, Marei took desperate evasive action.

But dodging all of them was out of the question. Blast and shrapnel scoured Acuitas's armor, and several missiles hit. Marei emergency-deployed the photon shields on both arms and kept the damage to a minimum.

"Haa... haa... damn it...!"

Controlling the machine beyond its limits, and the mental interference from the excessive strain, were pushing Marei's fatigue and physical exhaustion past their limit.

"Pull back to the station for now! I've put in an emergency request to the main force and the Autonomous Forces!"

At Carol's order to withdraw, Marei gnashed his teeth with a bitter look.

"...Got it. Pulling back!"

Spitting out the words, Marei fired Acuitas's main thrusters in reverse and began a full-power retreat.

◆◆◆

Adelina watched the silhouette of Acuitas rapidly falling back into the pitch-black darkness.

"They're pulling back... Shall I chase? If we're going to shoot it down, now's the time."

Adelina put the question to Priscilla over the comm.

"Do not pursue too deeply. Other enemy reinforcements are already closing in around you. Stir up the scene a little longer and keep their attention pinned on you."

"Roger!"

Answering Priscilla's instructions cheerfully, Adelina turned her machine around again.

For Adelina's Radure, this open expanse of space with no cover was the finest battlefield, one where it could draw out 100% of its potential.

The enemy units that had sortied from the station for emergency interception could not so much as catch Adelina's ultra-high-speed maneuvers.

The swarm of defense forces was being completely toyed with by a single black-crimson freak.

When Adelina checked the radar on the sub-monitor, Letaria's commandeered silver machine, Caducus, had already escaped safely beyond the designated zone.

"Good, Miss Letaria got away. ...Then I'll rampage just a little longer, and then head home too."

Adelina put on a mischievous smile and kept lavishly scattering a downpour of missiles and photon bolts from all over the Radure.

"Miss Adelina! Please do not aim that barrage at the escape point where we are!?"

Priscilla's scolding, tinged with exasperation, came from where she waited at the rendezvous point.

Adelina glanced at the comm volume, pretended not to hear, and called out brightly.

"Sorryyy! The comm noise is awful, I can't hear a single word you're saying!"