Sending out the plan to the mech pilots, Shiro organised it with Shiina, Glen, Akhess and Oran taking the lead with everyone else covering their backs. Shiina Akhess and Oran should have the power to take on most tier 6’s that stand in their way while Glen has first hand experience with fighting one.
None of the core party members would participate since there wasn’t much need to and they’ll only show themselves when it’s time to link up as the lifeline. That and also if things go south. That way, they don’t have to show more than they need to in case anyone was watching.
While she was organising this raid in the middle of the night, Shiro had Nan Tian keep an eye on the Argus Network to make sure that all of the satellites were in position and ready to be used. With how big this world was now; it was not surprising that the satellites were taking a while to cover the entire world.
However, while waiting for the satellites to be ready, Shiro had to admit that looking at the satellite footage of the world right now was quite shocking.
Many cities were now destroyed with frozen tundras and burning mountains appearing more often. Large creatures could be seen flying around, many being dragons and some even swimming in the sea.
She spotted some of the old cities that she had visited before and their locations had been completely shifted when the new age started. New land masses brute forced their way between cities, splitting the earth and tearing apart the validity of all maps created previously.
In addition to this, they could see giant swarms of monsters travelling in a pack. From the satellite footage, it looked like a black mass moving until further inspection, revealing them to be giant wolves that destroyed anything they came across. Despite only being averaged around level 300, Shiro watched as they completely devoured a level 500 in a few moments due to their numbers and ferocity in not backing off no matter how many died.
What’s scary was after consuming the monster, the wolves started to split. Those that ate the most had a higher chance of splitting in two, creating another wolf that joined the pack.
Once they had finished splitting, the group would continue, looking for the next prey. All of the casualties that they suffered in the initial hunt against the level 500 had been replenished and they actually had more wolves than they began with. If this is left unchecked, they could become a serious problem.
Thinking about it for a moment, Shiro had some of the satellites monitor the movement of the wolves to make sure they don’t get out of hand while splitting. If they do, she’ll forcefully cut down their numbers.
“Seems like the mech pilots are ready for the raid on the zone.” Nan Tian said as he sent a holographic screen towards Shiro.
“Mn alright. I’ll go command them through the holograms.” Shiro nodded.
For this raid, they had mechs with different weapons such as rail cannons, snipers, assault rifles and shotguns. They’re split into groups where it’ll balance out the composition.
In terms of melee combat, all of them had swords but only Glen’s mech was hard focused on the melee combat.
###
Materialising a hologram in the mech hanger, she could see the specialised pilots giving the standard pilots a short speech about their strategies.
Seeing her hologram, all of them saluted towards her.
“Mn, seems like everyone’s ready.” Shiro smiled as Shiina nodded her head.
“Good. I’ll be splitting my holograms in each of your mechs and command you from the backline. I’m sure that with the specialised units, there’s no need for the tier 6’s to step into the battle.” Shiro chuckled.
“We won’t disappoint you.” Akhess promised as Shiro chuckled.
“I hope not. But enough with the chit chat, everyone suit up and prepare for deployment. I want this zone captured in 30 minutes or less. If it takes too long, it’ll draw too much attention to us.” Shiro ordered as each of the pilots gave her one final salute before running towards their mechs.
Dismissing her current avatar, Shiro split her attention to all of the mechs joining this assault. Tiny versions of her appeared in the cockpit as she activated all of the launch protocols of the mechs, readying them for deployment.
“Requesting confirmation of deployment from all mech pilots.” Shiro said as she tapped the table.
Suddenly, nanobots surged in the hangar, creating an archway that housed a portal.
Receiving confirmation from everyone, Shiro nodded her head.
Detaching the mechs from their repair stations, she watched as Shiina took the lead and stepped through the portal.
###
Just as we stepped through the portal, we were surrounded by totems that camouflage our arrival. Our mana signals and even the bright portal behind us would be hidden in plain sight.
Looking at the hologram of her highness sitting down with her legs crossed, I couldn’t help but feel pressured to perform to the best of my abilities.
“Shiina, you and Glen will take the lead with your own squad. I’ll command the others to back you up. Maria is also in your squad so you don’t have too worry too much when it comes to support.”
Hearing this, I nodded and gestured towards Glen.
Activating our camouflages, I took the lead in this assault.
“How much damage is allowed?” I asked since I wasn’t sure if we wanted to keep the castle intact or not.
“As much as you want. However, do remember that there are innocents that we might be able to recruit. Don’t traumatise them too much since it’ll be harder to get them on our side if we do.”
“Understood. Requesting permission for condensing the mech unit for more controlled attacks.”
“Permission granted.”
Hearing this, I reached up and flicked a few switches before sticking my hands into the two handles that appeared in front of me.
Jumping up in the air to make this process a little easier, I watched as the mech armour shrink down and wrap around my body like a suit rather than a giant robot that I commanded. It wasn’t skin tight since it was still three times my size but it was much smaller than before.
Through the lenses of the helmet, the controls were now only visible to me much like the system.
Swiping my hand, I activated the scan function the moment I saw the castle in the distance.
Letting out a pulse of energy, the castle walls became transparent and all of the people inside now had an orange glow around them.
“I have marked down the priority targets for you. Once the barrier drops, take them out with the sniper.” Her highness said as a countdown appeared in front of me.
Understanding that this was how long it was until the barrier drops, I summoned the sniper.
“Maria, give me a buff. Sniper unit, I have transferred the location of the priority targets to you. Take them out in 10 seconds.” I called out.
Laying down on the hill opposite the castle, I aimed towards the location of the tier 6.
Mana surged from the suit towards the weapon.
While it was not my own mana, it was strangely adaptive. If my mana transformed into a cold spell, the mana from the suit would copy and become almost indistinguishable from my own mana.
Even though my level was not high, I could still take out powerful beings thanks to this suit.
Locking down on the target, magic circles appeared along the barrel.
Watching the countdown, my finger hovered over the trigger.
Once the countdown reached one, I watched as countless motes of light appeared in the sky along with a trail of bullets that I recognised from the artillery.
Trusting in the timing, I pulled the trigger.
*BANG!!!!!!
The recoil of the gun sent me stumbling back a little but I managed to stabilise myself in time to watch the destruction happen.
Several pillars of light descended from the stars above, creating cracks in the barrier as the artillery delt the final blow and shattered the barrier just as the bullets closed in.
Pushing past the barrier without being hindered, I watched as several high priority targets were shredded to pieces thanks to the bullets.
The moment the bullet entered their body, it exploded into countless spears and wedged them in the centre of their room. Even if they barely managed to survive, they weren’t far off being killed.
As for the tier 6 that I aimed for, the bullet was extra special.
He managed to erect a barrier but it was no use. Upon coming into contact with the barrier, it drained all of the mana used and empowered itself.
I watched as it embedded itself deep into his throat, releasing a swarm of nanobots inside him.
If he used mana, he would only cause more to spawn. The only way for him to get rid of them would be to forcefully rip them out but at this point, it was too late.
“Targets are down.” I said as her highness nodded her head.
“Breach and secure, I’ll be sending a tier 6 over to become the new lifeline.”
Glancing up, I could see the crest fade away, signifying the lifeline being killed.
