The situation swung from a disadvantage to a total upper hand with terrifying momentum.
Me... I wasn't controlling the battlefield at all...
I had just been drifting through life as the currents took me.
Did those legendary generals in history really have everything under control?
My allies and vassals weren't moving according to the simulator at all.
I decided then that even if we had political friction in the future, I would never, ever pick a fight with Rosaria.
Using the enemy's attack to forcibly adjust the angle, then firing a precision shot from there...
...And she did that with a Planet-class Fortress.
The level of her ship-handling was on another dimension.
I suppose she could only pull it off because her opponent was a monster of the same scale...
But the fact that she actually achieved it was just too monstrous.
I quietly added Charlotte's name to my mental "People You Must Never Pick a Fight With List."
For the record, Pigetto and Huma-san were already on it, but Katori-sensei was not.
You understand, right?
This is a matter of dignity and everyday conduct.
Katori-sensei did not make the list!
It looked like the Latania Army had deployed their ground forces.
They had finally learned it—that famous specialty of the Galactic Empire Space Marines: the bike-drop insertion.
Why did they have to learn the Imperial Army's worst habits?!
Furthermore, the Latania Army had purchased humanoid fighters from the Galactic Empire.
They were the standard machines developed by Kamishiro Heavy Industries.
And they'd bought them as part of that Impossible Game Simulator Set.
They were a generation old, though.
That couldn't be helped. Mass production of the latest models hadn't caught up yet.
A people who used to abhor shedding the blood of their own kind had finally resolved themselves to bleed.
That news was sent to the surrounding nations with great shock.
Latania, having incorporated tactics beyond just missiles, was proving to be highly capable.
Since they were physically weaker, they were bad at close-quarters combat... or rather, they had no experience in it.
Because of that, they adopted an extremely sensible tactic centered on mid-range combat using assault rifles.
It’s just the Galactic Empire that’s weird!
To that end, they had researched the most orthodox fighting style: Eddy’s.
As a result, they ended up looking like a group of Mini-Eddies.
They were still a bit unpolished, but honestly, they were strong.
It’s just that it didn't work on the Zork.
The orthodox approach was important.
The weird ones were us, Chronos, and the Kishin Nation!
As for the Taikyoku Nation, they were too biased toward battleships, making them hard to evaluate. Excluded from the rankings!
Now, the Latania Fleet, having completed their drop operation, began attacking the Planet-class Corpse Eater from the rear.
The Latania Fleet used their usual missiles, but this time they weren't holding back at all.
They had even prepared gas missiles filled with Locust-B-Gone.
The mist-like poison entered the Corpse Eater's skin.
If it successfully entered the digestive tract or blood vessels, it turned into a toxin.
I was told that the saliva and blood of locusts and Corpse Eaters had almost the exact same components.
Though, I did have questions, like, "Where does a planet-type get its oxygen?" or "Can poison even penetrate the hide of a space monster?"
The conclusion reached was a simple, "Dunno."
Since we wouldn't know until we dissected it, we just gave it a try for now.
What Latania was counting on were their reliable, proven missiles.
If there was a relay function, I wanted to try jamming, too.
I still had some spare relay machine cores.
I wanted to drive them to the edge with a denpa song, making them go, "Ah, my head’s gonna go crazy!"
That level of malice should be permitted.
"Latania Army, beginning missile attack!"
"We’re going too!"
Time to attack.
A correspondence course came in from Tatiana.
"Big Brother Leo! Loading complete! Let 'er rip!"
"Don’t overdo it!"
"I know!"
As she said that, Tatiana used her floating batteries to shoot down the ghoul battleships one after another.
Amazing... she was too skillful.
"This is One-O-One! Taikyoku Nation is back in action! Beginning the all-out fleet assault as planned!"
Taikyoku had managed to pull themselves together.
The drone units under One-O-One’s command provided cover.
Wait... aren't One-O-One and Kevin actually really strong?
In the future, won't the Galactic Empire just become the Zork and that’ll be the end of it?
The Galactic Empire's signboard would stay the same, but the insides would change, and that would be it.
It seemed we poor Homo sapiens were destined to follow the same path as the Neanderthals.
Well, whatever.
It wasn't like it would be painful or agonizing.
We would simply be replaced by the Beast Race and the Zork before we even realized it.
The Galactic Empire won the war, but as a species, the victory belonged to the Zork.
Yeah, all things are truly impermanent.
Whoever first designed the female Zork was a genius.
Hahaha!
Even if it was a defeat, no one could do anything about it.
Another war with the Zork? Don’t be stupid.
There was no justification for it.
And more than anything, I wouldn't want to.
"We lost because of their charm as a species, so now we’re going to massacre them"—how could I ever seriously say that?
Eventually, this galaxy would be overflowing with the Beast Race, the Zork... and Jester, too.
I had regained enough composure to think about such pointless things.
I shouldn’t be too serious. A sporting mood was just fine.
I reached the operation point for the Planet-class Corpse Eater Subjugation Operation.
Now then, time for some shooting.
Eddy, Edge, and the others were already waiting.
"You're late, Leo."
Eddy didn't sound that angry. It was just the usual banter.
"Sorry. I was in a pinch where I thought we might actually lose."
"Yeah, you did well. So, what are we doing now?"
"Well, eventually, we’ll have to board that Planet-class Corpse Eater. There’s got to be something inside."
"Thought so!"
"Give up... this is the fate of the hero who triumphed over the Zork."
"Until then, we’ll harass it with sniping."
"Harassment, huh?"
"Yeah. My barrier effects are like a peashooter against this thing."
The Corpse Eater’s body was about half-disintegrated.
But I had a feeling it still had plenty of strength to spare...
Probably.
I readied my sniper rifle.
The scope appeared.
Man, this was easy. Not having to squint into the lens was great.
I could do precision shooting even from the hip.
Though I was bracing the butt of the gun against my shoulder for posture control, of course.
With Leonidas-kun's machine, the gunner could just fire from the shoulder, but...
It’s a matter of mood, you know?
"There we go!"
I aimed for an organ hanging from the planet-type that was filled with water.
Thinking it was a weak point was probably a sign I'd played too many games.
When the vesicle burst, I understood the significance.
Tiny Corpse Eaters were flung out into space and died within seconds.
The moisture inside their bodies likely boiled instantly.
The source of all Corpse Eaters.
Even the ones that multiplied could be traced back to being birthed by this thing...
It was different from what a Zork Mother was.
A mother in the truest sense.
...I see. Mainland.
It wasn't the planet behind it.
This thing itself was Mainland.