Editing HEAVY OBJECT:EX Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 4===

The mission began.

Before the Baby Magnum was sent out, Quenser, Heivia, and the rest of the infantry set out into the orange-dyed wasteland aboard multiple military vehicles.

However, these were not normal armored trucks. There was no thick hose, obvious siren, or crane-like ladder attached to the rectangular body and the color was different, but they had a familiar silhouette. These were the maintenance base zone’s damage control firetrucks.

The soldiers clung to the flat roof and even the sides. It looked like the images of trains packed absolutely full.

Quenser was on the roof, but Heivia had failed to secure a spot there and was on the wall.

“This is ridiculous. We’re sending out chemical firetrucks now? We’re here to fight a war, not provide disaster relief.”

“The Trinity Style’s elevator main cannon might fire a ton of container shells. Those things are worse than giant Molotov cocktails. And even in this wasteland, chemical incendiary rounds will spread a fire like crazy. We want every chance we can of avoiding being baked to death.”

“Either way, these obvious targets will get hit as soon as the battle begins! They’ll be blown away by the Object’s shells before anything else, and it’ll be just like a well-shaken beer!!”

Just as Heivia got heated up, the firetruck drove over a large stone. The vehicle shook violently and the idiot noble shut up. He must have almost fallen off.

And he nervously looked down below.

“And what is this? We’re supposed to be using the colossal nuke-resistant weapon as a shield, so why are we out front? If the Trinity Style fires a shell, we’ll be blown to pieces.”

“We just have to try to stay positive. If we do die, we won’t suffer. Think of it as saving us the cost of anesthetic and you can laugh it off.”

As they joked back and forth, Frolaytia contacted them via radio.

“The battle is moving at the Faith Organization’s pace this time. We’re fortunate to have the giant river between us, but we’re still at a disadvantage when it comes to placing our pieces on the board. Simply put, our maintenance base zone is close to the front line. Their top priority will be assassinating Skuld. That goes for the Trinity Style too of course, but make sure they don’t use that giant thing’s rampage to distract us while they send infantry across the river. If that happens, you all need to fight. Shoot them or hit them with a shovel; I don’t care which. Just don’t let them get close.”

“How has the Trinity Style been crossing the rivers so far?”

“We don’t know. Maybe they temporarily dammed the rivers or built makeshift bridges.”

Quenser and the others’ job was to hide within the battlefield and scan the changeable Trinity Style in real time. By sending that data to the Princess, she could locate and fire on the weakest point.

That meant the infantry could not gather in one place. They had to spread out as much as possible, so the chemical firetrucks would stop here and there while the soldiers set out into the wasteland on foot.

Quenser and the others arrived at a river that looked 100 meters wide.

As far as they could tell with the flame-like evening sun reflecting off the water, it did not seem to be all that deep. That said, it was still enough to stop the Princess’s static electricity propulsion device.

When the firetruck stopped alongside the river, Quenser and some others climbed down. Nearby, a giant vehicle was folded up like an accordion, but then it extended forward with a crane-like sound.

It slowly but surely formed a bridge long enough for a truck to cross the river.

“Since she sent that bridge truck with us, it looks like that busty commander was prepared to send us on quite the exciting field trip.”

“But we only have the one, so they’ll have to swim back if it’s destroyed.”

The two idiots watched the chemical firetrucks cross the river and disappear. Since the battle would take place with the river in between the Objects, they needed more soldiers on the other side if they were to scan the Trinity Style.

And that was of course Faith Organization territory.

“Did you see the rifles the POWs had? They had a long staff-like magazine attached along the side. With that, they can fire 200 times without swapping out for a new one. I don’t want to even think about running across some of them.”

“Yeah, their infantry are called berserkers, right? But didn’t the old lady say the grouping was pretty bad and they’re essentially useless beyond 300 meters?”

“So you think we can push them back with a sniper rifle? Their fear has been deleted, so they’ll just gather together and climb over their comrades’ corpses. And the second we’re within range, all hell will break loose against us. They’ll take us all out with reinforced rifle rounds that can punch through bulletproof armor.”

They could use the river as a natural barrier to keep the Trinity Style back, but if the bridge truck was destroyed, the retreating soldiers would have nowhere to run. The thought of being ordered to infiltrate enemy territory with no guarantee of a way back sent a shudder down their spines.

“I’m glad luck was on our side this time,” commented Quenser.

“Ksshh. Are you sure about that, Quenser?” said Frolaytia over the radio. “The Trinity Style will be stuck at the river, so near the river where you are is sure to have the strongest stench of death.”

“And that’s why it’s the best place to observe the Trinity Style!! Oh, to hell with it! I’ll just have to steal a ton of lucrative tech from that pile of treasure!! Yes, I really was lucky! The goddess of luck is on my side!!”

“Hey, you positive SOB,” interrupted Heivia. “If you really want to survive, you need to do more than pray to some goddess. I’ll give you some of the disturbance speakers, so help us set them up all around here.”

Heivia handed him a bag and all of the soldiers scattered. Once the battle began, they did not want to be anywhere near that noticeable military truck. Even the bridge truck’s driver and crew had likely left and gone to hide somewhere.

And their lives were reliant on the disturbance speakers. A small speaker slightly larger than a baseball was supported by a small tripod and it came with a remote device that sent commands wirelessly.

They spread out the tripods and set up the speakers at 50-100 meter intervals but with some level of randomness.

“Honestly, can’t they scatter these from the air like with landmines?”

“Do that and they’ll figure out what we’re up to right away.”

There was no clock tower on the orange-colored wasteland, so something else had to signal the beginning.

“Here they come,” said Heivia once they had set up all of the disturbance speakers.

One was the Baby Magnum which approached from behind them.

The other was across the river.

Now that they could see it, their lives were reliant on the disturbance speakers. The speakers produced the chirping of insects to mask the sounds of breathing, cartilage, and joints from the soldiers.

From what?

The answer was simple.

Like a trendy lamp, the giant form’s propulsion device was shaped like an Island Nation ''mitsudomoe'' and the main cannon and giant magazine on the left and right were connected by a belt.

Quenser stared at its magnificent form without bothering to use binoculars.

“So we meet again, Trinity Style!!”