Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume1 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 4===

Quenser and Heivia were thrown out to sea.

Remnants of the base both large and small were scattered about, dirtying the sea. The scene was similar to the fallen trees and other flotsam piling up in a river mouth after a typhoon passes by. However, the maintenance base zone had been made up of steel and concrete, so the remnants scattered about the surface of the water were sinking down into the depths.

Quenser and Heivia were treading water in a desperate attempt to keep their heads above water, but their military uniforms were quite heavy after absorbing so much water. They were also carrying kilograms of plastic explosives and rifles, so it was not the same as swimming while wearing a swimsuit. It felt as if an invisible hand was grabbing at their ankles.

“Uehh…Dammit…I’m gonna die!! We got carried away! I’m never coming back to a battlefield with an Object on it!!” shouted Quenser even as he was about to sink.

Next to him, Heivia’s movements looked something like the halfway point between swimming and drowning.

“At this rate, we’ll be crushed by the remnants of the base raining down even if the Object doesn’t shoot us! Where are the powered suits we were issued!?”

“At the bottom of the sea by now! How about you dive down 300 meters and get them for us!?”

“They issued us suits that would make us sink like a stone for a battle on the sea!? Were the higher ups trying to get rid of us after they had gotten what they wanted from us!?”

“More importantly, shouldn’t we try to get as far away from the base as possible!? The oil tanks are at the bottom of the sea with pipes bringing up what’s necessary for maintenance, right? The safety devices must have kicked in to keep that crude oil from coming out of the broken pipes, but who knows how long those safety devices can last against that Tri-Core’s attack!!”

“So there’s going to be a black fountain followed by a literal sea of flames!? Who the hell okayed this horrible mission!?”

As Heivia complained, he sank below the surface once and then frantically worked his way back up. Once his head was back above the surface again, he shook it like a wet dog.

“Shit, I can’t last much longer. I-I’m sinking… I can get rid of these explosives, right?”

“And turn your 1% chance of survival into 0%!?”

“What good is this junk going to be!? Even if we set it up properly, it won’t damage the armor! And we can’t even get close in this situation!!”

“That’s true…Getting close to it is going to be a real issue, but…gyahh!! It’s coming this way!!”

Quenser screamed and Heivia looked toward the horizon with a shocked look.

The Tri-Core may have decided its victory was assured now that it had destroyed almost all of the base zones with its giant railguns (or it was relieved that no Object had appeared) because it was approaching while intermittently firing.

Its speed was around 200 kph.

(Is it just going to break right through the strait?)

Just as Quenser thought that, he heard Froleytia shout over at him with only her head above the water.

“Do something!! If it breaks through, it will get that oil to the enemy base zone! If you don’t want that, stop it!!”

“Who cares about that now!? It can bring them some nice cooking oil along with it for all I care!!”

“If that oil gets there, the base zone’s Object maintenance area will be up and running again!! If that happens, an even worse Object that had been stopped due to lack of maintenance will join in!! The Mediterranean will be thrown into an even worse hell!”

“Oh, give me a fucking break!! Do you think I could get discharged from the military if I shot this superior officer of ours in the head!?”

Heivia made his comment to Quenser with a completely serious look in his eyes, but Quenser had more important things to worry about.

“Hey, this is bad! The Tri-Core is headed this way!!” he shouted with an even more serious look on his face.

“Of course it is, hero!! It’s trying to break through the strait, rememb-…”

“No!! It’s on a route that will directly crush us!!”

“Oh, come on!! You have got to be kidding me!!” Heivia shouted, but unfortunately, Quenser was not kidding.

The Tri-Core with its three reactors had realized that there was still a base zone that retained its basic shape even after 2 or 3 shots from its giant railgun and now seemed to be heading over to fire at pointblank range. Its giant form approached, paying no heed to Quenser and the others treading water there.

Of course, a human body would be utterly crushed if it was directly hit by the giant form.

The Tri-Core seemed to float using the same means as a hovercraft that blew air down, but it took so much to keep that giant body afloat that it was only floating 30-50 cm from the surface. Quenser and the others would surely be hit as they treaded water in its path and the blast of wind that kept the hundreds of thousands of tons afloat would utterly crush a human body.

At that rate, they would be pureed and eaten by octopuses.

Heivia’s eyes widened as he saw the Tri-Core approaching on a clockwise path.

“We need to get out of the way!!”

“You idiot! There’s no way we can swim that fast!! The Tri-Core is over 150 meters wide! Not even an Olympic gold medalist could avoid it!!”

“Then tell me, future scholar!! How are we supposed to survive this!?”

Even as they yelled at each other, the Tri-Core continued to approach with overwhelming speed.

It would reach them in less than 30 seconds.

(If we can’t escape by swimming to the left or right, the only option is…!!)

Quenser swam toward a nearby sinking lifeboat. 

Seeing that, Heivia shouted, “Do you really think some cheap motorboat can outrun an Object made for naval battles!?”

“No, you idiot! Put this on!!”

Quenser tossed something that had been provided on the lifeboat toward Heivia and Froleytia. It was a hairspray-sized can with a clear mask to cover the nose and mouth on the end.

“An oxygen tank…?”

“Put it on and dive!!” said Quenser as he put on his own clear mask and pointed down. “The Tri-Core travels over the water with giant floats and an air cushion engine! In that case, it shouldn’t reach down below the surface!!”

“!?”

It seemed Heivia and Froleytia tried to give some kind of reaction, but Quenser did not have time to listen.

The end of the Tri-Core as it travelled at almost 200 kph had drawn quite near to them. As it travelled at such high speeds, it created a V-shape of high waves. Even though the actual craft was floating, the intense downward wind was tearing into the surface of the water. Even if by some miracle they managed to escape to the side of the Tri-Core, those waves would be enough to swallow them up.

“Shit!!”

Quenser dove down below the surface without having time to check if his mask was working properly.

The Tri-Core’s thick floats passed by above, barely missing him. The intense wind greatly disturbed the surface of the water, but that great fury did not reach Quenser below the surface.

(Hoo. I somehow made i-…)

Just as Quenser was breathing a sigh of relief, something almost caused his breathing to stop.

The Tri-Core’s main body did indeed use giant floats and an air cushion engine to almost perfectly float above the surface of the water.

However, something like a steel pylon stuck straight down from each of the three sphere reactors. They were shark anchors that were retractable like a police baton. The weights ensured that the giant Object would not roll onto its side.

The main body of the Object passed by over Quenser’s head, but the pylon-sized shark anchor was headed straight for him.

“!?”

Quenser immediately swam to the side in an attempt to avoid it, but the Tri-Core made a move of its own at the exact same time. It may have been adjusting its aim, but it made a sudden clockwise rotation like someone sliding their feet around on the ground. Its speed dropped considerably, but the giant shark anchor almost seemed to correct its trajectory toward Quenser like it was a guided weapon.

(Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?)

At that point, he could not come up with any plans or tricks. Quenser simply frantically moved his arms and legs to try to get as far away from it as he could. However, his tiny human body only spun around in the water like a leaf blowing in the wind.

“Cough!?”

The shark anchor itself did not hit him.

If it had, his body would no longer have been recognizable as human.

He just barely managed to avoid it, but the swirling seawater agitated by the shark anchor’s giant mass put Quenser’s body into a spin.

(But at least I managed to avoid-…)

Quenser had miraculously managed to keep his life, but he was still not allowed a sigh of relief.

Something suddenly grabbed at his leg.

“!?”

Such intense pain ran through his leg that he thought his ankle had been dislocated, but it was not actually that serious. Even so, Quenser’s consciousness started to dim. Whatever had gotten caught around his ankle started to drag him through the sea at around 50 kph.

(Cough cough!! Dammit. Am I caught on some part of the Tri-Core!?)

Quenser looked at his ankle that had a grinding pain running through it and his expression turned bitter.

Something like a metal net was wrapped around one of the shark anchors and a portion of it had gotten wrapped around Quenser’s ankle. It did not look like a net that would be used for fish. This became even more clear when Quenser looked around and noticed a metal sphere nearby. It was about the size of the large balls used in sports festivals and its metal surface had thick thorn-like things covering it.

Quenser’s expression stiffened even further upon seeing it.

(…A mine!?)

He recalled that Froleytia had said a net covered in mines had been placed across the Strait of Gibraltar to obstruct the Tri-Core. The Object had used its giant form to force through the net and had been dragging it along ever since.

Something like that mine could not destroy that Object.

But if it were to detonate there, it ''would'' blow Quenser to pieces.

(Dammit. I’m not going to let myself be killed by my own side’s trap!!)

Perhaps in order to even more accurately aim its railgun, the Tri-Core stopped moving, its air cushion engine weakened, and it came to a stop on the surface of the water using only its floats.

Quenser used that chance to ball himself up and reach for his ankle. However, it was so tangled up in the net that he could not free it. He panicked, but then someone else’s hand reached in from the side.

(!? …Heivia!!)

Apparently, his companion had gotten caught in the net, too. Heivia seemed to try to say something, but the oxygen mask and seawater prevented his voice from reaching Quenser.

Heivia used his hands surprisingly skillfully and freed Quenser’s ankle from the net, but he grabbed Quenser’s arm when Quenser tried to leave on the current of the water.

The Tri-Core was at an almost complete stop and was firing its railgun. It was utterly destroying a base zone that had already lost almost all of its original form and that’s soldiers had already leapt into the sea.

While its attention was elsewhere, they could safely escape from the Tri-Core by letting go of the net. However, Heivia kept a grip on the net.

(?)

Quenser was confused, but he grabbed the net like a ladder all the same. He simply could not tell what Heivia was thinking. The other boy seemed to be trying to explain, but Quenser could not hear him in the water.

After a bit, Heivia realized his efforts were a waste and simply pointed up with one hand while holding onto the net with the other.

What his gesture indicated was simple.

''The blast of air from the air cushion engine seems to have stopped, so let’s take this chance to climb aboard the Tri-Core before it accelerates again.