Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume10 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 7===

The Mobius Infinity was a Second Generation belonging to the Capitalist Corporations. It used a static electricity propulsion device and its five ring-shaped floats were arranged like flower petals. It had been made for long-distance attacks and it had three ultra-large railguns attached on the back. Instead of directly targeting the enemy, it primarily fired straight upwards, sending giant shells with control wings up to the stratosphere where they would turn like a Mobius strip and attack the enemy Object from the sky. Immense kinetic energy was combined with the potential energy of the great altitude to produce destruction rumored to rival a meteor strike.

That Object was considered the greatest enemy here and thus it bore the risk of being the first target out of the eight.

“This is insane.”

Heivia lowered his Slingshot multipurpose missile launcher to the grassy ground.

“That shell would continue on up into space if they didn’t have it turn, so why are they dropping it back down? Couldn’t they use that cannon to build a peaceful country on Mars or something?”

“The Capitalist Corporations are supposed to be pioneers in the field of mass drivers, aren’t they? I’m sure they have plenty of offshoots like this.”

“So you’re saying this world is filled with idiots?”

As Heivia complained, Quenser opened the reinforced plastic case he had placed on the ground. Inside were cylinders five centimeters wide and thirty centimeters long placed inside waterproof packages. They contained the powder combination used to fire the missile.

“Two of them make a set. I need to cut off the edge with my survival kit’s knife and attach the clasp and plug that reveals.”

“The warhead is still empty. Don’t forget to add in Set C.”

“Yes, yes. Leave it all to the legendary maid Quensette. Would you like fries and a drink with that?”

He unscrewed the rugby ball-shaped warhead and opened it up. After splitting it in two, he attached a sheet of explosives on the inside of the back. He then shoved inside the unit packed in plastic and closed the capsule once more.

He finally attached the firing powder cylinder to the rugby ball-shaped warhead and pushed the club-like missile toward Heivia.

“What a pain in the ass. Couldn’t they just give us the completed missile?”

“This freedom is the entire point of the thing. We can prepare and fire warheads with any number of effects, so it comes in handy in a variety of situations.”

In this case, they were using a combination of instant glue and a special wire net sharp enough to cut off a human finger. It could not destroy an Object, but there was some hope it could gum up some of the movable parts or joints.

“Isn’t that why it’s on the verge of being classified as an inhumane weapon? If you wanted to, you could fire liquid nitrogen or the growth medium for a biological weapon.”

“Yeah, I saw a video online of a soldier on an angry rampage after one covered him in dogshit. But that had to be a setup. Once it went viral, he started showing up in the ads.”

“But people always associate him with being covered in shit, so no one liked having him show up on TV during dinner time.”

Heivia stuck the club inside the firing tube and twisted it until he heard a click. The Slingshot missile was now complete.

“Get a few spare shots ready. And deal with this.”

Heivia removed the flat monitor attached to the side of the launcher and tossed it to Quenser.

“Hey, what am I supposed to do with this?”

“Were you even listening to the pre-mission briefing? Over a hundred of our comrades are hiding around here like peepers in the park at night. We’ll synchronize all of our triggers to make a simultaneous saturation attack from one hundred directions at once. I’m busy making some minor adjustments to the hardware, so you take care of the network setup.”

“But I want to be a designer. I live in the world of mechanics. Can I just hit ‘yes’ or ‘okay’ to everything that appears on the screen?”

“Don’t worry. This is easier to use than a tablet for housewives. Just keep your finger moving like you’re looking up the recipe for dinner tonight.”

“Are you sure…?”

Quenser frowned as he leaned over the tablet and moved his finger across the display. It was unclear if he was controlling the device or vice versa.

“I’m done, I think. …Wait, is this connected through normal Wi-Fi!? That’s really dangerous!!”

“Want a real shock? Each of these launchers can be used for tethering. Makes me want to leave one in a net café.”

The setup on the screen was complete, but Quenser and Heivia’s work was not done. The student set the monitor down and began preparing more missiles while Heivia rested the launcher on his shoulder and looked up at the Capitalist Corporations’ Second Generation Mobius Infinity.

Quenser began complaining under his breath.

“(Tch. I brought a high-quality loupe and a millimeter wave scanner, but it doesn’t look like I’ll get a chance to use them.)”

“We’re about to get started, skinny boy. Watch where you stand if you don’t want to get caught in the backfire.”

The sound of the missile firing resembled escaping steam.

The missile rocketed out from the launcher on Heivia’s shoulder. A normal missile might have looked like a great spear in the sky with a long shaft of smoke and a blade of orange light, but this one did not. From over one hundred directions along the 180 degrees behind the Mobius Infinity, over one hundred shots were fired. The missiles had all been fired from a single pull of the trigger, so they looked like the dancing digital meter on the screen of a sound system.

They were targeting the three main cannons attached to the back of the Mobius Infinity’s spherical body. Those dangerous weapons fired giant shells into the stratosphere where they twisted around and dropped from the sky. But if something went wrong there, the situation on the battlefield would definitely change. The other Objects would move to defeat their most powerful enemy before it could recover.

An Object’s anti-air laser beams could shoot down any aircraft or missile headed its way, but what about a simultaneous attack from too many missiles for the optical weaponry to handle?

What if they surpassed its limits and just one shot slipped past the net of death?

That was the definition of a saturation attack.

However…

Orange explosions blossomed across the entire sky.

They had not hit; every last one of them had been shot down by the laser beams.

Quenser glanced down at the monitor on the ground. The paths of the missiles were drawn like a reverse hedgehog, but they all ended in an X-mark and the word “lost”. The repeated word was overlapped too much to read it anymore.

“Oh, honestly! I knew this wouldn’t work! This entire job was pointless!!”

“Even the worst Object can withstand a nuke, so the entire concept was wrong from the moment they tried to cause a malfunction with traditional firepower!”

With missiles and recoilless rifles, the smoke of firing allowed the enemy to quickly locate the origin point, so Quenser and Heivia grabbed the launcher, spare warheads, and monitor before making a mad dash through the tall grass.

Their comrades who had fired from over one hundred other locations were probably scattering as well.

“So far, this is all going as planned! Quenser, tap the monitor to start up the communication software with the yellow triangle icon. You take care of the rest!!”

“Won’t those Second Generations get suspicious when we used encryption before!?”

“This is meaningless if we aren’t certain they’ll intercept it. Just get to it! A weird time lag will make them suspicious too!!”

Quenser operated the machine in complete desperation.

He attached the image of their “results” that had been prepared in advance and then spoke to silver-haired well-endowed Frolaytia who was sitting safely at the very back of the battlefield.

“Oh! Behold the crimson furor of yonder flame!! The Mobius Infinity’s fearsome fangs are caked in ebony soot and lack the bite necessary to devour its foe. Oh, radiant warrior princess, great honor is sure to be thine afore thy gain any muscle in thine delicate arms!!”

Heivia did a spit-take.

After Quenser ended the transmission, Heivia just about grabbed his collar as he shouted at him.

“This isn’t a school play, you moron! Why did you turn this into something from a musical!?”

“If an amateur tries to add in a subtle flavor, everyone will notice right away. So it’s better to dump a bunch of curry powder in so it tastes the same to everyone. …Besides, that’s basically how people see the Legitimacy Kingdom. They actually seem to think we still throw white gloves at each other to pick fights with a sabre in one hand.”

“Are you serious? But even nobles like me shop online.”

A light flashed on the monitor in Quenser’s hand.

They were far enough away from their previous spot, so the two idiots stopped and looked to the screen.

“They’re moving, they’re moving. A few Objects are approaching the Mobius Infinity and starting to secure a line of fire. It worked!”

“I’m not sure I like that they were fooled by that. Maybe I need to work on improving the Winchell family’s diplomatic image.”

“If you’re our representative, everyone will think the Legitimacy Kingdom is Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Meanwhile, Quenser’s farce had set the situation in motion. Negative attention was turning in the Mobius Infinity’s direction.

The Information Alliance’s Second Generation Rush.

The Faith Organization’s Second Generation Self Deception.

The Faith Organization’s Second Generation Sand Cluster.

And to get it all started and to draw the others in, the Legitimacy Kingdom’s First Generation Baby Magnum and Second Generation Royal Residence were also approaching while making bluffs to the left and right.

The only one taking a “wait and see” approach was the Information Alliance’s Second Generation Band Station which was in charge of information analysis and broadcasting. Then again, it could be seen as “attacking” by filming like a sniper or paparazzo.

The Capitalist Corporations Second Generation Spider Joust positioned itself as the vanguard to shield the Mobius Infinity from the approaching Objects while firing from long-distance, but at this point, its enemies could push past it using their superior numbers.

“It’s finally turning out the way we wanted.”

“I can’t believe all this was just the first step of our plan. How many more steps before the Princess and the Baby Magnum can come back alive? It feels like it’s about time for someone to bring out the tea and cookies.”

But as the two idiots complained, something unexpected happened.