Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume3 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 6===

The Second Generation Object known as the Rush by the Legitimacy Kingdom was named the Gatling 033 by the Information Alliance. The Elite girl sat in its cockpit. As Quenser had predicted, she had no choice but to take a detour.

The battle with the Legitimacy Kingdom Object would be determined by how quickly the maintenance on her main cannon could be completed. Once it was, the battle would effectively be over.

However, the Elite girl was not piloting the Object at full speed.

In fact, she had lowered her speed to move along very, very cautiously.

The Gatling 033 used an air cushion engine that used the power of the air and special treads for high speed movement. She doubted the scattered Object wreckage could damage the treads, but in the off chance that they did, she would lose even more time with the extra maintenance. She was afraid of losing her time advantage.

(Objects can withstand nuclear attacks, so I doubt it would be damaged so easily, but that is why completely unpredictable “acts of god” are so frightening. Oh ho ho.)

Those who let their guard down when they had a single safe strategy could not hope to defeat what were known as “coincidences”.

The outcome of entire wars rested on the shoulders of an Elite, so the girl felt it was necessary to pay close attention even after putting together a safe strategy.

Luckily, her maintenance was simple enough that she would likely still have time to finish her maintenance and attack the Legitimacy Kingdom Object even while taking such a cautious detour.

A few different means of hindering the convoy had been set up, but the powered suit unit had taken action to keep them from losing any time.

However, she could not allow herself to get too worked up.

It was important to keep a level head.

If she became impatient and moved at full speed to preserve that safe strategy, it could bring about unnecessary trouble that would bring that safe strategy crashing down. Even if she was just barely staying on the proper side of the limit, she had to accurately move the Object like she was a machine as well. That was the way to ensure victory.

Suddenly, the Gatling 033’s sensors picked up infrared rays.

It was the type that guided weapons used to aim.

(…My, my.)

The white smoke of something being launched came from atop a cliff to her side…but the cliff only came up to about half the height of the Gatling 033. It was a portable anti-tank missile, a weapon that was not really useful on a modern battlefield.

(If this is all they can do to slow me down, then these “acts of god” are surprisingly cute. Oh ho ho.)

It happened immediately after it was fired.

It was no more than 0.3 seconds later.

The smallest of the Gatling 033’s weapons reacted. A metal railgun shell was fired at a speed greater than Mach 5. The missile that had only just left the barrel was shot down and an area 10 meters around where it had been fired was blown away. The impact held such great power that it blew away even the flames of the missile.

A dull rumble shook the snowy earth.

Paying it no heed, the Elite girl informed her fellow soldiers.

“Oh ho ho. This is the Gatling 033. Someone who is likely from the Legitimacy Kingdom attacked me in the middle of my detour.” She sounded utterly bored. “No, that will not be necessary. There is unlikely to be even a body left. It would be a waste of time to investigate. Oh ho ho.”