Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume7 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 8===

“It’s a water jet,” muttered Quenser.

What he had done was simple. He had buried his Hand Axe plastic explosive in the fine desert sand and detonated it. To direct the entire blast upwards, he had laid a bulletproof jacket below the bomb.

“Once I thought about it, it didn’t make sense. Additional front armor? A beak? It supposedly detects incoming attacks and uses explosives to purge the surface layer of metal leaf to keep the damage from transferring, but it’s still moving at overwhelming speeds that break the sound barrier. The air resistance has to be huge. That would produce enough energy to heat up the Object’s surface. …That beak will be constantly taking tons of damage even without an Object attacking it! I just have to give it the final push!!”

“And that’s why you blasted a bunch of sand into the air and into the wind? To increase the force of a water jet that cuts metal sheets with high pressure water, they mix artificial diamond dust into the water to increase its resistance and friction. Are you saying you filled the air with sand to increase the aerodynamic damage to the Simple Is Best as it charges through at supersonic speeds!?”

It was the same as a file or grinder.

Rubbing at metal with a smooth rubber belt would not wear it down much, but using an adhesive to spray an even amount of metal powder on the surface would allow it to grind through a metal panel in a matter of seconds.

The Simple Is Best wore down its own body with its overwhelming speed. It was similar to driving a convertible along a highway that had tons of fish hooks hanging down.

“Most likely, heat and impacts below a certain level are within the margin of error and do not activate the beak. But what if it detects damage that exceeds that margin? I don’t know how many hundreds or thousands of sheets of metal leaf that beak is made from, but the false readings should lead it to purge all of the beak that forms the silhouette needed for its aerodynamic control!!”

“I think it’s a great idea, Quenser, but that isn’t enough. You’re underestimating the enemy’s strength!! Just scattering some desert sand into the air won’t destroy the strongest armor on an Object. It’ll have been regulated to handle clouds of sand caused by sandstorms and Object bombardments!!”

“You would be right if this was normal sand.” Quenser smiled. “Have you forgotten about the Hornet Storm? It has no main canon and instead attacks other Objects by focusing its secondary weapons on a single point. And all of those weapons are laser beams! Thanks to the stray shots targeting Lisa Deauville, the sand on the surface was quickly roasted by a massive amount of heat and then immediately cooled by the single digit temperatures of the desert night. It’s hardly the perfect forging of a katana, but it greatly changed the quality of the iron sand and the size of the grains is much larger due to being wrapped in glassed silicon. Also…”

“Don’t tell me the tungsten mixed into the ground was incorporated in!”

“I doubt it would conveniently harden just right, but it’s better than nothing. And if the cloud of dust produces more friction than the Simple Is Best expects, the situation will completely change!!”

With a great rumbling, one corner of the desert night glowed red.

It was the Simple Is Best. Its surface had been heated until it glowed. It was reminiscent of an asteroid entering the atmosphere. The color proved it was undergoing a massive amount of friction that was thinly tearing into the entire spherical main body.

But it did not stop there.

[[Image:HO_v07_241.png|thumb]]

The Simple Is Best’s silhouette began to crumble. Its “beak” looked like a thick book that had its binding removed. The metal leaf on the surface was being purged with explosives. The unexpected amount of friction was being misinterpreted as an attack from an Object.

And the destruction did not stop at the first layer.

More and more layers scattered away.

Hundreds and even thousands of layers of the solid armor came undone in an instant. They were all blown away.

The streamlined “beak” silhouette disappeared and the Object lost its lifeline that had been entrusted to that beak because it was the sturdiest part.

That armor had been its greatest safety feature by using the air to keep it pressed against the ground instead of floating up.

What happened next was anything but an ordinary sight.

The 200 thousand ton mass lost control and floated up in the desert night.

Quenser snapped his fingers.

“Got it!! Without its beak, the Simple Is Best can’t charge in at supersonic speeds. If it can’t fire its low-stability plasma cannon at point-blank range, there’s nothing to be afraid of. The princess just has to keep her distance and fire on it!!”

“You idiot!! Is this any time to be getting carried away!?”

He heard a rustling sound from somewhere.

In a moonlit part of the desert, he saw Heivia rise up a bit from where he was hiding.

And the boy shouted over his radio.

“The Simple Is Best has lost control and is rolling like a bowling ball! The Elite inside probably burst like a water balloon, but the threat isn’t over yet. The scale might be too big to understand, but a 50 meter steel ball is rolling this way at several hundred kph! If you don’t want to be turned to mincemeat as a stupid-looking bowling pin, pick up that blonde beauty and run!!”

“…!?”