Read Novel Full Chapter 406 – Marching Again
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Chapter 406 – Marching Again
“It’s brilliant.”
“Yes, it is. It’s phenomenal.”
“Tch, there was nothing we could do.”
“It’s okay as long as it doesn’t fall…”
The result of the interception battle between the magic airship and the magic riflemen was obvious to the military officers watching the battle. In other words, it was a resounding victory. It was still just a preliminary battle, but now our magic airship would not be called a mere flying piece of junk.
“There was no damage to us or our friends. It is a complete victory.”
“Thank you for your efforts. Well, this was just a preliminary test. In the real battle, we might be swarmed by more than twice as many, so let’s not let our guard down.”
“Yes!”
I said to Ted, who came to report on the battle. It would be good if the dragon riders could successfully catch about the same number as now, but they might screw up and catch three or four times as many instead of twice as many. In that case, the enemy’s numbers might exceed our ability to intercept them, and we might be surrounded. In this case, it would be difficult to use a magic rifle with too much power… but this problem has already been solved.
The main problem is that the power and penetration are too high, so in addition to the normal type of bullet, I made a hollow-point bullet with a concave warhead. Although the accuracy of the bullet at long range is much lower, there is no problem when it is used in close combat, and as long as the bullet can penetrate the outer skin of the target, it can cause tremendous damage. More importantly, its difficulty in penetrating the enemy’s body is a good thing. However, there are times when it does penetrate.
Since a magic rifle is like a rifled musket that uses magic as a substitute for a charge, the only way to fine-tune its performance is to improve the rifle’s tailstock, which generates the explosive magic that replaces the charge, or to modify the warhead. If the caliber is to be changed, it is necessary to start from the barrel production line, or rather, the production line itself must be changed to a new one. Well, we are also developing a new type of rapid-fire magic gun, so we will have to rebuild the production line sooner or later.
“We will continue to advance while maintaining anti-aircraft vigilance. Type 3 battle positions will continue.”
“”Aye, aye, sir.””
The mage who acts as the helmsman and the mage who acts as the communications officer respond to my orders and perform the necessary operations while the mage communicator relays the messages through the magic voice pipe. In case of an emergency, I give them direct orders through the magic voice pipe, but in normal times, I leave everything to the mage, who is the communications officer.
“Are flying biters useful as material?”
“Because of their sharpness and size, their fangs can be made into blades or used as ornaments. The leather is also relatively durable and easy to work with. They are monsters, so you can get magic stones from them.”
“I see. On the other hand, it seems a bit wasteful to just shoot them down and leave them there.”
“It can’t be helped. There is no way to retrieve them. The carcass would have been crushed if it had fallen from this altitude.”
“That is also true. The terrain is not conducive to land the magic airship.”
The area is a rocky slope with a lot of height differences. If I were to land the magic airship, I would have to go down and clear a large area to make room for the airship. Even if I landed on the top of the rocky mountain, how would I get down to the bottom of the mountain where the flying biters’ corpses were? Collecting the bodies would obviously not be worth the effort.
“Well, we could just retrieve the ones that conveniently landed on the ship.”
“Hmm, that’s all we can do.”
In this operation, once air control of the flying biters’ nest is secured, the nest is to be destroyed by thorough bombing by the magic airship and the harpy bomber squadron, so it would be difficult to recover the bodies that fell into the nest.
We considered sending a magic rifle squad to raid and suppress the nest but decided against it because the risk was not worth the reward. It was a fool’s errand to get greedy and cause casualties that did not need to be inflicted.
We flew on for less than an hour. After flying a little less than three hours in total, we received a call from the dragon riders.
“They said we would soon be in the territory of the flying biters.
“Well then, let’s all take our Type 2 battle positions. The ship will stand by in the airspace just inside the flying biter territory as planned and intercept the flying biters the dragon riders have fished out to reduce their numbers. Maintain strict aerial surveillance.”
“””Aye aye sir.”””
The mages that are packed in the area answer in unison and start working on their respective tasks.
“Also, take turns taking a short break while you’re at it. Once the battle starts, you might not be able to do your business for a while.”
“Kosuke.”
“This is important. If you can’t concentrate on it or if you run out of patience and it breaks down, you’ll be in big trouble. Or do you want to wear a diaper?”
Ouch. I was very serious, but for some reason, Isla slapped me. Well, most of the people on the bridge are women, and maybe I spoke without delicacy. But I think it’s important, this kind of thing.
“Okay. I’m sorry. I’m going to patrol the deck. I’ll leave this to you.”
“Hmm. All right.”
After saying those things, I’m not sure they could go to the bathroom with a guy like me around, so I’ll just be cool and go. Huh? If I’m going to be so considerate, why do I have to say such a strange thing in the first place, you ask? It is not strange. It was just a statement I made openly without reading the atmosphere.