My Children Swarm the Cosmos

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟐: 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞 (2)

Fleet of Mirnyy on Babylon orbit totalled five fleet-class in size, with five capital ships as the main force and twenty armed vessels of various types supporting the capital ships.

Kwaaaang!!!

Among them, a capital ship was splendidly exploded by being pierced by a purple plasma beam.

➖What happened?!

➖A large number of Chimeraz are approaching!

Suddenly appearing in front of them, along with the light, were Euryale and forty Lemegeton. The feeling of facing them was bizarre, like facing a large group of creatures in the deep sea.

➖The enemy has ten fleets!

Since humanity was at war with the Chimeraz, the Babylonia fleet responded immediately. Since shields were ineffective against Chimeraz, all guns were opened, and hundreds of carrier-based spacecraft were dispatched.

Beams of light from both sides intersected, and Cresecter and carrier-based spacecrafts tangled with each other and began to fight. The Babylonia fleet attacked Cresecter and Lemegeton with crimson energy beams, their specialty.

In response, the Cresecter fired concentrated masses of dark red plasma at close range, while individual Lemegeton warships fired purple plasma beams in succession.

And Euryale added firepower by revealing miniaturized Organic Accelerator Cannons from the rear.

Although the Chimeraz side had far more numbers, the humans seemed to think it was worth a try, knowing that their weapons were superior when fighting the Chimeraz.

“Nazar. Show them the new guys.”

➖I will send out the Crepitus group.

The Lemegetons, who had been fighting in the front lines, opened their mouths all at once.

Puff puff bang. . .!

The new Chimeraz spacecrafts charged forward like shells with explosive power.

➖Unidentified lifeforms are approaching the carrier spacecraft engagement area at high speed!

They have no eyes or mouths. The body is a long, claw-like body that extends in four directions, and a cluster of propulsion units facing different directions is gathered like a coral colony in the center of the inner claw, and a pair of tentacles extends back like a whirlwind in the direction of movement.

The creatures called Crepitus charged forward at a brutal speed while rotating slowly.

It doesn’t seem to have an organ for firing anything. It’s just a strange, rotating, charging figure. Although it’s not the size of a ship, it’s moving at an incredible speed, but since space is wider than it appears, the carrier-based spacecraft dealt with it autonomously.

Some carrier-based spacecraft took evasive action, while others intercepted.

At that moment, the life and death of the carrier-based spacecraft pilots were decided.

The pilots who chose to intercept accurately attacked the lightly armed spacecraft that were charging forward and blew them up.

On the other hand, the pilots who chose evasive maneuvers regretted it.

➖I’m being chased!

➖Those things explode. . .!

Crepitus each had one target, and they would charge towards that target until they died. The strangely rotating body and clustered propulsion units emitted an output close to an explosion, enabling rapid changes in direction.

A rapid change in direction meant turning almost at right angles while maintaining that speed.

And when it collided with the target, or reached the vicinity of the target, a Crepitus self-destructed, consuming all the energy it had in an instant.

It was literally a living guided missile. It had incredible speed and superior directional change capabilities. Moreover, with the aiming correction system, it was difficult to hit the rotating thin fuselage, and it had unpredictable movements for preemptive shooting.

From the standpoint of the opponent, it was too difficult.

The manned and unmanned carrier-based spacecraft, whose own shield output was relatively low compared to that of the ships, suffered near-annihilation by the Crepitus group.

➖Master. The enemy fleet is retreating after giving up on engaging the carrier spacecraft. Shall we pursue them?

“Attack the planets in a dispersed manner. A breakthrough at one point is dangerous.”

Kreion looked closely at the metal surface of Babylonia.

On the surface of the planet, there were plenty of what looked like standard-sized cannons.

“Gnox. Look at what I’m seeing.”

Gnox borrowed the eyes of a Cresecter, following Kreion’s waves.

“It looks like Babylonia has an air defense system. Its firepower will be considerable when we enter their firing range.”

“Some kind of ground-to-air fission cannon. . . . It looks like there are at least 500 of them installed with that density and arrangement. It might take several days to destroy them all, even if we accept the loss of Lemegeton.”

“We’ll have to find a part where the ground-to-air fission cannons are relatively few and break through.”

“Where is that?”

“Where that huge cannon is.”

🔷🔷🔷

Euryale and the Lemegeton group dispersed and attacked Babylonia from various angles, so the fleet battle spread out widely.

As Kreion had predicted, the 516 ground-to-air fission cannons on the surface of Babylonia showed the power of the air defense system as soon as the Chimeraz entered firing range.

The Lemegeton group, which had been forty, was reduced to thirty-one, and the Babylonia fleet, which had been five fleet-class in size, was greatly reduced to three fleet-class in size.

As Babylonia’s defensive tactics gradually brought the battle situation to a stalemate, the Crepitus group charged at the super-giant cannon, accepting the frontal damage from the air defense system.

Kwack kwack kwack kwaaang!!!

One ground-to-air fission cannon was neutralized, and a Lemegeton rushed in one after another to that location.

Kung. . .!

The Lemegeton rammed its head into the metal surface.

It ended up opening its mouth toward the inside of the facility.

Air leaked out through the perforated ceiling, and Xenotera and Chimeraz ground forces poured out of the Lemegeton’s mouth.

“They’re in! Stop them!”

“Mother f*cking monsters!”

The troops inside the facility used a weapon called a fission rifle. It was a personal weapon that disassembled targets at the molecular level, equipped with a miniaturized beryllium-based nuclear fission cartridge.

Shoooo!

Crimson energy was fired like a stream of water, melting the Hounz in the front ranks.

However, as always, the deaths of a few Hounz in the front ranks meant nothing to the Chimeraz.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Toohwak. . .!

Heavy Tritulas added firepower from the rear, and the endless Cust and Hounz spread into the facility and fought a fierce battle.

Among the swarming Chimeraz group, a woman appeared, wearing a tight-fitting black leather-like material on her body.

It’s Vatory.

She looks around with her reptile-like eyes.

“Where should we go?”

Gnox, who was unfolding a makeshift colony behind her, answered.

“Just a moment, I’m still hacking.”

Gnox’s makeshift colony looked like a tongue that had descended into the facility from inside Lemegeton’s mouth. In that colony, tendrils as thin as copper wires covered the floor, walls, and ceiling like blood vessels, extending deep into the facility.

And some of the tendrils had completely penetrated the floor and physically accessed electronic devices and computer equipment connected to the facility.

“Is it taking long?”

“I’m looking for the server location. The map data. . . .”