Zubashhaaaaa! (Dragon breath sfx)
The ancient dragon's breath swept across the front, revealing some of the bare ground that was previously covered with monsters. However, it was soon covered by other monsters and corpses and was hidden again.
"Hmm……" (An Ancient Dragon)
The breath of an ancient dragon was indeed powerful. It was unlikely that anyone other than another ancient dragon or Mile could defend against it. However, what if, in the time it took to slay 100 monsters, 1000 monsters emerged? If, while mowing down 1,000 monsters, tens of thousands of monsters emerged...
The boundary between friend and foe was no longer a single line, but a wide front line. The majority of the first layer had become a melee zone, while the second layer, which was made up of amateurs, was only able to deal with the small fry that had been purposely sent to the rear and C-rank monsters that had almost completely lost their fighting power. This meant that when the first layer was unable to handle the powerful individuals and they passed through to the rear, true hell began on the second layer.
If the ancient dragons made poor moves in a place where friends and enemies were mixed together, it would trample their allies. So, the ancient dragons were one step ahead of the front line, forming a battery of Dragon's Breaths...
"How annoying..." (An Ancient Dragon)
Monsters would not normally stand up to an ancient dragon. Their instincts would sense the danger and fear of standing up to such a powerful being, and they would quickly flee. But now, they were being pushed back by monsters emerging from behind one after another, and they could neither retreat nor escape. Yes, there was no choice but to move forward.
And unlike the monsters that gradually degenerated and weakened in this lukewarm world, the high-ranking monsters that had evolved to be stronger in the harsh world were able to at least land a blow against the ancient dragon.
At the cost of their own life, the monsters pelt off one of the ancient dragon's scales. At the cost of their own life, they grabbed the scales with their hands, stood them up, bit into the gaps, and inserted their poisonous stinger. It's far from fatal, but extremely unpleasant and irritating.
And even if the injuries were minor, if the monsters increased to a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand, even the ancient dragons would be overcome. If the ancient dragons attacked while flying, they could avoid being hit, but then they could not take advantage of their large body in hand-to-hand combat, and their only means of attack was their breath. There was no way that an ancient dragon, of all people, could do such a shameful thing as fleeing into the sky in fear of the attacks of small fry and fighting only with ranged attacks from afar. Also, the Dragon's Breaths could not be vomited indefinitely. Eventually, they would get tired and run out of magical power.
"Change of target! Everyone, fire your breath into the rift!!" (An Ancient Dragon)
The leader of the Ancient Dragon Corps gave orders to everyone. It seemed that rather than attacking the monsters, which would never end no matter how many they defeated, they had decided to attack the dimensional rift itself and destroy it.
"I see, you are truly an ancient dragon! You have resorted to destroying the system that maintains the rift!" (Mile)
Mile was impressed, but in truth, she just thought it would be more efficient to fire at a crowded area before they scattered widely. The Ancient Dragons had no idea that the dimensional rift was maintained by scientific means.
...However, the range of the Dragon's Breath was not that long. Even flame bombs had a short effective range, and it seemed unlikely that flares would be able to reach the other side of the tunnel-like crack.
"No good. To inflict damage on the other side of the rift and destroy the dimensional penetration system, we’d need to launch a powerful explosive or use a high-output beam weapon… If we're talking about solid projectile weapons, I wish we had at least something like the 16-inch (40.6 cm) cannon on the Iowa-class battleship 'Missouri'. With that, we'd be able to destroy even alien combat machines..." (Mile)
Mile was constantly babbling things that those around her could not understand, but no one cared about such things in the middle of a battle, so it's no problem.
"If there was some kind of attack method like the Sunshine Destroyer, something that I could just give verbal commands to the Nanomachines, that wouldn't put any strain on me, and that I could keep firing as much as I wanted..." (Mile)
However, life was not that easy. It was impossible for something so convenient to exist. Then, Mile looked up resentfully at the thick clouds blocking out the sunlight.
Zubashhaaaaaaa!! (Light beam attack sfx)
"……eh?" (Mile)
Suddenly, a sword of light pierced the thick clouds and plunged into the earth. And then the light shook sideways...
Splurt splurt splurt splurt!!
It's like tracing a line of ants with sunlight focused on a single point through a magnifying glass. The heat was so high that in an instant their body boiled and exploded.
Splurt splurt splurt splurt!!
Splurt splurt splurt splurt!!
Splurt splurt splurt splurt!!
"Huh..." (Mile)
Mile was stunned and stood there frozen by the completely unexpected supporting artillery fire. And then…….
"Oh, the goddess has come to our aid! Heaven is on our side!" (Glenn)
"Wooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" (Everyone)
Everyone responded to Glenn's roar. Whatever the truth of the matter, it didn't matter. A good commander would make use of anything they could to boost morale. And this sword of light was clearly an ally of their own army—not a single person doubted it. So, Glenn's words were transmitted by everyone shouting one after another, and quickly spread throughout the entire army.
"What is this?!" (Mile)
[This is an attack by a satellite direct hit cannon. It appears that the Scavengers, Mile-sama's subordinates, went into space using a primitive chemical reaction jet propulsion system, a so-called rocket engine, and repaired a defense satellite that was in orbit. Most of the satellites are badly damaged and have not yet been restored to the point where they can attack, but those that are still mobile have been moved directly above here, and two or three of them appear to be able to fire their main cannons. There are also other Lagrangian points, objects in orbit around a star, but it seems they didn't make it in time.] (Nano)
And at the same time that Nanomachines finished his explanation, two more swords of light swung down from the sky.
Zubashaaaaaaaa!!
Zubashaaaaaaaa!!
Then two swords of light pierced the earth, slashing away the monsters. Clearly, they could properly distinguish between friend and foe.
"...Could it be that the Scavengers on the ground are acting as ordnance spotters?" (Mile)
Mile was thinking about this, but there was no way that defense satellites and the Scavengers, the products of a scientific civilization far superior to that of modern Earth, would be unable to observe the ground from mere clouds.
Then, after firing at the area where the monsters were concentrated to a certain extent, the three beams were aimed towards the dimensional rift.
"Yes, of course, we're thinking the same thing, right?!" (Mile)