Chapter 27 - A Two-on-One Battle of Bio-Ships, and the Circumstances of the Mineral Lifeforms
～Outer Edge of the Former Gialpha Galaxy Alliance's Controlled Space (On the Opposite Side from the Former Gialpha Galaxy Empire's Controlled Space)～
Sangou was currently engaged in battle against two bio-ships on the outer edge of the former Alliance's controlled space.
These were opponents of the same kind, in the broad sense of the word.
Against these two, what kind of performance gap would be necessary to overturn the numerical disadvantage of two-to-one?
Unfortunately, Sangou's current performance did not reach that level.
This was clear even from the results of the previous battle against the bio-ship that Sangou had mistaken for Futagou.
However, only on the defensive side was Sangou able to benefit from barrier magic, which the opponents could not use.
Therefore, as long as the barrier magic deployed by Kichou was nullifying the attacks, Sangou's hull would not be damaged even if hit.
Being able to rely on that and wait for an opening in the opponent's defense was likely an advantage in an otherwise disadvantageous situation.
While focusing on evasion, search for an opportunity to counterattack.
That was all Sangou could do in the current situation.
So why had things come to this?
Let's organize the flow of events leading up to that point in chronological order.
In the Umyu Galaxy, a nebula adjacent to the distant space far from the Gialpha Galaxy.
The Mineral Lifeforms that held hegemony over that galaxy sensed the existence of certain metals through their species-specific extrasensory perception: the mithril that Sangou held as a research sample inside its hull, and the metals possessed by Jin's wives—Rouju, and the five women in total including Renju, Rouju's mother.
Mithril, a mysterious metal unique to fantasy worlds, was a metal that had not existed in the world of the Gialpha Galaxy until Jin took it out of his Storage Space.
For Jin, it was a material he had a considerable amount dead-stored in his Storage Space, and in the world of the Louvre Empire where he had previously been, it was a popular material for high-class accessories.
At the very least, the Gialpha Galaxy did not have a metal called 'Mithril'.
Upon learning this fact, Jin came up with the idea of using mithril as material for presents for his wives, and put that idea into practice.
That was how the presence of mithril suddenly appeared in the Gialpha Galaxy, without Jin knowing that it was something that would arouse in the Mineral Lifeforms an irresistible desire to obtain it at any cost, and set them in motion.
Mithril, an unknown metal to the Mineral Lifeforms, could become a key item for their species' evolution.
Moreover, the Mineral Lifeforms had, by chance, come into possession of Futagou, gaining a new means of high-speed travel between galaxies.
Due to such circumstances and events, one ship, a copy of Futagou sent as a scout to the Gialpha Galaxy, had been lost along with the lives of the kin fused within it.
The Mineral Lifeforms, mysterious beings that share knowledge regardless of distance, felt anger and sadness at the loss of their kin's lives.
Thus, in the Umyu Galaxy, it was decided to organize a forced reconnaissance force, taking into account the possibility of confronting Sangou.
A force consisting of two bio-ships—one copy of the No. 2 unit, and one pseudo-No. 3 unit—and five thousand Mineral Lifeforms was dispatched.
It was perhaps inevitable that the forced reconnaissance force from the Umyu Galaxy would encounter a patrol unit belonging to the Imperial Military of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire.
The reconnaissance operation by the Mineral Lifeforms assumed the possibility of encountering Sangou.
It involved investigating a wide area with only a small number of Mineral Lifeforms, while keeping the bio-ships at a distance beyond detection range.
However, in the first encounter that happened as it was bound to, the Imperial Military side perceived the Mineral Lifeform reconnaissance team as debris or rock masses, and they passed by without incident.
But upon confirming Imperial warships in that situation, the Mineral Lifeforms side recognized that 'the Gialpha Galaxy uses metals as resources'.
This forced the Mineral Lifeforms side to judge that 'coexistence is impossible, and they are enemies that must be annihilated'.
Therefore, it was a 'major incident that led to an urgent change in the purpose of the dispatch from the Umyu Galaxy'.
A lifeform with which coexistence is impossible.
For now, since the other side had not yet reached the galaxy the Mineral Lifeforms controlled, there was no problem arising from competition for living space.
However, there was no guarantee that this would continue forever, and from the fact that they themselves had reached another galaxy and the existence of bio-ships, it could be inferred that such a situation could occur someday.
If they just sat and waited, the likelihood of the opposing side gaining an advantage would increase.
In the first place, when it comes to war, the invading side is generally more advantageous in various respects.
Since they could not coexist with the organic lifeforms that held hegemony over the Gialpha Galaxy, it would likely become a war of survival.
However, at this point, the Mineral Lifeforms' camp had no idea about the Gialpha Galaxy side's military strength.
Given these circumstances, a forced reconnaissance force was reorganized, this time also considering an encounter battle with Sangou.
The number of dispatched bio-ships remained at two, but the Mineral Lifeforms were reinforced from five thousand to two hundred thousand.
In parallel, in the Umyu Galaxy, forces for an annihilation war were being gathered against the organic lifeforms of the Gialpha Galaxy.
Incidentally, since the objective had changed to a survival war, the order of operations was changed to 'collect the unknown metal after winning the war'.
Meanwhile, the three Imperial armies that were on standard deployment for defense duties in the former Alliance's controlled space detected the approach of numerous rock masses that suddenly appeared, and dispatched half an army to deal with them, in the same sense as removing dangerous debris or asteroids.
When things reached that point, it naturally led to a situation where combat occurred against an opponent unknown to the Imperial Military.
"Are these a new type of space beast of the rock type?"
At this time, that was the Imperial Military's understanding.
Although the Imperial forces were at a numerical disadvantage, they still succeeded in retreating with only about ten percent losses to their own strength.
And an emergency communication was sent to the Imperial Capital.
This was the prelude leading to the situation in the previous chapter where Jin told Sangou it was their turn.
"I understand it's my turn. This time's opponents seem to be 'moving rocks' or 'mineral' space beasts. There is no similar precedent in Sangou's data. The universe is vast, and full of mysteries."
"Yeah, that's right. But you know, Sangou, my best partner, you yourself are a bundle of mysteries and wonder!"
Jin replied to Sangou with a joking smile.
"I lose to our captain, who is the embodiment of absurdity. By the way, Captain. It's been decided that the first attack force will commit five armies."
"Oh. For once, it sounds like the Imperial Military is putting in effort right from the start."
"I wonder about that. Anyway, orders have come down with the following content: 'The roaming Sangou is to depart immediately once the captain is ready, and its chain of command is separate from the dispatched force. No restrictions on combat actions.'"
In essence, this was a dump from the Emperor to Jin and Sangou, saying, 'Go and beat up the enemies freely.'
"His Majesty the Emperor has great trust in us."
Should he feel happy about that?
"He's too casual and works me to the bone."
Or should he feel sad about that?
It could be said that 'it's a delicate matter for both Jin and Sangou.'
It was because each understood the other's position that such a thing was possible.
In the first place,
Although intercepting the enemy could be called an 'operational objective', an operation that specified neither the duration nor the method of ending was impossible to carry out for anyone other than the Jin-Sangou duo.
From a systemic perspective, it was easy to make such unreasonable demands to the Emperor's direct independent raiding ship, which was completely cut off from the Imperial Military's logistics.
Constraints that would normally apply in terms of 'weapons, ammunition, fuel, food, and maintenance'.
The raiding force, consisting only of Sangou, which was freed from all of that, was nothing short of cheating in the eyes of those in the Imperial Military's logistics departments.
Well, their departments' work would be reduced by that much, so it was a welcome thing.
A 'bio-ship', unrelated to supply and maintenance plans, was an existence outside the common sense of Imperial soldiers.
Incidentally, for this sortie, Kichou clung to Jin and begged, 'Take me along.'
"(Even if it's a child, if it's a 'dragon', it should be able to withstand the load of combat maneuvers while inside Sangou.)"
Thinking that, Jin decided to let Kichou do as she pleased.
By the way, another reason for Jin's decision was that his children had grown older and were now of a considerable age, and Kichou was no longer an essential playmate for them.
However, the clueless, klutzy Hero failed to properly explain to his family members, led by Rouju, that he would be taking the young dragon along before actually doing it.
Therefore, some time later, a commotion about 'Kichou is gone' broke out at Jin's home.
But that is another story, and probably a trivial matter.
Later, Jin would be thoroughly scolded by each of his wives and children.
But such things have no effect on the main story.
At any rate, Sangou made an emergency departure from the capital star and, arriving at the battle zone in question, began search and combat.
At first, they had trouble distinguishing the enemy from asteroids and such, but gradually identifying the enemy became easier.
The reason for that was because damaged Imperial ships had been fused, eroded, and reused by the enemy.
Thus, Sangou, which had been dominating the Mineral Lifeforms, was surprised to detect two signatures rapidly approaching, and at the same time, the battle situation entered a new phase.
"Captain. I am detecting two signatures approaching rapidly. However, this is strange. They are signatures that should be the 'Futagou' and 'Sangou' we eliminated the other day."
"Huh? That 'Futagou' is a prototype, right? Were multiple units made? And also, what the heck is this 'Sangou'? Is it a sister ship? Is there such a thing?"
"There is no data in Sangou's possession that confirms the existence of such things. However, since there are signatures approaching in reality, they must exist."
As far as Sangou knew from its records, setting aside the possibility of its own model type, it was impossible for a second or later ship of the Futagou type to have been produced.
Because Futagou had already been judged a complete failure by the time Sangou was completed, and there were no Futagou-type ships in production at that point.
"Well, if they exist, they exist. We can figure out the reasons and logic after we take care of the enemies. By the way, Sangou, do you think we can win against the two of them?"
"Assuming their performance is 'the same' as Futagou and Sangou, the calculated win rate is approximately thirty-five percent under the condition that 'the captain is on board'. In other words, it's a bit tough. However, if we go into a war of attrition waiting for the opponent's energy to run out, we won't lose. But with that method, we likely won't win either."
"Is this why Kichou wanted to come? Dragons have sharp instincts, after all. Kichou, if you receive mana from Sangou, you can deploy barrier magic, right?"
"Yes, Master. I can't put up one as strong as Master's. But still, I will endure the enemy's attacksー"
Inside Sangou, Kichou could use mana.
Therefore, Kichou was able to verbalize sound using magic.
Additionally, since she was a dragon, as long as she had mana, she could naturally use magic as well.
Incidentally, 'due to the passage of time including the journey here, Kichou's body has also grown a bit'.
"Sangou, you don't have to defeat it. With Kichou here, you can leave dealing with Futagou to her, right? I'll handle the Sangou... darn, it's hard to tell them apart, so that one is a Pseudo-model. I'll go outside and smash that Pseudo."
"Understood. Until the captain returns, I'll taunt Futagou and run around."
The interception plan was decided.
The Hero Jin, uncharacteristically, took out his Holy Sword from his Storage Space beforehand on Sangou's bridge.
Then, after deploying barrier magic and stating a secret plan that would likely catch the enemy off guard, he warped out using short-distance teleportation.
Were the two enemy ships discouraged by the status ailment infliction from the time before?
Unfortunately, they did not come close enough to allow the application of paralysis.
Keeping their distance, they were bombarding Sangou.
And as if to add insult to injury, the Mineral Lifeforms were also approaching Sangou to attempt ramming attacks, while gunfire was also coming separately from the Imperial reused ships that had been destroyed.
Given this history, the battle between Jin vs. the Sangou (Pseudo) and the Sangou and Kichou duo vs. Futagou was about to begin.
At least, Jin and his team were acting with that intention.
Of course, the enemy might not move according to Jin's expectations.
"(To be honest, it feels pretty bad to have to attack something that looks exactly like 'Sangou' with the intent to annihilate it. I guess the only saving grace is that because of the difference in mana, there's no way I'd misidentify and attack the wrong one?)"
Jin, having jumped into space, thought such things, but there was not a single shred, not even a speck, of 'might have a hard time' or 'might lose' in his head.
And from here, we connect to the opening situation.
Jin's action of going outside Sangou to try and destroy the Pseudo.
A single, tiny human leaping into space.
To the two bio-ships that were Jin's enemies, this was not a threat judgment at all.
Setting aside reality, it was understandable that the two ships, unaware of the Hero Jin's true power, would think so.
Jin repeated short-distance teleportation to crush the Pseudo.
However, the two enemy ships, a mere 'single human', would not judge that he was 'a threat' no matter how many times he teleported.
Therefore, without bothering about the existence of a tiny human, they continued their attacks aimed at capturing Sangou.
The one copy of the No. 2 unit that Jin had annihilated in their previous encounter had shared with the other Mineral Lifeforms its memories up to the moment of its death throes, killed in the form of 'annihilation'.
But because it had been paralyzed by status ailment magic, while it could think, its external visual information had been cut off.
Therefore, at the moment Futagou was paralyzed, Jin, the caster of the magic, was still on Sangou's bridge, so his appearance had not been seen in the first place, and he had also not been seen when he delivered the finishing blow afterward.
In short, the Mineral Lifeforms perceived that it was 'Sangou' that had annihilated Futagou and killed the kin fused within it.
Of course, this was nothing but a misidentification.
However, this misidentification happened to be 'one of the reasons Jin was not judged to be a threat'.
On the other hand, the Hero Jin's side would certainly not have a low self-assessment of his combat abilities.
And so,
Since Jin had jumped out of Sangou and split into two forces—himself and Sangou—he assumed the opponent would also divide their attack targets.
However, reality betrayed that expectation.
"(Miscalculation. But if I destroy the Pseudo quickly, there's no problem, right?)"
Jin quickly switched his thinking.
In such a situation, Sangou, in order to execute the plan Jin had devised to catch the two ships off guard, was counting down using sensory waves to coordinate the timing.
However, using sensory waves meant that the two attacking ships could also intercept them.
But even if they were intercepted, if the meaning of the received information was not understood, it was just noise.
As a countermeasure against interception, Jin had instructed a countdown in the language of Miu and the other Beastmen, which was being faithfully carried out.
Sangou's count progressed, and finally reached zero.
When that happened, Sangou briefly blocked all sensory organs capable of optical observation outside the ship.
At the same time, the entire body of the Hero's partner was enveloped in Jin's light magic.
Jin generated a light sphere of maximum light intensity centered on Sangou, with a duration of one microsecond (one millionth of a second).
This was exactly the same technique as a certain thief-loving female mage.
The two ships, their vision momentarily blinded by the light sphere magic.
But however,
Even so, relying on their other sensory organs, the two bio-ships did not lose track of Sangou's position.
However, the purpose of this blinding was not to conceal Sangou's position.
Its purpose was to prevent the two enemy ships and the surrounding Mineral Lifeforms from visually recognizing Jin's attack, which had gone outside.
Jin, who had been continuously changing his position via short-distance teleportation, achieved his initial objective through the blinding.
Then, immediately, he unleashed a lethal blow.
"The usual, as alwaysー! Total Annihilation Slash!"
The Hero Jin shouted the technique's name with an unnecessary, silly shout, like a Showa-era garbage truck's call.
That shout, being in space, was unheard by anyone.
Even knowing that, he couldn't help but insert a gag, a dangerous Hero.
Well, Sangou recorded that along with everything else, but since Jin is unaware of that fact, it's a trivial matter.
Also, even with such joking around, the power of the Total Annihilation Slash remains unchanged.
So, no problem at all.
The Pseudo, struck directly by the Hero's attack from an unknown origin, was easily annihilated.
With the Pseudo's base defense, it was impossible to withstand this strongest attack delivered by Jin, armed with his Holy Sword.
The moment the Pseudo was killed, that information was shared with all Mineral Lifeforms without even a moment's delay.
The copy of No. 2 unit immediately entered full retreat.
And the Mineral Lifeforms participating in the forced reconnaissance force, understanding the preciousness of the No. 2 unit copy, became the rearguard to let it escape, turning into dead soldiers.
Neither Jin nor Sangou had anticipated such a sudden retreat by Futagou, and they were completely caught off guard.
Additionally, the ferocious attacks of the Mineral Lifeforms turned into dead soldiers wasted the precious time necessary to finish off Futagou.
In the flow of events, Futagou managed to escape.
"Captain. Futagou got away. I'm sorry."
Sangou's voice was somewhat subdued.
This human-like aspect was due to the preferences of Sangou's artificial intelligence developer, but from Jin's perspective, who considers Sangou his partner, 'it's a blessing.'
Hence, while he offered supportive words, he didn't blame it.
"We did properly exterminate most of those rock-like space beasts that attacked, right? This situation isn't a 'complete failure.' More importantly, wasn't 'complete annihilation of the enemy' not the operational objective in the first place?"
"That's true. The operational objective itself is merely 'to fight and defeat the enemy,' and there is no clear statement of finer details. However, the intention is probably 'to prevent and repel the enemy's invasion.' If that's the case, I believe it has been 'achieved without issue.' It's just that a future source of trouble remains."
Sangou's speculation and conclusion were correct.
From the positions of the Emperor and Laura, there were cases where it was difficult to give a clear operational objective to the Jin-Sangou duo, and this case was exactly that.
"We achieved the given objective. I don't know about anything else."
It would be a problem if they worked only to the minimum extent required to be able to say that, and then 'could do it but didn't.'
The matter including such nuances was an ambiguity that existed because everyone understood it was better to leave it to the conscience and sensibilities of the four—the Emperor, Laura, Jin, and Sangou.
One way or another, they understood each other's positions and interests, and had a relationship of mutual respect.
"'Future source of trouble,' huh. Well, no problem, I guess."
"Indeed. It's unlikely that the two ships that attacked this time were 'all of the same kind of enemy,' and it's also hard to think that the space beasts were 'all of that number on that field.' Therefore, it could be said that 'there isn't much difference' from before."
"Yeah. The Imperial Military's job is to defend against external enemies, so this is fine for now. If they show up again, we'll kill them then."
Having finished exchanging opinions with Sangou, Jin first instructed a situation report to the Imperial forces in the nearby space.
Then, he gave orders to return to the Imperial Capital.
"(Completely exterminating cockroaches, you know. No way, no way! Isn't this pretty much the same thing?)"
Incidentally, it was Jin's secret that he didn't tell Sangou that he thought of these space beasts as cockroaches.
Changing the scene, how was the enemy side of Jin and co. doing?
First of all, for the Mineral Lifeforms of the Umyu Galaxy, the information obtained from the forced reconnaissance force was valuable.
What they gained from the ships they were able to partially destroy in battle with Imperial ships and then fuse with and erode.
That information was very significant, especially regarding the overall situation of the Gialpha Galaxy and the fact that 'there is only one Sangou.'
Of course, that wasn't all the information they extracted; they obtained data on the scale of the Imperial Military, warship performance, utilized star systems within the Gialpha Galaxy, star charts, and navigation routes.
They also discovered that, as long as the Mineral Lifeforms didn't exist or launch attacks, the Imperial forces could not distinguish them from rock masses, and that the Mineral Lifeforms were considered 'a type of space beast.'
Moreover, from the obtained warship performance data, the possibility of 'the Imperial forces invading the Umyu Galaxy from the Gialpha Galaxy' was completely ruled out, which was also significant.
Because it meant they could take time to prepare without rushing into a full-scale war.
As long as the opponent had only one Sangou-type bio-ship, by simultaneously invading from multiple directions, they could fight with numerical superiority and bring the battle to a winnable position.
If they couldn't distinguish between fellow Mineral Lifeforms and rock masses, strategies like selecting a route that wouldn't raise suspicion, carefully adjusting approach speed for invasion, or repeatedly infiltrating in small numbers over time and waiting for numbers to accumulate within Imperial-controlled space might also be effective.
In short, if the Mineral Lifeforms side took their time to prepare properly, it seemed there was only a winning path.
At least, that was the conclusion derived from the obtained information.
However.
There was one big problem.
That was, 'How to sink Sangou?'
In this forced reconnaissance, one Pseudo-No. 3 unit, the same model as Sangou, had been sunk far too easily in battle against Sangou, even though it 'didn't have artificial intelligence.'
And that was the result of fighting with two ships and a large number of Mineral Lifeforms simultaneously attacking one Sangou.
Considering Sangou's projected performance based on the development plan from the original Futagou, this was impossible.
Even if the improvement in firing accuracy and combat maneuvers could be attributed to experience.
Compared to the Pseudo-No. 3 unit, which should be the same model, the attack methods, firepower, defense, and endurance for a war of attrition were clearly different.
In other words, it led to the conclusion that 'for a battle against Sangou, you have to abandon the idea of 'same model' and rethink tactics.'
However, they didn't have to sink Sangou immediately.
Therefore, this problem was 'temporarily shelved.'
At any rate, since the Umyu Galaxy camp had managed to obtain the necessary information, it was decided to devote themselves to formulating and preparing a plan for certain victory.
It is probably not hard to imagine the vast difference from the Gialpha Galaxy Empire side, which does not even remotely consider that it could be attacked in a survival-level war of extermination while maintaining standard deployments.
So, what were the movements of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire side after Sangou returned to the Imperial Capital?
The Imperial Military's Supreme Commander, looking at a copy of the report filed by Jin, wore a resigned expression.
This was because if the Imperial forces were to encounter the Futagou that Sangou had allowed to escape this time, they would have absolutely no chance of winning.
Of course, it was Sangou, not Jin, who had written the report, but that is a trivial matter.
"If you encounter Futagou, run away immediately!"
The conclusion drawn from the command operations room was truly pathetic.
"When running, call in the raiding force Sangou to engage Futagou!"
That the only one who could deal with it was Sangou.
This fact was, for the Imperial Military's Supreme Commander, truly and honestly humiliating.
However, it could also be said that 'since Sangou has two records of sinking it in battle, there is at least a countermeasure.'
"(It can't be helped. I'll just give up and accept it.)"
Therefore, he decided to switch his thinking.
Well, that aside, there was also good news in the report that wasn't from Jin.
It was the result of researching fragments of the space beasts brought back by the Imperial forces.
Although the principle was completely unknown, when these fragments were turned into a fine powder and placed in a transparent capsule filled with water, it was discovered that if the space beasts in question were nearby, the powder in the water would show unnatural movement.
This discovery made it possible to distinguish between simple rock masses and the space beasts.
Therefore, orders were given to urgently collect fragments from this battle zone.
That was about all the Imperial Military could do, and the timing and scale of space beast attacks were not things that could be predicted in the first place.
Preparations were made as far as possible, but in the end, with the passage of time, the sense of tension would fade, and reality would shift to the normal military duties of peacetime.
Once Jin returned to the Imperial Capital and submitted the necessary reports, aside from matters related to receiving rewards, his time was basically free.
Especially since this incident involved a battle on a scale judged as a large-scale battle, unless some extreme emergency occurred, other available work would all be directed elsewhere.
Also, regarding compensation, since his peerage had already reached the maximum, it was agreed that he would be awarded medals and money as a reward.
For the record, a promotion within the military was also offered, but he declined because he had let Futagou escape this time.
By the way, when he returned home once with Kichou, he dutifully received a scolding while sitting in formal posture for three hours.
Well, from such a situation, a brief period like a vacation was about to begin, but since the Umyu Galaxy group wouldn't give up, it couldn't last long.
"Master. Master's father-in-law's star is in dangerー."
The voice of Kichou reporting an emergency reached Jin's ears.
Thus, the Hero Jin and Sangou succeeded in repelling the forced reconnaissance force that came from the Umyu Galaxy.
At that time, they were surprised by the appearance of two types of bio-ships, the Futagou type and the Sangou type, but they had no choice but to fight.
They managed to sink the Sangou type and defeat many of the Mineral Lifeforms that sacrificed themselves to let the Futagou type escape, but one Futagou type ship did get away.
The Mineral Lifeforms, aiming to eradicate the intelligent lifeforms of the Gialpha Galaxy with which coexistence was impossible, and to obtain mithril, would stop at nothing.
What kind of crisis did Kichou report?
No one knows the future.
To the appearance of a Futagou that was supposed to have been defeated, and a bio-ship thought to be Sangou's sister ship, the Hero, even knowing they were enemies that must be destroyed, could not avoid an unpleasant feeling due to their excessively similar appearances.
Kichou, who accompanied Sangou to the battlefield, proved to be quite useful just by being a dragon, which was an unexpected and pleasant surprise that left Jin astonished.