Zaza clicked his tongue and attempted to retreat from the combat zone.
The five subordinates he had brought along had all gone silent — it was obvious they had already been eliminated.
The operation had failed.
Under these circumstances, he should have promptly aimed to return home to avoid any further losses — meaning his own death.
Zaza was a Mechanized Human.
He was a precious fighting asset of the resistance organization, Dawn of Light, capable of operating on the surface world.
The surface world was contaminated with poison.
Therefore, regardless of Zaza's own wishes, his first-priority command had been set to "survive and return."
As a loyal warrior of the organization, Zaza obeyed that command.
Naturally, he also felt fear of death.
But more than anything, Zaza had learned from experience that as long as he was alive, there would be another opportunity.
"You son of a bitch, using mini-nukes without even blinking! Remember this — I'll pay you back in full for killing my subordinates!"
Having spat out those words, Zaza began to move from the area.
Of those who had been in the battle — or rather, been ruthlessly overrun — Zaza was the sole survivor.
Both the five subordinates he had led and the Remote Tactical Drones had been easily cut off by the mini-nukes the enemy had deployed.
The Remote Tactical Drones that had survived the electromagnetic pulse were also rendered unusable.
At this point, the operation was a failure.
Having lost his means of transport, raiding supplies was now impossible.
Visibility was poor.
A massive explosion had sent clouds of dust billowing into the air.
There was no point dwelling on it.
Zaza took advantage of these poor conditions and began fleeing in an effort to evade pursuit.
Besides, if he didn't hurry, even Zaza himself would be caught in the flames and go down.
With great care to avoid being engulfed in the blast fire, he checked the remaining effective time of the oxygen supply device embedded in his body.
This device could extract and store oxygen from atmospheric components, but on the surface — where radioactive materials and toxic gases ran rampant, and oxygen concentration was far too low to be relied upon — it was essentially useless.
Because of this, he needed to consume his stored oxygen and reach the nearest base before it ran out.
If that proved impossible, his only option would be to descend into the underground world, where contamination levels were relatively low.
But the underground world, home to mutated species born from ecological distortions, was a dangerous place — a last resort he wanted to avoid if at all possible.
"Thirteen hours left. That should be plenty."
Zaza felt relieved to find he had more time than expected.
His Mechanized body required almost no oxygen.
The chemical fibers serving not only as artificial muscles but also as connectors between body parts expanded and contracted using electricity from the internal power furnace.
The only organic part requiring oxygen was the "brain" housed in his cranium.
All he needed to do was dilute and inject oxygen into the biological solution reservoir that filled his brain cavity.
That was why he could remain active for extended hours on such a small amount of oxygen.
Zaza began moving but exhaled once he had put some distance between himself and the blast epicenter.
"Phew, no pursuit, huh? Looks like I managed to escape…"
The moment Zaza let his guard down — An alarm blared inside his brain.
"—?!"
Zaza frantically leaped from his position.
Moments later, a rain of scorching heat poured down on the rocky area where he had been hiding.
A Thermal Beam Cannon.
Without a sound, without a trace — a killing machine had been closing in on Zaza.
It bore a striking resemblance to a Military Hound. But this was no cute creature — it was a terrifying killing machine.
A personnel-elimination weapon boasting agile mobility, stealth capabilities, and advanced tracking through various sensors.
Its common name was "Killer Mecha-Hound."
It could sprint across the terrain at three times the speed of sound and was even capable of short-range flight.
Its primary armament was the Thermal Beam Cannon currently raining down.
Generated deep within its oral cavity, the thermal beam reached temperatures of thousands to tens of thousands of degrees, piercing through any target.
A lightly-armored Mechanized Human like Zaza would be evaporated in an instant.
Getting inside its range before it fired would be an effective countermeasure, but that too was impractical.
Its fangs were equally threatening.
The titanium-alloy fangs carried a special electric current that would destroy the electromagnetic balance of anything they latched onto.
Since Mechanized Humans were controlled by electrical signals, unless the armor could deflect those fangs, there was simply no way to deal with them.
The Killer Mecha-Hound was, in essence, the natural enemy of Mechanized Humans.
"Damn it all! Three Killer Mecha-Hounds?!"
Zaza's face twisted in despair.
His sensors had happened to detect the surface temperature of the Killer Mecha-Hound heated by the surrounding flames, which had allowed him to dodge the first strike. But now that he had been locked on, escape was impossible.
At the end of the day, Zaza was not a combat-specialized type.
Taking on Killer Mecha-Hounds was something that had been doomed from the start.
"I'm sorry… Looks like I was fated to die here…"
Zaza gave up on fleeing and slumped helplessly.
He left behind words of apology to his fallen subordinates and to the comrades back at base who were waiting for his return, then awaited his final moments.
The time remaining before the three Killer Mecha-Hounds pounced on Zaza was precious little.
--- Veldora sprinted forward.
Running alongside them was
The three pressed onward toward the blast epicenter without showing a trace of fatigue.
It was then that Ramiris, who had been doing nothing but riding along, piped up with something nonchalant.
"One thing I gotta say first! I can barely use magic in this world, so one of you two has to stay close and protect me!"
So she declared.
To her, this was important, so calling it "nonchalant" might be going too far.
However, for a magic user to announce they couldn't use magic was essentially declaring themselves completely useless in a fight. The fact that Ramiris said it so casually, as though it were someone else's problem, was exactly why she came across as nonchalant.
But Ramiris had her reasons for bringing it up.
Her guardian Beretta always acted to protect her — no issues there. The problem was Veldora.
Operating under the assumption that Ramiris would provide her own magical defense, he might launch large-scale area attacks.
That was, by any measure, dangerous.
She had judged that unless she preemptively pinned him down on this point, she herself or Beretta would end up bearing the consequences.
"Hmm, that's a fair point. My offensive arsenal is versatile, but many of my attacks are area-of-effect. You can't erect barriers either, Ramiris?"
"I can put up weak ones, but since there are no Magicules here, I have no idea how much punishment they can actually take…"
"You're as pathetic as ever, as usual."
"I'm not pathetic! It's just that Master and Beretta are abnormally tough — you're both too strong!"
"Qua-hah-hah! Well, naturally, for I am the strongest."
"Hmph, fine. I'll admit Master is impressive, but whether you're the strongest is up for debate. If I got serious, I'd be no slouch myself. Want me to demonstrate my forty-eight ultimate techniques?"
"Oh my? How intriguing. By all means, show me just how effective that power of yours really is!"
That was Veldora's response to Ramiris's words.
Ramiris knew this wasn't the time for empty boasting, but her competitive nature got the better of her, and the words slipped out before she could stop them.
In the first place, no matter how serious Ramiris became, there was absolutely no scenario in which she could defeat Veldora — that was beyond debate.
Ramiris seemed to understand this too, as her eyes darted about and she looked to Beretta for help.
"Ramiris-sama. I suggest we keep your magnificent array of techniques as a secret weapon — held in reserve."
Very calmly, Beretta defused the situation.
As for those "magnificent techniques" — he would never openly admit he had never actually seen any of them.
Beretta knew how to read the room.
"Oh, ah, yeah. Right, right! Using them here would be such a waste for my ultimate techniques!"
Ramiris was simple like that.
She quickly brightened up and nodded along with Beretta's words.
Watching this exchange gently, Beretta turned to Veldora and continued.
"Veldora-sama, I would ask you to keep your playful responses to a minimum as well."
"S-sure. But Beretta, aren't you being too soft on Ramiris? Because you keep indulging her, she only gets more and more full of herself…"
"That might just be your imagination."
"Exactly! There's no way I'd ever get full of myself!"
Somehow Beretta's always cold toward me… Veldora thought to himself.
But arguing here would put him two against one — not a winning position.
Setting that aside, considering safety measures in this unknown world was indeed important.
Veldora seemed to have no objections on that front either. He hummed thoughtfully, nodded, and spoke.
"Fine, fine. Very well — I shall protect Ramiris. You can save those ultimate techniques of yours for the very end."
"G-got it. Yeah, this technique is pretty broken, so let's just keep it under wraps. Anyway, protect me, Master!"
"Then I shall entrust Ramiris-sama's protection to Veldora-sama and focus entirely on the offensive."
"Hmm. Perhaps it's because I can't sense Magicules, but my 'All-Purpose Detection' is operating at reduced accuracy. Beretta, don't let your guard down either."
"Understood."
One way or another, Veldora was soft on Ramiris too.
And so it was settled that in the event of danger, Veldora would protect Ramiris.
And then — Before the three of them, the figures of those locked in battle came into view.
--- Dead. That was all Zaza could think as the Killer Mecha-Hounds' fangs closed in. He shut his eyes and accepted his fate.
But — the end never came. Instead, the air was pierced by the jarring sound of hard objects colliding.
(Huh? What — what just happened?)
When Zaza cautiously opened his eyes, an unfamiliar figure was standing before him.
(Who the hell is this…? I don't recognize the model — is this an Artificial Human? A combat-oriented Mechanical Doll? Or… another Mechanized Human like me?)
Needless to say, it was Beretta.
It was entirely understandable that Zaza couldn't identify him at a glance.
After all, Beretta was a Sacred-Demonic Metallic Body — a form that did not exist in this world — and bore the appearance of a doll with ball-jointed limbs.
That said, the Bio-
But knowing none of this, Zaza couldn't even determine whether the figure standing before him was friend or foe.
However, making a snap judgment, he concluded it was at least not hostile.
After all, this figure had shielded Zaza from the Killer Mecha-Hounds' fangs.
"Hey, I don't know who you are, but you saved my life. However, those fangs carry a special electromagnetic current that—"
Zaza stopped mid-sentence, noticing something strange.
The fangs of the Killer Mecha-Hound were not embedded in Beretta's arm.
No — they had pierced it momentarily, but were now being slowly pushed out.
The arm of that beautiful, art-piece-like doll rippled like the surface of a lake, its armor undulating in waves as the fangs were naturally expelled.
And in its wake, not a single scratch remained.
(You've gotta be kidding me!? I've never seen armor like that — never even heard of it! What kind of lab built this thing?!)
Zaza was stunned.
And his shock didn't end there.
With the Killer Mecha-Hound still before him, Beretta turned to Zaza and spoke in a composed tone.
"— Language pattern analysis complete. By reading mental waves directly, 'Thought Communication' appears to function without Magicules. Also — I have detected an unknown wavelength of electromagnetic radiation. I intervened in this battle on my own initiative, but now… should I lend my aid to the humans or the animals? I would like to propose a ceasefire so we can talk. What say you?"
Beretta, who moments ago had been speaking in a language Zaza couldn't comprehend, suddenly began speaking fluent words.
There was unmistakable intent behind them — to Zaza, this looked far more like a human than a robot.
Beretta glanced at his own arm and confirmed that no damage had occurred.
The Killer Mecha-Hound's fangs had indeed pierced Beretta's armor. But it meant nothing.
He had simply shape-shifted his body in concert with the attack to dissipate the impact.
As for the electromagnetic currents — Beretta was not a precision machine, so they had no effect whatsoever.
It had been a meaningless attack.
"Hey, you! This isn't the time to be having a polite conversation!! That thing's called a Killer Mecha-Hound — it's the most lethal anti-personnel killing machine there is! Its sensors can track anything — you can't run from it! The only option is to take it down!!"
Beretta raised a hand to calm the screaming Zaza and spoke.
"Please calm yourself. For the time being, I guarantee your safety. In exchange, I'd like to hear more details."
"Fine. I'll tell you whatever you want, but for now, just get us out of here— wait, what!?"
Before Zaza could finish his sentence, Beretta had already moved.
So fast that it exceeded Zaza's capacity to perceive.
And the same was true for the Killer Mecha-Hounds.
The Killer Mecha-Hounds hadn't bothered waiting for Zaza and Beretta to finish talking. They had already moved to slaughter the moving targets in their line of sight.
But Beretta reacted as though he had anticipated this.
The fangs' attack was ineffective against Beretta.
The highly intelligent Killer Mecha-Hounds attempted to analyze the cause. But a quick answer eluded them.
In fact, before they could— The Killer Mecha-Hounds were destroyed before they had even a moment to properly assess the situation.
—And that gave the observers monitoring this battle more than sufficient reason to classify Beretta as a threat.
--- The master of the Killer Mecha-Hounds — Lieutenant Hiiragi of the Southern Security Force, Mechanized Empire Almsvin — was shaken by the sudden turn of events.
Recently, or more accurately, for as long as he could remember, there had been zero surface weapons capable of standing up to the Killer Mecha-Hound.
Before a four-legged mobile weapon capable of reaching three times the speed of sound on the surface, even the Mammoth — a forty-meter-class Multi-Purpose Tank that had once been considered the ultimate weapon — was no match.
Its main cannon, a 200mm Electromagnetic Acceleration Cannon, was certainly threatening, but locking onto a small Killer Mecha-Hound roughly 1.5 meters in length was extremely difficult.
Even equipping it with a prohibitively expensive ultra-electronic computing array for automated predictive targeting didn't help — the Killer Mecha-Hound simply evaded the shells fired at Mach 7.
The result only served to demonstrate the creature's extraordinary reaction speed and devastating sensor capabilities.
—And that wasn't even the Killer Mecha-Hound's true value.
While its sustained combat endurance fell short, in every other performance metric it outclassed the Multi-Purpose Tank by a wide margin.
The mounted Thermal Beam Cannon could easily pierce the Multi-Purpose Tank's armor.
Once it closed the distance, the Mechanized Human soldiers protecting the tank had no way to deal with it.
After all, a single slash from its fangs would scramble the delicate internal machinery, rendering the target completely inoperable.
The Killer Mecha-Hound carried no engine — it was rechargeable. That alone could be called a weakness, but it didn't affect combat capability.
With only an ultra-compact output-amplifying furnace, a single charge enabled seventy-two hours of operation — though this didn't apply if engaged in full-power combat.
In an age when resources were scarce, the development of weapons that, despite being small, could deliver terrifying performance was recognized by all as the key to seizing dominance in the new era.
When the Mammoth — the "Supreme Sovereign of the Surface," powered by a thermonuclear fusion engine and theoretically capable of near-permanent operation — was annihilated by a single Killer Mecha-Hound, the very concept of warfare in this world was rewritten.
The future was miniaturization.
And for the past decade and a half, the Killer Mecha-Hound had reigned supreme.
It was deployed not merely as an anti-personnel weapon, but as the most powerful force in all surface warfare.
And yet…
Standing before three of these ultra-high-performance Killer Mecha-Hounds, the humanoid figure — identified as a hostile entity — showed not the slightest fear. With an air of complete nonchalance, it ignored the hounds entirely, carrying on a conversation with the man who had been their prey.
This struck a nerve with Lieutenant Hiiragi's pride, but now was not the time.
"Hey! Are the combat analysis results in yet?! Did the Killer Mecha-Hound definitely bite that thing's arm?!"
"Yes, sir! There's no mistake — but we were unable to confirm any effect on the hostile entity—"
"Our analysis is complete as well! No anomalies detected in the Killer Mecha-Hound's functions! Systems are nominal!"
"Hmm…" Lieutenant Hiiragi groaned.
If their own systems were functioning properly, there was only one conclusion.
—The hostile entity had neutralized the Killer Mecha-Hound's Electronic Disruption through its fangs.
(Impossible. But then again… what exactly is this thing? Could it be — one of those rumored Bio-Augmented Humans that prioritize biological modification? That technology should only be known to a handful of people back in the homeland. Besides, I haven't even heard rumors of one being successfully created…)
Lieutenant Hiiragi wrestled with the thought.
If his guess was correct — if the hostile entity really was a Bio-Augmented Human — then the failure of the Electronic Disruption made perfect sense.
After all, Bio-Augmented Humans were the product of modification technology that pushed a human base to the absolute limits of cellular capability.
A new technology that converted all body cells into a unified type, enabling regeneration no matter which part was destroyed.
A new breed of humanity bearing adaptive cells capable of functioning in any environment.
By assigning individual roles to each cell and treating them as independent processing units, the system could handle enormous volumes of information.
The performance was staggeringly high.
With the same cranial capacity as a human brain, it could achieve processing speeds comparable to a quantum computer mounted on a hundred-meter-class battleship. Conversely, maintaining that level of quantum computing performance required a battleship of that size.
Add to that cutting-edge spatial compression technology — still classified even at the highest levels — and the integration of an ultra-miniaturized thermonuclear fusion heart furnace, and the result was a high-output biological weapon of devastating power.
Those were the stuff of dreamlike rumors.
—Needless to say, Bio-Augmented Humans were classified as Top Secret even within the homeland.
Lieutenant Hiiragi shook his head and dismissed the speculation.
Bio-Augmented Humans were nothing more than rumors, and in any case, they had no business being in a place like this.
If that was the case, then that hostile entity— "Lieutenant Hiiragi! Analysis results on the hostile entity are in! But this is…!"
"What? Spit it out, now!"
"Ha ha! We've confirmed a fluctuation in the hostile entity's energy output! Its thermal signature is typically low, but in the instant it engaged the Killer Mecha-Hound, it spiked dramatically! This is beyond anything consistent with existing thermonuclear fusion technology!!"
"Wh—what kind of output are we talking about?!"
"Based on the graph measurements, the output exceeds one hundred thousand kilowatts…"
"That's impossible!!"
Lieutenant Hiiragi was stunned.
Over two hundred times the output of a Killer Mecha-Hound — an unbelievable figure.
Moreover, if its power source was truly thermonuclear fusion, the concept of fluctuating thermal output made no sense.
It defied all logic.
The most natural conclusion was that the hostile entity was a superweapon wielding unknown technology.
Having reached that conclusion, Lieutenant Hiiragi issued orders to his subordinates.
"Prioritize gathering data on the mysterious hostile entity! We can purge those rebellion-cell scum anytime. What matters now is capturing that thing — it may possess technology we've never seen before, and we need to seize it!"
"Sir, yes sir!!"
The orders were immediately put into action.
And so, three Killer Mecha-Hounds were once again sent into the fray against Beretta — the mysterious hostile entity, as Lieutenant Hiiragi had designated him.
Even if no definitive answer emerged here, monitoring the battle would yield a wealth of combat data.
For that purpose, the judgment was made that losing three Killer Mecha-Hounds was an acceptable cost.
And thus, Beretta and the Killer Mecha-Hounds entered full-scale combat.
The result was Beretta's instantaneous annihilation of all three.
--- Facing three opponents closing in simultaneously, Beretta assumed a stance with both arms thrust forward.
The instant after, pointed ore formations erupted from the ground and impaled one of them.
At the same time, Beretta's hands — extending like tentacles — sharpened into lances and pierced through the remaining two.
This was an attack born from Beretta's Ultimate Gift, "King of Mecha-Dolls," and its "Mineral Manipulation" ability, combined with the Sacred-Demonic Metallic Body's inherent trait of "Fluid Metal Transformation."
The Killer Mecha-Hound, feared as the most powerful surface weapon in this world, was no match for Beretta.
And so, the first battle in the world they had uninvitedly visited came to its end.