Chapter 166: Fatal Blow

“What are you doing!? Just what the heck are you doiiing!?”

“I’m desperately trying my best to survive and not die a pointless death!”

A gigantic and obnoxious-looking crystal sea urchin was in front of us. The numerous thorns covering the surface of the colossal urchin burst out in succession. The resulting fragments seemed to have gained sentience and flew straight toward Krishna. That’s right. Krishna was currently facing off against the Mother Crystal that had sensed our presence.

“Numerous enemy signatures incoming……!”

“There we go!”

As a response to Mimi’s warning, I immediately launched anti-ship reactive torpedoes at the cluster of small-type crystal lifeforms that were increasing in number by the second. Once an enemy manages to come close, the first response of a Mother Crystal was to crush it with overwhelming numbers. There’s only one way for us to survive such an attack. That’s to launch an all-out wide-range attack before we end up getting crushed.

My goal in firing off reactive torpedoes at the Mother Crystal was to fuel its sense of crisis so it would start to call back the small-types that were chasing after the rest of the fleet. I want to pull as many of the small-types as possible so they won’t be able to harass the rear lines.

Although the Mother Crystal is capable of releasing even more small crystal lifeforms, it can’t do it indefinitely. Why? Because those small-types are essentially made out of the Mother Crystal’s own body.

In other words, those small-types are both the Mother Crystal’s reactive armor (AP) and hull (HP). The more it releases them to deal with immediate threats, the more vulnerable it would become to the long-range bombardment of the battleships and heavy cruisers, and the more likely it is that it would be dealt a fatal blow.

“Torpedoes have hit the target!”

The two reactive torpedoes I sent off landed successfully on the Mother Crystal’s thorns. The resulting fiery explosion blew away the cluster of small-types along with the tips of several thorns.

If I can successfully slip inside the gaps between the thorns right until the central part of the Mother Crystal, I could probably give it a critical blow. But right now, I don’t have the leeway to pull that stunt off. It would be really hard for me to attempt such a thing while fending off the small-types that didn’t get caught in the explosion with the laser and shotgun cannons. It would be a different story if I had the assistance of at least ten allied ships to participate in the assault.

“Hiro-sama, bombardment incoming!”

“Roger that!”

I can’t let myself get caught up in my allies’ bombardment of course, so I circled around to a spot well away from the impact point. The huge thorns have already started wriggling about in order to fend off the bombardment. Just how can it instinctively form a defense against long-range bombardment like that, I wonder? Aside from the fact that we can’t communicate with it, the Mother Crystal has actually displayed a high degree of intelligence.

I thought about such things as I busied myself in fending off the small-types that kept charging at us. And then, the bombardment finally landed. The thick armor made up of numerous crystal thorns melted under the intense heat resulting from the bombardment. The shockwaves seemingly shook the void itself.

“To think it didn’t even flinch from something like that. What a monster.”

“It’s amazing, isn’t it? It didn’t move an inch. I wonder what kind of method it’s using?”

A dense concentration of laser cannon fire struck it under a zero-G environment and even caused parts of its crystal shell to melt and explode. Normally, the resulting force would have pushed it out of its original spot, but the Mother Crystal didn’t even show any signs of shaking. It was as if it was locked in place.

No, it’s not because the scale is too big so you can’t see the movements. It really didn’t move from its spot one bit. That’s one mysterious phenomenon right there. If one manages to discover the principles behind it and artificially reproduce it, I’m sure that project will be worth tons of money.

“If it keeps taking hits like that–”

The moment I thought we’d win it after a few more barrages, something flew at extreme speeds right in the center of the spot where the Mother Crystal’s crystal thorn armor was thinnest due to the earlier bombardment. It pierced the crystal shell and scattered fragments violently.

『KHYAAAAAAAAAAAA!』

An extremely unpleasant noise akin to nails scratching a glass surface rang out, and I almost couldn’t resist covering my ears with my hands. Should I be praised for not letting go of the flight stick even under such a racket?

“Kuh. What was that……!?”

“I’m not sure, but it looks like it really brought that monster some pain.”

The lights within the Mother Crystal’s body flickered as its thorns wriggled intensely. It really looked gross. It looked like an ugly insect wriggling and gave me goosebumps.

I think the thing that pierced the Mother Crystal earlier was actually an EML round fired by Black Lotus. I didn’t notice any other imperial ship that was equipped with such a weapon, and there also weren’t any other mercenary ships capable of landing attacks from such a distance.

“Uu…… T-The movements of the small-types have turned strange.”

After getting hit by the full brunt of the earlier screech, Mimi reported the battle situation as she fought off her urge to tear up. Probably because of that earlier attack, they were hesitating whether or not to redirect their full attention to the rear line.

Well, there’s no reason not to take advantage now that the enemy was distracted, right?

“He’s making that face again.”

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

I punched Krishna’s thrusters to the maximum and headed straight for the Mother Crystal. The reason why I did so was to give the anti-ship reactive torpedoes I’ll fire later on enough momentum. The speed of reactive torpedoes was relatively slow, but one can use this method in order to give it some more oomph.

“Gooo!”

I aimed at the gap between those wriggling thorny protrusions, and my two remaining anti-ship reactive torpedoes were finally launched out. It would be totally lame if I failed to break after making such a charge and suffer an accident though.

“Hiee, t-that was really close……”

“Your stunts are really bad for the heart, you know that!?”

My two companions muttered complaints while sounding relieved. I then turned the ship around to check the results of my work.

“Oh? This is……?”

Did the torpedoes misfire? There didn’t seem to be an explosion. I got worried. But imperial products are generally reliable and high-quality. What happened?

『Gy–!』

The Mother Crystal’s colossal body, which hasn’t moved an inch until now, trembled. At the same time, an agonized screech pierced our minds rather than our ears.

“Guuuh!?”

“Ergh!?”

“Giii!?”

I got so surprised that I arched back. It felt like a rod was directly shoved into my brain and then stirred it up violently. I felt something sour come up my throat. What the heck? Was that some kind of mental attack or something?

As I suffered in confusion, a drastic change occurred to the Mother Crystal. The lights that were once visible within its body and thorns began to disappear, and the thorns gradually fell apart, as if they’ve lost their vitality. It looks like my attack earlier luckily managed to directly hit the Mother Crystal’s core. It was bad luck for the Mother Crystal though. So that was a fatal hit huh.

“Did we get it?”

“It… looks like we did.”

“The remaining small-types have also ceased all activity.”

After Mimi’s announcement, I checked the battlefield and found that the small-type crystal lifeforms have really stopped in their tracks. Well, not exactly. They were still flying around, but they showed no signs of changing directions at all.

“That was surprisingly anti-climactic.”

“Yeah.”

“Fumu……”

Even if I managed to land a clean hit on the core, I didn’t think that it would actually finish off the Mother Crystal just like that…… For better or worse, it was different from how we killed off raid bosses like this in SOL. Well, it’s no use thinking about it now.

“Humans die if their brains or hearts are crushed. Maybe it’s also the same for crystal lifeforms. Probably.”

“Is that really it?”

“Well, I wonder. Even a powerful battleship will sink if it gets hit directly in the reactor.”

Well, in any case, finishing it off was good. It was worth taking the risk.

As I was lost in thought, a private call came through instead of a fleet-wide communique. I had Mimi accept it and established a line. Major Serena’s face appeared on the main monitor. For some reason, her cheeks seem to be twitching.

『Good day, Captain Hiro.』

“Y-Yeah. Good day?”

I returned Major Serena’s greeting while feeling the awkward atmosphere in the air.

Huh? Is she angry or something?

『For the time being, can you haul your smug face to Restalias for me, my dear captain?』

“Ah, yes, right away ma’am.”

I involuntarily agreed due to the strange atmosphere. She immediately cut the call.

“……Huh? What’s up with her? Is she really angry?”

“I wonder.”

“Um…… I have no idea too.”

Elma shook her head and Mimi looked equally bewildered as me.

I activated the FTL Drive while still puzzled and headed to Restalias, where Major Serena was waiting.