262 Reconquest 1

With the time continuing its ever present march forward, it was eventually time to retake the imperial continent and exterminate the elders. Instead of the planned approach, the operation would be carried out almost entirely by drones with only a few 'specialists' taking the field, specifically the drones where of the new N generation drones which had just started production instead of 'live' soldiers. That news was received with cheers all around, for just simply containing the elders for a month had taken much more blood than initially estimated as a million of the troops had already died in battle or deserted.

"Can't we just abandon this place instead of using all this time to win this war of annihilation? Don't get me wrong, I'm aware this is a problem from 'our' world, so we should fix it, but are we not wasting too much time here instead of going home and dealing with the Emergence?"

While suiting up together with Lux, Dax and Ifrit, Philipa asked that question, given what she had shared about the state of the war against the Emergence, her argument had solid reasoning.

"Because we need this place. While the current situation in the galactic empire is unknown, we can not afford to abandon this place."

Holding up 3 fingers Dax continued explaining.

"Without knowing the exact situation we need to prepare accordingly. If the Galactic Empire has already won, we need this place as a solid base for exploring and settling in this new dimension as the natural resources back home are almost depleted due to the war effort. If we've already lost then we need this place as an evac point for what survivors remain. The 3rd possibility being that the war is still ongoing, but as you have reported we're losing, in that case, wouldn't it be great to have a place to evac civ's if need be?"

"... Fair enough, then let's get this thing over with as soon as possible."

"Agreed, but there's still no reason to drag this any more than we have to, therefore I'll stay here to deal with the aftermath while you two head directly back to the Galactic Empire. When everything is under control I'll join you."

Presenting a proposal she had carried for a while, Lux made it clear from her expression alone that she would not be accepting any compromise.

"I assume you've already talked with Ra and Mu about this?"

"Yeah, they'll go back with the two of you, leaving the LCDT-456 in your possession while they split up and go back here with another ship that's already under construction."

[IMI REPORTS: 6TH GENERATION MANATECH AMOUR READY FOR OPERATORS, GO FOR DROP.]

"That's our call, we'll hash out the details when we've got this shit over with. For now, there's work to do."

"You mean slaughter, right?~✿"

"Yeah, in your case Ifrit, feel free to slaughter as much as you want as long as you stay in combat formation."

"Yay~✿"

"... That looked so effortlessly."

"Yeah, that's because unlike us they don't have pain receptors in that body of theirs."

-

Landing on the beach Dax powered down his flight unit as he started sinking into the sand until he activated the mana generator and stabilized the sand below him with magic. The new 6th generation manatech armour was the heaviest design, being more of an armoured exoskeleton like the Rex- instead of a regular set of armour. With the mana generator up and running, Dax's mat black manatech amour lit up slightly, glowing a faint purple as various support drones started hovering in the air around him.

"I'm down."

[Same, holding pattern 5 by 5. Waiting for go.]

[touchdown confirmed.]

[I've landed this thing too, can we start already?~✿]

"Sure, remember to stay within range of your carriers."

With no further need for further communications, Dax cut off his link and started focusing on the neural connection he had with his armour and the drones around him.

(Everything seems to be working perfectly, as expected of Ra and Mu… Oh, perfect timing, here comes the first target.)

Switching gears in an instant, Dax tapped his foot two times on the ground as the attack drones around him went into battle formation behind him. 

(Now what are you going to do, attack, defend or flee?...)

Looking straight at the elder which was currently observing him from a few kilometres away, Dax waited for it to make the first move while making sure he was ready to strike back. After observing Dax for a while, the elder's decaying limbs started moving, coalescing into a mass which pointed straight at him.

(Of course, you're going to attack… Why am I even surprised?)

Responding in kind, Dax put out his arm, in response the drones all around him locked onto the elder at the same time it fired its annihilation spell. 

"Oh, no you fucking don't, I already know how to counter that little trick of yours."

Sending out a counter pulse, Dax prevented the elder from killing him as the ray of destruction stopped about 10 metres short.

"Emergency counter field test successful… And with that, I have no further need for you. All units prosecute targets with extreme prejudice."

Deciding not to bother with a single elder, Dax ordered the new N generation attack drones which were flying around him to take care of it for him. Meanwhile, the elder displayed signs of confusion and even a tiny bit of fear over the fact that its attack had been blocked, but those emotions didn't persist for more than a moment as it was forced to react as some kind of projectile fired at it priced the elder's shields without issue, carving out a significant amount of biomass. Putting up additional shields, the elder spread its awareness out to the surrounding area and quickly located some kind of small UAV type drone, but as the elder targeted it, it disappeared without a trace as 20 more of the same kind appeared all around the elder, engaging form a range of around 2 kilometres the small UAV's kept moving faster than the elder could track them as they continued mercilessly ripping away the elder's flesh with precision fire. Continuing to tear away at is flesh, the elder eventually reached the point where it couldn't afford to worry about anything else other than surviving the current encounter, thus it started teleporting in an attempt to catch at least some of the drones, but that only sealed its fate. The moment the elder stabilized the spacetime around it to teleport, it announced its precise location to anyone listening.

[TARGET ACQUIRED, CORE IDENTIFIED.] 

Far behind the front line, about 50 kilometres away from the shoreline of the imperial continent, one of the carrier type N generation drone assigned to Dax reacted to the minute gravitational signature the elder had generated, in a split second it reoriented itself, aiming its spinal mounted 50 mill type 20 anti barrier railgun at the destination of the elder's teleportation.

[TERMINATING HOSTILE CONTACT.]

As the carrier fired it sealed the fate of the elder. With no time to react the elder who had just teleported was hit by the carrier's ultra high velocity anti barrier sabot without even a nanosecond of warning, pricing its core without any significant amount of resistance and killing the elder.

"IMI, relay to control: Splash one."

[DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]