A Hard Fight, Diaroze 1

“Fumu…….as I thought, she chose this place after all.”

Muttered Valentina inside a [Jetta] that is flying low as though it is gliding on the sea surface. On her radar screen, the light spots signifying Diaroze’s fleet are heading toward an area with more than a dozen small islands that are densely packed together.

Even for a big battleship, if you hide it behind an island and activate the active stealth device it would be difficult to discover its accurate location from a long distance. With a smaller force, it was within her expectation that Diaroze would choose a guerrilla tactic.

“It seems that we should avoid blindly rushing in. They have that gigantic [Odelvansen] after all…….I don’t even want to imagine how much damage it can do from up close.”

Said Schleer who’s flying next to Valentina while pondering her strategies. On a side note, Schleer is currently the only person piloting a Zenith right now. Because of their previous battle, the strikers belonging to Valentina, Saki, and the two of the 4 Heavenlys have been rendered unusable and are yet to be completely repaired. Thanks to this, they have been forced to use mass-produced machines.

“Are we going to attack them with our strikers to flush them out now? That’s quite an interesting plan [DESUNE].”

“Without any joint training, there’s no way we can use the advanced maneuvers right? Since we have the superior number here, we should be able to steadily corner them anyway.”

Schleer replied to Nora’s sarcastic remark with a casual tone. After all, the Calencian side had been forced to fight disadvantageous battles until now. It’s quite refreshing for her to be able to use a brute force tactic like this.

“That being said, with the increased amount of our anti-ship equipment, we should more or less be able to deal with the enemy ships. We still have to handle their strikers ourselves though.”

In this operation, almost all strikers will participate in the attack leaving aside only some small units to guard the main fleet. Leading the charge will be Schleer, Valentina, and the elites like Saki and the two of the 4 Heavenlys. This formation was decided by their policy to take down the enemy strikers as soon as possible.

“The problem is whether Diaroze will come out herself. If she’s going to sortie with her [Zentis] then we need to quickly deal with her…….to be frank, against a high-end machine like that, it would be a hard fight even with our skills. After all, a lukewarm attack will not work against a machine like that.”

Tersis said in frustration. If the specs of their strikers are equal……in other words, if she has her [Van Wolf], she’s confident that she can take on Diaroze alone. However, what she’s piloting right now is an ordinary [Jetta]. Against [Zentis]’s heavy armor, its firepower is not nearly enough.

“At that time…….I will do something about it myself. It’s already been proven that my blaster cannon is effective against Noredian’s Royalcraft after all.”

“Muh…….”

A crease formed between the eyebrows of Valentina whose striker was blown in half by [Mistilteinn]’s cannon.

“Still, you have been defeated once by that woman already. No one would want to see you fumble after you called her out to single combat right?”

“…….”

Schleer was silent and her mouth turned downward. Certainly, she was once defeated by Diaroze in a single combat. Of course, she doesn’t have any plan to lose a second time but it’s still hard to argue back when Valentina brought it up like that.

“Besides, you do know that my sister can resort to cowardly means without batting an eye right? If you focus on fighting her alone, you might get shot from behind you know.”

Valentina confidently grinned.

“Even a Royalcraft like [Zentis] can be taken down if we focus fire on it from all sides. There’s no need for you to go out of your way to challenge her.”

“That is…..certainly true.”

Still, Schleer wants to defeat Diaroze herself. She thought that she should take the responsibility for making Kisei go through such a terrifying experience because of her defeat. However, if she pushes it and ends up losing, that would be like putting a cart before a horse. Thinking so, Schleer reluctantly agreed.

“I understand, I will avoid single combat with her.”

“It’s great that you are so understanding.”

‘Why does this woman always have to be so annoying?’ Thought Schleer as she puffed her cheeks.

“Don’t get on their pace now, Your Highness. Even if they say that we are in this together, there’s no doubt that they will try to hog all the good stuff to themselves…….if we go along with whatever they say then we might end up getting swept by the legs you know.”

Saki cautioned her in a whisper. Of course, they are using a personal communication line so that Valentina and the others do not hear them.

Hearing that, Schleer cut the line to Valentina and sighs.

“In the end, we only share the same enemy this time…….I don’t really want to show them an opening.”

Although they are allies at the moment, there’s no way to tell what will happen after they defeat Diaroze. In the worst case, Schleer was even considering the possibility that she might get shot from behind.

“Still……it’s true we can make use of their force. Seriously, what a pain of a situation.”

Without Kisei’s power, the Calencian army has no power to fight the Noredian head-on. Before allying with Valentina, the main goal of their previous operation was to rescue Kisei and promptly retreat.

“For the time being, let us prioritize on defeating Diaroze. We will have to deal with the problem afterward…….”

After muttering so in a small voice, Saki glances at the radar screen. A group of strikers was approaching them from the archipelago. The battle is about to start. For the time being, she decided to not put too much thought into things and focus on the battle.