02 Mainship Recovery Operation 2

The numbers are overwhelming.

The welcome greeting displayed immediately after launch—the sheer volume of enemy fire—confirmed Jin’s certainty.

Naturally, it was expected.

They had only three vessels.

The enemy fielded nearly twenty.

The total number of assault frame units should reflect a similar disparity.

Indeed, Jin resolved that a somewhat forceful approach would be necessary.

To cut through such a barrage and penetrate enemy lines.

The difficulty level was already high just from considering it.

“…Let’s move. Keep up—don’t fall behind!”

The only way forward was to force the enemy into chaos.

There was no chance of victory in a disciplined, formation-based engagement.

Jin’s Raven led the charge.

Following closely were the survivors of the instructional unit.

They had barely maintained operational status, equipped with fractured Falx packages, forming a formation of six.

Two rows deep. Three across.

Each unit raises its shield, synchronizing the ether oscillators.

A wall of light emerges.

Even a capital ship’s Ether Cannon would likely overwhelm it, but this suffices against scattered assaults from the assault frame units.

The other units fall into position behind, maintaining a single-file line as they close the distance.

“Decoy deployment!”

Heat sources are dispersed, scattering decoys infused with faint ether.

At this range, visual detection is impossible.

The radar should register these decoys as resembling assault frames.

As intended, enemy fire spreads toward them.

While preparing these distractions, Jin advances straight ahead, abandoning them all.

The foremost unit inevitably draws attention.

For Jin, being targeted means he can target in return.

Sniping from multiple directions. From the vanguard units—Ravens.

It appeared as though Jin severed them all with the Etherdagger.

A trick he had shown before.

Not slicing, not deflecting—but returning the fire.

No one remains unmoved upon seeing their own sniping return straight at them.

Four snipers who had aimed at Jin without caution were shot down in this exchange.

"...Dead? Probably dead..."

He could not return fire with such precision.

To hit the target, one had to strike the most obvious part—the torso.

There was no room for restraint.

To survive this field, one must kill the enemy without hesitation.

Yet most likely, they fight without knowing the true purpose.

In truth, many of them are victims as well.

One cannot claim to have no hesitation.

If the enemies currently bearing the things Jin sought to protect were not those, he would not have been able to fight.

That truth alone is enough for Jin to fight.

He swallows bitter thoughts, yet simultaneously feels disappointment in the outcome of the current exchange.

Ten enemy units fired upon him.

He returned fire with ten.

Yet only four were brought down.

Of course, Jin is no perfect marksman.

Even when targeting humanoid forms, a single strike did not suffice to destroy.

But four out of ten is too low.

The reason for the below-expected results is clear.

"The units are heavy…!"

The usual lightness is absent.

Appearance is unchanged. Specifications are equivalent to standard units.

Yet the subtle difference in responsiveness is as if weights were hung from his limbs.

Expected, yes—but to actually engage in combat reveals it to be worse than imagined.

Jin felt the absence of Shirley as a weight dragging at his limbs.

Without her, his combat effectiveness would drop by thirty percent—literally.

He felt the truth of it now.

And that deficit would be a severe handicap against the enemy ahead.

From beyond Raven’s formation, a larger unit emerged, forming a flock.

The flock of eagles, fierce and resolute, driven to scatter the foolish ravens.

Cyborg-only assault frame Type 15, Gryphon.

Undoubtedly the strongest assault frame in current deployment, barring selection of a pilot.

Its wings alone could erase a target.

Jin took one deep breath.

He would not be able to breathe properly after this.

“Mode Triple Six!”

He input the command.

No hesitation.

If they failed to break through here, there would be no escape.

Jin had hoped Raven would strike through the opening, but there was no such sign.

He muttered, teeth gritted—removing the ether reactor’s limiter had been anticipated.

He raised two ether rifles, each configured as bayonets, to both hands.

He dove into the midst of the griffon swarm.

Surrounded on all sides—yet that proved advantageous.

Every shot from Jin found its mark.

The enemy hesitated to fire, afraid of friendly fire.

Perhaps precisely because their marksmanship was so high, they knew the risk of fratricide.

Necessarily, Jin brought the fight to his preferred domain: close combat.

In close combat, the number of opponents he could face at once was limited.

It was a calculated advantage—yet the enemy evaded with surprising skill.

"Damn... these bastards..."

Without hesitation, the enemy surrounded Jin’s unit, evading his attacks with unnerving precision.

“You’re targeting me…?”

Jin’s assessment was correct.

In a conventional engagement, the Second Fleet, superior in numbers, would hold a decisive advantage.

Yet the Third Fleet possessed an irregularity that rendered numerical superiority meaningless.

Unsurprisingly, that irregularity was Jin.

His track record was undeniable.

While he could not achieve strategic victory alone, tactical triumph was certain.

Faced with such a wildcard, the Second Fleet’s strategy was rigorous predictive analysis.

An immense volume of combat data—what remained or had been collected.

Using this data, they predicted Jin’s movements and adjusted their tactics accordingly.

These predictions were merely supplementary.

Unlike the ace’s ability to see one second ahead, they offered only possibilities.

But for a cybernetic squadron where every member surpasses average ace-level capability, that was sufficient.

A marginal advantage in maneuvering was gained.

And that advantage was further amplified by machine performance.

Jin’s Raven accelerated.

The Griffin followed without hesitation, keeping pace perfectly.

In fact, it exceeded the Raven’s speed.

The large ether thruster on its back was no mere ornament.

Even under extreme, sharp-angle maneuvers that made Jin’s body scream in protest, the Griffin kept up effortlessly.

Indeed, in this velocity range, Jin had no chance of victory.

The cybernetic squadron held the advantage—regardless of how much they enhanced their physical forms.

The pilot aboard the Griffin smirked, watching Jin struggle as if fleeing in desperation.

After being repeatedly compared, repeatedly humiliated, the opponent now lay entirely within their grasp.

Unable to suppress a dark sense of superiority.

Muttering, “Come on, run faster,” the Griffin stayed perfectly aligned with Jin’s Raven.

The opponent’s limit zone was entirely exposed. Considering they were merely flesh and blood, no sharper turn than this was physically possible.

Jin’s next maneuver was predictable.

A near 180-degree, ultra-sharp turn.

Intending to slip behind the Griffin, who would follow with the same motion.

With a yawn, the cybernetic squadron pilot trailed behind—watching the desperate, blood-coughing maneuver the enemy would attempt—

Jin vanished.

Why. Where.

Those two thoughts were the pilot’s final cognition.

"...This kind of catch. I guess my movements were read after all."

Jin did not turn.

At the moment he saw the inevitable, he forcibly straightened the aircraft’s orientation, despite the turn already initiated.

The enemy, having judged the slight anomaly as a turn, was pitiful in Jin’s eyes.

Regardless, there was no reason not to target the enemy, now decelerating abruptly.

Rescued by near-chance, yet destroyed all the same.

Now, one down.

Griffin Unit—remaining: 240.

……Call for reinforcements, even a Dragon, if you must.

A single raven was a formidable opponent.

Behind him, the Raven Units of the Third Fleet and Second Fleet had merged, engaging in combat.

As distance closed, decoys became obvious—immediately recognizable as false targets.

Ignored, they drifted one by one toward the fleet.

The battle was evenly matched—yet outnumbered, the side with fewer units would be ground down first.

Maybe plan B, after all.

Engaging the enemy fleet with the remaining forces and transmitting signals to the other squadrons—this is Plan A.

Naturally, this presents difficulties, and total failure is a foreseeable outcome.

Thus, the contingency operation is already underway.

Rather, this is the primary strategy.

Jin and the others do not need to win here, now.

Calling for reinforcements constitutes victory.