289 Vanguard Part 2 (1/2)
He didn't hope that it was truly an army sent by the empire. After all, he still has a lot of things to do. He was even unaware of Wallace's current situation on the northern continent.
Sigh~
”I have to deal with this alone... I can't coordinate with the magicians here yet... It's too early.”
Ace didn't think that the incoming troops were from the Federation as it was not their style to use an asteroid as a cover. He was sure that it was from the enemy.
Luckily, considering the size of the celestial body, the army that has been sent were surely few in numbers.
Normally these vanguards being sent for an away mission would have 5-10 years before sending their reports back to the empire.
”But if they have sent a vanguard here... It's definitely not a coincidence. Did they found another Cube of Paradox?”
Ace shook his head as he realized that it may also be the result of investigating the Prince's previous actions. After all, they may have left behind some clues from their previous Sacred Relic's investigation.
Although their chief researcher during that time made some arrangements to remove any traces of their experiments, they may have left a little clue that has been processed for years which resulted in today's problem.
Ace was also confident that the planet's protective cover created by the prince's team was still present. It means that they shouldn't be capable of detecting the planet's existence as of the moment.
”Then, is this really a coincidence? Maybe the empire has sent a lot of these Vanguard roaming around this star system or maybe galaxy and stumbled upon this path?”
He was thinking about how to deal with these enemies. He may have a way to obliterate them using the maximum power of his accumulated mana. However, a part of his mind wanted to capture a few of the empire's army to gather information.
Ever since he was sent here to this Earth, he no longer has any news about the Federation and the Empire and of course, about the Zymeth Spaceship.
Wallace wanted to know what happened after he left that place as the spaceship was surrounded by the enemy's fleet. He remembered that the force of the Empire was even commanded by his father's supposedly friend, Solon.
He clenched his fist as he couldn't easily decide about the best course of action. Capturing the soldiers may result in many unknown problems. Completely destroying them should be the best course of action.
Ace took a sip on his tea as he decided to consult other people. He glanced at the plaza and noticed that the third batch of the players should be reaching the climax of their simulation already.
***
Hilda and the other four players were in a precarious situation.
They were suddenly flooded by numerous Mech Frames who had an absurd movement speed. If not for their brain-boosting magic, they may have been unable to capture any of the enemy's movements at all.
”I can't move...”
”Guys... I think that they disabled my Steel Knights...”
”I no longer have any vision!”
”Me too... Oh no... I can't reach the command center!”
Hilda heard the other players panicked after being immobilized by the enemies.
It seems that the Mech Frames were planning to capture them alive. Perhaps they wanted to study the Steel Knights they have so they wanted to avoid destroying it.
Luckily, it seems that the mana artifact they were using for communicating with each other was still not being blocked due to its unique construction.
”The cockpit ejection system seems to be failing as well...”
Hilda muttered as she tries to calmly analyze their situation. She remembers that after dozens of Mech Frames broke out of the automaton's last line of defense, their group of five tried to eliminate them but failed due to the enemy's superb piloting skills.
The enemy also possesses unknown technology that manages to block some of their bullets and magic spells.