In the Meditation Room, the ghostly blue light of the Deep Sea Echo Conch suddenly dimmed.

Allen’s tightly shut eyes snapped open. His main consciousness instantly withdrew from the inscription of the fifth Core Matrix.

"Report our losses." The situation was urgent. Wasting no words, he connected directly to command.

[Demon Eye Mk. IV nodes 07 and 08 have been completely destroyed. Attack Type: Directed Magic Power beam. Peak reading: 5800. Penetration distance: 20,000 meters. Power decay approximately 12%.]

[Target is advancing directly toward Zone 18. It was last seen devouring the corpses of Magical Beasts along its path.]

The Demon Eyes were his eyes, the cornerstone of his entire over-the-horizon strike system.

Without guidance from their high-altitude vision, the Storm Falcons would be flying blind, and the Purgatory Platform’s saturation fire would lose all accuracy. This was a loss Allen could not afford.

This monster not only had anti-air capabilities, but it had also precisely eliminated his reconnaissance nodes. This suggested it possessed either exceptional sensory abilities or... extremely strong tactical instincts.

’We can’t afford to lose our recon units!’

Allen decisively issued the order, "All Freedom Gundams, abandon your designated patrol-and-hunt mission. Advance 650 kilometers and engage the enemy at full speed. You must eliminate this Magical Beast."

Three hundred kilometers from the battlefield, six blue-and-white Steel Giants on standby began to levitate simultaneously.

Anti-gravity Arrays at full power.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Six sonic boom clouds exploded in mid-air, kicking up violent sandstorms on the ground below. The six Freedom Gundams turned into shooting stars, accelerating past the sound barrier as they rocketed toward the target airspace.

"Jarvis, what’s that thing’s visual coverage range?"

[Estimated wide-area sensory radius exceeds 100 kilometers. Blind spots cannot be confirmed.]

Allen’s eyes flickered.

’A sensory range of 100 kilometers means the six Gundams will be exposed to the enemy’s vision before they even get close.’

As expected.

When they were still eighty-three kilometers from the target, Jarvis issued a warning.

[High-energy fluctuation detected. Energy is building. Target is Unit One.]

"Spread out! Unit One, accelerate and climb!"

At the edge of the horizon, a black-and-purple pillar of light silently traversed eighty kilometers of space. Like the Grim Reaper’s scythe, it instantly sliced through Unit One’s original flight path.

The beam grazed Unit One’s left shoulder.

VMMMM—!

The AT Field, a lattice of hexagonal crystals, instantly manifested, erupting in a blinding halo. However, this defense—strong enough to withstand a full-power blow from the leader of the Rock Armor Earth Dragons—emitted a cracking sound as if under an unbearable load the moment it came into contact with the black-and-purple beam.

KRAK.

The AT Field collapsed violently, shattering into a rain of light. The aftershock of the black-and-purple beam scraped viciously across Unit One’s left shoulder armor. The surface of the supposedly indestructible Titan Magic Steel instantly melted, leaving a charred groove, and the Rune Arrays within flashed with blue light.

[Unit One left shoulder armor damaged by 12%. AT Field Generator overloaded. Entering a three-minute cooldown.]

Allen frowned as he looked at the damage report on the screen.

’An over-the-horizon beam strike from eighty kilometers away? Does this thing have a phased-array radar or something?’

This was the first time a Freedom Gundam’s AT Field had been breached.

And that was just from a graze.

"All units, climb to 15,000 meters. Evasive maneuvers at maximum speed."

The six Gundams shot up into the clouds simultaneously. The air pressure above 10,000 meters is extremely low, but this had no effect on the mechs themselves. The advantage of this maneuver was to increase the vertical distance, thereby reducing the accuracy of the enemy’s attacks.

Over the next six minutes, the monster attempted to attack three more times.

Each time it charged up to fire, Jarvis provided an early warning. The six Gundams performed high-speed, unpredictable directional changes to evade. The beam swept past the mechs time and again, but never managed to land a direct hit.

On the ground, the giant Snail Monster stopped feeding. Its massive body squirmed slightly, and on its thick dorsal shell, hundreds upon thousands of small compound eyes swiveled in unison, locking dead onto the six high-speed blue-and-white dots of light in the sky.

It didn’t fire another one of those terrifying black-and-purple beams; it seemed that too was a finishing move that required charging. But its lock was like a maggot on a rotting bone, sticking tenaciously to every single unit.

At this point, the six Freedom Gundams had flown above the Snail Monster and were flying in irregular patterns.

"We can’t drag this out. Wait for its next attack." Allen’s gaze was cold. "Unit Three, act as bait. Unit One, prepare to drop your payload. Let’s see how it handles Big Boy."

At an altitude of 15,000 meters, Unit Three slowed down slightly, and a black-and-purple beam shot toward it instantly. Its AT Field was breached again, but thankfully, the mech itself was not hit.

Seizing the opportunity, Unit One abruptly stabilized its flight amidst its high-speed maneuvers, and the pylon on its back sprang open.

The cylindrical metal pillar, "Big Boy," detached from the mech and plummeted downwards, a countdown to destruction.

Allen monitored the bomb’s trajectory. ’Once it hits the ground, its two-kilometer absolute crystallization radius will turn everything, no matter what kind of mutated species it is, into a glass statue. Given the Magical Beast’s movement speed, it shouldn’t be able to escape.’

However, just as Big Boy was plummeting, still three thousand meters from the ground...

The Snail Monster moved.

The hundreds and thousands of compound eyes on its dorsal shell lit up simultaneously with an eerie purple glow.

The next second.

Countless small purple rays shot up into the sky, weaving together into an impenetrable web of fire that covered Big Boy’s descent path.

"Not good!" Allen’s expression changed.

BOOM—!

In mid-air, Big Boy’s casing was struck by several rays at once, and the Crystal Amplification Array inside was instantly detonated.

Five tons of high-purity Crystallization Seeds prematurely released all their energy at an altitude of three thousand meters.

A multi-colored wave of light expanded violently through the clouds.

The entire sky seemed to pause. Within a two-kilometer radius, the moisture and free-floating dust in the clouds had their material forms forcibly rewritten, transforming into a spectacular cloud of stained glass.

Sunlight passed through this crystallized cloud layer, refracting into a brilliant and deadly rainbow of light. Then, losing their buoyancy, the loose crystalline cloud masses shattered violently, dissolving into a dazzling shower of multi-colored micro-crystals that drifted through the air.

Intercepted.

Allen’s heart sank.

Their stock of Big Boys was already low. What was most fatal was that this monster not only had a main cannon for over-the-horizon sniping but also a close-in defense system with no blind spots. Conventional bombing and airdrops were completely ineffective against it.

"Jarvis, analyze the target’s weaknesses."

[Target’s dorsal compound eye clusters possess high-frequency independent targeting capabilities. The main eye possesses over-the-horizon high-energy strike capabilities. Approach is impossible. Recommendation: Destroy its main eye from a distance to disable its long-range strike capability.]

"Good idea." Having just lost 300,000 Magic Stones, Allen spoke with a voice completely devoid of warmth.

He quickly laid out a new strategy.

"Units One, Three, Four, Five, and Six, descend and fly at maximum speed. Draw the main eye’s fire."

"Unit Two, silent descent. Circle around to the rear and find a sniping position. Prep the Titan’s Roar."

The order was given.

In the sky, five Freedom Gundams simultaneously closed in on the Snail Monster from five different directions, flying in extremely erratic Z-shaped patterns.

The Snail Monster was enraged.

The clusters of compound eyes on its back flickered madly as a dense barrage of purple rays rained down.

"Deploy AT Fields!"

Halos of light lit up on the surfaces of all five mechs.

TCH-TCH-TCH—!

The rays struck the Force Fields, creating large ripples. Fortunately, the attacks from the dorsal compound eyes were not powerful enough to break through the defenses, but their Magic Power reserves were dropping at a visible rate.

Relying on their extreme maneuverability, the five Gundams weaved through the gaps in the net of rays, continuously closing the distance.

Fifty kilometers.

Thirty kilometers.

Ten kilometers.

The Snail Monster seemed to realize how troublesome these lumps of iron were. The compound eyes on its back suddenly stopped firing, and all the eerie purple light began to converge on the single crimson main eye at the very top.

The surrounding air began to distort as immense Magic Power gathered in the main eye.

It was about to fire its main cannon.

The target: Unit One, which was charging at the very front.

[Warning! High-energy reaction peak approaching 6000! Locked on Unit One!]

"Now," Allen said, his eyes glued to the screen. He spat out the single word.

Fifteen kilometers away, behind a massive, weathered rock.

At some point, Unit Two had knelt down on one knee. The massive "Titan’s Roar" heavy cannon on its shoulder was already aimed in the Snail Monster’s direction.

The complex Energy Gathering Rune Array lit up in sequence. The energy from five thousand Low-Level Magic Stones was compressed by the singularity engine and converted into pure destructive power.

"Fire."

BOOM—!

A crimson bolt of lightning tore through the battlefield’s dead silence. A beam of light, two meters in diameter, crossed fifteen kilometers and precisely struck the massive main eye just before the Snail Monster could fire its own cannon.

SPLAT!

It was like stomping on a giant tomato.

The crimson main eye was instantly vaporized by the terrifying power of the Titan’s Roar, and the immense Magic Power it had been gathering detonated violently along with it.

The violent backlash of energy blasted a bottomless crater into the Snail Monster’s head, and viscous green ichor shot into the sky like a fountain.

"SKREEE—!!!"

A shrill, miserable scream echoed across the Gobi. Having lost its main eye, the Snail Monster descended into a complete frenzy. The compound eyes on its back began firing indiscriminately in all directions as its enormous body thrashed in agony on the ground, crushing large swathes of rock.

"Chop it to pieces."

The five approaching Freedom Gundams powered up simultaneously.

The Dragon Cavalry thrusters on the mechs’ backs ejected dazzling Magic Power particles, and the five Steel Giants leaped high into the air.

SHIIIING! SHIIIING! SHIIIING! SHIIIING! SHIIIING!

Five fifteen-meter-long "Meteor" Ship-Slicing Blades were drawn simultaneously. High-frequency vibration Runes activated, and the blades emitted a piercing hum, shaking even the surrounding air into visible ripples.

The five mechs descended simultaneously from five directions like five cold-blooded executioners.

SHHNNK—!

The high-frequency vibrating Ship-Slicing Blades cut into the Snail Monster’s compound-eye-covered carapace.

SQUELCH.

The massive beast, as large as a small hill, was forcibly dismembered by the five mechs. Green blood and shattered organs flowed out, covering the ground, and a foul stench rose to the heavens.

’Finally, we got it!’

Allen’s taut nerves finally relaxed a little.

’Two Demon Eyes lost. I need to replace them quickly.’

’Seven red-level "Troublesome" targets. Now there are six left on the way.’

’Could there be more than one of these Snail Monsters?’

’I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.’

"Clean up the battlefield, recover any usable materials." Allen’s fifth cognitive thread took over the follow-up tasks, while his main consciousness prepared to resume Meditation.

Suddenly, Jarvis’s voice sounded in the command room, tinged with a rare hint of fluctuation.

[Commander, an anomalous object has been discovered.]

Unit One has found a large number of metal components within the Snail Monster’s shredded tissues!

There was even a jet-black metal module, its surface covered in precise geometric patterns, embedded in the brain tissue. A few severed nerve-interface cables were still connected to the edges of the metal plate, clear evidence it had been implanted in the Magical Beast’s brain.

This was no naturally mutated Magical Beast.

This was a biomechanical weapon, half machine and half flesh!