NOVEL NEXT vol. 5 chapter 2 - Great Horse Town
Great Horse Town is, contrary to its ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) grand name, a quiet countryside.
It is a settlement that uses its vast lands to raise horses for a living.
Situated beside a lake, it uses that abundant water resource to maintain its pastures.
It also practices fishing and livestock butchering for meat, making it one of the rare places in the United Kingdom of Aphrasia capable of true self-sufficiency—effectively an independent domain.
Instead of taxes, it used to send a fixed number of horses to the royal capital, but even that hasn’t happened in recent years.
In truth, the royal capital has issued no demands; it is a city abandoned by the kingdom. And besides, the royal capital itself borders a massive northern grassland and has no shortage of horses.
That said, Great Horse Town does not have enough population to function as a full city-state, so it survives under the umbrella of nearby West Gate City.
Horses are valuable trade goods, after all.
From the perspective of West Gate City, it was recognized as a fairly important town.
And so, on that day—among the confusion of the United Kingdom of Aphrasia—Great Horse Town, the impressive “horse city” that had managed a relatively normal life, was occupied by an unidentified force.
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“Escort fighter group confirms air-superiority secured.”
“At altitude 2,000 m, we will release the airborne units from the transports.”
“Transport Group A entering the operational airspace.”
At the designated point, the rear hatches of the transports open.
From the mounted electromagnetic rails, airborne-configured multi-legged tanks are launched one after another.
“Transport Group A beginning release of multi-legged tanks. No delays in operations.”
“All 48 units released successfully. Multi-Legged Tank Group A has ignited descent boosters. Accelerating toward the designated landing points.”
Each multi-legged tank has rocket boosters mounted on the front and rear pairs of its eight legs and begins flying toward the target zone.
Ten meters long, nine meters wide—no matter how one looks at it, it is a giant spider monster blasting fire from its legs as it flies.
“Next, Transport Group B entering the operational airspace.”
“Commencing release of multi-legged ground mothercraft. All 12 units successfully released. Deploying stabilizer fins.”
“Multi-legged ground mothercraft beginning glide. All units stable. Descending normally toward their points.”
Due to their massive 25-meter length, the ground mothercraft cannot accelerate during descent. If they did, their standard boosters would not provide enough thrust to decelerate. Instead, they glide using fins, then ignite their boosters right before touchdown to brake sharply.
They lack the speed of the tanks, but the fact they are essentially free-falling makes them a sufficient threat.
“Multi-Legged Tank Group A, touchdown at designated points. Booster disposal complete.”
“Multi-Legged Tank Group A has completed reconnaissance. No hostile forces detected.”
“Multi-Legged Tank Group A beginning advance toward objective.”
The first wave, using 48 multi-legged tanks, completely encircles Great Horse Town.
It has already been confirmed that no groups requiring detention exist outside the perimeter. If they simply prevent anyone from escaping from the town, half the operational objective is achieved.
“Transport Group C entering operational airspace. Beginning release of Multi-Legged Tank Group B.”
“Ground mothercraft boosters ignited. Touchdown at designated points.”
The ground mothercraft—motherships for small airborne-support drones—touch down one by one at their assigned coordinates.
“Ground mothercraft deployed successfully. Beginning sequential drone launches.”
The ground mothercraft deploy electromagnetic catapults while still moving, launching anti-personnel drones one after another.
The drones fly at roughly 100 km/h, deploying at designated points.
And timed with the arrival of these drones, Multi-Legged Tank Group B performs direct descent into the center of Great Horse Town.
“Multi-Legged Tank Group B, beginning reverse thrust.”
Startled by the roaring noise, residents gather in the main street.
Above their heads, multi-legged tanks—having completed their booster burn—pass overhead.
The tanks land exactly as pre-calculated, harming no one, while panicked residents scatter like fleeing spiders.
Land is plentiful in the town, and the spacious streets allow the tanks to descend one after another without issue.
“Multi-Legged Tank Group B, touchdown at designated points. Assessing… No civilian casualties.”
“Resident movement paths within predicted range. Anti-personnel drones deployed; beginning forced herding.”
The tanks and anti-personnel drones chase the fleeing residents, driving them—exactly as the simulations dictated—into the plazas.
And as this unfolds, the priority targets begin to move.
“Security forces’ deployment confirmed. Initiating tactical operations.”
Unable to grasp the situation, the garrisoned security guards push through fleeing townsfolk and finally reach the scene—
Only to find giant multi-legged tank golems blocking their path.
“Execute non-lethal suppression.”
A multi-legged tank swings down its heavy stick—gripped in a forelimb—onto the ground beside the guards.
Screaming, the guards scatter as dirt and stones erupt around them. Overwhelmed, most tumble to the ground.
“Reassessing enemy strength. Within pre-operation estimates. Authorization to deploy Mannequin Communicators.”
“Authorization confirmed. Transport Group D beginning release of assault-drop pods.”
The multi-legged tanks’ intimidation actions neutralize the garrison’s combat capability. All stationed soldiers had been pre-marked; drones and sensors already know every one of their positions.
After that, it is merely a matter of sweeping them up.
“Assault-drop pods beginning reverse thrust. All units have reached targets. Touchdown successful.”
“All Mannequin Communicators: vitals nominal. Exiting pods.”
From the assault pods embedded in the ground emerge the Mannequin Communicators, armored in reinforced exoskeleton suits.
They shake off impact-absorbing gel, retrieve assault rifles, magazines, electromagnetic batons, and combat knives from pod storage, and equip themselves.
“Mannequin Communicators: transferring control to on-site Tactical AI… Transfer complete. Beginning suppression actions.”
The Tactical AI mounted on rear-line ground mothercraft begins directing the Mannequin Communicators to neutralize the resident soldiers.
Seventy-two Mannequin Communicators have been deployed into the town. All of them coordinate organically with the nearby tanks and drones, subduing and restraining soldiers one after another.
“Oh, binding their hands behind them.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. They are using aramid-fiber bands—no risk of cutting through. We can neutralize them without causing unnecessary injury.”
Some attempt to fight back against the Mannequin Communicators.
But no unaugmented human can compete with machines that can exert more than ten times an adult man’s strength via exoskeleton.
Their lunging swords are sidestepped—or severed by combat knives—and then their consciousness is knocked out by electromagnetic batons.
“Enemy strength: 30% neutralized.”
“Regular soldiers detected—Group W.”
“Tactical AI commencing fire.”
By the time most security guards are restrained, the emergency-deployed regular army begins moving.
Their numbers are small, but they are trained soldiers—troops and knights dispatched from West Gate City.
For the past year they had gone quiet, but they were true fighters, stationed here to deter raiding bandits.
Even so—
“Reaction speed within expected range. No magic-fantasy phenomena detected.”
They are, after all, only human.
They are pummeled relentlessly by rubber rounds fired by the Mannequin Communicators, and this force is swiftly neutralized.
“The lord’s manor is fully surrounded. Target is confirmed to be inside. Mannequin Communicators commencing entry.”
“Tactical AI reports threat level: E. No operational hindrance. Suppression will complete as planned.”
And thus, Great Horse Town is subdued in only one hour.
Over the next several hours, the entire town is disarmed.
Groups and individuals who had left the town are carefully tracked and detained; not a single fatality occurs.
The invasion operation by The Tree concludes flawlessly.