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Chapter 10: Mechanical Dragon -final battle-
The dragon skeleton that had been used as a base to create Mechadra came from a specimen much larger than Ruby, and it was designed for bipedal, not quadrupedal, movement (like Mecha Go**illa), so the mechanical dragon looked way larger than Ruby. On top of that, Mechadra was armed to the teeth today. The added mass from those parts made its movement more weighty than usual, but Mechadra stood in Ooyamizuchi’s way, putting the creature’s head in a firm lock.
In terms of size, it was like the difference between a boar and a Shiba Inu, but this was the same Mechadra that had the power to casually toss aside a rhinosaurus on Overman Silvan. Ooyamizuchi’s forward movement was obviously slowing.
“Mechadra has made contact with the enemy, Grandmother!” Juna, who was watching from the Albert II, said to Excel. “Let’s send out the other boat. We need to get it to Mechadra.”
“That weird boat, you mean? Okay.”
“Yes. Send a message to all ships! We are sending a ship through from the rear! Please, clear its path!”
With Excel’s permission, Juna gave the order through the speaking tube. Once she was finished, Excel placed a hand on Juna’s shoulder.
“We’ve deployed everything we have at our disposal now.”
“...Yes. Everything is out on the table now,” Juna nodded, laying her own hand on top of Excel’s. “This really is our last trump card.”
~~~~~~~~~!!
Ooyamizuchi howled. It bashed Mechadra with its tentacles, trying to get the mechanical dragon off of it, but Mechadra didn’t let go of the beast’s neck. Instead, it fought back with its iron bite. Soldiers from the Kingdom and Archipelago Union watched with bated breath as they witnessed the sudden battle between sea beast and mechanical creature unfold.
“A-Awesome! Damn, that silvery dragon is cool!!”
“What is this...? Is this reality I’m seeing...?”
“Ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha...”
Some cheered, some stood there in disbelief, and some simply laughed dryly—their brains unable to keep up with what was going on in front of their eyes. There were a variety of reactions, but the men didn’t have time to just stop thinking forever.
“Huh?! Keep your hands moving! Resume the attack!”
“Find some way to finish the beast off while that silver dragon is stalling it!”
The commanders on the Archipelago Union’s side were shouting. When he saw the Archipelago Union’s fleet had resumed the attack, Halbert gave orders to the wyvern cavalry team.
“We’re going to start attacking again, too! But, while I’m pretty sure you know this, that silver dragon, Mechadra... is on our side! Make sure you don’t hit it!”
“““Yes, sir!”””
Mechadra and the Archipelago Union’s fleet handled the up-close attacks while the wyvern cavalry team ran distraction, as well as launching flame attacks, and the Kingdom’s fleet provided supporting fire. No matter how great Ooyamizuchi was, it was still getting hurt by this focused attack, and a number of its tentacles no longer moved.
Ruby decided it was her time to shine, and spewed her flames at full force to burn a tentacle right off.
“How’d you like that?!”
“Don’t let your guard down, Ruby! There’s another tentacle coming!”
“Augh! It’s just one after another!”
Ruby prepared to intercept the incoming tentacle, but there was a tearing sound as a flash of blue light pierced through it. The appendage flopped around, convulsing, before ultimately collapsing into the sea. Halbert and Ruby looked up in the direction the light had come from, only to see Naden with Souma on her back, floating in the air as pale blue sparks of electricity shot off of her.
“Souma?! What’re you doing on the front line?! It’s dangerous here!” Halbert shouted after having Ruby fly next to Souma and Naden.
“I didn’t have much choice,” Souma countered, pointing at Mechadra. “Mechadra’s neck is long, and the field of view is shaky, so it’s hard to see the surrounding area with just the consciousness I’ve transferred to it. It’s a lot easier to control if I’m somewhere that gives me a top-down perspective.”
“But you’re here without a guard. You’re gonna get your wives mad at you again, you know?”
“I’ve gotten used to that... Anyway, Hal, I had a question for you,” Souma said with a serious look on his face. “Was there anywhere that Ooyamizuchi’s shell seemed like it was weakening?”
“Weakening? You mean, like, somewhere it’s damaged?”
“If I’m remembering correctly, I think the Kingdom’s bombardment ruptured Ooyamizuchi’s shell on the opposite side from the one we’re looking at—that would be the right-hand side from Ooyamizuchi’s perspective. It’s shallow, and I doubt it caused any internal damage, though,” Ruby chimed in.
“Okay,” Souma replied, closing his eyes to focus. Halbert was shocked.
“H-Hey. What do you think you’re closing your eyes for?”
“I’m going to use Mechadra’s extra equipment on that rupture to bust that shell open.”
“Extra equipment?”
“Sorry. I need to focus, so support me, would you?”
Down below, Mechadra put some distance between itself and Ooyamizuchi, kicking up waves as it circled around to the left side of Ooyamizuchi. Despite being slapped around by the writhing tentacles, Mechadra forced its way through them to get closer and pressed up against the side of the beast. Its head was moving around a lot, presumably to look for the rupture that Ruby had mentioned.
“...Found it! Here’s the spot!” Souma declared, his eyes still closed. Then Mechadra reached out with its right arm (front leg), and placed its hand near the rupture. As Halbert and the others watched, wondering what it was trying to do, the mechanical dragon placed its left hand on its extended right arm (front leg).
“Um, if I remember this right... I think this is how I do it... Okay!” Souma’s eyes snapped open, and he shouted, “Gooooo—”
Kaboom! The roar of the blast covered up Souma’s shout. It sounded like an explosion, a metallic noise, and a crushing noise all overlapping, and Halbert couldn’t help but cover his ears.
~~~~~~~~~!!
It howled as it twisted around. Is Ooyamizuchi in pain?
“Wh-What was that noise just now?!”
“Here, have another! Take thiiiis!”
Souma shouted without stopping to answer Halbert’s question, and Mechadra reached out with its left arm (front leg) this time, and placed its hand on the same spot. Then, after it held its left arm with its right hand, and did something to manipulate it, there was another explosion. Ooyamizuchi groaned as it writhed about, swinging its long, thick neck to hammer Mechadra, causing it to stumble backwards from the impact.
Noticing something sharp protruding from Mechadra’s arms, Halbert asked, “What are those iron stake things?”
“They’re the first piece of extra equipment we devised specifically for fighting Ooyamizuchi—a gunpowder-fired pile driver,” Souma responded.
Allow me to explain...
Because dragon bones were used in its construction, for diplomatic reasons, there had been limits placed on the military use of Mechadra, but thinking that the mechanical dragon would be an effective tool against a giant monster, Souma had enlisted Genia, the Overscientist, and Trill, the Drill Princess of the Empire, to produce some powered-up parts for it.
However, while Souma’s ability, Living Poltergeists, allowed him to move dolls or puppets as if they were the living creatures, he wasn’t able to manipulate the internal parts separately. To give a human analogy, it was like how you can move your body, but you can’t freely control your internal organs. Even if they put a cannon on Mechadra, he wouldn’t be able to fire it, or load it internally. Those sorts of armaments had to be attached externally, so that Mechadra could manipulate them itself.
One of the pieces of extra equipment they had come up with was the pile driver. The explosive force of gunpowder was used to fire a massive metal stake, creating a close-range weapon that could be used for single penetrating attacks. They were installed in both Mechadra’s arms, and required the opposite arm to push a button to fire them. Also, because Mechadra couldn’t rearm the pile driver itself, it was a weapon that could only be used once per sortie, for a total of two times, counting both arms.
It was a tough weapon to use, but it was like firing a cannon at point-blank range, so it was incredibly powerful. From the look of it, the small rupture had expanded after taking two shots from the pile drivers. A little more, and it would break through to the inside.
“Just a little more! If she’s sent out Mechadra, that means...” Souma turned to look at the sea behind him.
There was a boat coming towards Mechadra, cutting through the water like a knife, yet there was no sea creature pulling it. Instead, two conical objects were attached to the front, spinning as they parted the waves. That’s Juna for you. Her timing is impeccable.
“What is that?” Halbert asked Souma, blinking.
“It’s an icebreaker—a ship that breaks the ice in front of it as it moves forward. The product of Kuu’s wishes, and Trill’s tenacity.”
The Kingdom, Empire, and Republic had been working together to develop a drill. By applying its rotational mechanism in two places, they were able to devise a prototype for an icebreaker with drills attached to the front to smash through ice, and a propeller on the back to provide thrust. It was like the Garinko from Souma’s old world, only with the drills sticking out of the front.
“Hal, I just need a moment, so draw Ooyamizuchi’s attention!”
“R-Right. Got it. Okay, you louts, let’s do this!”
Halbert led the wyvern cavalry team to attack Ooyamizuchi.
During that time, Souma had Mechadra retreat and head towards the icebreaker. Once it got close, Mechadra lowered itself to the point it was hidden beneath the surface of the water, then the icebreaker rode on top of it. The crew rushed out of the ship and quickly moved to get it fixed in place, as Souma and Naden watched from afar.
“I never would have guessed we’d be installing a drill on it...”
“I know that dragon is dead, but I’m sure they never thought they’d end up like that, either...”
We both had to take our hats off to Trill’s tenacity. When she had first seen Mechadra in the dungeon workshop, she had been excited by the size of it.
Then, because Mechadra was created by Genia, who she loved and respected, Trill decided she wanted to add her own creation—the drill—to it. Naturally, because there were limits to what we could do to Mechadra in light of our relationship with the Star Dragon Mountain Range, Genia had been hesitant, but Trill kept on asking. In the end, Genia apparently got on board with the idea, too, and they started thinking of ways to load it with a drill.
When Souma asked them for additional equipment to fight Ooyamizuchi with, they had already come up with the plan of attaching the icebreaker to it. Because the icebreaker was still a prototype, it couldn’t travel far, but the duo of deviant scientists went and redesigned it as a piece of add-on equipment for Mechadra.
Once the crew had installed the icebreaker on Mechadra’s back, they turned the drills on and abandoned ship, then they gave the all-clear signal to Souma and the others. When he saw it, Souma raised his right hand to the heavens and made Mechadra stand up.
“Okay, this is the piece of equipment that Trill’s willfulness got us! Let’s see it put a hole in that big old shell!”
Mechadra walked towards Ooyamizuchi with heavy steps, carrying the drills on its back. Then, circling around to Ooyamizuchi’s side as the beast was distracted by the wyvern cavalry team, the mechanical dragon lowered its head and stuck its shoulder out like a rugby player, then slammed the spinning drills into the rupture in Ooyamizuchi’s shell.
An instant later, there was a mechanical whine, and a chipping sound that was like nothing before.
~~~~~~~~~!!
Ooyamizuchi thrashed around, crying out in anguish. Shards of its broken shell fell into the sea with loud splashes. Its shell was steadily being chipped away.
“...Is this going to work?” Souma whispered to himself.
Soon enough, the spinning of the drill gradually slowed and then came to a complete stop. Because it was a weapon that had been thrown together in a hurry with no time for a field test, it must have broken down due to the hardness of Ooyamizuchi’s shell.
Then Ooyamizuchi bit onto Mechadra’s head, and pulled. That threw Mechadra off-balance, and it tumbled into the sea with a huge splash.
“Damn it! We were almost there!” Souma slapped his knee in frustration.
“Look, Souma! There’s a big break in its shell, and you can see the meat inside!” Naden said, pointing to the rupture with her snout.
Looking, Souma could see there was a large hole in the shell, and the creature’s flesh was visible through it. It wasn’t a fatal wound, but Mechadra’s attack had come just short of finishing Ooyamizuchi.
Halbert brought Ruby up alongside Souma and Naden.
“You were saying its most vital parts are inside the shell, right? Let’s focus our attack there and finish it for good this time!”
“...Yeah, that makes sense, Hal.” Souma decided to change gears. “Let’s focus our firepower. I’ll bring Mechadra around to Ooyamizuchi’s left side and keep the beast from moving, so you lead the wyvern cavalry team to attack that exposed section. As for Excel... if she’s been watching this through a telescope, she should focus her attacks on that spot, too.”
“Gotcha. What are the two of you going to do? Head back to the Albert II?” Halbert asked, but Souma shook his head.
“Nah. From here, it’ll be faster to head straight to the Dragon King rather than back to the Albert II. Naden and I will go to the Nine-Headed Dragon King and ask him to attack that exposed section as well. Give us some of your wyvern cavalry as an escort.”
“All right... Be careful, you hear? Your kids are still young.”
“Right back at you. You don’t want to die before seeing your own kid’s face, right?”
Having blown off some of the tension with that lighthearted banter, Souma and Halbert each flew off in their own direction to carry out their next tasks.
The battle with Ooyamizuchi was finally entering its final stages.
Mechadra held Ooyamizuchi in place while the Kingdom’s fleet fired their cannons; the Archipelago Union shot their lion-dog cannons, bows, and magic; and the wyvern cavalry team unleashed their fire attacks at the rupture in the shell, all of them opening the wound further. It was a general offensive.
The rupture was bleeding constantly. Its once thrashing tentacles had lost their vigor, proof that Ooyamizuchi was steadily weakening.
“Hmm. This must be our chance.”
With the tentacles’ strength gone, it was now possible for the soldiers to climb Ooyamizuchi. Shima Katsunaga, the fierce commander of the Archipelago Union’s forces, held his odachi up high and gave orders.
“Enough with the tentacles! Now we strike at the main body! After me!”
“““Yeahhhhh!”””
On Shima’s orders, the men of the sea jumped onto Ooyamizuchi’s body. Those with a high level of jumping ability bounded up the shell, while those without used grappling hooks to climb. This style of fighting was a specialty of the Archipelago Union’s soldiers, who had used these sorts of pirate-like tactics when boarding enemy ships.
The ferocious warriors of the Archipelago Union climbed over one another, like besiegers competing to be the first over the wall as they scaled Ooyamizuchi’s back. Seeing this, the Kingdom’s fleet stopped firing, and sent out the Marine Corps. The wyvern cavalry team supported the climbing team while also launching their own attacks against the rupture.
Having reached the top first, Shima headed for the rupture and swung his odachi. It caused a slight wound, but was deflected with a clang.
“A blade won’t do the job, then...? Hey. You brought a metal rod, right?”
“...Yes, sir! Here it is.”
Shima took the metal rod that it had taken two of his subordinates to carry all this way, and wound up before swinging it into the shell with all his might.
“Hahhhhhh!”
There was a resounding crack. Ooyamizuchi’s shell gave way under the force of an attack that left his hands numb. A huge chunk came off and fell into the sea. Shima wiped the sweat from his brow as he watched it drop.
“Whew... Ga, ha, ha! I knew this would be more effective,” he said with a laugh.
Then a spear of fire flew down from the sky to strike the center of the rupture some tens of meters away. The moment it hit, the spear of fire burst, gouging the flesh, and causing a spurt of bodily fluids. That one attack made Ooyamizuchi writhe in anguish once more, and it felt like an earthquake to Shima and his men. When the shaking subsided, they looked up into the sky and saw a young man with red hair who was riding a red dragon with a spear in his hands.
“...That looks even more effective,” Shima mumbled to himself, his jaw hanging open.
Meanwhile, Halbert was holding a standard throwing spear with a sour look on his face.
“Fuuga could’ve finished it in one blow...”
“Don’t whine!” Ruby chided him. “Finishing this thing off comes first right now!”
After telling Halbert off, she launched an extra-large fireball at Ooyamizuchi’s open wound. The flames scorched flesh, deepening the injury.
The fierce assault continued from there, and the rupture was expanded until it was a fatal wound. The deeper they went, the less it felt like they were slaying a monster, and the more it was like they were digging holes in a cave made of flesh, but their efforts were finally about to be rewarded.
~~~~~~~~~!!
When the soldiers of the Archipelago Union set off the explosive barrels placed inside its body, there was a gout of blood larger than any before, and Ooyamizuchi’s head fell into the sea. The beast was still twitching, but it no longer had the strength left to resist. It was only a matter of time until it died.
I was with Naden, who had returned to her human form, watching from the flagship of the Archipelago Union’s fleet, the Dragon King.
“It’s done now, right?”
“Yeah... It’s over.” I nodded. Then, letting out a big sigh, I said, “I dunno, this feels sadder than I expected it to.”
I was talking to Nine-Headed Dragon King Shana, who was standing next to me.
“I know that countless civilians were lost to that kaiju, and there were casualties in this battle, too, but... I just don’t know how to describe how it makes me feel watching it die like this. Though, I do have a sense of accomplishment, and relief, now that this incident is finally resolved.”
“...That must be what it’s like to watch as a living being dies. That thing was eating people to live. We destroyed it to live. It was for the sake of survival. There’s no good or evil in that.”
King Shana pulled what looked like a set of prayer beads from his pocket and rubbed them between his hands as he faced Ooyamizuchi. Is he praying for the creature as it dies?
The Archipelago Union was like a mix of Japan in the Edo Period and China under the Tang Dynasty, so maybe it had a similar religious perspective to the country I used to live in. This was my first time meeting King Shana in person, but despite the stern face, he seemed to understand sentimentality.
“...I’ll pray, too. Wouldn’t want to get cursed by that thing.”
I put my hands together, and Shana chuckled.
“You have a point. Let’s build a small shrine on that island and perform rites there once every year. With that, we can quell Ooyamizuchi’s violent spirit, and give comfort to the souls of those who died in battle.”
“...I’ll put up the funds to build it, so could you erect a monument to the people from the Kingdom who died, too?”
“Of course.”
A shrine... huh? When I heard the word, a thought occurred to me about the name “Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago.” It came from a creature like a sea serpent that had nine heads and lived in these islands long ago, which people had come to worship as a god. Ooyamizuchi had a head like a sea dragon, as well as eight tentacles with crab-like pincers on the end. Those tentacles with crab pincers on them had looked like great serpents through the fog. Basically, depending on how you looked at it, it might have appeared to have nine heads. If Ooyamizuchi had appeared in the distant past, and the people mistook it for a sea serpent with nine heads, then this country’s name could’ve come from...
Once I thought that far, I shook my head to dispel the idea. This was just a supposition on my part, and trying to connect Ooyamizuchi to the Nine-Headed Dragon they worshiped as a god would not be taken well by the people in this country. If it had existed before, could there be a second, or a third... It wouldn’t be funny if there was.
“...It looks like it’s over.” King Shana said.
The collapsed Ooyamizuchi had finally stopped moving. Having confirmed the death of the target, the men who had climbed up onto its back cheered, and linked arms to sing the fishing song. The sun was starting to go down. Hearing the fishing song at the end of the long day we had just been through left me feeling lonely, somehow.
In the middle of all that, I clapped my hands against my cheeks.
“...It’s too early to relax. We haven’t finished cleaning up yet.”
“We can’t very well just leave that thing there, after all,” King Shana said, crossing his arms.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “If you leave something that big to rot, there’s no telling what effect it might have on the surrounding area. We need to dismantle it quickly.”
Back in my old world, when I was watching a program that showed shocking videos, one of them was of a dead whale on the beach that had been left for too long, allowing gas to build up inside it, that exploded when they tried to dismantle it. If we left a massive pile of meat like that to decompose, who knew what kind of gasses it might produce? It could sicken people, and pollute the sea. It needed to be rendered harmless as soon as possible, and preferably in a way that it could be put to good use.
“I have a specialist on this stuff.”
“Souma!” Naden shouted, pointing towards the Kingdom’s fleet.
I looked in the direction she was pointing, and there was a massive ball of water above the Albert II again. Excel must have made it for a broadcast. The image of a paunchy man was reflected in the aqueous sphere.
Coughing to clear his throat, the man said, “Erm... C-Can everyone hear me...? Th-This is the Kingdom of Friedonia’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Poncho Ishizuka Panacotta, yes.”