At first, I thought it was a mistake. Because it seemed nearly impossible for ten thousand units to appear in such a short time. On Gundam Island, we had only produced about two thousand drones so far, so the idea of ten thousand Ultron Sentinels, which are even more complex, was hard to believe. Of course, the drones I make aren't mass-produced in a factory, which put us at a disadvantage, but even considering that, the number of Ultron Sentinels was beyond imagination.
'How can they produce so many? Don't tell me Hydra helped?'
Then, Captain's voice came through.
"Cassian... you're not hiding anything, are you? Like Gundams or..."
The fact that Captain said this showed how dire the situation had become.
"Damn it... I was saving this for an alien invasion. Call the Minerva drone base."
[Understood, Master. It will take about 30 minutes to arrive.]
At my words, Captain and the other members looked slightly relieved. Captain gave orders to the team.
"Good, support is coming in 30 minutes, so let's get down there, evacuate civilians, and try to reduce the robot numbers as much as possible."
"Got it, Cap."
"Sigh... today's gonna be tough."
"30 minutes..."
We disembarked from the Odyssey and headed into the city, destroying the Ultron Sentinels rushing toward us.
Boom! Crash! Smash! Rat-tat-tat!!
"Ugh! There are too many of them!"
War Machine's voice came through the comms as he provided heavy fire support from the air. I also equipped the [Leviathan Cloak] and rose into the air, tossing energy bombs made from 30 cards at a time at the Sentinels. Since I was throwing many cards rapidly, Nano helped with the calculations. Nano was truly OP. It felt like having two brains.
The 40 Iron Vision units on the Odyssey did their best to assist, but they were being destroyed quickly. It was like watching a swarm of zerglings.
"Is support still not here?"
Hawkeye shouted up at me, frustrated with the situation.
"Only 10 minutes have passed."
"Damn it! I'm out of arrows!"
I quickly pulled out a bow I had made earlier from my Inventory and threw it to Hawkeye.
"Clint, catch this! No time to explain, so figure it out."
"Got it."
The bow I handed over fired plasma bolts, with destructive power varying based on how hard the string was pulled. But it was a prototype I hadn't even tested yet, so safety wasn't guaranteed.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Wow~!! This is good! Why did you give it to me now?"
"It's experimental. It might explode when you use it."
At that, Clint flinched and restrained himself from pulling it too hard.
"Oh... right... I'll use it carefully."
I scanned the battlefield from the air. Fortunately, since the Ultron Sentinels were focused solely on us, I could see civilians safely evacuating the city.
"Boss! I'm out of ammo. Heading back to the Odyssey."
About 15 minutes in, War Machine said that and returned to the Odyssey for resupply. He must have poured out firepower so intensely that he couldn't last 15 minutes and used up all his consumables.
With War Machine gone, we could no longer advance and had to fight in place. It showed how many enemies he had been holding back. Plus, the members were starting to tire. They weren't machines, so it was inevitable.
So, I urgently told the members.
"When I give the signal, fall back temporarily!!"
I focused on clearing the enemies in front of the fighting members, and once some space opened up, I landed and shouted.
"Now!"
At my signal, the members immediately stopped fighting and fell back. I used Eldritch Magic powered by [Mana Mystic Arts] to create a massive, glowing circular saw and hurled it horizontally at the Ultron Sentinels.
Crash-crash-crash-smash!!!
Numerous Sentinels were shredded by the circular saw blade, starting to clear a path forward.
"This is it!!"
At my signal, the members followed the path cleared by the circular saw and moved in.
"If you had something like this, you should've used it sooner."
As soon as we entered the city, Natasha scolded me.
"It was a melee. I couldn't risk it—you guys might've gotten shredded too."
"Enough with the couple's spat. Let's help Tony first. Looks like he's still fighting hard."
Jesse pointed to where Tony and Ultron were fighting and spoke. Over there, the battle seemed intense, with numerous explosions and dust flying. Seeing this, Vision flew up into the air and said.
"I'll go ahead and assist. If I make contact with Ultron, I'll try to disconnect him from the internet."
"Got it, we'll be right there."
Vision flew off to Tony, and we moved forward, dealing with the Ultron Sentinels rushing at us. Thankfully, no civilians were visible anymore. They must have all evacuated while we were fighting.
'At least civilian casualties are reduced. But I wonder if Jesse's family is still alive...'
[Master, a support request has come in from Vision. Your approval is required.]
Suddenly, Minerva sent an approval request.
"Is it about Ultron?"
[Yes.]
"Good! I'll grant temporary approval."
[Understood.]
It seemed Ultron had evolved beyond the original, so Minerva's help was needed. As we entered the city, Ultron Sentinels began attacking in huge numbers again.
"This is insane... there's no end to them."
Banner said, looking at the swarming Ultron Sentries. Then, Minerva contacted us.
[Master, the drone base has arrived.]
"Send them all out!"
At my command to Minerva, numerous drones appeared in the sky and began attacking the Sentinels. War Machine seemed to have finished resupplying and joined the drones in fighting.
The Ultron units attacking us definitely thinned out, but even so, the numbers were still overwhelming.
"Now we can finally breathe. You should've used this sooner."
This time, Wanda said to me.
"It was too far away to help earlier."
Aside from the drone base—a modified helicarrier—arriving, good news also came from Vision.
[Master, Vision has successfully disconnected Ultron from the internet.]
"That's a relief."
But not everything was good. Suddenly, the ground cracked and began rising into the sky. Just like in the original, the scale was enormous. It seemed like the entire Sokovia city was lifting off.
Grooaan-g!!!
"What the hell..."
Captain was utterly startled as the ground started rising.
[Master, the Vibranium core is using magnetic fields to support the bedrock. If we can't stop the altitude increase, it could potentially destroy the Earth.]
Minerva informed all members of this fact.
"Mother... f..."
Banner blurted out a curse. Even though Banner swore, no one joked about "watch your language." The members seemed to feel the same way. Captain quickly regained his composure and asked Tony and me for a solution.
"Tony, Cassian, figured anything out?"
"Sigh... I don't know... all I can think of is blowing up the city once it reaches sufficient altitude."
"I think the only way is to overload the core at the city center and blow it up. But Ultron won't just stand by and watch."
After I spoke, Captain gave orders to everyone.
"Alright! Let's move with the goal of securing the core before it gets too high."
We followed Captain's orders, dealing with Ultron Sentries as we moved toward the core. But the closer we got to the core, the more Sentries there were.
Boom! Smash! Thud!
"Damn it! The robots seem to be increasing."
Natasha said while facing the Sentries. Captain replied.
"Ultron must know too, that he needs to protect the core. This is insane... if we'll make it in time..."
I checked the sky briefly. In the air, the drones and War Machine were fighting hard, but the Sentinel numbers were just too overwhelming. Vision and Iron Man weren't faring well either, and Ultron with his regeneration cradle body was no easy opponent.
"Sigh... there's no other way."
After a moment of thought, I ordered Minerva.
"Minerva! Send in RX-93."
[Understood, Master.]
At my command, a giant robot suddenly descended from the sky, crushing Ultron Sentinels underfoot or firing beam rifles to clear a path for us to reach the core. The robot was shaped exactly like the New Gundam from Gundam.
Seeing this, Captain smiled and said.
"Cassian, you rascal! If you had something like this, you should've brought it out sooner."
"Good grief... that phrase is gonna catch on."
Tony also saw it and scolded me.
"Cassian!!! The New Gundam! You're doing this while I'm fighting? Friday, record that immediately."
This newly made Gundam was upgraded to be even more powerful than the previous First Gundam. Using Chitauri alloy, I significantly increased its defense, and based on data from the New York incident and alien technology, I changed the beam rifle to a plasma cannon with no range issues. The sub-weapons like head vulcans, shield cannon, and new hyper bazooka were implemented just like in the original.
Plus, the fin funnels, essential for the New Gundam, were of course implemented using all drone technology, similar to the original, and as soon as the Gundam landed, they deployed and autonomously flew through the air, firing powerful lasers. However, I still didn't implement beam sabers this time—making plasma into sword form was too advanced, so I created a weapon with a long blade shape using lasers instead, mounted on the shield for easy access. Even I found this part disappointing.
Anyway, with the New Gundam deployed, the battle clearly started turning in our favor. The members quickly reached the core through the path cleared by the New Gundam.
Natasha looked at the core and asked me.
"What do we do now? Overload it?"
"No, if we overload and destroy the city now, it'll cause massive damage on the ground. We need to let it rise higher."
Hearing this, Captain said.
"Then we have to defend the core from now on."
"Right."
After we secured the core, Iron Man and Vision joined us, taking positions to defend it together. Then, Ultron was seen slowly descending from the sky. Seeing this, Thor stepped forward and shouted at Ultron.
"Is this all you've got!!!"
Hearing this, Ultron raised his hand and called the remaining Ultron Sentinels, which began merging around him into a giant robot. It looked like the original Ultron, but much larger than the New Gundam—easily around 30 meters tall.
Seeing this, Thor was greatly taken aback. Captain also looked incredulous and said to Thor.
"Did you really have to ask?"
I was quite surprised too. Because this didn't happen in the original. Thor immediately raised Mjolnir to the sky, gathered lightning, and shot a powerful bolt at Ultron.
Crash-boom!!!
Ultron staggered momentarily from the powerful lightning. Part of Ultron's shoulder was destroyed, but other Ultron Sentinels attached themselves, and it quickly recovered. Ultron was using the Sentinels like nanotechnology.
"Oh no..."
Ultron looked at us, sneering, and threw Thor's words right back at him.
"Heh, is this all you've got?"