Hearing Jeffrey's order to sortie, everyone's faces simultaneously turned solemn. Once these units were deployed, the Mirage System had effectively lost most of its usefulness. For a moment, it was like a bright lamp appearing in the darkness, instantly drawing the attention of countless BETA.
Mars's gravity was clearly weaker than Earth's, placing fewer restraints on the BETA and making their movements more agile. However, at the Watcher's current altitude, those BETA without flight capabilities still could not reach it.
However, all three types of laser-class BETA protecting the nest simultaneously turned their huge eyes toward the Watcher. Several seconds later, tens of millions of beams rose from the ground, densely packed as they accurately and intensely streaked toward the Watcher's position, ultimately seeming like countless rays of light converging on a single point.
Naza, the first to rush out, had long been prepared. She positioned herself directly before the Watcher, raised the Kite Shield in her hand, and erected a purple-black dispersal field. It diverted the innumerable beams, sending them scattering, reflecting, or curving away, as she alone withstood the attack of tens of millions of BETA.
As unit after unit appeared, Naza changed the defensive field into the field domain she had previously used against the BETA. It was clearly much smaller than before, and no longer a complete spherical field. Instead, with Naza's unit at its center, it spread out into a ring of unaffected space that happened to envelop the Watcher.
As the Watcher began transforming, the Macross-class cannons aimed at the enormous entrance of the Level 9 Nest. Yuzes, who had sortied alongside them, also lightly furrowed his brow.
Among everyone aboard the Burning Legion, Yuzes was the only one who had studied the BETA most deeply, so he understood them better than anyone else.