Understanding に in 砲撃に

Question

稼働を止めたブレードを力任せに敵機に叩きつけ、半ばで折れ飛ぶのも気にせず次の敵機に向かう。至近距離で炸裂した近接信管の砲撃に砲弾片がコクピットに飛びこみ、サブスクリーンの一枚を叩き割るのに視線も揺らさぬ。ただ目の前の敵機だけに意識の全てを向けている、鋭利に凍りついた紅い瞳。

86 ─ エイティシックス ─ Ep.2 ─ ラン・スルー・ザ・バトルフロント ─〈上〉安里アサト

Does the bold「に」indicate reason or cause? If so, why isn’t「で」used? The verbs after「に」(in the sense of because) should be those describing psychological or physiological reactions. So how should I understand this bold「に」in this particular case?

This に looks odd to me, but he used に like this elsewhere... Perhaps this is his habit? — naruto, Jun 23 '22 at 01:55
@naruto It looks odd to me too. So what particle do you think is more suitable here? — chino alpha, Jun 23 '22 at 10:46
で seems reasonable, but から and により are possible, too. — naruto, Jun 23 '22 at 11:12

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 24 '22 at 05:56

It is an untypical usage of に. From the context, I guess this is a somewhat stretched application of a branch of definition similar to this one. So you can probably use ～のために here.

７動作・作用の原因・理由・きっかけとなるものを示す。…のために。…によって。「あまりのうれしさ―泣き出す」「退職金をもとで―商売を始める」 (source)

The author's usage of this に is terse and certainly rhetorical, but a little forced. A several words later it also says 叩き割るのに where I'd use 叩き割っても instead. Perhaps the author prefers such type of construction.

至近距離で炸裂した近接信管の砲撃に砲弾片がコクピットに飛びこみ…
"A shell with proximity fuze exploded in no distance so that a shrapnel pierced into the cockpit..."

Understanding に in 砲撃に

1 Answers1