Firstly, thanks for all the work translating and sharing these!
As for these current chapters, they are definitely an odd storytelling choice in regards to slowing the story pace down. I guess one plus is we are getting to see the enemy fighters and what they do, so when they fight our guys we have a bit more to go on then "they are big sumo men". Still, I can understand why folks find these chapters a bit frustrating - I am eager to get to the good stuff, heh.