Arc 25: Daydream Believer
Chapter 241: The Sovereign Seal and the Iron Machine Soldier
「Good grief, why did it turn out like this?」(Touya)
I muttered along with a sigh as I knocked down the soldiers who rushed in to attack us.
Oh well, what should I say? We’ve been discovered in the end, and we’re currently in the middle of a large battle.
Even with the presence of Tsubaki-san who’s accustomed to infiltration, it couldn’t be helped for us to be detected when she’s being held back by four people pulling her leg, myself included.
Soldiers holding their swords turned up one after another from the pa.s.sages of the castle. The only salvation was that there were no magicians with their long ranged attacks, but there were still archers coming at us. Most of them were knocked down by my bullets and the shockwave from Kohaku’s roar. Rengetsu-san and Sonia-san then knocked down the enemy that the gap.
Thus, we advanced, advanced, and once again advanced. It became just like a song that my grandpa used to sing. Though there was no feeling of scattering flowers.
「Didn’t you say that the imperial court where the heavenly emperor resides is in here?」(Touya)
「Yes. However, we’ve also been discovered at the same time, so if we don’t quickly find and capture the heavenly emperor……」(Tsubaki)
「It’s possible that he’ll escape, right?」(Touya)
It’s exactly as Tsubaki-san said. He may escape if we spend too much time here. Then the goal of Jesty-san and the rest can’t be accomplished. It can’t be helped. Let’s go with the forceful course of action!
「Kohaku! Blow off all the soldiers at front in one go!」(Touya)
『By your will!』(Kohaku)
Kohaku, who had gotten bigger, released a shockwave along with a great roar. The enemies blocking the way were mowed down at once and fainted on their spots.
「Alright, let’s run through the imperial court before it is too late!」(Touya)
We run past the falling soldiers and continued running without stopping from one corridor to other where a red carpet had been spread out. Vases that looked expensive were aligned along the sides of the pa.s.sage. I could only say that their owner’s hobby was a bad one since the tint was showy.
Having come out of the pa.s.sage lined up with red pillars, we then arrived before an amazing door with a standing dragon carved into it. We then kicked that door with all our might.
One man was sitting on a very flashy throne inside a very s.p.a.cious room with a high ceiling.
He was a 30-year old bearded old man wearing a set of baggy yellow clothes that looked hard to move in and a gulf blade with a golden sheath on his waist. He’s also wearing something like what an Emperor of Qin used to wear, a hat attached with jiggling long strings on the front and back.
Beside him on both sides were two men standing as if they were his guards.
One man, who’s also past 30 years old, was wrapped in a dignified dark red helmet and body armor. He was holding a big s.h.i.+eld in his left hand, and a peculiar sword with a strange shape, similar to a large hatchet, in his right.
The other one was wearing a black robe and holding a metallic cane curved like a question mark. Is he a magician? He’s slightly younger than the warrior. Is he in his early 30s? He had blonde hair and blue eyes, and he’s a tall, thin and delicate man. However, his eyes s.h.i.+ned very much with impurity.
Both guards had a big pendant hanging around their necks. It’s a heptagon inside a circle, the proof of the [Golden a.s.sociation]. Those two must be Gad and Sol whom the soldier talked about.
I a.s.sume the hatchet man wearing an armor is Sol, and the delicate man wearing a robe is Gad, right?
「To come back without learning your lesson, is that how much you want this [Sovereign’s Seal]?」(Jaofar)
The man sitting on the throne, the fake heavenly emperor Jaofar, laughed while carrying in his hand a golden cube with a figure of a dragon.
Is that the sovereign’s seal? It’s quite big. Isn’t it about the size of an apple?
「Shut up! I don’t need that! What I want is your neck! You’re my father’s enemy, so resign yourself!」(Jesty)
Jesty-san drew the sword on his waist. Rengetsu-san and Sonia-san took a battle stance as well.
Then, one gunshot echoed in the hall where the atmosphere had grown tense.
「Whaa…！」(Jaofar)
I shot at the sovereign seal he had on his hand, breaking it into pieces. The fake heavenly king then stared with a startled expression.
Of course, it was I who destroyed it. It would have been fine to shoot the heavenly emperor as well, but that wasn’t my job.
「Y-you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! What have you done! That was the sovereign seal that has been pa.s.sed down for 7000 years, the proof of the heavenly emperor!」(Jaofar)
「Do you think I care about that? Also, that’s a lie because this country wasn’t even here 7000 years ago」(Touya)
Frankly speaking, there’s no longer a rightful heavenly lord, so an object like that is likely no longer needed. Or how should I say this, I seriously don’t care about it?
This country itself is already troublesome so maybe I should, for once, invade it altogether (as Silver oni warrior), split and transfer it between Zenoasu, Ferzen, and Hanock afterward?
Then, the warrior named Sol, while standing before the heavenly emperor who’s grinding his teeth, held his sword towards me.
I mercilessly hit him hard with bullets, but those bullets were repelled by a big s.h.i.+eld. He then came rus.h.i.+ng towards here.
「Doraaaaaaaaa！！」(Sol)
He swung the big hatchet in his right hand with all his might, but I lightly dodged that attack and pulled the trigger several times at Sol’s head. The bullets bounced after hitting the helmet with a loud bang. It’s tough. So these bullets aren’t effective, huh?
「Kohaku!」(Touya)
『As you command!』(Kohaku)
Kohaku’s shockwave blew off Sol which caused him to roll on the ground rumbling. I used that free time to reload and let him have a taste of an 『Explosion Bullet』. Those bullets invoked the explosion magic at the moment of the impact, but the power had become considerably lower than expected due to magic being blocked by the obstruction barrier. Nevertheless, they could still dish out constant damage.
「Guua！！」(Sol)
I, towards Sol who’s still staggering, aimed another shot to his head.
「Come forth light, Bright s.h.i.+ning bullet, Light Arrow」(Gad)
Suddenly, I heard a magic incantation being chanted, so I immediately jumped to the side from my spot.
Several arrows of light pierced the location I’d been standing up until a moment ago. Dangerous.
I turned my head and saw the figure of the magician named Gad standing in front of the throne while holding his cane. Oi-oi, isn’t this sneaky of you?
「…Isn’t the magic being obstructed by the barrier?」(Touya)
「Didn’t you know that it’s a barrier that I’ve made myself? What do you think I would be doing if I didn’t prepare at least this much?」(Gad)
What’s that? Are you saying you’ve only made yourselves unaffected by that barrier? It stinks with cowardice. Oh well. It’s the enemy’s territory. If one says that it’s natural, it is so, right?
「Should I say as expected from a magician of the [Golden a.s.sociation]?」(Touya)
「…!? b.a.s.t.a.r.d…… Who are you?」(Sol)
A color of precaution showed in Gad and Sol’s faces.
「……Are you a dog of Ferzen?」(Sol)
「Who knows. More importantly, couldn’t you do something about this barrier? If you do, then I’ll show you guys an interesting magic」(Touya)
「It’s regrettable, but this barrier is an installation type barrier. It won’t disappear as long as I don’t run out of magic power or the keystone artifact isn’t destroyed」(Gad)
Gad broadly grinned. Oh, is that so?
「Then this means it’ll be fine if I destroy this magic tool, right? I’ll likely find it immediately due to the fact that this is a large-scale barrier, making it improbable to leave it hidden」(Touya)
「Shouldn’t you better worry about your life before that? [O Darkness comes forth, what I seek is the skeleton soldier, Skeleton warrior]」(Gad)
A magic formation appeared on the floor when Gad chanted an incantation. Skeleton warriors the appeared from it carrying worn-out swords and s.h.i.+elds.
d.a.m.n! This is troublesome. Skeleton warrior is a summon beast belonging to the undead clan. It fighting power is not very high. However, it has the ability to regenerate after being defeated when a certain amount of time pa.s.ses. Magic from the light attribute or a weapon that has that attribute is needed to completely defeat this foe.
What was most troublesome is that magic has been sealed, so we don’t have a technique to defeat those guys. Nope, it is not like there isn’t, but it’s a bother casting magic from point-blank range.
「…You’re doing something that’s quite pleasant」(Touya)
「Now that you’re aware of the [Golden a.s.sociation], so I’ll have you die here」(Gad)
I shot Brynhildr and defeated the skeleton warrior who was attacking me. It crumbled down with a clattering sound, but it would likely regenerate before even one minute pa.s.sed.
Tsubaki-san, Sonia-san, Rengetsu-san had easily defeated the skeleton warriors, and Jesty-san had somehow managed to do it as well, but the situation would worsen if this continued. The existence of Sol who attacked us together with the skeletons was also problematic while we’re at it.
It’s quite troublesome, and I’m not sure whether it’ll work or not. Nevertheless, should I try it out?
I clad Brynhildr with divinity I’d emitted from my palm, letting it reach up until the bullet magazine. I shot at the head of a skeleton warrior and Baam! The whole body of the skeleton turned into dust in an instant.
「Whaaat！？」(Gad)
Leaving the surprised Gad aside, I turned the skeletons into dust one after another. Divinity has the higher order than magic power, and I believe that it’s thanks to divinity that I’m able to use all of the magic attributes.
In other words, I thought about whether the elements converted from divinity had all of the magic attributes or not. Divinity also was unaffected by the obstruction barrier since it wasn’t magic power. Only the power of a G.o.d could obstruct the power of another G.o.d.
I, who had completely cleaned up the skeleton warriors, leaped towards the throne and thrusted the blade of Brynhildr at the neck of the heavenly emperor.
「Hia!」(Jaofar)
「Throw away your weapons. Otherwise, this guy’s neck will fly」(Touya)
I threatened the two people, Sol and Gad. Either way, I don’t think this fake heavenly emperor will keep his life since I’ll hand him over to Jesty-san though. I must have those two people spill out a lot of information about the [Golden a.s.sociation].
Gad greatly jumped back and stepped up close to Sol when he pointed the cane at me.
「O fire comes forth, the flame sphere of Purgatory, Fireball」(Gad)
A big fireball was shoot from the pointed metallic cane. Oi-oi, wait a minute.
「Hiiiiiiiii!?」(Jaofar)
「c.r.a.p!」(Touya)
I cut the fireball that flew towards me into two with one stroke using Brynhildr clad with divinity.
The fireball, divided into two, split to the left and right, and flames bursted and exploded behind me.
「You… Right now, did you just try to blow off this “heavenly emperor” guy ?」(Touya)
「It’s high time that we no longer have any reason to keep that guy since a while ago. Our schedule has only become slightly early」(Gad)
「Are you betraying me?!」(Jaofar)
The fake heavenly emperor raised his voice against Gad and Sol.
「What you are even calling a betrayal? You’re not even our companion, aren’t you? We’ve only lent you the iron machine soldiers, and you’ve paid with manpower. Though we wish to express our grat.i.tude for being able to do a test run on the iron machine soldiers. That’s the extent of it. We, the [Golden a.s.sociation], will go for the next stage」(Gad)
「The next stage?」(Touya)
「We will invade Ferzen with the iron machine soldiers」(Gad)
I was a little surprised at this revelation for a moment because I thought they wanted to invade Hanock with the iron machine soldiers.
No matter how many iron machine soldiers you use, you won’t be able to easily win against the magic corps of Ferzen. The damage will be mutually large though, but are they saying that they are prepared for that as well?
「Is this revenge for the chief of the old Golden a.s.sociation? Then it’ll be a meaningless revenge」(Touya)
「This is not a revenge for my father. This is the first step to building a world where the Golden a.s.sociation reigns supreme. A new world unified by magic only for magicians where everything depends on magic. A Magic Empire 《Magia Imperium》」(Gad)
「Father……？I see. So you are the former chief’s son, huh?」(Touya)
「In the flesh. I’m Garland Gouldi’s child, Galzeld Gouldi」(Gad)
Gad… no, Galzeld hit the floor with his cane and introduced himself. This guy was the boss of the [Golden a.s.sociation].
「I’ll eliminate those ignorant ma.s.ses who can’t use magic from this world using the taboo magic [Sanctuary] that my father wasn’t been able to invoke, and a new purified world will be born!」(Galzeld)
The taboo magic 「Sanctuary」? Is that the magic that the father of this guy was trying to invoke years ago? I guess from what he has said that it looks like a magic that will purge humans who can’t use magic, but…
However, what does this have to do with invading Ferzen? Is there a magic tool in Ferzen which is necessary to invoke the magic?
「There are still many things that I don’t understand, but oh well. That’s fine. If you’re the boss of the [Golden a.s.sociation], then I can’t let you go」(Touya)
「I wonder about that?」(Gazeld)
Gad laughed fearlessly. The following instant, the wall behind those guys suddenly broke, and the hand of a big machine extended into the hall.
From the rattling and collapsed wall, the silhouette of a short and stout headless unit appeared holding a cone-shaped a.s.sault lance. Is that the iron machine soldier!?