Arc 25: Daydream Believer

Chapter 242: Escape and the Path of human

The iron machine soldier came cras.h.i.+ng in and readied the lance in its right hand. It then thrust it out into the throne where we were.

「Kuu！」(Touya)

「Uhiiii！」(Jaofar)

The fake heavenly emperor and I spread out and avoided it. The magnificently constructed throne was mercilessly smashed, turning it into a simple wreckage. It does have a certain degree of power. a.s.suming that the old type heavy knight is ten, this one is eight, I think?

「Hiiiiiiiiii！」(Jaofar)

The fake heavenly emperor escaped to the depths of the hall at full speed. As expected a former thief, he was very quick only at running away. However, I couldn’t possibly let him escape.

「c.r.a.p……. Jesty-san and others, please chase after that guy!」(Touya)

「I-I understand!」(Jesty)

With Jessy-san in lead, Rengetsu-san and Sonia-san run after the fake heavenly emperor and disappeared into the depths of the hall.

The ones who remained in this place were I, Kohaku and Tsubaki-san.

『Are you planning on confronting my iron machine soldier just with your bare body? What a daredevil』

I heard a jarring voice coming which sounded like it came through a cheap speaker installed on the iron machine soldier. It’s probably the voice of the pilot who’s inside.

Though it wasn’t easily noticeable with all the noise and sounds of objects breaking around. Wait. I think I’ve heard this voice before… Ah.

「……I see. So you have escaped into a place like this? Eh? Dr. Bowman?」(Touya)

『Naa……! Y-you! Why do you know it’s me！？』(Dr. Bowman)

Haa. As expected, I think? The one inside is the former magic engineer of Rodomea, Edgar Bowman.

He’s the guy that had caused the rampage of the armed golems. For the crime of the destruction of the capital of Rodomea, he had been stripped of his official position and his doctorate degree and was sent to the mines as a criminal.

I’ve heard that he escaped while in the middle of being transported to the mines due to the help of an unknown person, but I now see what happened. So it was the [Golden a.s.sociation] pulling the strings behind the scenes, wasn’t it?

「I see. Your [Golden a.s.sociation] friends made this guy, huh? This failure…」(Touya)

『Failure? Did you just say that they, these iron machine soldiers that I’ve made, are a failure!? These best masterpieces of mine have the power to the degree of conquering Yuuron!』(Bowman)

「You sure are bossy saying that despite that you’ve built them based on a misappropriated stolen technology. They are like day and night compared to the frame gear of Brunhild」(Touya)

『Yooou’ve really said it now！！』( Bowman)

The thrust of the brandished lance came aiming at me. Its movement is indeed very predictable.

I lightly dodged the attack and observed the iron machine soldier while avoiding its continuous attacks.

The steering control system somehow seemed very different from the frame gear. The frame gear was capable of reading the brain waves and thoughts, tracing them to some degree, making it able to support the movements of the pilot. Therefore, it could move by copying the movements of its pilot.

This iron machine soldier, however, I felt its movement pattern has been predetermined to some extent. It behaves like a fighting game where you draw out a technique based on the command input.

By no means I meant that it was as simple as pressing A to punch, pressing B to kick, etc., but it seemed extremely close to that if I had anything to say about it. The controls might’ve been easy, but I wondered whether it would be unable to deal with situation flexibly, seeing as it was piloted by a human.

Or was it being influenced by the barrier? An engraving magic was applied on frame gears in order for them to receive the effects of magic though. But was he pretending to be a con-man? Furthermore, the movements of the iron machine soldiers were too bad.

「In the end, they really are good for nothing」(Touya)

『Are you still saying that！！?』(Bowman)

I slipped under the lunging arm and raised Brynhildr clad with divinity to cut the elbow upwards.

The right arm that was holding the lance was cut from the elbow and blown away.

『Whaa！？』(Bowman)

I pa.s.sed under the thigh of the machine and cut both knees similarly with a single swing of my sword. The iron machine soldier lost its balance from its knees and fell forward, making a loud sound as it sank on the floor of the hall.

『Impossible……! Absurd Absurd Absurd, right!? That’s impossible! It’s impossible for my iron machine soldier to be defeated!!』( Bowman)

「T-the iron machine soldier, with just a person’s bare body…?!」(Sol)

I a.s.saulted Sol who was surprised to even move by using [Accel]. The effect was immediately cut off because of the barrier, but the momentary acceleration was enough to catch him off guard.

「s.h.i.+t！？」(Sol)

Sol set up his s.h.i.+eld, but it didn’t matter to me. I cut his arm along with the s.h.i.+eld with a single swing.

「Guwaaaaaaaaa！？」(Sol)

「Annoying. Shut up. [Paralysis]」(Touya)

「Guhaaa……！！」(Sol)

I touched Sol’s body and invoked the paralysis magic. The opponent, with his body deprived of its freedom for an instant, crumbled right where he was.

Blood was ma.s.sively gus.h.i.+ng out from the wound in his arm, so I had closed it just in case of recovery magic. There was a mountain of things I wanted to hear afterward.

「Now then, have you run out of ideas yet?」(Touya)

I turned my eyes toward Galzerd. However, the delicate man faintly smiled.

「Fufufu. Strong. You are strong, oni warrior~. You’re qualified since you can more or less use magic. How about it? Won’t you join the [Golden a.s.sociation]? In the event when I become the Emperor of the Magia Imperium, how about you take the position of the great commander-in-chief?」(Galzerd)

「Great commander-in-chief? You’re stingy. Don’t you know that a big shot told me before that he would’ve given me half of the world if I became his ally? Of course, I declined the offer」(Touya)

Oh well, That dragon king fellow has ended up as a dragon chow anyway.

「Is that so? That’s regrettable. I guess I really must have you killed after all」(Galzerd)

「It’s amazing how you can spout things like that under the current situation even though your comrades and the iron machine soldier that you pride yourself on have already ended up as good-for-nothings」(Touya)

「Who said it I only have this many iron machine soldiers?」(Galzerd)

As if responding to Galzerd’s voice, a loud rumbling echoed…! I then heard the rumbling of the earth under my feet.

I looked at the garden that could be seen from the wall that had been pierced by the iron machine soldier. Magic formations appeared from everywhere in the castle area, and iron machine soldiers rose in succession from inside them.

They’re the same type as the one I knocked down just a little while ago. They were holding different weapons ranging from swords to axes and etc. Some of them were even holding weapons similar to crossbows.

「d.a.m.n it. Come to think of it, they’ve said that there are close to a thousand iron machine soldiers in the bas.e.m.e.nt」(Touya)

「Ho? Did you even manage to confirm even that? However, more than 90% of the iron machine soldiers are no longer here. We’ve already moved them within the vicinity of the national border of Ferzen. Improvements have been done repeatedly and reinforcements have been finished. We’re already in the situation wherein we can invade Ferzen right away」(Galzerd)

This guy has prepared thoroughly. Nope. Was it due to our bad timing? The units poised to invade Ferzen are more than 90% of the total number of units, so that’s 950 units if I a.s.sume there are roughly 50 units here… Isn’t it quite dangerous?

Nevertheless, I should do something about the 50 units that are still here before going after the others though.

Oh well, I wasn’t even panicking at all. The reason was────.

「……Hey Leader Galzerd. ────Can’t you hear it?」(Touya)

「……What?」(Galzerd)

Did he become suspicious due to the smile I’ve shown? Galzerd stopped moving and strained his ears for a moment.

The sound of metal clas.h.i.+ng with each other from afar could be heard here. He understood that something was approaching here due to the trembling of the earth and the loud noise echoing. The sound of a loud explosion and something falling down became unbearable, so Galzerd jumped out to the garden.

「Whaa?!」(Galzerd)

What he saw there were the figures of iron machine soldiers being sliced apart right next to the castle. A huge light purple armed warrior and a golden orange knight were standing next to their remains.

They were Yae’s [Schwertleite] and Hilda’s [Siegrune].

「No way…! Why are the frame gears of Brunhild…!!?」(Galzerd)

Yae’s[Schwertleite] moved as if sliding on the ground right before the faltering Galzerd. It approached the surrounding iron machine soldiers in an instant and cut them with its continuous sword strikes of an odachi raised up overhead. The limbs of the iron machine soldier were then cut and separated in a blink of an eye.

Hilda’s [Siegrune] deflected the lance of other iron machine soldiers with its s.h.i.+eld and slew its enemy with a magnificent slash.

I prepared a transfer formation that only the frame gears could pa.s.s through outside range of the barrier because I considered that the iron machine soldiers might possibly come out. Later, I contacted Ruli and Kougyoku with a telepathy and summoned Yae and Hilda using the other end of the transfer formation present inside [Hangar]. That’s because even the barrier could not obstruct telepathy.

The iron machine soldiers a.s.saulted Yae and Hilda one after another. They numbered 20 units or more, and they could defeat those two if they overwhelmed them with numbers. I wonder if the pilots of the iron machine soldiers are thinking of that strategy properly.

However, those two from my household weren’t so fragile that they would lose to fakes even if there was a considerable difference in numbers. The new frame gears weren’t just for show.

Soon afterward, wreckages of iron machine soldiers were produced en ma.s.se very quickly.

「c.r.a.p……！」(Galzerd)

「I don’t know what you guys wanted to do, but you better give it up. I can hand you over to the King of Ferzen if you like, eh?」(Touya)

「Fuu, fufufu. You WERE a dog of Ferzern after all, weren’t you? However, there‘s no future for the Ferzen Kingdom. They better look forward to the day when they will yield to the power of our [Golden a.s.sociation]!!」(Galzerd)

Galzerd declared so while raising his cane up to the sky.

At that moment, a dazzling flash of light emitted from the cane, so I unintentionally protected my eyes with my arm

After the light settled down and I opened my eyes, I could no longer see Galzerd’s figure.

I then heard the sound of wings fluttering and turned my eyes toward there. One bat was flying away toward the east. No way…… Is that bat Galzerd?

Did he use transformation magic? Is it perhaps a non-attribute magic?

Either way, losing that bat won’t do us any good. I invoked [Fly] to try and chase after it, but the dropped after flying for about 2 meters. d.a.m.n it! Is the effect of the barrier still there?

「Kohaku！」(Touya)

『Yeees！』(Kohaku)

I jumped on Kohaku back who had run here. She then sprinted straightly to the walls of the castle and leaped over them. We dashed outside the barrier just like that. I immediately soared to the sky with [Fly], but the bat was nowhere to be seen.

「Search. Are there any bats nearby?」(Touya)

『──Search complete. There are no bats present within the range of 5 kilometers』(Smartphone)

d.a.m.n it. A bat can’t fly that fast. Did he transform into a different creature, or had he obstructed search magic with his specialty for barriers?

Did he successfully escape? …No, there’s still a way to catch him.

I got off on the ground close to Kohaku and locked on all the trees present within a five-kilometer radius including the capital with [Multiple] in my smartphone. It took a little time though.

I then used magic on all of the a.s.signed targets. That is…

「Absorb」(Touya)

The trees began absorbing the magic power in their surroundings all at once. The magic around them was erased. This was my own obstruction barrier. Of course, my own magic power was not being absorbed.

「Search. Galzerd」(Touya)

「──Search Complete. 3 kilometers ahead, toward southeast」(Smartphone)

The transformation magic was canceled due to having the magic power being absorbed. The effect will last for awhile so he shouldn’t be able to use magic during that time. I must hurry before he leaves the surrounding trees since absorption magic was limited only up to that extent.

I run through the capital riding on Kohaku and jumped with [Teleport] to Galzerd’s location.

We arrived to a forest just on the outskirts of the capital. In there, a bird that had immediately returned to its human form raised his cane with all its might and then fell to the ground. In other words, I saw Golzerd who kept repeating that transformation again and again. He then saw me riding on Kohaku who in turn came running to him.

「I-is this your…?!」(Galzerd)

「We meet again. Then I will show you an interesting magic as promised. [Slip]」(Touya)

「Gaaa！？」(Galzerd)

I canceled [Absorb] and invoked [Slip]. Galzerd fell down splendidly while parting with his cane. He then hit the back of his head and he collapsed in his place.

I immediately shot the devil’s bullet using Brynhildr into the ground. That’s right. It’s an [Infinite Falling Down Bullet].

The slip magic in it would invoke itself again and again after previous run out. That’s magic that would continue endlessly until my magic power went out. Incidentally, the magic power that had been loaded was enough for the victim to continue falling down for three days even if I left it alone. Ah, it is not infinite, isn’t it? Shall I make this [Three days falling down bullet]?

「Guhaa！？ Ugouu！？ Fugiiyaa！？」(Galzerd)

Ah well. You can’t concentrate magic when you keep on falling down like that. At any rate, one would ultimately fall into the direction they tried to move even if they did as little as one millimeter. It was almost impossible to stay still in this situation, and it’s a checkmate when one fell down for the first time.

I ignored Galzerd who continued to fall down and took a certain object from [Storage] while whistling.

I put it down and spread the gla.s.sed (It’s not gla.s.s though accurately speaking) three-meter cube. The stinky corpses of a sludge slimes were laid down in its center. That’s right. It’s the fearful [Slime box]. Furthermore, I had added more improvements to the one from before.

It’s troublesome if he could use magic, so I applied [Absorb] by using [Enchant] to immediately absorb magic after it was used. Well, I don’t believe it’s a place where magic can be used though.

「One person to guide~」(Touya)

I transferred Galzerd, who kept on falling inside the box using [Gate].

「Stiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinky！！？」(Galzerd)

Galzerd knocked the walls with a large thud while holding his nose. His face went from being blue until it became pure white.

「Stinky！！ Stinky-stiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinky！！ Oueeeeeeeeeeeeee！！！」(Galzerd)

「Yeah-yeah, it’s not over yet~ It’s the one after this you see~」(Touya)

I pushed the b.u.t.ton attached outside and [The sound of fork scratching on the blackboard] and [The sound of porcelain tableware bottom rubbing against each other] played from the internal speakers.

「Uhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii！？」(Galzerd)

「Oops! I forgot to soundproof the box. Then, [Silence]」(Touya)

I activated mute magic on the box’s sides to prevent the sound inside from leaking. Galzerd was shouting something even though I could no longer hear his voice

「────!! ────!!!」(Galzerd)

He tried to cover his ear so that he wouldn’t hear the noise, but he ended up inhaling the stinking smell in exchange. When he tried to cover his nose on the other hand, he would then hear the maddening noise instead. He kept repeating this action over and over again.

His face was soppy with tears, nasal mucus, and drool. Filthy.

『Lord……. As expected. This is……』(Kohaku)

「Well, I was quite irritated because of this guy. Barriers and the like were irritating. I think this kind of revenge is good though」(Touya)

『I think you’re overdoing it……』(Kohaku)

“Really?” — I replied as such to Kohaku while she drew back somewhat.

Placing him inside that box gives damage to his sense of smell and hearing, but that’s still somehow unsatisfactory. Should I add a visual projection as well?

I projected [Mirage] from everything under his feet and spread the illusion of repulsive things like caterpillars, c.o.c.kroaches, and hornworms.

「────t！！ ────t！！！ 」(Galzerd)

Oh? He finally started hitting that wall, but it’s regrettable since the wall of the box was made up of crystal materials this time. It wouldn’t break unless a weapon having the same crystal material was used against it. Therefore, breaking it was useless~

Galzerd’s greasy sweat trickled endlessly, and his knees were trembling so much. He totally looks like a newborn infant, doesn’t he? Nevertheless, I wanted to retort and expose this appearance of his.

Galzerd eventually snapped like a doll having its threads cut, and he crumpled right where he was. Foam burst out from his mouth. His eyes were wide open, and his whole body was twitching.

An idea suddenly hit me after seeing something like that.

「Will I be able to see the same appearance again if I apply [Refresh] to return his stamina?」(Touya)

『Lord. Any more than this and you won’t be walking the path of a human anymore』(Kohaku)

I was stopped by Kohaku. d.a.m.n it.