Magi Craft Meister 569
16 Resolution With The Demons Arc
17-18 The Kyoran Clan
“Just another hundred kilometers towards the north-northwest.”
Around noon, while the autumn sun was starting to tilt towards the west, the radicals arrived at their destination.
“…There’s nothing but a river here.”
“Well, it’s supposed to be underground. …Raidoros, please.”
Raidoros was the current chief of the Kyoran clan, after his father, Garoguras, regrettably lost his life as a result of the Ether Stampede of the day before.
The ones brought along by the Kaigyaku chief Bafrosk weren’t just fellow survivors of Ether Stampedes, they were also particularly skilled.
In this case, they would use Golems.
Marchosias, who had once deceived Elsa’s father when he invaded the Shouro Empire, was also a member of the Kyoran clan, and had also been recruited by Bafrosk to join his hunt of No. 13.
“Leave it to me.”
First of all, Raidoros, the best Transfer Magic user of his clan, brought in a golem with his magic.
After doing the same thing three more times in quick succession, a total of 4 Golems were transferred to their location.
Then it was Marchosias’ turn to act.
“…Marchosias, go.”
“Roger. …’Belgris’.”
That was the name of the Golems brought by Raidoros. Each of them were about 4 meters tall.
Though smaller than the stone giants used by the Kanrou clan, these 4 Golems were superior in both power and speed.
Such Golems had been created by Marchosias. He was regarded as a genius among his clanspeople since the Kyoran clan’s origins.
The 4-meter-tall Golems roamed around while causing the ground beneath them to tremble with each step. And they came across a certain spot where the ground made a different sound when treaded on.
“It sounds like there’s a cave under that spot… No. 1, do it!”
Each of the four Belgris had a different weapon. No. 1 had a huge hammer that looked very much like a giant mace.
No. 1 swung down his enormous weapon, slamming it onto the ground at that spot.
A thunderous roar echoed and a cloud of dust rose. Then a second blow, and a third one.
After 4 hits, the ground caved in, revealing a hole that shone with the brilliance of metal at the bottom.
“So there was a cave here after all. …’Distruzione’!”
Bafrosk cast an Explosion Magic spell. The ground was blown away, exposing the metal underneath.
He then prepared for a follow up attack on the metallic plate itself, but then…
“Good grief, how noisy! I commend you for having found this place. But this little adventure of yours will be your last.”
A voice echoed close by, and another hole appeared, from which four silver gargoyles appeared.
Though their sudden appearance still took the demons by surprise, they weren’t as afraid of them as when they saw the gargoyles in the courtyard. The impression that Reiko and the others left on them by easily defeating the gargoyles was still strong.
“Don’t flatter yourselves that much to think you can beat me with those dolls.”
Then the gargoyles attacked, and the Belgris stood up to them.
These gargoyles were 3 meters tall. At first glance, the Belgris appeared to have the upper hand merely on account of being 1 meter taller than them. But assuming that proved to be a mistake.
The silver gargoyles moved quickly. The Belgris, on the other hand, were much slower. Because of this, the Belgris were unable to land a hit on the gargoyles, while they in turn wouldn’t miss a single attack on the Belgris..
Still, due to their higher defense, the gargoyles’ attacks didn’t seem to do much damage to the Belgris, so the battle looked like it would take a long time to reach its conclusion.
“‘Distruzione’!”
However, it was the demons’ magic that would start to tip the scales slightly in their favor. The Kaigyaku clan started helping their giant Golems with their renowned skill with Explosion Magic.
Meanwhile, a total of 20 Land units and Reiko were monitoring the battle from a distance while cloaked by their Invisibility spells.
They were standing by, ready to act as soon as the demons were in any danger.
“This is far from optimal, but losing any more lives than we already have would deeply affect My Lord on an emotional level.”
Laojun was also observing the demons’ battle while thinking about such things.
If they could learn anything about No. 13’s strength as a result of this battle, it would be like killing two birds with one stone.
The explosion from “Distruzione” restricted the gargoyles’ movements. At that moment, a mace came crashing down on one of them.
The impact shook that gargoyle’s torso quite heavily, further impairing its movements.
Then, an overhead follow up attack smashed that gargoyle’s head, crushing it completely.
Three more gargoyles to go.
“No. 1! Join No. 3!”
In what seemed to be a display of Marchosias’ tactical knowledge, he immediately sent one of his Golems to its nearest companion.
With this, one of the remaining gargoyles was facing 2 Belgris at a time, which had the demon’s spèlls for support as well.
No. 3’s weapon was a longsword. Its tip was larger and seemingly heavier, making it clear that it was designed to make use of centrifugal force to deal a great amount of damage. It seemed to be very powerful, but power meant nothing if it couldn’t hit its target.
Back when they were fighting on a 1-to-1 ratio, the Belgris were at the mercy of the gargoyles’ speed. But in a 2-to-1 situation, the battle slowly leaned towards demons’ side.he demon side.
“There!”
The gargoyle was eventually prevented from moving, and the longsword came swinging horizontally with great force, biting into its target’s waist.
“No. 1! Follow up!”
Belgris No. 1’s mace came swinging from the longsword’s opposing direction, crashing onto the other side of the gargoyle’s waist.
The impact on both sides caused the cracks caused by the longsword to spread even further, and the gargoyle was ultimately split in half horizontally before collapsing on the ground.
“No. 1, No. 2, support No.3 and No. 4.”
Marchosias commanded his Golems once again. Now each pair was in a 2-to-1 situation.
No. 2’s weapon looked like a tremendously big spear. More than a spear, it would be more accurate to call it a lance. It was a weapon specialized for thrusting itself into its target.
No. 1 succeeded in catching the leg of one of the remaining gargoyles who was trying to avoid being hit by Explosion Magic, making it an easy target for No. 2’s weapon of choice.
The lance pierced through the gargoyles’ chest, coming out way through its back, and completely destroying the Magi Device that was keeping it operational.
No. 4’s weapon was a huge battle ax with a long handle.
No. 3 swung his sword to drive on the gargoyle, but it managed to dodge the hit thanks to its superior speed.
In the meantime, No. 1 and No. 2 also joined in.
The situation was now 4 to 1.
As expected, the gargoyle was eventually cornered, and No. 4’s battle ax crushed its head, causing it to stop moving completely.
“We did it! We have nothing to fear from these gargoyles!”
Bafrosk felt encouraged.
At that moment, the voice that echoed out of nowhere spoke with ridicule.
“…How foolish of you to be so overconfident in your meager power.”
Then a single dark silver gray gargoyle appeared.
“Another gargoyle, huh? We just beat four of those. What could a single one possibly do? Bring it on!”
Being the one closer to this new gargoyle, No. 4 attacked it with his battle ax.
But the dark silver gray gargoyle took up to the skies.
“Ugh… Not this again! How can that thing fly?”
＊ ＊ ＊
Jin was observing the battle in the Control Room on Hourai Island. Elsa, who was standing next to him, was staring at the screen with a serious face.
“…Are both stupid?”
“Huh?”
Elsa was confused by Jin’s remark.
“No. 13 is just mindlessly throwing out his resources one after the other, and the demons are being too overconfident.”
He then went on to express his shock about the fact that the demons seemed to have completely forgotten about No. 13’s ability to unleash an Ether Stampede to kill them all on the spot with very little effort.
“…I’m more worried about the demons.”
Elsa spoke her mind.
“…What if No. 13 isn’t just mindlessly throwing out his resources after all?”
“Huh?”
“Imagine if he actually could match Reiko’s power. If he could do that, then these gargoyles are no more than toys to him.”
The dark silver gray gargoyle on the screen looked at the fourth wall, as if it had heard Elsa’s words.
“That color… Is that Adamantite?”
If so, it should be quite heavy. But the footprints it left on the ground as it walked didn’t seem to be that deep.
“Hmm, maybe it’s just an adamantite exterior?”
At that time, No. 4 attacked, and the gargoyle jumped and began to fly.
“This one can fly as well… It has to be some kind of combination of Gravity Magic and Wind Magic.”
“What do you mean, Brother Jin?”
“Hmm? Ah, so that could explain…”
Jin seemed to have arrived at some conclusion regarding the secret behind the gargoyle’s ability to fly.
“He must be using Gravity Magic to reduce its own weight to a thousandth of its original value, and then his Wind Magic carries the gargoyle in the air.”
Making its weight 0 would make the gargoyle too difficult to control.
“According to Reiko, Lardus used to do a similar thing. He would make his sword lighter when swinging, and then heavier just before it would hit its target.”
Jin also added that such a maneuver would require a high degree of control of Gravity Magic.
Then, on the screen, they could see the dark silver gray gargoyle land in the middle of the group of demons.
