Despite the tremendous backlash he endured from the previous attack which resulted in a broken left arm, Vepar managed to keep his enlarged gauntlet steady enough on his right hand for the punch to hit the unstable floating fortress.
By dropping the fortress to the ground, Jin hoped that it would disable most of the features in it. Weslie mentioned that the steam technology systems she recalled creating were not as sturdy as she had liked them to be. This was mainly because she had been forced on a very strict timeline for some reason. At that time, she was only given enough resources to make the floating mechanism.
Weslie initially thought that it would be used as a foundation for some major floating platform or a gigantic airship, yet she never expected that the North and South Scholars would decide to put her system to power up an entire castle. Despite the improvements to the floating system they had added, she assumed that the core floating steam system should still be the same.
Hence, giving the castle a good hefty impact should definitely render the fortress’s hovering mechanism useless. Worst case scenario, they would be displacing it further away from the town of Wecha, so the dungeon supplier could employ the heavy hitters without any need to hold back. Peppers alone would be enough to wreak havoc at the fortress. (Although the monsters would surely disapprove letting her have all the fun.)
Nevertheless, like every prepared villain, they did not just lay there and wait for Vepar and Derpy’s combination attack. Even though the enemy mainly consisted of Demon Rats, the masterminds of this attack revealed the ability to cast a crude but functionally similar multi-layer shield to block the attack. At the same time, they had managed to sortie their own versions of air force against the unlikely duo.
Steampunk helicopters and even steampunk planes that were still functioning had been sent out from the unstable hangar in a hurry to counter the giant threat. However, the gauntlet smashed straight into the shield, causing an impact great enough to knock the steampunk helicopters away. Thankfully, Vepar did not lose out as he inserted more magic into the gauntlet (courtesy of Derpy) to maintain the punch’s strength.
The Shadow Dagen himself was not being idle too. Unlike the time when he acted as a battery and was confined underneath Wolte, Derpy worked properly this time around and assisted Vepar to the best of his abilities. He used his mighty teeth and began biting the magical shield. If one didn’t know any better, they might mistake him having an impromptu snack time in the middle of a fight.
“Is there anything he does not eat?” Jin chuckled at the brilliance of Derpy slowly biting away on the shield, resupplying that magical energy back for Vepar to use. He looked at another screen where the Wyvern Goblin Knights had heeded his command to fight against the steampunk attack helicopters and planes. The dogfight quickly turned in the favour of the Goblins, who appeared to have a much easier time fighting these Demon Rats than the Demons’ air forces.
The attack helicopters were less agile and did not have the speed to catch up with the Wyvern Goblin Knights, making them nothing but easy pickings. Though they could not say that it wasn’t a novel experience since the helicopters were able to shoot steel pellets and even a cannonball in the midst of battle.
But it was not until the fortress sent out steam planes that looked like the ones used in World War 1 that provided the Wyvern Goblin Knights with a bit more of a challenge. Yet, with a bit of acclimatisation, the knights had no problem stopping them in their tracks.
——-
“Still holding on there, buddy?!” Derpy asked as he made one bigger munch closing in on the last layer of shield away.
“Couldn’t feel any bet- What the hell is that?!” Vepar saw an abnormality within the fortress itself. It looked as if a hole was artificially opened in the town area, and a cannon was already aiming at them.
“Looks like the very same laser cannon that had been used against Wecha! Derpy, quick move out of the way!” Jin cautioned, but Vepar refused.
“After all this struggle, you expect us to move away?! Fat chance! Master, you might mean well, but you clearly do not know me well enough!” Vepar disagreed as he slowly pulled himself out of Derpy’s fusion and spread his wing.
“It’s all yours!” Derpy shouted while he pulled the last remaining shred of the layered shield and swiped his body, enabling him to use his tail to hit Vepar’s back.
“Thanks for the assist!” Vepar yelled as he could feel that the backtail slap was not as damaging as he thought it would be. Instead Derpy had used it to send a big burst of magical energy into him, slinging him to propel forward.
Instead of aiming at the palace within the fortress, Vepar decided to destroy that laser cannon before it could cause further harm to either Jin’s minions or the town.
*BOOM!*
All that was left in the scene was Vepar’s Giant Gauntlet stuck in between the floating fortress’ laser cannon. It resulted in multiple secondary explosions within the fortress and guaranteed that it would not fly anywhere anymore.
Still, for some reason, it did not stop the influx of Demon Rats pouring out of the place.
“Heh! Finally, I can get a bit creative!” Peppers squealed with satisfaction until Jin reminded her something important.
“If you shoot now, you might not have the strength to fight against the Demons in my world. Are you willing to do that?” And that question alone was sufficient to hold her firepower back for once.
“But it’s a castle! FILLED WITH RATS! FILTHY, DISGUSTING-”
“Some are quite cute actually if you take a look at them properly.” Weslie interrupted. “Despite their hideous looks (from a rational standpoint) they had not all been the same, and some of the Demon Rats had gratitude in them.”
“Well, true for your case. But still RATS!” Peppers shouted once more in the System channel even though she had already lowered her staff. “Sigh, and here I thought I could end things with a big bang…”
“Argh, fine. Let’s do it. We do not have a better chance than now. Peppers go-“
“Master! Please wait! I found that there are still a large number of human slaves inside the floating fortress. I have managed to locate and free a number of them, but there should be more!” Sebastia informed them as she continued to run towards the next block of cells and attempted to free more of them. “There are kids and elderlies as well.”
“Damn it! Why did they bring those slaves in the fortress?” Jin banged the table and gritted his teeth to control his anger. Peppers might have no problems burning the entire castle down, but the perception itself would bring hate and disgust to Gold’s allies.
So what if Jin could resurrect them? Capturing kids and elderlies would not profit the System, and it would only recommend to kick them out as to not waste resources. There might be the consideration of a long term investment for the kids, but sadly not so much for the elders. In short, the System was not a charitable organisation, and even if it performed good deeds for Jin, it could only tolerate so much if it saw only detriments coming its way.
“Peppers, lower the strength of your explosive burst and aim it at the tower instead. That should hinder the mages in there, particularly the scholars. We should give Sebastia more time before rat reinforcements interfere with the rescue.” Jin ordered as he switched to another channel. “Penguins, sorry to trouble you guys once more. You all have more experience rescuing people than others.”
“Heh, no problem, Master. Queen Lynn should not oppose us doing this too.” Kido, the latest penguin ninja leader agreed.
“You won’t see my complaining. Jin, I am tagging along with them and learning a trick or two from my peggies.” Lynn reported as she had volunteered to be part of the rescue team. Kido nodded with pride that his Queen had decided to accompany them despite the danger she might encounter.
“Thank you, and godspeed to all of you,” Jin said as he temporarily diverted his attention from both attacking and defending against the Demon Rats.
