Arc 25: Daydream Believer
Chapter 244: The Fusion and the Great Golden Deity
「O~o~oh~, Their numbers alone are quite big」(Touya)
They’re quite far from here, but those iron machine soldiers and armed golems were advancing our way.
There were around 3000 them. Among those, 950 were iron machine soldiers while the rest were armed golems.
It didn’t seem like all 950 of them were being piloted by magicians since ⅔ were being automatically controlled using golem’s core, and among the remaining pilots there were a lot of non-magicians.
The [Golden a.s.sociation “Gordion”] seemed to recognize anyone as their comrade as long as they could use magic even if it’s only a little. Sol was also the same. On the other hand, anyone who couldn’t use magic at all was treated as a completely inferior person, the members saw them as neanderthals.
It seemed that Sol had been promised the position of magic sword general should they have managed to create the Magic Empire 《Magia Imperium》, but that promise disappeared like a bubble too.
Operating an iron machine soldier wasn’t difficult either due to its simplified movements. Even an amateur could control it if he practiced for a few days. Of course, it wouldn’t mean that all of them could fight at the same level.
Against the 950 iron machine soldiers and 2050 armed golems were slightly above 60 frame gears from Brunhild here on the Ferzen side. It’s roughly a 50-to-1 fight.
They had the advantage of overwhelming numbers, but I wasn’t worried at all. Judging from what I’d ascertained from the iron machine soldier that Bowman had controlled, its difference from the frame gear was very evident. Though I guessed I still had to support our side since each of them would require a knack to defeat 50 enemies.
「Brunhild sovereign king, will everything really be alright with just this many soldiers…?」 (Boulange)
「It’s alright, it’s alright. There’s no problem. It’s not something that the proud magic corps of Ferzen need to trouble themselves with」 (Touya)
I told that to the King of Ferzen who’s standing by my side to make him feel relieved. Afterwards, I looked at the soldiers lined up behind us.
Around 2000 soldiers from the magic corps were waiting behind the frame gears just in case. Oh well. Even though I’d said that we didn’t need them, I let him do whatever he wanted if that will make him feel better.
A knight with rabbit ears came running upwards from below us.
「Your Majesty. All members have boarded the frame gears. We can move anytime now」(Rain)
「Roger~ Everybody please be careful not to overdo it」 (Touya)
「Haa」(Rain)
The knight commander Rain-san bowed her head and boarded her own machine, the s.h.i.+ning Count. She had also gotten used to her role as a leader despite complaining a lot of times back in the earlier days.
A crest of a rabbit had been carved on the shoulders of Rain-san’s frame gear who’s a rabbit beastwoman herself. I was told that it was Linzie who had designed the crest, which made me surprised at her hidden talent too.
In the same manner, a fox and a wolf had been carved on a vice-commander Nicola-san’s black knight 《Night Baron》 and a vice-commander Norun-san’s blue knight 《Blue Moon》 who were a fox beastman and a wolf beastwoman respectively.
Each of the three was leading a group of 20 heavy knights. In addition to them, Elzie’s Gerhilde, Yae’s Schwertleite, and Hilda’s Siegrune were taking part in the battle. Furthermore, Moroha-nee-san and I were joining as support, so there’s no need to be anxious at all.
「Well, then. Shall we do a preemptive strike?」 (Touya)
Softball-shaped [Stars] made up of crystal materials that had acc.u.mulated a whole lot and stored in [Storage] beforehand appeared right above the enemies using countless numbers of [Gate]. From there, I attacked the enemies at once by dropping down those [Stars] that had their weight increased by [Gravity].
「Meteor Shower 《Meteor Zapper》」 (Touya)
A lot of stars poured down simultaneously. I couldn’t do an accurate lock-on them due to them dropping from high alt.i.tude. Even so, it wasn’t so easy to dodge those stars that were pouring down on them.
The iron machine soldiers and armed golems decreased in numbers as they were getting crushed by the stars one by one. The earth then rattled greatly due to the ground repeatedly being smashed by a strong force.
Have they decreased by about a third of their original numbers?
I then made sure my voice reached everybody with my smartphone in transmit mode.
『All machines, start combat! From here on out, the extermination battle begins!』 (Touya)
『Oooooooooooooh！！』
The a.s.sault started as the frame gear pilots follow their respective commanding units. The gray colored heavy knights exchanged sword blows with the iron machine soldiers. After exchanging two to three times, a single blow from a frame gear cut an iron machine soldier right in two.
Talking about height, the iron machine soldiers were only up to the chest of a frame gear. However, they had an image that made them look solid and st.u.r.dy due to their short and stout form. Nevertheless, how should I say this? Those iron machine soldiers had been constructed in a way that someone would think that the makers of those had cut corners during manufacturing.
Did the factory supervisor sell the materials through illegal routes? It’s because those units looked like they’re bad products from a 100 yen shop.
Whenever the frame gears. .h.i.t, some small parts of the iron machine soldiers fell down. Hey, are those machines really fine?
「I wonder then, isn’t it about time you allow me to partic.i.p.ate?」 (Moroha)
「Please don’t overdo it~ There’s no need to split either the ground or s.p.a.ce in two, okay? Just support them till the end」 (Touya)
「Okay, okay. I understand」 (Moroha)
Moroha-nee-san joyfully dashed out to the battlefield while easily holding in a two-handed style a sword with more than a two-meter-long thick blade made up of crystal materials.
The other side will most likely be surprised because someone with just her bare body and clothes is running through them.
『Break break break! Powder-smas.h.i.+ng！』
Elzie’s Gerhild fired its pile bunkers, crus.h.i.+ng the cores of the armed golems. The crimson G.o.d of destruction was going strong.
In addition to that, Yae’s Schwertleite run indomitably on the battlefield like a wind, pa.s.sing through the iron machine soldiers and slaughtering them by cutting them into halves. Like a purple flash, there’s no waste in her movements.
Contrast to that, Hilda’s Siegrune did reliable movements by stopping the opponent’s weapon with her s.h.i.+eld and cut them with her attack. She mainly played a supporting role where the enemies were crowding in.
『Touya-Touya! Do I need to wait even more than this?! Is it not the time yet!?』 (Suu)
Beside me, the pilot’s voice from the golden frame gear, which was the only frame gear that didn’t join the attack, resounded. It’s Suu’s personal frame gear, [Ortlinde].
It’s a frame unit specialized in defense, sporting a thicker armor than any other frame gear to date by having crystal material coated above its orichalc.u.m armor. It had a golden body with black ornaments giving it a very gaudy appearance, but that couldn’t be helped since it’s the pilot’s request. I just couldn’t win against a crying child……
Incidentally, it really was a coincidence that the frame gear was named after Suu’s family name. … It was really a coincidence that it had received that name. I’ve said it twice because it’s important.
It’s a frame gear that’s specialized in defense, but that isn’t the true value of [Ortlinde].
「Alright, shall we start with your debut? It’s your first time, so let’s do it manually. Shesca, Rosetta, Monica, are you three ready?」 (Touya)
Having placed a smartphone by my ear, I then took a final check from each of them.
『Gungnir here. There are no problems』 (Shesca)
『Laevateinn here. Preparations are completed』 (Rosetta)
『Mjollnir her. I can go anytime!』 (Monica)
I’d heard each of their voices respectively from the smartphone that was being used as a replacement for a receiver. It seemed their preparations were in place.
「Alright. Docking has been approved! Suu, start the combination sequence」 (Touya)
『Uh huh! Frame Changeee! !』 (Suu)
An object with the shape of a spear flew in from the skies as if it’s marching together with Suu’s voice. It’s the high-speed flying boat [Gungnir].
The armored bullet train, [Laevateinn], moved at a terrifying speed from the rear while raising clouds of dust.
Then, the all-purpose underground tank, [Mjollnir], arrived in the area by drilling through the earth and jumped out of the ground.
I kinda felt that Laevateinn was slightly different from an ordinary train since it moved by floating slightly above the surface of the earth after all even without the rails. It’s closely similar to a linear motor train……Nope, they’re completely different, aren’t they?
Mjollnir didn’t dig the earth by using the drill in front of it. It moved forward by storing the soil in front of it in another s.p.a.ce, so the drill was just simply a decoration as of the moment.
Simply put, Mjollnir stored the soil around it temporarily inside [Storage] and returned it to the vacant s.p.a.ce behind moving forward. Thus, it moved by repeating this action and it didn’t drill tunnels through the earth. That action seemed to be an application of earth magic and s.p.a.ce magic, but the body of the machine had its appearance clearly influenced by an anime which I’d shown them. It’s possible to advance by drilling through the earth as well though, but Mjollnir only did that whenever it’s entering or exiting the ground.
When those three support machines reached the range of Ortlinde for combination, the frame gear rose up in the air and folded its limbs. It then suspended itself in the sky and the drill tank, Mjolnir combined with it by separating into two parts to form both its right and left legs.
Afterwards, the bullet train 《Laevateinn》 also split into two and combined with the protruding right and left arm limbs of Ortlinde to form the rest of its arms.
Finally, the flying boat 《Gungnir》 transformed from the shape of a bamboo leaf to a reverse V form and combined with the back of Ortlinde. A mask sprung out from the chest and covered the head while the horns at the forehead emitted light. Is this gimmick really necessary?
『Complete~！ Ortlinde Overlord！！』
… Overlord, you say! What the heck is that!? These guys are just doing whatever they want in a lot of ways, aren’t they!? In the end, it was really bad to leave everything to them, right? I didn’t hear anything about this one though, right!?
+++
Then, the ground shook due to a large thud it received. Ortlinde, ah~, it’s overlord, isn’t it? But still, a hero’s figure made its appearance.
What’s being shown was a giant golden G.o.d that had was more than two times bigger than a frame gear and was full of dignity and power. It’s without a doubt a frame gear that should be called as the symbol of power.
「W-what is that……?!」
「Huge… Will that thing fight?!」
Voices filled with surprise leaked out from the Ferzen magic soldiers. Nope, I also had the same feelings after seeing them combine for the first time.
『I am going ~ja! Cannon Knuckle~!』 (Suu)
The right arm the Ortlinde Overlord had brandished separated from the elbow and flew straight towards the armed golem. A lump of crystal material and orichalc.u.m crashed at super high speeds, and the armed golem was smashed all too quick.
The right arm, which had the same function as the Fragarach applied to it, drew a large arc and docked back to its elbow with a clicking sound.
Did you guys seriously create even that functionality…? It’s a frame gear wherein they’ve perfectly got carried away while making it.
It would have been alright with just the remote flying swords 《Fragarach》. Why did they have to make a rocket punch?
Well, it’s probably because Professor has said that “it doesn’t have enough romance” or maybe something similar.
Ortlinde Overlord charged into the middle of the battle without stopping. It’s body was made up of thick armor, making its body very huge. It might look like it’s slow, but its movements by itself were fast because it had been enchanted with [Gravity] on a point-by-point basis.
Ortlinde Overlord directly hit an armed golem. Ah, I see. I didn’t prepare exclusive weapons for it. Those weapons will eventually be necessary.
I must prepare some special weapons… Hhhmm. There’s no mistaking it. A golden hammer is absolutely required.
The armed golem that had been hit raised a big thud and collapsed. The area that was the point of impact became hollow. Ortlinde really was a machine with outrageous firepower…. It‘s a bit late now, but is it really alright to give it to Suu?
「Suu. Make sure not to drag everyone around. Think in advance where your blows will fly」 (Touya)
『I know. It’s alright since Rosetta takes care of that, ~ja!』(Suu)
She crushed the head of an armed golem she had caught while answering.
Though the plan was to have the support machines used for the fusion to be set in auto-pilot, it may be better to have Shesca and the others manually control it as much as possible.
『Cannon Knuckle~!』 (Suu)
……. That was also a meaning of stopping Suu when it counted. A~ah. She blew everyone all at once.
The side where the combined Ortlinde was fighting had already routed. Of course they would. The enemies will lose their fighting spirit after seeing something ma.s.sive like that.
Though there were iron machine soldiers who had tried running away, Moroha-nee-san didn’t allow them to do so. She transformed the c.o.c.kpit door into something else to prevent it from opening after she had cleverly cut off the limbs of the iron machine soldiers, effectively turning them into ma.s.s-produced iron coffins.
An hour after the battle had started, the enemies that could move finally stopped.
『Your Majesty. The operation has been completed』 (Rain)
「Much appreciated. Just in case, stand on guard to prevent anyone from running away. Suu and the others, be alert for any suspicious magic reaction. It will be troublesome if other looters appear again」 (Touya)
『Roger ~ja』 (Suu)
I called out to the Ferzen King who’s speechlessly opening his mouth widely.
「May I leave the arrest of those guys inside the iron machine soldiers to you?」(Touya)
「Eh? A-aah. Yeah! Leave it to us. Toss every one of them in jail. Question them if there are still other members aside from them. Oh well. I guess I don’t think anyone will be defiant after seeing a scene like this」(Boulange)
The dream of the [Golden a.s.sociation] had collapsed.
This event will probably spread throughout the entire country because of the Ferzen Magic Soldiers serving as eyewitnesses. I don’t think anyone will be meddlesome anymore after this even if the [Golden a.s.sociation] still has remnants.
Of course, I will have the members of the [Gordion] that have been caught to spill out everything and anything they know about the other members and bases of their organization.
To be frank, I’ve only fired [Meteor Shower] this time. Well, they might have taken care of this situation without me interfering since the enemies weren’t the Frazes.
I thought so while being illuminated by the sun and while looking up at Suu’s frame gear s.h.i.+ning in gold.