Part 2 of 8
Although it might’ve turned a bit red.
But that doesn’t matter right now!
The problem is that this is a gun, exactly like I thought.
Guns are an ancient technology that should be totally lost to this world.
Now we know for sure these ruins belong to an ancient civilization and that they’re dangerous enough to kill intruders at the drop of a hat!
Good job, me! I was right! I was right, dammit!
To make matters worse, the bullets that gun fired weren’t real, physical bullets.
They were made of some weird glowing energy, like the ones Potimas used.
These rounds certainly weren’t as strong as Potimas’s, but I have to assume they were made with similar technology.
Peering at the Demon Lord, I see that she’s frowning, probably reaching the same conclusion as I am.
“Let’s head inside.”
I very reluctantly nod in agreement.
We continue walking down the corridor, which is way too modern to belong in this world.
We’re keeping an eye out for any guns that might suddenly come out of the walls and whatever else might lurk in here, of course.
The Demon Lord is in the lead, followed by Vampy and Mera, who are flanked on either side by the puppet spiders, and I’m bringing up the rear.
This formation is set up to protect the baby bloodsucker and Mera, who aren’t as battle-ready as the rest of the group.
That way, as long as nothing totally insane happens, we should be able to protect them.
As we proceed down the very long hallway, we reach a dead end.
But the wall here has strange gaps in the ceiling, the other walls to the side, and even the floor.
It’s only touching the four corners of the hallway, and if you look closely, there seem to be rails of some kind there.
I poke around, wondering if there’s a hidden door, but I can’t find anything of the sort.
But there’s no way this is the end. I bet the ruins continue behind this weird wall.
After a similar examination, the Demon Lord murmurs as if she’s noticed something.
“Hmm? Maybe it’s one of those?”
With that, she draws back her fist and punches the wall with all her might.
BOOM.
Her fist goes right through the wall, opening a huge hole.
Then she grabs the sides of the new hole, prying it open further.
You’re outta control, Miss Demon Lord.
Well, this isn’t a game, so it’s probably fine to break the wall down and proceed, I guess.
Peering inside the hole, I see a small room on the other side.
There are no doors on any of the walls.
But for some reason, there is a door on the ceiling. Not only that, but it looks like an elevator door.
In fact, there are up and down buttons next to the door, so that’s definitely what it is.
Huh? An elevator?
I turn around, looking back at the hallway we’ve been walking through.
Mentally, I compare its length to how deep underground these ruins are.
Yeah, it’s about the same distance.
If you stood this hallway up vertically, you’d have an elevator to the surface.
That would explain why there’s a door on the ceiling, too.
I’d been wondering how people ever got to these ruins from aboveground and back, but I guess they were probably able to use this elevator when needed.
Yep, yep, that makes sense… Wait, WHAT?
Is that seriously how this thing works? What about all the earth packed on top of it?
Did they use their ancient technology to dig through it somehow?
Every single time they wanted to enter or leave?
What kind of stupid gimmick is that?
If they could do that much, I feel like they should’ve been able to come up with a more effective method in the first place.
Although maybe there was a good reason for it at the time…
“Miss Ariel, is this an elevator?”
“Hmm, yeah, seems that way.”
Looks like Vampy reached the same conclusion as I did, although judging by her face, she doesn’t quite believe it.
Mera doesn’t know what an elevator is, so he’s just confused.
“This is a hidden elevator. They were rather popular when this civilization was around. They’re normally buried deep underground, but they can be raised to connect to the surface when needed. They usually lead to a hidden subterranean base.”
“What about all the dirt?”
“That’s what’s so crazy about these elevators. They can temporarily turn earth into mud. It’s a stupid mechanism that wastes a ridiculous amount of energy, but…well, it is Potimas who came up with it, so that’s more or less standard.”
Potimas came up with these things…?
That explains a lot, but it also makes me even more convinced that these ruins are bad news.
A hidden base…? Is Potimas in here or something?
The Demon Lord goes inside the elevator and busts through the wall on the opposite side with the same method as before.
On the other side of the wall is a door—an exit to the elevator.
Once again, the Demon Lord pries it open with brute force.
At the same time, another alarm starts to blare.
Ugh, it’s the same thing that happened before.
The Demon Lord ignores the alarm and steps through the door.
The rest of us follow her.
It’s another corridor, similar to the one we just came down.
Unlike that one, though, it’s kinda short; we reach the end quickly.
This time, instead of a wall, there’s another door. This one is a double sliding door.
The Demon Lord walks toward it.
Then the door slides open on its own.
And here I was expecting the Demon Lord to force it open again.
The Demon Lord must have been thinking the exact same thing, ’cause she suddenly stops for a second.
Wait, no!
She didn’t freeze because the door opened.
It’s because there are countless inorganic eyes waiting on the other side of the door!
Tons of gun muzzles are pointed toward us.
This time, they’re all being wielded by robots.
They’re not humanoid cyborgs like Potimas’s body double but simplistic robots that are more like basic weapons. There are more of them than I can count.
The only word I can think of to describe them is weird.
Each one has a single arm, which ends in a muzzle bigger than the ones we saw near the entrance. Then, there’s a torso supporting the arm and continuous tracks that move it around. There’s nowhere for a human to pilot it.
In fact, they’re about the same size as a human, so the only way to “ride” one would be to wrap your arms around it and hope for the best.
Meaning they’re self-propelled gun platforms, albeit not very large.
Anyway, these hello, I am a weapon–looking robots are lined up neatly in this huge room, all pointing their guns right at us.
Then, without warning, countless flashes of light erupt from their muzzles!
The shots streak toward us.
Swinging her thread, the Demon Lord knocks them away, neutralizing at least half the rounds.
…This demon lord’s specs are kinda broken.
But even she can’t completely block a constant stream of light-based bullets from dozens of robots, so a few stray shots come toward the rest of us.
The puppet spiders take care of those with their swords, though.
…This demon lord’s underlings’ specs are kinda broken, too.
Since the Demon Lord and the puppet spiders are blocking all of the robots’ attacks, I decide to go on the offensive.
But first, Vampy is flying into a panic because of all the lights and sounds, so I deliver a quick chop to her head to bring her back to her senses.
“Make an ice wall.”
Figuring she can at least defend herself, I give her an order to make a barricade in front of her with magic.
The baby bloodsucker has the Water and Ice Magic skills, so if she makes a decent ice wall, it should be able to hold up against some of the robots’ attacks.
Luckily, she seems to understand what I’m saying, so she makes an ice wall despite her tearful expression.
I have Mera take refuge behind the wall as well.
Both of them should be safe for the moment.
All right, now it’s my time to shine!
The moment I think that to myself, the robots go flying all over the place.
Looking back, I see that the Demon Lord is charging their front lines.
Whyyyy?!
Ahhh, maybe she decided to attack because the vampire duo is safe and secure.
She could’ve attacked at any time, I guess, but she was playing defensively so she wouldn’t put the baby and Mera in danger.
Even as I process all this, the Demon Lord is already turning the robots into scrap metal.
Her thread is flying around like crazy, either smacking down or cutting through the robots.
The Demon Lord’s fighting style is very simple, but that only makes it even more powerful.
With her obscenely high stats and maxed-out thread skills, it’s no wonder she’s so damn strong.
The clearly metal robots are getting crushed and sliced up like they’re made of paper.
This might be the first time I’ve actually watched the Demon Lord fight.
Usually, she finishes everything in one blow.
If anything, I guess the best glimpse of her fighting style I’ve seen is when she was fighting me?
During that battle between Sariella and Ohts.
At the time, she was using Gluttony to thwart all my attacks. I couldn’t do a damn thing!
Actually, since she’s not using Gluttony right now, I guess she’s not taking this too seriously.
Damn, she’s seriously overpowered.
While the Demon Lord crushes any robots within her reach, the puppet spiders finish off any that escape her thread.
The spider sisters have deployed their hidden arms, so each of them is wielding six swords.
They fend off the robots’ light bullets with their blades before cutting them down in one smooth motion.
More and more robots fall to the floor, sliced neatly in half.
How are they cutting through these metal robots so easily?
The four puppet spiders scatter in all four directions, beating down more robots.
While the Demon Lord is clearly dealing with the majority of the robots, the puppet spiders are still trashing a respectable amount.
The Demon Lord’s strength is her sheer raw power; the puppet spiders’ strength is their polished technique.
They have all kinds of weapon skills at high levels, so while they’re technically monsters, they look like master swordsmen as they slice the robots into ribbons.
Not to mention that they’re using six swords each.
The idea of “two-sword style” is cool in theory, but in practice it’s probably just hard.
I think wielding two swords is actually allowed in kendo, but I’m almost certain that practically no one does it.
Why? Because it’s impossibly difficult.
Swords, especially metal swords, are heavy.
Waving one around with one hand obviously wouldn’t be easy.
In kendo, they use bamboo swords, which are way lighter, but even then, almost nobody chooses to use two.
But for the puppet spiders, whose stats are all over a thousand, swinging a sword with one hand is no problem at all.
Despite how cute they look, they’re wielding these heavy weapons with ease.
Six-sword style.
I don’t think any human swordsman could match that, no matter how much they trained. No waaay.
Ael doesn’t even look fazed as she takes down the robots.
This one’s the efficient type, I think.
She’s the kind who avoids pointless movements as much as possible.
Considering her shrewd personality, she might be trying to maximize her efficiency to make things as easy as possible.
Sael, on the other hand, is stressful to watch.
Since she’s so timid, she always freaks out when she has to fight.
They’re just dolls, so she doesn’t really change her expression or speak, but I can already picture her shrieking eek! with her eyes squeezed shut.
Still, she’s as strong as the other three, so I’m not too worried about her.
Now, Riel is nerve-racking to watch in a different way from Sael.
I mean, there’s no telling what she’ll do. Riel is an absolute space-case weirdo, so it’s always hard to read her next move.
Plus, sometimes she totally messes up.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen her come close to tripping and falling on nothing.
Generally, I catch her with my thread.
So even though it looks like she’s fighting safely, she might be the most stressful to watch.
But Fiel is pretty scary herself.
Frankly, Fiel is totally reckless and constantly pushes her luck.
She has a tendency to get carried away and rush into things without worrying about the consequences. Even now, she’s pushing through the ranks of the robots, leaving destruction in her wake.
These robots are weak, so it’s not a big deal right now, but I don’t think it’s smart to lose your head in battle like that.
Huh? Now that I think about it, do all of them except Ael have worrisome habits?
…Well, I’m sure it’ll be fine. Maybe. Definitely. Probably.
Hmm. Thinking back on this journey, I have felt like I’m babysitting at times.
All of them, especially Fiel, like to climb on me and stuff.
Yes, my spider body is big enough to fit a child or two, but aren’t these guys older than they look? Why do I have to babysit them like this?
Ael is the only one who doesn’t try to ride me. Fiel just hops on whenever she wants, Riel climbs on me for no reason, and Sael shoots me puppy-dog looks like she’s begging me to give her a ride!
Hmm? Hang on. Hasn’t Ael ridden on me just once?
In fact, wasn’t she the very first one to do it?
Huh?! Wait a second!
Did Ael deliberately give them the idea of climbing on me so I would have to deal with her sisters instead of her?!
I bet she did! That’s exactly what that crafty little Ael would do!
Ooh, I can literally picture her saying Just as planned! with an evil look on her face!
Damn, Ael, you scary!
As I uncover a very alarming truth, the Demon Lord and company are making quick work of the robots.
Looks like I won’t be getting a turn this time.
But it’s only because these robots aren’t worth the trouble, okay?
I’m letting the Demon Lord and her underlings take this one ’cause they’re older, okay?
I didn’t miss my chance because I waited too long for the right moment, okay?
I’m not mad that they stole the spotlight, okay?
Okay? Okay? Okay.
Listen, this place has gotta be some kind of armory.
Why else would so many stupid robots be in one place?
I glanced around again at the room full of robots.
It’s about the size of a largish gymnasium, packed with robots from wall to wall.
The robots are moving now, since they’re attacking us, but this must have originally been a storage room to keep the robots in a safe place, don’t you think?
I mean, they were lined up very neatly at first. Obviously the Demon Lord has ruined that, but I think whoever put them here originally wanted to keep all the robots in one place.
In fact, I can see little pedestal mechanisms in the floor spaced out at regular intervals, the perfect size for holding a robot. Plus, there are cables sticking out of them that probably got unplugged when the robots moved.
These cables must have been providing the robots with power of some kind.
Let’s just hope it isn’t MA energy.
I realize that’s probably exactly what it is.
Ancient ruins, connected to Potimas, with an armory full of robots.
With all of these unfortunate factors, I’d be more surprised if it wasn’t MA energy at this point.
Guess I’ll investigate those pedestals a bit.
But when I step forward to investigate, I immediately regret it.
As soon as I set foot from the hallway into the room, I hear a loud CLANK behind me.
Turning around, I see the walls on either side of the hallway opening up, and one robot emerges from each.
Hidden doors?!
The robots are right near Vampy and Mera.
They’re protected in the front by the ice wall but totally unprotected in the rear.
Which means they’re completely unprepared for a surprise robot attack from behind.
Finally, I get to be in the spotlight!
Since I’ve left the hallway, I’m a little far away, but at my speed, I can fix that in a matter of seconds.
I jump in between the robots and the vampire duo, ready to destroy the former.
Now I can really show off!
“Yaaaah!”
Oh. Looks like I spoke too soon.
Mera dashes forward with a shout, closing in on a robot.
Before it can fire its gun, he slashes at the muzzle with his sword, knocking it away.
The other robot aims its gun at Mera, but this one’s muzzle freezes over.
It’s Vampy’s Ice Magic.
With the muzzle blocked, the energy inside has nowhere to go, and the frozen robot explodes.
Seeing this, Mera imitates the Vampy’s moves and plugs up the first robot’s muzzle, too.
He’s naturally gifted with Water and Ice Magic, too, maybe because it’s Vampy who turned him into a vampire.
His skill levels for those aren’t quite as high as hers, but he makes up for that with his higher stats.
Frozen like the other one, the robot attempts to fire and explodes, too.
Nice. Very well done.
Mera used his quick thinking to aim the muzzle away in that first moment, and Vampy made a spot-on judgment to freeze the other robot.
On top of that, Mera realized he couldn’t destroy the robots with his own strength, so he deliberately made it self-destruct.
Though it might be hard to tell from the way the Demon Lord and the puppet spiders are making quick work of them, these robots aren’t actually all that weak.
In fact, from the perspective of a human from this world, they’d be damn strong.
If even one of those light bullets hit you, you’d end up with a breezy new air vent in your body just like that.
And since these robots can fire those powerful rounds in rapid succession, only an idiot would call them weak.
It’s impressive that the bloodsucker duo managed to beat two of them without any help, even if they did get lucky by figuring out super fast how to make them self-destruct.
Really goes to show how much Vampy and Mera have grown.
Yep, yep. I believed in you guys!
I knew you could handle those robots without any help.
That’s why I didn’t get involved, okay?
I just wanted to give these two an opportunity to shine, okay?
I didn’t miss my chance because I was too busy fantasizing about how cool I would look, okay?
I’m not mad that they stole the spotlight, okay?
Okay? Okay? Okay.
…Is it just me, or have I not done anything since we entered these stupid ruins?
The only thing I’ve accomplished is shooting myself in the face!
Uh-oh.
If I don’t do something cool soon, my reputation will be down the drain!
Ugh, but at this point the Demon Lord and the puppet spiders have wiped out most of the robots.
If I jump in this late in the game, it’ll probably be even more embarrassing.
I mean, I’m sure they’re already wondering what the hell I’m doing, but that would just make it so much worse.
We can’t have that, can we?
Yeah, it’s better if I stay cool and don’t do anything!
I’m the last line of defense.
I can’t go wasting my time on every insignificant little enemy that shows up!
Panicking and leaping into action because the spotlight keeps getting stolen is waaay beneath me.
I’ll be the bigger spider and let everyone else look cool for now.
Hmph! I won’t swoop in until it’s absolutely necessary.
It’s the protagonist’s job to come through in the most dramatic moment possible. Duh!
That’s why I’m not gonna bother with these stupid little robots.
Heh-heh. Yeah. I’ll just save my strength for a bigger, better fight.
Anyway, while I was standing around being a sore loser, it looks like the Demon Lord and company finished turning all the robots into a scrap heap.
A second later, one of the puppet spiders—Sael, the timid one—goes flying across the room with a loud boom.
Huh?
?! What the hell just happened?!
I turn my gaze to both Sael and whatever sent her flying. (Having lots of eyes sure is convenient at times like these.)
Sael is missing all three of her left arms and part of her torso.
That’d be a fatal wound for a normal person, but since the puppet spiders’ real bodies are small spiders inside of dolls, it doesn’t matter too much if the doll gets damaged.
It’ll take a while to repair, but that’s no big deal as long as Sael herself is unharmed.
Although if the hit had been a little closer to the center, it’s possible the spider body might’ve gotten hurt, too.
Sael must have dodged just in time, or else the culprit’s aim was off.
Either way, I’m sure Sael was targeted only because she was the closest.
The attacker, emerging from a door on the other side of the room, can be described only as a tank.
It’s covered in very strong-looking metal armor, has a giant gun that makes the robots look dinky by comparison, and its tank treads are crushing the ruins of the smaller robots beneath it as it slowly moves forward.
This thing looks strong.
In fact, it has to be strong to send one of the puppet spiders flying despite her high stats.
Look, I know I said I wanted the spotlight, but I never said I wanted a big, strong opponent.
ANTI-TANK BATTLE!
The tank’s giant muzzle points right at the fallen Sael.
It emits a flash of light.
If the robots were firing light bullets, this thing is firing light cannonballs.
The robots’ bullets weren’t too shabby in terms of speed and power, but this is way worse.
Even if the tank caught Sael by surprise, the fact that it was able to hit her and cause that much damage is concerning.
And now that she can’t move, what happens if it hits her with another cannon shot?
Luckily, we don’t have to find out.
By the time the tank’s round hits the floor, Sael is gone, carried to safety by the Demon Lord.
She must have run over, picked her up, and carried her away faster than the missile could move.
The Demon Lord even took care to restrain her movement so Sael wouldn’t be hurt. Otherwise, if she snatched her up while moving faster than a bullet, the aftershock alone might have rattled Sael to pieces.
How did she even prevent that from happening?
I guess it’s another case of physical mastery going beyond even what stats can manage.
Unlike me, who got strong by fighting tons of battles over a short period of time, the Demon Lord has honed her strength over a very long period. That means she has that much more abilities and experience.
Strength that isn’t reflected by stats and skills.
That’s just one more way the Demon Lord outstrips me.
Hmph. Hmm. Hahhh.
Well, I guess the fact that she’s stronger than me isn’t exactly news.
What’s most important here is that the Demon Lord saved Sael.
In that moment, she had several options.
For instance, she could have used Sael as a decoy and attacked the tank. With its sights fully on Sael, it was totally open to attack from anyone else.
If she’d given up on Sael, she could have easily gotten in a major attack on the tank.
But she didn’t abandon Sael.
She chose to rescue her, even though it meant she risked getting hit by the light missile herself in the process.
That says a lot about the Demon Lord.
It also says a lot about the person who did decide to abandon Sael and focus on attacking the tank: me.
A single Black Spear closes in on the tank, produced by my Black Magic spell.
Right as the Demon Lord moved to rescue Sael, I focused on destroying the tank.
Using Sael as a decoy.
That’s the difference between the Demon Lord and me.
She thinks of other people, while I worry only about keeping myself out of danger, even when it meant giving up on Sael.
But in this case, it meant we were able to do both, so maybe it worked out.
The Black Spear pierces the tank’s side, which is utterly undefended after firing a shot.
Wait, no.
It disappeared as soon as it hit the tank’s armor.
My Black Spear is gone so fast, it’s like it was never there in the first place.
It only looked for a split second like the spear had pierced the tank because it disappeared so completely and naturally that I assumed it must’ve gone right through.
Is that the same mysterious barrier Potimas used?
As I’m about to launch another spear so I can find out, the tank turret turns toward me with a loud whir.
I retreat right away, and a light cannon round slams into the ground where I was standing mere moments ago.
Yikes, that was close.
It’s so hard to read this tank’s movements that I almost ate a direct hit to the face.
Uh-oh. I can’t see what the tank’s going to do next.
My Future Sight skill doesn’t seem to work on it.
Since I’m used to being able to predict my enemy’s next move with this skill, it takes me that much longer to react when I can’t rely on it.
The only foe I’ve ever had this problem with was Potimas.
Which means this tank is definitely using the same kind of barrier as Potimas did.
Crap. This is gonna be an even bigger pain than I thought.
Having to deal with a bunch of robots at once already seemed annoying, but now there’s this giant weapon on top of all that?
See, I told you ancient ruins were never good news!
Is this my divine punishment for stupidly wishing I could get a chance in the spotlight?
If so, whatever god is responsible has a nasty sense of humor.
Oh wait. I happen to know an evil god who matches that exact description.
Damn you, D! Is this your doing?!
As I pointlessly shout at that evil god in my mind, I shot another Black Spear at the tank.
As soon as it reaches its target and makes contact with the armor’s surface, it disappears, just as I feared.
I can activate my magic perfectly fine. The barrier must not cover this whole space.
Potimas’s mysterious barrier was crazy effective, rendering most skills and stats totally useless within a certain range.
Maybe the tank is using a similar kind of barrier, but it works only in very close proximity to the tank.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to use magic at all.
Still, since it’s totally nullifying my Black Spears without a problem, it’s probably safe to assume that most of my long-distance attack methods are useless here.
With its ease of use and high power, Black Spear is one of the most useful of my beloved Dark-type spells.
The only spells I have that are stronger than this are Abyss Magic and stuff like that.
Those spells take time, even with my Height of Occultism skill, and I don’t even know if they would work.
It’s probably best to assume they wouldn’t and forget about magic for now.
Which means I have only one option: a physical beatdown.
Whether it’s Potimas’s magic barrier or whatever else, the best way to deal with these anti-magic-barrier jerks is to hit them with raw power.
As I dodge the third light shot, I produce my weapon from Spatial Storage: a white scythe with a very sinister aura.
I made this scythe when I decided I wanted some kind of weapon for close-quarters combat.
Believe it or not, it’s actually crafted from part of my own body.
I used the scythes that make up the front legs of my spider half as the base, then used my other legs and thread to whip up this little number.
It feels like an extension of my body, probably because that’s what it’s made out of. And since my stats are so high, it’s super-sturdy and cuts like a dream.
The only problem is that it’s been letting off this weird aura for a while now.
Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it definitely looks like the whole scythe is emitting some kind of black glowy effect.
By the way, the scythe’s Appraisal results look something like this:
<White’s Scythe
Attack: 14,099
Resistance: 99,999
Special Traits: [Automatic Growth] [Automatic Repair] [Rot Attribute] [Dark Attribute]>
Yeah. Is that weird or what?
Its attack obviously means how strong it is as a weapon.
That means this scythe alone is strong enough to cut right through the puppet spiders’ defenses.
And resistance measures how strong an attack would have to be to damage it.
That means it won’t break unless it’s hit with an attack higher than that number.
In other words, the only way to break this scythe is by hitting it with the max amount of damage.
In other words, it’s basically unbreakable.
However, that number will go down whenever it’s hit with an attack, so I have to be careful… Or at least, I would with an ordinary weapon.
But this scythe also has a special trait called automatic repair. It’s a useful trait that recovers its resistance over time, all on its own.
As long as it has this trait, I don’t have to worry about the resistance going down.
And that resistance is so high that nothing short of a max-damage attack would break it.
It’s the unbreakable scythe, dude.
I gotta admit, that’s kinda weird.
I know I used my own body to make it, but even I don’t have such crazy-high defense, y’know?
And that’s not the only thing that’s weird.
Since when does it have the Rot and Dark attributes?
It didn’t have anything like that when I first made it.
These attributes must be what’s causing the creepy aura.
Yeah, this is weird, all right.
And it even has this weird automatic-growth trait now.
In fact, that must be what’s causing all the other strange stuff, huh?
When I first made it, its attack and resistance weren’t this high, and it didn’t have any of those weird traits.
But at some point, it gained this automatic-growth thing, and now the scythe’s stats and traits have been increasing at random.
They say that when you use materials from a strong monster to make something, it sometimes ends up having a piece of that monster’s power.
But it’s supposed to be only a piece, like the faint remnants of the monster.
A weapon shouldn’t randomly be growing on its own.
The only explanation I can think of is that maybe it’s the effect of Pride.
Pride is a cheat-like growth-enhancement skill, after all.
If this weapon somehow inherited that…well, it would explain a lot.
There’s something else that worries me, though.
It sure would be nice if this weapon was strong because I made it out of my own parts, but that seems almost too convenient, so I can’t help but suspect that someone else was involved.
Namely, a certain someone who gave me the cheat skill called Wisdom.
Yeah. D would do that.
Knowing that self-proclaimed “evil god,” I could just imagine D handing out an ultra-strong weapon just because it would be amusing.
That would certainly explain why it’s so incredibly high-powered.
Still, it’s not like I have any proof of that, and it hasn’t caused any trouble for me so far.
But come on, this evil aura totally makes it seem like a cursed weapon!
Hrm.
Is this scythe actually going to work on that tank?
It’s got the Rot attribute, but that’s the attribute that controls death, and a tank isn’t a living thing.
As I stand around contemplating this, the puppet spiders rush forward to attack the tank.
Aside from Sael, who’s injured, the other three are charging from all sides.
And the tank’s muzzle is still pointed at me.
Did they use me as a decoy?!
Well, I guess I can’t blame them. I did the same thing to Sael earlier.
As the puppet spiders rapidly close in, the tank extends four arms to fend them off.
They’re the same kind of gun arms I saw on the robots we wiped the floor with.
The guns start shooting light bullets.
Of the four, two fire at Ael, and the other two shoot at Riel and Fiel.
Though the tank couldn’t have possibly known this, it was smart to focus its fire on Ael, who’s basically the eldest sister of the puppet spiders.
Even Ael has no choice but to stop when two guns are shooting at her, fending off the shots with her blades.
It’s still kinda impressive that she isn’t taking a scratch, though.
While Ael is keeping those two arms occupied, Riel and Fiel work their way closer to the tank while blocking and dodging its shots.
Clearly one arm each isn’t enough to stop them.
Next thing you know, their swords swing at the tank’s armor.
There’s an unpleasant metallic CLANG as the swords clash against the armor, sending sparks flying.
But that’s it.
The swords cut through those robots easily, but they aren’t working on the tank’s outer defenses at all.
Forget slicing any part of the tank to ribbons. At most, they can leave only a tiny scratch.
Having thrown their full weight into the charge, Riel and Fiel are forced to pause for a second as their attacks are blocked.
The tank wastes no time in taking advantage of that opening.
With a loud grating noise, it rotates like a giant top, sending Riel and Fiel flying.
Luckily, they react quickly enough to push off the hull, adjusting themselves in midair and landing safely on their feet.
However, the tank isn’t done.
It keeps spinning as it charges toward Ael, who’s stopped in place.
Plus, its arms start firing off light bullets in all directions as it spins!
What an aggressive tank!
The indiscriminate barrage forces Riel and Fiel to fall back.
Ael retreats, too, but the tank stubbornly pursues her, so she can’t put much distance between them.
Geez, that tank is a total stalker.
A stalker that sends bullets flying everywhere and rotates at high speed while it chases you?
Worst stalker ever!
Okay, this is no time for jokes.
While the three puppet spiders are keeping the tank occupied, the Demon Lord brings the injured Sael to a safe place.
Namely, the hallway we came through earlier, where Mera and Vampy are holed up.
But she’ll be back on the front lines soon. Knowing the Demon Lord, she could topple that tank no problem.
As long as the puppet spiders buy some time for her, I’m sure the Demon Lord will destroy the tank without me having to lift a finger.
But we already know the tank’s main gun can bust through the puppet spiders’ defenses.
If something goes wrong, it’s possible one of them might die.
…I guess I’ll save them so the Demon Lord will owe me one.
As far as I can tell, I should be fine as long as I keep an eye on that main gun.
Scythe in hand, I break into a run.
Up the wall I go.
For a spider like me, wall running is a piece of cake.
In no time flat, I’ve climbed all the way up to the ceiling.
I run upside down along the ceiling until I’m directly above the tank.
Then I release my grip and free-fall.
As I’m getting ready to swing my scythe at it from above, the tank’s turret whips toward me.
Whoa, so you’ve got anti-air capabilities, too, huh?
A light shot comes flying toward me, and I immediately fend it off with my scythe.
The scythe slides right through the shell with a sound that can be described only as shiiiiing, splitting it perfectly in two.
Whoa! I gotta admit, I’m as surprised as you are.
I didn’t think that was gonna work, to be honest.
Not only that, but the two pieces of the shell suddenly lose their momentum and scatter into nothing.
The main gun that fired the cannonball is totally defenseless now, so I slice at it with my scythe.
The scythe cuts through the gun like butter, and it even keeps going, piercing into the body of the tank.
And since the tank is still spinning, it basically slices itself up on the scythe, turning into bits of scrap.
All that’s left are lumps of metal that look like a toy that someone tossed into a blender.
On top of that, the chopped-up bits of tank silently fade into dust.
It’s exactly like when I hit something with a Rot Attack.
Whaaaat? I thought the Rot attribute was all about death.
Why would it work on a nonliving thing?
And wait, what happened to the barrier that surrounded the tank’s armor?!
Why was I able to cut through it like that?!
Seriously, what is going on here…?
Well, uh, okay. I took care of the tank before the Demon Lord came back, and I got to have the spotlight for a bit, so I guess all’s well that ends well.
Yeah. Let’s not think too deeply about what just happened.
“Well, that was something…”
The Demon Lord looks at the pile of dust that was once the tank, her expression tense.
Even the puppet spiders look creeped out.
Come on—I just saved your asses. Do you really have to make that kind of face?
Wait a minute. The puppets’ expressions don’t change on their own. Does that mean they deliberately moved the thread around just to make these faces?
No waaay.
Behind the Demon Lord, Vampy peeks in from the hallway.
Glancing around, she confirms there’s no immediate danger and steps inside.
Mera follows behind her, carrying Sael on his back.
Sael is still missing all three of her left arms, plus a decent chunk of her abdomen.
She can’t seem to move her left leg, either.
Since the puppet spiders control their doll-like bodies with thread, they can’t move their limbs if the thread attached to them is broken.
It’s sort of like the motor nerves in humans. The thread Sael used to control her left leg must have snapped, so now she can’t walk.
Otherwise Vampy probably wouldn’t let Mera carry another girl like that.
I guess even she can put aside her jealousy in an emergency situation.
“Hmm. This place is worse than I thought. Since Sael’s been injured and all, maybe Sophia and Merazophis should head back to the surface.”
Not one person objects to the Demon Lord’s statement.
Ah, not that any of us is a person to begin with.
Putting jokes aside, if there are any more weapons like that tank in here, Vampy and Mera would only hold us back.
Neither of them are weak by this world’s standards, but it still took both of them to fight one or two robots.
They wouldn’t stand a chance against a large group of robots, never mind another tank.
Even the puppet spiders were having trouble against that tank.
The ruins continue past this room, through the door the tank emerged from.
Since there’s more to see, that means we have to keep investigating.
It would be best if Mera and Vampy went back to safety along with Sael.
But just as we all decide that, the earth shakes as if in protest to our decision.
This is one big quake.
The Demon Lord and I stay standing as if nothing happened, but the vampiric duo winds up falling to their hands and knees. Even the puppet spiders are wobbling as they try to stay balanced.
Then an alarm starts blaring.
The previous alarm had been going off this whole time, but with the addition of this new one, the noise is truly eardrum shattering.
If that wasn’t ominous enough, red lights start flashing all over the place.
“Yikes. This can’t be good, huh?”
Yeah, no kidding.
My danger senses are flying off the charts.
“Forget what I said before. Let’s all get out of here!”
With that, the Demon Lord scoops up Vampy and Mera under each arm and makes a break for the hallway.
The puppet spiders take off after her, still a little shaky on their feet.
I bring up the rear.
We dash through the hall, through the hole in the elevator, and back into the long hallway.
The moment we get that far, there’s a particularly large tremor and a loud boom.
The sound clearly came from behind us, so I look over my shoulder.
A wall of flame is rushing toward us at an alarming speed.
Uh-oh. This is bad.
Making a snap judgment, I charge right into the puppet spiders in front of me, wrapping my arms around them.
The impact lowers their HP a little, but there’s no time to worry about that right now.
I race down the long hallway at full speed.
Faster than the flames closing in on us!
Speeding along the hallway, I burst through the busted door and start climbing the holes I made back to the surface.
In front of me, the Demon Lord is escaping even faster than I am, so maybe she’s using her full speed, too.
Our bodies bump against the sides of the cramped tunnels, but that doesn’t matter.
I sure wish I’d made these things bigger, though!
I keep climbing the tunnels I’d dug before until I reach the ants’ nest, then keep speeding toward the surface.
All I’m thinking about is moving forward, trying not to focus on the heat licking at my back.
As I hear the ants’ nest collapsing behind us, I finally see the light of the surface!
Aaaalmoooost theeeeere!
I jump out of the hole so fast, I can almost hear a popping sound effect.
Then I keep sailing up in the air.
Whew, we made it!
Before I can breathe a sigh of relief, the ground explodes.
A giant flame pillar shoots upward, barely missing my nose by an inch.
That was close!
If I’d been a second slower, we would’ve gotten roasted by that fire.
But my relief lasts for only a second.
Uh-oh.
In my arms, the puppet spiders are staring down in horror just like I am.
They’re so surprised that they’ve forgotten to change their expressions.
And I can’t say I blame them.
There’s an even bigger flame pillar coming up below us, so huge it makes the previous one look like a joke.
The word “pillar” doesn’t even seem like enough anymore. It’s more like a solar flare.
It’s like we’re watching the end of the world.
The scene is so unbelievable that I almost don’t even notice the heat pushing toward us.
Then I see something flying upward in the middle of the inferno, seemingly slowly but it must actually be flying into the sky at an astounding speed.
Once it’s ascended, the flames settle down.
But that’s not the end of it.
If anything, I get the feeling that our battle has just begun.
Something emerges from the remains of the flame.
I can describe it only as a gigantic UFO.
An enormous round flying machine, so huge that you would have to measure its length in miles.
That’s what’s calmly flying into the sky.
Close by, the Demon Lord mutters what we’re all thinking.
“Unbelievable.”
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS ALWAYS APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE
Man, what the hell?
Seriously…just…what?
Hang on a minute.
Let me calm down a little.
How did things end up like this?
We randomly found some ancient ruins.
We explored them and got attacked by a robot army.
Then by a big, scary tank.
Things started getting sketchy, so we escaped from the ruins, then boom! Fire pillar.
And then, of course, this colossal UFO appeared.
Nope! Nope! Nope!
I still don’t get it!
Seriously, what’s going on?!
How? Why? What do we do?!
Help meeee!
As I fly into a total panic, I hear the sound of wings flapping closer.
“Hey, buddy! What’s the big idea, you damn dirty spider chick?!”
A giant pteranodon-looking wind dragon flies up to the Demon Lord.
Of all the dragons that rule over this wasteland, this one’s probably the strongest.
“We let you pass ’cause you said you wouldn’t do nothin’, but fat lot of good that did us! What’s the deal?”
…Why is it talking like that?
Even through Telepathy, this guy totally sounds like a second-rate grunt.
C’mon—this is a dragon, though. I’m sure it’s just putting on an act. Right?
“Better fess up, or things are gonna get ugly!”
“Oh? And what’s a wind dragon possibly going to do to me?”
“I ain’t stupid. I know I can’t whoop you, spider! But if you lay a hand on me, the boss is gonna have a thing or two to say to you, got it?”
Ah. I see.
It really is just a lowly grunt.
As soon as the Demon Lord got a tiny bit threatening, its tail went between its legs.
Plus, it’s totally hiding behind the authority of its so-called “boss.”
Is that really okay with you, dragon?
I dunno, considering how Araba was and all, I thought dragons were proud, powerful beings as a rule.
This guy’s totally ruining that image right now.
Ugh. I’m kinda getting bummed out by this.
“Oh yeah? All right, that’s perfect. I have a feeling we might not be able to handle this thing alone. Go ahead and call Gülie, will you?”
“Wait, you for real, girlie? He could bump you off in one blow, y’know?”
“Yeah, yeah, just call him. Can’t you see what we’re up against?”
The Demon Lord points at the giant UFO.
Ah, so “boss” was referring to Güli-güli.
Right, I guess if a dragon was going to call for a superior, it’d obviously be Güli-güli.
“Of course I can, you palooka! What the hell is it anyway?!”
“That’s what I’d like to know! You realize it was buried under this wasteland, right?! How could you not notice something like that was here?!”
“Huh?”
The wind dragon closes its mouth and looks down stupidly.
What are we gonna do?
This guy seems like a total moron.
I’m starting to wonder if the ruins were actually that well hidden or if it’s just that the dragons here were too stupid to notice them.
“Listen up. I’m gonna explain really simply so that even your tiny little brain can understand. We happened to find some ruins hidden underground dating to an era before the system started operating, so we took a look around. And then that thing came out. Got it?”
Yeah, that was a brief summary, all right.
“I don’t get it!”
And yet, the wind dragon is doing somersaults in the air to show how confused it is, or at least that it doesn’t believe the story.
Honestly, it looks like a giant baby dinosaur throwing a tantrum.
This isn’t gonna work.
“It doesn’t matter! Just call Gülie already!”
Her patience running out, the Demon Lord gives the flailing wind dragon a light shove.
It looked fairly restrained, no more than a gentle prod, but due to the Demon Lord’s crazy-high stats, it still sends the wind dragon plummeting downward.
“……”
The Demon Lord watches the wind dragon fall for a while, then turns back toward the UFO, utterly expressionless.
I guess she’s just going to pretend that never happened.
No waaay.
That was ridiculous.
Okay, maybe she’s right. We’d better get back to the problem at hand.
We’ll just ignore the fallen wind dragon.
It’s still got some HP left, so it’s not dead, at least.
Right now, we have to figure out what to do about this UFO in front of us.
There’s actually a decent distance between the weird floating craft and us.
But since the damn thing is so big, it messes with your sense of scale, so it feels like it’s right under our noses.
That’s how huge it is.
I can’t help being impressed that something that big was somehow buried underground.
I guess that’s what the heart of the ruins really was.
The robots and the tank were nothing but its defense force—this UFO is its ultimate weapon.
Frankly, the tank was enough of a pain for me, but this giant thing totally upstages it.
I kinda want to run away from reality, to be honest.
Quit busting out stuff that doesn’t fit into a fantasy world!
Whose idea was this stupid giant UFO?!
It obviously doesn’t work with this setting!
But complaining in my head won’t change what’s in front of me.
What are we going to do about this?
It almost seems like the kind of thing we can’t do anything about to begin with.
“Erm, Miss Ariel? What are we going to do?”
Vampy voices my question for me, still in the Demon Lord’s arms.
“Good question. I get the feeling even I would have trouble bringing that thing down. We might just have to wait for Gülie to get here.”
Part 2 of 8