The sky of Nod shuddered with a screech-like roar.
This roar wove huge magic circles in the sky and became spells chanted at an ultrahigh density impossible for human vocal cords.
The magic circles created and amplified a shockwave accompanied by a destructive ray of light. It was Freikugel Plus’s ritual spell artillery attack.
The beam of light mowed down the MAR soldiers and the moss-covered soil of the cape with them. A tilt-rotor transport craft caught in the attack lost its balance, falling into the sea of clouds below.
Even so, as she kept her silver-colored recurve bow raised, Shio’s expression was hard and tense with fear.
The ritual spell artillery attack beam vanished, leaving the gouged soil exposed to sight. Wriggling upon it was a horde of bizarre monsters—a horde of soldiers covered with white exoskeletons.
“What are these things?! They shrugged off my artillery attack…?!”
Shio’s voice trembled with nervousness. Freikugel Plus’s ritual spell artillery attack could exhibit might close to that of a Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassal for a brief instant. These skeletal soldiers had taken a direct hit from her attack, yet remained active, virtually unscathed.
“Ahh, those must be Spartoi.”
Still in Avrora’s arms, Mogwai whistled, visibly surprised. Shio narrowed her eyes, perplexed.
“Spartoi? What are those…?”
“Apparently, artificial demons made from culturing dragon cells. They’re not sentient, but they have magic resistance equal to a dragon. They’re tough. That bastard Shahryar Ren must’ve figured out normal troops weren’t gonna cut it so he sent these things in.”
“Like it’s not your problem, too?!”
Shio bit her lip as she notched a fresh arrow, but the Spartoi moved faster. They closed the distance, moving like bugs as they assaulted Shio before she could take aim.
“Rosen Chevalier Plus, Boot Up—!”
Yuiri leaped in, swinging her silvery long sword downward. Charging undaunted into the horde of Spartoi, she sliced into them along with their thick exoskeleton armor. Granted an effect equal to slicing through space itself, Rosen Chevalier Plus’s slicing attacks were effective even against Spartoi, with flesh as hard as that of a dragon.
“Yuiri!”
“Shio, get back! Take care of Avrora and Glenda!”
Cutting down six Spartoi in the blink of an eye, she’d apparently gained a feel for fighting them. Yuiri smiled strongly toward Shio and the others.
Yet as she watched, the expression rising over Shio was one of surprise, foreboding, and despair.
“No, Yuiri! Not yet! They’re still moving!”
“Eh…?!”
The Spartoi she thought she’d defeated were rising behind Yuiri once more. They weren’t so much regenerating as forcing their sliced bodies to reconnect, which was more than sufficient for the hollow Spartoi, which lacked internal organs.
The cutting edge of Rosen Chevalier Plus was so fine, it kept them mostly intact.
“Why, youuu…!!”
Shio shot a cursed arrow toward the regenerating Spartoi. A small-scale whirlwind arose to envelop Yuiri’s surroundings, blowing the Spartoi remains in every direction. It wasn’t a real solution, but even the Spartoi couldn’t bounce back right away if they were missing body parts. Denying them their combat abilities was good enough for the moment.
“Ohhh…not bad, missies.”
Mogwai spoke with obvious praise. Avrora’s blue eyes were wide open as she clapped excitedly.
“This is nothing.”
Shio replied with a strong tone as her shoulders rose and fell. The fight with the Spartoi made her truly understand the peculiarities of Nod and its lack of demonic energy.
Magic spells and ritual spells greatly resembled each other, but there was a fundamental difference in how they worked. Magic used real-world elements like ley lines and celestial bodies to create supernatural phenomena. In contrast, ritual spells drew on the living energy from the caster’s own flesh and blood and the natural world.
Shio and the others were able to use ritual spells in Nod, where magic energy did not exist, through the caster sacrificing her life force, using it as fuel to generate ritual energy. The Spartoi were probably able to function in Nod because they were constructed from a dragon’s flesh.
The issue being, Shio and the others could only use as much ritual energy as their bodies could withstand.
If anything, thanks to being unable to borrow strength from ley lines or the natural world, their ritual energy depletion was more severe than on the surface. On top of that, Freikugel Plus wasn’t exactly a ritual energy–efficient weapon. The same applied to Yuiri’s Rosen Chevalier Plus. Prolonged combat was dangerous. They had to concentrate their forces as much as possible and settle this as soon as possible.
“Where is Kiriha Kisaki…?”
Shio posed this question to Avrora, standing right next to her. Avrora gasped and lifted her face.
“She is…right behind thee.”
Avrora’s unexpected reply made Shio unwittingly spin around. Shio’s back was struck by the impact of someone suddenly kicking her hard.
“Out of my way, Shio Hikawa!”
Shio heard Kiriha’s jeering voice as she rolled on the ground, with Avrora caught up in the process. A severe, hot wind blew at her back. An incandescent beam unleashed by the dragon raced past Shio and the others from overhead.
“What’s the big idea?! That’s dangerous, Kiriha Kisaki!”
Enduring the pain at her back, Shio looked behind and lodged her complaints.
Hah?! Kiriha’s scornful glance seemed to say, before immediately returning her gaze to the copper Flame Dragon whirling in the skies above.
“I wonder, are the Lion King Agency’s monkeys incapable of speaking a single word of thanks for saving them? I have my hands full against a dragon. I have no time to worry about deadweight.”
“No time? I thought you Priestesses of the Six Blades were experts in antidemon beast combat?”
“Would you like to trade places with me, then? Right now perhaps? You should be thanking me for holding an ancient dragon at bay without proper manpower or equipm—!!”