“…Ugh, Mr. Fen is covered in wounds.”
After changing into our golden gear, we observed the fierce battle between the Divine Beast and the high-level demon from atop a nearby great tree.
“Look. The demon has an amazing self-heal ability.”
From the wound of the high-level demon, torn by the Divine Beast’s claws, new sprouts began to grow, quickly sealing the wound and restoring its bark-like exterior to its original state.
“Magic disable?”
“Yes, Mia. The lower-level spell for restraint has been nullified, I determine.”
It seemed that the Divine Beast was also using a lower-level spell with weak convergence, intending it as a blindfold, assuming it would be nullified as well.
“Something’s on its back?”
“That’s Mr. Large Gun, sir! Pochi knows this for sure, sir!”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I saw it, too. I think they were holding that under their arm just before the previous beam attack.”
Even Lulu had seen it.
“In that case, we should aim to destroy that.”
“If we can’t stop the artillery fire, we should respond to it by stacking Fortress and Phalanx like we did earlier.”
“No, Arisa. I will definitely stop it next time, I declare.”
“No.”
Mia spoke, trying to restrain Nana, who was fired up.
“That’s right. While I feel like Nana wearing golden armor may be able to stop it, we don’t need to get ourselves into situations like that. Master will be so sad if we get injured.”
“He did order us to stay safe, I declare.”
Nana nodded, after seemingly being lost in thought.
“…Ah, the Divine Beast!”
The sacred beast came rolling forward, shattering trees in its path.
Uh-oh. Maybe our briefing went on a little too long.
“Time for round two!”
I declared as I fired off the spell Tactical Talk.
“““Yes.”””
“Sir!”
Nana and the beastfolk girls ran across the broken ground left by the Divine Beast and headed toward the high-ranking demon. Lulu shot cover fire using her Fireburst Gun. Mia began chanting a Spirit spell—I figured it was to summon Behemoth. I played the role of support for the front line. I had already cast Buff spells on them, so I figured it would be better to buy time using Deracinator and Labyrinth.
“Amaaaazing.”
“Mr. Big Gun is on standby, sir!”
Ominous particles gathered with a buzzing hum around the cannon that the demon had braced at their hip. It wasn’t aimed at us. It looked more as if he was planning a follow-up strike on Fen.
“I’ll use Phalanx. Nana, use Fortress!”
“Yes, Liza—”
Nana stopped in her tracks as the floating shield of the golden armor moved forward.
“…Fortress, I declare.”
As the word was chanted, parts of the golden armor transformed, deploying magic barriers one after another to construct a fortress. The Fortress armor looked a lot sturdier than her silver armor. I wondered if it was like a Fortress times two effect?
“They’re coming.”
Following Tama’s signal, the beastfolk girls deployed Phalanx. Since Phalanx was only effective for a short amount of time, timing it together was crucial. With a blinding flash that stung the eyes, a massive beam of light shattered the Triple Phalanx deployed outside the fortress, crashing into the layered barriers of the fortress. My eyes and ears hurt as a result of the light and the loud roaring sound. It felt like we’d end up blind or deaf if we didn’t have the golden armor’s shielding system.
“Hnnngg!”
The fortress was pushed back, and even Nana’s large shield that was supporting us was being forced backward.
“Deracinator!”
I also used Space Magic to support the fortress from behind. I did have the advanced skill “Devine Deracinator,” but it wasn’t suited for small, subtle maneuvers like this. It was an underutilized spell, as its pure defensive power was slightly inferior to that of Fortress, so there hadn’t been many opportunities to use it so far.
Crack.
While I wondered about such things, Deracinator looked close to breaking.
“Powerfuuuuul, sir!”
“More power?”
Tama and Pochi pushed on Nana’s shield from behind.
“Arisa, use Deracinator behind me as well, I request.”
“Okey-dokey!”
While I didn’t quite understand what she was asking, I set up my Deracinator behind Nana.
“‘Emergency Jet Expulsion,’ I declare!”
The center of Nana’s golden armor changed shape as a nozzle-shaped spout appeared.
The jet flames bursting from the nozzle hit the Deracinator, obscuring it from view, but it seemed that it managed to push back the Fortress, which was on the verge of being overwhelmed.
“Tch, Master, you modified it way too much.”
Amid the roaring sounds, as I muttered my complaints, the endurance battle ended in victory for Nana and us.
“Changing to cooling mode. Due to overload, I will need around ninety seconds of cooldown, I declare.”
“All right. Let’s go, Pochi, Tama. We can’t let our opponent get the chance to fire that huge weapon.”
“Yep.”
“Yes, sir.”
The beast girls dashed toward the high-ranking demon with instantaneous movement.
“… Majuu Ou Souzou Create Behemoth.”
Mia finished channeling her spell, and a behemoth appeared from a huge magic circle.
“Go.”
The behemoth let out a roar as it headed toward the battle. The behemoth overtook the beast girls almost immediately, crashing into the high-level demon unleashing a flurry of lightning strikes.
“Temporary repairs complete. Arisa, please move me closer to the high-ranking demon, I request.”
“Got it. Push yourself if you have to, but don’t do anything reckless—Portal Door.”
Two doors appeared before—one in front of us, and the other closer to the battlefield.
“Thank you, I declare.”
Nana spoke as she went through the door in front of us and appeared at the other door near the battlefield.
“O bark demon! You should make like a tree and leave, I declare!”
I heard Nana’s voice as she fired off a “Provoke” attack using her skill, followed by a talk about tactics.
“Lulu, when I provoke him again, you can use your Acceleration Gun—Lulu?”
Lulu was next to the Divine Beast—who had lost its power and had gone from the size of a mountain to around sixteen feet tall.
“Please drink this. It’ll make you feel better.”
It looked like Lulu was helping the Divine Beast.
“…You saved me again, Roro.”
“I’m not Ms. Roro, I’m Lulu.”
“Back then, I was as weak as a cub. But not now. Witness me, Roro.”
The Divine Beast shook as it stood up.
“Wait, already! If you’re so beat-up you can’t tell the difference between Roro and Lulu, you’re in no fit state to do anything. Please rest a little.”
“Our opponent is a high-ranking demon. You are powerless against it.”
“I wonder if we are?”
Using my Clairvoyance Mirror spell, I reflected the current state of the battlefield onto it and showed the Divine Beast. Ms. Liza was stabbing the demon with her lance, Tama used her ninjutsu to toy with the demon as Pochi stumbled, narrowly avoiding the demon’s attack, while Nana deflected the demon’s kick with her large shield.
“The only one landing any attacks is the scaled one. I need to help—”
“Lulu, it’s time.”
I shrugged my shoulders as I called out to Lulu.
“Understood.”
Lulu pulled out a long Cannon of Acceleration stored in her Space Storage found within her golden armor.
“The high-ranking demon is pretty fast. Think you can hit it?”
“It’ll be fine. I studied its movement patterns—aim, ready. Lock on.”
Lulu, aiming the Cannon of Acceleration, issued a command to the support AI.
“Yes, my lady. ‘Dimension Pile.’ Stand by.”
The Acceleration Support AI voice responded. The Divine Beast looked shocked, asking if someone else was with us. The invisible dimensional stakes fixed the heavy, long Cannon of Acceleration weapon in midair. The demon wasn’t in front of the cannon, but Lulu’s aim never failed.
“‘Virtual Barrel Deployment.’”
“Okay, ‘Virtual Barrel,’ spread.”
A pseudo-material barrel of about sixty-five feet, created by Arcane Magic, extended in all directions from the Cannon of Acceleration.
Man, that transformation gets me fired up when I see it!
“Acceleration magic circle, restrictions lifted.”
“Aye-aye ma’am, battery, full charge.”
Mana from the power cylinder attached to the Cannon of Acceleration was channeled to generate a magic circle. Every bit of mana battery, including the spares, was completely drained.
“Acceleration, overdrive.”
Along the virtual barrel, red-glowing magic circles unfurled. With a hundred layers of magic circles stacked together, it formed the shape of a barrel. It was impressive as always.
“Now.”
As Mia murmured, a high-ranking demon smashing through the jungle trees came into view. It seemed like it finally noticed us.
“Outta the way!”
I stopped its rampage with a Deracinator barrage. The high-ranking demon warped the surface of its body, forming something like a hollow space, which it then filled with particles of light. It was probably planning to attack with that—but it was already too late.
“Fire!”
“Ignition!”
Lulu’s slim finger pulled on the trigger, firing out a Holy Shell. With a thunderous boom that resonated deep in my stomach, a blue streak shot out from Lulu’s Cannon of Acceleration. The blue light shot like a laser into the high-ranking demon’s torso, and it sliced the massive bark-covered body in two from top to bottom, blowing it away.
“Huh?! Where did the high-ranking demon go?”
The Holy Rounds fired from Lulu’s Cannon of Acceleration were custom-made by Master and packed with an absurd amount of mana. As an anti-demon attack, they had power rivaling the forbidden spells Mia and I could cast.
✦ ✦ ✦
