Trusting in Yurika, Koutarou advanced forward. If he stayed still, the smaller monsters would rain down attacks on him again, so believing in her was all he could do.
“Nana-san, are you good at whack-a-mole?!” Yurika asked.
“You already know! I am good at everything!” Nana answered.
“In that case, High Gravity Field!” Yurika said, casting a spell.
In the next moment, everyone in the area stopped moving. Yurika had used a spell that increased the gravity around War Emperor, making them all several times heavier. The smaller monsters in particular lost their ability to fly and crashed into the ground.
“Yurika-chan, how am I supposed to—” Nana began, but stopped herself before she could finish her sentence. Her expression turned into a smile.
“I see! I get it!”
In the next moment, things proceeded as anticipated.
“High gravity detected, changing to high-gravity environment preset. Distortion field reset,” War Emperor’s AI announced.
The machine was made for Koutarou’s personal use, but its origin was the Warlord series. In other words, they had taken high-gravity planets into account while building it. The distortion field was reset in an instant, and they could move freely like before.
“Heave-ho!” Nana said. She set her spiritual energy generator to full output and moved her heavy body inside of War Emperor’s distortion field. With that, she was immediately free of the gravity’s effects.
“Yurika-chan, do it!” Nana said.
“Acid Swamp!”
That was the moment Yurika had been waiting for. She cast yet another spell with War Emperor at its center. This time, the ground was turned into an acidic swamp. The monsters being pushed down by the gravity continued to sink into the swamp.
“You really are incredible, Yurika,” Koutarou said in admiration. He continued to advance War Emperor. The ground had no effect on the machine. It slid forward as if skating on ice.
“I have a good teacher,” Yurika answered.
“Ahaha, you can proudly say that you have surpassed her,” Nana said with a wry smile while whacking moles.
The gray monsters could probably manipulate gravity to fly, but they were currently stuck in an acid swamp. There was only one thing they could do before melting and burning in the acid. If they manipulated gravity, they could free themselves, but the acid would still be stuck on their bodies, doing a lot of damage. That said, if they blocked the acid, they could avoid instant death, but when they stopped to use magic, Nana would shoot them. It could truly be called whack-a-mole. By giving the enemy the two obstacles of acid and gravity, they left the monsters unable to defend themselves in any other way. That was where Nana’s accurate shooting came in. The monsters stood no chance of winning.
“Besides, I couldn’t protect Satomi-san like this,” Nana continued.
The wide-area spells Yurika had cast were normally grand spells that required rituals to reach the scale Yurika managed on her own, and casting them one after another was out of the question. It was only made possible by the equipment and Koutarou protecting Yurika. Normally, one couldn’t cast even simple rituals in the middle of a battlefield, which meant that Koutarou and Blue Line were drawing out the limits of Yurika’s abilities.
Looking at these results, what Yurika-chan needed was the composure she got from experience and fundamental knowledge, Nana thought.
Yurika was overflowing with talent, but in the past, she’d consistently failed her missions. But after gaining a lot of experience and knowledge, she had transformed. Koutarou and Blue Line were just an opportunity, and she would have produced results even if she were in a different situation.
In contrast to Yurika, who was in a good shape, Theia and the others were in a more precarious situation. There were simply too many enemies. There were also enemies with weapons that used magic and spiritual energy technology, so going on a bold offensive was difficult. Theia in particular was stuck on the ground, since she would be targeted if she tried to fly.
“This situation is bad,” she muttered in frustration while sniping enemies. “At this rate they will be able to push through.”
She was good in a shoot-out too, but air strikes were especially important in battles like these. Their position could be turned around if the enemy’s rear could be cut off and their artillery was destroyed. But if Theia tried to fly now, the magic and spiritual energy weapons would shoot her down. The Gray Knight narrowing down the use of magic and spiritual energy weapons to antiair equipment was nothing short of brilliant.
“Shizuka is the only one winning right now,” Theia muttered.
Even in their current situation, Shizuka was doing well. Alunaya’s overwhelming power was protecting her from the enemy’s attacks. The only exceptions were spiritual energy weapons, but since they were limited to antiair, there were only a few weapons that could be aimed at Shizuka, and they weren’t enough.
“Theiamillis-san, Shizuka-san is going too far forward,” Nefilforan said, concerned about the situation. “At this rate she will be surrounded and cut off from us.”
Shizuka would want to cooperate with the Nefilforan unit, but the unit was slowly being pushed back, and only Shizuka was left behind. If she was completely cut off from everyone else, she would lose her tactical value. If Shizuka was cut off in a distant area, the front gate’s defenses would collapse.
That said, there’s not much we can do to make a comeback, Theia thought.
They weren’t losing in fighting power, nor was morale bad. But they were overwhelmingly losing in numbers, and they had also forced their way through. Moreover, the enemy was equipped with magic and spiritual energy weapons for antiair use. At this rate, a horde of enemies would rush down Koutarou’s group. If that happened, they would be back to square one. Despite knowing that, there was nothing Theia could do.
It was at that moment that a certain person’s voice came over the comms. “That’s not very like you, Theiamillis-san.”
“Harumi?!” Theia exclaimed.
“Sorry to keep you waiting; I’m here to help,” Harumi announced. This meant that reinforcements had arrived.
“You fool! If you come out—” Theia began, but Harumi interrupted her.
“Now’s not the time for that. Am I wrong?”
“Ugh...” Theia groaned.
The Nefilforan unit actually had some leeway in the form of the troops protecting Harumi. This time was no different as they protected her, the Blue Knight’s Achilles’ heel. They also had another role assigned to them: to attack the Gray Knight from behind if he was to strike. However, they couldn’t stay quiet under the circumstances. The Gray Knight hadn’t revealed himself, but the situation was shaping up as originally envisioned. Harumi’s forces could attack the enemies approaching Theia and the others from behind.