kscans

Chapter 247 - Episode 30: Second Half, The Trump Card

Another three days passed. Now that the general time of the Magic Insects’ attack had been calculated, the battle lines were somehow being maintained. Our fighting methods had also grown more refined. The average amount of magic used per Magic Insect had dropped considerably. Of course, that also meant we were taking risks, luring them in until we could take careful aim.

Fulsy, who had been glued to the radar since before dawn, looked at me.

"The response from the Blood Mountains just moved wholesale. It’s the biggest crimson movement we’ve seen yet. And it looks like the others are about to leave the mountains, too."

"Is today the climax?"

I glared at the radar. Countless points of magic were heading our way.

◇◇

The sound of a gong echoed across the hill. In the morning sun that illuminated the Blood Mountains, I could see five enormous pillars of gnats rising up.

"The estimated number is over twelve thousand," Mia reported.

A new record, by double the score. The swarm formed a perfect circle above the mountain range. It was not just their numbers. Their coordination was clearly different from before.

The battle began. Despite their fatigue from the preceding days, our human allies fought valiantly against the massive horde. There had been two raids yesterday, but the numbers had been small. On top of that, they were likely sustained by the feeling that victory would be theirs if they could just break through this.

But the enemy was more formidable than ever. Their sheer numbers were one thing, but their actions as a swarm were solid. Until now, when a laser shot down one of their own, the surrounding insects would show signs of disorder. Today, they simply continued their advance.

While one was shot down, the rest pushed forward. Finally, lightning struck at the Empire’s encampment to the north. A Magic Insect that had drawn near had unleashed a lightning attack. Fortunately, it was diverted by the lightning rod installed in the camp.

The human side adapted quickly as well. They had gained experience from the battles so far regarding the proper distance and timing to target the Magic Insects. The sight of multiple lasers concentrating on a single insect, so common on the first day, was now a rarity.

Alfina also skillfully controlled the generation of Purple Magic, preventing the horde from focusing its aim on just one of the three locations.

Even so, the number of Magic Insects flying toward us was far greater than before. The defense force led by Maytyl and Tembelg was desperately intercepting them.

The battle lines reached a stalemate. This was not a bad situation. No matter how numerous they were, it was still the insects that were being unilaterally shot down. The moment we halted their brute force of numbers with our weapons and skill, the "combat" turned in our favor.

The problem was whether our magic would hold out. And there was one other thing.

"The magic in the sky is descending," Fulsy yelled.

The enemy army had a trump card to break this equilibrium. Their aerial legion condensed. At its center, the glow of purple magic was clearly visible.

Among the countless Magic Insects cloaked in crimson, there were five cloaked in purple magic. Even from a distance, they were larger than the regular ones. They were superior variants. If the Magic Insects we had fought until now were soldiers, these were beings you could call kings.

The five kings formed a squadron of their own. The crimson soldiers followed the kings, who flew with trails of Purple Light. They attracted the insects within a certain range, as if they were magnets.

Of course, Craig and the others were not just standing by idly. Lasers from the left and right converged on the five at the head.

But…

The ruby-colored beams were repelled by the dense purple magic. The crimson soldiers followed behind the purple kings, who had passed through the barrage. Having crossed the line of fire, the kings and their personal guard advanced straight ahead, forming a V-shape like an arrowhead.

The two armies that had been broken through immediately switched targets. Lasers shaved away at the rear of the triangular formation heading our way. But the disrupted forces had yet to regain their posture. In fact, they had their hands full just dealing with the Magic Insects in their own vicinity.

Perhaps because the kings had broken away, the remaining crimson soldiers lacked their earlier coordination, but they still far outnumbered the forces surrounding the two armies. They were in a situation where they had no choice but to desperately respond to the Magic Insects in the sky, which lit up their segments one after another in preparation to attack.

A number of them beyond anything we had faced before was now closing in on us.

"As planned, we’ll handle the purple ones," Maytyl commanded. She drew the other magic laser attached to her hip. Her personal retainers followed suit.

A laser of the same color was fired toward the purple king variant. It struck the king, sending sparks flying. The purple magic cloaking the king weakened.

Its momentum halted, the insect king wheeled and ascended as if it could take no more, shaking off the laser. High above, the five scattered, widening their angle to approach again. What was more, the purple magic that had momentarily weakened was recovering with incredible speed.

The purple lasers were effective. But it was clear they were not a decisive blow.

"We’ll split into two squads. I’ll command the right, Crenne the left. Just focus your fire on any that get close," I heard Maytyl instruct.

"We will continue to strike the crimson grunts," Tembelg ordered, bathing the approaching crimson soldiers in laser fire. The crimson soldiers that had drawn near were shot down. Looking closely, a squad from both the northern and eastern armies was providing us with covering fire.

But the numbers and density were overwhelming. The most Magic Insects our headquarters had ever dealt with at once was a few dozen at most. And those had been scattered individuals that had slipped through the vanguard.

"We can’t hold them for long. If we fall, the entire army is in danger. Hurry," Maytyl shouted.

If we were defeated, the vast majority of the Magic Insects, including the kings, would swarm the north and east. Or perhaps they would scatter widely across the Kingdom and the Empire. Either way, it would mean humanity’s defeat.

I ran toward the observatory. Claudia, who was guarding the entrance, drew her laser sorcery staff. She was heading to the front as well. The situation now required every last knight on the front lines.

With them as my shield, I had something I needed to do.

"We’re playing our trump card too. Get it ready, Noel."

"Got it."

I yelled as I burst into the observatory. Noel removed the cloth that covered an object in the back of the headquarters. A long tube with a diamond-shaped bulge at its base appeared. Noel and I pushed the wheeled object forward. The platform Alfina had vacated would serve as the gun turret.

I pulled down the rain cover over the center of the observatory dome. Noel used a brush to connect the two circuits drawn on the surface of the barrel with a painted line. The pattern on the barrel began to glow. The secret weapon had begun its activation sequence.

I had anticipated the existence of superior variants that used purple magic.

There had been several clues. The legends depicted different colored individuals within the dragon swarms. The monster we knew so well, the dire wolf, also had a superior variant that acted as the pack’s boss.

I had asked Craig for the cores of a superior and a subordinate dire wolf taken down during a Monster Flood. After refilling their depleted magic and analyzing their wavelengths with Iris, I discovered that the superior variant could emit a faint amount of crimson magic.

The Magic Insects were creatures that used crimson magic crystals for their cores even at the common level. If a superior variant existed, it was possible it used purple magic. And then there was the existence of the prophetic crystal. Why was it called an Ancient Dragon’s Eye in the Empire?

It was reasonable to assume that, like the crimson magic crystals, it was the core of an ancient magical creature. As Fulsy had said before, it was not something humans could create.

Putting all this information together led to a worst case hypothesis. That a superior variant of the Magic Insect existed, with an Ancient Dragon’s Eye for a core.

Based on that hypothesis, I examined the results of Fabius’s measurements of the Blood Mountains and requested additional observations. As expected, some of the purple magic points showed behavior different from the others. In other words, some of the points thought to be purple Magic Vents were predicted to be the superior Magic Insect variants my hypothesis suggested.

"We can’t hold them. Are you ready yet?" Tembelg’s furious voice came from outside. He and his subordinates had been pushed back to the area around the observatory, the center of our headquarters. Outside the window, I could see Maytyl and Claudia firing their lasers side by side. And in the sky above, an incomparable number of Magic Insects swarmed.

"This is bad. One of the purple ones went toward the workshop," Maytyl’s voice rang out, sounding like a scream.

I could see the four kings assembling above our headquarters. They took a square formation, and light began to fill them from their tails. It was like a countdown to destruction. The target of their lightning would undoubtedly be the building we were in.

"The barrel adjustment is done," Noel shouted.

I looked at Alfina. She was holding the prophetic crystal she had brought from the cathedral. When I nodded, Alfina went to the tube.

There was a spherical indentation at the back of the secret weapon. Alfina placed the prophetic crystal there. Noel set a bottle emitting a yellow fluorescence in front of the crystal, and I covered the tip of the bottle with a black magic crystal that had been processed into an arc.

"Calculations complete, Senpai," Mia said from beside Fulsy, who was still glued to the radar. I adjusted the angle according to Mia’s instructions.

Alfina approached the crystal. I shielded her with a cover of sorcerous metal coated in a magic-reflecting material. In principle, the magic should be concentrated forward, but I could not be careless when using the crystal’s power.

With that, we were ready. The sky crackled with the baribari of thunder. Purple lightning coiled around the four kings.

"Marquis, the warning!" I yelled to Tembelg outside.

The headquarters’ gong was struck, and the beams of light that had been racing through the sky vanished all at once. As instructed beforehand, all the knights on the hill and anyone with even the slightest aptitude should be lying flat on the ground.

Fulsy, who had been watching the radar until the last possible second, also moved to the far end of the room.

Alfina touched the crystal. Dokun. The crystal flickered once, producing a purple light. But the light suddenly vanished. In its place, a single wave of light formed inside the yellow liquid and moved forward.

The next moment, there was the sound of shattering glass. Almost simultaneously, the barrel glowed, and a sphere of light shot out from its tip toward the sky.

"Alfina."

I caught Alfina as she collapsed from the recoil.

Lying on my back and looking up, my eyes followed the sphere of light as it advanced, expanding in concentric circles. Purple in the center, then crimson, then red. A sinister rainbow of magic. The spindle-shaped center collided with the four kings in the sky. And then, the rainbow simply shattered.

The four insects floated in the sky as if nothing had happened. But their bodies were rigid, like specimens pinned to a board.

…

The next moment, they broke. Horns, heads, legs, wings, abdomens. Their body parts broke apart and fell, as if they had become the toys of an innocent child.

"Thank goodness, it worked," Alfina said, her face relieved in my arms.

"Are you alright, Alfina?"

"Yes, because you protected me, Ricardo-kun."

Alfina placed her hand over mine, which I had wrapped around her below her navel.

Fulsy and the others stood up, shaking their heads. We reluctantly let go of each other.

I went outside the observatory to check on the battle.

The remaining Magic Insects, buffeted by the outer wave of crimson magic, were in disarray. Lasers from the ground rained down upon them.

The Magic Insects were shot down one-sidedly. Tembelg and his men, now on their feet, had also resumed their attack from the hilltop. The assault from three sides brought the Magic Insects down.

Looking at the plains, the swarm of Magic Insects that had clustered around Craig and Dagobard’s camps had also lost its coordination. The once massive swarm was dwindling to a shadow of its former self.

It had been a harsh battle, but it seemed we had succeeded in our pest extermination.