Tartarus loomed before me, its countless tentacles writhing and lashing about before suddenly snapping still, fixing their aim directly on me.
They spread out across a massive area, resembling a wall of spears designed to halt a cavalry charge.
"Tartarus has over several thousand tentacles. Do you really think you can dodge them all!?"
Ido’s voice rang out, and a rain of tentacles came pouring down.
Prioritizing evasion, I fired my verniers in reverse and leapt backward. The countless limbs slammed into the earth where I had been standing, gouging massive holes in the ground.
"What speed and power! This thing is in a different league compared to the other golems!"
"And every time it attacks, those tentacles are stripping away the surrounding mana!"
There were plenty of monsters that could drain mana. The standard theory for dealing with them was to rely on physical attacks, but...
"Let’s give it a try for now."
I drew my Great Magic Sword. I wondered if the blade, simply reinforced with spell formulas, would be enough to sever his tentacles.
I took a stance and slashed at the incoming limbs—but the blade stopped about halfway through.
"Impossible! To think it could stop that Great Magic Sword! Master Lloyd inscribed it with hundreds of spell formulas!"
"The hardness and elasticity are insane! And it’s regenerating instantly!"
The two of them were reeling, but frankly, I had expected this. If it could be defeated by simple force, then Magicamillia and the other golems would have been able to deal some level of damage.
Ido had likely grafted the tissue of Evil Plants and Eternity Seeds onto the tentacles of a Chaos Kraken. He was using the massive magic reactor inside that gargantuan body to forcibly stabilize the flexible yet powerful musculature of a mollusk and the regenerative vitality of a plant.
Not bad, Ido. This wasn't something that could be achieved without an immense knowledge of alchemy.
"Interesting. Let's see just how well-made this thing really is."
The Great Magic Sword I just used was in its base state. While it was reinforced by spell formulas, it was ultimately just an exceptionally sharp blade. Of course, that was usually more than enough, but Diguardia was equipped with plenty of other gimmicks.
I flipped the switch for the coupler. By directly linking the cockpit to the machine's frame, I could channel not only my mana but my Ki through the unit itself. Opportunities to face a target this durable were rare. It was a perfect chance to test everything I had.
"First, let's try Ki."
I visualized the Ki I had refined within my body circulating through every part of the machine. The Great Magic Sword in my hand began to emit a faint glow. Good, the link was complete. This should work.
"Hup!"
With a sharp whoosh, a tentacle went flying through the air. I felt none of the resistance from before; it was as if I were slicing through paper. I proceeded to cut down the incoming tentacles one after another.
"Hey, hey, is he really using Ki as a weapon, and through the machine no less?! Even for masters who have trained for decades, shrouding a weapon in Ki is a monumental task! I've only ever seen a few people who could do it, and he pulls it off like it's nothing...!"
"Attacks fueled by Ki are incredibly effective against monsters. Combining that with a magic sword that already has high attack power results in something truly terrifying..."
The two were muttering to each other again. It seemed slashes reinforced with Ki were plenty effective against biological targets.
"However, the enemy is already regenerating. If I don't increase the Ki transmission, it’ll be hard to trade blows with anything stronger than this."
"I highly doubt you'll ever have to fight anything stronger than this again..."
"Titania itself has the power to potentially destroy the entire world, after all."
For some reason, the two of them looked completely exasperated. I was just trying to analyze the situation calmly.
"Next up is this."
On top of the Ki, I began to knead mana into the blade. The two distinct powers swirled together, releasing flashes of lightning. Perhaps because it was being channeled through the machine, getting them to fuse perfectly was difficult. There was a bit of noise in the flow.
"Take this!"
I unleashed a slash augmented by both magic and Ki Arts, and the tentacles I touched were reduced to cinders. Tartarus staggered, its massive frame swaying.
Yeah, that’s some decent power.
I had designed the Great Magic Sword to be versatile; by holding back on the inscribed spell formulas, I could change its properties on the fly. Since targets like this were rare, I decided to run through all the formulas I had recently developed.
A spell formula to increase sword speed, one to create an explosive impact upon contact, one to make the machine float for high-speed maneuvers, one to manipulate the sword’s weight to baffle the enemy... this one, that one, and maybe that too... Oops, was I overdoing it? But this was actually getting fun.
"Fufufu, wonderful! Truly, Lloyd! It wouldn't be a challenge if you couldn't do at least this much!"
Ido laughed back at my onslaught. Looking closely, I could see the tentacles regenerating the moment they were severed. That was fine by me. I still had a mountain of things I wanted to test.
I met the raining tentacles with a variety of techniques—parrying, deflecting, blocking, and slicing them all down. I steadily advanced, but no matter how many I cut, more grew back in their place. The regeneration speed was incredible. I must have excised a massive number of tentacles by now, but I still couldn't see the main body.
"With this level of durability and regeneration, there's no end to it."
"I guess we’ll just have to keep whittling it down—"
In the middle of cutting through the forest of tentacles, the sunshine from behind me suddenly vanished. It seemed I had been completely enclosed. I had wondered why there was a bias in the walls of tentacles, and now I knew. He had been luring me in.
"I have you now, Lloyd! Rot away inside of me!"
At Ido’s command, tentacles lunged from every direction at once. Dealing with all of these with just one sword would be a bit of a chore. I wanted to test more things, but I suppose it couldn't be helped.
Just as my finger moved toward the switch...
A massive explosion shook the area. The wall of tentacles surrounding me buckled, and Diguardia was thrown back into the open.
"Hold on!"
Lugol's voice rang out. Visible through the gaps in the tentacles was Magicamillia, clutching its staff.
"We aren't finished yet!"
"You... what, are you still here?"
In total contrast to how he spoke to me, Ido’s voice was cold and utterly uninterested.
"—No, my apologies. I didn't mean to insult you. It's thanks to you all that I've been able to fight Lloyd to this degree, so I'm actually grateful. However, further interference is just boorish. I'll let you off for now. Turn around and leave."
But Magicamillia didn't budge. Instead, steam erupted from its entire body as it began charging mana into its staff.
"Unfortunately, I can't accept that offer. Lloyd! Thanks to you buying me time, the mana charge is complete! I'm going to blow these tentacles away. Strike the main body in the opening!"
"Lugol..."
The strike just now had definitely cleared the tentacles. It should have been impossible for Magicamillia's weapons to deal that kind of damage. I wondered what kind of trick he had used... I was genuinely curious.
"I understand, Lugol. Let's take him down together! Come on, do that again!"
"Master Lloyd’s eyes are really sparkling now..."
"He’s definitely just excited to see a technique he’s never seen before."
The two of them were muttering again, but Lugol seemed deeply moved.
"Lloyd... Yes! Together, there is nothing we cannot pierce!"
As Magicamillia leveled its staff, mana began to surge toward it with incredible intensity.
I see, I see. Strong mana signatures coming from five different points on the machine. I wondered if he had multiple magic reactors.
...No, that wasn't it. Those were magic amplifiers. By inscribing spell formulas directly into the circuitry, he was generating far more mana than usual. To write that many formulas into a circuit only about a millimeter wide must have been an exhausting amount of work. You couldn't do that without a massive amount of love for your craft.
Even as I watched in admiration, Magicamillia's mana levels rose to a terrifying height.
"Magic reactor release. Using every circuit from one to twenty-nine. I'm putting everything into this—"
The tip of the staff glowed with a blinding light, and then—a vortex of light shot in a straight line toward Tartarus and detonated.
The resulting shockwave pulverized the surrounding buildings, and the intense heat melted walls and roofs.
"Whoaaa! That’s some unbelievable power! To think that shabby golem could pull off a stunt like that!"
"Yes! Even Ido shouldn't be able to withstand this! Now, Master Lloyd, go for the main body!"
But I didn't move. Beyond the flash of light, the wall of tentacles hadn't dissolved. On the contrary—
"I-Impossible...!?"
Magicamillia must have reached its output limit. The light it emitted began to fade. Amidst the billowing smoke, a long shadow writhed and lashed out like a whip.
A dull, heavy thud echoed through the plaza.
The extended tentacle had impaled Magicamillia straight through the torso.