"Reiko, good work. Can you head straight to Egerea from there?"
"Yes, Father. It won't be a problem."
"Good. I'm going to intervene in Egerea using the body double."
"Understood. I will head there immediately."
With the battle at Tetrada finally winding down, Jin decided his next move would be to intervene in Asunt, the capital of the Kingdom of Egerea.
Given the distance from Hourai Island, Raptors 6 through 10 and Falcons 6 through 10 should have arrived on-site by now.
Jin projected the visual feed from the body double aboard Raptor 10 onto a magi-screen.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Storm Rush!"
"Kyaaa!"
Lyla was the one who had cried out the spell. Driven by desperation, she had cast the high-level wind magic to repel an enemy golem that was closing in on her.
The blast was powerful enough to hurl the golem all the way to the end of the corridor. Her allies were knocked aside by the shockwave as well, but that was a minor concern in the heat of the moment.
"Haa... haa..."
"You did it, Lyla! I knew you could do it!"
"Sister..."
Praised by her talented elder sister, Lyla's cheeks flushed slightly with pride.
"Quickly, Your Majesty, Your Highness, Prince Ernest—to the lower floors while we have the chance!"
They couldn't afford to waste the opening Lyla had created. A royal ritter took the lead, followed by the King, the Queen, the Prince, the maid golem Lotte, and Lyla. Airi, Lyla’s sister, took up the rearguard position.
Regrettably, they had no time to check on the fallen ritters who had been struck down by the enemy golems.
When they finally reached the first-floor hall, they found it filled with wounded soldiers.
"Golems here as well?"
Ten golems—identical to the ones that had attacked from the roof—were rampaging through the hall. It was unclear where they had managed to infiltrate from.
"Your Majesty!"
The cry came from Kelichdore, the minister of magic. He was standing amidst a mountain of wreckage that used to be the royal golem corps.
"Their strength is immeasurable! They rival Reiko during the Golem Party!"
"What did you say?"
"Could Jin be the one pulling the strings after all?"
The one who spoke was Judle, the minister of defense.
"That is incorrect."
The denial came instantly from the maid golem.
"Lotte?"
"Father would never create such crude, unsightly things. These are the golems of the Unifilar, the same ones who caused the previous disturbance."
Lotte made the declaration with absolute certainty.
"For the sake of Father's honor."
With those words, Lotte hurled the tray she was holding at a golem that was closing in on Prince Ernest.
It was a steel tray specially crafted by Jin.
With a harsh, grating screech, the tray embedded itself deep into the enemy golem's chest. The impact destroyed its magi-device, and the machine slumped into silence.
Lotte hurried to retrieve her tray and used it to parry the fist of another approaching golem.
This time, the tray shattered with a high-pitched crack. However, the enemy golem's fist was crushed in the exchange.
"The tray Father gave me...! How dare you!"
Lotte reached for the steel mop she carried on her back.
The mop had a large, weighted head, allowing it to function as a heavy mace.
Lotte swung the mop with a heavy thud, caving in the enemy golem's head. Since advanced golems rely on sensors located in the head for vision, destroying it effectively blinded the machine.
While the golem wasn't completely destroyed, the mangled head could only transmit garbled visual data.
With her next strike, Lotte smashed the enemy's chest. That made two golems silenced. Eight remained.
"Lotte! That's enough! I understand! Just focus on protecting His Majesty and the Prince!"
Even Judle had to admit that losing Lotte now would be a catastrophic blow to their remaining combat power. He decided they couldn't risk her in direct combat if she was their last line of defense for the royals.
As Lotte stepped back to obey the order, a brief opening appeared.
"Your Highness! Look out!"
A volley of Fire Bullets—about fifty in total—streaked toward Prince Ernest.
Lotte swung her mop in a frantic attempt to bat them out of the air, but a blunt weapon could never hope to stop fifty simultaneous projectiles.
About half of the Fire Bullets continued their trajectory toward the Prince.
"Prince Ernest!"
Someone screamed. The Prince squeezed his eyes shut and held his head, bracing for the impact.
But the impact never came. Slowly, tentatively, he opened his eyes.
"!?"
Standing before him like twin shields were two jet-black golems.
These were Erica and Lobelia, members of the Hourai Island Secret Mobile Unit who Jin had assigned to guard the Prince from the shadows.
"W-Who are you?"
To the bewildered Prince, the black golems opened their mouths and spoke.
"We are your guardians from the shadows, Your Highness."
With that, they joined Lotte, forming a defensive perimeter around the royal family.
Though their origins were unknown and suspicions remained, the survivors were grateful for the reinforcement. However, their relief was short-lived.
"Kyaaa!"
Airi, who had been guarding the stairs, was suddenly blown away.
Three more golems had descended from the upper floors.
Now, eleven golems were closing in on the royal family.
"..."
Judle felt a cold chill run down his spine.
Airi, the royal magi-ritter, had exhausted her mana; she was alive but injured and unable to fight. Her sister, Lyla, was still green.
Kelly, the captain of the royal ritter corps, was outside directing the defense against the aerial spheres. That left only Vice-Captain Bruno and three of his men.
Kelichdore was a capable mage, but he was useless in a physical brawl.
And Judle himself still had a broken right arm from the Golem Party incident, leaving him unable to even swing a sword.
"If it comes to it, I'll have to give my life to buy them time," Judle thought, steeling his resolve.
But then—
"W-What now!?"
Ten more golems appeared.
These were unlike any they had ever seen. They were perfectly humanoid, colored a metallic silver-brown, and carried swords in their hands.
"This is the end..."
Judle reached for the short sword at his waist, determined to take at least one or two of the enemy with him. But his eyes widened at what happened next.
The ten newcomers raised their blades and charged directly at the eleven enemy golems.
"Are they... allies?"
The blades wielded by the silver-brown golems were impossibly sharp. They effortlessly sliced through the spears held by two of the enemy golems.
"Oh?"
"Incredible..."
No matter how sharp a sword is, cutting through metal usually requires immense leverage and force.
Yet here, the enemy golems were being dismantled as easily as a knife slicing through fruit.
The enemy machines tried to retreat, but the silver-brown golems were far faster.
With lightning-fast movements, they lopped off arms, legs, and torsos. Within moments, all eleven enemy golems had been silenced.
"Incredible... simply incredible..."
Even the King was staring in awe.
"Judle, Kelichdore. Did you arrange for these golems?"
Neither man could answer the King's question.
"N-No, Sire. We have no knowledge of their affiliation."
However, though he kept his mouth shut, Prince Ernest had a strong hunch as to who had created these silver-brown golems.
Meanwhile, Lotte sensed their magic patterns and felt a surge of relief.
(Father, thank you.)
She offered a silent prayer of thanks to her creator.
With the golems neutralized, the only remaining threat was the flying spheres.
Everyone in the hall looked toward the sky. They saw the spheres descending slowly toward the courtyard.
Two people were visible in each of the hanging baskets, appearing to be in a state of panic.
"They're coming down... but they look quite flustered," Kelichdore noted, squinting at the sky.
One by one, the five spheres crashed into the castle grounds.
Waiting to secure them were ten more of the silver-brown golems, bringing the total number of mysterious allies to twenty.
"How...? When did they enter the castle grounds?"
Judle was stunned. He couldn't believe that Asunt Castle, a fortress renowned for its impenetrable defenses, had been infiltrated so easily—even if the intruders were friendly.
But his shock was about to be eclipsed.
"Uwaaa! L-Look at that!"
A golem so massive that it towered over the ten-meter castle walls appeared, peering down into the courtyard from above.