"What...?"
Bafrosk muttered, his mind struggling to keep pace with reality. A demon would never think this way.
If they had launched an unauthorized assault, failed on their own, and been annihilated, the responsibility would have rested entirely on Bafrosk’s shoulders. He couldn't begin to fathom Jin’s reasoning for intervening when no one had even asked for his help.
If Bafrosk and his group were killed here, there would be almost no demons left who would dare refuse to listen to Jin. Logically, the disappearance of the radical factions who took hostile action against humanity would be a benefit. Simply leaving them to their fate should have served Jin’s best interests. And yet, Jin had dispatched his own golems to save them.
"...Is this how humans think? Or is it because he is a Magi Craft Meister?"
The Land units carrying Bafrosk and the others retreated from the battlefield with lightning speed. In the blink of an eye, they were five hundred meters away from the facility.
Remaining on the battlefield were Reiko, Anne, and Land 11. Since there were nineteen demons and twenty Land units had been deployed, it was only natural for one unit to remain behind.
『You lot again...! Fine, I shall repay you for the other day.』
Meanwhile, No. 13 spoke spiteful words through the gargoyle Gorg.
『gravita.』
The gravity magic was unleashed. However, Reiko, Anne, and Land 11 didn't even flinch.
『I see, so you’ve prepared countermeasures. Troublesome, indeed.』
Reiko slammed into Gorg once more even as it spoke. This time, she struck with double the output of her previous tackle.
『Gah?!』
The nearly six-ton Gorg and the thirty-kilogram Reiko collided.
If this had been the Reiko of the past, whose skeleton was composed only of standard adamantite, she might not have lost in terms of power, but her frame likely would have yielded against a solid mass of adamantite like Gorg. However, the current Reiko possessed a skeleton made of molecularly compressed hyper-adamantite.
The result was a draw. While the difference in weight sent Reiko bouncing back a great distance, Gorg was also knocked off its feet. In contrast, Reiko didn't fall, bracing herself firmly upon landing.
『Unbelievable... How can a mere Automata possess power equal to this Gorg?』
Reiko gave a small smile and answered the question.
"Because I was created by the greatest Father in the world."
Internally, however, Reiko sensed that destroying Gorg—a solid mass of adamantite—through brute force alone would be a tedious affair.
『What nonsense!』
With a shout, Gorg took to the sky. It rose to an altitude of about ten meters. Reiko could reach it if she jumped, but since her freedom of movement would decrease in the air, she wanted to avoid a direct aerial confrontation if possible.
Just then, an instruction from Jin arrived.
『Hit it with the Magic Canceller.』
Reiko immediately activated the Magic Canceller built into her bracelet.
『Wha—』
Since Gorg was using wind magic to float while making its body lighter with gravity magic, neutralizing that wind magic resulted in a sudden, vertical plummet. With a heavy thud that shook the earth, Gorg crashed into the ground.
『Grrr, you continue to defy every one of my expectations.』
＊ ＊ ＊
Seeing that the gargoyle was still moving even after being bathed in the Magic Canceller, Jin speculated that the metal Gorg was made of was not just ordinary adamantite, but magi-adamantite or a similar material. This was because the device hadn't been able to shut down the magi reactor presumably housed inside the unit.
"If it has a high shielding effect against magical energy, then Erase probably won't work either."
Unless it was defeated in a single blow, it didn't seem likely that Gorg would stop. It would likely self-repair any minor damage, and destroying it physically would be time-consuming. Unlike a stationary target, this was a genuine nuisance.
He could think of several methods, but that was exactly why he hesitated on which one should be the finishing blow.
"...If only there were a way to stop its movements for about two seconds."
Jin had a trump card, but even that wasn't omnipotent.
"No, wait."
In this situation, Jin had a flash of inspiration.
"...Adhesive..."
He would use an adhesive to bind Gorg's movements. Jin thought about what materials he had on hand that could be used as an adhesive and was momentarily shocked to find there were surprisingly few.
Natural rubber before vulcanization, lacquer, rice grains, starch paste, glue, and pine resin. He hadn't discovered petroleum yet, so there was no coal tar.
"...I don't have enough of any of them."
The quantities were a bit unreliable for entangling a target like Gorg. Pursuing that train of thought, Jin received a further epiphany.
"I see. I don't have to stop it completely...!"
He had a stock of several dozen kilograms of pine resin used for finishing wood. Jin scooped out a handful of the resin, hurriedly prepared a magi-crystal, and inscribed a magi-formula with frantic speed.
"There, that should do it."
Via Laojun, Jin had the item transferred to Reiko in the midst of battle. When Reiko received it, it was safe to say the battle was already decided.
＊ ＊ ＊
『Reiko-san, My Lord is preparing a magic tool that will be effective against Gorg. Please buy some time.』
Communication arrived from Laojun. Reiko immediately set out to fulfill the request.
Because of its massive weight and the fact that it moved using magic from the same lineage as Forming, Gorg could not move as nimbly as Reiko, even if it was fast. Using her superior speed, Reiko launched a barrage of attacks at Gorg from the front, back, and both sides, even striking from above and below.
She rained down slashes with Touka. Since she wasn't putting her full strength into the swings, she didn't manage to sever its limbs, but she inflicted numerous shallow wounds. Gorg was forced to expend time and magical energy to repair the constant damage.
『Grrr, what terrifyingly sharp blades.』
Because it relied on Forming-type magic, repairing limbs that were severed completely would likely be difficult; Gorg became visibly wary of Reiko.
Five minutes passed.
The magic tool Jin had prepared was sent to Reiko as she stood facing Gorg from a distance.
『Reiko, I'll explain how to use it. Use the pine resin to stick it onto its back. Then put some distance between you and chant the activation keyword.』
"I understand."
Unleashing fifty percent of her output, Reiko blurred across the battlefield. Before Gorg could react, she slapped the magic tool onto its back, put distance between them in an instant, and chanted the keyword.
"Commence Compression."
Indeed, what Jin had created was a barrier bomb—one of his strongest weapons. It was a devastating device, capable of molecularly compressing even magi-adamantite.
Gorg had no joints in its back, and it couldn't easily reach the barrier bomb stuck there. It tried to remove the device with its physical strength, but for Gorg—which possessed neither sight nor a tactile sense to guide its fingers behind itself—the action was too complex to perform quickly.
Reiko's speed far exceeded Gorg's reaction time. Long before Gorg's fingers could touch the barrier bomb, it responded to the keyword and activated.
First, it generated a super-strong spherical barrier with a radius of about two meters. In the next instant, that barrier began to contract with tremendous force. The barrier, which allowed air molecules to escape while trapping solids within, increased in strength as it contracted. Its force was enough to deform even magi-adamantite.
Gorg, which had a humanoid shape, was unable to resist that astronomical force and was crushed inward. When it had been compressed to one-tenth of its original volume, the magi-crystal creating the barrier shattered, ending the process.
Gorg had been humanoid, but when the barrier vanished, it had been transformed into a spherical lump of metal. Naturally, the internal control core and other components had also been crushed; it would never move again.
Jin had just obtained a nearly six-ton mass of magi-adamantite—or rather, hyper-adamantite. The voice of No. 13 could no longer be heard. Gorg had been reduced to a mere lump of metal.
"..."
"W-What was that? What just happened?"
Bafrosk and the others could not believe their eyes, staring in shock as Gorg was turned into a metal sphere in an instant.
Reiko and the Land units did not lower their guard. Only Anne spoke to the stunned demons.
"This is the power of my Master. But please, rest easy. Master would never use this power simply to satisfy his own desires."
Her words contained a fair amount of irony, but Bafrosk, Marcosius, and the others listened in silence.
"And if such a thing were ever to happen, we would do everything in our power to dissuade him."
"...So that is what a Magi Craft Meister is. In contrast, we..."
It could be said that at this moment, for the first time, Bafrosk truly had the opportunity to reflect upon his own actions.