In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 30 - Chapter 2.2

“You little...! Hurry up and get smooshed already!”

A metallic orange mace swung mercilessly toward the small girl.

“[Power Rise]!”

Frei took the round shield she had pulled from her [Storage] and blocked the mace. The shield had a star drawn in the center of the double circle, almost as if it were the shield of a certain American superhero. The small girl was able to control it at will, blocking, repelling, and deflecting all attacks that came her way, no matter the angle.

Thanks to Yakumo’s sacred treasure, the gravity effect of the woman’s wicked vessel was weak enough that Frei could handle it. Though even in its weakened state, any regular person taking the attack would no doubt have their arm completely shattered. Watching her daughter take such heavy hits, Hilde couldn’t help but feel frustrated; the mace-wielding woman had presented several large openings so far, so if Hilde wanted to strike, she very well could have.

However, that would then mean that a divine ward had taken down a member of the wicked devout. Due to that issue, her role here was purely as Frei’s support—unless her daughter was on the verge of danger, she was to stay put. Even Frei had been very clear about that.

“I’ve not awakened to my divine trait like Yae has, so I think it would be perfectly fine for me to fight...”

Though when she saw Frei look so happy despite the circumstances, she also realized that she might be disappointing her if she interfered.

Hilde glanced at the other pair that was fighting a distance away. Under Yae’s watchful eye, a boy even smaller than Frei was holding a silver shortsword. A ring-shaped object was shot at the boy—Kuon—from his opponent.

The ring was a shimmering dark green chakram flying straight for Kuon like an arrow. Kuon took Silver and deflected it with a horizontal slice without showing even a hint of panic. The deflected chakram flew off in a random direction, but then it stopped midair and shot back toward its wielder. The woman wearing the gaudy feather mask caught it with two of her fingers and gave a bewitching smile.

“Not half bad, little boy. It’s not every day I find someone who can deflect Viridian.”

“I feel honored to receive your praise. I have been putting in quite the amount of training.”

“Quite the amount, you say? Are you aware that being too modest can end up being annoying instead?”

Peacock, the wicked devout now fighting Kuon, spun the chakram with her two fingers and then threw it up into the air.

The chakram split into several more chakrams that began swirling around her.

“How about this, then?”

Peacock took the ten chakrams orbiting her and fired them all toward Kuon at once.

Ten simultaneous attacks—no matter how you looked at it, there was no way to avoid them all. It seemed as if a magic barrier would be able to deal with them, but in reality, Peacock’s chakrams would slice through even that. The wicked devout pictured the boy collapsing in her mind’s eye, blood gushing from his body, but then what she saw instead was something unbelievable.

At some point, Kuon’s right eye had turned an orange-gold. Kuon swayed his body to the side...and a chakram narrowly passed by his right shoulder.

He lifted his left hand a little...and a chakram passed through the gap between arm and flank.

He raised the sword in his right hand and swung to the side...and a chakram was deflected. He bent forward slightly...and a chakram passed right over his head.

“What?!”

Kuon dodged the rest of the chakrams with similar small but controlled movements, and Peacock could only look on in disbelief.

“I failed to dodge two of them, I suppose,” Kuon muttered in disappointment.

“Now hang on, kiddo, you just dodged eight of those things! That’s pretty impressive, if ya ask me!” Silver said.

As Kuon had said, he had technically deflected two of them with Silver, not outright dodged them. Even with his Mystic Eye of Precognition, there were things he simply couldn’t evade.

Since there were only two he knew he would be unable to avoid, he simply deflected them with Silver, but had it been any more, he would’ve likely used either his Mystic Eye of Compression or Immobilization.

“What a creepy little boy!”

“I apologize for disturbing you.”

Peacock split her chakram into ten and threw them at Kuon again, to which Kuon repeated what he had done, dodging all except two that he deflected with Silver.

At a glance, Kuon was the one at an advantage, but using his Mystic Eyes repeatedly would tire him out. Any time he tried to get closer to Peacock, she would simply fire her chakrams again, so he was left completely unable to launch a counterattack. He might have had a chance if he combined the usage of different Mystic Eyes, but Kuon’s goal here wasn’t to take the wicked devout down, it was to buy time while Yakumo dealt with Indigo, so he decided it was best for him not to risk anything.

Yae was also thinking similarly, keeping a close eye to ensure Peacock wouldn’t interfere with the fight with Indigo.

Kuon glanced at his older sister within the [Prison], continuing to deal with the chakrams being thrown at him all the while.

◇ ◇ ◇

Indigo tried to slash into the semitransparent barrier that surrounded him with his wicked vessel, Deep Blue, while dodging the crystalline katana being swung his way. Metal bouncing off the barrier was the only sound that could be heard; not a single crack was being made in it.

“What is going on here? There’s a barrier that Deep Blue can’t break...? No, has Deep Blue lost its power?”

Indigo continued to dash around the confined space as the drawn sword chased its target. Yakumo firmly pushed the harpbow back into her sash when it began to fall out. The impatience at being unable to find the opportunity for a finishing blow almost made her turn the sacred treasure into its katana form to strike the man down regardless, but she knew if she did that, the wicked devout outside of the [Prison] would no longer be in range of the Divinity Neutralization.

The only time you should do that is when you know for certain you can take him down, Yakumo told herself. Don’t get impatient. Watch your opponent’s movements and slowly but surely stop them.

“[Gate].”

“Hm?!”

Indigo bent his body back to avoid the tip of the sword that suddenly appeared from the distortion in space behind him.

“Spatial magic?! A little unfair that you can still use your magic while we can’t use our weapons, don’t you think?”

“If it means I can protect what is important to me, I feel no shame in being called a cheat or a coward.”

Yakumo knew her parents would tell her that if petty pride or a sense of justice endangered those you loved, you should just throw them away. Were it a fight concerning yourself as an individual, then of course, one should fight fair and square with their pride on the line. However, in a fight to protect someone or something else, trying to see something like that through was just a means of self-satisfaction. It was important to not get one’s priorities wrong.

What Yakumo wanted to protect was her family, the people of her country, and the people in the world working hard to live each day to its fullest. If it was to protect them, she would use anything at her disposal, even if it was deemed unfair. She felt no hesitation in doing that.

“Complaining about cheating and being a coward is but the drivel of the loser, you say? Very good. I agree.”

“Wha—?!”

Indigo took out something akin to a spray can from a pouch hanging from his waist. He then pulled out the pin and threw it on the ground where it suddenly released a plume of vivid purple smoke that filled the inside of the barrier and cut off Yakumo’s sight.

“What a crafty move...! Kokonoe Secret Style: Hurricane Storm Flower!”

Yakumo swung her magic-enhanced blade sideways with a battle cry, causing a small whirlwind to billow forth from the sword’s tip, soon transforming into a large tornado that sucked in the purple smoke.

The [Prison] that Touya had erected could freely specify what was allowed in and out of its walls. Naturally, blocking the air would cause those inside to suffocate, so it was permitted to pass through.

With the purple smoke now driven outside of the barrier, Yakumo could see clearly again.

“What?!”

And yet, it was Yakumo who sounded shocked. As she readied her sword, she suddenly realized that Indigo, the wicked devout wearing the diver suit, had vanished without a trace.

“He’s gone?!”

Yakumo was dazed by the man’s disappearance. Everyone had worked so hard to drive him into a corner, yet right at the very end, she had let him escape.

The plan has failed. Everything was all for naught because of me. What should I do? Should I ask father to release his [Prison] and have him conduct a [Search]?

“Yakumo! Calm down!”

Amid Yakumo’s panic, her mother’s voice reached her ears. She flinched, and then turned toward Yae, seeing her mother’s strong gaze aimed right at her.

Right. First, I need to calm down. These are exactly the times when I must keep a clear mind. Take a deep breath...and then think. Father’s [Prison] can’t be broken with anything but a divinity-enhanced attack, and right now, their divinity is sealed by the sacred treasure. That means his teleportation magic should be sealed. But then, how did he disappear?

“He...disappeared?”

Yakumo’s eyes widened in realization. She heightened her senses, feeling even the slightest distortions of the air from the edges to the corners of the barrier.

“There!”

Yakumo threw two kunai from her pocket. One bounced off the [Prison], but the other deflected off thin air. At that moment, Indigo’s figure reappeared.

“You’re sharp. It appears I should’ve attacked you directly rather than waiting for this barrier to be dispelled.”

Indigo’s legs were still invisible from under his knees. Whenever he moved, Yakumo could see a slight border surrounding his legs against the background. Apparently, his diver suit was enchanted with some kind of illusion magic.

“I’m glad I got those upgrades from Scarlet.”

His body once more dissolved into the background. Yakumo immediately sank back, taking position at a corner of the [Prison] to eliminate the risk of being attacked from the rear.

Suddenly, Indigo appeared in front of her, swinging down his metallic blue hatchet. By the time she’d blocked, deflected, and moved to counter, Indigo was already invisible again. In a situation like this, where she was the cornered one, she couldn’t afford to let her guard down for even a second. She concentrated all her senses on her surroundings so that she was prepared for an attack no matter where it came from.

Yakumo felt a slight disturbance in the air, and then suddenly a harpoon was flying toward her out of nowhere.

“Ngh!”

Though she’d managed to quickly swat it away with her sword, Indigo took that opportunity to appear and do a follow-up attack. Still in the middle of her swing, Yakumo was unable to bring her blade back to block the blow. She rolled to the side instead, just narrowly missing the strike. And as she was rolling, she used her arms and legs to push herself away from Indigo.

A few hairs that had been slashed off scattered around her, a cold sweat running down her cheeks. That had been incredibly close. If she had dodged the harpoon instead of deflecting it, she would’ve been able to counter Indigo. A minor error of judgment could completely change one’s fate in this battle. She had to be careful.

“That was very close. I won’t miss next time.”

There was suddenly something akin to an ejection device fitted to the armored part on Indigo’s left wrist. A harpoon was once more set in place as Indigo’s figure disappeared once more. Yakumo sharpened her senses and concentrated her spirit. Her opponent’s body had not actually disappeared—he had simply become invisible. The enemy she had to cut down was definitely there.

Time passed ever so slowly. The moment the situation changed was immediate.

A harpoon was shot out from thin air diagonally to Yakumo’s right, and at the same time, Indigo attacked with his hatchet from the diagonal left. The ejection device on Indigo’s wrist was missing. Yakumo had seen through his tactic of placing the ejection device on the opposite side of where he intended to attack to have it fire automatically so he could carry out a pincer attack. If she deflected the harpoon, she’d be slashed by the hatchet. If she guarded against the hatchet, she’d be pierced by the harpoon. Thus, the only appropriate course of action was...

“[Gate]!”

“Guh?!”

Indigo recoiled from the sudden stab from behind. When he turned his gaze down, he saw that the sharp harpoon was sticking through his stomach.

“How did you...?!”

The harpoon that should’ve hit his enemy had pierced right through him instead...and from the back of all places.

Yakumo had used [Gate] to both avoid the harpoon and attack Indigo at the same time. The harpoon had been teleported from in front of Yakumo to behind Indigo, piercing through him with the exact same momentum. Dark gold particles gushed out like blood from the wound, but it did nothing to deter Indigo from swinging down his hatchet on the small girl.

That was the moment Indigo realized Yakumo’s weapon was no longer the phrasium katana she had been using before. It was a katana with a platinum sheen that was radiating divine energy.

“Kokonoe Secret Style: Lightning Flash!”

The sacred sword was swung horizontally, cutting Indigo’s wicked vessel into two. The shattered pieces of the weapon clattered to the ground, losing their blue shine and melting into a sludge that emitted black smoke.

“Heh heh... So this is it for me, is it...? Everything’s down to you now, Scarlet... Glory to the wicked god of destruction who will end this world filled with falsehood and deception!”

With those last words, Indigo crumbled to the ground, a pile of sand spreading out from the dismantled diver suit.

Having confirmed his death, Yakumo fell to one knee.

That was close...

If that harpoon had been even a second slower in piercing Indigo, he might have dodged her blade. Somehow, though, she had won. With this, there was no need for them to fear the wicked devout teleporting away.

“We somehow managed...I think.”

Outside the [Prison], her mother was giving her a small nod, a smile on her face.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Enemies approaching!”

To the south of Lassei, an army of Kyklops was about to climb onto land from the coast near Isengard. Linze, who had been patrolling the coast with Helmwige, changed direction and flew toward the allied positions the moment she spotted them.

“It isn’t just the Kyklops! There’s a colossal unit I’ve never seen before among them!”

“I can see it from here too. It really is quite big, even larger than the Overlord... More than two times bigger, actually.”

The first to respond to Linze’s report was Leen, who spoke from inside her Grimgerde. The unknown unit was smaller than the Gigantes, the ancient weapon they had once fought, but it still seemed close to one hundred meters tall, and it was headed in their direction. Like the rest of the Kyklops, it only had one eye, but there was also something on its chest that resembled one too—most likely it wasn’t just a design, but some sort of weapon.

“Mother, it being big doesn’t mean it’s better. Each frame has its own appropriate size. There’s no point if it’s so big that it slows down its movements or puts strain on the joints and engine,” Quun commented from behind her. Leen could tell without even turning around that her daughter had a smug look on her face.

“I can’t say how much strain is on its joints, but it does seem to be walking fine.”

“Of course it is. If it couldn’t do that, there’s no way they’d send it out for battle. Either they’re using some kind of seal magic that lightens its weight or they’ve strengthened its durability. With something of that size, though, even its weight becomes a weapon, so I don’t think they’d try to lighten it... Actually, wait, if they could freely make adjustments to its weight with [Gravity] depending on the situation, then...”

Leen left Quun to mutter away to herself as another transmission came from the Helmwige.

“The Kyklops in the rear have fired divine venom into the air!”

A sound akin to fireworks exploded in the sky, and suddenly there was gold powder being scattered above them. The girls had made sure to get changed into their battle suits already, so they didn’t suddenly feel unwell, but the problem was the effect it had on their Frame Gears...

“Heh heh heh... Don’t think the same trick will work twice. War is a back and forth battle of arms development. Know that those who fail to prepare countermeasures will become the losers!”

Quun operated the console at the back of Grimgerde and confirmed the frame’s output. After a moment, the result was displayed on the monitor.

“Output decreased by eighteen percent! Take that! We managed to get it under a twenty percent decrease! That is a victory for the research squad!”

Quun let out a shrill laugh of joy. Leen let out a small sigh at her daughter’s bizarre behavior. To have managed to bring it down to such a percentage after what was previously a forty percent decrease was definitely something to be happy about, but she did wish Quun would calm down a bit.

Letting out another sigh, Leen opened up the channels to the rest of the Valkyries.

“Is it all right if I start how we always do, with a little Full Burst from Grimgerde?”

“Yes, please. It would do wonders if you could thin them out a bit,” Yumina responded.

“Indeed. We will take over while Grimgerde is on cooldown,” Sue reassured her.

Grimgerde was a heavy ordnance unit, so the strength of its Full Burst was at the top with the Overlord, but it required a several-minute cooldown period in which it was left vulnerable following usage of the weapon. As such, Grimgerde’s role in battle was to begin it with Full Burst, enter cooldown, and then once it was back up, support everyone else from the rear.

This time too, Grimgerde was standing right in front of the incoming enemies, all weapons deployed.

“Eat this. Full Burst!”

A storm of phrasium bullets flew into the Kyklops in front of them. Usually, they would’ve been hit by the bullets and their numbers would greatly decrease.

“Huh?”

And yet, several Kyklops lined up in a row, acting as a shield for the Kyklops behind them as they took all of the rounds.

Naturally, those Kyklops that stood in front were full of holes in seconds. But even once their functions had stopped, they remained in place, ensuring none of the remaining bullets made it through to those behind them. Or perhaps it was more correct to say that the Kyklops that were both beside and behind were supporting them to make sure that they didn’t fall; they were quite literally using the Kyklops at the front as a shield, allowing them to withstand the Full Burst.

Thus, the Grimgerde only managed to defeat a dozen or so Kyklops with their initial assault. That was less than a third of what it usually managed to clear.

A puff of white smoke containing traces of the glistening ether liquid released from Grimgerde as it came to a stop. Overlord and the Chevaliers immediately stepped in front to protect the vulnerable frame.

“I’m shocked. Who knew they could manage to team up like that?”

“Could it be that even though they look the same, what’s inside is different?”

Elze and Linne—who’d swapped with Elna—observed from inside the Gerhilde.

The battle between the Nereids and the Kyklops in the sea had already begun. Sometimes, columns of water would shoot up into the air due to the torpedoes released by the Nereids.

“No, more than what’s inside...it’s like the chain of command is different. Before, their commander used to give them simple orders like ‘Advance’ or ‘Fight,’ but now that commander is gone, and there’s a new commander who’s able to give them more precise commands like ‘Advance while protecting the others’ and ‘Start attacking from whatever looks weakest,’” Quun responded from within the immobile Grimgerde. “They may be using a command system that’s even better than the Soldats. If so, should we expect them to move differently than before? Because of their new commander, they’ll be able to fight in a more skilled and logical manner, just like a real army... They could control multiple Gollems as if they’re their own limbs and—”

“Basically, this won’t be as easy as it has been in the past,” Leen swiftly said in conclusion, cutting off her daughter’s long-winded rambling.

“Put simply, yes, that is correct...” Quun relented with a pout.

“We’ve identified a unique red Kyklops that’s different from the colossal one. I believe that to be the wicked devout,” Linze notified all the Valkyries. Upon hearing that, Yumina looked through Brunhilde’s rifle scope and caught sight of it within the rear lines that were just emerging from the sea. Its metallic red body reflected the light of the sun. Compared to the other Kyklops, it was much slimmer, more like a Frame Gear in stature. That said, it still had a single camera eye just like the others, and it held a rapier the same color as its body.

She’d seen that rapier before. It was the same as the rapier wielded by the wicked devout who had intervened in their infiltration of the Gandhilis ruins and ran away with the Ark. It was the one who wore a black coat, black-shaded goggles, and a plague doctor mask.

If he was the one leading this army, then...

“Shall I try and snipe him?” Yumina asked, hovering the crosshair right over the red Kyklops’s head. It was quite far, but not so far that she couldn’t hit him. In fact, he might not even have his guard up at this distance.

She began to pull the trigger...and then stopped. Just as she was about to fire, her divine trait, her Mystic Eye of Foresight, activated and showed her the red Kyklops dodging her shot. There were times when the ability activated without her even trying. It tended to happen in situations like this, where it was impossible to do something even if she tried, or at times when she was in extreme danger.

Yumina had begun to suspect that her body instinctively activated it in order to avoid any truly disadvantageous situations. Had she fired here, the enemy would have dodged and most likely grown much more cautious. Her body had tried to prevent her from making their situation worse.

She moved the camera from Brunhilde’s rifle scope.

“Sakura, support magic, please. Engaging enemies now!”

“Okay...”

Two symphonic horns were equipped on the shoulders of Rossweise, looking like cannons, while several magic speakers were deployed from the frame.

“Yoshino.”

“Let’s do this!”

Following the lively rhythm of the drums, Yoshino’s guitar joined in. The girls in the Valkyries chuckled as they recognized the song. Written in the 1960s, the song was later used as the theme song for a megahit American romcom. The girls greatly liked the song after watching the movie themselves—had they chosen the song knowing that?

Soon after, Sakura’s singing began. The lyrics, which praised a pretty woman, stimulated the ether liquid inside the Frame Gears, increasing their output.

“Soldiers of Lassei! Advance!” the Grand Potentate of Lassei commanded his men from inside a loaned Knight Baron of his own. Upon his order, the Frame Gears began an earth-rumbling assault on the army of Kyklops.

Most of the Brunhild knights were deployed in the Nereids for this battle, so the majority of the Frame Gears on land were being piloted by Lassei knights. Lassei had always been a country that prided itself on its military prowess, and they viewed Frame Gears as just another weapon, so they had put in much training with the Frame Units.

Once they had grown accustomed to operating them, they were able to move them as if they were an extension of their bodies, their combat skills within them improving so much that even the Brunhild knights struggled against them. Such a trained knight order would have no trouble against the Kyklops.

“I got the first kill!”

The second prince of the Military Kingdom of Lassei, Zanbelt Gal Lassei, a man who had once challenged the god of combat and had his nose completely shattered, had indeed pierced a Kyklops with his Knight Baron’s spear. However, despite being stabbed right in the stomach with Zanbelt’s spear, the Kyklops’s movement never stopped, and it immediately went to swing its mace down.

“Die already!”

Zanbelt let go of the spear and instead punched the Kyklops right beside where he had stabbed it. The Kyklops’s armor warped as it lost its balance and fell.

“Punching gets the job done so much faster!”

Gripped in both hands of Zanbelt’s Knight Baron were some simple weapons made from phrasium. They were knuckle dusters, a weapon fitted to four of a hand’s fingers to increase the power of one’s punches. It seemed the people of Lassei loved fighting barehanded and had asked for weapons similar to Elze’s Gerhilde.

Those knuckle dusters were what Touya had decided on as the perfect choice. Knuckle dusters were a simple weapon—you just gripped them and then punched. In order to strengthen them even further, they had four sharp rivets, turning them into truly deadly weapons.

After having taken down the Kyklops, Zanbelt was so happy he was caught off guard by another Kyklops swinging down its mace from beside him.

“Shit!”

Zanbelt moved to sacrifice his arm to block it, but before he was hit, there was a loud crack and the Kyklops who had been moving to attack him suddenly went flying.

“Why are you getting all distracted? Pay attention to your surroundings!”

“Boss!” Zanbelt cried out in joy at seeing the familiar red Valkyrie. The one who had sent the Kyklops flying was Elze in her Gerhilde.

After being thoroughly beaten to a pulp by Takeru, Zanbelt began calling both Ende and Elze “Boss” as a show of extreme respect, since they were both Takeru’s students and all, but neither especially liked being referred to in such a manner. When they told him to stop, though, he wouldn’t, and in the end, the two simply gave up.

“Don’t just stand there, get moving! You need to be aware of what your allies are trying to do!”

“Y-Yes, ma’am!”

At Elze’s scolding, Zanbelt readied his fists again. Gerhilde’s camera eye looked up at the gigantic Kyklops in the rear.

“We need to do something about that big ol’ hunk of junk.”

“Mama Elze, I want to fight too!” Linne cried out in boredom.

“Afterward, ’kay?” Elze called back to the girl as she punched through the Kyklops.

Right now, Elna was riding in the Helmwige with Linze while Linne was riding in the Gerhilde with Elze. At some point, they’d decided that was how they’d pair up while in the Frame Gears. Elze thought it a good judgment, given if something happened to her, she wasn’t sure if Elna would be able to handle Gerhilde well in her place. Linne’s style of fighting was much closer to Elze’s, while Elna’s situational awareness was more like Linze’s.

Elze was very fond of her daughter Elna, but Linne was just as precious a daughter to her.

“All righty, time to get moving.”

Elze rang her fists together before firing them at the Kyklops charging toward her.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Crusher!” Elze roared as she held out Gerhilde’s arm, shooting a phrasium spike that gouged into the chest of the Kyklops in front of her. Its chest was pierced by the sheer destructive power of the shot as it fell to the ground.

Another Kyklops swung its mace from behind, but Elze easily dodged it with a duck before countering by spinning Gerhilde’s right leg backward like a sickle and sweeping it across its legs. Lu was watching Elze from directly behind in wonder as the girl showed off how easily she was able to carry out a rear kick in her Frame Gear.

“She’s very...excited, isn’t she?” Lu muttered as she watched how lively Elze was despite beating up enemies on the battlefield.

“It’s Mother Elze. Of course she is,” Arcia fired back, confused that it even surprised her mother by this point.

In fact, Lu was gracefully dodging enemy attacks in Waltraute even as they had that conversation. Thanks to the booster unit installed on the back, the Waltraute had the swiftest maneuverability of the Valkyries. Talking purely in terms of speed, that crown would go to Helmwige in its aerial form, but on land, Waltraute was far faster.

Using that speed to swiftly approach the Kyklops, she raised the two blades of the Waltraute and slashed both down at once.

“I’ll turn them all into mincerobot!”

Having been slashed from the shoulders to the waist, the Kyklops split into three and fell apart on the ground. Lu immediately dashed up to another Kyklops and cut it down with a cross slash, splitting its torso in half. Leaving the enemy to fall to pieces, she sped up toward her next target—when suddenly, all of them were shot through with holes.

Helmwige soared past Waltraute at low altitude before changing back into its regular Frame Gear form. The double rifle in its right hand blew fire, and the surrounding Kyklops exploded one after another through the infinite loading allowed by the teleportation magic and the mana-infused shell bombardment.

After defeating the most immediate Kyklops, Helmwige morphed back into its aerial form and took the opportunity to slash through two more Kyklops with its blade wings as it soared back into the sky.

“She’s...really quite ruthless, isn’t she?”

“It’s Mother Linze. Of course she is.”

Once more, Arcia was confused that her mother was even surprised by this point.

For all the kids, the scariest mother to anger was most definitely Linze. Not because she would scream and shout, but because she would thoroughly scold them with a perfect smile on her face. She showed no mercy. She would tell them in great detail why she was mad at them. What did they do wrong, and what should they avoid? Why did they do that? Did they not think this would happen? Why had they not reflected after their previous scolding? Did they realize how much trouble they’d caused everyone around them?

Even if they earnestly apologized, she would question if they really understood what the problem was, if they’d truly reflected, and if they could prove what they would do to make sure the same thing didn’t happen again. It never ended.

Linze very rarely got mad, but after the kids invited her wrath once, they firmly swore they would never make that mistake again. Arcia had been scolded by her once before herself, and she’d greatly reflected after that moment—she didn’t want to have to go through that again.

“Mother, one from the right.”

“Got it.”

At Arcia’s call, Lu turned the Waltraute right while swinging her left sword around, slashing it right into the Kyklops’s side.

“What?”

Lu’s eyes widened in surprise. The Kyklops had firmly gripped the sword she had just embedded into it. Actually, no, it was because the Kyklops had gripped it that the sword hadn’t slashed all the way through.

Having never had that happen before, Lu’s response was delayed. Aiming right for that moment, another Kyklops charged to stab Waltraute with its spear.

“Ngh!”

Lu let go of the sword and dodged the spear, but a mace-wielding Kyklops was ready and waiting for her near her landing spot.

I can’t dodge this!

Just as Lu went to use Waltraute’s left hand as a shield, the mace Kyklops’s head suddenly exploded.

“Are you all right, Lu?”

“Yumina! Nice timing!”

Yumina’s cover fire allowed Lu to collect herself. Turning on the Waltraute’s boosters to full, she stabbed her other sword right into the spear Kyklops’s chest before immediately reversing and setting her sights on the Kyklops she had failed to completely slice in two. She then slammed her sword into its opposite side and finished off what she had started.

“Whew... That was close.”

Lu breathed out a sigh of relief after narrowly escaping danger. If Yumina hadn’t been around to provide cover fire, she might have lost an arm.

“Please be careful. Unlike the Kyklops we’ve fought before, these ones can coordinate with each other, and they’re not afraid to sacrifice themselves to do it. Make sure you aren’t caught by them. The moment you are, they’ll hold you there while their allies blow you both up.”

“Understood.”

As Yumina said, all the attacks from the enemy would be coordinated, just as the one there had been, and those coordinated attacks would be incredibly reckless. She had to be careful.

Lu picked up the other sword from where it had dropped and pumped herself up again.