Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 46 - Chapter 4

A Bold Move

December 5, Monday

Five hours had passed since Kiriha, Clan, and Ruth were shot down. In that time, they had traversed eleven kilometers, which was around the distance that Grevanas had estimated. In another two hours they would reach the hideout.

“Things appear to be going well,” Kiriha noted.

“The frequency of the Liberation Army’s communications has increased, and there are also a number of spatial distortions detected,” Ruth reported.

There had been several near misses with enemy squads. Fortunately, they’d been able to get past them by putting their heads together.

“Haha, it appears the only problem is my lack of stamina...” Clan said. “What’s with the long face, Kii?”

The situation was good, but Kiriha didn’t look happy. “I was thinking that things are going too well.”

She had expected the situation to be more dangerous. But for some reason, it hadn’t been so bad. Normally, safety was something to celebrate, but not in their current situation. Since the objective was to get the enemy to communicate as much as possible, she didn’t want them to give up because they had failed to catch her.

“You think the enemy is giving up on the pursuit?” Ruth asked.

“If that is all, that is fine, but I am worried they might lose patience and take action,” Kiriha said. She was worried that the enemy might do something more dangerous than giving up. She imagined Maxfern and Grevanas would lose their patience and use the waste to infect the forest wildlife. If all the animals were infected, there would be no point in hiding. She also didn’t want to imagine what would happen afterward. But she only knew of Maxfern through hearsay, so she couldn’t say for certain.

“I see. This is Maxfern,” Clan said. “Considering his abnormal obsession, it doesn’t sound impossible.”

Clan herself had actually met Maxfern, so she knew him best out of the three. From Clan’s point of view, he was an insane man obsessed with complete victory, and he would do anything for it. Even after being defeated, he had tried to spread a disease through the world.

“Sorry to interrupt, but there are spatial distortions all across this area!” Ruth suddenly cried. “Something relatively small is appearing in several places!”

There were dozens of spatial distortions within ten kilometers of the crash site. The size of the distortions suggested that several meter-large things were coming out of them.

“There’s mana all over the area, ho! At the very least, it is covered in magic, ho!” Karama yelled.

The haniwas had something like a horn on their foreheads. Those horns were actually crystals that vibrated in response to mana. Karama had felt that vibration.

“Oh no, ho! Whatever came out is following the path that we took, ho!” Korama said. “They found a way to track us, ho!”

Korama and Karama compared the information they’d gleaned from their horns to get a rather accurate location of the mana. Based on that, it was safe to say that the enemy had found the path Kiriha and the others had taken.

“Is that for certain?” Clan asked.

“The probability is over ninety-five percent, ho!” Korama answered.

“Karama, how many enemies are there, and how fast are they?” Kiriha asked.

“With their speed, they will reach us in twenty minutes, ho! There are probably fewer than three of them, but they are grouping up as they move, ho! Ane-go, we should make a break for it, ho?!”

Compared to their group’s pace, their pursuers were moving more than twice as fast. The girls would be caught in no time at all. More and more pursuers were joining the hunt as well. It was impossible to guess how many there would be once they caught up. Because of that, Karama recommended that they run. Even if they were less than a meter in size, the enemy would be dangerous if they attacked in a group.

“Korama, bring out the map!” Kiriha said. “We need to find a place to escape to!”

“Got it, ho!”

Kiriha had determined that they wouldn’t be able to reach their hideout in time. So she stared at the map that Korama projected to find a place where they could take cover or fend off the enemy.

“Okay, we’re going to run!” Kiriha announced.

“Understood!” said Ruth.

“This has gotten troublesome...” Clan complained.

Kiriha only looked at the map for a few seconds, but in that time she gathered her thoughts and took the lead, breaking into a run. They had almost no time to spare. There was no guarantee that they would survive if they escaped to the place she had found on the map, but they earnestly ran all the same. Since they had a future they wanted to achieve, they couldn’t give up on a chance to survive.

Kiriha had chosen a narrow valley to escape into—specifically, a narrow ravine. The area was rather hilly with interlocking ridges without much difference in elevation, but there were some ravines scattered around. Kiriha and the others escaped into one of them.

“I see... From here, the enemy can only come from one direction,” Clan said in satisfaction as she looked around.

In a ravine, the enemy couldn’t attack from all sides; they could only chase from behind. The girls could get stuck in a pincer attack if the enemy got ahead of them, but that was still better than being surrounded. Moreover, they just needed to be on guard so that it didn’t happen. In fact, they had already sent an unmanned craft ahead and found no signs of any enemy present.

“Not to mention, they’ll struggle with such limited formations,” Ruth added.

The ravine was steep and narrow. At most, a few people could walk side by side. In a battle, two or three was the limit. Since their group was few in number already, only the enemy would be fighting at a handicap. It was a well-thought-out escape plan.

“It would be ideal if there was more cover above...but we can’t be picky about that,” Kiriha noted. She was concerned about the open space above them. They could be attacked by unmanned craft from above, though there was no chance of being shot at by aircraft flying even higher than an unmanned craft. All told, it was the ideal choice when their options were so limited.

“Karama, Korama, watch above us just in case,” Kiriha instructed them.

“Leave it to us, ho!” said Karama.

“We can do it in our free time, ho!” Korama agreed.

“I’m not sure what to think about that phrasing,” Clan muttered.

“That’s harsh, Clan-chan, ho!” Karama cried.

With Kiriha at the front, the girls passed through the ravine. Even if they were to fight or escape, they would need to go a little deeper first.

“But Kiriha-sama, why was the Liberation Army suddenly able to track us?” Ruth asked. “Just a little while ago, it seemed they’d completely lost sight of us...” This question was on her mind. If they didn’t know how the enemy was pursuing them, they would struggle to evade them.

“Based on the data and their movements, it is likely a pack of beasts,” Kiriha explained. “They are using sharp senses to follow us. Seeing as they are moving downwind from us, they are not machines, and they are intelligent.”

Based on the mana reaction at the start, it was likely magical beasts. Based on their formations, Kiriha surmised that they were beasts that hunted in groups. In particular, a pack had picked up their scent and moved downwind. That was a sign of intelligence. Machines didn’t have to concern themselves with such thoughts, and they wouldn’t know to go downwind either.

“So...basically, wolves or hyenas?” Ruth asked.

“Indeed.” Kiriha nodded. “They should be magical beasts that look something like that. It was a good idea on the enemy’s part.”

She believed that Maxfern and Grevanas had switched to a more basic method of chasing them down. They must have felt that it would have a better chance of success than relying on science or magic, which the girls had countermeasures for. The beasts also had far more experience when it came to hunting, and considering their instincts, they could probably produce better results than modern technology. In fact, that was being proved true already.

“We don’t have any experience surviving in the wild either,” Clan noted. “I can only vaguely guess at how we are being chased.” She could tell that the beasts were picking up faint smells and small sounds and wouldn’t overlook anything. But she didn’t know what kind of smell, which sounds, or what other clues they were using to follow them. It might have come naturally to beasts, but the three girls had no experience with those matters.

“In other words, we won’t be able to escape by running normally,” Kiriha replied. “We’re here, so this is where we will intercept them.”

Their pursuers were fast and could track them easily. So even if the girls tried to run, they would need to stop at least once. If not, they would clearly be overrun.

To the Liberation Army, the past few hours had been a lesson in patience. Not only could they not find their targets for assassination, but they were also in the middle of enemy territory. If they did anything that drew attention, they would be wiped out. In fact, the squad that had gone to check the landing craft at the crash site had been discovered and taken out. They couldn’t let their guard down. They’d had to endure frustration and fear for five hours, so naturally the soldiers were exhausted.

That was when they received a report that beasts had been deployed and were pursuing their targets. That report stirred the soldiers to life. They were still in as dangerous a situation as ever, but their odds had improved. Nearby squads linked up to join the beasts in their pursuit.

“Still, I’ve never seen beasts like that,” a soldier noted. “What planet did they come from?”

“Who knows?” the captain answered. “I have no idea, but they seem well trained and can cooperate with us to some degree, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Sure, but aren’t you curious?”

The closest force to their targets were five beasts and one squad. There had only been two beasts when the squad had grouped up with the creatures, but another three had joined them shortly afterward. They were the squad that Kiriha’s group was trying to fight, as they had gotten too close.

“They’re going straight ahead without hesitation,” the soldier said. “It’s honestly a big help.”

“I hope they’ll lead us right to them...” the captain muttered.

The soldiers were in a troop transport, following behind the beasts. It was only moving at forty kilometers per hour because of the poor terrain, but the animals slowed down enough for them to keep up. It was far better than searching without many clues. The fact that they were heading for their goal made it feel like the soldiers were moving at a much higher speed than they really were.

“Oh!” the captain exclaimed.

“The beasts have stopped. Something must have happened. Slow down.”

“Understood,” the soldier replied.

Following the captain’s order, the driver slowed down. The truck’s headlights lit up the beasts. They looked like hyenas, but their fur was dark green. The light made their eyes glow yellow. These creatures didn’t exist on Forthorthe because they were magical beasts that Grevanas had summoned from Folsaria.

“Right, so that’s what they are,” the captain murmured.

Five meters away was the entrance to a ravine a few meters wide. A small river ran through its center, and one of the beasts was drinking from it. Their targets had entered the ravine, so the beasts were waiting for the soldiers. Realizing that, the captain gave out orders.

“Use the unmanned craft to report to our superiors.”

“At once!” the soldier replied.

Having gotten close to their targets, they now needed to make difficult decisions, so the squad captain would contact Maxfern and Grevanas and wait for orders. Since they couldn’t use gravitational waves due to being in enemy territory, they used an unmanned craft equipped with laser communications to make their report. It would contact their allies in orbit, and since it used a laser to make direct contact, there was no fear of it being intercepted. Just in case, however, the unmanned craft only made contact when there were no enemies above them. It might have taken some time, but it was necessary.

“Captain, we’ve gotten an answer,” the soldier reported. “‘Continue the pursuit.’”

“All right, everyone, get off! We’re going into the ravine!” the captain ordered.

“Understood!” the soldiers answered.

As expected, the orders from above told them to follow their targets into the ravine. They would need to leave the vehicle, which was why the captain had requested orders.

“Can you lead the way?” he asked.

The beasts growled and entered the ravine ahead of the soldiers.

It was dark outside, as the sun had already set, but the beasts had night vision and their other senses were sharp. They could find their targets much faster than the soldiers.

The ravine was narrow, so the beasts proceeded in lines of two, with the soldiers behind doing the same. The cliffs on either side were steep, so little light from the stars above leaked in. Even with light, it was hard to see. The soldiers next to the captain seemed uneasy.

“Captain, are they going to attack?” one asked.

“If our targets came here under the assumption that they wouldn’t be able to escape, they definitely will.”

The squad captain believed their targets would launch an ambush from the ravine. That was why he had his soldiers in a formation with plenty of room to move around.

“There may only be three of them, but they’re still the Blue Knight’s allies,” another soldier said. “Meanwhile, we are a squad of ten. Maybe we should have waited for our allies to join us.”

“Waiting is dangerous,” the captain answered. “I can’t imagine what would happen if we gave them more time. As you said, they are the Blue Knight’s allies.”

He could understand his subordinates’ concerns. He shared them. But giving their targets time would be a bad call. Since those three were the brains behind the Blue Knight, they might be able to come up with some sort of plan if they had enough time. The soldiers would have a higher chance of success with force. And combined with the support of the five beasts, the captain figured that if they were going for it, they had to do so now. There were a lot of unknowns, but it was the best option right now.

“That makes—”

That was when the beasts in the front growled. The remaining three moved their ears and became more alert to their surroundings. Seeing that, the captain raised his voice.

“Deploy the distortion fields! They’re attacking!”

The assault came at around the same moment he spoke.

“You’re wide open, ho!”

“The early bird gets the worm, ho!”

Strange voices rang out as fire and electricity rained down from above. They struck the beasts and soldiers directly. The fires burned the soldiers, yet they took almost no damage thanks to the distortion field. However, when the electricity struck the three beasts in the rear, one of them took enough damage for the summoning magic to be dispelled, and it turned to ash and disappeared. The other two were still there, but shock left them staggered.

The two beasts in the front growled at something overhead. There were enemies in the darkness. Using that as their lead, the soldiers, equipped with Liberation Army standard beam rifles, fired into the sky.

“They got angry, ho!”

“Spare us, ho!”

Before the soldiers could pull their triggers, the hidden enemies retreated. The soldiers only caught a brief glimpse of them thanks to the lights attached to the rifles, but all they could tell before the strangers disappeared was that they were small and dark brown.

“Woof! Woof, woof!”

“Grrrrrrr!”

The two remaining beasts ran after the enemy—a natural reaction for such creatures. They wouldn’t let something that hurt their pack get away. But it was a big mistake from a military perspective.

“Wait! Get back!” the captain shouted, but though they had listened to his orders before, they ignored him. They were too agitated to hear him and leaped into the darkness.

Dammit! What should I do?! If we don’t follow them, we’ll lose the beasts! But the enemy will definitely be waiting to intercept us!

He was forced to make a difficult decision, which had been the enemy’s plan from the start. They wanted to separate the soldiers from the beasts and deprive them of a way to track them. Yet, despite knowing that, an ambush awaited the soldiers if they gave chase.

“Damn, there’s no time to wait!” the captain exclaimed. “We’re following the enemy! Follow me!”

He made his decision and ran after the beasts. The soldiers followed his lead.

The beasts can find the enemy in the darkness! the captain thought. If we wait, we won’t be able to move around in the ravine!

The beasts weren’t just necessary for tracking the enemy from afar, but also for their current situation. If they didn’t follow the beasts, the soldiers would be forced to be more cautious, making them practically unable to move in the ravine, which was just what the enemy wanted.

“They’re smart!” the captain warned his team. “Don’t give them time to think!”

The soldiers desperately ran. All they could see was what little their lights illuminated. They swept them back and forth, staying vigilant of their surroundings as they moved as quickly as possible. They had to find the enemy before the two beasts that had run ahead were killed.

“There they are!” The captain shone his light and found the enemy. Like the intel had said, it was three girls. They each had a weapon and were in the process of battling the two beasts.

Suddenly, one of the creatures let out a scream and fell to the ground. The other was still fighting, but it was staggering and covered in wounds. They were in a miserable state, but the soldiers had made it in time. Although the beasts had been gravely wounded, that was fine since the soldiers had discovered the enemy in time. They just needed to let their firepower do the talking.

Seeing his chance for victory, the captain raised his voice again. “Attack! Once they’re down, it’s over!”

He felt both excitement and relief as he aimed his rifle, setting his sights on one of the girls and firing. It was a black-haired girl with a naginata, which looked like a large spear to him. However, the beam was blocked by a distortion field. It appeared to be military-grade and blocked the attack.

“I guess they’re not completely defenseless!” the captain noted. “But we just need to press our advantage!”

Even if the enemy was using military-grade distortion fields, they wouldn’t be able to endure repeated attacks. If the full squad worked together, they would win. However, their three targets weren’t without a plan.

“Hey, are you trying to run away?!” the captain cried.

Realizing their disadvantage, the girls had turned around and were attempting to escape deeper into the ravine. As they did, they would fire back at the soldiers, but it was no easy task to shoot backward while running. They were throwing out sporadic attacks that didn’t stop the soldiers.

“It’s too late to run! We’ve already found you!”

Their actions were pointless. If they were going to run, they should move faster. Their advantage had lain in ambushing from the dark, but since that advantage was gone, the three had no chance of escaping.

“Don’t stop shooting!” he warned the others.

The order was to kill, and the soldiers fired with everything they had. After enough shots, the distortion field protecting the girls finally broke.

“It’s over!” the captain shouted.

The soldiers mercilessly shot at the girls. It wasn’t like their hearts didn’t hurt over shooting young women, but they believed the war would come to a quick end if those three were killed.

However, what happened next went beyond anything they could have expected. The beams had looked like they were piercing the girls’ bodies. However...

“What?!” the captain exclaimed.

The beams had instead shot through metal lumps: three familiar unmanned craft. They were relatively small types that both the Imperial Army and Liberation Army used, typically for infantry support. The beams shot through the unmanned craft and destroyed them, and the girls were nowhere to be seen. It was like they’d never been there at all.

“What is going on?!” The captain was astonished, but their misfortune had only just begun.

An explosion happened a short distance behind them. It wasn’t all that big, but it caused the cliff to collapse and block the way.

“Dammit! They got us!” a soldier cried.

They now realized that they had fallen for a trap and let the girls escape. The girls must have fled a long time ago.

After making sure that the ravine had been blocked off, the haniwas returned to Kiriha as planned. They were slightly behind the collapsed cliff face, having entered a byroad and hidden in a small, open space. They’d been there the entire time, watching the fight.

“Ane-go, mission complete, ho!” Karama said.

“Did you see what we did, ho!” Korama said.

Kiriha nodded. “Indeed. Well done.”

“All right, ho!” Karama cheered.

“We were praised, ho!” Korama added.

Kiriha looked satisfied but also relieved. The haniwas might be rather stealthy, but the first attack had been risky. Fortunately, the haniwas had returned safely, so she smiled at them.

“Well done, Kiriha-sama,” said Ruth.

“They fell for it, hook, line, and sinker,” Clan agreed.

“It’s an opening in the mind that any human would have,” Kiriha explained. “They’ve been following us without ever seeing us, so when they caught a glimpse, they were distracted and failed to confirm the facts. If their commander had been calm and confirmed everything, we wouldn’t have been able to escape.”

It had all been part of Kiriha’s trap. The three unmanned craft had been covered with holograms of the girls and used as decoys. If the enemy had used sensors to examine them, they would have found that they were holograms and the trap would have failed. But the enemy had been negligent. Like Kiriha had said, they’d gotten ahead of themselves and hadn’t confirmed the facts. They’d followed the unmanned craft, unaware that they were being led on a different path than the one the girls had taken, and then their way back had been blocked. Two beasts had collapsed, and the others were seriously injured. Even if the soldiers got past the rubble and rejoined them, it would be impossible to chase the girls at the same speed they had before. Moreover, moving the rubble would take a lot of time. So it would make sense to assume that the squad would no longer be able to pursue their targets.

“But a commander calm enough to do that wouldn’t have brought the five beasts into the ravine in the first place,” Clan concluded, taken aback not by the enemy commander but Kiriha’s ability to fully predict the enemy’s actions.

“It would seem Her Highness has seen through me,” Kiriha said with a shrug.

“Right. After seeing them bring in all five beasts, you became convinced that the enemy commander was in a rush, Kiriha-sama.” Ruth nodded. “He must have reasoned that there was no need for pursuit anymore and brought them along for more firepower.”

She had previously been perplexed. To her, it had seemed like Kiriha’s plan had several holes in it. But if the commander was in a rush, her plan made sense. As expected, he had failed to see through Kiriha’s plan and aggressively attacked. Normally, he would have left a beast or two outside of the ravine. But in his hurry he had failed to do so and ended up losing a valuable means of pursuit.

“Besides, if their commander was like that, we would have been cornered sooner,” Kiriha said.

Another factor had been the enemy’s ability to pursue. If the commander had been more careful and capable, they would have followed the girls more skilfully. Since they hadn’t, Kiriha could easily guess their skill level. She had only been convinced once they’d entered the ravine but had more or less surmised it ahead of time.

“I wouldn’t rate them that poorly, though,” she continued. “They’re just true to their work.”

“And you are the one who targeted that behavior. Good grief...” Clan sighed.

Kiriha’s abilities were already beyond traps and ruses. She was reading the minds of her opponents. Clan almost felt sorry for the Liberation Army, who had to go up against her.

“Well, thanks to Kiriha-sama, we were able to escape,” said Ruth.

The closest squad had been stalled. There were others behind them, but they had bought themselves enough time to escape, so they were safe for now.

“They are going to come after you for this, Kii,” Clan warned her.

“I think that goes for you too.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to do anything if you hadn’t hacked those unmanned craft, Clan-sama,” Ruth agreed.

“What about you, Pardomshiha? What was with those realistically moving holograms?” Clan said.

Their escape had been a display of their powers. Kiriha had come up with the plan, Clan had controlled the unmanned craft, and Ruth’s holograms had been essential. It was because of those capabilities that Maxfern refused to let them go. He would hound them until they regrouped with Koutarou and the others.

“Alert message,” the AI announced alongside an alarm. “Large numbers of space distortions detected around the area.”

It was reporting that the enemy was appearing in a wide area around them.

“Kii, they’re making a drastic move!” Clan shouted.

The large number of spatial distortions meant that the enemy was sending forces through transfer gates without any proper preparations. It took an hour to fully set up a transfer gate, so the enemy was using them while being aware of the losses they would take.

“If only...” Kiriha said. “This is probably in preparation for their real attack.”

“This is an emergency, ho!” Karama said. “We’re detecting a large magical reaction, ho!”

“Detecting a large mass! It’s either a mobile weapon or an extra large magical beast, ho!” Korama added.

As Kiriha had expected, their real goal came last. Based on its size, it was either a mobile weapon covered in powerful magic or a massive magical beast.

“They wanted to hide this thing’s spatial distortion reaction,” Kiriha noted.

“So they used a large number of spatial distortions so that it would be impossible to tell where it appeared?!” Ruth exclaimed.

“And the real deal is one of them... Not bad, Grevanas...”

In order to hide the transfer gate for their ultimate weapon, they had used spatial distortions as decoys. Not even Clan could figure out which one was the right one. It was a trick to keep it from being destroyed from orbit upon appearing.

“Their next step will almost definitely be a bombardment using the transported weapons,” Kiriha explained. “At this rate, we will die.”

With the Liberation Army having deployed so many weapons, the Imperial Army was sure to do the same, in which case, it would be difficult for Maxfern to target the girls. So rather than taking the time to pursue them, he would bombard them into pieces. The bombardment didn’t need to be accurate. Since it was clear that they were in the area, bombing everywhere around them would kill them. As a sign of that, none of the spatial distortions had been very close to them. They were spread out to surround the girls from afar. In other words, Maxfern had concluded that it was pointless to send more soldiers after them.

“What?!” Ruth’s face turned pale. “But they have allies here!”

More forces might not be coming for them, but soldiers that had pursued them were still nearby, including the ones trapped in the ravine. Maxfern was going to burn it all to the ground, allies included. To him, they were disposable. The only interest he had was in victory or defeat.

Kiriha’s assumption was right on the mark. The last thing Maxfern and Grevanas sent in was a large mobile weapon. It was made to contend against the Blue Knight, with plenty of spiritual energy technology and magic on it. It was also equipped with a strategic weapon of mass destruction.

“Fire, Grevanas,” Maxfern ordered.

“We still have soldiers deployed in that area, Maxfern-sama,” Grevanas replied.

His words weren’t out of compassion. If they killed their own men, even a few of them, the soldiers would start suspecting them. It was a dangerous situation that could shake the foundation of the Forthorthe Liberation Army.

“Did you not hear me?” Maxfern asked. “Fire, now! If we give them time, we might miss them! All of the losses will be for nothing!”

They had taken a lot of risks and losses to get to the current point. They’d lost spies gathering information and soldiers when hiding them in enemy territory. Since putting the assassination plan into motion, they’d lost quite a lot of men. If they didn’t bomb their targets now, it would be meaningless. Maxfern saw their losses as a bigger problem than the suspicions the soldiers might feel. The gains from the assassination were his biggest priority.

“Understood!” Grevanas nodded. “Firing at once!”

He input the order into his computer. When using strategic weapons, the authorization process was more complex than for normal weapons. It took around twelve seconds before the mobile weapon could attack.

“Launch code sent!” Grevanas said. “Rengan Strategic Missile is launching!”

They watched a holographic screen showing the mobile weapon in question. The back part deployed, revealing the missile. It was the same size as the ones used for attacks on the ground and had a booster like mobile weapons used to move around. Even if it was scorched a little by point defense lasers, it would accomplish its objective. With its powerful booster, it would reach terrifying speeds as it shot through the sky. Without some serious preparations, it would be impossible to stop the missile. What was even more terrifying was the warhead it had.

The Rengan Strategic Missile could be equipped with normal warheads as well as a wide-area incineration one. The special property of that warhead was that it detonated twice. The first dispersed combustible gas throughout a wide area, while the second burned it. The effective range was over a kilometer, and the second detonation would immolate anything within range. It wasn’t very effective against warships and the like, covered by powerful distortion fields as they were, but against humans or vehicles with little protection, the fire was lethal. There was also a shock wave that spread on detonation, which would rip people and light vehicles apart. And even if someone survived the shock wave, the fire and heat would finish them off. If by some miracle a person survived the shock wave and fire, they would die of asphyxiation due to the oxygen in the area burning up.

In other words, the wide-area incineration warhead was intended to wipe out infantry or mechanized units. Maxfern used it so that he could guarantee they’d kill Kiriha, Ruth, and Clan, with no care for his nearby allies. It was an insane decision that even Grevanas instinctively objected to.

Maxfern let out an insane laugh. “Go! Burn it all down!”

His smile was filled with hate, envy, joy, and all kinds of evil emotions. Having waited since the landing craft was shot down, the malice within him was immense. With the warhead being fired, all of that malice was finally released alongside his excitement hitting its climax.

“If you can save them, try it, savior!” Maxfern screamed in elation. “You can’t protect anything! You won’t even be able to see their corpses!”

The missile flew as they looked on. It was only traceable with the naked eye for a few seconds as it accelerated beyond view and flew toward the area where the three girls were expected to be.

“Three, two, one...impact,” Grevanas said.

There was a moment of silence. The first detonation spread combustible gas. Once it had spread far enough, the second detonation would light the gas on fire.

The sound of the second explosion cut off in the middle. The audio picked up by an onsite microphone clipped. There was a flash bright enough to burn the eyes, followed by what looked like the flames of hell burning the world.

“I did it! I did it! The women are dead!” Maxfern laughed. His face was lit up red by the fires. Seeing those flames, he knew he had won. The three girls were dead. The Blue Knight’s wings had been ripped off, and he would be greatly weakened. He would fall into despair. Having achieved revenge and a strategic victory, Maxfern’s joy was at its peak.

“I am sending a nearby unit to the area,” Grevanas calmly announced. Unlike Maxfern, he had some doubts about the attack.

“You are foolishly earnest, Grevanas! Nobody could survive those flames! And if they’re dead, there won’t be any corpses! It’s pointless to send troops!”

“I hope you are right...”

While listening to Maxfern’s joyful voice, Grevanas made sure the soldiers had the proper equipment and sent them to the site. Since the girls had given them a hard time, he wanted to make absolutely sure of their victory before celebrating.