I recognize that metallic red fine rapier. It’s the cursed artifact wielded by the apostle of the evil god, Maestro the Gollemancer, who appeared during the previous battle in the Lassei Military Kingdom.
‘Another flashy one shows up, huh?’
"Ende, be careful. That’s an apostle of the evil god."
I warned Ende with a tone that was still light, almost as if admonishing him.
‘An apostle of the evil god, huh? In that case, no need to hold back.’
The wheel at the heel of Ende's Dragoon Dragon Knight lowered, and it began to move at high speed.
The Arachne-like machine reacted to this and thrust its fine rapier toward the Dragoon Dragon Knight.
Ende’s Dragoon swung its crystal-material short sword to deflect the rapier, but the thrusts of the fine rapier kept coming, one after another.
As Ende’s Dragoon barely managed to deflect the barrage of attacks, the rapier grazed its shoulder.
‘Wha…?!’
Ende was startled by the attack and slid backward, creating some distance.
Looking at the Arachne Golem, I saw that two of its four arms were now holding the metallic red fine rapier.
‘Wait a minute… wasn’t it just one a second ago?’
Ende muttered to himself, staring at the Arachne Golem in front of him. The two metallic red fine rapiers in its right and left upper arms flickered and split, while the lower arms caught them, resulting in all four arms holding the fine rapiers.
‘Tch, that’s a bit unfair, don’t you think?!’
The Arachne Golem moved toward the Dragoon Dragon Knight, its eight legs moving swiftly.
With a sharp "shush shush shush!" four sharp thrusts were launched from its four arms. Even Ende could only manage to dodge, unable to retaliate.
‘Quite fast, but how about this?’
A low male voice came from the Arachne Golem. Then, flames began to manifest on the metallic red fine rapiers gripped in its four arms.
With a whoosh, the Arachne Golem swung them around, sending fiery slashes flying toward Ende.
‘Tch...!’
Ende used the thrusters on his waist and legs to propel the Dragoon Dragon Knight backward with full force.
He managed to narrowly avoid the flames, but after seeing that kind of long-range attack, it became impossible to charge in recklessly.
On the other hand, the Arachne Golem skillfully used its four arms and closed in on Ende’s Dragoon, aiming to strike him down.
‘Take this! Take this!’
‘You...! Don’t get carried away!’
Pushed back by the barrage of quick strikes, Ende’s Dragoon Dragon Knight suddenly darted at high speed to the side of the Arachne Golem. The crystal short sword was aimed at its legs.
The thin legs, which seemed easy to cut through, unexpectedly withstood the strike with a dull clang as the blade collided with them.
Taking advantage of Ende’s surprise, the Arachne Golem retreated its damaged leg, while firing more fiery slashes from its four arms.
Even with Yumina’s earlier gunshots, it was clear that the enemy Golem's body strength had increased.
Ende’s Dragoon Dragon Knight’s short sword was also made of crystal material, reinforced with considerable magical power.
Even with that, it could only chip away at it... Unlike the Phrase, at least it doesn’t regenerate.
Suu’s Ortlinde Overlord’s destructive power might be able to break through, but...
I stood in the back, watching Ortlinde, who was still deploying the [Stardust Shield] in front of the city walls.
"They're just barely holding the line over there..."
In the meantime, Yumina’s Brunhilde was sniping the Cyclopes. Ende was completely isolated.
"I guess it’s up to me."
‘Wait, Touya-kun, could you wait just a bit?’
Just as I was about to take off with [Fly], I heard the voice of the professor from my smartphone, which I had kept connected.
"Wait? What for…"
‘Professor! The final check’s done!’
‘Everything’s ready! We can deploy at any time!’
Suddenly, Rosetta and Monica’s voices came through the professor’s transmission. What’s going on?
‘It took a while, but the overhaul’s complete. It’s in the fourth hangar. Open the [Gate].’
Overhaul? Fourth hangar...? Ah!
Realizing what the professor meant, I quickly opened a [Gate] in the air.
A gravity-controlled frame slowly descended onto the land of the Rephan Kingdom.
The crystal armor gleamed with golden lines running along it. Similarly, the folded crystal wings sparkled in the sunlight.
My personal versatile combat Frame Gear, "Reginleif."
So, the adjustments are finally finished!
"Huh? Wait a minute, now that I look closely, the design and parts have changed here and there...?"
‘That’s right! We’ve refined it using combat data from previous Frame Gear battles, added new equipment, and significantly improved the base specs!’
"Really...? Hey, I knew about the modifications, but new equipment? You didn’t mention that. Was that why the adjustments took so long...?"
‘Oops... my bad...’
When I questioned Rosetta, who had interrupted with a smug face (or smug voice?), she fell silent with an expression that clearly said "uh-oh."
This girl...! She prioritized her own development desires over the battle situation...!
"Alright, as a reward for your hard work, I’ll assign Parche as your assistant. You’d like that, right?"
‘Mii-yaaahhh?! No way! If I had that clumsy assistant helping me, my development would come to a halt!’
Rosetta’s scream came through to my smartphone. Well, I wasn’t really planning on having her help. The damage would be way too big...
But that’s a thought for later. I have to go assist Ende.
I hopped into the cockpit of Reginleif with [Fly], setting my smartphone onto the console.
With a low startup sound, the cockpit was filled with the light of the instruments. The wide-range monitors around me displayed the outside situation.
I gripped the control stick, flowing mana into it, and Reginleif fully activated. I moved my arms a bit, clenching and spreading my hands to confirm there were no issues with the movements.
"Alright. Let’s go, Reginleif! Activate Flying Sword Fragarach!"
‘Flying Sword Fragarach, activating now.’
The crystal wings on Reginleif’s back spread out, and the twelve panels of crystal material detached, floating around the machine.
"Shape-shift mode change—Crystal Sword Blade."
‘Flying Sword Fragarach, transitioning to Crystal Sword Blade mode.’
In the blink of an eye, the crystal panels transformed into the shape of swords. The crystal blades formed a circle in front of Reginleif, all their tips pointing toward the Arachne Golem.
"Go!"
The crystal swords, sparkling in the sunlight, flew toward the metallic red Arachne Golem like missiles.
‘Hmm?!’
The Arachne Golem sensed the incoming crystal swords and deflected them with its four fine rapiers.
A few were blocked, but one of them pierced the abdomen area, where a spider’s abdomen would be.
‘Tch!’
The Arachne Golem spun its upper body 180 degrees, hooking the guard part of the sword that had pierced it and using its fine rapier to knock it out.
Including that one, I called back all the Flying Sword Fragarach blades that had been sent flying and returned them to Reginleif’s back.
Since the Flying Sword Fragarach controls all the swords itself, long periods of use place considerable strain on the operator.
It’s only natural, considering each sword moves independently.
‘Hey, hey, Toya. This is my prey, so stop stealing it from me.’
"No time to argue about that right now."
I received a critical transmission from Ende, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit exasperated. After all, he was in a pinch just a moment ago, and now he’s acting like this...
‘It’s not a pinch! I was just having a little trouble!’
That’s what a pinch is, though. Well, if he doesn’t want help, then I’ll leave it to him. The Dragoon Dragon Knight has an emergency teleportation device, and if Ende gets taken down, I’ll just defeat them myself.
"Fine, do whatever you want. But if something happens to you, leave Melle and Alice to me."
‘Don’t say such ominous things! I won’t make Melle a widow, and I’m not marrying off Alice just yet!’
"Alright, alright. Then at least use this."
I removed two of the crystal plates from my back and transformed them into a simple gauntlet shape before sending them to Ende’s Dragoon. Well, calling it a gauntlet might be a stretch; it’s more like a simple sphere with handles attached. I also made sure to add some spikes.
If it were in a programmed shape, I could have changed it in an instant with "Shape-Change Mode," but there’s no time for that, so this will have to do.
Still, it’s tougher than the short sword, and since the blade could pierce the body, I’m sure it will break through with this.
Ende’s Dragoon released the short sword and equipped the simple gauntlets on both hands, then began pounding them together. The gesture was so similar to Elze’s, it almost felt annoying how friendly they looked...
‘Alright, let’s restart this!’
‘Don’t underestimate me!’
The Arachne Golem unleashed a continuous barrage of thrusts from its four arms.
Ende’s Dragoon Dragon Knight skillfully deflected them with the gauntlets. It was faster than before.
Thinking about it, it makes sense. For example, when an opponent brings their sword down from the front, if you have a sword yourself, it’s typical to block it sideways, right? Naturally, no one would block it vertically.
This motion of "holding the sword sideways" causes a slight delay. With the gauntlets, you just extend your arms directly. That’s all you need to do to block.
When it comes to thrusts, using a short sword, the only way to block would be to deflect them by striking from the side. The same applies with the gauntlets, but since you don’t need to change the orientation of the weapon, the counterattack is quicker.
That speed gave Ende just a tiny window of opportunity. With that slight opening, Ende was able to strike back.
‘Ha!’
‘Guh?!’
Ende’s fist, after dodging the barrage of thrusts, exploded into the Arachne Golem’s spider head and chest, and the humanoid lower abdomen. A loud crack sounded as a large fissure appeared on its metallic red body.
‘Yep, this feels much better.’
The Arachne Golem, retreating, was pursued by Ende’s Dragoon.
This time, the Arachne Golem was on the defensive, avoiding the oncoming attack from the Dragoon Dragon Knight’s fists. It was the opposite of before.
‘Hnngh!’
Crossing its four arms, the Arachne Golem unleashed a series of fiery slashes from its fine rapiers.
Ende’s Dragoon dodged them, first to the right, then to the left, before stepping forward with a left hook. The punch exploded into the Arachne Golem’s right elbow, destroying the arm at the joint. At the same time, the metallic red fine rapier it was holding turned into black miasma and was absorbed into one of the remaining three fine rapiers.
The fine rapier that disappeared was likely a fragment of the cursed artifact.
Now with three arms, the Arachne Golem continued to relentlessly attack the Dragoon Dragon Knight. But Ende blocked and deflected all of its attacks with the gauntlets.
Then, seizing the opening, Ende struck back. Defending while waiting for an opening to attack repeatedly, the Arachne Golem’s armor gradually became battered and worn.
"Well... that’s a pretty dull attack..."
‘Don’t call it dull! It’s a solid, reliable attack!’
Well, I mean, that’s true... The damage is definitely adding up, so I guess there’s no problem with that.
Ende’s Dragoon Dragon Knight landed a right uppercut to the Arachne Golem’s elbow.
With a loud "crack!" the forearm broke off, and once again, the metallic red fine rapier turned into miasma and was absorbed by the cursed artifact.
Now it’s two arms versus two arms. It’s a fair fight now.
—Or so I thought, but then the Arachne Golem’s abdomen was severed with a sharp "clink," and it extended forward like the tail of a scorpion, using a flexible arm to approach.
Now, the Arachne Golem was standing on its four front legs, while the remaining four back legs were embedded into the ground like anchors.
And, where a spider would spit out webbing, we noticed something—light gathering in that spot.
That’s... Could it be... the charged particle cannon-like weapon fired by the giant Cyclopes?!
‘Hey, that’s cheating, right?!’
Ende made the Dragoon Dragon Knight dodge at full speed.
If that thing were to fire, it would cause massive damage to the town. I immediately detached all of Reginleif’s remaining crystal plates and sent them flying at full speed into the Arachne Golem’s line of fire.
"[State Change Mode—Reflector Panel, Reflector]!"
The crystal plates detached from Reginleif and aligned themselves to form a large wall.
I thought about directly reflecting the shot, but there were still heavy knights from the Chevalier fighting the Cyclopes behind the Arachne Golem. It would be dangerous to reflect it directly. I decided to tilt the [Reflector] panel diagonally.
At that moment, a thick beam, similar to the one earlier from the Arachne Golem, was fired.
It felt weaker than the charged particle cannon shot fired by the Cyclopes earlier. But still, if something like that reached the town, it would cause massive destruction.
I caught the beam with the tilted [Reflector] panel. The beam was reflected into the sky, piercing through the clouds and disappearing into the upper atmosphere. That was close...
"Hey, Ende! What the hell are you doing?!"
‘Don’t say that! How was I supposed to predict an attack like that?!’
As I argued with Ende, the Arachne Golem fired a continuous barrage of beams at him again. This time, they were small, weaker beams, like short arrows. Ende’s Dragoon Dragon Knight quickly dodged them, barely managing to avoid being hit.
Can it shoot those short beams so quickly? The previous one must have been a charged attack or something like that.
‘It’s being all sneaky...! It’s about time you get blown away!’
The four back legs of the Arachne Golem slammed into the ground, and once again, light began to gather in its lower abdomen. Is it another charged attack?!
Ende’s Dragoon Dragon Knight, which had been dodging around, suddenly made a sharp turn and shot straight toward the Arachne Golem at full speed.
‘Damn...!’
‘It’s using its anchors, so there’s no way to dodge!’
Before the light could fully gather, Ende’s Dragoon reached the Arachne Golem’s front and wound up its right fist, readying for an attack.
‘Bujin-ryu, Fist of the Dragon Piercing the Strong!’
With a powerful, rotational punch driven by his waist, the Dragoon’s fist exploded into the Arachne Golem’s chest.
With a loud crack, the chest area seemed to distort as if gouged, and the next moment, the Arachne Golem’s upper body shattered into pieces.
After the upper body shattered, the lower half collapsed to the ground, as if it had lost all strength.
The light that had been gathering in its lower abdomen also fell without releasing its attack.
That was a hit without using any divine energy, so it should be fine, right...?
Furthermore, I didn’t directly attack the apostle of the evil god. Besides, anyway...
As I was unnecessarily worrying in my head, a man with a tattered plague mask crawled out from the wreckage of the shattered Arachne Golem’s upper body. So, he’s still alive.
"You...! Why?! Why is it that Golem able to bring out such performance?! What’s different from my Cyclopes or Baphomet?!"
The man in the plague mask shouted. Baphomet—could he be referring to the goat-headed Golem? And wait, isn’t this guy Maestro, the gollemancer, one of the five great Golem engineers...?
‘...Touya-kun, could you link our image and voices to him?’
On the monitor beside the Reginleif’s cockpit, the figures of Engineer Elka and Professor appeared. It seemed that these two were acquaintances of Maestro, so they probably wanted to say something.
I obediently used [Mirage] to project their images and voices into the air above where Maestro, the conductor, was.
‘It’s been a while, Maestro the gollemancer.’
‘You’ve certainly changed a lot since I last saw you.’
‘Wha...!? "Professor!" ...Restore Queen, you too!? No way, you two are behind this...?!’
The man in the plague mask shouted in surprise as he saw the two figures on the screen.
‘We didn’t create the Frame Gears. We were just helping out.’
‘The Frame Gears are completely different from Golems, you know?’
‘I know that! It’s clear that different technology is being used! But why are those machines—technologically inferior—able to fight on par with the Cyclopes or even better!? Are you saying there’s still some unconfirmed technology involved?!’
The man in the plague mask pointed at the heavy knights, the Chevalier, who were still fighting, and shouted to the Professor and Elka.
"Technologically inferior"? Sure, the Cyclopes probably have more power and durability, but is it really that much of a difference?
But as I pondered those words, there was someone on the monitor who couldn’t overlook my doubts.
‘Looking at the Cyclopes, I thought, "What a terrible sense in the creator," but you’re also an outdated thinker. Your Golem, stuck in the past, could never compete with my Frame Gear, which is always thinking about the next step.’
The one who arrogantly spoke as they floated in a chair behind Professor and Elka was none other than the creator of the Frame Gears—Dr. Regina Babylon.
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