If the materials were being transported to the castle, then it must have meant that they were producing them inside the castle too. That meant if I took the place out, it would render them unable to make any more.
I decided that destroying the place was the smartest move, if only to prevent future complications.
“Ah, one other thing. There’s an incredible barrier placed around the castle. It’s negating most any kind of magic in the vicinity.”
“What a pain in the ass...” That meant I probably wouldn’t be able to send any of the Steel Battalion back to Brunhild. I’d need to hijack one and drive it out myself.
I wondered about what kind of barrier it was, though.
There were various kinds of barriers, after all.
Magic Evasion Barriers prevented targeted spells.
Magic Jammer Barriers prevented invocation.
Magic Enchant Barriers ended up bestowing positive effects on people in the vicinity.
Magic Protection Barriers just straight-up blocked entry to certain locations.
And finally, Magic Seal Barriers prevented people from leaving.
I only knew about these five in particular. There were definitely a lot of others. The talismans and other stuff people could carry on their persons fell under the Evasion category, while the barrier around our very world that prevented the Phrase from coming in would be closer to a Protection type.
Such barriers differed in strength, and it took a lot of time, effort, and magic to produce a powerful one.
The fastest way to take out a barrier would be to destroy the artifact or inscription holding it in place, but these things would often have their own barriers around them as well. It was typically impossible to find these things through my search magic, too.
Really the easiest solution here would be to obliterate the entire city... But obviously I couldn’t do that. I’d end up losing the Steel Battalion, and I needed samples.
Either way, I decided to join up with Tsubaki.
I just had to deal with Sonia and her friends first...
“If you’re sneaking in, can’t you take us with you? We can’t possibly excuse ourselves from a mission if it’ll get us closer to that scumbag.”
“Please take us with you!” Sonia and Jesty bowed their heads toward me in reverence. I sighed. Well, fine... Taking them isn’t a big deal, I guess.
“Is it gonna be alright for you guys to come to the capital? Didn’t you get identified already?”
“They already know us, yes. We ended up giving our names when we entered the city with Jesty.”
“Either way, it’s a revenge mission for my father’s honor... I have to do this.”
“Guh...” That definitely meant that they’d be known at this point. Plus, Jesty had been walking around with a dragongirl and an extremely bald guy. They were the definition of standing out like a sore thumb.
“Fine, then. I’ll change how you look with illusion magic.” It’d just get undone the moment we got into the castle, anyway.
It was probably a Jammer barrier, after all. One that prevented the invocation of magic. It also had the added bonus of wiping out passive effects, magic disguises included.
Still, we only needed it to get them through the town.
I used [Mirage] to give all three of them the appearance of Yulong peasants, and we headed through a portal back to the bamboo grove.
There were a lot of soldiers hanging out in the area where I’d arranged to meet Tsubaki. The spell held up, and none of them recognized the trio I was with. That was good, except... I was questioned repeatedly due to my mask... It wasn’t fair at all.
◇ ◇ ◇
Night fell, and the surrounding streets were shrouded in darkness.
We didn’t want to be spotted, so we headed toward the castle down a deserted road. Up close, the sheer height of the walls was a lot more impressive.
“How’re we gonna sneak in, then...” Once we got close to the walls, I cast a cautious and experimental [Light Orb]. It manifested for a split-second before flittering out. That meant we were in range of the barrier already.
“We won’t be able to use magic from here.”
“They’ve amped up the guard at the front gate, too.” Rengetsu, Sonia, and Jesty had all lost their magic disguises, as well.
Losing magic was a pain. We could’ve just used [Invisible] to sneak through, but that wasn’t really viable.
“Hm... Well, this is annoying. Should we just charge them head-on?”
“What?!” We had firearms, and the enemy couldn’t use magic either. The had bows and arrows, but they could be dodged. If it was just me on my own, I’d have wanted to just rush them.
“W-W-Wait a second! If we’re too reckless in our approach, then our target might run off! We want to avoid that...” Jesty flailed his arms as he spoke. He certainly raised a fair point. I’d completely forgotten about that. I still thought I’d be able to take hold of the whole castle even without magic, but I didn’t want to discourage my allies. Hm... In that case...
Kohaku’s ears suddenly twitched, and she stared into the blackness.
“My liege. Someone’s coming this way. It’s likely a guard patrol.”
“Damn it! Guys, scatter! Hide in the nearby bushes.” Everyone quickly obeyed my command.
I strained my eyes to see who was coming by. It was just a couple of guards. They completely failed to notice us.
Once they were far enough for it to be safe, we came out of the bushes and began brainstorming our infiltration again.
We definitely couldn’t jump over it. It was about ten meters tall. Though, even without magic, my body was more than capable of leaping about six meters into the air.
“My lord... I can jump over with little trouble.”
“Even with me on your back?”
“It won’t be a problem.”
Hm... Guess we should, then. We’re just sitting around like idiots right now.
Kohaku suddenly reverted to her true form, which absolutely terrified the people we were with. I ignored their shock.
I tried opening up [Storage] to get some rope, but it closed in just a few seconds. The barrier even blocks this, huh...? I moved away from the castle walls to open it up, and I pulled out a long rope.
I won’t be able to use magic in there, so I should probably get what I’ll need in advance.
I made the necessary preparations and then headed back toward the others. I handed one end of the rope over to Tsubaki, then climbed on to Kohaku’s back.
Kohaku crouched and then pounced in a flash. She easily cleared the ten meter wall, landing atop it with a surprising grace. Heavenly Beasts sure were impressive...
Nobody was in the area when we landed, thankfully. There were little shrubs and plants here and there, it seemed we’d landed in a little garden area. I tied the rope to a nearby tree and then yanked on it, sending the signal to Tsubaki.
I looked around and prepped Brunhild on my waist.
Oh, right... I need to test this...
“Blade Mode.” Brunhild’s blade expanded a bit. Hm... So it still works, just only a little?
“Blade Mode.”
“Blade Mode.”
“Blade Mode.”
“Blade Mode.” I repeated the command several times, and eventually the blade inched its way to full size. It seemed like I could still use magic, but only for a total of a few seconds. One second of [Slip] was still beneficial. A quick use of [Boost] or [Accel] would help too. [Apport] would probably work as well, since it was instant. Brunhild’s Reload command was instant too, so I didn’t need to worry about that.
[Fireball] would probably only work at point-blank range, but I didn’t want to put myself in a situation where I’d get caught in the blast too.
I couldn’t use my smartphone’s target lock in this situation, either. It relied on me using [Multiple] for more than a few seconds. [Paralysis] probably wouldn’t be much help, either. I’d need to direct
ly touch people for it to take hold.
After thinking about it, I probably could’ve used [Teleport] to get through the wall since it would’ve only taken a split-second. I briefly tried to use it... But I ended up coming out in the wrong place. It was too dangerous to use in a place like this, after all.
As I was testing my magic, Sonia came up over the wall. Sonia and Rengetsu were pretty skilled at moving themselves, but Jesty seemed to have a little more difficulty pulling himself up.
Once everyone was up, I took the rope and hooked it on a jutting-out part of the wall, then cast it down to the other side.
We all climbed down to the inner wall, and then Tsubaki retrieved the rope for me. We quickly hid in a nearby shrub. Alright... We won’t need the rope on the way out since I’ll be hijacking one of the Steel Battalion, but...
I had no idea if I’d actually be able to pilot one. I could use Frame Gears no problem, and they were knock-off Frame Gears... But I still couldn’t be certain if that’d be enough. “Firstly we need to take out this barrier.”
“My lord. Patrolling soldiers inbound.” Kohaku, who had returned to her tiny form, caught my attention.
We’d landed in the castle’s rear yard. I peeked out from behind a bush and saw two soldiers on patrol. They were holding torches.
“Alright, let’s get info on the castle from these guys.”
“What should we do? Want me to strike them down?”
“No, hold off. I’ll paralyze one of them and interrogate the other.” I denied Rengetsu’s offer and took a step forward. I very quickly used [Accel] for the briefest of moments I could, and timed it perfectly to dash out and intercept the duo. [Accel] only let me burst out for a few seconds, but it was more than enough time to get behind the two of them.
I placed my hand on the back of one of them and promptly pulsed him with [Paralyze]. Then I held Brunhild’s blade to the throat of the second guard.
“Not a move.”
“Eeep!” Guess he thinks I killed the guy... He’s being surprisingly obedient.
Sonia and the others followed after me, promptly putting out the fallen guard’s torch.
“How do I disable the barrier around this castle?”
“I-I don’t know, I promise... Master Gad erected the barrier, but I know nothing more than that!”
“Gad? Who’s that?”
“Th-The heavenly emperor’s attendant! He and Master Sol often work closely together...” I had the guardsman tell me more, and learned that Gad was a mage. Sol was a swordsman, and he was the one who had injured Rengetsu. They seemed to be a duo and were rarely seen apart.
This Gad fellow had been the one to put the barrier up. That probably meant that Gad and Sol were members of the Golden Order.
The guard didn’t know all the details, but apparently some magical artifact was responsible for the barrier.
We’d gotten everything we could out of him, so I used [Paralyze] on him, too.
Rengetsu dragged them off into the undergrowth and hid them behind a tree.
Guess we’ll capture the mage guy and have him take out the barrier... That’ll be useful to us, since he’s an attendant to the fake emperor. Plus, we need to help Jesty get his revenge. We can hold off on the Steel Battalion theft until after that.
So for now we just need to find the heavenly emperor. It’ll probably be easier to find him if I just keep interrogating soldiers.
“Alright, let’s go!” Thus, our infiltration began.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Well, this could’ve gone better...” I sighed quietly as I knocked down a few more soldiers.
Our stealthy mission hadn’t exactly gone to plan. We were in the middle of a pretty big battle, as a result.
Even Tsubaki, our infiltration expert, couldn’t have helped us. There were four of us holding her back, after all.
We were charging through the castle, fighting hordes of soldiers in narrow hallways. They didn’t have any mages to hurl ranged spells at us, which was a relief, but there were still archers supporting the swordsmen. The combination of Kohaku’s roaring shockwave and my bullets took out most of the backliners, though. Sonia and Rengetsu then took out the guys closer to us.
We went on and on and on and on, fighting them repeatedly... The repetition kind of reminded me of an old song my grandpa would sing. Not too much, though.
“Is the heavenly emperor’s court around here?”
“It is, but we haven’t got much time. We’ve been discovered, so he could flee at any time...”
“Yeah, we can’t let him get away.” Tsubaki was right, we couldn’t afford to waste any more time. If we floundered here, Jesty and the others wouldn’t be able to get their revenge. I decided that the best course of action would be an explosive one!
“Kohaku! Blast all these jackasses away!”
“As you wish!” Kohaku fired a massive shockwave from her mouth. Every enemy hit by the sudden blast fell unconscious where they stood.
“Alright! Let’s head straight for where that bastard is!” We ran past the fallen soldiers and pressed on until we found a grand hallway with a big red carpet. It was lined with expensive looking vases along the walls. Frankly they looked tacky as hell.
We headed toward the end of the hall and reached a massive door with a dragon carved into it. Naturally we kicked it down.
The room we charged into had a very high ceiling, and contained nothing other than a gaudy throne.
He looked about thirty years old and had a beard. The man wore gaudy, baggy yellow robes. They looked hard to move in. There was a sheathed blade sitting at his waist, and he wore a funny hat that resembled the one Chinese Emperor Zheng, the king of Qin, wore.
Two men stood on either side of him, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out who they were.
One of the men looked to be over thirty himself, and he wore dark red armor with a matching helmet. His left hand bore a heavy shield, and his right hand held an unusual weapon that somewhat resembled a hatchet. It was just as large as his massive shield.
The other man wore a black robe and carried a staff. It was crooked at the end in a way that made it look a bit like a question mark. Judging from the getup, he had to be the mage. He looked a tad younger than his partner. His eyes were blue, and his hair was blond. He seemed frail, appearing tall and thin. His eyes, however, reflected malice and cruelty.
Both of them wore pendants around their necks. The symbol of a heptagon within a circle. Proof that they were members of the Golden Order. That meant they were definitely the Sol and Gad that I’d heard about earlier.
Going from what I’d been told, the armored man was Sol, while the gaunt mage was Gad.
“My my... You haven’t learned your lesson at all. Do you crave my seal that badly?” The throne-seated man, Fake Emperor Xiaofah, tossed a golden cube up and down in his hand. It had what looked like a dragon sculpted into the side.
That must be the Heavenly Seal... Looks bigger than I expected. Geez, it’s around the size of an apple.
“Shut it! I don’t need your words, all I need is your blood! You’ll pay for what you did to my father, cretin!” Jesty promptly drew the sword at his waist. Rengetsu and Sonia stood ready to back him up.
I shrugged slightly, and then a gunshot rang out through the room.
“Wh...!” I fired a single clean shot at the Heavenly Seal, causing it to explode into little fragments. The fake emperor simply stared at his own hand in disbelief.
What an idiot he was. I could’ve easily shot him too, but that wasn’t my job.
“Y-You little rat! What have you done?! That’s Yulong’s treasure, the Heavenly Seal! It’s my seven-thousand year heritage!”
“I don’t give a shit. Who cares about Yulong or its heritage? Plus you’re full of it. Yulong didn’t even exist that long ago.” If you asked me, there weren’t any true heirs left. Trash like the heritage of a pathetic, broken country didn’t need to exist in this world anymore. I honestly could
n’t give less of a crap about their pathetic excuse for a culture.
Honestly, this country has been nothing but a pain to me. I think I’ll just come in as the Silver Oni and conquer the whole place, then divide the territory between Hannock, Felsen, and Xenoahs.
The soldier, Sol, suddenly pointed his weapon toward me.
I fired several bullets in his direction, but his massive shield took the brunt. And after that, he charged toward me.
“Graaaaaah!!!” He swung down his unusual weapon at me... But it was no good, I deftly dodged every cumbersome strike. I then pulled my trigger point-blank at the lumbering oaf’s head. Ping! Ping! The shots ricocheted off his helmet. It was surprisingly tough. My bullets didn’t penetrate the armor or harm him.
“Kohaku!”
“Aye!” Kohaku launched a shockwave which knocked Sol to the ground. He rolled around the ground, and I used the time to reload and stock some Explosive Bullets. Those bullets invoked an explosive spell on impact. Their damage would be dampened somewhat by the barrier in the area, but I was sure they’d still do some serious damage.
“Gwuh!” I fired another shot toward Sol’s head.
“Come forth, o Light! Shining Duet: [Light Arrow]!” I suddenly heard someone chanting an incantation, so I leaped to the side.
Several arrows of light blasted through the location I’d just been standing at. That was a close one!
I turned my head to see Gad pointing his staff toward me. You sneaky bastard!
“...Wait, how’d you cast a spell to begin with?”
“I created this barrier, you impertinent whelp. Do you think I wouldn’t install insurance?”
What, seriously?! You can make it so you aren’t affected by the barrier? You cowardly asshole! But... well, I guess I can’t blame you for setting up the field to your advantage.
“I guess I’m not all that surprised. The Golden Order has some capable mages among its ranks, huh?”
“Wha—?! You little... Who sent you?!” Gad and Sol looked alarmed when I name-dropped their organization.
“A dog from Felsen, are you?!”
“Hm... Who can say? Tell you what. How about you take that barrier down? I’ll show you guys an interesting spell.”
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 10 Page 11
