In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 9

by Patora Fuyuhara

  Suddenly, an orb of light appeared around the Orca Phrase’s head. Crap.

  After a couple of moments, it fired the orb at me. So it’s another ranged attacker... I slashed this one too, destroying its core as well.

  There were more Mantas and Orcas, though. They came at me one after the other. They were really easy to read, so I made short work of them.

  I wasn’t just confined to the ground, so I could attack and defend at all angles.

  I looked down at the battlefield and noticed that the fight had already begun.

  The northern area was being spearheaded by Elze, who was taking command of Brunhild and Lestia, while Mismede and Refreese were in the middle. Regulus, Lihnea, and Ramissh were in the south. I noticed Ende in the southern area, too.

  They were holding back the Phrase pretty efficiently. All their movements seemed much better than they were during the Yulong battle. Even the Lestian Knights were doing great, despite it being their first time.

  “Smash! Crash! Bash! Just try and take me, you brittle jackasses!” Elze’s Gerhilde smashed into an Intermediate Construct, firing a pile bunker to finish it off. Behind her, Brunhild’s knights were making swift work of the Lesser Constructs.

  The knights were wielding crystal weaponry. Hammers, swords, spears, and so on. It made fighting the Phrase a total breeze. I’d also enchanted them with [Gravity] to give them a bit more weight.

  They couldn’t just wildly swing, though. If they wanted to smash the cores, they needed to attack properly. The adept knights were outfitted with spears, while the knights who were less confident in their skills were given broader weapons like hammers and maces.

  “Huh, is that all the flying ones?” I couldn’t see any more Mantas or Orcas anywhere. There weren’t many flying ones at all. My work complete, I decided to head to the ground.

  Just as I decided that, I saw a Chevalier being attacked by two Lesser Constructs at once. Its right arm and left leg had been completely annihilated.

  It fell to the ground and changed color from light gray to a deeper gray... Looked kind of like going from a moon gray to a standard gray. That was the best way I could describe it.

  I’d made it so Frame Gears changed colors on successful activation of the emergency escape spell. That was all thanks to a new paint I’d created by using [Program]. It was a special paint imbued with Ether Liquid, allowing it to respond to the use of magic on the Frame Gear.

  I wanted to make a paint that got darker to highlight the effects of my [Gravity] spell, but it didn’t end up working out.

  [Gravity] was a spell that, contrary to its name, actually just controlled weight. I couldn’t use it to make things float, though. I had the [Levitation] spell for that. Still, my weight-altering magic made things lighter or heavier.

  All I ended up making was a paint that made things heavier or lighter. It didn’t have a lot of use. Or maybe it did...? I wasn’t sure, actually.

  Either way, I was getting off-track.

  “Come in, come in. Do you hear me, HQ? Did that pilot come in safely?”

  “Safe and sound, sir! Minor arm damage, but this maggot can suck it up!” The pilot was fine, then. That was a relief... Still, it seemed like he was from Lestia. It wasn’t all that surprising. They were the least prepared, after all.

  I saw three crystal blades floating around in the northern area, slicing through several Lesser Constructs. Their cores were all destroyed in the blink of an eye.

  Oh... Yumina!

  The Fragarachs roared across the battlefield, shattering core after core. They gracefully returned to Yumina’s Frame Gear after completing their tour of duty.

  Fragarachs were definitely hard to control. If they weren’t used right, they could harm your allies. Yumina had been training hard, though, so she was capable of handling three at once.

  Linze was a much more proficient mage than Yumina, so she masterfully let four of them fly around at will. She had some issues taking out distant enemies, though.

  Yae and Hilde were nearby, completely destroying an Intermediate Construct. And Lu was wildly swinging her twin blades against the Lesser Constructs.

  Seemed like I didn’t have a thing to worry about in the northern sector.

  In the south, the monochrome Dragoon was freely darting around and slashing Intermediate Constructs to pieces. Ende glided around like a figure skater, spinning and slicing at his own discretion.

  The Phrase continued to attack him over and over, but he didn’t pay them any mind at all.

  The Dragoon was built for mobility, so it didn’t have much of a focus on defense. That meant if even a single shot got through, it could be seriously bad news. Even so, Ende continued his reckless dance, not letting a single one of them land a shot on him.

  The southern area also seemed well-defended...

  Alright, what about the middle grounds... W-Wait a sec... The Phrase hordes in the middle were being mowed down one after the other as well. A single woman darted between them, a greatsword in her hands. She sliced Lesser and Intermediate Constructs like butter. Her power was insane, comparable to Ende or Elze’s efforts... And she wasn’t even in a Frame Gear.

  It was, of course, Moroha. She was wielding a crystal greatsword much like mine, and used it to its full strength. Her movements were intense, like a ferocious goddess... Or rather, she actually was a goddess. Just watching her felt overwhelming... I wondered if there was even a chance she’d lose.

  Hmph... I actually feel like I’m not really needed here...

  When I heard something breaking nearby, I turned to see a Chevalier lose its head. The Frame Gear’s color changed as it fell to the ground. He was attacked from behind because he was too focused on the enemy ahead.

  “All units, be mindful of your surroundings. Fight while covering each other. The Phrase want to kill us, remember? Try to buddy up and watch each other’s backs.” I spoke over the general channel. An attack would come regardless of direction. It was wiser to wait for the enemy to seek you out.

  “How many Phrase are left?”

  “Searching... Four-thousand-and-eighteen remaining.” My smartphone chimed as it spoke back to me. We’d beaten about half. Not bad, considering it had been around twenty minutes since the fight began.

  In order to kill all of them, each Frame Gear needed to kill about forty Phrase apiece. We’d already defeated half, so that was twenty enemies each in twenty minutes. This pace was pretty good...

  Given that it took us over three hours to take out the thirteen-thousand or so back in Yulong, we were making great time. The crystal weapons were clearly an excellent addition. Gerhilde, Ende, and Moroha were definitely major players in terms of numbers, though.

  Still, there was an Upper Construct due after thirty minutes, and twenty had gone by. I had wanted to kill all the Lesser Constructs before it emerged, but it seemed impossible.

  “Ah, Touya. You there?”

  “Ende? Something up?”

  “Upper Construct’s coming now. North-east. You should be able to see the warp in space.” I looked over to where Ende was talking about.

  Let’s see... It’s... there, right?

  I invoked [Long Sense] to check, and sure enough there was a ripple in the air. It almost looked like a mirage, like the very air itself was swaying in heat.

  That meant that cracks would appear in space not long after, and the Upper Construct would emerge. I decided it’d be a good idea to have the northern troops fall back a bit.

  “This is an order to all Brunhild and Lestian troops in the northern area. Move west from your current station. And here’s a message for everyone else. An Upper Construct will soon appear to the north-west in ten minutes. Be mindful.” In response to my command, the Frame Gears in the north began moving west. The deployment before kind of resembled an arc, but now it was more like a straight line.

  To an outsider it’d seem like they were being pushed back, but this was all part of the plan. The Upper Construct was a more
valuable target, after all.

  After a while, I heard a cracking and splitting sound.

  Just as Ende had predicted, the crack began to form in space around the distortion. The Upper Construct was slowly forcing itself through, making the hole bigger.

  “The Upper Construct is beginning to emerge. Take care in your movements, troops. More than before, even. Keep in close contact with one another, and obey your commanders closely.” Ende and Elze moved closer upon hearing the time was nearing.

  The cracks in space were spreading even further.

  After a time, four thick crystal arms emerged from the hole in space. The Upper Construct began crawling out, attempting to break the “wall” before it.

  It was huge. Four times as large as a Frame Gear. It had four massive arms, two on either side of its body. It had short legs, causing it to constantly lean forwards in a hunch. It didn’t really have a neck, either. Its head was closely connected with its torso. There was also a single massive orange core in its chest. In short, it was...

  “A gorilla?” It resembled a mountain gorilla, except for a few details. Gorillas didn’t typically have four arms. Gorillas also lacked protrusions on their spines and elongated tails.

  I hadn’t seen any kind of Phrase that looked like this in the book from the Library, either. But I guess that was fair, since it’d be too easy if every Phrase type had been recorded there.

  As I stared at it, the Gorilla Phrase started beating its own chest with all four arms. It’s drumming its own body? It really is a gorilla!

  “Gh—?!” An impact rushed through my body and I was knocked over. It felt like I’d been smacked by something invisible, like a shockwave.

  I see. It’s kinda like the dorsal fin from the Crocodile Phrase in the last battle. So it beats on its chest to knock back enemies... Interesting. Wait, that means...

  “All units, spread out! Keep away from the Upper Construct’s front!” Both sets of the Gorilla Phrase’s arms spread outwards, and its chest slowly opened up almost like a door. It wasn’t long before light began to gather in its chest. Shit, I knew it! It’s gonna fire a laser beam like the Crocodile Phrase did back then! The Frame Gears had all dispersed, but the highland territory was in its direct line of fire.

  Damn it, I’m gonna have to use that...

  “[Reflection]!” I made use of a reflective spell I’d recently learned, deploying it right in front of the Gorilla Phrase. It took the form of a massive blue-white barrier angled around forty-five degrees in front of the beam.

  The blast of light hit the barrier, stopped, and shot off into the sky. The barrier shattered to pieces as well.

  Damn... It was strong enough to break a barrier that thick? The spell could’ve caused damage to the Gorilla Phrase if I’d angled it to mirror the attack right back, but that would’ve come with the risk of damaging Roadmare’s territory. Not to mention I had no proof that a Phrase could actually be harmed by its own attack. Knowing them, it’d just end up absorbing the beam and redistributing it somehow.

  Either way, it was a serious problem. It was definitely weaker than the crocodile, but that didn’t really do much to make me feel better.

  The Gorilla Phrase’s chest closed up once more, and it started beating its hands against itself. Then, it began charging toward the troops in the north-west.

  Goddammit, this guy’s a pain! The Gorilla Phrase raged forward with its mighty arms. Every time it brought its fists down, the earth was ruptured and split. Its power was immense, to say the least.

  “You’re mine! [Boost]!” Elze piloted Gerhilde and ran right up to the Gorilla Phrase, driving a magically-reinforced pile bunker into its side.

  The sound of cracking glass filled the area, and one of the beast’s right arms was shattered. That pile bunker is really something...

  “Haha! Did it!” Elze cheered, but the gorilla was quick to rise and beat its chest again. The resulting shockwave knocked her far away.

  “Gwaaah?!” Gerhilde successfully readjusted itself in mid-air and landed safely.

  The Gorilla Phrase paid no heed to its broken arm. Instead, it remained still as the core in its chest pulsed a bright orange.

  The annihilated arm was fast to recover, snapping and cracking back into place as it regenerated. In only a matter of seconds, the arm was back to its original form. That’s gonna be a problem...

  The gorilla flexed its new arm and attempted to bring it down on Gerhilde. Fortunately, Elze had invoked [Boost] just in time, and she strafed left and right to avoid its blows.

  “[Slip]!” I used my magic to make the giant gorilla lose its balance, giving Gerhilde just enough time to escape.

  Moroha suddenly appeared out of nowhere, thrusting her sword toward the chest of the fallen gorilla. That didn’t stop the enemy from being what it was, though. Even Moroha was limited in what she could do with a mere blade. It was nowhere near big enough to penetrate all the way through to the core.

  Just as I was thinking that, Moroha pulled out a second sword and stabbed the first sword with it, sending it deeper into the creature’s chest. It still wasn’t enough, however.

  “Hmph... Sheesh, even two aren’t enough? This guy’s thicker than I thought...” Moroha jumped back before the gorilla could swat her like a fly.

  I jumped down next to her.

  “Touya, this thing’s way tougher than me right now. I could smash it if I used my powers, but obviously that’s a no-no.”

  Wait, that means if you used your divine powers you could sort it out right away! Do that! Do that, damn it!

  “Mmm... I mean, I could go all-out, but everyone here would probably die alongside this guy, and the continent would probably get cut in half as well. That cool with you?”

  “Nope!”

  What the hell, can’t you adjust how much power you use?! That’s insane! Then again, it was probably like being asked to move an extra millimeter or two during a walk. It’d be way too easy for my sisters to overstep that because they weren’t used to walking along at a snail’s pace.

  “Also, if I use my divinity in this realm, then I probably won’t be able to maintain myself down here. I’d like to avoid that if possible.”

  “Bah, fine! You can go.” True strength comes from deploying the right person at the right time. Since both of my sisters don’t have flesh bodies like I do, they’ll be unable to keep themselves manifested if they blow through all their divine power... They’re made out of divine energy right now, so I shouldn’t be wasteful in making use of them.

  Plus, they’re not even allowed to use most of their powers down here anyway. Karen’s obviously fine with her love consultation and stuff like that, but if Moroha started going nuts with her overkill swordplay, then we’d have a big issue. There are a lot of rules in place, but I assume it’s for a good reason.

  A shrill screeching sound filled the air all of a sudden. The Gorilla Phrase was emitting the noise. All the protrusions along its back were vibrating intensely.

  What the hell?! In a flash, the ground around the gorilla began to distort. It was like bumps in a carpet. I picked up Moroha and flew back up into the air.

  It was almost like waves in the earth. Nearby Frame Gears were being jostled and bounced around.

  Some people had managed to minimize damage by jumping up in time, but a large amount of Frame Gears were immobilized, their colors changed.

  I didn’t know it could do this too! That’s cheating! Some of the Frame Gears that had managed to avoid the initial attack were crawling to safety, Elze’s Gerhilde was also fine.

  But the Gorilla Phrase wasn’t done. It followed up with a mighty tail whip. It had some kind of heavy weight on the end of its tail, and it used it to smash a lot of the Frame Gears in the area.

  It furiously lashed at the ground, hitting Frame Gears one after the other. The pilots seemed to have escaped since their mechs had changed color, but I couldn’t determine their safety. Even if they were dead, we still had to manage...
r />   The Gorilla Phrase moved to open its chest again. As it did so, the light began to gather around its core.

  Crap! Again?! Should I reflect the attack back at it...? No, I can’t! If there’s any collateral damage it’d be intense.

  I had no option but to reflect the attack skywards once more.

  “[Reflection]!” I created a reflective barrier in front of the gorilla again. Just as before, I angled it to forty-five degrees.

  But all of a sudden, the Gorilla Phrase crossed its arms over its chest.

  “What the—?!” The beam fired, blasting against the creature’s crystal arms. In a flash, the thick central beam split and refracted into several thinner blasts.

  Did it seriously scatter the light using its own body?! The smaller beams were less powerful, but the attack was still devastating. Various Frame Gears lost their colors around me, even though their cockpits were spared direct hits. It was insanity.

  Damn it... Guess we’ve got no choice.

  “All troops fall back! Clear some distance between you and the giant Phrase!” I used [Storage] to open up several pockets of space above the Gorilla Phrase, then released the contents.

  “[Meteor Rain]!” From the portals in the sky came a rain of softball-shaped Phrasium orbs. I’d used [Gravity] to amplify the weight of each, causing every one to weigh about a ton.

  The Upper Construct could only gaze upward in confusion as they crashed down upon it.

  Shoulders, back, waist. The Phrasium orbs pelted the creature and wound up lodged inside its body, cracking and penetrating it deeper with every second. I increased the weight by a further two tons for good measure.

  Eventually, the crystal rain subsided. The Gorilla Phrase had been brought to its knees, crawling weakly on all fours. Suddenly, however, it rolled over on to its back.

  What the...? Wait, no! The heavy Phrasium orbs lodged inside the creature’s body all rolled back out. The gorilla had used gravity to its advantage. I was amazed it could come up with such a tactic.

  Damn it! The cracks are regenerating, too! At that moment, a monochrome Dragoon came through at high speeds, jumping up from behind me and landing on the gorilla’s upturned chest. It stabbed the blade it was wielding directly into the crystal beast.