by Okina Baba
“Whoa,” the Demon Lord murmurs.
The image shows the UFO, sending countless robots to the earth.
The UFO has dropped its altitude until it’s floating just above the ground, its hatch open to dispatch robots down a long ramp. There are even some of the tanks we saw in the ruins.
I see at least a few thousand robots, maybe even tens of thousands.
And it still keeps producing more.
Once the robots reach the ground, they line up in formations and start moving forward.
“As you can see, the G-Fleet’s forces have already begun their advance. Judging by their current speed and direction, they will reach human habitation within a half a day.”
The pontiff turns pale at this.
Judging by his reaction, he must be thinking that these things can’t be allowed to reach a human town at any cost.
“There is no time to spare, then.”
“Indeed. We have no choice but to attack them simultaneously.”
Güli-güli looks at Potimas intently, as if trying to gauge his true motives.
Potimas meets his gaze steadily.
From his attitude, it doesn’t seem like he has anything to hide, but that in itself is kind of suspicious, which is a little amazing in a way.
What he’s said so far has made sense, but I do get the feeling he might be deliberately trying to get Güli-güli away from this planet.
Maybe that sounds paranoid, but I know better than to trust this guy completely.
“May I see those schematics?”
“Go ahead.”
Güli-güli asks Potimas to show him the schematics in more detail. He must have the same suspicions.
Potimas agrees right away and hands Güli-güli the projection device.
Güli-güli fiddles with it, pulling up the schematics to take a closer look.
I don’t have any technical knowledge, so staring at these schematics doesn’t really tell me anything. But everyone else is peering at them intently.
The UFO, the bomb, the octopus. He pulls up each schematic one by one.
“He does not appear to be lying.”
Finally, determining that there are no contradictions in the plans, Güli-güli hands the device back to Potimas and sighs.
I mean, it would’ve been kinda hard to whip up fake plans in such a short span of time, so I think he’s probably telling the truth.
But they say the best liars tell 90 percent of the truth with 10 percent lies mixed in, and based on this short conversation, I wouldn’t be surprised if Potimas was exactly that type.
He’s not lying, but he might be trying to use the situation to his advantage for some kind of scheme.
Like, it’s true that Güli-güli has to be the one to deal with the octopus, but what if this is a while the cat’s away type of situation where Potimas is going to get up to no good as soon as Güli-güli’s gone?
Everyone else stares at Potimas suspiciously, just like I am.
“I am sure I cannot convince you to trust me completely, but I swear to you that I fully intend to focus on dealing with this situation with all my might. I would not want this planet to become devoid of life, after all.”
The Demon Lord, Güli-güli, and the pontiff all exchange glances.
I can pretty much tell the silent conversation that’s going on among them.
What should we do? This seems suspicious, but we have no choice.
Not much of a private conversation, guys. Well, I guess they’re not really trying to hide it.
“Very well.” Güli-güli nods reluctantly. “I will go deal with the G-Meteo while the rest of you contend with the G-Fleet.”
That means this planet’s strongest defense will temporarily be up in space, but at least there won’t be any asteroids being dropped on us by that octopus.
I’m sure Güli-güli can deal with that octopus no problem.
The real issue is what the rest of the group is going to do.
How are they going to beat that UFO?
Ah, I guess I shouldn’t be talking like this isn’t my problem.
“So? What’s our plan of attack here?” the Demon Lord drawls.
Her attitude says that she’ll hear out Potimas’s strategy, but if she doesn’t like it, she’s absolutely gonna disagree and do whatever she wants.
“Obviously, our top priority should be dealing with the GMA bomb. As such, we will have to infiltrate the G-Fleet. The infiltration team will disable the GMA bomb, while the rest will keep the G-Fleet occupied from the outside. Once the GMA bomb has been disabled, we can either entrust the rest to Güliedistodiez or bring it down with our own hands. Is that acceptable?”
Potimas’s proposed plan is simple but effective. Honestly, I don’t think we have any other option.
The Demon Lord and the pontiff both nod.
“Dustin.” Potimas turns to the pontiff. “How many forces can you gather here?”
“Thirty thousand elite human soldiers.”
Wow, that was a quick response.
You can really gather that many people so quickly?
“You can mobilize that many at the drop of a hat? How’d you manage to fail at invading Sariella and lose so many soldiers, then?” The Demon Lord snickers.
The pontiff did attempt to attack Sariella and failed.
Mainly because the Demon Lord and I had a huge face-off that decimated their forces in their first battle, and then my Parallel Minds went on a rampage that did even more damage.
In other words, it’s basically all my fault!
But in the end, it meant I was able to protect Vampy’s homeland, so I don’t feel bad in the least.
In this case, however, it’s kind of a negative, since it means the pontiff has less forces to put into action.
“No need to worry. The troops I intend to dispatch for this are my emergency defense forces, unrelated to the army that was sent to Sariella.”
Ooh, gotcha.
“So that means if you bring ’em here, your homeland’s totally defenseless, huh?”
Oof! The Demon Lord’s being ruthless right now!
She’s right, though. If what the pontiff says is true, that means he’s bringing all the soldiers who would normally defend his nation over here.
In other words, he’s leaving his homeland wide-open to attack. Should a leader really be doing that?”
“As I said, they are my emergency forces. And I have determined that this is indeed an emergency. My people will have nothing to fear,” the pontiff replies flatly.
Well, if he says so, I see no reason to argue.
Not like I was really worried about some weird holy land I’ve never been to in the first place. That’s none of my business, right?
“Well then, summon them at once. Have them move to intercept the route the G-Fleet’s forces are taking.”
“I do not take orders from you. I would have told them the same regardless.”
Unlike the others, the pontiff blatantly rejects the Demon Lord’s demand.
“Excuse me for a moment, then. I imagine it will take a bit of time to summon the troops, but I will attempt to return with the utmost haste.”
With that, the pontiff teleports away with his Spatial Magic–using guard.
Damn, that guy acts fast.
Can he seriously gather thirty thousand people on such short notice, though?
And even if he can, are they gonna do the job right?
Honestly, no matter how many humans you gather, I dunno how much good they’re gonna do against those robots and tanks and all that junk.
I’m a little worried, but the pontiff seemed raring to go, so I guess we’ll just have to trust him.
“I will bring elven reinforcements as well. However, I myself intend to participate in the infiltration of the G-Fleet, as I am by far the most qualified to handle the GMA bomb. Ariel, and you there, you will enter the G-Fleet alongside me. That is acceptable, I assume.”
Potimas is looking righ
t at the Demon Lord and me.
Who, me? So I can’t run away; I really have to do this, huh? Gotcha.
Plus, what with the “I assume” and all, he’s not really even asking us if it’s “acceptable” or not.
So I’m being forced to participate. Cool.
“We’re sending in a small, elite team, then?”
“That is correct.”
“Hrm. All right. But if you try anything funny, I’m gonna kill you, got it?”
“Certainly. If you think you can handle this without me, then go right ahead.”
Potimas’s prompt agreement sorta catches me off guard, but it just seems to make the Demon Lord even warier.
“Give me that.”
The Demon Lord points at the projector in Potimas’s hands; he nods and hands it to her.
Wow, he really is being cooperative.
That thing contains the plans for the UFO and the bomb and everything.
If we have that, the Demon Lord and I might be able to get by even without Potimas.
In a way, that means it was kind of his lifeline, but he handed it over without a second thought.
Huh. I guess he must be serious about taking down this UFO, too.
So maybe he’ll actually be on his best behavior at least until we finish the job?
Obviously, I can’t let my guard down, but I shouldn’t be overly paranoid, either.
“Now then, I, too, shall depart for a moment. We will begin our operation once Dustin and I have returned.”
Like the pontiff, Potimas and the Spatial Magic elf mage teleport away.
Now it’s just the Demon Lord, Güli-güli, and me.
“I shall take action now, as well. Hyuvan!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Güli-güli calls the wind dragon that’d retreated far away the second this little meeting began.
So this guy’s name is Hyuvan, huh?
Not that I really plan on remembering that.
“Keep an eye on things here while I’m gone. Follow Ariel’s orders and help in any way you can.”
“Heh-heh!”
Did its personality change or something?
It still seems like an underling, but now it’s a bit more like it’s the aide of a corrupt feudal lord or something.
“Ariel. I shall return the moment I’ve taken care of things up there. Be sure not to do anything foolish before then.”
“Sure thing. Although I might not have a choice if things get too crazy down here.”
“Even then. You must not die before I come back.”
Güli-güli pats the Demon Lord’s head gently.
Ah! Finally, the adorable scene where the Demon Lord gets treated like a child!
But the Demon Lord politely removes his hand.
Come on. That’s not what you’re supposed to do!
You’re supposed to blush a little and say I’m not a kid, you know! or something like that!
“I’ll be off, then.”
“Mm-hmm. You be careful, too.”
After an exchange that makes them seem like a married power couple, Güli-güli teleports away, too.
I really hope he gets back before the pontiff and Potimas.
Then we wouldn’t have to infiltrate the UFO or anything crazy like that.
But I have a hunch it won’t be that easy.
And my bad feelings are usually right, as much as I wish they’d be wrong once in a while.
“Whew. You guys goin’ up against that thing or what? Hey, spider lady. It wouldn’t hurt you or nothin’ even if you gave us the day off, y’know?”
“Oh, don’t you worry. I’m gonna work you so hard, even the boss of a sweatshop would be horrified.”
The wind dragon whimpers in response.
Oh boy. The Demon Lord and the wind dragon are doing their comedy routine again.
Is it just me, or do they actually put on a decent show?
And wait a second, does the wind dragon even know what a sweatshop is?
Maybe it doesn’t, but it’s imagining a terrible fate based on context?
Frankly, I’m pretty afraid myself of what my immediate future has in store for me.
In my arms, Sael has turned pale and practically passed out from the killer tension that was flying around throughout this meeting.
Yeah, I don’t blame you. Sorry about that. Thanks for sticking with me through all this.
ANTI-UFO BATTLE STRATEGY
It’s been three hours since the soul-crushing awkwardness of that meeting.
In that time, I’ve taken care of Sael’s repairs and evacuated Vampy and Mera.
I figured it was too dangerous to let them participate in this battle, so I popped them into the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
Why the Great Elroe Labyrinth, you ask?
Well, if I left them in a village or town somewhere, Potimas might take a shot at them.
He really is serious about dealing with the UFO, I think, but that doesn’t mean I can trust him without any doubts.
For all I know, he might try to pull some shady crap behind the scenes while we’re working on the UFO.
That’s why I put them in the labyrinth, which even Potimas can’t stroll into so easily.
Incidentally, I left them in the care of the spider army my Parallel Minds created.
Since they were created by a part of myself, I can use my Kin Control skill to give them orders.
And my Parallel Minds must have done a good job training them, because they’re crazy strong.
They wouldn’t lose to any of the monsters that inhabit the Great Elroe Labyrinth, and even if Potimas did attack, I think they’d be able to defend themselves to a certain extent.
That means the bloodsucker duo is safe for now.
The baby didn’t look too thrilled about being surrounded by a huge spider army, but Mera’s with her, so I’m sure she’ll be fine.
So yeah, she and Mera are finally out of the line of fire.
The problem now is the puppet spiders.
I’ve finished repairing Sael. Unlike the rest of her humanlike body, the new parts are unmistakably puppetlike, but they work just as well.
Now she can fight again.
The question is whether the puppet spiders have high enough specs for this fight in the first place.
The puppet spiders could take on any number of those robots without a problem. They proved that in the underground ruins.
But the tanks were a problem for them.
A single tank destroyed almost half of Sael’s body, and the other three’s attacks didn’t work on it.
I don’t think it’s impossible for them to win in a similar fight, but they lack both the offense and the defense.
The tank’s main gun can tear through the puppet spiders’ defenses, but their attacks don’t work on it at all.
Their only option for defense is to dodge.
But that still leaves the issue of offense.
Riel and Fiel’s attacks definitely hit the tank, so if they had some way of breaking through its armor, they should be able to win.
But that’s easier said than done.
The tank’s armor is covered in the same mysterious barrier Potimas used, which renders magic totally useless.
It would probably negate any buff effects, too, so destroying the armor requires brute physical strength.
For some reason, my scythe was able to rip right through it without a problem, but that doesn’t help much, since I still have no idea what’s going on with this thing.
It does point me in the right direction, though.
They’d need better weapons.
That’s the only way.
There’s no point trying to raise the puppet spiders’ own attack power at this stage, so our only hope is to give them stronger weapons.
But even that isn’t so simple.
The puppet spiders’ current weapons are incredibly sharp swords.
They’re strong and sturdy enough that they don’t break even
when whipped around by the puppet spiders’ powerful arms.
It wouldn’t be easy to find weapons that outclass those.
But if we can’t find them, we’ll just have to make ’em!
That’s how I got my scythe, so this can totally work!
As far as the kind of weapon, I don’t think blades are a good option.
Trying to break through that armor with a blade is kinda stupid to begin with.
When you’re trying to break through crazy-strong armor, the obvious choice is always gonna be blunt weapons. It’s better to try to punch through than to try to slice it up.
That way, even if you don’t break the armor, you have a chance of busting up the mechanisms inside with an attack.
For the materials, I’m using ancient metal.
It’s high-quality stuff, at least as strong or even stronger than the metal used to make the tank’s armor.
Huh? Where did I get that stuff, you ask?
From the underground ruins, duh.
I went back down into the ruins via the former ant nest.
Then I tore off the metal that was used for the walls of the actual ruins and went on my merry way.
I mean, that stuff kept its original shape even after those crazy flames ran through it.
All I had to do was a little tampering with Repellent Evil Eye and Warped Evil Eye to compress it.
Then I squished it together and made a handle, and voilà, a simple blunt weapon.
I made six of these for each of the four puppet spiders, for a total of twenty-four.
They’re a little haphazard, but they should still do more damage than the puppet spiders’ usual swords.
Since they’re new weapons, the puppet spiders are waving them experimentally, getting used to their weight.
Hopefully they’ll get the hang of it by the time the battle begins.
Now the puppet spiders should be all prepared.
Meanwhile, the Demon Lord was…summoning queen taratects.
Four of them, no less.
I couldn’t believe my eyes at first.
These are queen taratects we’re talking about, y’know?
They’re the same species as Mother. Can you imagine how I felt seeing four of them right before my eyes?
I was so shocked, I couldn’t even react!
I guess Mother wasn’t the only queen taratect serving the Demon Lord.
