by Okina Baba
The knights and even the queen taratects’ breath attacks couldn’t lay a scratch on the tanks, so of course most of them are still intact.
But now they’re all under attack by Potimas’s machines.
In fact, they all seem strangely concentrated in one place.
Looking more closely, I realize that another force is guiding all the tank machines into one area.
It’s the puppet taratects.
They’re skillfully shepherding the tank machines forward, directly into the ranks of Potimas’s machines.
Perhaps the puppet taratects had similar suspicions to my own and decided to nip the problem in the bud before Potimas’s machines could do anything suspicious.
These machines are now far too busy fighting off the enemy tanks to pull any sort of betrayal.
I must admire the puppet taratects: Not only have they prevented any suspicious movements from Potimas’s machines, they’ve even forced the machines to deal with their most formidable foes.
The four puppet taratects couldn’t deal with all the tank machines, so they’re enlisting the help of Potimas’s machines, which weren’t contributing much.
That alone was a brilliant tactical decision, but the fact that it also quashes any potential revolt from Potimas’s machines is true genius.
And at the same time, they’ve drastically reduced their own workload.
There were too many tanks for the four of them to take on, but now that they’ve found an alternative way to deal with them, that frees up the puppet taratects to move as they please.
Essentially, this one tactical decision has killed three birds with one stone.
They do say that the best tacticians are brilliant yet lazy.
The puppet taratects’ leader, especially, seems to have the makings of an excellent commander.
Ah, but they’re currently running all over the battlefield to carry out these tasks, so I suppose it was rude to call them lazy.
At any rate, I am little more than a figurehead commander myself, so I am glad to see there are some real leaders here on the battlefield.
Perhaps we will meet as enemies someday, but since the world is currently in danger, it would be foolish to bare our fangs at each other.
Although I wish we could be sure that Potimas’s machines felt the same way.
Those machines are now too occupied to do anything else, so we will never know whether they intended to betray us.
However, I must say I would be more surprised if that was not the case.
Yet, as long as their guns are not pointed our way, I will be glad to have them demonstrate their full strength.
Just as I predicted, Potimas’s machines are more powerful than the enemy tanks.
Though not without effort, even one of them can take on a tank.
While they could doubtless win such a one-on-one battle, Potimas’s machines are fighting each tank with larger numbers.
There are around two thousand of them, so it’s unlikely that Potimas’s machines will be crushed. However, they are suffering a few losses.
Superior though they might be, both are still machines designed by Potimas. No matter how long ago he developed it, no weapon made by that man would go down easily.
As reluctant as I am to admit it, that man is extremely capable.
I have no choice but to acknowledge him as such.
And there is one more thing I must acknowledge: He is a bastard.
This combination of being both extremely capable and utter scum is what makes him Potimas.
Which is why, when I look out at the battlefield again, I am not as shocked as I could be.
Still, I cannot stop a choice word or two from slipping out.
“Bastard.”
The attendant priest next to me gasps.
I’m sure he’s never seen the look on my face before.
Most people get the wrong impression, since I always take great pains to keep a gentle smile on my face at all times, but the truth is that I am quick to anger by nature.
It is simply that I take care not to let it show on my face.
But this time, I cannot keep up my usual appearances.
“Truly, you still have a horrible tendency to toy with life itself.”
I know that Potimas cannot hear me, yet I cannot help myself.
For my eyes have fallen on one of Potimas’s broken machines.
Within the remains, I can see something slimy and raw.
A strange thing to find among the wreckage of a machine but unmistakable.
A person’s brain.
Instead of artificial intelligence, these machines use brains.
The brain and nothing else.
I have no way of knowing whether these brains still possess the will of the people they came from.
It’s entirely possible they are only equipment for controlling the machines, no longer capable of thought.
Even so, that does not change the fact that these machines are abominations, flouting of the very laws of nature.
Only Potimas could make such a horrific machine.
As long as it helps him reach his goals, he will gladly cast aside morality.
And he will gladly tread on the backs of others.
I tear my gaze away from Potimas’s horrible machines.
I cannot bear to look any longer at the poor beings who have been used for that man’s foul purposes.
But when my eyes fall instead on the knights being trampled by the enemy machines, I realize my own hypocrisy.
Having sent these knights knowingly to their deaths, how am I any different from Potimas?
If he is a heretic, then so, too, am I.
Just another monster who toys with life itself.
And yet, I have no choice but to continue along this path of heresy.
For it is the path I have sworn to follow.
Even if I have fallen from grace, I cannot stop moving forward.
I am sorry.
No matter how many times I apologize in my heart, I cannot say the words out loud.
I have no right to do so.
But even if it is heresy, I shall hold on to my conviction of protecting humanity.
UFO INFILTRATION MISSION
“Hey, Potimaaas. Isn’t anything going to come out of that new hole of yours? C’mon, like fire or something? Maybe you can cast magic out of your butt! Pfffft!”
Heresy.
There’s a heretic here.
Not that I can talk, since I’m the one who started all this in the first place.
Our latest battle is getting rave reviews from the critics.
And yet, this slacker is still messing around.
Sure, we’re absolutely owning this swarm of robots. These little ones are so weak, I’m practically falling asleep here.
That’s why the Demon Lord has decided to start poking fun at Potimas while we’re fighting.
And then busting out laughing in the middle of her own damn jokes.
Cut it out. Magic’s not gonna come out of his butt.
Actually, maybe it could if he really tried?
Hey, wait a second. The Demon Lord and I are both spider-type creatures, so aren’t we the ones who make magic thread come out of our butts?
Having realized this horrifying truth, I decide to keep quiet.
I guess this is what they call putting your foot in your mouth. Or your butt, in this case.
Anyway, since the Demon Lord seems to be having a grand old time, she’s mowing down the robots like crazy.
Potimas, on the other hand, is silent. He’s completely ignoring the Demon Lord and focusing on fighting the robots.
I thought he was going to turn his arm into a gun or whatever like he did before, but this time he’s just holding a gun and firing it like a normal person.
He’s holding it up with both hands, aiming at the robots, and firing light bullets—but these aren’t like the ones the robots use.
Potimas’s light bullets can pulverize several robots
in a single shot.
Is it my imagination, or is this gun just as powerful as those tanks’ main gun?
It might be big, but the tank’s gun was obviously way bigger. Maybe he found a way to shrink that down with technology or something?
Either way, it’s scary.
And yet, the Demon Lord is picking a fight with this guy and his giant gun.
I’m stuck in the middle of them, but of course I’m destroying my share of robots, too.
You know, firing magic, using my Evil Eyes, tying thread to my scythe, and playing with it like a sickle and chain, that kind of thing.
Oh, uh, did I say “playing”? I’m not playing. Of course I’m not.
I’m taking this robot fight very seriously, I swear.
But no matter how many of them we break, more robots just keep coming.
Can you really blame me for wanting to experiment a little and try something new?
By the way, my “giant scythe and chain” is working out great.
Since I have Thread Control, I can move it around however I want.
And my giant scythe cuts through these robots like butter.
It’s not exactly like a real sickle and chain, but I think it’ll be a great close- to midrange-attack method.
Magic and Evil Eyes for long-range.
Thread for midrange.
And my scythe for close-range.
Heh-heh. I’ve got a pretty good strategy, if I do say so myself.
And since I have both a spider brain and a human brain, I can even use both of them at once.
Normally, I could even use my Parallel Minds with both brains to get a double-galaxy brain effect going on, but right now I’ve got Parallel Minds turned off.
I mean, what if I turn it on and they go crazy again?
I don’t really have a choice here.
Still, I’ve gotten pretty strong, if you ask me.
I used to be so weak that any single hit would kill me, but now I’m an all-rounder who can handle close combat and long-distance alike!
There’s hardly anyone who could beat me now!
Although the top two contenders are right here next to me.
The number one threat, also known as the Demon Lord, is cackling away as she destroys more and more robots.
Watching her fight certainly is instructive.
After all, the Demon Lord is an all-rounder who excels at any distance, too.
She can use magic to fire at long distances, attack with thread for middle distances, and any brave soldier who gets through those first two will find Gluttony waiting for them.
Seriously, there’s not a single gap in her defenses.
That last one, Gluttony, is particularly scary.
Whether it’s light bullets or the robots themselves, she can swallow them whole.
All she has to do is open and close her mouth, and the predation is complete.
That’s broken even for one of the Seven Deadly Sins skills.
Even though the robots are giant hunks of metal that would clearly never fit into the Demon Lord’s mouth, all she has to do is one big chomp and they’re gone without a trace.
There must be some kind of spatial shenanigans going on here.
Can you imagine somehow getting past the Demon Lord’s magic attacks and crazy thread moves only to find out that she’s most dangerous of all at close range?
She only has to open and close her mouth, and bam, you’re in her belly!
That’s crazy, man.
Even a close-combat master wouldn’t stand a chance in hell.
I guess that means the Demon Lord is a close-combat master.
How are you supposed to tackle that?
Just fire at her from afar, you say?
Well, bad news. She can swallow those attacks with one bite, too.
There’s really no way around it.
Sounds like cheating to me, don’t you think?
Supposedly, I have cheat skills that are just as good, but they don’t really seem that way, do they?
Pride is a growth cheat that has no effect on actual battle.
Perseverance is a defensive cheat that lets me use MP if I run out of HP.
Sloth is an attack cheat that increases all my damage to my opponents.
Hero is a support cheat that lets my allies heal automatically.
Yep. Gluttony is definitely the best out of all of them, dammit!
Considering how much stronger I’ve gotten because of it, I guess Pride is at least as good or maybe even better, but the other ones, not so much.
Okay, I’ll admit they’ve all helped me in the past, but still!
Yes, there were times when I would’ve died if I didn’t have Perseverance, and without Pride, I wouldn’t have been able to defeat Araba.
And I guess without Hero, I would’ve died in that explosion earlier.
Well, technically, that wasn’t Hero; it was the Miracle Magic skill I got along with Hero.
So I guess I still have Hero to thank, huh.
But Pride doesn’t have any direct effect on battle, and Perseverance is a little irrelevant now that I have Immortality, and Sloth is no help right now because my enemies are machines that don’t have HP.
Huh?
Is it just me, or are my cheat skills not really helping me cheat at all?
Th-that’s not true.
It can’t be true.
I’m telling you, it’s not!
Let’s just say it’s not, okay?!
Ugh, this is all the stupid Demon Lord’s Gluttony skill’s fault!
Gluttony is way too useful!
What the hell kind of skill lets you eat literally anything and turn it into energy?
She can eat your attacks, eat right through your defenses, and it takes only an instant to activate.
It works as offense and defense and even recovers her SP.
That’s way too broken of a cheat.
How could anyone beat this monster?
Is a surprise attack from behind the only way or what?
And even that would be pretty damn near impossible.
Yeah. The more I think about it, the less likely it seems one could kill her, even if her guard was down.
How in the world does Potimas plan to do it?
I glance over at Potimas, who’s silently shooting down the robots.
Considering all that big talk he was doing, does that mean he actually has some kind of method to kill the Demon Lord?
Hrmmm.
What should I do?
I don’t think the Demon Lord’s going to let her guard down in the first place, but if Potimas did try to kill her, what would the right reaction be?
The Demon Lord is a regular pain in my butt—I know that much.
If you think about it, we’ve been clashing ever since I first started fighting against Mother.
She’s the one enemy I never found a way to defeat.
Instead I just kept running away from her, antagonizing her as I went, which finally led to this current cease-fire situation.
And I came up with a system that makes it pretty difficult to kill me and, more importantly, makes the Demon Lord think it’s impossible.
It took all that just to get to a truce.
Actually, beating her would be way beyond my abilities.
That’s the Demon Lord in a nutshell.
She’s like a thorn in my side that I can’t get rid of.
So if I could actually kill the Demon Lord…what would I do?
To be honest, I don’t know what the best answer is anymore.
If I’d found a way to kill her before our truce, I probably would’ve done it without hesitation.
But now, it’s been about two years since we agreed to stop fighting.
We’ve been traveling together all this time, so I’ve gotten a pretty solid grasp of her personality.
And from what I can tell, the Demon Lord is super-freaking-nice!
Seriously, it’s like, the Hero skill wou
ld suit her waaay better than me! She’s practically a saint!
Why is she even a demon lord in the first place? It really makes you wonder.
She’s such a good person that Vampy and Mera obviously adore her.
Honestly, I’m starting to feel like I should just accept her already.
The only reason we were enemies in the first place was that I was fighting Mother, her kin.
Now that Mother is gone, there’s no real reason for me to want to fight the Demon Lord.
Sure, she’s still kind of a threat, but I think even the Demon Lord would have a hard time killing me at this point.
When I was fighting Mother, I was struggling just to survive, but now, I don’t need to be so scared of every little thing.
I’m starting to wonder if maybe giving up on that animosity is for the best.
The Demon Lord’s an angel.
If we can just let bygones be bygones, I have a feeling we could actually get along really well.
Except I don’t think that would be so easy.
I mean, the Demon Lord really values her friends and family.
The way she rushed to Sael’s rescue in the ruins just shows how much she cares about protecting the people close to her.
And I’m the one who murdered one of her children—Mother.
I’m sure she doesn’t exactly look fondly on me because of that.
So even if I’m willing to forget the past, would the Demon Lord really feel the same way?
She suggested the truce, since she can’t kill me, but doesn’t that mean she would still want to kill me if she could?
And now that I’ve gone and pissed off Potimas, he’s way more likely to come after me than the Demon Lord.
If he uses his mystery barrier, I don’t know whether my immortality method would work or not.
And if the Demon Lord decided to side with Potimas then?
Ha-ha-ha.
Yikes…
Yeah, I’d totally be dead, probably.
The secret to my ability to never die is the Immortality skill and my egg-revival technique.
As the name implies, the Immortality skill means that you can’t be killed.
Thanks to this skill, I wouldn’t die even if my body was blown to bits.
Although I would certainly be rendered unconscious while my body rebuilt itself with HP Auto-Recovery.
Without HP Auto-Recovery, you’d just be stuck in a state of eternal unconsciousness, which is probably a fate worse than death. So Immortality’s already a pretty defective skill.
