521: Annihilation and Scavenging

Gigantes, the colossal golem, split apart into several massive golems.

Its head had been rendered inoperable, leaving ten golems: upper torso, lower torso, two upper arms, two forearms, two thighs, and two lower legs.

To think it was a fusion-type golem, like Overlord.

You’d assume separating made them easier to deal with—but nope. Each of the ten units was much larger than a Frame Gear. Each one was about the size of Overlord itself.

Among them, the upper and lower torso units were especially massive. They weren’t tall, but they were incredibly thick horizontally.

So, each part has its own power source and Q-crystal as a brain. The head must’ve been coordinating them all, and once it was destroyed, the fusion couldn’t be maintained, forcing separation.

"We’ve got ten machines on their side, and we’ve got ten on ours. A fair match, de gozaru," came Yae’s cheerful voice over the speaker.

Wait, are we going one-on-one with them?

"Then I’ll take the biggest one! That okay?" said Alice, slamming her fists together in Overlord.

She must mean the upper torso—the chest golem. Is that a good idea? It blocked her finishing move, the Cannon Knuckle, earlier.

But matching our biggest with theirs might be the best tactic. Cannon Knuckle isn’t Overlord’s only weapon. Probably fine… I hope.

"Let’s first take out the weakest-looking one with multiple units. Then we can spread out and each takes one down. That should make things easier," Yumina suggested.

Makes sense. Eliminate one at a time to gain the numbers advantage.

In shounen manga, five-on-five often devolves into individual duels, but in real combat, taking one enemy out five-on-one and turning it into five-on-four is way more reliable. Of course, the enemy might try the same, so you need to quickly pick off their weakest.

Target: the two thigh units. They're visibly slimmer than the others.

The original Gigantes had short legs, so it makes sense. Maybe they’re still tough since they held up that giant body, but worth a shot.

"Strike first, win fast," said Yumina.

Her Brunhilde raised its sniper rifle and aimed at one of the thigh golems.

"So, we’ll strike from beyond their range," Leen added.

Her Grimgelde opened its shoulder, leg, and chest panels to reveal multi-missile pods and twin-barrel Vulcans. The arm-mounted Gatling and finger vulcans are aimed at the same thigh unit as Yumina.

"Let’s finish this in one go," said Luu.

Her Waltraute equipped a C-Unit with a massive cannon and locked onto the same target.

"""Fire!"""

A barrage of hundreds of bullets tore into the thigh golem, shredding its light armor and knocking it backward.

The remaining nine golems reacted immediately, some taking defensive stances, others maneuvering, and some preparing counterattacks.

The two upper-arm golems, formerly Gigantes’s shoulders, had missile pods and began launching.

Yumina and the others dodged the incoming missile rain by scattering.

The damaged thigh golem stood up—barely—but its armor was gone, and steam or smoke spewed from its frame. That much damage and it’s still running? Tough bastard.

"Cannon Knuckle!"

A moment later, Alice’s Overlord launched a rocket punch straight into the golem, smashing it into pieces.

No way that’s getting up again.

Nine left.

"Let’s take out another."

Yumina gave the signal, and the ranged trio unleashed another focused barrage on the second thigh golem.

This time, Linze’s Helmwige dove from the sky, slicing the slim golem clean in half with a crystal blade hidden in her wings.

Eight left.

The two upper-arm golems launched missiles at Helmwige.

Linze’s machine elegantly evaded every missile, weaving through the air. When did she get this good? Ace pilot material.

Come to think of it, during our honeymoon on Earth, she cleared a shooting game at an amusement park without breaking a sweat.

"Hilda-dono and I shall handle the missile ones," said Yae.

"Agreed. Best suited to our strengths," Hilda replied.

Yae’s Schwertreite and Hilda’s Siegrune rushed toward the upper arm golems.

These two clearly specialize in long-range support, with missile pods on their backs, gatlings on their hips, and giant shields on both shoulders. They carry spear-like weapons too, but their melee ability is questionable.

Once Yae and Hilda close the distance, their superior close-combat skills should win out.

Normally it’d be suicide charging through that kind of bullet storm, but those two can probably pull it off. After all, they can shoot incoming rounds out of the air.

“Take this, you!”

The massive drill attached to the Overlord’s leg detached and was mounted onto its right arm. Spotting an opening in the barrage of attacks from the chest golem, the Overlord thrust the drill-equipped right arm straight into the enemy’s body.

However, only the very tip managed to pierce through—the rubbery armor still managed to hold it back.

“From here on out!”

With Alice’s shout, the drill began to spin at high speed. Gyugyugyugyu—the spinning drill slowly but surely bored into the rubber armor.

“【Prism Rose of Crystal Thorns】!”

Crack! A jagged fracture-split opens the rubbery surface. From within the chest golem’s armor, thorned crystal vines burst forth, coiling around the enemy. Eventually, the golem’s chest was pinned down to the ground by countless vines, ceasing all movement.

So, she activated Prism Rose of Crystal Thorns from inside the armor she broke open with the drill.

The crystal rose vines that gushed from within tore the chest golem apart from the inside.

Still, that probably left the insides completely shredded… I can practically hear Kuon screaming in front of the monitor...

“I did it, Otou-san!”

While Alice was calling out, Ende was still locked in combat with the abdomen golem.

The abdomen golem had thick, stubby legs and long, thin arms—slow, but each arm was armed with a Gatling gun.

Ende’s dragoon unit, the Dragoon, dodged left and right through the hail of bullets with exceptional agility.

The golem couldn’t land a single hit on the speed-oriented unit.

“Looks like Alice finished her part too. Guess it’s time I wrap this up.”

The Dragoon drew two kodachi from its waist, gripping them in both hands.

With a burst of acceleration from its high-speed leg rollers, it zipped past the enemy, slicing off one of the thin arms. It made a sharp turn and zoomed past again, severing the other.

Dashing across the battlefield like a whirlwind, Ende’s Dragoon slashed the abdomen golem to ribbons. It had no chance to respond against that blinding speed.

“This is the end!”

With a final strike, one of the Dragoon’s kodachi pierced through the abdomen golem’s chest (yeah, a bit confusing). Boshh! A glittering puff of magic particles rose as the golem froze in place.

What a one-sided match. Well, it was a bad matchup… or rather, a good one for Ende.

“How about that, Alice! Otou-san’s still got—HUH!?”

Ende turned around to boast to Alice—only to find she was already gone.

Having finished her battle, Alice had left her father behind and rushed off to support the others.

“So pitiful...!”

Ugh, my eyes are tearing up… Poor Otou-san. You did your best. I feel your pain, really.

Chasing after Alice’s Overlord heading toward Yumina’s team, Ende pushed the Dragoon to sprint forward once more.

Looking around, Linne had just finished off the second forearm golem.

Yae and Hilda had also wrapped up their fight with the upper arm golem equipped with missile pods. Naturally, they were unharmed.

Now only the two lower leg golems remained, the ones Yumina’s team was keeping in check. It was now two versus ten. Yeah, we’ve totally got this. These things weren’t all that strong after all.

No, their true threat came from when they combined into Gigantes. Being separated like this left them unable to display their full power—and thus, led to their defeat.

In that case, the strike that triggered the head golem’s separation was truly a fatal blow for Gigantes.

That makes Linne the MVP of this battle. As expected of my daughter. Umu.

◇◇◇

“Oh my, I thought it was getting noisy, but it seems something rather interesting is happening.”

“That’s a decisive weapon, isn’t it? Where has it been lying dormant…?”

Far from the battle where Touya and the others were fighting in Aisenburg, two shadows watched the fight.

One was a red-haired woman wearing an iron domino mask.

The other was a man wearing a helmet resembling a diving helmet.

The woman carried an orange war mace, and the man held a deep blue hand axe, and a hatchet.

Tangerine and Indigo, known as the 'Apostles of the Evil God,' had been receiving reports from the Golem stationed here and, using Indigo's hand axe, which possessed a teleportation spell called 'Deep Blue,' they had arrived here.

Although Touya had used [Search] to scan the area beforehand, the Golem he had been monitoring was a normal Golem, not an 'Evil Demon Golem,' so he had overlooked it.

“That’s Brunhilde’s giant Golem… I’ve never seen it before, but it seems to have quite the performance. Just as Scarlet said, it’s something we—our creations—can’t yet contend with.”

“Tch. Do you really think we’ll achieve our long-awaited goal with something like that?”

Tangerine spat out dismissively. She was a little irritated by Indigo’s words, which could be interpreted as a declaration of defeat.

“I said ‘Not yet.’ Scarlet will eventually create a machine that surpasses that. We traveled around the world and acquired the ‘Ark.’ With the legacy of Chrome Lanches, it’s not impossible. That will lay the foundation for the arrival of the new God.”

“Hmph, you have quite the confidence, don’t you? Is that piety because you were once a priest? I’m just satisfied if this world is destroyed. I’ll pray to God to make that happen.”

Bored, Tangerine readjusted her orange war mace, 'Halloween,' on her shoulder. Though they called themselves 'Apostles of the Evil God,' not all of them were devout followers.

“But it’s a pain to just go back like this. Shall we prepare a little souvenir for Scarlet?”

Saying this, Indigo smiled ominously under his diving helmet.

◇◇◇

"[Cannon Knuckle]!"

Alice’s Overlord blew apart the last one, a lower-leg Golem’s upper body, into pieces. Ah, Kuhn and the others are going to complain about this.

"I did it! We’ve defeated them all!"

Linne, riding on Göllhilde, sounded happy. Was that all of them? It ended up being easier than expected.

Come to think of it, I really didn’t do anything…

When I thought about it, this probably looks terrible to the people watching on the other side of the monitor, doesn’t it?

Having my wife do all the fighting while I just watch from the sidelines makes me the worst husband…

I’ve gotta make sure I do something before this is all over. First, I’ll gather up all the broken Gigantes parts—

But just as I was about to open [Storage], bubbles of blue foam began to ripple around the Gigantes' head and chest Golems, and they vanished with a sound like they were sinking into the water.

“What…!?”

“Touya-san! There’s someone at three o'clock, on the cliff above us!”

At Yumina’s shout, I aimed Reginleif’s camera at the cliff, and the two shadows I saw earlier, just like the Golems, sank and disappeared.

I only saw them for a moment, but there was a red-haired woman and someone who looked like they were wearing a diving suit. Could it be… the Apostles of the Evil God!?

“Search! ‘Apostles of the Evil God!’”

“Searching… Search complete. No matches found.”

Damn it, the barrier must be interfering! I tried searching with the Gigantes parts, but couldn’t find anything there either. Was that just simple teleportation magic? Could it be 'Spatial Transfer'…?

“Tch, they’ve really made off with the goods…”

Just like with the Ark. There’s someone else on the other side who can use teleportation magic. This is definitely troublesome.

Before they could steal anything else, I quickly stored the remaining Gigantes parts in [Storage]. They only took the head and chest parts. Did they limit how much they could teleport, or were those the only parts they wanted?

Well, they sure didn’t waste any time... Is this a declaration of war?

As I pondered in the cockpit of Reginleif, my phone, set in front of me, started ringing.

Ugh. It’s from Kuhn. He’s probably been watching everything unfold on the monitor…

But honestly, this was beyond my control—there was nothing I could have done if I didn’t know beforehand… Was this my fault?

The ringtone kept blaring, almost as if it were demanding I answer, but there I was, unable to press the call button. Sigh…