CHAPTER 34

Secret Weapon

Seiya sips his tea in the observation room while watching the earth-serpent cameras like a man appreciating a painting.

“L-let me get this straight. You made the wall not as thick as you could so the enemy could almost break through…and you hid an army of golems underground while pretending they were weak against rain… What was the point of all that?”

Is this Hero some kind of sick masochist who purposely puts himself in situations where he could die? That’s the first thought that flashes through my mind, but Jonde seems to be wearing a more serious expression by my side.

“Wait…! Did you do that to lure the enemy’s general and entire army to Termine?”

Seiya quietly nods.

“Exactly. Making the enemy think that the golems had a weakness was a huge part of the plan. That’s what convinced Oxerio himself to attack, after all.”

What the…?! Hold on! This doesn’t make sense!

“H-how did you know the enemy would get that information?! Termine is completely surrounded by thick walls!”

But I come to a grim realization in the middle of my sentence.

“Wait… Does that mean there’s a traitor in Termine?!”

My heart races as I look around. If there really is a traitor, then how could they have leaked the information?!

Jonde and I suddenly lock eyes. He wears a confident expression with a hand on his chin.

“There can only be one person behind this.”

Jonde points at Kiriko, causing her to jump.

“M-me?! But…!”

I cut in between Kiriko and Jonde to protect her.

“How can you say that?! Kiri would never do such a thing! Stop jumping to biased conclusions without evidence, you zombie! …Right, Seiya?”

But Seiya shakes his head.

“This Killing Machine’s sensory organs are most likely linked with Oxerio like the earth serpents’ are with me. Kiriko’s eyes and ears are Oxerio’s.”

“B-but…!”

Jonde nods emphatically at Seiya.

“So when did you first realize it?”

“I already considered it the moment I discovered the machine.”

I strain my voice as I yell:

“I’m the one who discovered her! You would have destroyed her if I hadn’t pointed out that she was different!”

“No, I was the first to discover it and purposely waited until you figured it out. If the Killing Machine did happen to share sensory organs with its creator, I was concerned that the enemy might catch on to what I was trying to do if I was the first to spot it. Therefore, I made it look like you just happened to find it.”

“Th-then…!”

“Kiriko being the leaker was merely a guess at that point, but it soon became apparent after a certain event.”

“‘A certain event’…?”

“When I covered Termine with a dome. When I was analyzing the Killing Machines, I discovered there was a system for flight built into the prototypes’ legs, which led me to the conclusion that they could produce flying-type machines or had already succeeded in creating them. However, the moment I created a dome around Termine, the Killing Machines tried to invade from underground instead. That’s when I became sure that Kiriko was leaking information to Oxerio.”

I don’t want to believe that Kiriko’s the traitor, but what Seiya said was very convincing. I quietly stare at Kiriko.

“Kiri…is it true?”

“N-no! I wasn’t leaking—”

Jonde unsheathes his sword as Kiriko frantically flails her arms while denying the accusations.

“I will tear you apart!”

“Eek!”

Kiriko screams before hiding behind me as her body trembles in fear. She isn’t our enemy. There’s just no way.

“Stop it, Jonde!”

“Why do you protect the enemy?!”

Before we even begin to argue…

Splash!

Tea pours down Jonde’s face again. He then stares at Seiya with a crazed look in his eyes.

“Why did you pour tea on me again?!”

“Because you started smelling like a zombie again. There isn’t enough tea to make you smell good. Could you start carrying a kettle with you from now on?”

“Do you really think I would carry a teakettle with me, knowing that you’re just going to use it to douse me again?!”

“Sigh.”

Seiya lightly exhales before continuing.

“Relax. Kiriko might not be the only one that shares sensory organs with Oxerio. In fact, it would be absurd to share with just one Killing Machine, since it would have been destroyed if neither Rista nor I noticed it was different. In other words, it’s safe to assume that Oxerio can probably share sensory organs with all the Killing Machines.”

Wearing a serious gaze, I look over at Kiriko.

“Kiri, you didn’t know, right?”

“Right! I didn’t mean to leak any information! Please believe me!”

But Jonde doesn’t avert the tip of his sword from her.

“We’d still be better off destroying it!”

“Jonde!! She said she didn’t do it on purpose! You’re both monsters, so why can’t you get along?!”

“Stop treating me like a monster!! …Ah?!”

Jonde sheathes his sword after noticing a fresh cup of tea in Seiya’s hand.

Phew… It looks like Kiri’s going to be okay… Wait. Was this Seiya’s way of standing up for her?

There’s no actual way to know the truth, but after things calm down, Seiya quietly begins speaking as if talking to himself.

“At any rate, the hardest part was pretending that the plan had holes, since I’ve never experienced depression before.”

Wh-what the…?! I get depressed all the time… Regardless, it looks like he was acting upset so he could trick Oxerio through Kiri. What kind of Hero is this guy?!

But I feel a lot better after learning that it was all part of Seiya’s plan. In fact, the new Killing Machine models won’t be able to get into Termine anymore now that Seiya’s increased the thickness of the walls and extended them deeper into the ground. Plus, the golems have turned the tables and are now surrounding the Killing Machines along with Oxerio himself. We went from being backed into a wall to having the upper hand. However, Oxerio suddenly breaks his silence as the earth-serpent camera is locked on him.

“Established approach to handle irregular.”

I hear Oxerio’s monotone voice. A few moments go by; then all of a sudden, I hear an intense rumbling.

“Wh-what’s that sound?”

“It’s coming from outside!”

The sound grows louder the instant we rush out of the observation room. My eyes dart in the direction of the noise…and the sky past the north wall is painted red. Crimson clouds float through the air. But…they aren’t clouds. As they get closer, it becomes apparent that they’re a horde of Killing Machines. Unlike the blue drill-type machines underground, these are entirely red, and there are hundreds of them flying in orderly rows right for us!

“Flying Killing Machines?! So they really do exist!”

Jonde feverishly exclaims.

Just as Seiya predicted, the Killing Machines are flying toward Termine with their rocket legs.

Ack! The enemy came thoroughly prepared as well! He kept the flying unit on standby in the distance!

Seiya made sure he could create a dome around Termine just in case something like this happened, but there is no way he has enough MP left to do that after reinforcing the walls! But Seiya swats my concerns right out of the sky when he casually says:

“Iron Dome.”

The reinforced walls extend into the skies with a roar, creating a dome to block the flying-type Killing Machines from invading.

Enveloped in darkness, I yell to Seiya:

“H-how do you still have that much MP left?!”

“I have plenty of MP left. For your information, I used ten MP reinforcing the walls a few moments ago, and I just used around five to create the dome.”

“Just how cost-efficient is that magic?!”

Despite using very high-level magic, he’s using only about enough MP to turn dirt into a rock. As I stand in admiration of his extraordinary gift for earth magic, Seiya quietly returns to the observation room. We rush after him in a fluster. Once inside, Seiya snaps his fingers, signaling the ground around Termine displayed on the monitor to crumble and rise. A familiar monster appears from underground.

“Th-that’s a bomb boulder!”

The golems pick up the bomb boulders that emerge from the earth, then launch them at the flying Killing Machines like they are throwing baseballs. While I never doubted their power, the golems’ incredible strength sends the bomb boulders right into the middle of the flying Killing Machines, causing a massive explosion. It’s almost like watching an army fire a coordinated barrage of missiles at an enemy. The bomb boulders must have been improved since I last saw them because the detonations are remarkable. One is all it takes to blow up an entire group of Killing Machines. Only a few minutes go by before the Killing Machines overhead are almost entirely wiped out. In addition, the thirty thousand or so Killing Machines underground, including the new drill types, are currently surrounded by golems and being picked apart.

Seiya watches the earth-serpent monitors for a while after that with a twinkle in his eyes until…

“All right, it looks like the flying units have been taken care of. Time to lower the dome.”

The dome shrinks until the walls have returned to their normal height. We leave the observation room to get a 360-degree view of the area from the top floor of the watchtower. Just as Seiya claimed, there isn’t a single Killing Machine left in the sky, and the golems have completely destroyed the thirty thousand invaders on the surface as well.

“I love it when a plan comes together.”

Seiya sips his tea while enjoying the show. As if he can’t believe his eyes, Jonde sputters:

“H-he’s about to defeat the machine corps while drinking tea! Is this really how a Hero does battle?!”

“Who cares how he does it as long as he wins?”

I cheerfully chide Jonde. He may sound like he’s complaining, but his beaming smile says otherwise. It makes sense, though. Our victory is assured at this point. But even so, Seiya mutters:

“It’s not over yet, though.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

The soldiers in the tower suddenly scream:

“A-a g-giant Killing Machine has appeared in the south!”

The instant I turn around, my body freezes.

“What is that?!”

Because the Killing Machine is as tall as the walls around Termine!

“Where did that giant monster even come from?!”

Kiriko shudders at the sight of the massive monster, which appeared without making a sound.

“F-Father…!”

Now that she mentions it, it does look like a mechanical spider like Oxerio, except for the fact that it’s over fifty meters tall!

“Kiri?! Oxerio can grow in size?!”

“I—I didn’t know, either!”

“This is bad! He’s going to destroy the south wall!”

While the walls have been reinforced, Oxerio’s punch sends violent tremors surging throughout Termine. Struggling to stand, Jonde yells to Seiya:

“What are you going to do now?! Surely you weren’t expecting that to show up!”

“Of course I was. Robots and giant mechs go hand in hand.”

“Y-you accounted for this, too?!”

“Don’t worry. I already prepared a secret weapon to fight against giant robots.”

Seiya then turns his gaze at me.

“Rista, open a gate to an area near Oxerio. It’s time to give the secret weapon its finishing touch.”

“O-okay! Leave it to me!”

While I agree to open a gate, I can’t help but think:

Seiya’s finally going outside the castle walls and to the front line himself! He must be really confident in this so-called secret weapon!

After I open a gate that connects to an area outside Termine’s south wall, Seiya, Jonde, Kiriko, and I walk through it. Surrounding us here and there are the remains of the Killing Machines. A few dozen meters ahead stands the giant Machine Emperor himself, punching the wall. Golems try to attack from below, but they get squashed like ants. I use Scan while staring at Oxerio’s back.

GIGANT OXERIO
LV: 99 (MAX)
HP: 3,487,570	MP: 42,475
ATK: 794,525	DEF: 858,965	SPD: 587,544	MAG: 85,754	GRW: 999 (MAX)
Resistance: Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning, Ice, Earth, Holy, Dark, Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Curse, Instant Death, Status Ailments
Special Abilities: Dark God’s Blessing (LV: MAX), Remote Sensory Organs (LV: MAX), Transformation (LV: MAX)
Skills: SD Laser (Soul Destruction Laser), All Destruction
Personality: Ruthless

L-look at that HP! He has over three million! And his other stats are essentially on par with Ultimaeus’s stats in the data Chronoa showed me as well! While his stats are terrifying, seeing just how big he is this close up is overwhelming as well. It’s like looking at a giant moving building.

“Normal attacks are not going to work against that thing! Are you sure you can defeat it?”

“Stop worrying. I’m about to take out my secret weapon.”

Seiya stomps his foot on the ground with a bang, and the earth begins to quake. Then a giant hand appears behind Oxerio, a few dozen meters away from us!

“Th-that’s your secret weapon?!”

Following my initial surprise, I turn to Seiya with a smile and yell:

“Oh, I get it! Your secret weapon is a giant golem that you’re going to use to fight Oxerio!”

“Not quite.”

“…What?”

Only when the creature fully emerges from the ground do I understand what Seiya meant.

…It’s wearing a familiar white dress, albeit covered in dirt.

…It has long blond hair and a face I see every morning.

It’s a giant me that’s even bigger than Gigant Oxerio. While I stare at it in mute amazement, Seiya wears a serious expression and declares:

“That’s my secret weapon—Mega Rista.”