THE STRUGGLE OF THE PONTIFF’S GROUND FORCES
In the distance, I see a great number of machines approaching, creating an enormous cloud of dust.
I swallow my spit in an attempt to soothe my parched throat, but it has little effect in the dry air of this wasteland.
It appears I am more nervous than I realized.
As the pontiff of the Word of God religion, there is no reason I should be part of this battle.
As I stand under the pressure of the battlefield, I realize all too clearly that I am a politician, not a commander.
Or perhaps I should say remember, not realize.
Long ago, before the Word of God religion became such a large organization, I commanded an army once.
However, I soon learned that I had no talent for war.
As it is a role that uses one’s mind, I thought I should at least be able to feign it adequately. Yet, when it came time to enter the battlefield, I found I was nothing more than a scarecrow.
There are times, such as this one, when I have no other choice but to participate, but otherwise I prefer to leave it to my more talented subordinates.
The right person, the right place, the right time.
This should not be my battlefield.
But this time, there is meaning behind my presence here.
Before me stand the knights of the Word of God.
There are thirty thousand of them, all told.
Normally, they are meant to stay at the Word of God’s focal point, the Holy Kingdom of Alleius, as the strongest line of defense.
But these are the only men I could mobilize on such short notice.
As a result, the Holy Kingdom has been left virtually defenseless.
Furthermore, it is very likely that many knights will make the ultimate sacrifice in the coming battle, meaning that Alleius’s military might will be vastly depleted.
Coupled with our recent failed attempt at invading Sariella, we are suffering so many losses that the kingdom itself could crumble.
However, we are in no position to hold back.
The fate of the world hangs in the balance.
I, of all people, cannot bring anything short of my full forces to such a battle.
Even if others might forgive it, I myself would not.
This is all so I can keep my vow to do anything it takes for the sake of humanity.
Even if I must sacrifice my “power” in the form of the Word of God organization, I will gladly do so if it means humanity is protected.
And if it will raise my knights’ morale, then I cannot hesitate to be present at this battlefield, either.
Even if I am a subpar commander, my presence gives these knights strength.
If I am to send these people to their deaths, the least I can do is offer them that small comfort.
I cannot simply sit around when the world is in peril.
“Thank you for gathering here today, all of you.”
My amplified voice reaches every knight.
“The forces you are about to fight are far stronger than any monsters you have faced; this battle will likely be the fiercest you have ever encountered.”
The knights listen intently, hanging on to my every word.
“Your opponents are the vanguard of evil creatures who once felled our god. The surviving creatures have returned to attempt to destroy the world once more. Know that the very survival of our world depends on the outcome of this battle!”
When I finish my speech, the knights raise a battle cry so loud, it almost seems to shake the earth itself.
These knights are devout believers in the Word of God.
Normally, this situation would make no sense to most people, but they have absolute trust in the words of their pontiff.
This is my “power.”
I know all too well that I am exploiting these people, in a way.
But the time when I felt guilt for such a thing has long since passed.
I have no hesitation about sending them to near-certain death.
“Charge!”
On my order, the knights raise another yell and rush forward.
But then an explosive roar drowns out their cries.
The wind blows so violently that I’m forced to shut my eyes.
When I attempt to open them again, another gale blows into my face.
But in the moment that my eyes are open, I see the mechanical soldiers’ formation falling apart.
The machines are being crushed and annihilated along with the very ground.
And more attacks mercilessly follow.
This brutal assault is the work of the queen taratects: the legendary-class monsters Lady Ariel summoned.
The queen taratects’ breath attacks are what’s currently decimating the machine soldiers.
Few monsters are categorized as legendary class.
It’s a level considered beyond the ability of any humans to fight—essentially a living natural disaster.
Most of them are beings that were made to manage this world, working under the supervision of Lord Black Dragon.
But the queen taratects, which Lady Ariel created, are a notable exception.
Unlike the other legendary-class monsters, which were designed to be such from the beginning, these are base monsters that have evolved to incredible heights.
It’s said that a single one of these powerful beings can ruin an entire nation.
That is the queen taratect: a distinctive monster even among the rare legendary class.
And there are four of them here.
How many human kingdoms could these four monsters destroy?
It’s said that an entire army led by a hero once managed to defeat a single queen taratect.
The hero and most of the army were lost in the process.
Even then, it was a miracle they were able to defeat it at all.
And now four of these almighty monsters are fighting on our side.
I cannot think of a more powerful ally.
The queen taratects take turns mowing down the enemy’s mechanical soldiers with breath attacks.
This causes an unimaginable amount of destruction that stops the charging knights in their tracks.
They have no other choice.
If they kept advancing, they would be caught up in the queen taratects’ destructive rampage.
There is nothing humans such as them can do in the face of such destruction.
Still, I would not complain if the queen taratects alone were to wipe out all our enemies.
Unfortunately, it looks as though we won’t be so lucky.
Large balls of light hurtle toward the queen taratects.
It’s a counterattack from the large “tank” machines, which are advancing right in the face of the queen taratects’ breath attacks.
According to Lady Ariel, these tanks have a magic-inhibiting barrier.
The queen taratects’ breath attack is a magic art, so the barrier renders it useless.
It cannot protect the tanks from collateral damage, like the shock waves knocking them into the air, but a direct attack from Breath has no effect.
And worse, there is little that any humans can do to break through these tanks’ defenses.
The anti-magic barrier is troublesome, but worse yet, the tanks’ armor is simply so sturdy that no human attack could hope to scratch it.
Our only choice is to entrust the tanks to forces other than the knights, like Lady Ariel’s kin or Potimas’s machine weapons.
Indeed, even the smaller machines are a great challenge for the knights.
It takes several of them to even stand a chance at destroying one machine.
These are elite soldiers who have undergone rigorous training, yet there is a limit to their individual strength.
The human race, you see, is terribly weak.
So what is their role in this battle?
Essentially: meat shields.
They are a living wall meant to slow the machine army’s progress.
These knights are not here to defeat the machines but simply to buy time and nothing more.
It is for that small purpose that they die.
The tanks’ attacks force the queen taratects to pause their breath attacks, and the machine soldiers use this chance to resume their advance.
Their numbers have been considerably thinned out by the breath attacks, but because there were so many to begin with, one cannot say that there are few of them remaining now.
These mechanical soldiers now begin to attack the knights.
Their light bullets pierce right through them, fatally injuring most of those in the front ranks.
And yet, the elite knights continue their advance until their very last breath.
When they fall, they fall forward, not one of them retreating.
And the fallen knights are quickly trodden over by the knights who were marching behind them.
Even as corpses begin to cover the ground, my soldiers continue to advance.
If our opponents were living things, perhaps they would feel fear or hesitation at the alarming determination of the knights’ onslaught.
But on this day, we are fighting emotionless machines.
They calmly press forward, firing more light bullets at the knights.
Finally, the two sides clash directly.
The knights charge the machines and eat into their ranks, striking out with sword and shield.
They succeed in destroying a few of the machines this way, but many more of the knights are defeated instead.
It is a natural outcome, since the machines possess greater strength and numbers than the human knights.
No matter how hard they might fight, they cannot make up for this discrepancy.
However, their actions can still buy enough time to allow others to succeed.
One of the tanks, crushing the knights beneath it, is suddenly hit in the side by a powerful attack.
The giant hunk of metal flies through the air and crashes hard into the ground.
Then it continues to roll, destroying any mechanical soldiers in its path.
When it finally stops, there is a dent in its hull so deep, it’s as if it took a direct hit from a cannon.
Another attack hits that same tank, sending it flying even farther away.
In its place stands a young girl, still swinging an indelicate blunt weapon that appears to be a hunk of metal with a handle.
Though she looks out of place on the battlefield, she is actually not a human but a puppet taratect, another of Lady Ariel’s kin.
Despite her innocuous appearance, her kind is one of the strongest of Lady Ariel’s spawn, second only to the queen taratects.
While her face may look cute, each of her six arms is brandishing one of these blunt metal weapons, so I doubt anyone would be foolish enough to misjudge her.
Lady Ariel told me before that even the puppet taratects were unable to match the tanks, but it appears there will be no such concern this time.
The other tanks nearby have already stopped moving, perhaps out of caution toward this new threat, but she strikes all of them anyway.
…Is that entirely necessary?
I would prefer her to focus on the tanks that are currently causing problems, not the ones that are sitting still.
As if hearing my thoughts, another one of the puppet taratects approaches the one still wailing on the stopped tanks and smacks her on the head.
Then the second puppet taratect points at a still-moving tank.
The first puppet taratect hesitates, though she seems to understand the second one’s meaning, but then a third one comes and deals her a swift kick.
Were it not for our current circumstance, this would simply be a charming scene of some young girls play fighting.
But these girls represent a powerful fighting force.
They should be battling seriously, not messing around.
More of my knights are losing their lives while these girls jest.
As if to ease my frustration, a queen taratect’s breath attack blasts through the machine soldiers’ rear lines.
It wreaks destruction on the mechanical soldiers, whose advance my knights laid down their lives to halt.
A flying machine speeds toward the queen taratect, but a wyrm knocks it out of the sky before it can attack.
Even now, the wyrms and flying machines are engaging in a fierce battle in the air.
They’ve accomplished their task of delivering Lady Ariel and company onto the enemy flagship, but the wyrms and dragons have no time to rest.
If they were not there to keep the flying machines occupied, no doubt our ground forces would be destroyed from above.
Thanks to the clean sweep of the queen taratects’ breath attacks, things on the ground are going more smoothly than expected.
However, that advantage is a delicate thing indeed.
The knights are currently holding back the machine soldiers’ advances enough that the queen taratects can attack as they wish, but if the machines break through, victory will be far less certain.
I doubt the queen taratects will go down easily, but the machines do have the advantage in numbers, and even a queen taratect is not completely invulnerable.
If the tanks all concentrated their fire on one, even a queen taratect would not escape unharmed.
Right now, the knights must buy time as human shields, allowing the queen and puppet taratects to whittle down the enemy’s numbers.
It will not be easy for the knights, but they must hold fast somehow.
However, the machines Potimas brought also concern me.
Thus far, they have not taken any assertive action.
They simply stay passive, as if waiting for the right moment, only occasionally intercepting enemy machines.
Instead of attacking independently, they primarily provide cover fire to maintain the front lines.
Considering their maker, surely they are capable of more than just this.
In this situation, I am certain that man would have brought more powerful machines.
Especially considering how the times have changed.
Our current enemies may have been created by a scientific culture at the height of its development, but they are now no more than relics that have been stored in underground ruins for countless years.
Yet, Potimas, the same man who designed them, has brought weapons to oppose them that he created a great deal of time later.
Since these machines share the same creator, it stands to reason that the newer ones should be far more powerful.
As long as he did not deliberately bring an inferior model, I cannot imagine that the weapons he chose would lose to these ancient machines.
And yet, they do not take any action of note. Could it be that he is plotting something?
It certainly could.
Knowing that man, I would not doubt it for a second.
The same is true of what happened earlier.
With my Panoptic Vision, I saw that strange creature with the upper body of a human atop that of a spider, the one they call “White,” use the weapon Potimas gave her to destroy the enemy flagship’s main gun. And I saw that same weapon attempt to destroy her, too.
That it injured its wielder so severely was no accident.
It was intended from the start to kill the one who fired it.
Yes, he was after Lady Ariel and Miss White.
He gave them that gun thinking it would be in his best interest to destroy at least one of them.
This was an assassination attempt. Potimas would surely do such a thing.
Even in an emergency as dire as this one.
Fortunately, it appears that Miss White was able to survive, but considering that the blast was powerful enough to destroy that enormous flagship’s cannon, I would not have been surprised if she didn’t.
In fact, it’s likely that Miss White was able to survive only because she has Healing Magic strong enough to quickly recover from even a major loss of body parts.
If Lady Ariel had been the one to use that gun, the worst might have even come to pass.
Lady Ariel is the most powerful being in this world after Lord Black Dragon, but like the queen taratect, she is not entirely invulnerable.
Even she may die.
Which is exactly what Potimas must have been thinking when he set that trap.
This is Potimas, after all. I have no doubt he chose that gun with the confidence that it would be able to kill Lady Ariel.
It is even possible that Lady Ariel handed it off to Miss White because she suspected something was amiss.
Whether that was because she trusted that Miss White would not die in such an event or simply because she did not care whether Miss White died or not, I have no way of knowing.
A white spider.
Healing Magic that can restore even a lost limb or organ.
And enough strength to hold her own in battle even alongside Lady Ariel and the dragons.
With all these hints, it is quite simple to deduce her identity.
The Nightmare of the Labyrinth.
The mysterious spider monster that appeared from the Great Elroe Labyrinth and took up residence in Sariella.
Perhaps she has evolved since then, or perhaps this is simply her true form, but Lady White and the Nightmare of the Labyrinth are almost certainly one and the same.
I doubt there can be more than one such creature in existence.
Even if Lady Ariel did have more of such powerful beings hidden away, I cannot imagine she would not bring them forth for a situation such as this one.
Besides, Lady Ariel herself stated that the Nightmare of the Labyrinth was not her subordinate.
In other words, the Nightmare was never under her control—and could very well have even been her enemy.
At the battle between Ohts and Sariella, the Nightmare was said to be engaged in an intense battle with another being.
Who could hold their own against the Nightmare and happened to be in the area at the time?
I can think of none but Lady Ariel.
To me, that is a sure sign that Lady Ariel and the Nightmare are, or at least were, at odds with each other.
Shortly thereafter, when I encountered Lady Ariel and asked her about the matter, she stated that she “had things under control.”
I took that to mean that either she had succeeded in defeating the Nightmare or recruited it onto her side, although I could not say which. But since my surveillance later witnessed Miss White traveling with Lady Ariel, I assumed that she successfully won her over.
However, as I continued my surveillance, I noticed something strange.
Lady Ariel was not treating Miss White as a lesser being.
According to my spy, she appeared to be treating Miss White as an equal.
My spies undergo special training to excel at lipreading.
With one as powerful as Lady Ariel, spying by way of skills is impossible, as she would undoubtedly detect it.
And primitive long-distance viewing devices could provide only an incomplete view of the situation, hardly enough to acquire all the information.
But even this highly inadequate manner of spying showed that the relationship between Lady Ariel and Miss White was most unusual.
Upon receiving this information from my spy, I realized I could not accept Lady Ariel’s claim of “having things under control” at face value.
In other words, Lady Ariel and Miss White have not entirely made their peace just yet.
An outsider such as myself cannot possibly know the exact nature of their relationship, but even I can tell that they do not trust each other completely.
It is even possible that Lady Ariel deliberately used Potimas to try to dispose of Miss White in the midst of this situation.
However, considering Lady Ariel’s personality, I have my doubts about that possibility.
Besides, it seems strange that one as strong as Lady Ariel would treat Miss White as an equal.
With her power, she should be able to force just about anyone to bend to her will.
If they were enemies before, surely Lady Ariel would have simply beaten her into submission.
But at a glance, it seems as though Lady Ariel and Miss White really do treat each other as equals.
Even seeing them up close with my own eyes, I never got the impression that one of them was serving the other.
In that case, there must be some reason that even Lady Ariel cannot force Miss White to do her bidding.
But what in the world could that be?
Even if Miss White really is the Nightmare, I find it hard to believe that her power would rival Lady Ariel’s.
What conditions could prevent Lady Ariel from defeating one who is inferior to her in power?
One could technically say the same of Potimas, but his ability to deal with the bomb makes him a unique situation. It brings me no closer to discerning the reasons for Miss White.
No, I suppose she, too, could be using something as a shield to prevent Lady Ariel from harming her.
Then, could that shield be Sophia Keren?
No, that doesn’t quite add up.
The puppet taratects, then?
But the puppet taratects are Lady Ariel’s own summoned kin.
If she wished to keep them out of danger, she could simply undo the summons.
It doesn’t make sense.
Then, does Miss White, like Potimas, have some kind of special capability that Lady Ariel would be reluctant to lose?
I suppose that would make sense.
But I cannot conceive of what ability Miss White might have that Lady Ariel would want.
In the back of my mind, I remember the last time I encountered Lady Ariel.
That’s right. She did ask me about immortality back then.
It was an abrupt question, unrelated to the topics we were discussing at the time.
After that, she started acting even more strangely and took her leave, so I remember the encounter quite distinctly.
Immortality. Could that be related?
Is it possible that Miss White has the Immortality skill?
But no, that still doesn’t make sense.
Immortality is certainly a rare skill, but even if Miss White does have it, that wouldn’t explain why Lady Ariel has such pressing interest in her.
An undying fighter is certainly a powerful ally, but that would be far too risky a reason to invite a former enemy to join forces.
Besides, the Immortality skill has several shortcomings.
There are multiple ways to kill someone with the Immortality skill, like Abyss Magic, for one. Lady Ariel knows this, of course, so surely she could still slay an immortal enemy.
In that case, perhaps Miss White does not have the Immortality skill, but something still seems off.
Lady Ariel was definitely acting strangely when she asked about it.
“Do you know of any skills besides Immortality and your Temperance that might basically make someone immortal?”
What was the true meaning behind that question?
A skill aside from Immortality that would make someone immortal.
Even if such a skill exists, what would it have to do with Lady Ariel?
Does she want such a skill for herself?
Surely not. Now that she has resolved to become the Demon Lord, it would make no sense for Lady Ariel to seek such a thing as immortality.
Then, was it about Miss White?
Incredible. Could it be?
Did Lady Ariel try to kill Miss White only to discover that she could not?
If she was unable to kill Miss White, of course she would have no choice but to call a truce.
That line of reasoning would explain everything.
If Miss White also had no choice but to reach an agreement with Lady Ariel, since the latter is still stronger, then it would be no wonder that they have such a strange relationship.
Assuming they had no other option than to join forces, rather than working together of their own choice, it makes sense that they would still harbor animosity toward each other.
In that case, everyone who is currently on board the enemy flagship views one another as an enemy.
Potimas goes without saying, but Lady Ariel and Miss White are potential enemies as well.
And now the fate of this entire world rests on such a precarious trio’s shoulders?
It is concerning, but powerless as I am, I have no choice but to entrust things to them.
This is a painful reminder: Compared to the likes of Lady Ariel and Potimas, everything I have built up is terribly weak.
So weak that it amounts to nothing more than a human shield to buy time.
And yet, I have done everything within my power to protect that weakness.
I have no regrets about the path I’ve chosen.
I cannot regret it.
An explosive sound different from the rest puts an end to my wandering thoughts.
Oh dear. My bad habit of getting lost in thought has reared its head again. This is hardly the time to be thinking about such things.
Looking around at the battlefield, I see that the situation is as tempestuous as ever.
The knights are still doggedly holding back the machine soldiers’ advance.
The battle between the wyrms and the flying mechanical soldiers is still unfolding.
The queen taratects are still wiping out the machines’ rear ranks with breath attacks, too.
However, there is one significant change: Potimas’s weapons are now furiously fighting against the tanks.
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.
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