Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 16 - Chapter 2

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Sunday, July 4th

Thirty minutes after Koutarou and the others departed, the surface team led by Theia began moving out. Their destination was an uninhabited island off the coast of Kisshouharukaze City that housed a secret base of the radical faction. It was supposedly where they were keeping a weapon of mass destruction that could devastate both the surface and the underground. The objective of Theia’s surface team was to take out that weapon, the Earth Dragon.

The remaining girls of room 106, the Sun Rangers, and eighty of Kiriha’s subordinates were in the Cradle’s cargo bay as they waited to arrive at their destination. The air was tense and everyone wore a stern expression. They all knew this was a battle that could decide the fate of the world.

“This is the first time I’ve seen this kind of vehicle.”

“We have a bunch of strange tools too, but... this is on a league of its own.”

Of everyone there, the Sun Rangers seemed the most off their game. But rather than the coming battle, it was the odd ship they were riding in that had them shaken.

It had a peculiar design they had never seen before that relied heavily on curves. While they had heard the sound of thrusters during takeoff, it was flying far quieter than any plane. On top of that, the flight was incredibly smooth. The ship hardly shook at all. All the guides and signs on board were written in strange letters. There wasn’t a single word of Japanese—or the more international English—to be found anywhere.

At first, the Sun Rangers thought that it might be a secret weapon from a foreign country. But that confidence gradually diminished. It felt like more like something from a different world, particularly to clever Kotaro and observant Hayato.

“Everyone, I know it’s strange, but let’s not think too much about it. We all have our secrets. What’s important is simply that we can land on that island without being detected thanks to this thing, and that’s all we need to know for now, right?”

Kenichi had his own doubts and questions, certainly, but he had no intention of pursuing them. The Sun Rangers would participate in the battle, but that was ultimately unofficial. They couldn’t make their existence publicly known, so they understood that some of their allies present might be in the same situation. And as long as they were all on the same side, it was best for everyone if no one forced the issue.

“Thank you for your consideration, Red Shine.”

Theia gave a bit of a forced smile. Technically speaking, Theia was an invader and therefore the Sun Ranger’s enemy. They might end up in a sticky situation if she had to tell them the truth right now, so Kenichi’s consideration was quite welcome.

“Not at all. It goes both ways.”

“Our circumstances might be complicated... but there’s one thing that’s certain.”

There was much she couldn’t say, but there was something she felt she had to make clear—that she and the others were the Sun Rangers’ allies.

“We only fight against those that Koutarou has decided to fight. We don’t take up arms against anyone else.”

“Those that Baron-san has...”

“You don’t have to believe us. But... at least believe in Koutarou, who’s honest to a fault. We all do, and we’re united for him.”

What connected Theia and the others was the time they’d spent together. There was no real explanation for what had brought them together in the first place... except for Koutarou. Explaining their relationship would be hard, but she thought that if they could believe in Koutarou, they still might understand. She didn’t have any other way to prove that they were all on the same side.

“If we’re following Baron’s lead, then we don’t have to worry.”

Kenichi nodded with a smile. He too believed in Koutarou. His goal was simply to become a splendid hero that could stand up to Baron Demon. And if he was leading the way now, Kenichi had no reservations about following.

“That’s right, everyone! The moment Baron-sama showed that serious expression of his, it no longer mattered who these girls are! You’re both so silly, Kotaro and Hayato!”

“The preserved food on this ship is really delicious. Whoever makes this couldn’t possibly be a bad person.”

Megumi and Daisaku were unwavering. They completely trusted Koutarou and these people from the very start. While they were both gullible in their own ways, their judgment this time was correct.

“We’ll want to avoid any developments that would make the children cry, right?”

“Yeah. To honor the name of the Sun Squad, we have to walk the path of justice.”

Kotaro and Hayato soon gave up on trying to figure out the true nature of the Cradle. While they were curious about the surprising things happening around them, neither of them wanted to doubt Theia and the others. Nor did they want to let down the underground children they had just met.

“Thank you, Sun Rangers. You really are... the real deal.”

“We still have a long way to go.”

“Naturally. The real deal always aims for new heights.”

“Devil Princess-san...”

“I’m counting on you today, Sun Rangers.”

“Of course! We’re looking forward to fighting alongside you!”

While there was no denying the tension in the air, morale was high within Theia’s team. They all knew they were in for a fierce battle, but knowing their allies had their backs made going forward a little easier.

The surface team landed on the southern coast of the island in question. The radical faction’s base lay in mountainous territory to the north of their drop-off point. While Clan’s Cradle was highly adept at stealth, it was best not to get overconfident and proceed the rest of the way on foot. Accordingly, Clan retreated after unloading Theia and the others. They would need to make it to the base on their own from here, which would mean staying as hidden as possible as they approached. Step one was to secure their immediate surroundings before setting out.

“There’s no sign of the enemy,” Shizuka reported.

Since it was well after sunset now, it was quite dark out. But with the power of Fire Dragon Emperor Alunaya inside of her, that hardly mattered to Shizuka. Combined with her heightened ability to sense presences, which she’d honed through martial arts training, she could detect all manner of living things around her. None of them at the moment were human.

“I can’t sense any mana either.”

Maki, who was standing next to Shizuka, added on to her report. She had examined the area with a spell and hadn’t detected any traces of other magic. She had been worried that Maya might have cast a magical defense network around the area, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

I can’t imagine that Maya-sama would let her guard down... Is it that much harder for her to use magic with her mechanical body, or does she have some other goal...?

Maki knew her master better than anyone. So even though she couldn’t sense any nearby mana, she wasn’t taking that for granted.

“Ruth, how does it look?”

“There are no reactions on the EM, gravitational wave, or spiritual energy sensors. It seems like this region is outside of their area of precaution.”

Ruth was in charge of the scientific approach. She was operating a device floating overhead and scanning the area for other signals. In addition to its original equipment, the device had been modified to additionally detect auras and spiritual energy. None of the sensors were getting any reactions, however, so the area seemed to be fully clear.

“Hmm... So that’s a successful landing, then.”

Upon hearing their three reports, Theia nodded approvingly. After that, the Sun Rangers spoke up with their own assessment.

“It’s probably because there’s a mountain in the way.”

“But we can’t let our guard down. If it were me, I’d monitor this side of the island using cameras from the top of the mountain.”

Though small, there was a mountain on the island, making it difficult to survey the entire island. The Sun Rangers’ experience told them the northern side would be more properly patrolled, while the southern side was likely only monitored remotely.

“Devil Princess-san, let’s hurry on ahead. Though it might be night, we’ll stand out here.”

“You’re right. Men, advance without letting your guard down.”

Theia listened to the Sun Rangers advice, swiftly made her decision, and led the way forward herself. If everything went according to schedule, Koutarou and the others would arrive at the underground city in half an hour. Their attack shouldn’t begin until after that, but she wanted to have room to spare when the time came.

Though it was an uninhabited island, it was still just off the coast of Japan. There wasn’t anything particularly special about it. The flora and fauna were familiar, and the climate was the same as the mainland. It even seemed like people had lived there once upon a time, as there were gravel roads left here and there.

The surface team calmly advanced towards the enemy base. The members, apart from Ruth, were all incredibly fit. Their steps were confident and light as they went.

“It’s times like this that I’m grateful for magic.”

Even the less athletic Ruth could keep up with everyone thanks to Maki’s help. She’d cast two spells on Ruth—one to make her slightly stronger and the other to keep her cool. Both effects were minimal, but they had a perfect synergy for tasks like this. Thanks to that, Ruth was able to keep pace without fatiguing herself.

“I’m glad I could be of help, vice captain.”

“Much appreciated, Indigo Knight-dono.”

While the Satomi band of knights had an impressive prestige since it was founded by the Blue Knight himself, there were currently only two members apart from Koutarou. Currently, their only real weapon was their teamwork, but that teamwork was indeed impressive.

“Aw, that all sounds fun... Maybe I should join too.”

Shizuka watched on enviously. She was part of the cooking society at school, but as the name implied, cooking was all they did. To her, the Satomi band of knights sounded more like a fun athletics club.

“You would be most welcome. The majority of our members being noncombatants is a bit of an issue.”

The captain, Koutarou, and the vice captain, Ruth, were both without a doubt knights. But Maki was essentially their accountant, and Sanae and Harumi were hoping to join as resident chore-doer and secretary respectively. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before the band of knights was more like a school club. Theia, who believed that a band of knights should be exactly that, wanted more soldiers to join.

“Then how about padding the numbers as a princess knight, Theiamillis?”

“The mysterious and beautiful knight that appears in the Satomi band of knights’ time of need. And to think that her true identity is me, Princess Theiamillis, of all people... Hmm, that wouldn’t be too bad either.”

Theia imagined herself wearing cute armor with a flower motif and a jewel-studded mask to conceal her face. She didn’t hate the idea of doing the protecting rather than being protected once in a while. But Shizuka quickly interrupted her thoughts.

“Wait, Theia-chan,” she said, the smile vanishing from her face. “There’s something there. Behind the bush in front of us.”

Shizuka’s sharp senses had alerted her to a hostile presence just ahead.

“Nobody move. Ruth, fifty meters ahead at eleven o’clock.”

Theia signaled for the troops behind her to halt with a raise of her hand. She then had Ruth search the place Shizuka had indicated. She knew based on the look on Shizuka’s face that this wasn’t just some critter. Danger was approaching.

“Your Highness, it seems to be a pack of medium-sized beasts. Four in total.”

“Not good... There’s a magical reaction, too. They were either made from or strengthened by magic.”

Ruth and Maki quickly worked together to identify the hostiles as magical beasts.

“Everyone, get ready for combat. Don’t treat them like they’re ordinary animals. Defeat them on sight!”

Theia determined that there was no way to avoid a fight here.

The southern side of the island has been turned into these magical beasts’ territory. They’re the ones patrolling the area. They catch their own food, and naturally heal from minor wounds... They’re the ideal guard for a large territory over an extended period of time.

While the radical faction had spiritual energy weapons that could work as guards, they didn’t work well on constant patrol over a large area. While they could gather spiritual energy from their surroundings, maintenance was an issue as far as wear and tear on parts was concerned.

In that regard, living creatures were self-sufficient. Especially ones enhanced by magic. Creating large numbers of them would be difficult considering the manual labor of magic involved, but large numbers weren’t necessary in a situation like this. A few magical guard dogs could be released into an area, and they would roam it until they died. In that sense, the radical faction was making excellent use of the magic they had available to them. And if that was the case, these magical beasts were undoubtedly here to attack. Any delay in reacting could prove fatal.

“Break into squads under the command of your squad leaders!”

The girls of room 106 spread out, each of them leading a squad of twenty conservative faction soldiers. That was their pre-designated arrangement for battle.

“Sun Rangers, I’ll leave you to your own. Fight according to your own judgment.”

“Roger that.”

The remaining five, the Sun Rangers, were treated as a flying column. They would work semi-independently both to respect their political situation and to put their combat experience to full use.

“They’re coming. Everyone stay calm—”

Before Shizuka could even finish speaking, four beasts leaped out from the bushes. At first glance they looked like dogs, but they were far bigger. Perhaps it was more accurate to say they were magical weapons based off of dogs.

“Graaagh! Graaagh! Grrrrr!”

Angered by invaders in their domain, the beasts barked and snarled as they charged towards the surface team. They moved far faster than any dog. If anything, they were closer to cheetahs. They also appeared to be somewhat intelligent, and moved in zigzag patterns like gazelles to dodge incoming fire. Their targets were the girls in charge. Their instincts told them who the leaders of the enemy pack were.

In response, the surface team formed two lines to defend against the beasts. However, since they were thrown off by the beasts’ swift movements, the spiritual energy beams they fired flew wildly off into the distance. Dashing their way through the rain of fire, the extraordinary beasts closed in on the girls quickly.

“Blue Knight! Emergency deployment of the distortion field!”

But if the beasts were extraordinary, then the girls were even more so. The first among them to go on the counteroffensive was Theia, with her excellent sense for battle. While blocking the claws coming at her with a barrier, she scolded the twenty restless soldiers under her command.

“Men, don’t bother taking aim! Simply fire straight forward! Cut off its path! Now!”

Rallying under Theia’s command, the soldiers all fired as one. It was almost like one massive shot. Because they were all aiming for the fast-moving beast last time, there had been twenty missed shots in roughly the same place. But now with them all firing at the same time straight ahead, they covered a massive, sweeping plane.

“Graaaaagh!”

The beast jumped into the air without hesitation. Its speed saved its hide. It escaped with only singed fur, but it had taken a massive blow to its pride. Determined to crush the arrogant human that had dared offend it so, the beast scanned the crowd for Theia. Once it hit the ground, it would come right for her.

“Hmph. Even if you’re enhanced, your instincts when faced with danger are still that of any normal dog.”

However, as the beast locked eyes on Theia, it realized its defeat. She had a fearless smile on her lips and a dangerous gleam in her eye. The beast had made a grave mistake in assuming she was the smallest and weakest of them all. Its instincts now told it that it was facing a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“Blue Knight, Recoilless Pile Driver.”

“As you wish, my princess.”

That golden wolf’s mane fluttered as she attacked the airborne beast. From her front legs, massive golden claws appeared, and the freefalling beast had no way to avoid coming down on them now.

A kaboom rang out.

The mechanical pile driver—the wolf’s claws—was a weapon that shot a hammer head by detonating gunpowder. Simply put, it was a close-range cannon. The ejected hammer was driven into the beast’s side and demonstrated its incredible destructive power by taking it down in a single shot.

“That’s Theia-chan for you. She beat it right away.”

Impressed by Theia’s handiwork, Shizuka brandished her own fists. When it came to pure combat capability, Shizuka was far stronger—especially with the power of Alunaya. But Theia had the upper hand when factoring in the strength of her twenty subordinates. Shizuka was only an amateur commander. She was too used to fighting by herself, and therefore couldn’t make full use of her squad. Knowing that, however, she was particularly impressed with what Theia could pull off.

“But I can’t stand here admiring her! I have to work hard too!”

Shizuka swung her leg and kicked the beast leaping at her. The kick struck the beast’s front leg, but it quickly compensated and landed as if nothing had happened. It was favoring that leg now, but it hadn’t suffered any decisive damage.

“Everyone, please!”

With the beast preoccupied for the moment, the conservative faction troops under Shizuka’s command began firing again. Spiritual energy beams rained down on the beast. Several of them hit, likely because the beast has been somewhat slowed by Shizuka’s attack. The hits wore it down, but weren’t enough to defeat it. Enraged, it opened its jaws to maul one of the nearby soldiers.

“Not on my watch!”

Shizuka rushed the beast and prevented it from attacking her troops. That pattern had repeated itself a couple of times. Shizuka would protect the soldiers from the beast, and they would provide her with covering fire. With her lack of experience, however, she naturally stayed on the defensive.

“Should I help?”

“It’s not your turn yet, uncle!”

Shizuka’s fist struck the side of the beast’s face. Suffering from the damage it was accumulating, it was starting to panic and rush into attacks. As such, Shizuka had caught it completely off guard and thrown it off balance, allowing the soldier it was aiming for to escape all harm. Confirming that with a side glance, Shizuka continued her attack.

“What does gaining a little weight hurt? It’s not you’re actually getting heavier in reality.”

“I don’t even want to seem like I’ve gotten heavier!”

The dragon inside of Shizuka was happy to help if she needed it, but she considered that a last resort. Considering what still lay ahead of them, she wanted to avoid wasting mana. Furthermore, the consequences after the fact would be dire for her pride.

“Won’t you be more desirable to the other sex with a more substantial figure?”

“That only makes sense to a dragon like you, uncle!”

In this case, Shizuka had made the right call. Having taken quite a beating now, the beast was no longer able to avoid her attacks. The scale was drastically tipped in her favor.

“Human boys like girls that are small and cute!”

Shizuka unleashed a final kick with all of her strength that struck the side of the beast’s head, rendering it unconscious.

“I don’t believe any girl who can defeat monsters bare-fisted would be considered small and cute...”

“Don’t be mean, uncle!”

And so Shizuka’s fight ended with her victory, though she didn’t seem too pleased about it.

While Shizuka fought by taking the front line herself, Maki took the opposite approach. As a magician, she fell back and focused on supporting the soldiers.

“Keep it up. Everyone stay calm and continue attacking.”

Maki was most skilled with mind manipulation and reinforcement magic. Really, anything that affected the mind or the body. As such, she used her spells to buff her squad and hamper the enemy.

“Graaagh! Grrrrr!”

Her soldiers were shooting true to their mark. Only about 10 percent of their attacks hit, but they were far more accurate than the other squads. That was the result of a spell she’d cast to improve their reaction time. As a result, they could better keep up with the beast’s movements, and were gradually chipping away it. The beast was so focused on trying to dodge that it never found an opportunity to charge forward, only snarl and roar in anger.

“Amplify Fear.”

Maki unleashed a spell that cornered the beast even further—not physically, but mentally. As the name implied, it amplified the fear the beast was feeling, fueling its agitation and robbing it of its calm. It proved quite effective. The beast was reacting slower and with less precision, which made it even easier for the soldiers to hit. There was no need for Maki herself to attack.

“Force Field. Modifier: Area Effect.”

She only needed to protect the soldiers with a defensive spell from time to time. And it wasn’t particularly hard to block attacks from a slow, wounded beast.

While it was still in the battle, the beast could neither effectively attack nor defend. This only agitated it further. Essentially, the more it fought, the further into a corner it was driven. It was a frightening strategy fit for a mind manipulation specialist.

“Grrr! Graaaaaaaagh!”

Eventually, the beast completely lost it and charged at Maki. It ignored the beams raining down on it and forcibly broke through the line of soldiers to leap at her.

“Tiny Memory Flash. Modifier: Touch Trigger.”

Maki, on the other hand, was completely calm. She simply incanted a spell, and an indigo light wrapped around her staff. Holding it like a spear, she readied herself for the incoming beast.

“Graaaaagh!”

“I’m sorry... That said, you won’t remember in a moment.”

The tip of Maki’s staff made contact with the beast. As it did, the precast magic on it flowed into the beast. It was a favorite a spell of Maki’s—one that erased the past few seconds of its target’s memory. The beast, who had no idea what had hit it or what happened, suddenly lost track of Maki, who should have been standing right in front of it. With its memory forcibly rewound by a few seconds, it simply looked like she’d teleported away.

“I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Maki calmly walked away from the befuddled beast as the soldiers pelted it with a barrage of spiritual energy beams. Unable to even defend itself, it took the vast majority of them directly and collapsed motionless to the ground.

While the other three girls were succeeding, Ruth alone was being pushed back. Since she was better at managing information than herself on the battlefield, she was a bad match for the swift beast.

“Everyone, please don’t step out of the distortion field!”

Ruth was wearing powered armor and acting as a shield for her squad. Compared to standard individual barriers, the output of the armor’s barrier was much higher. It performed more than well enough to block the beast’s attacks, with her squad attacking from within its safety. Since Forthorthian barriers couldn’t block spiritual energy, the spiritual energy beams passed right through it, making one-sided attack possible.

“Gragh! Grrr!”

The beast, however, moved swiftly enough that the soldiers couldn’t hit it. As a result, neither side could seize the advantage.

This isn’t good...

Irritated by the situation, the beast moved around Ruth in an attempt to attack the soldiers from behind. Ruth desperately tried to prevent it, but since the beast was faster, she was at its mercy. At this rate, Ruth would run out of stamina before the soldiers’ beams could finish the beast.

“Are you okay?!”

“Sun Rangers!”

Realizing that Ruth was having a hard time, the Sun Rangers had come to back her up.

“Megu-chan, drive it away with your gun!”

“Be careful, Daisaku-kun!”

Red, Yellow, and Pink Shine placed themselves in the way so that the beast couldn’t get behind Ruth’s squad.

“Wind is south-southwest; velocity of one meter. Humidity is 68 percent. There’s no need to correct with this wind speed and direction.”

“Roger, moving to shoot... Firing!”

Going on the offensive were the two remaining Shines, Blue and Green. Working as a team, they were sniping from a distance. Avoiding their attacks should be difficult.

“Graaagh!”

“Miss!”

“Damn, it’s too fast!”

“Hayato-niichan, nothing will come from complaining.”

“I know, I know! Loading the next round now!”

But it was equally difficult to hit the swift, agile beast. It was hard just getting it in the scope. They’d have to properly get the beast in their sights before they could get off a good shot.

“We have to stop it from moving somehow...”

“There’s no need to worry, Red-san. Now that you are here, we can win for sure.”

“Huh?”

“Please use this data.”

Ruth sent data to the weapons that the Sun Rangers were using—which was a simple feat for her considering they were using borrowed Forthorthian weapons. And since they were allies now, it only made sense for them to work together.

“What is this data?”

“It’s a simulated model of this monster’s habits. Though the accuracy is low, you should be able to roughly predict the timing of when it stops.”

Ruth had been gathering information on the beast while staying on the defensive, mapping its attack patterns and other data. She was originally planning on using it herself to counterattack, but fortunately the better-equipped Sun Rangers had shown up. So she passed off her intel and stuck to defending while leaving the attacking to them.

“We can do this, Hayato-niichan!”

“All right!”

Referencing Ruth’s model, Green’s shooting support computer projected where it predicted the beast would be in two seconds in Blue’s scope. According to her calculations, the prediction was about 60 percent accurate. It wasn’t all that high, like she’d said, but it was far better than what they’d been working with.

“Nii-chan!”

“Firing!”

Bang!

“Miss!”

“Reloading!”

Blue’s first shot missed, but he prepared to try again without missing a beat. The beast then slid into the center of his scope just as predicted. And there, it stopped for a moment. They weren’t about to let a chance like that slip past them.

“Now!”

“Firing!”

Bang!

The bullet fired from Blue’s rifle hit the beast dead center, just where he’d aimed. It was a special taser bullet that discharged considerable voltage upon making contact with its target. Overcome by it, the beast’s body seized up and stopped moving, but it looked like one shot wasn’t enough to fully incapacitate it.

“Megumi, the legs!”

“Got it!”

But the Sun Rangers didn’t stop their attack there. Using her gun, Pink shot out the beast’s legs. Unable to bear its own weight, the beast fell to the ground.

“Let’s go, Daisaku!”

“Yeah!”

Finally it was Red and Yellow’s turn. Yellow acted as a step and threw Red high up into the air. After flipping once, Red held his sword out in both hands. Directly below him was the collapsed beast.

“This will finish you!”

Red brought down his blade right down on its head as it struggled to get up. The blade unleashed a shock similar to Blue’s bullets. Suffering from both the impact and the shock, the magically strengthened beast lost consciousness.

The four beasts were defeated within a few minutes of Shizuka first sensing their presence. Each one was now lying incapacitated on the ground.

“Devil Princess-san, I know how this might sound, but... Is it really okay to not kill them?”

Though they were originally dogs, they were now modified weapons. Once they regained consciousness, they would probably still be hostile. It was a miserable state of existence. The Sun Rangers’ concern was quite justifiable.

“It’s unfortunate... but strategic convenience wins out this time. Though they might not be intelligent enough to contact their owners on a regular basis, whoever’s in control of them will probably know if they die.”

Theia had avoided killing the dogs because she was thinking ahead. Her intuition told her that they shouldn’t use lethal force. Without them, there would be no guard on this side of the island, and surely the radical faction had some kind of safeguard in place to inform them if that happened. Theia and the others’ goal was just to reach the secret base undetected, and to that end, they needed to keep risks that might give them away to a minimum.

“I see... That’s very reasonable.”

The Sun Rangers seemed convinced, but not so much Ruth, who was listening in. She smiled as she turned to Theia.

“Your Highness, you can admit that it’s just because you felt sorry for them.”

“I don’t really...”

“Really?”

“...I-It’s because I felt sorry for them.”

Theia’s strategic reasons for not wanting to kill the dogs were perfectly valid, but she also had a personal reason not to.

“I’m sure that Satomi-kun would praise you.”

“Yeah, Satomi-kun looks like he’d like... animals.”

“W-Well, I guess everything worked out all right... Just to be safe, Maki, could you keep them asleep for a while?”

If the beasts woke up, they would very likely become a threat again. That’s why Theia wanted to make sure they’d stay down for the duration of the battle at hand.

“For better or for worse, that’s the kind of magic I specialize in.”

Maki’s signature magic was indigo, meaning putting someone or something to sleep was right in her wheelhouse. Maki as she was now found that a little regrettable, and smiled grimly at herself as she solemnly accepted her duty.

“It would be a huge help. Please get to it ASAP.”

“...As you wish, Your Highness.”

In Maki’s moment of darkness, Theia’s bright smile felt so very reassuring. It was like she was telling her it was okay for her to be as she was, regardless of what that was.