CH 293.2

(With these guys’ level of skill, some of the Knights will probably sink)

There is no way the survivor of the elven royal family will just going to sit and watch. If they were not careful, more than half of them would turn into algae.

(But that doesn’t matter)

It’s our victory as long as we can defeat the Knight on its back. Judging from our battle up until now, the Knight on the turtle’s back would surely be blown up before the barrier of the World Tree does.

(Now, what will you do, you bastard survivor of the royal family? Your Light Arrow certainly has impressive firepower, but you won’t be able to shoot it in time. It’s the end for you.)

His mouth warped in a smile as he began to circle Zaratan in the distance with his subordinates’ B-class Knights behind him. Then his eyes landed on the rifle of the Knight on the shell.

Thinking that he has some leeway, his greed gets into his head.

(Still, that rifle didn’t seem to falter even after three consecutive attacks of this level. Even if he has the magic power, the weapon would normally not be able to withstand it)

One of the Empire’s Knights had a shield with defense magic that ignored attributes. Like it, it must be a weapon passed down through the royal family.

(That’s probably 『The rifle carved from the heartwood of the World Tree』. I didn’t think they actually existed.)

The magic circle of offensive magic in it must be on a national treasure level. His eyes shone again as he licked his lips.

(I don’t know if it’s the royal Knight under that cheap armor, but I’ll give him that as his coffin.)

A farce by the surviving members of the royal family that started when the young tree that was growing in the hollow of the World Tree died. To end it, the skinny old man puffed out his A-class Knight’s chest and raised its arm in the air.

『Turn to ashes!』

Following his instructions, his subordinates took up positions to surround the turtle. He himself moved to the front of the turtle and pointed his rifle to shoot red lotus arrow, right at the turtle’s nose.

***

At the same time, in the depths of the World Tree, six high elves, including the old pharmacist woman, were surrounding the magic circle that controlled the Spirit Cannon.

The third stage of the magic circle had already been activated, and the call to the executioner of judgment had just been completed, and now they were dealing with the raging magic power.

「Can’t all of you do it more properly?」

The old woman shouted furiously because the magic that should be suppressed was beginning to leave the area within the band. However, there was no response from the five assistants.

All of them, including the old woman, thought that they were doing everything perfectly. If it didn’t produce results, it meant that there was a problem with someone else.

「Hey! Are you all listening?」

The assistants were listening, but they were ignoring her. They were on their own way, desperately trying to control the magic power.

「I told you to do it properly!」

The best water magician and pharmacist in the village screamed at the situation that kept getting worse.

In their defense, they were doing what they had to do. In terms of the accuracy of their work, it was definitely better than what the acting chairman had been doing.

The fact that they were able to reboot the system much quicker than the other high elves had expected was proof of that. The cause was elsewhere.

『The World Tree has sensed an attack that can threaten its life』

There wouldn’t have been any problems if this certain mechanism hadn’t been triggered.

This is the first time since the bloodless revolution. And the old woman huddled in the roaring cave, had no idea that an incredibly powerful Light Arrow was being fired at the world tree.

「Why are you doing things as you like? Stop! Stop it now! You useless piece of–!」

The old woman holds her head with her hands and begins to scream. It’s not just her. All five of the assistants surrounding the magic circle of the Spirit Cannon in front of her also began panicking.

The cause was only one. It is because the counterattack system of the Magi Charter has been activated.

「Stop it! I said stop!」

The old woman screamed as her face warped in anguish, and the assistants sprawled on the floor while shouting out meaningless words. The cause was that a part of the counterattack system overlapped with the mechanism of the Spirit Cannon.

『Thunder Arrow aimed at the Great Pit far away』

『A flurry of Ice Arrows aimed at the enemy to repel them』

For the former, the Spirit Cannon was forcibly activated manually. While the latter is completely automatic.

To put it another way, it’s like working on a machine that was supposed to be operated manually, but then the machine suddenly started working automatically on its own.

『Magic Pressure』

That’s what they’re currently experiencing.

「Gah!!」

The next thing that happened was a sharp and loud explosion as if a flammable gas had ignited. At the same time, a high elf’s head exploded with a strange sound.

Blood and brain splattered all around, but the other five remaining high elves in the room had no time to be concerned. Because their heads also exploded one after another.

The old woman resisted until the very end, but that only made the sound of her head exploding even louder as its contents splattered violently.

All that was left was an ear-splitting roar that filled the room and six headless bodies lying on the floor.

***

Here, the perspective turns to Tauro again.

The elf Knights began to target only the Old Lady relentlessly. Zaratan moved back and forth, left and right, using anti-aircraft fire to sink the B-class, but it was becoming too much for him to handle.

Fire and Lightning Arrows came into the Old Lady’s perimeter, and the turtle once again blocked them with his face, just in time.

(It’s different from before. The Knights didn’t even try to dodge anymore.)

An enemy that’s prepared to die is the most troublesome and dangerous opponent.

As I was impatiently wondering what I should do, the World Tree suddenly began to emit blue light. The next thing I knew, the tree was shaking loudly with an eerie sound, and lumps of ice began to sprout like buds, breaking through the trunk and branches.

「…What is it this time?」

The atmosphere is strange for an interceptor system. I wondered if the attack had been successful, but we hadn’t broken through the defensive barrier yet.

The elven Knights also looked up at the world tree, not at us, and seemed to be confused as well.

『That is….』

Even Zaratan was also looking up at the world tree in surprise. Like me, he must have also thought that it would take a few more attacks to destroy it.

While we were wondering what was happening, the World Tree continued to shake and buzz, and chunks of ice continued to break through the bark and protrude from within. It had a fantastic beauty to it as if it had grown a crystal.

「It broke」

And finally, one of the branches. It was a huge tree with a height of 1,000 meters and a leaf span of 4,000 meters, so even though it was just a branch, it was still frighteningly huge and fell toward the surface of the lake.

The ice must have destroyed the internal tissue of the branch, making it unable to support its own weight. The fact that it looks slower is probably an optical illusion due to its size.

『This is unexpected, but this is enough』

Under the Old Lady, the turtle talked to itself and retreated. Immediately after that, the huge branch crashed into the water between Zaratan and the elven Knights.

A tremendously big wave was generated that swallowed the two-hundred-meter-long turtle. However, even though Zaratan was caught up in it, he managed to deploy a teleport magic circle.

(That was dangerous. I almost got knocked off of his back)

The surrounding scenery changed from the Spirit Lake, which was filled with the light emitted by the World Tree and the raging wave on the surface of the lake, to the eastern lake filled with silence, where the only source of illumination was the stars.

「….What the hell was that? Did we succeed in stopping the Spirit Cannon?」

After a long pause, the turtle answered my question.

「A malfunction?」

Zaratan guessed that the interceptor might have malfunctioned. He didn’t know why, but it seemed to have gone out of control.

『In any case, we have completed our objective』

They would no longer be able to fire the Spirit Cannon with the World Tree in that condition. I guess the turtle was right about not letting the elves use the cannon.

Next, I turned my eyes to the burnt face of the turtle, which looked painful even in the starlight.

「I’m going to heal your injuries, okay?」

Since we’re far offshore, we can’t be seen from the shore. So it will be okay if the magic emits light. I told him, but the turtle slowly shook its head from side to side, one eye still unopened.

『You must not use the magic with that scale right now』

With me still piloting the Knight, I can only go up to C-rank. This is what the turtle consistently insists on.

「Isn’t it fine if I just get down from the Knight and use it while standing on top of your shell?」

I suggested, but the turtle refused. He said that all he had to do was to teleport back to the pond in the garden and wait for my return there.

If that’s what the knowledgeable, long-lived Great Spirit Beast decides, then there’s nothing I can do.

「Alright then, I’ll try to go home as fast as I could」

I said to him, and with the Old Lady, get off from his shell and start hovering on the surface of the lake towards the royal capital.

Immediately afterward, a blue magic circle spread across the surface of the eastern lake, and one of the turtle-shaped small islands in the middle of it disappeared.