Chapter 441: Struggle

“J-Jin… What are we going to do?”

Her face turned pale, Saki asked with a trembling voice.

“We might have no choice but to physically crush it.”

“Physically… What do you mean?”

“Brother Jin means that he’s going to do something with strength rather than with magic.”

Saki’s face indicated that Elsa’s explanation made her understand even less.

“Reiko, take care of the one on the front!”

“Understood, Father.”

By all means, there was the theory to try to limit the movements of those on the rear, but they tried to prioritize the one that was damaged by the laser and ended up going on a rampage, if only a bit.

The speed of Titan is 150 km/h. That was about 8 times faster than the Giant Peeders. In a blink of an eye, it overtook the five of them and wrapped around them, catching the one that had been hurt by the laser.

But the 50 meters long Giant Peeder was stronger than expected, and tried to wrap around the Titan in order to immobilize it.

The other four of them continued to move towards Toka Village. Thankfully, they hadn’t decided to gang up on the Titan instead.

“Why you-!”

The Titan’s fist impacted against the Giant Peeder’s head. Surprisingly, the blow, which struck with an output equivalent to 200% of Reiko’s power, wasn’t enough to crush its head.

The Titan’s movements had turned rather sluggish. But thanks to that, Reiko was able to punch it two times, then a third time, and the Giant Peeder had also been considerably slowed as well.

“Alright, Reiko, now move aside!”

Jin aimed the Magi Cannon at it.

“Fire!”

After having its power slightly adjusted because its target was only a few hundred meters away, the Adamantite warhead launched at a speed of about Mach 3 did not miss its mark, piercing the body of the Giant Peeder.

As soon as that happened, yellow fluid started gushing out from it.

Smoke started to come out of a nearby rock that was hit by that fluid. It seemed to be a strongly corrosive agent. There was a chance it was a powerful acid. At least, it seemed to be the same as the liquid that they spat out of their mouths.

“Reiko! Watch out!”

Depending on the acid’s composition, not even an alloy of aluminum and titanium might be completely safe from it. Reiko put up a barrier for substances.

Contrary to what would be expected, the Giant Peeder that had its body torn to pieces became even more violent.

It spat liquid from its mouth. The Titan managed to dodge it, but a nearby rock started to melt into white smoke upon contact. So it definitely had the same composition as its yellow body fluids after all.

He had received the report about it, but to see it for himself was truly something else.

“So these guys are synthesizing a strong acid inside their bodies, huh?”

Perhaps something stronger than acid… a liquid that corroded other objects and substances.

In any case, Jin became more alert so as to not stupidly let the Titan, Reiko, and the golems get hit with that substance.

The remaining 4 Giant Peeders sped up a little, heading towards Toka Village at about 30 km/h.

“Do we have to crush their heads completely…?”

Seeing that one of them wasn’t dying even though its torso had been pierced through, and even had the strength to scatter destruction around it, Jin wondered if that would be the case.

“Or maybe they won’t stop until we chop them into pieces… A Water Jet would work, but… Ah!”

Jun remembered about the magic swords he had made before, “Muramasa” and “Masamune”.

“Heat should be effective here… Laojun, send Masamune here.”

It was a magic sword that didn’t get much use after being created, and was instead rotting away at the warehouse, waiting for its chance to shine.

That sword was instantly sent to Jin via Warp Gate.

“Okay, do this here…”

Jin didn’t waste a second, and started remodeling it immediately. Two pairs of eyes stared at him with anxiety.

“J-Jin, I don’t know what you’re doing, but do we really have the time to play with swords?”

“Brother Jin…”

Elsa was terrified of these Giant Peeders, who Jin didn’t seem to know how to deal with, and who left Saki at a loss for what to do about them.

“…Okay, done.”

After remodeling the magic sword, Jin opened the skylight of Pegasus 1 and activated it toward the sky.

A pale purple tinge of light extended from it. The sword of light reached about 10 meters long. Jin then stops it immediately. It was an improvised weapon created by overloading its magic circuit.

“Alright, it came out great.”

“J-Jin! W-What is that?”

“It’s a Plasma Sword I just fashioned in a rush.”

“Puh-lass-ma Sword?”

When the hot gas is heated further, the gas molecules are separated into cations and electrons. This state is known as plasma.

Jin produced a state called “hot plasma” and confined it within a sword-shaped barrier.

Its temperature was about 1 billion degrees. It is the same temperature at which nuclear fusion can occur.

“I might not be able to keep it up for long… I’ll have to rely on Reiko for this.”

Jin used his Mana Comm to contact Reiko. She then made the Titan crouch and got out of the cockpit, waving at Jin.

Responding to that, Jin threw the Plasma Sword at her. Reiko was able to catch it without any problems.

“So you’re saying I should use this, Father…”

Reiko’s voice came out of the Mana Comm.

“That’s right. It’s magic circuit will probably burn out soon. It’s a match against time. I’m counting on you!”

“Leave it to me.”

After cutting the communication, Reiko released 100% of the power output.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

“Neither the Laser Gun nor the Magi Cannon have proven to be very effective…”

In the command room located in Hourai Island, Laojun explained the state of the battle projected in the Magic Screen while analyzing it.

“What is Jin going to do?”

There was a hint of impatience in Reinhardt’s face. If a weapon with such power cannot produce a meaningful result, will there be anything that can?

“Don’t worry. It may be something that we haven’t really rehearsed for, but there are still two more ways left to do this.”

Laojun reassured everyone who was still there.

At that time, a request from Jin came in. Laojun responded immediately and ordered the mobile terminal, Laozi, to transfer the magic sword “Masamune” to Pegasus 1.

“What was that now, Laojun?”

“A magic sword previously made by My Lord.”

Laojun’s explanation was brief. Reinhardt felt even more respect for Jin.

“Perhaps, My Lord is… Rather than me explaining it, please see for yourselves.”

What they saw on the Magic Screen was Reiko holding a gigantic sword made of light.

Actually, what Reinhardt’s and the others could see was nothing but a shadow that seemed to be Reiko, moving around at a speed that can not be easily followed by their eyes. The next moment, the Giant Peeder had been chopped into pieces.

First of all, the one that had already been severely damaged had quickly been sliced into seven pieces. No blood or body fluids had spurt out of the cut sections. This was the reason why Jin had decided against using the Water Jet.

He wanted to prevent those body fluids to cause damage to the surrounding area. But more than anything else, to keep Reiko safe.

Then, another one was sliced into eight pieces, and another one into nine. And by the time the 4th had been sliced in half…

The dazzling sword of light disappeared.

“Gah, it’s reached its limit!”

Five seconds. Five seconds after being forced to go beyond its limits, the magic sword Masamune had burned its own magic circuits out, and stopped working.

The result was that three of the Giant Peeders had been killed, one of them had been split in half, and the last one was still unharmed.

That last one was still heading towards Toka Village.

The body of the one who had been cut in half was still moving around, and the body fluid spit out from its mouth caused trees and rocks alike to be burnt and melt away.

Since they still didn’t know the identity of those body fluids, it was dangerous for Reiko to get closer to it, so Jin didn’t allow her to.

“If it’s come to this… Send the other magic sword, Muramasa.”

“Yes, right away.”

The thunder magic sword Muramasa was sent over immediately. Jin quickly started remodelling it again.

One minute later, remodelling was complete.

“Reiko, I’m counting on you again!”

“Yes, Father!”

Reiko once again catches the sword Jin threw at her. Then, the sword started to emit light…

“What’s that, Jin? It’s different from before?”

“Oh, this one’s a thunder-type magic sword, so its effect might be a little different.”

As the sun went down, the sword of light that glittered with purple lightning illuminated the darkened ground.

Excited by the mega-electron bolt, the plasma pierced the sword-shaped barrier and released that purple lightning.

And the extreme speed at which that sword moved sealed the deal for the remaining Giant Peeders.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

“T-They did it…”

Reinhardt and the others were excitedly staring at the Magic Screen.

“T-That was amazing…”

“Those are Jin and Reiko for you.”

“…Is it because he’s out of the standard, or simply because he’s Jin?”

“All that’s left now is to clean up.”

There was a hint of relief in Laojun’s voice.

And there was also an atmosphere of relief in Pegasus 1. Then…

“Hmm?”

Saki made a puzzled voice after looking outside.

“Jin! Look over here!”

“Huh?”

Saki was pointing at Inad Mine.

From the crumbling tunnel, countless Giant Peeders were crawling out into the dark.