CH 94

Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter

(Third person POV)

At the former Lake Turkana, situated in Kenya.

This lake is located in the Great Rift Valley of Africa and has an area of 6405 km². That is to say, it is the largest alkaline lake in the world, about 10 times the size of Lake Biwa.

“Hah… hah…”

And Ichiko is running along the lakeside of such a place.

“Damn!”

Ichiko’s present speed is not that of a marathoner advancing at her own pace over a long distance, but rather that of someone fleeing from an attack. Here and there, her ≪Sword of the Formless King・Weak≫ is also utilized for transportation.

At the point when Ichiko is transported, a pillar of fire erupts at the place where she was standing.

“Haa haa… what exactly is that… no, I know their true identity. That is…”

While regulating her respiration under the shadows of her new position, Ichiko confirms the enemy’s appearance.

The foe is a steel giant that towers roughly 20 meters in height. Or, to put it bluntly,

“It’s a robot.”

(Ichiko POV)

Indeed. For goodness sake, let’s acknowledge reality. That is a robot. A robot for combat use, and one that a human or someone could ride in.

It is armed with missiles and beam cannons. On its back is a flying unit. The range of its attack is definitely over 100 meters, and when one of them spots an adversary, whether they are exchanging information or not, they charge towards the target in tandem. Considering its physique and materials, its durability must be quite extraordinary.

However, concerning the classification, I am not familiar with it, therefore, I have no notion. But somehow, I don’t have a feeling that it is related to the national robot animation.

“Even so, why is there a robot at Lake Turkana? I don’t see the relevance at all.”

As I observe the giant robots circling above me, I search for a way to swiftly depart from this place.

“That path looks like a good one.”

I then rush to one of the paths.

This is the border between the territory under the reign of the Demon King who rules over Lake Turkana and the outside world.

Behind me, the golden slab which is the dungeon of that Demon King floats in the air emitting luminescence.

And,

“Right. I guess this means they’re not so naive.”

In front of me now stand two robots.

On one side is a full-body white female robot with enormous artillery weapons on her back. The other is a black-clad male robot with a sword in each hand (albeit it is categorized as a gigantic sword from a human perspective owing to its sheer size) and many spare swords at his waist.

They show no signs of letting me go and are already poised for combat.

“I understand. If you are so bent on doing this, I’ll just force my way through!”

I produce a sword in my right hand that is much wider than I normally would wield, and begin to dash out.

As I rush, approaching the black robot, he swings the sword in his right hand at me. I leap to the right to avoid it, but as expected from the black robot’s appearance, the moment the sword impacts the ground, a blast and a massive cloud of dust and smoke erupts, propelling me flying into the air.

When I am knocked into the air and rendered immobile, the white robot launches barrages of missiles at me from her back. These missiles are most likely equipped with a tracking system. All of them are aimed specifically at me.

“Please don’t underestimate me.”

However, since the missiles are within 25 meters, in other words, the instant they enter the range of the ≪Sword of the Formless King・Weak≫, I teleport the blades to engage the tips of the missiles and cause them to misfire.

The black robot then proceeds to cleave me in half, slashing me horizontally with his left-hand sword. Apparently, this is a two-stage attack.

But it poses no problem as long as I can see it. Right before the attack strikes, I evade it by teleporting to a position slightly upper than where I am now.

[[ーーー！？]]

As predicted, it may have been unforeseeable that I would both avoid this coordination, so the two robots exhibit a shocked expression… I assume.

Ugh, I can’t decipher their expressions because of their metallic features.

And I must counterattack too.

“Now it’s my turn. ≪Decapitation≫!”

I teleport myself to the black robot’s front and generate a massive sword to smash his head, then swing the sword to the side and behead the black robot’s head.

“!!?”

But, ultimately, a robot is a robot.

Even after having his head severed off, the black robot is only mildly startled and unaffectedly brandishes his sword at me.

And as if to punctuate the interval between the black robot’s attacks, even the white robot turns the tip of the weapon on her back towards me and delivers a beam attack?

I direct a sword fashioned from the metal I’ve amassed at the joints of the black robot, sending it hurtling towards the target, while evading the onslaught with a mixture of transitions and maneuvers.

“Damage sustained is severe. Function will be deactivated.”

The black robot slumps down when the number of swords penetrating it surpasses 20.

With the black robot down, the white robot takes flight and whizzes up into the sky.

From an overpowering out-of-range position, the robot is likely to have switched to a one-sided saturation bombing strategy.

“But that is naive.”

Taking the black robot’s body as a material, I create a sword. It is a more immense version of the black robot’s sword. Not only the giant robot, but even a building can be torn apart with a single cut.

After reinforcing it with ≪Keen Edge≫ and ≪Durable Edge≫, I continuously employ ≪Sword of the Formless King・Weak≫ and move to the back of the white robot that has fled into the sky above me.

“Here it comes!”

“!!?”

Then, with a strike of my gigantic sword, I split the white robot from the waist up and down, and the white robot burst into flames as if something in her internal system has been detonated by the damage.

When the explosion occurs, I block it by teleporting behind the colossal sword, creating an incredibly thin and light sword while preserving its power, and descending to the ground using it as a parachute.

“Phew. I guess that worked out somehow.”

In the midst of making the parachute sword and descending slowly, I could catch a glimpse of the sun setting on the horizon.

Then I see the Star Castle drawing closer in the distance…

“! ≪Sword of the Formless King・Weak≫!!”

I hastily perform continuous teleportation to the ground and search for a place to hide myself. And after I’ve discovered a hiding area and abruptly glance above my head…

Hundreds of demons are passing by at breakneck speed where I was just a moment ago.

On top of that, muscular demonic beings are also present.

If I had been too late to escape… I don’t even want to ponder on it.

For the time being, I would wait for the hostiles to leave before heading further north.