I took a step into the desert and suddenly saw something flicker in the corner of my eye.
“...Hm?” I felt a sudden presence about three meters in front of me. I didn’t necessarily feel any hostility, I just felt something was there.
I imbued my eyes with divinity and surveyed the area. It was then that I noticed the sandy-looking Slime at my feet. It had a single large eye, which fixated on me once it realized I could see it. It stopped moving.
“...Just what are you, then? Some kind of monster?” It didn’t exactly feel hostile. Even if it was a monster, I didn’t plan on killing it if it wasn’t going to attack me. I just wondered what it was. First I thought perhaps it could disguise itself like a chameleon, but it clearly only became visible once I employed divinity.
As I kept on staring at it, it slowly began to tremble.
Hmm...?
“Forgive this little one, please...” I suddenly heard the voice of a woman and turned my gaze away from the Slime.
The sand next to the little Slime began to twist and contort until it took the form of a woman with long, raven hair. Her skin was a dark tan, and she wore a simple cloth. There was also a faint light that shone around her body. I know this feeling...
“...You’re a spirit?”
“I am, yes. I am the Sand Spirit that dwells within this desert. This child is one of my children, and it is so meek that it couldn’t possibly pose a threat to you... That’s why I beg you forgive it.”
“Forgive it...? It didn’t do anything to me, so it’s not like I’m doing anything to it.”
“Your gaze is imbued with divine power, so it cannot move an inch. The power of a god is absolute to spirits and their dependents. I assumed you were holding it in place as if to pass judgment.” Oh... I remember something like that, god did mention spirits in his sermon... Something about them helping gods by making the core parts of the world.
I weakened my own divinity until the little Slime could move again. It slowly scampered behind the spirit, shivering behind her as if terrified. I felt pretty sorry for it.
“Mochizuki Touya... You’ve certainly been the subject of many rumors as of late.”
“Really?”
“Indeed. The Wind Spirit. She likes to gossip and spread rumors, so they even managed to reach this place.”
Huh, is the Wind Spirit a woman, then? Or maybe sex isn’t really a thing since they’re elemental essences... Guess it’s just gender identity.
But man... The Wind Spirit is a gossip, huh? I guess it makes sense, what with rumors being carried on the wind and all that.
“Is there a reason you’re all in the desert today?”
The Sand Spirit gestured toward the Frame Gears.
I figured I owed her an explanation, so I gave her the general gist. She was the Sand Spirit, which meant that she had dominion over this desert... It wouldn’t be proper for us to cause chaos in her domain.
“You don’t need to worry about explaining yourself. I was only a little curious.”
“Thanks, then... I’m sorry for the trouble, we’ll be done here after today.”
“Worry not. This world belongs to those who dwell above the ground. We spirits merely watch over things and offer aid when we are needed. Well, not all spirits act the same... Some take a more active approach, while others don’t really mind at all.”
The Sand Spirit was more the latter type. She didn’t really seem too concerned with human affairs, while the Wind Spirit sounded like she was a little too invested.
The Forest Spirit I’d met some time ago seemed to be the type that watched over people.
“Well, regardless... I wish you fortune in your coming battle. May we meet again.” The Sand Spirit then melted back into the sand and vanished. The little Sand Slime bowed, or at least that’s what it looked like, before joining its master in the sand. Huh, that went pretty well. Her personality felt a little dry, though... Or maybe she’s just dry because she’s made of sand. Oh, that’s right... I guess that means I can see spirits if I use my divine sight... Wonder if I’ll be able to see the Wind Spirit if I use it.
I looked up toward the sky and saw dozens of fairy-like creatures floating along the breeze. Huh... Those aren’t spirits. Maybe they’re the dependents of the spirit, though. The little dancing fairies didn’t seem to notice us from so high up in the air, but it wouldn’t have really mattered if they did or not.
I canceled my divinity and found my eyes were all dried out and uncomfortable... Augh... they’re all dry, ow... I’ll have to get Flora to make me some eyedrops.
“Oh, there you were, Touya.”
I turned around to see Moroha and Karina standing nearby.
...Huh. You guys must’ve come through from Brunhild... But why?
Oh... Don’t tell me... Yeah, I already know.
“...You want to join in the fight, right?”
“Ayup.”
“Duh.”
“Right...” It was useless to resist. The god of swords and the god of the hunt were both brimming with excitement, after all. It’d be fine so long as they held back from using their divinity, but if they ended up smashing the Phrase with ease then it’d defeat the whole point of bringing the Frame Gears out here to begin with... Either way, I didn’t say anything. It wasn’t my place.
“I know Moroha fights fine... But what about you, Karina? Are you planning on using a bow and arrow against them?”
“Don’t underestimate me, kiddo. I don’t just use bows, you know! I have spears, daggers, hatchets, and even guns at my disposal! I can use any tool used for hunting... To an extent. I’m not exactly a match for our dear god here.”
Wow, really? Although I guess I remember seeing her spearfishing not too long ago...
“So give me a good weapon, alright?”
“...You’re certainly not the god of subtlety, huh.” I sighed as I opened up [Storage] and took out several Phrasium fragments. I fashioned them into a large spear. The blade itself was about the length of a regular shortsword’s, attached to a long pole.
I’d reduced its weight a bit, but making it too light would make it awkward to handle.
Apparently, Karina didn’t mind it being heavy, though. She was waving it around like a madwoman. The heavier it was, the better it was to smash stuff, so I didn’t bother adjusting it anymore.
“It’s a little fun to fight, even if we’re holding back our divinity. It’s not like we could do much fighting in the Divine Realm.”
“It doesn’t really look like you’re holding back from here...”
“The humans of the world could reach this level given enough time and effort! It’s not my fault they haven’t set their minds toward taking advantage of their natural blessings.”
“Is that right...” I didn’t know whether to be amazed by her or if I should have just shook my head at her. I think if a human in this world “set their mind” toward reaching her kind of strength, they’d cease being human.
As I looked at the two and their ridiculous feats, I realized the slight hypocrisy in my words... After all, I wasn’t exactly a regular human anymore, either.
Just as I thought that, the headquarters siren started blaring and a voice came over the loudspeakers.
“They’ve arrived!” I used [Long Sense] to project my sight ahead into the desert.
I saw a crack in space, shimmering in the desert heat. The crack opened up wide, splitting the sky down the middle. Phrase began to pour forth from the hole, endlessly. They were all Lesser and Intermediate Constructs.
“The Phrase have emerged! Mobilize the Frame Gears! Prepare for battle!” I yelled orders through my smartphone. I then took out two large Phrasium greatswords from [Storage] and passed them to Moroha. Then I used [Fly] to get an aerial grasp on the situation.
“Wait...!” I saw another crack in space not far away from the first one. From it poured several muddy-gold Phrase mutants. The metal devils were here.
There weren’t as many of them
as there were regular Phrase, but there were still more than I expected. Of course... Of course these things had to show up, too...
“This is bad... We don’t want these things absorbing the others and getting out of hand.” The mutants would consume the regular ones to increase their own strength. A Lesser Construct could probably turn itself into an Intermediate if it ate enough of its peers. I didn’t even want to think of the possibility of a metal devil absorbing enough to become an Upper Construct... We had to prevent that.
“The mutants are here. All Valkyries roll out. Try to prevent them from getting near the regular Phrase.”
Predicting the Phrase actions was harder now that the metal devils were involved.
We set up our camp directly between the emergence point and the nearest human settlement. The Phrase chased after heartbeats, so we figured standing in front of the nearest source would mean they’d come right to us.
Unfortunately, the presence of the mutants caused the regular ones to move erratically out of fear. We wouldn’t be able to carry out the ambush now.
Luckily we had a strategy in place.
“Formation changing. Prepare for teleportation.” Each and every Frame Gear suddenly materialized out of thin air, surrounding the Phrase in four directions. The new plan was to box them in and prevent escape.
Still, even with this kind of formation, it was possible that the combat would be more focused in some areas and quieter in other areas. I had no choice but to watch over the battlefield from above and give out orders.
The combat had begun in one corner. Elze and the girls began to make their move toward the mutants.
“The Phrase count is as follows: Ten-thousand-nine-hundred-and-fifty-four Lesser Constructs. Two-thousand-three-hundred-and-fifty-two Intermediate Constructs. Three-thousand-and-twenty-one Mutated Constructs.” I heard Cesca’s voice from my smartphone. Good intel... Mutated Constructs is a pretty good designation.
But damn it, there are way more than I thought. There were only around thirteen thousand during the Yulong situation. But whatever, so long as there are no Upper Constructs this should still be a cakewalk...
“Master. Detecting massive vibrations in hyperspace readings. An Upper Construct is emerging.”
“Oh come on!” We didn’t get any readings indicating that, gimme a break! This isn’t fair, there are too many as it is! I saw space begin to crack open again, and an enormous crystal monster emerged.
It had a sharp beak, a long neck, two thick legs, and feather-shaped plumes coming up from its rear. It flapped its mighty wings. This was a bird-shaped Phrase... But no matter how I looked at it, it was just way too big.
The Phrase unfolded its long wings and shook its rear, unfurling its tail “feathers” like a paper fan. The sunlight rained down upon the display, causing it to glimmer.
“It’s a goddamn giant peacock?!” I was amused by the fact that it had feathers that were clearly not feathers, but that wasn’t the time to focus on something like that.
Man, this is really bad... I guess I should send Elze and half of the others to deal with this while the others mop up the Mutated Constructs.
“Master. I’m detecting another massive vibration. A second Upper Construct is emerging.”
“You what?!” I looked back over to the peacock and then scanned the battlefield until my eyes fell on another crack on the opposite side of the battlefield.
The second Upper Construct shattered itself through space in much the same way as the first.
This one looked pretty disgusting. It looked just like a nautilus. It had a coiled, ammonite-like shell, and stretched out countless massive feelers.
Several spikes protruded from its coarse crystal shell.
“This is getting ridiculous. Now there are two of them!” I stared down at the battlefield, unable to figure out our next course of action.
The Nautilus Phrase floated about four meters in the air above the desert sand. My grandfather told me that nautiluses gathered gas in their shells and expelled it regularly, causing them to bob up and down as they floated through the water.
Apparently, this motion reminded the novelist Jules Verne of a submersible vehicle, which is why he named the submarine in his novel after the creature.
At the very least, the nautiluses on Earth weren’t capable of swift movements, but it wasn’t like the same rules would apply here.
“What do we do... I didn’t expect to see two come up... Can we even beat two at the same time? Is that even possible?” I did have my trump card in place. We had our special cannon, the Brionac, that could fire out drilling bullets. A good shot from that would be able to take out an Upper Construct with little effort.
But it would still take time to line up a shot, so we couldn’t do any hits in quick succession. Plus we’d need to disassemble it and build it back up before we could line up the second shot on the other Upper Construct.
Not to mention the fact that vast quantities of magic power, specifically wind and fire, were required to fire off a shot.
It’d be fine if I did it, but with my newfound divinity, there was a chance I could overload the machine and blow it up like I did with the Dverg. If that happened, then Linze and Leen would be in danger since they’d be the ones holding it. That’s why I was hesitant to use it.
I couldn’t even use [Slip] since we were fighting in desert terrain. The winds would just scatter the sand before it could be effective.
“I guess there’s nothing else for it... Meteor Rain!” In the sky above the two Upper Constructs, several softball-sized chunks of Phrasium appeared one after the other. They began to fall down like shooting stars thanks to the magic weight enhancement I’d given them.
The peacock raised its head as if noticing the incoming barrage.
Suddenly a high-pitched noise rang out through the battlefield. The peacock spread its tail feathers and aimed them skyward. There were round patterns on the tips of the feathers that resembled focused lenses. I saw small lights gathering on each feather, and I really didn’t like where the situation was headed. In a flash, several lasers fired out of the feather parts. They shot down the incoming projectiles. Or rather, they simply obliterated them.
What the hell! That’s like a scattershot with the power of a railgun! How am I meant to go up against that?! I looked on in despair as the Peacock Phrase folded its feathers back, and returned them to their folded position as if holstering its weapon.
Why’d it do that? Does it need to recharge like the Brionac? Either way, that scattershot is bad news... We need to take this one out fast! “Monica! Call down the Brionac from the hangar immediately! Linze, Leen, get ready to fire!” I yelled into my smartphone.
I had enough ammo in my [Storage] for another Meteor Rain, but only enough for one more go. It definitely wouldn’t be enough to kill the Upper Construct.
That’s why the new plan was to use Meteor Rain as we charge up the Brionac shot. Then we’d be able to hit it with the Brionac shot after it wastes its next attack on the projectiles.
The issue was simply holding out until then...
The Brionac Cannon came down from Babylon, and it was then secured by Grimgerde and Helmwige.
The two Frame Gears linked themselves to Brionac via a cord in their backs, and then the cannon itself was anchored into the sandy ground.
“Brionac connected! Commencing charge!” Linze’s voice was accompanied by a slow filling meter on the side of the cannon. I checked on it as I sent orders to the other Valkyries.
“Elze, Yae, Hilde! Distract the Peacock Phrase and keep its attention away from Leen and Linze! Lu, Yumina, keep the Nautilus Phrase away from the Peacock! Sakura, Sue, you two defend Leen and Linze. Forget about the mutants for now!” I was concerned that the Nautilus might have a laser as well. The Meteor Rain would be rendered useless if that thing ended up firing it off as well.
The Mutants were a pain, but the Chevaliers were still capable of taking them out. They were probably gonn
a go for the regular Phrase before us, anyway.
“Gah... These feathery parts keep getting in the way!” Elze gradually approached the Peacock Phase, but it kept swiping its tail feathers toward her.
Yae and Hilde were hot on Elze’s heels, dashing toward the beast while avoiding its swipes.
The three of them arrived at its right leg at around the same time, and the three of them immediately went on the offensive.
“Take thiiis! Crusher!”
“Kokonoe Secret Style: Phoenix Cutter!”
“Lestian Sacred Sword: Iron Slice!” Gerhilde’s Pile Bunker, Schwertleite’s katana, and Siegrune’s greatsword all struck the leg at the same time.
The Peacock Phrase had much thinner legs than any of the Upper Constructs we’d seen so far. It was unable to bear the combined strikes and immediately shattered.
“Woohoo!” The Peacock quickly lost its balance, causing the three Frame Gears to flee as it fell to the ground.
The impact on the desert sands kicked up a dust storm in the vicinity. Unfortunately, it regenerated its leg immediately... But we’d still bought a few precious moments.
Lu’s Waltraute was currently equipped with its Booster Unit, running rings around the Nautilus Phrase as she caught its attention.
It slowly bobbed through the air, launching its tentacles out like spearing projectiles. Lu’s B-Unit allowed insane speed, however, meaning she dodged each impact with ease.
The Nautilus definitely wasn’t as fast as the Peacock. It wasn’t even flying, it was just kind of lazily bobbing up and down in the air.
Either way, we couldn’t afford to lower our guards. Even if its body was slow, its tentacles were moving at quite intense speed. If the Waltraute wasn’t equipped with its B-Unit, Lu probably wouldn’t have been able to avoid them so easily.
I suddenly heard a ringing noise followed by a loud crash, one of the tentacles fell to the ground. Yumina had managed to snipe one with Brunnhilde’s gun.
Or at least that’s what I assumed. Brunnhilde was completely cloaked, making it hard to see. If the stealth mode was deactivated, the sunlight would bounce right off its silver exterior and blind everyone nearby...
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 14 Page 4