Torn Asunder by War, A Sword Saint for Tomorrow X The Knight Wizards!! – Chapter 121

Chapter 121: The Thirty-Six Stratagems: Fleeing is Best!!
  At a muzzle velocity of around 560m/s, the fired 12.7mm AP bullets were aimed at the “Mechanical Magi,” which had been out of the line of fire as a precaution. Not missing the target correction movement, it evaded to the lower right diagonally with a barrel roll, flapping two wings on one side.
  
  Two shots hit the leg armor due to the large target, but they were deflected in the opposite direction with the sound of metal colliding with metal.
  
  『It seems there’s no point in dodging after all…』
  『No, even crude beanbag bullets are extremely unpleasant when they hit.』
  
  With a wry smile at her partner’s truly disgusted attitude, the other maid, Lambda, positioned the winged Clawsolas, which had been hidden under the airship, out of the spherical turret’s blind spot, and readied its specialized assault spear.
  
  As befitting a flying type, the extremely lightweight masterpiece was forged with advanced alchemy, so there was no worry of it breaking even if the white elf knight handled it a little roughly.
  
  『… Shout a war cry.』
  『Well, we don’t have much time.』
  
  Currently, with a distance of only about 8km between the front line and the rear, some time had already passed out of the approximately 2 minutes needed for the target, moving at a speed of roughly 240km/h, to reach the giant knight squadron.
  
  Roughly estimating the remaining seconds, the mage Theta focused her consciousness, causing a pale blue magical light to dwell in the assault spear.
  
  With the four main and auxiliary wings also clad in phosphorescence, the winged Clawsolas instantly accelerated, closing the distance between them and the enemy in one breath, and launched a sharp thrust from diagonally below at the hull of the airship “Count Zeppelin”!
  
  “”Uooooh!””
  “Kyaa!?”
  
  Although the power had been reduced by the double floating barrier deployed along the bottom of the ship, having received a warning from the sniper in the rear turret, the impact of the penetrating spear thrust sent the Lord’s daughter tumbling to the floor.
  
  While the maid soldier girl was helping the ungracefully fallen Nina up, a small explosion occurred in the engine section of the hull, which had forcibly escaped forward with inertia, engulfing one of the airborne mages who had been controlling it.
  
  “Uu…Ahh…”
  “Shrapnel in Milia’s stomach!”
  
  “Wait, don’t pull it out carelessly! I’m coming over there!!”
  
  While the observer soldier with binoculars hanging from his neck rushed over, the pilot Lionel, who was from the same hometown as the injured, was unable to move and calmly checked the barometric altimeter’s scale before asking:
  
  “Where would you like to fall, Nina-sama?”
  “…The middle of our allies. Can you make it?”
  
  “I’ll make it happen. I don’t want to die, and I don’t want you to die either.”
  
  While focusing on controlling the posture of the hull, which had begun to lose buoyancy, he also activated the Burst Mechanism, gaining the cruising range needed for an emergency landing at the requested location, but the white elf maids were not about to overlook that.
  
  Unable to maintain altitude due to the stall from the previous attack, the winged Clawsolas extended its dazzling steel left palm from above and behind the target.
  
  “Tch, magic’s coming!!”
  
  Driven by the sniper’s shout echoing through the speaking tube, the pilot accelerated the airship. Immediately after, several small wind blades flew in, shaving off the edge of the stern.
  
  Having barely managed to overcome the close call, they finally reached about 1.2km before the core city of Leipzig. The maid soldier girl, who had been embracing her master’s daughter, seemed to remember her role and hurriedly opened the common channel of the telepathy device.
  
  『Emergency landing! All Clawsolas, be careful!!』
  
  A few seconds after conveying the message to the knights on the front lines in a concise and clear manner, a violent impact struck the hull, although the speed had been somewhat offset by the reverse thrust of the two Burst Mechanisms installed in the bow.
  
  Amidst the screams and yells of the passengers being drowned out by the roaring sound, the airship plowed through the farmland, uprooting the winter wheat that had been sown in autumn along with the soil. Repeated explosive wind bullets were hurled at the farmer’s nightmare of an airship… and were blocked by the uninjured airborne mage, who had been maintaining the floating barrier spell with all her might based on a life-or-death intuition.
  
  『Hmm, it’s a common saying that the lower the life form, the more tenacious it is, but this is getting annoying.』
  『Don’t complain. This is for Fau-sama too…』
  
  Soothing her mage partner who sighed, the maid with her silver hair trimmed at the nape of her neck looked towards the spot where multiple giant knights, who had quickly retreated from the front lines, sensing the danger to their Lord, had formed a protective formation.
  
  Indeed, it’s troublesome, Lambda thought to herself as she made the winged Clawsolas take flight, approaching the Zephyrus Domain Clawsolas that was in an easy-to-target position, and delivered a powerful kick to its face.
  
  Eckhart, the company commander who had returned from the Western Front, used his Clawsolas’s arm shield to block the attack, preventing damage to the Begalta’s pseudo eyeballs. However, the heavy blow, carrying inertia, forced him to step back.
  
  『Guuu!?』
  
  Reflexively lowering his left arm was a feat achieved through experience. He deflected the spearhead, thrust in conjunction with the opponent’s landing, with the edge of his shield, protecting his head at the expense of his chest.
  
  Although this prevented his and the mage’s immediate death, his large body, pierced in the lower abdomen and spraying crimson magical fluid, collapsed.
  
  『D*mn it, I won’t let you kill them!』
  『Both of you, teleport and escape!!』
  
  With the intervention of a fellow knight who shouted, the winged Clawsolas held back its finishing blow. It knocked away the spearhead with the shaft of its assault spear and immediately thrust back, piercing the chest armor.
  
  It seemed the hit was in a bad spot, as the groans of the fatally wounded pilots could be heard.
  
  『Gah… Uuu…』
  『Wh… Why are we…』
  
  『Hmm, perhaps it’s a case of “going for a mummy and finding a ghoul”?』
  『”A pheasant that doesn’t cry won’t be shot”?』
  
  The maids, muttering whatever they pleased, glanced at the new enemies closing in from left and right and tried to withdraw their winged Clawsolas to a lower altitude. However, jumping over the grounded airship with a combination of its specially selected artificial muscle leg strength and back Burst Mechanism, an asymmetrical black and silver Clawsolas launched a surprise attack.