Torn Asunder by War, A Sword Saint for Tomorrow X The Knight Wizards!! – Chapter 114

Chapter 114: A Bird Does Not Foul Its Nest, But Turns All to Ashes
  “Oi, are the Gladius units from the Clawsolas workshop not here yet?! We can’t get this under control unless we destroy the Spirit Gate at the source!!”
  
  “”Calm down”, Company Commander. Save your hotheadedness for gambling.”
  
  While appeasing the young Rigsia officer Kurt, who had risen through the ranks due to his family background, his older, more experienced deputy commander made a lighthearted remark as she jumped onto a wooden crate procured by her subordinates and pulled the trigger of her carbine.
  
  Ironically, the bullet from the metal hand cannon, designed by the White Fox and utilizing rimfire cartridges that combined bullet and propellant, blossomed a crimson flower of blood on the head of a grotesque boar-man.
  
  “Gugiii!?”
  “Alright, next!!”
  
  After letting out a spirited shout, she quickly operated the lever to load the next round from the tubular magazine inside the gunstock, cocked the hammer, and fired at a different type of Aberration from the one she had just killed.
  
  Although small, the comparatively large owl-headed bear, which took the shot to its right shoulder, stopped its powerful arm, which it had been about to swing down at the soldiers in the front line, and paused. However, it received two more bullets to the head and chest and collapsed on its back.
  
  “Guh, u…uu…”
  
  “As expected of Berta-san!!”
  “That new seven-shot rifle is amazing.”
  
  “The rifling helps, but your skill is terrifying.”
  
  The rear guards who caught a glimpse of her over the spearmen in the front line, and the officers who understood the enemy’s fatal injuries from the death throes, were encouraged. However, the woman herself, who had her hair roughly cut at shoulder length, shook her head.
  
  “No good. We can’t maintain the front line without local superiority. We should retreat if we don’t want to increase the number of our own dead needlessly.”
  
  She gave up her spot on the wooden crate to Kurt, allowing him to see the scene in front where a considerable number of soldiers lay dead on the pavement.
  
  At the place where his cheeks slightly twitched, one of the vanguard, who had replaced the riflemen who had fired a volley of old-fashioned muskets at the first encounter and were now fighting back with iron spears, was caught off guard by a magical beast and had his throat crushed.
  
  In addition, there was no end to the human casualties within sight, such as those who had their chests pierced by the boar-men’s forceful spear attacks, and those who had become charred corpses, screaming after being caught in the purple flames scattered by the six-legged black horses.
  
  “Retreat to the castle while maintaining formation! Regroup with the following First and Third Companies and reorganize!”
  
  “Yes, that’s wise. It’s not worth it for only us to be on the front lines.”
  “The fact that our unit happened to be on standby is the worst, really…”
  
  The rearguard soldiers, with disheartened expressions, simultaneously raised their single-shot standard rifles and fired dozens of lead bullets at the smaller Aberrations through the gaps in the retreating vanguard.
  
  “””Gyauu!?”””
  “”Ugaaa!””
  
  While the beast-dominated monsters, screaming from the impact, hesitated, the garrison forces, somehow maintaining their order, widened the distance between themselves and the enemy… However, large spatial distortions appeared around the Spirit Gate, and giant golems, over ten meters tall, which they had feared as large Aberrations, emerged.
  
  Compared to their rock bodies, protected in key areas by metal parts, their large arms were equipped with combat gauntlets. If one were to receive a single blow from them, a frail human body would explode from the impact, leaving no trace.
  
  If they were crushed from above, it would still be better, but if they were swept away by those powerful arms, the damage would be immense.
  
  “Hmm, it’s no use anymore. This is beyond what we can handle.”
  “Wh-what should we do, Berta?!”
  
  “Let’s prioritize our own survival, and try to get as many of the townspeople to escape as possible.”
  
  The deputy commander, after calming down the panicked officer two years her junior, scratched her hair and gritted her teeth in frustration as she watched the giant rock figures that had begun to destroy buildings around the plaza and the new large Aberrations that continued to emerge from the still-active distortions.
  
  Nevertheless, thanks to her precise instructions after switching her mindset, the garrison forces retreated into the castle while engaging in moderate combat with the pursuing smaller magical beasts… Meanwhile, a tragedy was also unfolding at the Clawsolas workshop a short distance away.
  
  
  “Ugh, guh…uh…uu”
  “Wh-wh-why…”
  
  A few survivors of the maintenance crew, who had been attacked by a pack of over a dozen two-headed magical beasts, were covered in blood and on the verge of death, posing a question to a familiar girl.
  
  Although her appearance had changed to resemble an elf from legends, it was undoubtedly Theta, the maid who had been attending to the White Fox, Rigsia’s head of development. They had even been served herbal tea by her during their work breaks.
  
  The maid didn’t even look at them, gently stroking a large magical beast by her side, and spoke as if it were a trivial matter.
  “A bird does not foul its nest, as they say. I was ordered to destroy the advanced technology that Fau-sama provided…”
  
  Although there was a possibility that a certain female lord, skilled in mimicry, could independently reproduce it, the “Nightshade Rasetsu” characterized by its intricately moving four arms and the “Cannon Deal” equipped with a charged magic cannon, incorporated advanced magic core control technology.
  
  It would be extremely troublesome if it were leaked to the White Fox, who likely understood her own race’s wisdom to some extent, and some unforeseen chemical reaction occurred.
  
  “In addition to the development and design materials, you are also subject to disposal… I’m sorry, but please rest in peace, everyone.”
  
  “Wah, st-stop… gih, gaaa!”
  “””Uh, uu…ah…”””
  
  One of the knights, who was waiting in the cockpit for permission to sortie from the deceased Marquis, shouted as he watched through the Clawsolas’ pseudo-eyeballs the sight of those who no longer had the strength to resist being toyed with by the magical beasts and gradually losing their breath.
  
  『D*mn it, move! Can’t you do something?!』
  『…Probably, the magic core was tampered with. There’s nothing we can do.』
  
  The white elf maid who had suddenly appeared had only emitted a magic wave at the start, and the fact that the giant knight’s artificial muscles had stiffened from just that suggested that there had been some preparations beforehand.
  
  It seemed that the other two Clawsolas units stationed in the workshop were in the same situation, and the connected telepathy device transmitted the voices of their distraught comrades.
  
  『Who are you to worry about others?!』
  『At this rate, it’s the same as being in a coffin.』
  
  『Ahh, I can’t open the chest armor, and the teleportation magic sealing stone has been removed.』
  『If a large Aberration comes, it’s all over…』
  
  The Rigsia pilots, who had been watching the gruesome scene, thinking they would be next, also became victims of the giant golems summoned by the shrewd maid… They were thoroughly crushed, along with their Clawsolas units, by the powerful arms covered in steel gauntlets.
  Theta, who had restored sensory sharing midway and enjoyed the death cries of the dying with her morbid taste, looked around the workshop with satisfaction, where the roof and walls had collapsed, exposing the steel frame, and then returned to the plaza.
  
  Outside the city walls, she could see nearly forty combat-type and mage-type rock figures striding down the main streets, except for the north side, destroying the surrounding buildings and heading towards the city gates.
  
  Unlike the city, which was in chaos, in front of the Spirit Gate, which had exhausted its stored star power, two “Mechanical Dolls” called Aeon, piloted by white elf warriors, and a rare four-winged “Mechanical Magi” called Albireo, were quietly standing in a stationary posture.