Chapter 1284: Droid

「That’s the capital?」

『Has to be. We don’t see many cities that large, not even in Kranzel.』

「Nn. Really big and tall buildings.」

『Yeah. I assume the tall one is the royal castle.』

Two days had passed since our clash with the Superhuman General.

We were now close enough to the capital to view the spires of the royal castle. Urushi probably could have gotten us here in half a day, but moving in sync with Jean’s carriage delayed us a bit longer than expected.

Well, at least that gave everyone some time to rest.

We didn’t run into any enemies on our way here. In fact, there were no signs of any living creatures.

All the people, magical beasts, and even plants had been drained of their life and sacrificed to strengthen Laranflura and Nameless.

Then those two were promptly defeated by us. That made our victory feel a bit emptier.

Of course, I don’t regret defeating them one bit. It’s just, I have to wonder if there was truly no other way? The thought went through my mind every time we passed through a ghost town.

「So much evil energy.」

『Yeah. The Evil God Fragments are clearly on the verge of revival.』

「Nn.」

『Honestly, I think it might be impossible for us to fight them in our current state…』

We had decided to visit the capital regardless, partly for reconnaissance. Determining the status and power of the fragments was our main objective.

Or at least that’s how I see it. Fran, Forrund and some others might be thinking about defeating them if the opportunity arises.

We stand a chance as long as Maleficent is in proper form.

Besides, there’s also the matter of other divine sword wielders. Two wielders should have received the same divine revelations as Maleficent.

The first being the wielder of Diabolos from Phyllius. The second one is still a mystery.

Either would be a powerful ally, but only if we can get their cooperation.

I couldn’t detect any signs of combat within the city.

Or rather, there were no signs of people in the first place. Did everyone already get sacrificed? The well-being of the residents was my first concern.

That said, I could sense inhuman lifeforms roaming around. There was no way to accurately identify their species from this distance, but I could sense the evil energy.

Fiends, huh? Honestly, I can’t say for sure who really has control over the castle right now.

Maybe the royal family was still in charge, or maybe the fragments have used their powers to dominate them. There might even be some third party lurking in the background.

According to Sibylla, the Chancellor has more actual authority than the king. So what is he doing right now? She claimed that he’s relatively sensible, but such personal opinions are likely to be discarded in the face of national interests.

If he’s in cahoots with the dukes, then that makes him responsible for the revival of the Evil God Fragments. In which case, we would have to consider the entire city as our enemies.

We stopped just before the walls and discussed our infiltration route with Sibylla. None of us were dumb enough to just barge in through the front gate, so an alternative passage would be preferable.

Apparently, there were several underground passages used for escape routes and transport. Seems safer than charging in from the front.

As discussed, we targeted the nearest escape route on the south side of the capital. The exit was in a forest area, which we reached without encountering any patrols.

More precisely, we found the small guard outpost covering the escape route. I saw a stone roof peeking out from above the trees.

There was still a considerable distance to cover, but everyone assumed a combat stance.

『Something’s coming!』

「Two of them, and one has a bunch of evil energy!」

『One is chasing the other?』

A wicked presence was dashing towards us with considerable speed. That said, it hadn’t noticed us or anything. It seemed to be chasing something else.

The two entities were both quite large, and I heard rumbling metallic sounds.

We braced ourselves and waited, hearing several dull crashes echoing through the forest. Finally, we saw something jump out from in between the trees.

It had the same shape as a human, but was much larger. After all, it had practically the same height as the trees it knocked over. The silhouette gave me the impression of a giant wearing somewhat pointy armor.

We recognized this form.

『That’s a droid.』

（Nn! Looks strong.）

The droid was very similar to the one we saw before, plated with silver armor and adorned with green lines. It wielded a giant sword, and its singular eye was scanning the forest.

I understood what it was looking for without even seeing it for myself. There was clearly a giant creature lurking within.

A few seconds later, that creature revealed itself.

This was a bipedal fiend covered entirely in a jet-black aura. Though somewhat smaller than the droid, it seemed more than capable of challenging it.

「Buoooh!」

In response to the fiend’s heavy roar, the droid emitted a high-pitched sound resembling an engine.

The two clashed their weapons, with the droid wielding a giant silver sword, and the fiend swinging a metallic club.

They locked blades in what seemed like an even match, but the droid quickly began pushing back the fiend. The droid went on to trip the fiend with its long legs and push it to the ground.

「Buoooh!」

The fiend struggled to escape, but it could not overpower the droid. Then, the droid’s shoulders slid open to reveal gun barrels.

These fired red-hot flames instead of bullets. The two giants were engulfed by an inferno.

Was the droid really okay burning itself like that?

We waited ten seconds for the flames to settle, and saw the charred corpse of the fiend and a completely unharmed droid.

Well, at least the fiend is dead, but…

（Is that our enemy?）

『I honestly don’t know.』

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