Translator: yAmi
"Deploy technique — imaginary space storage, connected. Armament summoning, selecting... main armament—"
Vast amounts of magic gushed out from within the body. Whatever she was saying was incomprehensible.
Based on the above factors, the members of the adventuring party, Scarlet Shield, guessed that the enemy, who called himself Fem, was going to use a magical attack as her first move.
Therefore, their response was to defend. Cedric, the tank of the party, will stop the attack, then Gerald will lead the counterattack, while Gotsch follows up with more. Ninon would prepare some magic, either offensive, defensive or restorative. Depending on the situation, the course of action between Gerald and Gotsch might be reversed. But for now, the four of them decided this was their approach.
This was by no means a mistake entirely. It was true that whatever she was doing, she was using magical logic to activate, generate and create magical phenomena.
But what emerged was hundreds of years beyond their wildest dreams.
"Gatling Cannon!"
A lump of iron floated in the air. No, the material could not be as simple as iron. But to Gerald and his comrades, it was nothing more than an uncouth lump of metal that looked like iron.
"What the hell is that?
Cedric, who will surely be the first to suffer from it’s attacks, exclaimed in dismay.
The tip has evenly spaced holes reminiscent of a lotus root. A thick, rugged tube connected to it. Fem inserted her right arm up to her elbow into the base of the cannon, supporting it. In the slit at the middle of the base, was something like that bellows of an accordion to control the ups and downs of the weapon.
Incomprehensible and unintelligible. The adjectives came to mind when thinking about the weapon. It must be heavy. After all, it was a long mass of metal. Most enemies could be crushed in a single blow by it. But the shape was too uneven to be used as a blunt weapon.
Of course, she had no intentions to use it as a blunt weapon..
Naturally, she intended to use it as a firearm — although the concept of such a weapon had not existed in the minds of the people of this continent and this world until this moment.
"Please enjoy this feast…… Fire!"
With a shout, she pulled the trigger with her finger.
Immediately afterwards, a weapon which was supposed to be based on unknown science was activated using magic as a replacement.
The Vril generator started to rotate, providing magic power to the ammunition belt. As the magic reacted violently and created explosions, ammunition was fed into the cylinder. The gas pressure rose rapidly and forced the bullets out of the cylinder. Ah, let’s just omit the long explanation.
Below is a brief summary of what happened.
The steel beast roared and spat out a breath of hot iron.
"Whoaaaa!!!?"
Cedric yelled as he endured the series of impacts through his dragon scale shield. He had to yell out and provide his life force to the shield. If not, the great shield, representing the strength of dragon scales, would be useless in an instant. That was the intuition he got as he desperately held on.
His intuition was accurate. Even though Cedric went completely on the defensive, he was still being pushed backwards by the torrential rain of attacks on his shield.
However, he would not be able to endure the attacks indefinitely. The shield's defence was only possible by sapping the life from its bearer. If this situation continued for three minutes longer, Cedric would be killed, not by the enemy's attack, but by his own shield.
His comrades would not stand idly and watch.
"Take this!"
"It's a mysterious weapon, but I won't let you use it further!"
"O lord, please give this humble ones your blessings—"
Gerald and Gotsch leapt sideways from the shield for a counterattack, while Ninon recited a restorative prayer. If Cedric took care of the defence, the two remaining men were responsible for the attack. In the meantime, Ninon was responsible for healing whichever comrade as necessary.
This was their winning strategy that allowed them to bring down many monsters in the west and even legendary dragons to their knees.
In the face of this, Fem called out.
"Armament summoning, selecting... secondary armament—"
She calmly chose a new tactic.
"—hand cannon... fire!"
As before, she picked up a weapon seemingly from thin air, but unlike before, she used it immediately.
The roar of the new weapon silenced the gatling cannon.
To Gotsch's eyes, it looked as if Fem's left hand exploded.
And instantly, something collided with him.
"Guh ...!? "
Something struck him hard in the chest and he was blown backwards in the air. Something glittered in the wake of the path of his flight. It was the end result of the breastplate that Gotsch was equipped with. Fem’s new weapon destroyed it with a single hit.
On her left hand, she held a short tube made with thick steel plates, with a round hole at its end producing fumes. That must be the weapon that hit Gotsch.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
As his comrades were literally blown up behind him, Gerald roared and threw himself towards Fem. He focused just for the moment and ignored the fate of Gotsch. He could not afford to worry for him now. Their first priority was to defeat the enemy. It’s not like the enemy would spare you and pause further attacks while you saved your allies.
"Fear the almighty Lord! Let this be a warning to the wicked. Stigmata!"
In addition, Ninon finished her sacred prayers to bind the enemy. Even for a moment. If the enemy cannot move, Gerald could take them out. For a fight with a first-class warrior, the momentary pause was more than enough to be fatal. Crucifying stigmata appeared everywhere on Fem’s limbs.
"Naive."
It had no effect whatsoever and dissipated into particles of light.
"What? No way!
The magic, which was supposed to be highly effective in restraining magical beings, was nothing but handcuffs made of paper. Ninon let out a cry of confusion. It was true that the guardian, who called herself Fem, was of an unknown species. But she was unlikely to be human from the way she spoke. If the target was a monster or demonic in nature, sacred magic should be effective. Even if she were a human species or a sub-species, she would not have been able to break free in an instant.
The still unknown being turned her iron-made weapon that she had been pointing at Cedric, towards her now approaching opponent. The trigger was still pressed, which meant that gunfire was still spraying out. The barrage of bullets curved towards Gerald.
While Cedric was protected by a dragonscale shield, a top-notch piece of armour, Gerald had only plain armour. It's the best quality equipment one could hope for, but it was not as good as the treasures made from dragons. It was incapable of the violent explosions caused by iron, wind, lightning and fire.
But....
What if Gerald, like his dependable tank in the party, could protect himself with his dragon weapon?
"The naive one is—"
"!?"
"You!"
Gerald shouted, resisting the numbness in his arms.
Yes, his arms were going numb. He was numb because he was using it for defence. He did have a way of defending against Fem's mysterious barrage of attacks. He had it from the beginning. The dragon fang scimitar.
The dragon fang scimitar was supposed to be a weapon. By hiding the edge and pointing the blade towards the attack, it could be used as a temporary shield. Of course, it had to be fed with life force to strengthen its hardness. Both fangs and scales were part of a unique monster: a dragon. The dragon fang scimitar was not any weaker than the scaled shield.
But in the end, a weapon was a weapon. It was not a substitute for armour. It was just a temporary solution... but that temporary solution was enough. Unlike Cedric, who was ready from the outset to take on the attack, Gerald was running full speed on the ground. He just had to use that momentum and launch a strike on Fem. If he could maintain the durability of his weapon until then, it should still be alright.
"Absurd move!"
Fem's golden eyes flickered slightly as she commented.
In fact, Gerald's move was insane. Who in the world would dare to use the blade as a shield against a roaring machine gun? If the line of fire was just a few centimeters away from the blade, the defense would fail and his body would be torn apart like thin paper in a storm. In the first place, no matter how hard the weapon was, there should have been no way for the wielder to withstand the impact of the bullets. It would have been impossible to hold onto the weapon as it was being hit.
