“W-what is that giant karakuri..?”
General Tokuyama Ietaka, who remained aboard the magical airship, was astonished by the giant humanoid karakuri that suddenly appeared below him.
“I had heard that a man who was exiled from the Hiraga Research Institute was lending his powers… but I never imagined he’d built something like that on such a remote island…”
Ietaka was stunned. Even the Hiraga Research Institute couldn’t possibly have created such a gigantic humanoid weapon.
When the Karakuri Giant swung its sword, a violent air current exploded outward. The bullets of condensed magic it fired from its gun struck the sea, sending up towering pillars of water and drenching the area in a torrential downpour.
“W–what a monster is this…? How could mere flesh and blood possibly stand against such a thing? No matter how mighty western warriors may be, surely they can do nothing against it…! After all, even the strongest ant cannot defeat an elephant…”
As Ietaka despaired before the overwhelming might of the Karakuri Giant—
『Mana charge: Complete. Target Locking: Complete. ―Preparing to fire.』
Suddenly, an artificial voice echoed from somewhere.
“What was that voice just now…?”
『Mana cannon, fire.』
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!
“~~~~~!?”
A cannonball made of magic was fired, its power enhanced by compressing it to the limit.
★★★
The airship fired a magic cannon at the Karakuri Giant.
“I thought something like this might happen, so I made it remotely controllable.”
The magic cannon’s target is the cockpit… just below it, at the female demon being held captive as the power source. Of course, she’s protected by tough armor, but a cannonball made of magic condensed to its limits should be able to penetrate it.
“W-wai- waiiiiit aaaaa…”
The female demon screamed and pleaded, but there was no way to stop the magic cannon once it was fired. The magic easily pierced her armor and burned her.
“Is she dead?”
“She was an unfortunate girl until the very end…”
While Fana and Anje felt a little sympathy for the female demon, Ittosai was the one who was shocked.
“I-impossible! H-how could it beeee!? The power source was destroyed!? What on earth have you done!? For a moment, it looked like something was falling from the sky…”
The magical airship was floating in stealth mode, so to him, it must have looked like a magical laser was suddenly raining down from the sky.
With its power gone and rendered inoperable, the Karakuri Giant was nothing more than a giant piece of junk.
Even so, Ittosai frantically moved the control stick and pressed various buttons, but—
“Hey, uncle, hey uncle~, how do you expect it to move without a power source?”
“~~~~!? Y–you! Where did you come from!?”
Ittosai’s eyes bulged as he screamed—because right there, inside the cockpit, a cute little child had appeared out of nowhere.
“Hmm? Through that hole over there.”
“There’s a hole in the armor!? Wh–when did that happen!?”
“While you were panicking, I just shaved a bit off with magic. It was thinner than I expected though. You should probably make it thicker next time—so people can’t sneak in so easily.”
“This cockpit is reinforced with mithril! There’s no way you could have broken through so easily!”
“Mithril? Oh, come on, at least use adamantite. The cockpit’s your biggest weak point, after all. Actually, if you really wanted to be smart, you should’ve hidden its location from the outside. Same goes for the power source, too.”
He even made it so the cockpit was plainly visible from the outside, so lining up a shot was simple. Then again, even if it hadn’t been visible, I could’ve located it in an instant by sensing the magic.
“How dare a brat nitpick me—! Agh—!?”
Enraged, Ittosai lunged forward, but the I made a solid blow to his gut with Lindwurm and sent him sprawling.
“D—damn it… W-what are you, exactly…?”
“Just a perfectly ordinary baby.”
“There’s no way that you are a baby—!!”
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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