episode_0146

The first battle took place and the next day dawned.

The subjugation team climbed aboard the giant soldier, shaking off the fatigue and drowsiness that were persistently following them.

As I climbed into the cockpit, my relaxed vigilance became taut, as if I was pulling a string. Yesterday’s battle flashed back, and he naturally entered a state of tension.

[Today we enter the mountain. Unlike yesterday, an unexpected situation may occur, so everyone must remain alert.]

At Seraphina’s words, the tension of the subjugation crew aboard the Giant God Soldier increased.

Yesterday, a battle took place in an open area to deal with monsters that had come down to eat the humans camped at the foot of the mountain. The risk decreased as visibility increased, but today the situation was different.

Mountainous terrain with dense forests was today’s battle area. Unlike in open areas, the difficulty of the battle increased rapidly as visibility and space were limited.

The subjugation team swallowed their saliva and carefully entered the forest, leading the way.

– I’m in jail.

As I entered the beginning of the mountain, I heard birdsong. No, it wasn’t exactly a bird song. The flying monsters were glaring at the intruders who entered their territory with their red eyes raised.

However, they did not carelessly rush into the large giant soldier. Although they were larger than regular birds, they were not large enough to attack a giant god soldier.

[What is so girly?]

[Just shut up and go]

The two members in charge of the advance guard kept their personal communication magic channel open and advanced, chopping down the trees blocking their path. Perhaps due to the warm climate, every time I took a step I had to swing my iron sword to cut down a tree.

After moving forward for about 5 minutes, something caught their eye.

[Multiple hordes of monsters found ahead!]

[Ready for battle!]

As soon as the public magic channel announced that the monster had been discovered, members of the mobile strike force who had been assigned the mission rushed forward, leading the giant soldiers.

The advance strike force, made up of light-equipped giant soldiers, quickly took out the medium-sized monsters that had not yet discovered them and returned to their original position.

I guess the actual battle I experienced yesterday was helpful, as was my quick judgment and ability to act without any unnecessary details. There was no flaw, even down to the fact that he had saved his life by piercing his lungs to prevent any sound from escaping.

After that, the punitive force encountered a group of medium-sized monsters and a few large monsters traveling alone.

The result was no different from when I encountered my first group of medium-sized monsters. The talents of the subjugation team members who had experienced actual combat began to bloom, and they performed their duties brilliantly.

Seraphina also thought that she would be able to finish this monster subjugation battle without any problems, as she saw the subjugation team members starting to work organically.

The cadets adapted faster than Serafina expected. There were quite a few cases where the body stiffened during the first battle and many people were injured or could not overcome the tension of the battle.

On the other hand, the subjugation crews were more skillful in subjugating monsters after their first battle. Just by looking at this, you can see how wonderfully they have grown.

She was satisfied with the growth of the subjugation team and continued subduing monsters.

Meanwhile, Gilbert felt something strange about the smooth progress of the subjugation. I couldn’t pinpoint it, but I had an ominous feeling. Even in previous worlds, whenever he felt this way before participating in a battlefield, he experienced something bad, so he had no intention of ignoring this intuition.

“Brynhild.”

[say. I’m listening.]

“I have something to ask. Is there any reaction from your sixth sense?”

Brynhild, who inherited the blood of his ancestor Sigurd, possessed a sixth sense as a characteristic skill. The sixth sense, which had developed to the point where it developed into a characteristic skill, was so accurate that it could not be overstated to say that it was a prediction of the future.

[I was thinking about reporting it even if I didn’t have to.. Your sixth sense gives you a lot of information, but you shouldn’t blindly trust it.]

“I see.”

As Brynhild said, sixth sense is information that cannot be blindly trusted.

Even future prognosis was the ability to observe one of countless timelines of an uncertain future. When a variable intervenes, the sensitive timeline is often distorted and replaced with another timeline.

But that doesn’t mean it’s useless to anyone.

In particular, Brynhild’s sixth sense was very versatile, so he was able to receive help in all areas.

When pioneering an unknown place like now, her sixth sense was superior to any other skill. Gilbert knew that better than anyone else, so he trusted her sixth sense.

[not good. It’s sending a warning to the point where everything in front of your eyes looks red.]

“Okay.”

After terminating communication, Gilbert looked at the mini-map linked to CT-777. Although most of the area appeared black as they had not searched the area, the area they passed by was steadily revealed.

“CT. Set the alertness to the highest level.”

[Setup complete. [We will try to increase the search range.] CT-777 carried out Gilbert’s orders and at the same time increased the range of search magic, which previously only searched the surrounding area. Magical energy passed quickly through the surroundings.

[warning. Captured multiple monster reactions.]

[Confirmation of unique entities among monsters.]

[Start analysis of unique object.]

[Special object analysis completed. Start cross-validation with registered sample.]

[Verification completed. It was determined that the unusual entity was exposed to demonic energy.]”Magic energy?”

A unique entity exposed to demonic energy?

Gilbert’s face hardened at the results of CT-777’s analysis.

Even in Tactical Combat, monsters exposed to magical energy occasionally appeared.

Long ago, the last demon king scattered the magic energy upon his death, polluting the earth. The place where he died was so polluted that it was called the Demon World of Middle Earth, and the demonic energy that had spread to the entire continent did not disappear even after a long time, but seeped into the ground. The reason why demons still appear even after the demon king is gone is because of the demonic energy that permeated the earth.

But this was not Mt. Njord.

Even in the game and now in reality, there was no mention of Mount Njord being polluted by demonic energy. There were unusually many monsters living there, but that was it.

Starting from Mt. Njord, there were no traces of demonic contamination in the Skadi Mountains, and there were no reports of demons appearing.

So, there was only one possibility I could think of here.

Gilbert hastily established communication with Seraphina.

“Commander.”

[Commander Gilbert, what’s going on?]

“As a result of extensive search, a unique entity was found among monsters.”

[Special object?]

“It is judged to be a monster.”

[….]

Seraphina’s face hardened just like Gilbert’s when he heard his report. I didn’t say it didn’t make sense.

She knew that Gilbert’s artificial spirit was superior to the next generation artificial spirit. It was probably Gilbert’s high-performance artificial spirit that used the wide-range search magic, so there was a high possibility that the monster’s appearance was true.

Seraphina’s worries did not last long.

In a place like this, a commander’s quick judgment could increase the chances of a unit member’s survival.

[Notify all unit members! Perform a wide-ranging search spell and hold your ground! A monster has appeared!]

Seraphina’s words announcing the appearance of the monster caused the suppression team to become noisy.

They had learned enough about how dangerous monsters were through academy education. The general situation was that it was close to impossible to deal with monsters that boasted strength that was dozens of times stronger than that of ordinary monsters, unless you were a skilled knight.

To put it mildly, the monsters were not something that ordinary cadets could deal with, to the extent that there was a unit within the empire that regularly subdued contaminated areas. The subjugation crew swallowed dry saliva and grabbed the control stick.

How much time has passed?

Their general-purpose artificial spirit’s search magic detected a huge creature.

– Boom boom

Even though there was still quite a distance away, a heavy, earth-shattering noise could be heard from all directions. At first glance, it sounded like the footsteps of a large monster, but it sounded even heavier than that.

Maybe it was because Seraphina announced that a monster had appeared.

[warning! Many creatures with magical energy have been detected.]

[Sigh! It’s a real Magi!]

[driving me crazy!]

When the artificial spirit that detected the demon energy sent a warning, the subjugation team could not stand it any longer and started swearing. Those who appeared after felling a large tree had black skin and red eyes, and began to scream.

-Keee!

[come! Don’t think that monsters are the same as the monsters you’ve faced so far!]

At the same time as Seraphina shouted, the monsters that found their prey began to attack.

– Quaaaang!

The giant god soldier’s magic armament poured down like a torrent of rain on the charging group of monsters. Multiple fireballs were rained down to block the advance, and the Explosion, which had the most firepower among the general-purpose giant god soldiers’ magic weapons, sporadically hit the monster horde directly.

A fire net was constructed in an instant, causing devastation centered on the subjugation team, and dust obscured the view.

[Did you get rid of it?!]

Gilbert clicked his tongue and raised his iron sword at the magic words heard through the common magic channel.

– Keee!

He cut off the head of the monster that broke through the dust in one fell swoop and shouted resolutely.

[Monsters do not die easily. Don’t let go of your tension until you are sure you are dead!]

Gilbert left those words and rushed forward.

Since the opponent was a monster, if he didn’t come to the forefront, there could be casualties.

A swarm of golden magic light began to embroider the dark mountain forest.