Ch.950Everyone Here Is Crazy.

The dwarf-style mechanical armor that Perne appeared in.

While the craftsmanship was somewhat crude, befitting armor made by Asha alone, its performance was comparable to mechanical armors from the Republic of Himmel mainland.

Clang! Clang!

Perne rotated the wheels attached beneath the mechanical armor’s feet, sliding backward while firing her revolver with her right hand.

An unstable posture in constant motion, wild shooting without even looking at the sight.

Yet, her experience and instincts as a Guardian transformed every bullet into a perfect shot.

“Summon spirits to defend! The power itself isn’t much!”

Judging by the situation, their ambush had clearly been discovered. There was nothing left to hide.

Liberatia ordered her subordinates to summon high spirits without hesitation, then charged toward Perne while nocking three arrows and releasing them.

A series of metallic bursts rang out. The bullets from Perne’s quickly reloaded revolver were canceled out by Liberatia’s arrows.

“Not bad shooting?”

“Don’t underestimate me. You think I’d fall to a mere pistol?”

Perne smirked. Liberatia crushed a spirit into her bowstring and shouted fiercely.

She claimed that while a dwarf’s heavy weapon with overwhelming firepower might be a threat, no Guardian would fall to such a small firearm that could be held in one hand.

“I suppose you’re right.”

It was the truth. Even Perne readily agreed.

“Well, this is just a toy anyway.”

However, Perne’s arsenal didn’t end with just one revolver.

The revolver wasn’t even meant to be used as a weapon. She had merely tried it out because Asha had given it to her as a gift.

“This is the real thing.”

Perne holstered the revolver and aimed the mechanical armor’s left arm at Liberatia with a smile.

– Click, creak, screech…!

Several gears inside the outer armor meshed together in a new configuration, then the sides of the armor’s forearm opened wide, releasing steam.

And through the white vapor covering the entire arm, gradually revealing—

“…A bow? No, a crossbow?”

The shape of a crossbow with the forearm as its stock.

The metal plates that opened to the sides formed a semicircular arc as the bow limbs, with a bowstring the same color as Perne’s hair stretched between them.

– Whoosh!

Finally, a square metal box-like object suddenly rose from the middle of the forearm and fixed firmly between the bowstring and bow limbs.

“A bow or crossbow, yes.”

Perne nodded, confirming Liberatia’s guess.

Even if she had lost the World Tree’s blessing, even if she hated her own kind, the truth remained that she was still a fairy.

Despite wearing mechanical armor at the cutting edge of technology, her weapon of choice still took the form of a bow that drew and released a string.

“…Ha, what a hideous attachment. No matter how resentful you are about losing the blessing, what meaning is there in a bow that can’t even hold spirit power!”

Liberatia shouted as she drew her bowstring and aimed a lightning spirit arrow.

What farce was this, stubbornly clinging to the form of a bow when she couldn’t even shoot spirit arrows? It was laughable that someone who had already surrendered to dwarf technology would harbor such an ugly attachment.

Of course, this was a grave misunderstanding.

“I wouldn’t take the blessing of firewood even if offered.”

Perne casually deflected her mockery with blasphemy no fairy would ever utter, while supporting her mechanical crossbow with her right hand under her left arm to aim.

“What, fire-firewood?! You should at least be dignified in your madness, Perneisia! You’ve gone completely insane!”

Liberatia couldn’t hide her shock at these words.

For a fairy to dare call the World Tree “firewood” was blasphemy equivalent to a human saint calling her goddess a prostitute.

“You’re all alike. Worshipping a mere tree as a god has filled your heads with compost.”

“Perneisia!”

Liberatia released her bowstring with a roar.

– Crackle!

Blue lightning discharged from the string with an electric sound.

Lightning spirits were particularly effective against armored opponents. This wasn’t power that could be countered with ordinary arrows, only another spirit arrow might match it.

“I have arrows too, you know? Not spirits, but still.”

Perne looked at the metal box that had emerged above the mechanical crossbow as she pulled the trigger located below her wrist.

– Whirrrr!

Inside were neatly stacked translucent green gems.

Ophelia had called them mana stones. Those were Perne’s arrows. Or more precisely, what was contained within those stones.

“Watch.”

The next moment, one of the mana stones shattered, releasing something hazy contained inside.

– Screeeech!

A gray ethereal form swirling with a ghastly wail.

It compressed into the mechanical crossbow’s groove like an arrow, then was propelled by the released string, shooting forward like a flash of light.

– Crackle!

– Screeeech!

The lightning and ethereal form collided in mid-air, tearing through each other in a violent explosion.

Blue sparks flew in all directions while fragments of the ruptured ethereal form wailed their death throes before slowly evaporating.

“What the…! What is that now?!”

Liberatia exclaimed with wide eyes. Though clearly not a spirit arrow, it functioned almost identically.

The wailing sound was so chilling that it couldn’t possibly be considered a normal means of attack.

To put it bluntly, it looked like she had captured a dead person’s soul, twisted it into the form of an arrow, and shot it.

“Could it be necromancy? This is absurd. A necromancer who manipulates souls hiding under a woman hailed as a saint!”

This was rich coming from a fairy who manipulated souls in a way twice as vicious to turn them into spirits.

However, Liberatia believed spirits were merely tools created by the World Tree condensing natural forces.

It was only natural for her to be shocked by Perne’s actions, which appeared to be using souls themselves as consumables.

“Well, it is necromancy, but… they said it doesn’t use souls? What did they call it, mana spirits?”

Perne revealed the identity of her arrows with a face that suggested Liberatia was nitpicking.

“Mana spirits…?”

“That’s right. Mana spirits. They said it’s not turning souls into mana, but creating souls from mana. I don’t really understand the principle…”

Perne paused her explanation and retreated further back, firing another mana spirit arrow at a high spirit summoned by another Guardian.

“Well, what does the principle matter? As long as it shoots well.”

The hazy arrow that wailed as it extended collided with a fiery alligator spirit, blowing off its head.

“See? It works pretty well.”

Perne grinned. Her left arm was loaded with many mana stones.

Ophelia, who had gained dragon-level mana, had been converting her own mana into soul entities and storing them whenever she had time.

“Insane… both you and that mage are completely insane. This place is a den of lunatics!”

Liberatia charged toward Perne, shuddering at the nonsensical idea of creating souls from mana.

‘The ambush has already been discovered. The palace side must have started moving too. What is that crazy mage doing? Heading to the palace? Or preparing a counterattack from behind?’

She was trying to figure out how to successfully complete the increasingly complicated ambush operation.

‘Giving the mage time is dangerous. I can’t be held up here. In that case…!’

Having reached a conclusion, Liberatia neutralized Perne’s mana spirit arrows with two spirit arrows of her own and shouted to her subordinates.

“I’ll handle her! The rest of you, kill the mage!”

A basic diversion tactic.

Since she couldn’t tell how long it would take to defeat Perne with her bizarre methods, she planned to keep Perne occupied alone while the others eliminated the human archmage.

“……”

The four mass-produced Guardians nodded silently, ceased their attacks, and sprinted toward the corridor beyond where Perneisia stood guard.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Perne aimed her crossbow loaded with mana spirit arrows at them, trying to stop them in their tracks, but…

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I’ll handle you myself!”

Liberatia, who had charged forward while neutralizing each other’s arrows, finally reached Perne’s vicinity and drew the thin sword at her waist to strike at her.

“Have it your way then!”

At a distance where a sword had the advantage over a bow, Perne swung her right hand toward Liberatia’s thin sword instead of firing her crossbow.

– Click, whirrrr!

The right forearm of the mechanical armor opened, and a blade resembling a mantis’s foreleg sprang out.

A blade vibrating as violently as a homeless person in midwinter.

The dragon-scale curved blade that Asha had attached for close combat clashed with Liberatia’s thin sword, producing a sharp metallic sound.

—-

How did Liberatia’s improvised diversion tactic turn out?

“Kuh… huk…!”

Right in front of Ophelia’s laboratory, in the deliberately emptied space, a man’s groan provided the answer.

“Guardians aren’t much after all.”

A red-haired mage standing with folded arms in front of the laboratory lit a long mana herb and inhaled the smoke while sneering.

“Or perhaps you’re particularly weak?”

She looked down at three Guardians being devoured by a swarm of something resembling insects, with a gaze containing obvious contempt and a hint of interest.

There should have been four Guardians attempting the attack, so why were there only three?

The last one disappeared while running down the corridor without anyone noticing. Not by choice, but by force.

“…To think I’d end up killing Guardians in my lifetime.”

The half-dark half-fairy hiding in the corridor’s darkness couldn’t be detected even by fairy senses.

The special mana spirits Ophelia had made for her didn’t wail, making them perfect for ambushes.