Chapter 216

#216 Chapter The Tin Knight and the Singing Bones (4)

The Scarecrow spoke.

“First off, arriving at the Tower of Guardian ‘quietly’ is impossible. There might be survivors from this fight that we weren’t aware of, and even if there are none, a unit of this caliber must have a regular communication network.”

The Tower of Control would immediately grasp the situation and undoubtedly send pursuit.

So before that, she said we need to shake things up.

“Let’s spread the word far and wide. It would be best if it were done in a song-like manner. We can’t get into overly detailed descriptions, as that would be hard to convey and could tarnish the honor of the Friedel folks, so let’s keep it concise yet stimulating enough for people’s imaginations.”

Ordinary people who don’t know the situation will be full of curiosity, speculating what in the world is happening, and the upper class of the Tower who knows will turn their suspicious gazes toward the Tower of Control.

Control must focus on suppressing the commotion and clearing up the suspicions of the other towers, which will reduce their capacity for pursuit.

“Of course, even if we do this, completely controlling the opponent is still impossible. It depends on how competent the Tower of Control is, but in the end, it’s bound to come down to a test of strength.”

The enemy is one of the four heads of the Magical Kingdom.

Expecting such beings to be led around by our cunning plan is profoundly underestimating the world.

The role of the strategist is to set the stage and design the game.

It’s up to the remaining people to achieve results on that stage.

“I’ve made it as per the order, but don’t expect much in terms of completeness. After all, this is an alchemist’s specialty, not a necromancer’s domain.”

If one speaks of a necromancer, it’s usually about creating undead from corpses, but in reality, it’s rare for the undead to retain their form as they were in life.

That’s because it’s inherently difficult to find a corpse that’s perfectly intact from head to toe, buried in a grave.

Losing just an arm is already mild; at times, it seems easier to find what remains than what’s missing.

So, what to do about the missing parts? What else? We just fill them in with something else.

Head of Hans, body of Toms, arms of Johns, legs of Max, and if it still feels lacking, we fill in the gaps with magical power.

Thus, a necromancer must have the ability to process and reassemble the form of the corpse, and the skilled necromancer Dorothea had mastered that skill well.

And now, the resulting creation was properly attached to the wagon.

A long spine protruding through the center of the wagon, supported by arm bones extending from the ground like a tripod.

In front, a conical spearhead made from the strongest parts of animals and human bodies, with teeth as the primary material (the Tin Knight referred to it as a drill).

In the back, a propeller made of bat wings and membranes.

From a distance, it might have looked fine, but up close, that horrific visual would make anyone flee in terror or rush in, sword drawn, saying, “You wicked necromancer! You’ve finally shown your true colors!” But the Tin Knight was overjoyed.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ proclaims this is more than enough!]

Just like in the earlier battle with the West Witch, the Tin Knight grasped a long rod with both hands.

In fact, linking the drill and propeller on the same rotational axis wouldn’t be considered a rational design.

If the drill were to touch something and slow down, the rotation that should provide thrust would weaken too.

However, in this world, there is a force called magical power that overturns such inefficiencies.

And the Tin Knight was more adept than anyone at handling this magical power.

Swoosh.

The magical energy extending from the Tin Knight seeped into every corner of the drill propeller, reinforcing its lacking strength.

With the application of Sword Mastery, powerful magic tightened around the central axis like a vice, causing fierce rotation to commence.

Whoosh!

A violent wind surged, generating a sandstorm behind as the wagon began to gallop with terrifying momentum.

Creak creak, the wagon started to scream.

Even the high-end wagon, far superior in durability to an ordinary wagon, couldn’t withstand such reckless driving and produced ominous sounds.

However, the effect was clear.

At first, I couldn’t feel it, but soon the salty sea air hit my nose, and the coastline that had been invisible now came into view.

“Enemies ahead! At least over three hundred! They’re multiplying!”

Adelheid, who was up on the roof of the wagon with Rapunzel’s hair tied around her waist, shouted continuously.

“Incoming attacks!!”

Flames, frost, wind.

Dozens of attack spells filled the sky with a riot of colors.

Due to the dazzling speed of movement, only a portion of those spells met their mark, but even just that was enough to obliterate the wagon if they hit.

“──.”

Adel composed herself.

Magical energy flowed between her feet on the roof, stabilizing her body like glue.

As a massive fireball with a two-meter radius barreled toward her, she swung her sword.

Whoosh!

Not the blade itself, but the pressure created by the sword tore through the fire.

Adel’s physical abilities had reached the level of a champion thanks to countless training sessions.

The ice chunk exploded upon contact with the sword tip, and the wind blades shattered under the powerful strike.

However, the enemies were no pushovers either.

Realizing that their attacks directly aimed at the wagon were ineffective, they swiftly changed their strategy.

Boom boom boom!

Vibrations echoed from all directions, and the ground itself began to rise up like walls.

As if to block every route the wagon could take to the coastline, walls kept piling up.

“How annoying,”

Dorothea muttered, exasperated.

Blocking one properly maintained road is one thing, but entirely changing the terrain of a coastline is magic only a tower like that could achieve.

Even that amount of force was merely a fraction of the power the Tower of Control possessed.

As Dorothea once again acknowledged what she was facing, she pushed strength into her lower abdomen and shouted.

“If the wagon stops and those guys leisurely get to attack, it’s game over! We have to keep moving somehow!”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ claims that the original drill can even pierce the sky, so insignificant obstacles are no walls!]

***

“What are those things?”

In the rear of the battlefield, Skoll muttered in disbelief from the makeshift command center.

Setting everything else aside, the fact that enemies, who she thought would take at least 20 minutes to reach the coastline, appeared in just 5 minutes was shocking enough.

Thanks to Harty’s familiar spotting them just in time, or else they would have had to hastily set up a defensive line right after realizing the enemy was right in front of them.

In that sense, one could say the heavens were on Skoll and Harty’s side, but the problem was there was little faith they could actually halt the enemy’s charge.

Due to their frenzied charge, over 90% of the attack spells went astray, with only a few managing to hit, and even those were fended off by the little knight atop the wagon.

Skoll, irritated, ordered.

“Stop wasting time with inaccurate attack spells and block the way with walls. Right now!”

“Yes!”

The orders spread quickly, and the ground around began to undergo upheaval.

Some were pulling at the ground to make it bulge, others were outright raising walls with magical power.

It was a haphazard display of the diverse styles unique to the Tower of Control, but Skoll didn’t care about that.

‘Whether they go around or try a U-turn, the wagon’s speed is bound to slow down. That’s when we blast it to smithereens with concentrated fire.”

Initially, she had considered capturing them to interrogate about their purpose or fellow comrades, but after witnessing their capabilities, her mind shifted.

The sense of urgency sprung up in her that if she didn’t handle it adequately, they might slip away.

Harty seemed to share similar feelings.

“…It’s too bad the surrounding terrain is solid. If the ground were softer, I could’ve used water magic to create a muddy pit to force the wagon to stop.”

“We have to abandon what’s not working. It’s better to subdue them than miss out.”

“True.”

The siblings raised their magical powers simultaneously.

So they could unleash attacks the moment the wagon hesitated.

The wagon drew closer to the walls.

The wagon drew closer to the walls.

The wagon drew closer—

-Why aren’t they stopping?

The moment doubt crossed their minds.

The runaway wagon smashed right into the wall ahead.

One after another.

“What, what is that?! What’s happening?!”

As Skoll yelled in panic, the wagon’s charge didn’t cease.

Had they faced a colossal, thick wall, they wouldn’t have been so effortlessly broken through, but the magical walls the sorcerers laid down were stacked like a barricade, dozens deep.

Before the Tin Knight’s drill, they were torn apart like tissue paper. The speed barely diminished.

“…This won’t do.”

After muttering that with a serious face, Harty was sent soaring by the wind.

Having been caught by his familiar, he swiftly approached the wagon, expending a vast amount of magical power to cast a spell.

Boom!

Under the clear, blue sky, a hurricane suddenly erupted without warning.

As Skoll joined in late with a new spell, ice blades mixed into the swirling storm and continued to whirl forward.

“Wh-what?!”

“S-Skoll, help— cough!”

Sorcerers caught in the hurricane were sucked toward its center, turning into a puddle of blood.

For the two of them, giving their allies time to flee would mean losing the wagon as well, so it was a necessary evil.

And for those caught in it, such considerations were irrelevant.

The girl who had been fending off various attacks on the wagon’s roof figured she couldn’t do anything about this and wore a tense expression.

She crouched slightly before disappearing inside the wagon.

Seeing this futile action, Skoll snickered.

If a normal gust of wind was the opponent, hiding inside the wagon might work, but the attack spells unleashed by two 4th-grade wizards were powerful enough to turn the wagon and its contents to dust.

They remained unaware that the Black Witch inside the wagon placed her hand on the Tin Knight’s back.

Just then, sharp, thread-like magical energy began to shoot out from the drill at the front of the wagon.

Initially slashing wildly around, the blades soon began to surround the entire wagon as they spun.

Where previously only the tip of the wagon was a drill, now it looked like the whole wagon morphed into one.

Finally, the drill and hurricane clashed.

As expected, the hurricane was pierced through.

The siblings’ faces twisted in rage and shock.

“Ugh!”

“Wha-what is this…!”

They drew upon their magical power to fight back, but even that couldn’t stop the momentum of the wagon.

They could only hold it for a mere three seconds before they were propelled backward, spitting blood.

The remaining sorcerers each tried to unleash their magic to stop the wagon, but the wagon smoothly shook off any interference and reached the coastline.

Skoll shouted without bothering to wipe away the blood flowing down her face.

“Stop it! No way can they cross the sea while towing that wagon!”

Whether they’d swim with their bare bodies or borrow the scarce flying magic, they were sure the group would disembark from the wagon, and that would be their chance, so she urged her subordinates.

However, that breeze would not come to be.

The wagon, which had been running, suddenly vanished into thin air, as if leaping into the void.

In its place, a raft appeared on the sea, seemingly out of nowhere.

A knight in heavy metal armor took position at the center of the raft, holding onto the very drill and propeller that had just been detached from the wagon.

The blonde girl, who had been swinging her sword atop the wagon, landed beside the knight, this time holding two different women in her arms.

After placing the two women onto the raft, she turned her gaze, still clutching the enormous cone, to the ground below.

The silver hair of Skoll and Harty was clearly reflected in her violet eyes.

The giant drill soared through the air.

As the instinct of her familiar alerted her to their owner’s crisis, they tried to block that heavy mass with their bodies, but it was a futile effort.

Crunch, the sound of bones and flesh being smashed.

In the horrifying scene where the most noble bloodline of the Tower of Control was crushed like little insects, the other sorcerers froze in place, unable to utter a word or move at all.

The propeller in the knight’s hand began to spin once more, as the raft moved forward, and none among the sorcerers could react.

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