Chapter 37

The Demon Realm, commonly known as the Great Forest, exists between the border of the Empire and the Kingdom.

This place, with an environment akin to a jungle, was a treacherous land where monsters naturally swarmed in tremendous numbers, making it absolutely uninhabitable for humans.

No, it wasn’t just that. Every so often, there would even be incidents where monsters poured out of the Great Forest.

And right now was precisely one of those times when the monsters were pouring out, which is why both nations had stationed their armies surrounding the Great Forest.

After all, no matter how bad relations between the two nations were, they couldn’t afford to put pride above survival during such crises.

In fact, with the combined strength of the two nations, no matter how many monsters came rushing in, they could easily repel them.

Because of this, even the soldiers at the front lines from both the Empire and the Kingdom had somewhat relaxed their guard, yawning away.

“Hmm, looks like the monsters won’t be jumping out of the forest today.”

“Of course not. We’ve killed so many monsters in the past week. If they have any learning ability, they should know better than to recklessly come out of the forest.”

“Haha, good point.”

Thus, the soldiers from both nations enjoyed a rare moment of leisure, chatting casually.

And the most frequently discussed topic among the soldiers? Why, anime, of course.

“Hey, did you watch Episode 15 of ‘Knight Shin Chronicle’ that we lent you?”

“Yeah, damn it. Thanks to that, I didn’t get any sleep last night. How am I supposed to sleep when Luke, the new Knight Shin pilot, dies like that?”

“We Empire folks experienced that long ago. So don’t complain too much.”

“Damn. If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have started watching ‘Knight Shin Chronicle’ in the first place.”

“Really?”

“Nope.”

Originally, the relationship between the soldiers of the two nations wasn’t this harmonious.

Rather, whenever they met, they used to exchange insults before anything else.

But over time, while fighting monsters together and crossing life-and-death situations, they came to recognize each other.

Decisively, when the Empire’s soldiers lent artifacts containing episodes of ‘Knight Shin Chronicle’ to the Kingdom’s soldiers, their relationship improved rapidly.

“So, when can we borrow Episode 16?”

“Sorry, but no can do.”

“Why?”

“Well, because we don’t have it. Artifacts containing ‘Knight Shin Chronicle’ are insanely expensive. Even Episodes 1 through 15 cost us our whole month’s salary.”

“…Damn.”

When the Kingdom soldier made a face as if the sky had fallen, the Empire soldiers couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Looks like our friend is really bummed about not being able to watch more ‘Knight Shin Chronicle,’ huh?”

“Yeah, yeah. Maybe we should tell you what happens in Episode 16? You’ll know the plot twists without even watching the anime—how great is that?”

“…Shut up. Seriously.”

“Wow, our friend is really pissed off, isn’t he?”

“Maybe we’ll get punched if we keep this up. This is scary.”

Though their words were harsh, at that very moment, a somewhat warm atmosphere was brewing between the soldiers of the two nations.

– Roarrrr!

“S, s-sudden attack!”

“The monsters are charging in!”

After a few quiet days, the monsters once again began emerging from outside the Great Forest.

Well, monster attacks were practically everyday occurrences in the Great Forest, so it wasn’t particularly surprising.

However…

“…Why are there so many?”

“Are all the monsters inside that forest coming out?”

Until just now, monster attacks usually involved a few hundred creatures at most.

But the number of monsters visible now clearly exceeded several thousand, even with the lowest estimate.

“This… Is something terrible happening?”

“Maybe we might die today.”

As the soldiers stood frozen, staring at the approaching horde of monsters, suddenly…

[Growl!]

A fierce roar, reminiscent of a savage beast, echoed across the battlefield.

It was so loud that even the monsters, who had been charging madly toward the soldiers, momentarily halted their advance.

And that roar was something familiar to most soldiers present—it was the same sound they’d heard last night through the artifact.

“This is…”

“No way?”

But surely, it was only a fictional entity within the story; there was no way “it” actually existed in reality, right?

Still…

BOOM!

At the next instant, everyone trembled as they saw the shape of something falling from the sky, flattening all the monsters in its vicinity.

“My god, what is THAT?!”

“It’s Knight Shin, Knight Shin!”

“No way! Isn’t Knight Shin only supposed to exist in ‘Knight Shin Chronicle’?”

Indeed, the giant mech that had fallen from the sky and crushed every nearby monster was none other than the Knight Shin Unit 0.

– Grgrgr…

– Keeeek!

The monsters, seeing the steel giant that had just wiped out dozens of their kin in an instant, became wary.

Taking advantage of the brief hesitation, someone inside the Knight Shin spoke to the soldiers.

“I will take care of this situation. Please retreat to the rear!”

“What, that voice?”

“Is… Is it Her Highness the Empress?”

The soldiers involuntarily widened their eyes upon hearing the Empress’s voice coming from inside the Knight Shin.

But only for a moment.

“Her Highness! The Empress has boarded the Knight Shin!”

“Her Highness has declared she will exterminate the monsters!”

“Long live the Emperor! Long live Her Highness!”

Realizing who had arrived, the soldiers erupted into cheers.

To the common soldier, royalty was akin to celestial beings existing beyond the clouds.

So when such a noble figure as the Empress came all the way to the frontier to fight the monsters on their behalf, how could they not cheer?

Meanwhile, Karlreya observed the cheering soldiers via a secret communication line, whispering softly.

“…Please, Director.”

“You can count on me, Miss Karlreya.”

High above, Ragnar and his mentor Aries hovered invisibly, cloaked by magic.

Indeed, the Knight Shin wasn’t being piloted by Karlreya inside but remotely controlled by Ragnar outside using magical energy, functioning more like a marionette.

‘I’m originally a liberal arts person. How am I supposed to make a giant robot?’

Well, as long as someone was technically ‘piloting’ the Knight Shin, it was acceptable, right?

“Are you ready, Master?”

“Whenever you’re ready, my student. I’ll fully synchronize with your movements.”

Thus, Ragnar and Aries, floating high above, immediately initiated action against the monsters.

– KYAAAAAA!

Meanwhile, the monsters, having recovered from the initial shock of seeing the Knight Shin, resumed their charge.

Seeing their movement, Ragnar snapped his fingers.

“Field deployment.”

Whoosh!

Instantly, a powerful octagonal barrier formed in front of the Knight Shin.

And…

Boom!

Unsurprisingly, the monsters’ attacks couldn’t even scratch the barrier. In fact, the bodies of those who foolishly struck it shattered instantly.

“Indeed… The power is undeniable.”

Ragnar nodded upon witnessing this.

The essence of the field was nothing but the mental wall inherent in all humans.

Thus, brute physical force alone couldn’t break through the field.

The only solution was to counter it with another field, neutralizing the space.

“My student, what exactly are you talking about? All you did was cast a simple barrier spell, right?”

“…Let’s just say it’s part of the setting, Master.”

Sometimes, it’s polite to let things slide.

Clearly, the Master doesn’t understand the dream of men—

Ragnar inwardly sighed.

Anyway, since the enemy’s attack had been blocked, it was now their turn to strike back.

“Master, please.”

“Alright.”

WHOOSH!

In the next moment, flames surged beneath Aries, quickly enveloping her entire body.

This was one of Aries’ unique magics, temporarily amplifying the power of thermal spells by wrapping herself in fire.

Simultaneously, Ragnar channeled magical energy, applying a spell that made the Knight Shin’s fist dozens of times stronger than steel.

And in the next instant, as the Knight Shin raised its fist and slammed it into the ground…

“Super Fusion Explosion.”

KREEEEEEEEEEE!

Aries also unleashed her most destructive thermal spell from above—

BOOOOM!

With a massive surge of flames, the earth melted.

As the Knight Shin’s fist struck the ground, superheated energy swept everything around, consuming and incinerating everything that walked on two legs.

– KYAAAAAAA!

– Kreeeek!

Naturally, all the nearby monsters vanished without a trace.

A colossal crater formed where the Knight Shin’s fist struck, and the soldiers lost their voices as they stared at the hellish landscape bubbling with magma.

“Wh, wow. That’s impressive.”

“Indeed… Since this mech was created to repel outsiders, monsters must be nothing to it, huh?”

“Look at that. After unleashing an attack of such magnitude, the Knight Shin shows no damage. Clearly, that attack was no burden to it.”

Unfortunately, the previous attack was not entirely effortless for the Knight Shin.

More accurately, it placed a heavy burden on the pilot inside.

“Gaah, Director! It’s too hot! And I feel like I’m going to vomit! Can you control it more gently, please?”

But Ragnar ignored Karlreya’s transmission and sighed as he gazed at the devastation caused by the Knight Shin.

‘There are more monsters left than I thought. At this rate, it’ll take time to wipe them all out.’

The joint attack by Ragnar and Aries was truly devastating.

‘The God Blaze Cannon is strong enough to burn even a divine being.’

However, there was a problem: there were far too many monsters here.

The number of monsters killed by the previous attack accounted for roughly 10% of the total.

If we calculate simply, we would need to use that attack about ten times to clear all the monsters.

Even though Aries was a Great Mage, it was impossible for her to continuously unleash such powerful spells ten times.

Which meant… If we continued like this, we might not achieve our goal of completely eradicating the monsters here.

“…There’s no other choice. We’ll have to use that.”

Upon hearing Ragnar’s muttering, Karlreya exclaimed in panic.

“Y-you’re not thinking of doing THAT, are you? No way. That thing makes me extremely nauseous. My stomach churns, and my head spins—”

“This is a noble sacrifice for humanity. Endure it.”

With that, Ragnar brushed aside Karlreya’s pleas and muttered softly.

“Initiating berserk mode.”