Huge. That was my first thought looking at it. The cricket-type I’d fought before was minivan-sized; this thing was the equivalent of four large buses.
At what passed for the head — the leading edge of the body — two almond-shaped lobes sat side by side; inside, what looked like orange-glowing cores.
The earlier cricket-type’s core had been baseball-sized. This one’s, scaled to the body, was basketball-sized. No chance of [Apport]-pulling that.
“How do we do this?”
Leen turned to me, looking for the call. Flee without fighting is on the table. Honestly — I owe this country nothing.
But — if that thing crosses the desert, crosses the Great Forest, makes Mismid? Or beyond — Belfast? Casualties everywhere. Including people we know.
“We go. Can’t leave this one.”
Stop it here.
Fortunately we’re in open desert. No collateral to worry about.
“How, though? If it’s got the same properties as before — magic gets absorbed, ridiculously hard. And this one’s flying.”
Elze’s right. Yae’s blade is mithril now, but how far that’ll go is unclear. And — how do we even hit a flying target?
“Indirect attacks. [Ice Rock] or [Rock Crush] hits.”
Linze and Yumina nodded at Leen’s plan. Smash it to the ground with those, and the three of us — me, Elze, Yae — go in direct on the body. That’s the only way.
“All right — go!”
I opened a [Gate] to the desert. Overhead, the crystal manta drifted slowly, reflecting sunlight as it moved.
Seeing it with my own eyes — the scale really lands. Being looked down at, the pressure is something else.
I drew Brünhild and fired. The rounds skittered off the manta’s body with metallic gakyun, gakyun.
“Standard rounds — useless.”
Extremely hard, plus a streamlined body that deflects the impact.
“Ice, come — great frozen mass — Ice Rock!”
Linze cast — a massive ice block formed above the manta and fell.
The ice slammed into the manta’s body — but against a floating object, the impact had little force, and the ice just kept on falling into the sand. Like pushing on a curtain. Like throwing pebbles at a styrofoam plate on water. No way to ground it like this.
The crystal manta slowly turned to face us. Between its two cores, light gathered. Bad feeling — no idea what but bad.
“Everyone — scatter!”
They reacted instantly and bolted. The next instant, a bolt of light fired from the manta and detonated where we’d been standing. A vast sand pillar shot up — explosive impact saying everything.
“You’re kidding me — getting hit by that and there’s nothing left…”
Takes a few seconds to charge — that’s the saving grace. That much I can dodge.
As if mocking that thought, the manta’s tail extended — the tip bent down under the belly. From the tip, something fired in machine-gun bursts at us.
“Kuh!?”
I dodged the projectiles, glanced at what hit the sand. Crystalline arrows — call them needle-shuriken? Either way, extremely dangerous.
I scanned for everyone — Linze was down, clutching her leg.
“Linze!”
“I’m okay. Grazed me, that’s all…”
She healed the wound with recovery magic, struggled to her feet — and the tail-tip swung toward her again. Bad!
“Accel!”
Elze used the ring-enchanted [Accel] to dash to her sister, raising the gauntlet on her left hand. Its enchanted wind effect deflected the rain of needles past the twin sisters.
“Touya-dono! [Gate] sessha above its head!”
”…! Got it!”
I hesitated half a beat, then opened a [Gate] at her feet and transferred her several meters above the manta.
“Hraaahhhh!!”
Yae brought the mithril katana down — bit into the manta’s back. Far from fatal damage, though.
She kicked off the back and disengaged. Hey hey — sand or no sand, falling from that height—!
“Touya-dono! Gate!”
Ah — got it!
I cast [Gate] in the air just beneath her, exit one meter above the ground beside me. She vanished into the floating [Gate] and landed lightly at my side. Phew.
“Don’t put me through that again…”
“Apologies, indeed.”
Even mithril-Yae barely scratched it. How do we damage this thing!?
Same as the cricket — break the core, presumably. But [Apport] is out, and there are two cores.
The tail-tip aimed at us again. Not again—!
“Wind, swirl — storm-rampart — Cyclone Wall!”
Yumina’s incantation wrapped a wind shield around me and Yae. The arrows hit it and were sucked up into the vortex, vanishing skyward. Saved.
But as the sand-storm dispersed, what came into view was the manta — already winding up another light bolt aimed our way.
“Tch — Accel!”
I scooped up Yae and bolted with acceleration. Behind us, the thunderclap of detonation. Close. That thing’s smarter than it looks.
“Stone, come — great-rock crusher — Rock Crush!”
Leen’s spell slammed a boulder onto the manta’s head — same as Linze before, little real damage.
At this rate it’s bad. No finishing move. Eventually we’ll get cornered. Someone’s going to get hurt… I felt cold sweat down my back.
“Tch — pull back with [Gate] for now…?”
“Hm? Looks like — Touya?”
“Eh?”
An out-of-place voice. I turned, still holding Yae.
There — in this scorching heat — a white-haired boy with a long white scarf.
“Endo…?”
“Hey.”
The monotone boy from the streets gave me a friendly wave. Why is Endo here? …How did he get here? There was no one anywhere a moment ago. Open desert in every direction. Anyone approaching would be visible.
“Long time. Sensed a Phrase — came to look — and here you are, Touya.”
“Endo… you know about the Phrase?”
“I do. Long story. — Surprised though. A Mid-tier on this side. The Barrier must really be at its limit.”
Mid-tier? Barrier? What does this boy know?
“Hang on a moment. Let me clean that up first.”
“Eh?”
Smiling, Endo walked toward the Phrase manta. Crystal needles rained at him — and the next instant, Endo simply vanished.
“Eh!?”
I scanned — Endo nowhere. Transparency magic? No — that only fools sight, doesn’t erase existence.
“There, indeed!”
In my arms, Yae pointed at the Phrase. On the floating manta’s back stood Endo. When — how!?
“Hup.”
Endo casually kicked the manta’s back. Raised right foot, brought down — a slow, unforced kick. From that alone, fractures bloomed and raced across the entire body.
A glassy PAKIIN! — the sound of glass breaking — and the manta collapsed in pieces.
What — what did he do!?
Crystal raining down sparkling, Endo dropped lightly to the sand. He picked up both basketball-sized cores from the wreckage, slammed them against each other, and pulverized them.
He clapped his hands clean and walked over.
“What did you do?”
I threw the question at him.
“Nothing? Just hit it with magic at its own resonance frequency and broke it.”
Resonance frequency? Mechanical resonance? But it’s magic — maybe not exactly the same…
“Endo… earlier you said Barrier. What’s that?”
“A kind of mesh that keeps the Phrase out of this world. Tears have opened up in it, looks like. This one came through one of them. Only this level of Phrase can get through, for now.”
Endo murmured, eyeing the crystal shards in the sand.
“These guys are flunkies, just moving to fulfill an objective. Not impressive.”
“Objective?”
“Finding the sleeping King of the Phrase. Same as me.”
…What?
“Oh — I should go. I have a meeting. See you, Touya. Hope we run into each other again.”
“Wait—!”
He smiled, ignored me, and vanished from the spot. What magic is this? Teleportation?
“The King of the Phrase…?”
I stood watching everyone running over, head still full of the mysteries Endo had left behind.