Chapter 79
The fiends hurled the objects in their hands at the angels.
If it were human strength, throwing something at enemies dozens of meters in the air wouldn't have much effect.
However, fiends were brute-force monsters, and could throw even head-sized stones at high speeds. Yuurai estimated the speed to be around 200 or 300 kilometers per hour, though the exact figure was unknown.
Mass and speed, when multiplied, produce force far greater than ordinary magical attacks. Especially speed—it matters a lot. After all, energy is proportional to mass and the square of speed.
The fiends' throwing attacks could probably wipe out ordinary soldiers in an instant.
(I wonder how effective this will be against the angels...)
The various things thrown by the fiends pierced into the angels. Since the attacks had no elemental attribute, they weren't blocked by the holy attribute defenses and dented the angels' armor.
However, even though they wore armor, it seemed there was nothing inside. Some had their heads severely dented, but it didn't kill them. Their movements didn't slow, either.
It wasn't even clear whether they were taking damage. Even so, Yuurai had the fiends continue their attacks.
At first, the thrown objects hit the angels, but eventually the angels began evading, and straight-line attacks from a distance stopped landing.
"Hmm, this isn't very effective either... We need to prepare for decent long-range attacks too."
"Yeah. If they were closer, I could attack with fire or wind magic, but at this distance, I'm useless."
"Same here... If they were normal beings, I could deal with them just by having them in my sight... But maybe because they're angels or have the holy attribute, even Pain Infliction doesn't work..."
While Yuurai was thinking of her next move, the angels attacked the fiends with light. The fiends didn't vanish instantly, but were eventually defeated.
"......They're not unbeatable, but they're tough opponents. We shouldn't have come without a plan. Hmm, if fiends don't work, how about this?"
Yuurai summoned thousands of blades of darkness into the sky.
"Fall, you damn angels."
Countless blades of darkness rained down on the angels.
The Blade of Darkness couldn't deal fatal damage to the angels. However, overwhelmed by the sheer volume, the angels began to fall to the ground.
"Alright, looks like we can bring them down. Claire, once they're down, I'm counting on you."
"Got it. If they're within reach of this sword, I'll take them out."
"I'll boost you just in case."
"......Nn"
As Yuurai infused her with magic, Claire let out a subtly sensual sound.
(Can't she just buff her purely? It's awkward to hear... Though her base combat power jumps from just over thirty thousand to three or four times that, so the effect is strong...)
Anyway, the angels were falling to the ground. Exposed to the rain of blades, they couldn't move properly.
Claire immediately closed in on the angels. In sync with her, the rain of blades stopped within the area of one angel.
Claire slashed at the first one.
Perhaps it was thanks to the Treasured Sword, or Claire's Swordsmanship, but the angel's armor was greatly torn.
As the angel tried to retaliate, Yuurai slowed its movement slightly using Marionette Magic. She wanted to stop it completely, but the constant holy protection made that impossible.
Claire dodged the angel's attacks while gradually slicing it apart. After about three minutes, she completely destroyed one. The angel disappeared into particles of light.
"Claire! Can you handle the others too!?"
"I'm totally fine!"
"Then let's take them one by one!"
"Got it!"
They steadily took down the angels one at a time. Though they couldn't defeat them instantly, considering the enemy's strength, that was good enough.
(Each one is probably as strong as Ceres. And with the holy attribute, they're a bad match for us. If there had been dozens of them, it might've been dangerous... At least, in our current state.)
If she were in a state of Corruption, Yuurai was confident she could crush those angels easily. But since it would likely harm others as well, she didn't want to use it if possible.
"......Oh, the last one disappeared too."
It took a little time, but they managed to defeat all five angels. The surrounding ground and houses were in a terrible state, but compared to the damage to Grimoire, it was minor.
Yuurai ran up to Claire and lightly patted her back.
"Thanks, Claire. We might not have been able to beat them without you!"
"......You're welcome. I couldn't have done it alone either, so it's our shared achievement."
"Yeah."
"......Right. This is mine and Yuurai's accomplishment. Lipia didn't do anything..."
"......W-Well, yeah, but Lipia's not really suited for combat in the first place..."
Lipia specialized in water magic. As an extension of that, she could also use healing magic.
She could attack with water magic too, but its power was low. Even with Yuurai's magic, it wasn't enough to fight strong enemies.
"......Do you think I'm doing my best?"
"......Yeah. I do."
"Once this battle is over, I want to spend some quiet time with just the two of us..."
"Ah, yeah. Alright. Sounds good..."
Claire's expression was hidden by her helmet. Still, Yuurai could imagine her grinning.
"Kufufu."
Hearing a type of laugh she rarely heard from Claire, Yuurai gave a wry smile.
(......Claire's obsession with me is going out of control. Is this what they call a chastity crisis...?)
Yuurai imagined various things, but quickly shifted her focus.
"W-Well, now that we've taken down the angels, next is..."
"Ah, wait a moment."
"......Hm?"
Claire sheathed her sword. Then, she clasped her hands and bowed her head as if in prayer.
(......Just because we defeated the angels doesn't mean we can celebrate. They used to be children... They're strangers to me, but for Claire, they had some connection... She was being lighthearted earlier, but deep down, she must be conflicted...)
Yuurai stood quietly beside Claire.
A few dozen seconds later, Claire let out a breath and raised her head, prompting Yuurai to speak.
"Claire, who do you pray to now?"
"......God."
"Wasn't it that God who turned the children into those things?"
"Since you're the one who turned them into that, I told God to guide them properly to heaven and make them happy."
"I see."
"......Hey, where do children's souls go? Can you see them, Yuurai? Does heaven really exist?"
"I can see the souls fading away, but I don't know where they go. Actually, wouldn't you know better? You died once and came back."
"......I don't remember anything from that time."
"I see. Well, even if we think about it, we won't find an answer."
"Yeah......"
"It's just a comfort, but let's believe that heaven is somewhere out there, and those kids are living happily there. That way, there's some salvation. And besides, if you keep dwelling on it, Claire, it's like the kids died and turned into a curse. That's just another sad story."
"......Yeah. I don't want them to become a curse."
As things got a bit somber, Yuurai tried to lift the mood with a brighter voice.
"Uh, um—oh, right. Now that we've beaten that angel, do you think Gilka might wake up?"
"......It's possible."
"Let's check. There probably isn't any threat greater than that angel in this town, so we don't need to rush."
"Mm. Got it."
Yuurai and the others climbed the stairs leading to the top of the city wall. Along the way, Yuurai temporarily concealed her magic.
(If even defeating that didn't work... I guess I'll have to ask the Saint or that girl... Hopefully they'll help without resistance...)
In any case, Yuurai strongly hoped that Gilka would wake up soon.