Chapter 440: Giant Peeders

“State of emergency.”

After receiving an emergency call from the Kaina village monitoring system “Kous.h.i.+n”, Laojun immediately connects the magic line.

“Five giant centipedes have emerged from the Inad Mine. They’re about 50 meters long.”

Laojun also learned the general outline from the information gathered by the general-purpose golems that were digging in the mine.

About how they had found an underground cave.

About how magical beasts lived there.

About how their bodies were so hard that the general-purpose golems couldn’t even scratch their surface.

Finding that there was a way outside, the magical beasts immediately headed for the surface.

And about how everything that came in contact with the mucous substance that came out of their mouths would be dissolved into a white smoke.

And so on.

“Their description resembles that of the monster known as Peeder.”

Peeders were monsters that resembled centipedes, but were at most 50 centimeters long. There was no way they could be 50 meters long.

“So should we call them Giant Peeders…?”

These Giant Peeders wriggled their way out of the Inad Mine onto the surface, and started climbing down the hill.

“No matter where they are heading to, I need to contact My Lord.”

＊ ＊ ＊

Jin was still in Hourai Island with his “partners.”

“W-What are those…?”

“…So creepy.”

The images they had seen on the Mana Telecam located in the command room on the first bas.e.m.e.nt floor were so realistic, that not only the girls but also Jin and Reinhardt were disgusted to see them.

“These make Giant Spiders look cute…”

The Giant Peeders slowly descended the mountain. Their speed was about 20 km/h, which was slower than what Jin would have expected.

“Are they heading towards Kaina Village, or…?”

Whether it was Kaina Village or Toka Village, Jin stood up as if saying that he couldn’t just stand there doing nothing about it.

“J-Jin, what are you going to do?”

Saki seemed anxious.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to tell us that you’re going to manage to deal with them somehow!”

“I’m telling you exactly that. Not to mention Kaina Village, but I also have acquaintances in Toka Village. I’m the only one who can manage to deal with them somehow.”

“…I’ll go with you, Brother Jin. There might be some injured people.”

Despite her pale expression, Elsa still kept a firm posture.

“Okay, let’s go. Reinhardt, you and the others stay here, keep your eyes peeled, I’ll be counting on you for backup if necessary. Laojun should use Machina to rescue anyone who couldn’t get out in time.”

“Orders received.”

“…Got it.”

Then, as Jin and Elsa were about to leave the room…

“W-Wait! Take me with you! I don’t know if I’ll be of much help, but I can’t just stand here!”

Saki loudly called out to them.

“Got it. Let’s go.”

The three of them left the room. Reinhardt, Berthie, Mine and Starleana remained in the room, staring at the Magic Screen.

The Giant Peeders were on the road that connected Kaina Village and Toka Village.

There, one of them turned towards Kaina Village, while the other four turned towards Toka Village.

“We’ll operate the paralyzing barrier at Togo Pa.s.s at its maximum power. This barrier…”

Laojun’s voice echoed in the command room. Then, he followed with a basic explanation. Reinhardt and the others were all impressed with how well prepared Jin was, and even if that were to be the full extent of what he could do about this situation, that still brought a chill down their spine.

“If they manage to cross the Togo Pa.s.s, we will issue an emergency alert to Kaina Village. We plan to evacuate to the Nidou Castle shelter and watch the situation from there, and if the Peeders manage to cross the Elme River, we will move the residents to Kunlun Island.”

That was the explanation of the evacuation plan. The idea was to get everyone out safely, without suffering any injuries.

“Pegasus 1, takeoff.”

Jin, Elsa, and Saki boarded Pegasus 1, and headed to the transfer machine. At the same time, they started up t.i.tan 2. The t.i.tan 2 had the highest overall performance, probably because it was operated by Reiko.

“J-Jin, did you make that as well!?”

Saki was surprised to see the t.i.tan. Elsa didn’t say anything, but her face was saying everything for her.

First, Pegasus 1 was transferred over. Since they had position data from “Kous.h.i.+n”, it was possible to transfer with just a small error margin. Jin deployed invisible mode as well.

Then, t.i.tan 2 was transferred over. There was only an error of 10 cm above the ground, but otherwise the transfer was completed successfully. Invisible mode was deployed on it as well immediately after the transfer in order to hide it from Kaina Village.

The place they arrived at was right under the Togo Pa.s.s, a wide riverbank of the Elme River. Looking up, they saw a flash of light run through the Togo Pa.s.s.

“The paralyzing barrier is up.”

The paralyzing barrier was running at full power. It wasn’t enough to make the Giant Peeder faint, but it managed to shock it enough to make it turn around.

With this, all five of them would be heading to Toka Village. However, the distance to Toka village is more than 50 km in a straight line, so they had to be dealt with by then.

“Alright, let’s go!”

In the middle of nightfall, Jin moved Pegasus 1 over Togo Pa.s.s.

＊ ＊ ＊

“Well, it’s bad! At this rate, either Toka Village or Kaina Village will suffer great damage!”

Heintz Lash shouted as he looked down the hill.

“I-I know! We have to do something about it! Anything…!”

Viscount Bayer was bleeding from his head. He was. .h.i.t by one of the pieces of rock that were shot out of the mine. That had further fl.u.s.tered him to the point of being on the brink of panic.

“…Those aren’t something that humans could deal with…”

Bolton had reached the point of giving up.

Five golems arrived, having been sent there by transfer machine from Hourai Island. They were Land 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25.

“It’s dangerous here, this way, please.”

“W-Who are you guys? What do you want with us!?”

Bolton demanded an explanation.

“We serve Deus ex Machina. We have been instructed to protect you.”

“Deus ex Machina? That has to be…”

“There’s no time for that now. Please, this way.”

Bolton, Heinz, the viscount, and the one remaining wagon officer were evacuated by the Land-series golems.

As Bolton thought about how they had never seen the silver-colored structure they were being taken to, he noticed the other three people that were with him had lost their consciousness.

Having seen that, Bolton tried to resist, but he ended up losing consciousness just like the other three.

“That’s good. Get them inside the Pelican and wait for instructions in the air.”

Having them lose consciousness due to the paralysis barrier and then sheltered in the Pelican was all part of Laojun’s instructions. The barrier was painless, so he decided that this was better in order to keep Hourai Island confidential.

The viscount’s injury was treated. However, since he was getting his just desserts, all that was done for him was to stop his bleeding and disinfect the wound.

With nothing more to protect for the time being, Pelican 3 took off to the skies, and the five Land golems stayed on the ground.

＊ ＊ ＊

“I’ll try attacking it with the laser.”

It was his fastest weapon. As long as you can see the target, you will never miss it. It had semi-automatic sights.

Jin took aim at the Giant Peeder that was at the front of the group, and pulled the trigger.

A red light was emitted from the laser cannon attached to the nose of Pegasus 1, hitting the center of the Giant Peeder’s torso… And then it bounced off.

To be more precise, it was “reflected”.

The laser beam that hit the Giant Peeder’s metallic-l.u.s.tered body was reflected as if it had been scattered about.

“Uoooh!”

“…Why?”

“W-What happened?”

Being aware of the existence of lasers and their properties, Elsa looked as incredible as Jin. However, since a laser is made of light, it would naturally share the properties of light.

In other words, it wouldn’t work against highly reflective surfaces.

Saki was astonished at the fact that there was a monster that was unaffected by light magic.

The reflected laser beam hit the surrounding trees and shrubs, burning them to a crisp.

“…It seems it did some damage, though.”

The center of its torso seemed to have sustained a bit of damage.

It looked like the Giant Peeder hadn’t been able to completely reflect the power of that fully-powered laser beam.

But now that it was hurt, the Giant Peeder that was at the front of the group had become even more ferocious.