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「Three survived, so stubborn.」
「I don’t think there’s a way around that. Even if we combine all our firepower, it’s still no match for Lumi-nii…Lumi-neesan’s magic.」
「I guess that’s true. We should be glad we got rid of seventeen instead.」

Twenty Protectors appeared once Machina Guardian’s health fell below thirty percent. After a lot of trial and error, the first players realized that the best way to deal with it was to launch a powerful attack and take out as many as possible as soon as they appeared.

They also tested various spells and ways to attack, and the most effective method was a powerful spell with a large area of effect from a magician. When the Nine Wisemen fought the boss together, Luminaria was the one in charge of that. She always chose a powerful explosion, which took a considerable time to cast even when compared to other high level spells, but it would successfully defeat all twenty Protectors.

The combined attack of Mira and Soul Howl had also been considerably powerful, but it did not hold a candle to Luminaria’s. That seemed to irk Mira a little, but she recovered quickly and moved on to giving the next orders.

「This is the meowment I’ve been waiting for!」

Then, amidst the last wisps of smoke around Machina Guardian, a figure flew through the air. It was Pegasus, with Cait Sith gallantly riding on his back.

They had fulfilled their mission of deploying Binding Arcana Circles for four hours, and then spent a while killing time together, during which Cait Sith had seemingly suffered some form of defeat, recorded on the sign he always carried.

「Eat this, meow!」

Following new orders, and as a form to vent his anger, Cait Sith threw down another stone that Mira had entrusted him with. A Magic Bomb Sealing Stone.

Pegasus had taken off from the opposite side to where Alfina stood, and due to his speed, not even Machina Guardian could react in time to do anything about him.

The stone Cait Sith threw passed by Machina Guardian’s body, heading instead for the three surviving Protectors on the ground.

Once it hit the area where they stood, the wind power contained within the stone was released. That generated a powerful gale that sent the three Protectors flying away in various directions.

「Good, that went well.」

As soon as that happened, Mira sent the third, fourth, and fifth Sisters after them.

The stone Cait Sith threw had separated the Protectors enough to stop them from merging or working together, and before they could reunite, the Sisters surrounded them.

「So far so good.」

Soul Howl muttered as he watched the battlefield and how they predicted each of Machina Guardian’s moves, feeling a bit more certain of their victory now.

「Right. Only the Laser Beam can-」

-be an issue. Before Mira could finish that sentence, Machina Guardian began to move wildly, stomping and flailing around. It was going berserk.

But strangely enough, there was no one within the attack radius of that attack. Cait Sith and Pegasus were already close to the wall, the Sisters were fifty meters away, and those who went to deal with the surviving Protectors were at least eighty meters away.

Wondering what it was trying to do, Mira told her army that this was not a common action. And then it hit her.

Machina Guardian was turning its body to face the wall where they stood, disguising the way all the trampling and turning moved the two legs that had detached earlier to the front.

「That can’t be?!」

Soul Howl also noticed that, and instantly jumped off the turret and hid behind the wall.

「So that’s what you’re scheming!」

Mira also gave a rushed order to defend, while summoning a Holy Knight in front of Leticia, which she quickly turned into a Holy Lord to serve as defense. Then she also jumped behind the wall.

The following instant, Machina Guardian jumped and the explosion happened below it, powerful enough to melt anything it touched nearby.

That broke apart the detached legs, turning them to shrapnel that was further propelled by the explosion and scattered around.

The shrapnel became a hail of bullets which rained over the battlefield.

The explosion was so powerful that even though everyone had taken a defensive stance, while also being far away, Isenfald, the Sisters, and the army all ended up taking considerable damage.

Especially Isenfald, whose enormous body offered plenty of areas to be hit, and the summon barrier protecting him lost ninety percent of its power.

The Sisters’ agility allowed them to dodge much of it, but in total their barriers had still lost thirty percent of its power. The only exception was Christina, surprisingly enough. Though that was easily explained by her shield, so she only lost ten percent of her barrier’s strength. That allowed her to look at the other Sisters with an almost justified smug look.

The main issue was the army. The attack had wiped away around half of it, and most of the damage was concentrated in the troop Christina led. She only had around ten Ashen Knights to her disposal now.

「No way…」

All of her pride vanished as she stared in shock at her troop behind her.

The three Sisters who were a distance away were shocked by something else though, the Protectors had also taken considerable damage from the shrapnel. They were also a bit disappointed they could not show off all of their abilities to their master Mira.

「Why is it that only Christina gets to use her new move? I also have stuff to show.」

The three of them shared that sentiment. But then they gave one final attack at the damaged Protectors just in case, then returned to the main battlefield.

The shrapnel also reached the defensive wall, leaving countless marks all over it. The shield of the Holy Lord in front of Leticia also had some deep cuts on it.

But behind the Holy Lord, Leticia continued singing without missing a beat, as if nothing had happened. She looked rather disinterested and carefree, but if it was not for the defense buff her song granted, the shrapnel would have had disastrous effects.

The Spirit King watched that through Mira, knowing only a spirit of sound had the kind of boldness to continue singing even through an attack like that.

「That happened a bit sooner than expected, but time to keep fighting.」

Mira returned to the turret and surveyed the battlefield, quickly taking in the current situation, then gave out new orders. At the same time, she activated the Summoning Skill Charitable Healing Hand, spending a lot of mana to repair Isenfald’s barrier.

『It’ll be a rough fight, but you can do this.』
『Leave it to me, Mother!』

The battle had been going on for many hours. Isenfald was the only one who could directly fight Machina Guardian, so he had a key role, but also a harsh one. So Mira spoke to him to encourage him, which clearly filled him with motivation. He also asked if he could try out a few ideas he had, so it seemed like he was actually enjoying the fight, and Mira gave him the freedom to test anything he wanted.

Isenfald had finally started learning dragon magic from the elder of the dragon city, and now he had a chance to put it to full display. Mira watched him with intrigue as she told Christina to return to the wall, given her troop of Ashen Knights was nearly gone.