It might be true that Japan repelled the Red King. Emilia was beginning to think so.
Those two came all the way from Japan to Germany, despite the dangerous world.
If that was true, it was a great feat in itself. If there were many Seekers as skilled as them, it wouldn’t be surprising if Japan could defeat powerful monsters.
Emilia took a half step forward. She knew it was dangerous to get closer. Even so, she couldn’t help but want to see their battle up close.
She had been trapped in Berlin, resigned to never leaving.
Against her will, she became the leader of the group, but could do nothing, only watch as her comrades died one after another.
She had been tormented by a sense of powerlessness.
That despair might be coming to an end. Emilia wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
Wolfgang, Muller, and Felix too.
They couldn’t help but hope that the two Seekers might actually defeat the Conglomerate.
◇◇◇
“Damn! This thing…”
Yuma lowered his hammer and stepped back. The monster in front of him was no longer in the shape of a “wall.”
It changed its form like a surging wave, attacking with terrifying speed.
Yuma jumped back further, dodging the attack. The moment it plunged into the ground, he swung his hammer down and detonated it.
The monster’s body, composed of junk, was blown away, but the slimy liquid gathered the junk again, reconstructing its body.
“This is endless… It really does resemble a Chimera.”
No matter how many times he attacked, it regenerated and attacked again. It was like a failed Chimera. That was Yuma’s impression.
“Yuma!”
Rui, having finished off the Marionettes, ran over.
Should they work together to defeat it? Just as Yuma thought that, the ground began to shake. The road surface bulged up, and something emerged from within.
Appearing to surround Rui were four Marionettes.
But they weren’t the usual kind. Their bodies were more than twice as large, they had four arms, and their entire bodies were covered in rugged armor.
“Further enhanced Marionettes!”
“Seriously!? It can even create things like that!?”
Yuma realized he had been underestimating it. The Conglomerate was a more troublesome monster than he had imagined. As he looked at the enemy, he noticed a clear sense of incongruity.
“Hasn’t this thing… gotten bigger!?”
At first, it was a “wall” about five meters high and ten meters wide. Now it was over ten meters high and twenty meters wide.
It was growing larger and larger.
“Damn!”
Looking over, Rui was also being pushed back by the four Enhanced Marionettes. Each of them was using fire, water, wind, and lightning magic in coordination to attack.
“This is… might be bad.”
Looking up, Yuma saw that the height of the “wall” was beginning to exceed thirty meters.
◇◇◇
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what is that!?”
Wolfgang stared wide-eyed, looking up. The mountain of rubble overflowing from underground merged with the Conglomerate, becoming an even larger “wall.”
Reaching a height of thirty meters, then forty meters, it became limitless, larger than a building, looking down on them from a much higher position.
Furthermore, the Conglomerate was extending chain-like objects from the left and right sides of its body.
Chains that seemed to connect the wall from underground.
He didn’t know what they were, but the moment the slack chains were pulled taut by the Conglomerate, he understood their meaning.
New “walls” appeared one after another from the ends of the chains.
It was the same principle as when harvesting sweet potatoes; when you pull on the root, many sweet potatoes come up at the same time. It was a chain reaction.
The ground shook violently, and Emilia and the others, unable to stand, fell to the ground.
After confirming that the shaking had subsided, Wolfgang, Muller, Emilia, and Felix cautiously stood up.
What they saw was an unbelievable sight.
The enormous Conglomerate towered over them, blocking out the sunlight. The monster, now as large as a tall building, extended chains like arms from both ends.
At the ends of the chains, new “walls” stood, and chains extending from those walls connected to even more “walls.” Such walls were lined up in an endless row.
The distance between the walls was about a hundred meters, lined up along the state border.
This was no metaphor. The Conglomerate had truly surrounded Berlin.
Wolfgang was speechless. The main body of the Conglomerate was already nearly fifty meters tall, and the “walls” connected to it were also over twenty meters tall.
How were they supposed to defeat something like that!?
“I knew it… it was impossible. No matter how strong the Seekers are, there’s no way they can beat a monster like that!”
Emilia and Muller could only agree with Wolfgang’s lament.
That was not an opponent that humans could handle. Large pieces of rubble fell from the Conglomerate’s body, which towered like a building.
Steel frames and concrete fell onto the road, cracking the ground.
If they stayed here, they would die too. Emilia unconsciously took a step back.
At that moment, Muller pointed into the distance with a pale face.
“T-That’s him! He’s here!!”
What!? Emilia and Wolfgang turned their eyes. There was a black figure on top of a crumbling building.
“That’s… a Dark Knight (Donkel Ritter)!!”
This was the worst situation. The Conglomerate, having revealed its true form, was threatening enough, but to add a Dark Knight (Donkel Ritter) on top of that was too much.
Emilia stepped forward and shouted loudly.
“You two, run! You’ll be killed if you stay here!!”
She didn’t know if her voice reached them, but the Japanese Seekers stopped moving.
Retreat now! Emilia wished that from the bottom of her heart. If they died too, there would truly be no hope left.
She couldn’t get any closer. Emilia watched the two with a prayerful feeling.
◇◇◇
“Yuma, this is bad.”
Rui muttered while fighting the four Marionettes.
“Yeah, it is. This thing is getting bigger and bigger! At this rate, it’s really going to be bad.”
Yuma said, “I have no choice,” and stopped moving. He deactivated the Pickel’s Liquid Metal, returning the hammer to its normal state.
“Guess I’ll have to get serious.”
“Yeah.”
Rui crouched slightly, channeling a massive amount of Magical Power into his Katana. The sword flashed, and the heads of the four Enhanced Marionettes flew off simultaneously.
The monsters’ bodies ignited, exploded, and returned to sand.
Rui sheathed his Katana, exhaled, and went to Yuma’s side.
“I was trying to conserve Magical Power because I didn’t know what would happen, but it looks like we can’t afford to say that anymore.”
“Yeah, and—”
Rui and Yuma shifted their gazes in the same direction. There stood the Dark Knight (Donkel Ritter) they had been unable to defeat.
Standing on the roof of a building, he was looking at them.
“We caused quite a ruckus, so I guess he finally came.”
“I’ll take care of him. Yuma, concentrate on the Conglomerate.”
“Are you sure? He’s incredibly fast.”
Rui gave Yuma a smile in response to his concern.
“It’s okay, I won’t be outdone twice.”