Head of the Tower of Protection.

Hermina Hackbirk fell into deep thought after hearing the request relayed from Gale.

“Will inflict critical damage on enemy rear around noon. Request large-scale offensive when the time comes.”

It was a quite—no, seriously unreasonable request.

Especially considering that an army didn’t move like in an RTS game with a few mouse clicks from an omniscient viewpoint.

While the Tower of Protection, which specialized in magic tool production, had relatively abundant means of communication between units compared to other towers, even fully utilizing those abundant communication means, launching an unplanned offensive operation in less than an hour was absolutely not an easy task.

Reckless operations also carry a huge burden when they fail.

The head of the Tower of Protection acknowledged Gale’s talent, but that didn’t mean she could attempt an offensive that might stake the tower’s fate on a single word from her.

In other words.

On the condition that it didn’t end with just “a single word”, there was no reason not to move.

Looking at the video of the annihilation of major enemy units engraved on Gale’s special recording magic tool, and the attached expected enemy deployment map, the tower head clicked her tongue.

“…Hasn’t it been just a day since they left on the ship?”

While the video was somewhat chaotic due to the intense battle even after various corrections, the sight of those with the Rognir’s characteristic silver hair meeting merciless deaths could be clearly confirmed.

Along with this, the current situation of remaining units inferred through the position of major enemy forces grasped by necromancy and changes in those positions.

It seemed unbelievable that such analysis was possible with necromancy that could only provide rough direction and distance, but looking at the document that included the basis and calculations in beautiful handwriting, one couldn’t help but be unconsciously persuaded.

If asked whether it could be 100% trusted, one would have to shake their head, but it was sufficient material to supplement the lack of trust in Gale’s words alone.

The Tower of Protection began to move.

***

— We must inflict a critical wound on the Tower of Control right now, to ensure there are no troublemakers in the fight with the Witch of the North.

This assertion by the Tin Knight wasn’t easily accepted.

That was because, according to the Tin Knight’s words, they would have to attack the enemy’s core base with just the forces on this one ship.

Several 4th rank mages who, while not on the level of Dorothea or Gale, direct students of the Four Great Witches, or Franka and Algind—they could be considered a tier below them.

Several 3rd rank mages who could turn a dozen people into roasts with a single attack spell.

While lower-ranking mages below 2nd rank or ordinary soldiers couldn’t gather at the base yet due to insufficient movement speed, this was only without additional external reinforcements; the forces originally staying in the castle were sufficient.

In addition, various barriers were deployed in the castle, traps, summoning techniques, and so on.

Attacking all of this with just one ship was literally like hitting a rock with an egg.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says then the egg just needs to be terribly big and strong!]

However, the Tin Knight’s assertion was firm.

And the other companions also eventually accepted that assertion.

No matter how nonsensical it might seem to others, the Tin Knight never spoke falsehoods, at least in regards to combat.

If such a Tin Knight said it needed to be dealt with now, it must be true.

The problem was how to attack that castle.

While they said Cap’n Bill’s pirate ship had been modified to operate on land, that level was just floating slightly above the ground.

It was far from the level of “flying” at high altitudes, which meant it would be bombarded with attack magic and shot down as soon as it tried to approach the castle.

Dorothea had no flight-related magic, and even if Gale lent her the Shoes of Borealis, if Dorothea teleported into the air alone, she would fall straight to her death afterward.

Sending the Tin Knight and Dorothea simultaneously to that dizzyingly high sky.

To realize this one thing, the party pieced together various cards they held, and finally, the operation was completed.

“Then, I’ll start.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he’s counting on you!]

Adelaide firmly grasped her sword hilt with both hands.

As golden flame-like mana enveloped her body, the Belt of Amaryllis exerted even greater power as if absorbing that mana.

Even in this state, Adelaide could already crush ordinary metal armor with just the strength of her grip, but she wasn’t satisfied.

More, more.

Even more.

Like the giant in her memories. Like the dark red monster in her visions.

She might not be able to reach their realm right now, but at least to step on their shadow.

Crack.

Violet lightning mixed in among the golden flames.

Adelaide’s mana became several times more violent, and the enhancement effect of Amaryllis also raged more fiercely.

It was as if they were denying each other’s power, roaring that they wouldn’t lose to the likes of the other.

Even with a torrent of power that seemed like it would go berserk if she lost focus for even a moment, Adelaide’s demeanor remained calm.

She had practiced controlling mana enhancement many times with her teacher.

The sword position lowered to the bottom right as if drooping.

Filling the blade with mana, but not for cutting, rather to protect the sword from the ferocious destructive power.

Feet firmly planted on the ground, body flexible, eyes towards the target.

Distributing 100 power evenly throughout the body was wasteful.

Like how when swinging a fist, power traveled from the ankle, waist, shoulder to the extending hand, mana, too, flowed from the extremities through pathways back to the extremities.

Tremendous power capable of completely shattering a castle gate resided in Adelaide.

Even while swinging this with all her might towards her companion, Adelaide harbored no worries.

There simply wasn’t a need to worry, after all, if anyone could confidently receive this much—it was her teacher.

The upward slashing strike and the left arm shield of the Tin Knight holding Dorothea in his right arm collided.

Bang!

Compared to the power of the attack, the collision sound that rang out was rather light.

This was thanks to the Tin Knight using his unique defensive technique to convert most of the impact into propulsive force to fly high.

A white trajectory briefly overlapped with the Tin Knight’s flight path.

It was the White Knight, who had also shot into the air after receiving Gale’s enchantment.

The White Knight’s spear and the Tin Knight’s shield collided once again.

Bang!

Black went up, white went down.

Just before reaching the apex of the high-arcing parabola, the Tin Knight, with his eyes tightly shut, said to Dorothea who was clinging tightly.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says to enjoy the view of the ground since it’s nice!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says not to thrash about since you’ll become a red pancake the moment his hand slips!]

“Wow, what touching advice…!”

Dorothea glared fiercely at the Tin Knight with vicious eyes, then turned her gaze to the ground.

Even for the tough Black Witch, free-falling from a height where clouds felt close was quite nerve-wracking, causing her limbs to tremble, but even so, she fulfilled her role.

The holy magic cast by Sophia to protect the body from reckless maneuvering.

Among the holy white light, the navy gloves exuded their characteristic ominous mana.

The next moment, something large appeared at Dorothea and the Tin Knight’s feet.

It wasn’t… a huge boulder like the Witch of the West had handled.

The mass and volume of objects that the Gloves of Haider could store were determined by the upper limit of the owner’s mana and control, and for Dorothea, who was relatively unskilled in mana control compared to the Witch of the West, it was impossible to store such a massive rock as she had handled.

But, she was a necromancer.

Dorothea had overwhelming mana that even the Witch of the West didn’t possess, and one of her specialties was using mana to inflate “the lacking parts of undead”.

And, Dorothea’s fingertips touched the “loosely woven pile of skeletons”.

The sphere of bones, which had the radius of about 5 meters, instantly swelled to twice its size.

Doubled again in the blink of an eye.

Doubled once more in the time it took to exhale.

By the time the pile of skeletons, which at first was only visible as a distant dot, approached the ground.

Its size was enough to cover a third of the fortress with its shadow.

There was a cracking sound of something breaking.

The protective barrier covering the entire castle shattered like a glass window, unable to withstand even for a moment.

Just before the skeleton meteor made contact with the ground, the Tin Knight swung his left arm, releasing the gems contained in his shield.

After two shadows briefly shot up into the sky, the incarnation of violence itself struck the castle.

— Boom!

With a tremendous roar, the main castle in the center of the fortress instantly turned into mashed potatoes.

The antique murals and statues proving Aeolia’s great history, the colorful stained glass, even the throne that had been carefully maintained thinking they might sit on it again someday, were all destroyed without a trace, buried under debris.

The same went for the tower personnel, who had been at ease, trusting the various barriers spread throughout the castle.

The 4th rank mages who coveted the vacancies left by the mass deaths of competitors, the 3rd rank mages who had cruelly violated Friedel’s soldiers in the cat hunt, the common soldiers who anticipated the “lower ranks” that would be created after conquering the Tower of Protection.

Their thoughts differed, but their end was the same.

The massive mass not only collapsed the castle but also transmitted a tremendous shock to the ground, shaking the earth, and other buildings hit by the aftershocks also shook or even collapsed completely. If even stone buildings were like this, it was no different for people caught up in it.

Even this, unlike what the Witch of the West had wielded, was a “bundle of many small masses entangled together” rather than “one lump”, so the damage was relatively small compared to its weight and size, but that fact was no consolation to those who died.

Thud, thud!

After reducing the momentum of the fall several times in mid-air using the mana contained in the shield as a brake, the Tin Knight landed on the giant pile of bones together with Dorothea.

“Phew.”

Dorothea’s breathing was rough.

Even though most of the burden her body would have taken was alleviated by Sophia’s holy power and the Tin Knight’s care, even the minute residuals were enough to worsen her condition.

Her mana, which usually showed almost no signs of drying up, had also evaporated leaving only about 50% remaining due to her reckless use of necromancy.

It was a somewhat worrying amount of remaining mana to fight against in the middle of enemy territory, but there was no need to worry about that.

The survivors of the castle who should have discovered the two and fought against them were quite literally dumbfounded.

“W-what is this?”

“Ah, uah, uaaah!”

“God, I’m sorry… I’m sorry…!”

On the faces of the survivors looking at the miserably collapsed castle, not even a speck of their usual arrogance remained.

They collapsed to the ground as if their legs had lost strength, and among them, some screamed as if they had gone mad or knelt down searching for gods they didn’t even believe in usually.

“What are you all doing!? Get a hold of yourselves!?”

“Prepare for battle! If we don’t kill them, we’ll die!”

However, not everyone had lost their will to fight.

The damage was concentrated on the main castle and its surroundings, and those staying in the outskirts or annexes were able to somehow escape this terrible attack.

Among them were Rognir bloodline members with silver hair fluttering and other 4th rank mages, but that didn’t reverse the situation.

“Haha! Lads! It be looting time!”

““Arr!””

The Bill pirates, who had rushed inside through the destroyed barriers and collapsed castle walls, began sweeping the surroundings while firing their special cannons.

There were forces left to fight, but few who had the will to.

Once even those few were subdued by the allied White Knight and Adelaide, the remaining personnel raised white flags towards the party without anyone taking the lead.

It was a complete victory.

***

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