Another side
Aerial Fortress Gorystende.
It was the ultimate weapon given by God to counter the Demon Lord’s Army.
In a temple-like facility, many priests knelt in prayer, conjuring the magic power needed to control it.
Above them, in glass-enclosed rooms, priests operated the fortress.
“My, with this fortress, we have nothing to fear from the Empire or the Demon Lord’s Army,”
“Indeed, indeed. The Overgod is truly a great being. To bestow such facilities upon us without any hesitation.”
And in a place that could be called the throne room, three Archbishops, unable to hide their good spirits, chatted happily with their respective Saintesses.
“Indeed, this is a miracle brought about by our daily devotion and prayers to God. Therefore, we must show God results befitting this miracle, mustn’t we?”
Regardless of their appearances, it was unprecedented for three Archbishops, who ranked among the highest in Tris, to go to the battlefield.
This was also an indication of how strong the Demon Lord’s Army was this time, and how troublesome the Empire had become.
Rather than seeing this as something they could no longer stand, the Archbishops, facing an unsatisfactory outcome where they were being pushed back, misunderstood that God, having reached the limit of his patience, had sent out the weapon he created, and they were now trying to avenge God.
“What, with this great force, and the facilities to maintain it, and on top of that, we have the Hero. There’s no way we can lose.”
Although it could be considered arrogance, the words spoken by one Archbishop were representative of the other two.
A large summoning circle capable of summoning hordes of angels from Heaven, and a great barrier said to block any attack.
Furthermore, within the fortress, there were food production facilities utilizing space-time magic and automatic maintenance of lifelines, ensuring a stable living environment.
The fortress itself was also equipped with various defensive facilities disguised as offensive weapons, all of which were weapons created by God himself.
Although they were designed for human use and had their performance reduced due to various sealing measures, they were still weapons far beyond human capabilities.
Furthermore, elite heroes, handpicked from among those trained by Seraphim, were on standby inside the fortress.
An overwhelming military strength.
It was impossible to lose with this.
It wasn’t arrogance, but confidence.
That was the feeling of the Archbishops.
They believed that they had never seen such a great military force in all of history.
It was a natural feeling.
“Archbishop! A tremendous magic power reaction from the front! It’s likely the magic of one of the Demon Lord’s generals!”
A report that poured cold water on the Archbishops, who were basking in their refreshing sense of superiority, came in.
“Fools, to think of attacking Gorystende, God’s fortress. Such disrespect.”
“Indeed, they should have simply awaited God’s judgment. How deplorable.”
“Yes, but at the same time, they are pitiable. They must do something so foolish as to incur God’s wrath to survive.”
The complacency born from being protected by God’s absolute fortress.
Even if the opponent was one of the strongest beings in the Demon Lord’s Army, they didn’t believe they would lose.
On the battlefield, they had only heard reports of consecutive defeats.
But that was all in the past.
The Archbishops did not doubt that a comeback and a swift advance were about to begin.
“I can’t stand for God’s fortress to be defiled by the foul attacks of the Demon Race. Let us show God’s might. Deploy the great barrier. Then, open the main guns and annihilate them without leaving a trace.”
“Understood.”
It didn’t matter if they prepared strategic-level magic.
The Archbishop, judging that the preemptive strike that was about to be unleashed was the only hope for the demons, decided to deliberately take the opponent’s attack and then annihilate them, striking despair into their hearts.
But that was overconfidence.
It was arrogance stemming from the notion that the Demon Lord’s Army was inferior to God, which led the Archbishops, as God’s apostles, to mistakenly believe they were superior to the Demon Lord’s Army.
In the first place, Archbishops, who presided over rituals and were experts in religion, could not possibly be experts in warfare.
They believed—no, it would be more accurate to say they convinced themselves—that with God’s power, there was nothing more needed.
To them, God’s power was absolute.
They thought the defeat of God’s Tower was due to the Empire’s misuse, and that they, God’s true apostles, would not make the same mistake.
So they believed.
“Attack is coming!!”
That’s why they made the trivial show of pride of blocking the attack head-on with the barrier.
The Archbishops calmly stood their ground in response to the report from the priests.
Naturally, they could see the incoming attack.
A colossal, simply colossal slash attack was approaching.
It could be said that they had great courage to remain composed even in the face of such a terrifying sight.
But they didn’t know.
That in this world, there exists something unreasonable other than God.
The barrier strength of Gorystende was extraordinary, both physically and magically, and conceptually.
But it was not absolute.
The Archbishops mistakenly believed that the attack would be so weak that it would simply scatter upon touching the barrier.
However, the result was.
With a roar, a massive blow shook Gorystende.
Screams echoed through the temple.
Shaking in mid-air increased the fear psychologically.
For those who could not fly, the terror of being unable to do anything and being slammed to the ground was inescapable.
“What happened?!”
The Archbishops stumbled, but managed to avoid falling by placing their hands on the ground, and asked what had happened in that position.
“Th-the great barrier is gone?! There’s a crack in the western castle wall! The angels near the west have vanished!”
“W-what?!”
Upon hearing the report, they instantly muttered in disbelief.
Who would have thought that the great barrier of the floating fortress, filled with God’s miracles, could be pierced so easily?
“Th-the second wave is coming!!”
“!? Block it!! Block it at all costs!!”
Upon hearing that the attack that destroyed the great barrier was coming again, their previous composure vanished.
The Archbishops issued orders with voices close to shouts.
“Concentrate the great barrier on the front!”
They judged that the barrier had not been strong enough before because it had been deployed in a wide spherical shape.
The priest’s judgment was a bold one.
They succeeded in blocking the next attack head-on.
“Great barrier strength reduced to sixty percent! Thirty seconds until restoration!”
“Increased consumption of divine power for great barrier repair!”
“Don’t defend!! Evade!! Send in the angel troops!! Make them stop that attack at all costs!!”
Even so, damage was incurred.
The Archbishops, chilled by the attack that eroded God’s defense, turned red in the face and issued orders, casting aside their previous elegant demeanor.
If the second wave had been the last, it would have been fortunate, but even from a distance, they could see.
The third and fourth blades were being launched.
And everyone understood that they were heading straight for them.
The temple, which had been quiet until now, became noisy.
Divine power is restored through prayer.
“Send out the choir!! Have them support the angels!”
“Is it not better to have the heroes prepare as well?”
“No, shouldn’t Gorystende ascend and attack unilaterally?”
To increase that power, angels who had been guarding the fortress took to the sky while the choir was summoned from the waiting room and deployed.
The plan was that if the attacks could be blocked by the great barrier, and the only attacks coming from the other side were these grand magic spells, then if they could stop the source of those spells, they could manage.
However, opinions were divided on how to counter them.
“Are you scared?! Ascending in front of the enemy is the same as running away! It’s an act that goes against God’s will!”
“That line of thinking is also a bit hasty. There’s no need to put ourselves within the enemy’s reach. God is in high heavens and delivers his judgments from there.”
To not turn their backs and to break through head-on with boldness.
To maintain superiority and show off their power.
They both claimed to be acting in accordance with God’s will, but their diametrically opposed opinions temporarily paralyzed the temple’s leadership.
Normally, the top leader would issue a unified command here.
But with the appearance of three individuals driven by ambition, there were three equals.
This is what it means to have too many cooks spoil the broth.
This division of opinion was fatal at a moment that required split-second decisions.
Fortunately, they managed to evade the magic that pursued them.
But there were no further orders.
In their excessive devotion to God, they had become too accustomed to following instructions from above.
Furthermore, filling the temple with people loyal to their respective Archbishops had backfired.
While they could react instantly and act on instructions, those who had abandoned the act of thinking and acting for themselves were left standing dumbfounded.
“High magic power reaction!? Sensing magic several times that of the previous one!”
It was not the time to argue, but the temporary lull they gained by blocking the attack had led to a negative outcome.
If they didn’t counterattack, the enemy would simply continue to attack.
The previous attack seemed to be a mere test, and a more powerful attack was being prepared.
This forced the Archbishops to make a decision.
“Damn it! Prepare to attack as well!!”
“Are you stupid?! There’s no need to take such an attack head-on!! It’s evasion!! Immediate evasion!!”
“There’s no way evasion will be in time!? Concentrate all divine power on defense!”
However, the three individuals, with their different personalities, only bickered, and no decision was made.
The Saintesses flustered around, the priests confused and not knowing what to do, the priests praying to God for help, the young boys and girls singing hymns with all their might.
Despite being a sacred place, the temple became more chaotic than anywhere else.
“The attack is coming!!”
A priest, with a voice that seemed about to burst, reported the attack.
The attack was launched, and it proved to be more powerful than before.
Time was consumed moment by moment.
Wasted time only created dire straits.
“Archbishops!? Your orders!”
“Intercept them!!”
“No, it’s evasion!!”
“Defensive barrier!!”
However, at the last moment, an action that could turn the dire straits around occurred.
Perhaps because they were talented individuals specialized in following instructions, someone acted on the idea of doing everything.
An incredible feat of evading, deploying a defensive barrier, and attacking at the same time.
Slowly, the floating fortress Gorystende moved sideways in the air, allowing them to narrowly evade the direct path of the attack.
It wasn’t complete evasion.
But they were able to get to a range where they could deflect the attack.
While evading, they deployed the great barrier.
By angeling the barrier and positioning it diagonally, they deflected the grand magic spell that flew at them.
By doing so, they avoided taking the full force of the grand magic spell head-on, and was able to defend against the attack with minimal barrier consumption.
Then, the choir accumulated divine power, and the stored divine power was loaded into the main cannon installed in the center of the fortress.
“Ready to fire!!”
As a result, the Archbishops’ arrogance yielded the best possible outcome.
The Archbishops were stunned for a moment by the counter-attack report, but.
“U-indeed! Show those demons the might of God!! Fire!!”
They put on a brave face, declaring with confidence that all’s well that ends well.
Today’s word:
Confidence and overconfidence are different.
Thank you as always for your feedback and reports of typos.
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Currently, I am also serializing another work:
Pandora Pandemic Panic – Pandora’s Box Has Been Opened Again, but We’re Fighting Back with Various Things in Our Secret Base!!
Please give that a try as well!!
