Mel and Serge, hearing Shutra’s scream, immediately changed direction. As they returned in a V-shaped trajectory, they saw not Shutra with her belly torn open, but Georgius, who had taken her place.
“Shutra, are you alright?! I’ll cast a recovery spell right away!”
“I-I’m fine! But Georgius, who protected me…”
Fortuitously, Shutra was unharmed. However, Georgius’s abdomen was torn open, with a large amount of cotton spilling out, likely from the knight’s attack. His body was barely held together. Even with Shutra manipulating him with her magic threads, it seemed difficult for him to stand.
“Oh dear, you’re all ripped open. But I salute your courage in protecting Shutra-chan, Bear-kun,” the speaker said.
“I’m sorry, it’s because I wasn’t strong enough…!”
“Hey, no such words on the battlefield, Shutra-chan. You can mourn after it’s all over.”
“That’s right. Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to create the initial equilibrium. For now, I’m just glad you’re safe. Can you stand?”
“B-Big Sisters… Yes, I’m fine. That’s right. This isn’t the time to apologize. I’ll do my best!”
“There, there, just as Serge (Sister) predicted, Shutra-chan is a strong girl! I got a little goosebumps when Melfina started saying those god-like things though!”
“Grrr!”
“M-Mel (Sister), calm down.”
“Oh, there’s no time to chat!”
While it was good that Shutra had recovered, their halt had allowed the shadows to completely block the path to Rem. The last knight who attacked Shutra collided with the icy mountain wall behind him at high speed, shattering it to pieces. Crushing some of the shadows underfoot, he turned and aimed his lance at Shutra and the others again.
“Hic, hic… How dare you break my doll… Sob, you wretched knight…!”
*BANG!*
A familiar explosion sound. Troublesomely, two more knights, the same number as those defeated, reappeared right beside Rem.
“Ugh, they’re back again.”
“Two defeated, two replenished… It seems that knight piece can control up to three at a time. Good, they don’t seem to spawn infinitely.”
“Well, there’s always a possibility of infinite respawns. And a simple question, didn’t chess knights only come in two? Doesn’t the number seem off?”
“With this many pawns, I think it’s best to abandon the common sense of chess.”
“Ah, yes, yes. It’s like my own imagined ultimate chess.”
While exchanging these remarks, Mel and Serge busied themselves with clearing the surrounding infantry. The situation seemed to have returned to how it was, but with the appearance of powerful knights, it had clearly worsened. Shutra also struggled, manipulating her golem, but with Georgius gone, her own mobility had noticeably decreased.
“Shutra, ride on my back!”
“No, that would be a burden for Mel (Sister)! Don’t worry about me!”
“But…”
“I know I’m not reliable in battle! But still… I won’t be a hindrance!”
Shutra’s resolve exploded into magic, flowing from her fingertips to her magic threads, then to the golem, and finally to her surroundings.
“Icy Death Thread!”
This was Shutra’s only completed S-Rank Blue Magic, [Icy Death Thread]. Just as Efil imbued his arrows with flame, she channeled her Blue Magic through her magic threads, using the golem she controlled as a magical conduit.
“What’s this…!”
“Whoa, that’s magic I’ve never seen before. Is it perhaps Shutra-chan’s original?”
“It is, for now. Big Sisters, be careful not to get in front of the golems.”
From the gaps in the armor of the golems forming a defensive line around Shutra, a large amount of silver threads began to be released. These threads were guided towards the shadows attacking the three, entangling them in restraints.
These silver threads had two functions. The first was to rapidly freeze the areas they touched. If they wrapped around an arm, only the arm would freeze intensely; if they wrapped around a leg, only the leg. The second function was… severing.
“What is…?”
“Kwa-ka-ka…!”
Immediately, screams that sounded like the shadows’ cries erupted. Frighteningly, the threads would rapidly freeze any part of the shadow they touched, and then repeatedly slice through the frozen areas, cutting them like rings. It seemed to ignore the enemy’s durability, as the threads were unimpeded, easily capturing and slaughtering the enemies.
“Whoa… Shutra-chan, that’s a surprisingly gruesome way to defeat them. But the power is amazing.”
“It’s magic that utilizes low-temperature embrittlement. Objects filled with moisture become brittle below a certain temperature. By concentrating the power of S-Rank magic to a single point and applying a localized freezing effect—”
“—forcibly nullifying their durability. In other words, it’s like attacking by exploiting a weakness.”
“Hmm, like imagine dipping something in liquid nitrogen? Ah, I think I’ve seen something like that in an experiment, where objects became brittle.”
While Mel and Serge were impressed by the power of this new magic and simultaneously a little repulsed, the threads were already extending their magical grasp in all directions towards the shadows. Among them was one of the knights attempting a rush… but it touched a thread during its charge, severing its leg. However, its massive body, propelled by speed, couldn’t stop abruptly. It tumbled spectacularly and seemed to be crushed entirely.
“…Isn’t this enough?”
“It’s not!”
While Icy Death Thread was indeed a powerful magic, it had the weakness that the user, Shutra, and the golem acting as the magic conduit were completely immobile during its use. In short, as seen when the shadow knight suddenly appeared, this magic could not be used while the user was actively moving, such as running. It also required concentration on the magic, so even if Georgius, who would have been her legs, were alive, he wouldn’t have had the leeway to operate her. Therefore, its usage was quite limited.
“I can break through the current situation, but I can’t change things beyond that! This time, I’ll create a path, so Big Sisters, you handle that child—”
“—Eek, eeeek—…! Scary, scary, scary, scary…! I absolutely don’t want to die like that, no, no…! You corrupt priest…! Tower of Collapse…! Fill the battlefield with blessings and firepower…!”
“!!!”
Upon hearing a new explosion sound, the three felt a strong, ominous premonition. Both the Bishop and Rook were important chess pieces. The shadows they had been fighting so far had embodied the names of their pieces in appearance and power. If that was the case, then what Rem had just cried out for… were they…?
“Yeah, this was bound to happen.”
“Four giant shadow towers reaching to the sky have appeared around us, and a total of five shadow mages have been confirmed in the enemy’s rear. Sigh… At this rate, there might still be a queen left.”
“There might be a king too… Also, I’m sorry. We might need to change our strategy…”
No sooner had the explosion sounded than the new shadow pieces began to act swiftly. If they couldn’t adapt to this changing battlefield, defeat was inevitable. Unfortunately, there was no time for complaints.
“Kaa-shiiiii-!”
The shadow towers, appearing to surround Shutra and the others at a certain distance, were now so tall that their exact height was indiscernible. Their walls were densely covered with arched windows, from which numerous energy projectiles were being fired, bombing the battlefield without regard for hitting their allied shadows—Shutra and the others were exposed to countless attacks from all directions, including from the sky.
“Fweeee-!—”
Meanwhile, the five shadow mages positioned in the rear continuously chanted incomprehensible alien spells. The spells affected all allied shadows on the battlefield, sequentially granting auxiliary effects such as explosion resistance and improved basic stats according to the situation. The shadow soldiers, who had initially suffered damage from the tower’s attacks, were now able to withstand explosions due to these enhancements. The explosions now only harmed their enemies, Shutra and the others, who were targeting their masters.
Infantry and knights, bravely and endlessly spawning. Towers raining down artillery fire that covered the sky, unleashing overwhelming firepower without hesitation. Mages observing the battlefield and providing timely support, attempting to dominate the area. These shadow pieces acted voluntarily without the King’s command, striving to achieve the maximum results by any means necessary. If ethics were disregarded, it could be called the strongest coordinated effort. In short—the situation was tilting towards the worse.
