Magi Craft Meister

Magi Craft Meister 567

16　Resolution With The Demons Arc

17-16　Battle with the Gargoyles

Most of the demons were cowering in fear before this entity they called “Angelus”, which actually looked very much like a gargoyle to Jin.

“What’s the matter?”

Taken aback by their reaction, Jin (‘s Double) asked everyone, and the only one who managed to muster enough courage to reply was the Kaigyaku chief Bafrosk, who was hiding behind Jin.

“…That is an angel, a messenger from the heavens that appears in our legends. As you can see, they can fly, and their power is tremendous. We are no match for them…”

His face had gone somewhat pale. It made Jin wonder if the demon behind him was really Bafrosk, but he guessed this would be a natural reaction for him and all of the demons if faced by a legendary creature like this angel-gargoyle.

Before he realized, all of the demons in the courtyard were kneeling on all fours as if they were in the presence of a god.

The only ones still standing were Jin (‘s Double), Reiko, and Ann. Additionally, there were 10 Land units standing invisible in the courtyard as well.

“Are you not afraid?”

After finally landing at the other side of the courtyard, the gargoyle addressed the Substitute Doll.

“That’s right. Why should I be afraid of a mere winged Golem?”

“You’re a fool.”

Jin knew that what was standing before him was nothing but a Golem that was using an excessive amount of magical power in order to move around.

He still wondered what other features it could have, just to be on the safe side.

But still, Jin saw this as a great opportunity to finally awaken the radicals.

Jin decided to employ all of the power currently available to him in the land of the demons.

“Land units! Prepare to attack!”

In response to his command, the dispatched Army Golems Lands 11 to 20 dispelled their invisibility, showing themselves.

“Hmm… You dare resist me?”

His facial expression didn’t change due to being an artificial being, but his voice expressed all of his hate nonetheless.

“You’ll regret that.”

“Go!”

Completely ignoring No. 13’s warning, Jin ordered the Lands to attack.

It was 10 Army Golems against 50 gargoyles. Reiko and Ann turned to taking the kneeling demons out of the courtyard.

“W-Whoaa!”

“Uwaaa!”

Since every single one of them were resisting, Ann opted to toss the demons across the room, where Reiko would catch them and take them back into the residence.

Once they were all safely inside, the dumbfounded demons were so quiet that it could hardly be said that they were part of the radical factions.

Meanwhile, the Lands and the gargoyles clash with each other.

The Lands were equipped with Vibration Swords, which were powerful enough to slice the enemies before them in half with a single blow.

The first clash incapacitated 10 gargoyles. On the other hand, the Lands were completely unharmed.

The Lands and the gargoyles clashed once again, resulting in a total of 20 losses for the gargoyles.

“…I knew it, you’re a ‘Forming’ type, aren’t you?”

The “Forming type” was a category named by Jin, and referred to something that operates and moves thanks to the advanced spell “Forming”, such as Stone Golems.

Since they were not very efficient in terms of Ether consumption, they could only be used in places where Ether was abundant, such as the land of the demons.

“…Ugh, you impertinent fool!”

The black gargoyle, which seemed to be the commander of this unit since he spoke with No. 13’s voice, expressed his anger.

Meanwhile, the demons who were seeing the battle that was taking place in the courtyard in the safety of the inside of the residence were completely taken aback as they witnessed the legendary “Angelus” they were so afraid about being defeated without any difficulty.

However, there were still 30 enemy gargoyles.

No. 13 had 10 of them switch targets and head for the demons that had retreated to the residence.

“Reiko! Ann!”

Jin called out to Reiko and Ann, and they already knew what to do.

“Yes, Father.”

“Yes, Master.”

With Reiko’s Peach Blossom and Ann’s Vibration Sword, the two Automata cut their way through the incoming gargoyles.

In an instant, Reiko had cut down six of them, while Ann took care of the remaining four.

“…! That… Last time, she…!

Dogmaraud of Kaijin had raised his voice in surprise.

“Dogmaraud, do you know her?”

“Yes, Father. I know her. That little girl is an Automata that not only managed to resist Lardus’ Gravity Magic, but also knocked him unconscious.”

“What!? You’re saying Lardus actually fought against this Automata?”

The one who jumped into the conversation was the Kaigyaku chief Bafrosk.

“…Lardus’ Gravity Magic is unmatched by anyone from our clan… and this girl resisted it?”

“That’s right. And he even used El Radlite against her, and she endured it as well!”

“What!?”

As they knew the meaning of those facts, they realized just how powerful Reiko was.

Reiko joined the Lands at the front line, and together they continued to cut down every gargoyle in their path until all but the black gargoyle were gone.

The black gargoyle had been staring at the battle from his position in mid-air, about 5 meters above ground, where he would be unreachable by swords.

“You are the only one left.”

When Jin (‘s Double) said that, the black gargoyle took out a Magi Crystal.

“…I will admit that you are strong. However, it’s still too early to think you’ve already defeated me.”

Then he threw the Magi Crystal he was holding.

“Transfer!”

No one knew what that Magi Crystal would have done, but Reiko still used her “Transfer Gun” to send it far away before it touched the ground.

“W-What!?”

“I don’t know what you were trying to do, but I’m not going to let you.”

“…”

For the first time in this fight, the black gargoyle seemed to be getting restless.

“You… Who are you people?”

“I am the Magi Craft Meister, Jin Nidou.”

“Magi Craft Meister?”

“That’s right. You might not know this, but us humans are making a lot of progress.”

Jin kept on talking and buying Laojun time so that he could finish his work.

No. 13 wasn’t here. He would have been most likely controlling that black gargoyle remotely from a base somewhere far away.

Therefore, rather than quickly defeating this black gargoyle, Jin kept on talking with him to gather as much information as possible.

“Don’t tell me… Are you the one who defeated 001?”

“Oh, so you know he was done in, huh? Not just ‘disappeared’ like you said before?”

Jin answered No. 13’s question in a provocative way. And sure enough, No. 13 fell for the taunt.

“I knew it…! Finding out that my comrade has been destroyed has filled me with a rage that cannot be quelled! Lose every single atom of Ether in your body and perish!”

“‘Magic Canceller’, activate!”

From the words of No. 13, Laojun guessed that he was about to unleash an Ether Stampede, and activated the Magic Canceller that had been installed in Pegasus 1 –which was standing by on the sky above the courtyard– for this very purpose.

At about the same time, Reiko also activated the portable Magic Canceller on her bracelet.

“Wh… What… h…”

No. 13’s voice became quieter and quieter until it could no longer be heard. Then the black gargoyle fell to its knees before collapsing on the spot, marking the end of the first battle against No. 13.

“It worked.”

The wave motion of the Magic Canceller nullified the magic waves of the unleashed Ether Stampede, eliminating its influence on the surroundings. Furthermore, it also interfered with the black gargoyle’s functions.

This wave motion continued on for about ten seconds just to make sure that the magic waves of the Ether Stampede were completely gone.

“Okay, Reiko, just to be careful, activate your Ether Jammer. Pegasus 1, after she’s done that, stop the Magic Canceller.”

As instructed, Reiko activated her Ether Jammer, and Pegasus 1 turned off its Magic Canceller so Reiko’s Ether Jammer started operating as soon as the irradiation from the Magic Canceller had stopped.

In this way, Jin and his group can use magic again.

“Okay, let’s take this thing apart.”

While asking Reiko to remain vigilant, Jin (‘s Double) carefully analyzed the black gargoyle.

“…Well, this is no different from anything I’ve seen before…”

As expected, it seemed that it was simply being remotely controlled.

“Just as I thought, it’s a ‘Formation’ type.”

There was no mistake there, since the black gargoyle had no muscle tissue nor skeleton.

“…This is its Control Core, and this… is this a Magi Reactor?”

It turned out that this black gargoyle was also using a Magi Reactor, instead of a Mana Driver + Ether Converter combination.

“But how… Ah, so this is how he made it.”

Instead of the twin Magi Crystal that Jin poured in so much time and effort into making, No. 13 had used a long columnar crystal, and wrote the relevant Magi Formulas on both of its ends.

“This might be very efficient, but does it reach 90% efficiency…?”

Muttering those words, Jin continued analyzing the black gargoyle’s empty shell.