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Chapter 217

As they dove into the control room where the control center is, Gandoga-Sofd’s vision saw a truly chaotic situation.

The control room was extremely vast, and there was a pillar in the center of the room running from the floor to the ceiling, with three pathways extending from it.

The distance in height from the pathways to the bottom floor was terrifyingly far, and the distance to the ceiling was equally far.

And right in the middle of one of these pathways, the Tenkeiki had collapsed face-first, and the people clad in all black were there as well. It seems they were in the midst of fighting each other to steal the control room.

Against the ones covered in black, who were fighting by making grotesque beasts and insects appear from their bodies, the Tenkeiki fought back using the equipment left behind by the Celestial Beings. Mixed in at the base of the pillar were people dressed in Korato-style clothing.

「Fumu, so this means that those people over there are the masterminds behind this incident. And as for the Professor…」

「No, no, no, it’s not every day that you get to work in such a dangerous situation, Eliza!」

「Yes, you’re right, Professor」

There it was. Edward, with his voice as cheerful as usual, was busy operating the terminal connected by a cord to the pillar, from within the square of light that Eliza seemed to be deploying.

The square of light that Eliza was using was the holy magic called “Holy Wall,” which she activated by praying to the goddess Mairahl. It was a barrier of divine light that was especially effective against undead and demonic beings. By the way, the Holy Wall was a blessing that most gods could provide, not just Mairahl.

「Professor and Miss Eliza, you’re both really courageous to still be able to smile as usual in a situation like this」

In the vicinity of Edward and the others, Koura and Sheila were making full use of their abilities to scatter the attacking Tenkeiki and their defensive weapons, as well as the demonic beasts unleashed by the ones wearing black clothing.

There doesn’t seem to be much of a difference in combat power between the ones in black and the ones who are occupying the facility, but that is in large part due to Lynette crushing the occupying side’s strongest force, Kyrlinne.

Lynette had Gandoga Sofd fly the shortest distance to get to Edward and the others, while only fighting those who got in the way of her flight path, and she even took care to not let them fall off the pathway.

Edward and the others were surprised by the Gandoga Sofd and how quickly it had approached, but they remembered it was just the golem that Lynette had summoned earlier before entering the control room, and they relaxed their guard.

When Gandoga Sofd appeared, it came with the realization that Kyrlinne must have been defeated, which caused the ones working at the base of the pillar to begin retreating to the other end of the pathway, bringing a few guards along with them.

「Professor, Miss Eliza, this is Lynette. The Tenkeiki from earlier has been neutralized」

「Haha, so it’s you, Lynette, that golem of yours surprised us, but I’m glad you’re safe!」

「Sheila and the others seem to be fighting bravely as well. Professor, how is your work progressing? Considering the current situation, I think we’ve reached the point where we should consider retreating, but…」

「Yeah, I’ve tried to make contact with the central pillar, but it’s no good, my technology isn’t good enough to overwrite the command authority. I was able to find out the name of the current alteration at least, but yeah, we should retreat now. Look, those guys have decided to abandon this facility too」

Edward was looking at the figures of the occupying forces as they began to retreat. The ones in black were also devoting more manpower towards pursuing them.

This was Edward, who was somewhat famous as a researcher of the Celestial Beings’ ruins. The ones in black had probably recognized him just by seeing his face.

Edward pulled the cords out of the main computer of the cylindrical pillar, putting away the 3D image of the terminal.

As he did this, the missiles released by the Tenkeiki changed direction and crashed into the wall, and the hungry snakes at Edward and Eliza’s feet were hit by stray bullets and they dispersed.

In both of those cases, Sheila had used her ability, Incomplete Tamper, to rewrite the fate of the missiles that were supposed to hit them, so that instead they did not get hit. She did the same to the centipede-snakes so that they couldn’t get near Edward and the others.

In addition to Sheila, Mace also used Sight Jumper to move things in his field of vision around, creating chaos on the battlefield, and controlling the situation so that the enemies would have no time to move towards them.

While Sheila and the others were busy stalling for time so they could create a good opportunity to retreat, Koura, who had temporarily stopped fighting, finished unfolding Perfect World, and he looked back at Edward and Eliza as he spoke in his usual, uniquely stilted intonation.

「Preparations, complete. Go first, Professor, Miss Eliza, please」

「Thanks, Koura. Now then, everyone, don’t let down your guards until we all make it back home. If all goes well, we’ll all get home unharmed, so please don’t relax yet」

「Koura, Cacubus, Mace, Sheila, and Lynette, all of you hurry up and come here too, please」

After Edward and Eliza entered Perfect World, Cacubus, Mace, and Sheila followed them inside. There might have been some among the ones in black who could perceive Perfect World, but they were prioritizing their retreat, and it took all they had to move fast enough to run away.

「Lynette, you too, hurry inside」

「No, I will act as the rear guard here. I have detected multiple heat sources rapidly approaching. It is the remaining Tenkeiki from Todorokuni. They seem to be in the middle of fighting, but they will soon show up here in the control room. Koura, hurry and take the Professor and the others outside」

「But, that is… No, I understand. I’m sorry, to leave it to you, once again. Lynette, please stay safe」

Lynette watched until Koura, with an expression of deep sorrow on his face as he spoke, entered the Perfect World and disappeared, and then a gentle smile rose to her face from inside Gandoga Sofd.

「I’m happy that you’re able to say such things now. I have no intention of becoming a sacrifice for you all to escape, so no need to worry.

Now then, defeating Kyrlinne alone isn’t good enough of a present to bring back to Master Dran, so for me, this is a good development, fumu, fumu」

When Lynette muttered that second “fumu,” a corner of the control room near the ceiling burst into flames, and two figures flew into the room through the debris and the flames.

The first one had a more mature face than the standard Tenkeiki, and although she wore blue armor of the same design as Kyrlinne, she had a long-barreled rifle in her right hand, a six-barreled gatling gun in her left, and two more guns hanging on her back.

Based on the information Lynette had gotten from Kyrlinne and the information that had been sent to her by Dreadnought, she immediately concluded that this was Kyrlinne’s counterpart, the femme fatale that specializes in artillery, known as Gundeus.

And the one who had been fighting Gundeus up until now, and was just as heavily armed as Gundeus, was Shion.

She had a gatling gun on her back that came attached with a shield, a rifle with a long blade attached gripped in her right hand, and a thick, gray shield in her left hand, while there was some kind of gun barrel showing from both sides of her waist.

「Lord Kyoukaikun has made up his mind. He will use the remaining Tenkeiki to recover control of the management facility, even if it may result in the worst possible outcome of losing the remaining Tenkeiki if they make a single mistake. But in this case, this was an excellent decision」

The other remaining Tenkeiki from Korato besides Shion had rushed into this facility, and were engaging in battle in various different places. As the people from the occupying forces were withdrawing, it could be said that the recapture of the facility of Korato was starting to reach a stage of success.

The occupants had self-destruct orders if they destroyed the facility too, but Dreadnought had already successfully disarmed that. The identities of the occupants weren’t known, but with this, Korato had prevented being overwhelmed one-sidedly by Todorokuni.

「My goal is to buy enough time until the Professor and the others are far enough away, but I was thinking I could bring one of these back home. Well, that might be me being too greedy」

After getting noticed by Lynette as well as the remaining people in black, Gundeus and Shion changed their battle stances. Lynette also re-analyzed the battle situation, and decided that Gandogo Sofd was not suitable for this situation, in this control room with this much open space.

「Now then, let’s change to match our guests」

Before Gundeus and Shion could even make a move, the shadow at Gandoga Sofd’s feet began to squirm like a living thing, and in the blink of an eye, it swallowed up Gandoga Sofd, and the parts that made up Sofd were replaced with other parts and armaments stored inside the shadow.

Four large wings extended from its back, a rifle with a giant battle axe blade was held in its right hand, three pairs of small wings were attached to its legs, and with armor that is mostly white with some splashes of purple, it had changed into its air combat specialized version, the Gandoga Kanafu.

Perhaps because they had judged that the Gandoga in its changed form was another legacy of the Celestial Beings or another weapon brought in by the occupying forces, not only Gundeus, but also Shion were clearly ready for battle, which was convenient for Lynette.

Right now, Korato and Arkrest were cooperating with each other, but there is no telling how things will change in the future. In that case, it would not be a bad idea to measure Shion’s fighting capabilities, as she is probably the strongest force in Korato.

The entry of Korato’s forces had come too early and was too unexpected for the ones clad in balck, so they were beginning to flee the scene while collecting the corpses of their allies.

For them, if this facility is going to be returned to Korato, then it wasn’t worth it to force themselves to steal occupation of it. If anything, the more important goal was to find out the identities of the occupants.

So it was more convenient this way, Lynette thought as she overlooked their retreat. The only ones left in the room were the three people created for the convenience of humans, who chose to fight for the convenience of humans too.

These three people with such odd similarities faced each other, and now, their battle was about to begin.