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Chapter 289 part 2

Racing like a storm from the rear lines, a colossal ogre puppet with two faces and four arms stood before Dran and Leania’s Gambelns, issuing a declaration of war while exuding a chilling resolve akin to ice and snow.

The ogre presented an uncanny visage, with a male and female figure seamlessly melded together, adorned with crimson-black horns emerging from a finely crafted forehead. The male, with obsidian skin, faced right, while the female, with porcelain skin, faced left.

Positioned towards Dran and his troop, the man brandished a heavily curved katana in his left hand and a chain imbued with formidable binding magic in his right. The woman clutched a spear tipped with crystal in her left hand and a club radiating a ruby-like glow in her right.

They wore sandals on their two feet, enchanted with magic to bolster leg strength and facilitate aerial movement. Their back-to-back torsos were encased in gray leather armor of unique form, and they secured magic belts adorned with dense gold embroidery around their waists.

Every piece of equipment worn by the ogre puppet, including tear-shaped earrings and necklaces wrapped multiple times with gold and silver, was of top-tier magical armament.

Apart from the peculiarity of their huge size, similar to that of Gambeln, the tremendous magical power emanating from their entire body and the formidable fighting spirit of the living puppet were keenly felt by Leania and Mer-Allen in the cockpit.

Through the magical projection of images, the scenery around them appeared dauntingly imposing even from the cockpit, evoking a sense of intimidation as if their necks could be severed even through the projected image.

While Dran and the others were exposed, they faced unparalleled intimidation compared to Leania and Mer-Allen. Yet, Dran stood firm, unperturbed like the breeze flowing through.

「Hmm, Vengittas, I see you also have a trump card within you. The most powerful one might be the first, but won’t it show up?」

The orge Vengitta, in their physically fused form of a man and woman, responded to Dran’s inquiry without any noticeable anxiety, almost surprisingly, as if it was engaging in casual small talk. A deep male voice resonating like echoes from the depths of the earth and a beautiful female voice reminiscent of the celestial melody of a flute descending from the heavens spoke simultaneously.

「I, too, am us, and I am Vengitta. It is futile to differentiate between destroying the original me and destroying this present self.」

「Wait, So, as long as there’s one Vengitta left in the bunch, it still counts as the whole deal? And if there’s no queen bee or nucleus type, then yeah, this is gonna be a pain.」

「To me, to us, it’s actually you who’s the pain. How admirably you prepared for our arrival in such a short period since the declaration of war!」

「They say insults from enemies are the best compliments, huh? So, do you sometimes have a special name within Vengittas? I mean, you might just see yourself as a part of it, but I kinda want to make that distinction. If you don’t have a name, I’ll just go with something simple like Ogre Vengitta, okay?」

The name came across as overly simplistic, lacking in finesse, and it did not align with the artistic flair of the Vengittas. Furthermore, the reverence it held for the formidable adversary the orge puppet was based upon barred it to not allow such a straightforward naming.

「This is the vessel once embodying the harmony of yin and yang, modeled after the divine spirit Agila. It cannot be treated on par with an ogre. If you dare to distinguish it from Vengitta, our masterpiece, our puppetry, then let me be called Agitta.」

Dran pondered whether Agitta was shorthand for Agila Vengitta. Wasn’t that a bit of a simplistic name? He mused over it but held back from vocalizing his thoughts.

From the Vengitta—no, from Agitta’s words, there emanated a sincere respect for their past formidable foe. If that were true, then it would be rather uncouth to imitate such behavior.

「Well then, let me call you, who’s standing in front of me, Agitta in honor of the former Demon God. Now, Agitta, just so you know, not a single strand of my lady’s hair will be handed over to you. Sadly, she’s mine, and I’m hers.」

「Well, am I merely an illicit vulgar then? Kukukukuku, unfortunately, my pursuit of that woman is not driven by love, but rather, by the quest for the crystallization of beauty revealed in this world!!」

Agitta lifted the crescent moon katana in his right hand, and eerie red-black hues emerged on the katana, hinting at the hidden power within.

It appeared as though a red pulsating crescent moon had arisen in the sky, regardless of the presence of the sun. It emanated an unspeakable foreboding and a premonition of death that caused even the bravest lionfolk to hold its breath.

「Leania.」

It was Dran’s calm call that saved Leania, who was ensnared by the doll modeled after a demon god, from the paralysis that had seized her mind and body. The voice of the strongest and oldest dragon turned the paralysis into nothingness.

In an instant, Leania’s amber eyes regained their resolute yet fiery gleam as she intercepted the crescent katana, dripping with a light resembling eerie red-black colors, by supporting her mace with a shield.

With a fierce roar, the magical furnace housed within the Gambeln surged, infusing its limbs with added power, while at the same time, protective enchantments extended across each part, originating from the joints, activating to counter the force emanating from the crescent katana.

Quicker than Agitta’s spear and club could move, with a clang and the sound of steel and gears grinding, the magical cannon on Gambeln’s back was already aimed toward Agitta’s chest.

「Go DIE!」

Pressing the buttons on the control stick with her thumbs, Leania directed a series of pure magic cannonballs at Agitta. Dran joined in, mercilessly pounding the demon god puppet with thirteen energy bolt bolts and prismatic magic arrows.

Like living serpents, the chains held by Agitta’s hand moved autonomously, ensnaring and shattering the magic-infused projectiles and barrages of prismatic arrows fired from the state-of-the-art Romal Empire’s Magic Control Armor.

「Hmm, decent handling of projectiles, slightly above average. A sacred weapon, I presume, or perhaps a spoils of war from the demon gods?」

The whirl of chains came to a halt, and with Agitta left unharmed, Mer-Allen and Leania, positioned behind it, launched a coordinated attack simultaneously.

Agitta, with a 360-degree field of vision, could track Mer-Allen’s movements and showed no perturbation at being attacked from a blind spot. The man’s crescent katana and the woman’s club were aimed at Leania and Dran, while the man’s chain-holding hand and the woman’s spear-holding hand targeted Mer-Allen at the rear.

There was no call to signal. Leania and Mer-Allen, with Dran aboard, interspersed their magic cannon fire with strikes from the maces on both machines, focused their attention on parrying the crescent katana and the club with their shields while exchanging shots from their magic cannons and striking with the maces equipped on their mech.

With each exchange, the defensive magic on the shields activated, scattering bluish-white light around. The Agitta could either block their maces by skillfully wielding its weapons or dodge by using nimble body movements.

「If I weren’t enhanced, I wouldn’t have been able to follow it with my eyes.」

Leania clenched her teeth in humiliation, realizing that without the reflex and thought-speed enhancements provided by the Magic Control Armor and the boarding suit’s enhancing magic, the battle would not have been possible.

Initially, Leania had underestimated the Armor, thinking it to be just an upgraded model of the Gambei. However, when she piloted itand witnessed its capabilities, she was astonished at what she was up against. Now, reality had her relying on its performance for her survival.

「Is this thing just puppet?」

Meanwhile, Mer-Allen also felt as though he was confronting a demon god itself. He felt the cold sweat bead on his cheeks and spine as he encountered the enemy’s prowess that was far beyond the norm in the northern wilderness.

Although he was a first-class warrior, the prospect of taking on this demon god puppet in unarmed combat was not something he relished. Unless he belonged to the rare few with extraordinary combat abilities, he doubted he could even survive a fight.

「Hmm!」

「GOOOOAHHHH!」