Experimental Round GHOST-157 was originally created to kill what could not be killed.
Among such targets, the most representative were the Ether and ghost species, and indeed, Experimental Round GHOST-157 showed tremendous power against Ether.
A Grade-1 Named Demon, Durandal, the Noble of the Night, was also one of those targets.
Demons are inherently hard to kill.
Especially high-ranking ones like Durandal—it's even worse.
Proving that fact, Durandal had already begun transforming his body into bats to escape.
Not just a few, but hundreds, thousands of bats.
Each and every one of those bats, being part of Durandal, could restore him if even one survived—though in a weakened state.
It was one of the characteristics of demons, alongside ghost species, that granted them such tenacious vitality.
'Not that it matters.'
The only reason Durandal could maintain his existence even after splitting into thousands of bats was due to a single connecting link among them.
And now, I was able to sever that link in one shot.
Clack─
["…Ugh."]
Esther flinched upon seeing Experimental Round GHOST-157, but I didn't care. I switched the Ark-34 Automatic Conversion Rifle to Railgun Mode.
"Where do you think you're going?"
I aimed the Ark-34 Railgun.
The Ark-34 Railgun's power was only equivalent to a level 4 output compared to the Zeus-444 Railgun.
But even that was more than enough to deal with Durandal, who was already fleeing without his main body.
Tzzzt!
With a fierce spark, light burst from the barrel of the Ark-34 Railgun.
It looked somewhat feebler than before, for some reason, but that didn't mean the Ark-34's power could be dismissed.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA───!
The light of destruction swept over the swarm of bats that made up Durandal, and soon after, hundreds of bats began dropping helplessly.
As expected of a Grade-1 Named Demon—one shot wasn't enough.
Zing, chhk─
I switched the Ark-34 back to Automatic Mode.
The bullets currently loaded were Experimental Round GHOST-157.
From here on out, it was a battle against time.
Clack─
I didn't need any elaborate aiming.
After all, wherever I shot, it would hit.
Tatata-tang!────
The fired bullets zipped past the horde of beasts and grazed the swarm of Durandal's bats.
There was no need to hit the rapidly darting bats directly.
It was enough to sever the link between the bats.
[Kihek!]
[Pfffk!]
Sure enough, the bats that had been scattering everywhere began to drop one by one.
It meant the connecting link that sustained Durandal's existence was being cut by Experimental Round GHOST-157.
["Ah, damn..."]
Even so, the beast horde didn't stop charging at me, and the Ether barrier Esther had painstakingly created couldn't hold out any longer.
Crack──!
The Ether barrier finally shattered, and the beast horde bared its fangs at me in earnest.
["Master!"]
But I wasn't alone.
Horus had arrived at my feet and lifted me up again, unleashing bony tendrils around us.
[Kihehehek!]
KWA-KAK!
KWA-KWA-KWAK!
Thanks to Horus's protection, my hands were free once more, and I pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Every time Experimental Round GHOST-157 grazed past, Durandal's bats fell rapidly.
By the time white smoke began to spew from the Ark-34 automatic rifle, Durandal, the Noble of the Night, no longer existed.
[You have slain the Grade-1 Named Demon: Durandal, the Noble of the Night!]
[A Named Monster has been slain.]
['Beast Hunter' effect is applied at 10x potency.]
[Damage against First-Class Demon, Noble of the Night, increases by 0.5%.]
[You have slain the Noble of the Night. The other Nobles of the Night will now be watching you.]
[Honor stat has increased.]
[12 → 13]
The bats that once were Durandal lost all strength and plummeted to the ground.
Unfortunately, due to the circumstances, there wasn't time to devour part of Durandal's remains.
In fact, it was doubtful whether any part of him could be found among the heaps of corpses on the ground.
["…Hey, Master. If you're done with your business, can you please put away that horrific thing? I'm too scared to even poke my head out."]
There was no time to joke around with Esther, so I removed Experimental Round GHOST-157 from the magazine and returned it to the ammo pouch.
["Phew...."]
Only then did Esther peek her face out again, letting out a deep sigh.
It seemed she had been feeling a great deal of pressure just from the fact that GHOST-157 was nearby.
'Now then...'
I shifted my gaze.
For now, I was holding out thanks to Horus's evasive maneuvers and fierce defense alongside Janus, but it seemed I would soon need to assist with the beast horde as well.
I once again took out the BLT-47 Plasma Launcher and ICE-54 Plasma Cooler.
In this situation, being in the heart of the enemy's stronghold, there was no better combination.
"Let's go."
The light and cold radiating from both hands began sweeping through the surroundings.
* * *
The tide of the battle wasn't bad.
No, if anything, the Kronos Union was holding off the wave much more easily than expected.
"These bastards aren't so tough after all!"
"Compared to skirmishing with beasts outside, this is paradise, absolute paradise!"
Of course, to be precise, only the vanguard—the flying-type beasts—had been deployed so far.
Once the full wave commenced and the entire beast horde attacked in earnest, this sense of ease would inevitably vanish.
'But still...'
For some reason, Staff Sergeant Alex Hope couldn't take his eyes off the Kronos Union's forces.
As if trying to memorize even the smallest detail of how the Kronos Union looked in action.
'Each and every soldier's training… it's not ordinary. No, maybe it's only natural.'
The Kronos Union.
He had vaguely thought of them only as a looming threat, but seeing them with his own eyes changed everything.
This was the Rose Line.
The very place that housed the elite of the Ark—the concentration of their strongest military power.
Yet even to Staff Sergeant Alex Hope, a gate supervisor of such a place, the level of the Kronos Union didn't seem inferior in the slightest.
No—in some aspects, their soldiers even surpassed those of the Rose Line.
'More than anything...'
There were several individuals whose presence on the frontline was unmistakably distinct.
Lania Marcus, the younger sister of Carl Marcus, was one such figure.
"Watch out!"
Staff Sergeant Alex Hope saved a soldier of the Kronos Union who had nearly died before his eyes.
If he had been a second slower, the soldier would have been crushed by a boulder hurled by a flying-type beast.
"Phew… I almost died. Thanks."
Though his words were rough, the soldier of the Kronos Union gave a crooked smile and patted Alex Hope's shoulder.
"…It's nothing. I was just doing my job."
With an indescribable feeling, Alex Hope turned his gaze back to the battlefield.
"...."
There they were—soldiers of the Kronos Union, fighting on the battlefield.
In a way, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they were bleeding for the sake of Ark right now.
Even if there were political or self-serving reasons behind it, that much was undeniable.
"…Kronos Union."
He had no intention of questioning the Rose Cross Knights' decision now.
The Rose Cross Knights' command was absolute, and they existed solely to safeguard Ark's security and future.
But it was all the more important to understand.
Who these people really were.
* * *
Flashes and cold air swept across the battlefield.
Again and again, without pause.
The plasma energy poured forth, freezing and incinerating beasts and monsters.
[GRAAAAGH────!]
After stomping the head of a flying beast with my combat greaves, I fired the repulsor—its head exploded.
Using the recoil, I launched myself through the air, trampling the heads of more beasts as I crossed the battlefield.
[Grgh! Grrrgh!]
[KYAAAAAAAA!]
The beasts and monsters shrieked hideously as they charged at me.
A moment of deadly tension.
But I wasn't alone.
[Gigit!]
From the center of Wings of Ankelenth, bone tendrils had grown into a massive tree that engulfed the entire area.
Not just any tree.
This one, made of living bone tendrils, moved on its own—piercing, devouring every beast and monster in range.
[Kihehehek!]
Horus wasn't idle either.
Every time he swung his massive tail—armored like the Scales of Ouroboros—a tidal wave of air slammed through the beasts, crushing them mercilessly.
CRACK!
KRAAANG!
Esther, not to be outdone, drew deeply from the Ether, delicately severing the wings of the flying-type beasts.
[Tear it?]
[Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut.]
[Cut it away....]
Utterly subtle attacks.
Which made them all the more effective.
[KYAAA!]
[KEHEEEK....]
Thud, thud.
Beasts and monsters plummeted helplessly from the sky, their wings sliced.
The ones that crashed collided with the ground troops below, creating further secondary damage.
["Master!"]
But I couldn't let my guard down.
Most attacks didn't get through to me, protected by Janus's sturdy armor—but not all.
I was still human, and major impacts transmitted force even through the armor.
THUUUUD──!
A swarm of Grade-3 Aerial Beasts—Sky Whales—charged at me with their massive bodies.
A reckless, brainless body slam.
But its effect was undeniable.
"Ugh..."
The force knocked me back through the air.
The moment I was disoriented, other beasts pounced and instantly surrounded me.
["Get out of the way!"]
Esther shouted urgently.
I wanted to—but the situation didn't allow it.
[KRAAAAK!]
[KUEHEHEK!]
The beasts closed in around me.
Janus extended bone tendrils in desperation, but even they couldn't withstand such overwhelming numbers.
[KRAAK!]
[KYAAK!]
Janus kept piercing and devouring the incoming swarm, but it wasn't enough.
'They really are… endless.'
This wasn't just a multi-wave—it was five waves stacked together.
That meant the number of enemies was five times greater, at minimum.
It was inevitable that Janus was being overwhelmed purely by numbers.
'Not like I'm planning to die here.'
This was like bees surrounding a hornet.
The bees' stingers might not hurt the hornet, but by clustering and raising their body temperature, they can kill it.
Just like that, the beasts' attacks couldn't inflict fatal damage on me for now—but if I remained, I'd eventually be crushed.
'Time to go.'
The solution was simple.
Just escape from here.
[Activating 'Rift Shift']