You'll Regret It
Guild Rank 3 — the Magic Engineering Guild.
Because the guild had grown so steeply compared to other top-ranked guilds, it lacked both sheer numbers and individual strength among its members.
Right now, the only ones who could truly be called 'elite' were the five elders. Plenty of ordinary guild members existed beyond them, but not a single one was strong enough to take part in this battle.
Clang! Clatter!
But it didn't matter.
"Golem deployment complete."
"Defense towers are done as well."
"Weapons are ready too."
Because their fighting power wasn't limited to 'players' alone.
Countless golems vented rough mana as they prepared for war, and the defense towers took aim at the stolen floating ships hanging in the sky beyond. And last of all, there were the magic-engineering weapons worn on their very bodies.
The guildmaster who commanded all of it — Robus Offer — slowly rose into the air.
Crack-krakoom!
At last, the shield shattered, and the blood cannons of the floating ships began firing down at the city.
"It begins!"
The one who opened the war alongside Robus's roar was Golem Lover's Gigant-class war machine. As the twenty-meter-tall engine of destruction extended its hand, a colossal fist of mana condensed out of thin air and smashed straight through the stream of blood.
Ilmacheonwang, floating high above, possessed power on par with a mid-tier demon — but at the moment, that power had been drastically reduced. What he could currently unleash was only that of a 'low-tier demon,' and the strength permitted to him in this battle was...
Ssshhraaap!
...something lower still. 'Leo'-level.
The blood energy scattered by the mana fist clumped back together and chased after it. The stream of blood immediately tried to crush or contaminate the descending fist, but it was halted by a blue barrier.
"Blocked it! Kill it, quickly!"
Defense towers stood scattered across the kingdom, and from the tower where two enormous gears faced each other, a force-limiting barrier continued to pour forth without pause.
KWAAANG!
A small ship drenched in blood took the mana fist head-on and plummeted from the sky. The falling vessel was swallowed by the stream of blood and vanished somewhere, gone for good.
Watching it, Robus's brow furrowed.
...So when they're retired, they just get pulled out automatically?
Broken floating ships weren't recycled — they were removed from the battle entirely. Perhaps that was Lily's own odd little form of consideration.
"What the? The ship just disappeared."
"The condition was to neutralize the ship. It got neutralized, so they're honoring it, I suppose."
"...So you're saying they're going easy on us?"
"It's a test, plain and simple."
"God, that's so unfair."
"Agreed."
Robus nodded at the Craft Empress's words as she drew near, then rose even higher. Below, Golem Lover hurled out every remaining golem to drop as many ships as possible, while Ino-o and Cais used the defense towers to block as much of the bombardment as they could.
Offensive towers existed too, of course, but in this situation, minimizing damage meant squeezing every last drop out of the defensive ones.
But those golems, and those defense towers — they're all made of the same material.
With only slight modifications and adjustments, they had been built the exact same way as the floating ships. Right now they looked like they could put up a real fight, but if Lily lifted a single finger, they too could be seized and piloted like the ships were.
This was an impossible fight from the very start.
It wasn't simply a matter of matchup. It was a phenomenon born from the very foundation of magic-engineering technology. Lily had intended it this way — but who could have known it would end up tripping them at their own feet?
Yet even in this very moment, Lily hadn't laid a hand on a single golem or building, facing them down all the same. As if holding back the vast majority of their strength — the way one would against a small child.
"How insolent of them."
Vmmm-hmmmnn...!
One arm of Robus's suit transformed into a massive cannon barrel. Mythic-grade mana — an absurd, monstrous quantity of it — surged toward a single point, condensing, preparing one devastating shot. The surrounding mana began to churn.
So without the floating ships, they're nothing? Nothing worth even stealing?
Then by all means, endure this.
Let's see if this Mythic-grade power fails to reach you!
At last, blue mana erupted from the enormous cannon barrel—
"...!"
Three medium-class ships sank.
Thirty minutes had passed since the war between the Magic Engineering Guild and the wicked villain Ilmacheonwang had begun.
Amid the fierce back-and-forth, thirty-three small ships and five medium ships had already sunk and been transported to another space, and the ships kept going down one after another. Ilmacheonwang continued to fire blood cannons through the floating ships' gun barrels, but they were blocked again and again by the golems and defensive turrets, failing to inflict any real damage.
That's not to say the attacks were without effect. Under the relentless barrage, four Gigant-class golems and eleven Titan-class golems had been crushed, along with countless lesser golems, and the defense turrets had taken damage as well.
But not a single casualty had occurred.
"The name really isn't just for show, is it?"
"Mmhm."
Leo and I watched the whole spectacle with popcorn in hand, Leo's cheeks stuffed absolutely bulging with it.
Poke.
The moment I pressed one finger into her full cheek — poof! — popcorn launched into the air. Leo's eyes snapped wide open, and at a truly terrifying speed she snapped the airborne popcorn right back into her mouth.
It was lightning-fast — no, seriously, her body practically turned into a current of electricity. Snatch.
"Nom nom."
"Leo versus Sword God, you mean?"
Hmm... It was true that both were talented and both were strong. But up until the Siege Warfare, Leo absolutely could not beat Sword God. Eight or nine times out of ten he'd win, and even the remaining one or two matches you couldn't have guaranteed either way.
That's how strong Sword God was.
But now — with Sword God having lost his sword, and Leo having achieved Unity with her spirits?
Maybe Leo actually had a chance.
"Leo?"
"Mmmph. Yeah~?"
"If you fought Sword God, who do you think would win?"
"...Hmmmm."
Leo's small hand stopped mid-popcorn. Then, gulp! — she swallowed, propped that tiny hand under her chin, and continued her solemn deliberation.
"Hmmm..."
"......"
"Mmmmmmm... mmhmm..."
"......"
"Mmm... blegch."
"Okay, never mind."
To anyone else, it would look like Leo was dodging an awkward question. My read was different. Now that she'd become a Nymph, Leo simply wasn't the type to walk on eggshells. That's not to say she was stupid or careless — she just wasn't built to avoid a situation just because it was uncomfortable.
The reason she was deliberating was closer to this: she genuinely didn't know who would win.
With an ordinary sword, the odds would probably be fifty-fifty. And the better the sword, the more the odds would tilt toward Sword God.
After all, he'd been Rank 1 even before he acquired his legendary blade. If he were still in the same state as right after the World Tree, Leo would win — but he wouldn't have just been sitting idle, and if further updates came after the Great Cataclysm, the question would sink even deeper into the fog.
Still, in the end, I'd put my money on Le—
KWAAAAAANG!!
Just as I sank into my own deliberation, something came flying at us and slammed into the ground. A battered, wounded Ino-o propped herself up on her gauntlets, gasping for breath.
"Jeez... frontal fights really are...?"
"Having a hard time?"
"...What the hell. Popcorn? Really?"
Ino-o scowled as she took in the sight of Leo and me lounging back, munching away. And for the record, we weren't watching from some safe distance — we were spectating directly in front of the golem exhibition hall.
"You're seriously eating popcorn right now?"
"Everybody's got to eat to live. That's just how the world works."
"Mmhm."
"......"
Ino-o seemed about to spit out a curse, but then a boom! rang out and she whipped her head around. Two more medium ships had sunk under the fire of Robus's cannon.
His firepower accounted for forty percent of the guild's total strength — and her face lit up with hope.
"Ha! All that big talk, and there's nothing special about you at all, is there?"
"Mm."
"Half the ships are already down, and sure, we've taken damage, but nothing serious."
The golems and defense towers were supplementary. As long as the elders and the guildmaster — the ones capable of manufacturing countless weapons — remained alive, the guild's fighting power never truly diminished. No matter how badly things broke, you could gather the wreckage and reassemble them in something close to a fresh summoning, and they'd be rebuilt in no time.
If time simply kept flowing like this, dropping every last floating ship would be entirely within reach.
Ino-o's eyes went wide, and she jabbed a finger at us.
"Don't tell me! You're not about to step in yourselves once every ship is destroyed, are you? 'Actually, we were the masterminds all along' — something like that?"
"Of course not. We keep our promises."
"Then why did you even—"
"...Fine. Then there really isn't much left."
Ino-o thought it through. The ships remaining were a tiny handful of small vessels and five medium ships. And the large ship that still stood proudly aloft, carrying Ilmacheonwang.
It was a ship still under construction, half-completed from fatigue and battle damage — but a large ship was a large ship, and it still projected a considerable threat of firepower.
But if that was truly all that remained of their strength...
Now it's really over.
"You're going to regret this. Both of you."
Crackle.
"...It is complete."
"Huh?"
"Eh?!"
With the guildmaster's small murmur, light surged up from the three spires standing across the kingdom. Three pillars of light, condensed from an absolutely enormous volume of mana.
The three lights converged into one and hurled themselves toward somewhere—
—and sank into the several-hundred-meter golem statue that loomed behind the golem exhibition hall where we were sitting.
RRRUMMMBLE...!!
Leo's eyes went perfectly round and her mouth fell open — but only for a moment.
"Is that thing seriously a gol—"
The large ship sank.