NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60: Repelled the Magic Cannon
===???===
「THE N-NO LIFE KING IS APPROACHING OUR DIRECTION AT AN UNBELIEVABLE SPEED!」
「CHARGING COMPLETE! READY TO FIRE!」
The genius sorcerer Melvin didn't even seem perturbed upon seeing the fast approaching great disaster-class being.
On the contrary, he laughed heartily.
「HYOHOHOHOHO! IT'S SHOWTIME! WE'RE GOING TO WITNESS THE POWER OF THE MAGIC CANNON MADE WITH THE CULMINATION OF EMPIRE'S MAGECRAFT AS IT CARVES ITS NAME IN HISTORY!」
And then, he started the countdown.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1―
「FIREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!」
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===A Certain Undead With Communication Disorder===
KACHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A thunderous sound resounded as compressed mana clashed with more compressed mana.
It reached a stalemate in just a moment.
But a moment later, it became clear that my compressed mana was superior.
「HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
I raised a warcry as I pushed back a beam of compressed mana at once.
The beam of compressed mana flicked toward the sky.
「…Fuuh.」
I heaved a sigh upon seeing that.
When I looked down, I noticed that the black-clothed person who I carried under my armpit had already passed out.
「Yeah, I guess I should leave him in this place.」
Thus, I tossed him casually toward a nearby patch of grass.
That man would only be a hindrance if they fired the compressed mana again.
I wanted to make him tell me the whereabouts of the Empress, but even an idiot knew that she was in the castle.
Finding her would be simple enough after I entered the imperial capital.
And then, I walked toward the imperial capital.
I couldn't feel another sign of the gigantic amount of mana rising from that giant cannon again even after waiting for a while.
It seemed they couldn't fire that cannon in succession.
Upon closer inspection, the soldiers standing above the rampart seemed to have lost their cool. Maybe they never expected that I would manage to protect myself from that blast.
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===???===
「…Eh?」
Melvin had a dumbfounded look on his face.
The mana was charged to the brim, and the aim of the cannon was perfect.
That blast should have hit the target.
And yet… the No Life King came out of that collision practically unscathed.
「Did he just… REPEL THE MAGIC CANNON?!」
A few seconds later, Melvin screamed, mouth agape as if his lower jaw almost fell on the floor.
Yes.
Yes, though it sounded like a big fat lie, the moment the beam of light fired by magic cannon hit the No Life King, it suddenly changed direction. It was almost like it got reflected, drew a long trail, and vanished beyond the sky.
…As a side note, he couldn't see the moment when the No Life King punched the beam of compressed mana with his fist clad in mana.
「O-O-O, ONE MORE TIME! FIRE IT AGAIIIIIIIIIIN!!」
「W-WE CAN'T! IT'LL TAKE A LONG TIME TO RECHARGE THE MAGIC CANNON TO THE BRIM LIKE BEFORE! IN ADDITION, IF WE'RE NOT WAITING FOR THE PRISONER OF WARS TO RECOVER THEIR MANA, FIRING IT WITH THE SAME POWER AS BEFORE IS JU—!」
「SHUT UP AND DO AS I SAY…! SOMETHING… MUST BE WRONG WITH THE PREVIOUS SHOT! YEAH, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!」
Melvin, who lost his cool, couldn't judge the situation with a level head.
===???===
On the other hand, right at the same time, a certain platinum-rank adventurer saw the whole thing from above the fortress―
「H-H-H-H-H… HE REPELLED THAT BEAM OF COMPRESSED MANAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!」
She fell on her rear with a thud.
「H-HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…」
She tried to escape from that place, but her body refused to stand properly. Thus, she literally crawled her way out to get as far as possible from the rampart.
「T-This Empire is done for… more… I have to escape to an even further place…!」
…Naturally, she had no idea that the No Life King that made her scared shi*tless didn't actually come for her.
===???===
Messengers were coming in and out the audience room one after another to report the situation to Empress Deodora.
「H-HER HIGHNESS! R-REPORTING…! THE MAGIC CANNON… HIT THE NO LIFE KING…!」
The Empress, who sat elegantly in her throne, nodded in satisfaction upon hearing the report.
「Uhm, good job. I'll reward Melvin appropriately after this.」
And then, her line of sight turned toward the female Holy Knight.
She was fully enjoying the situation by looking at the female Holy Knight's expression.
「Unfortunately, your guess was wrong. As you can see, even the great disaster-class undead was nothing before our Empire's magecraft.」
But the female Holy Knight―Limule—looked to the side as if ignoring the Empress before the latter could even finish her remark.
「What are you talking about? The one who guessed correctly was me. You've yet to hear the report till the end.」
「What?」
When the Empress looked at the messenger with a frown on her face, the messenger continued his report, his face drenched with sweat.
「B-BUT… THE NO LIFE KING… IS UNSCATHED! COMPLETELY UNSCATHED…!」
「W-WHAT?!」
The Empress unintentionally stood up from her throne.
Her calm expression was shaken for the first time.
「You mean, he is unscathed after receiving a direct hit… Not because he dodged it? That's impossible! That's impossible. That magic cannon's power was supposed to be equal to the aggregate power of a few hundred mages, you know?!」
In contrast to the Empress who lost her cool and screamed upon hearing the supposedly impossible situation, now it was the female Holy Knight's turn to sneer at her.
「I told you before, right? You cannot defeat that guy.」
「B-BE QUIET, LASS! OUR EMPIRE HAS YET TO LOSE! ALL PERSONNEL, GET READY TO AMBUSH THAT UNDEAD!」
The Empress ordered her personnel to ambush the No Life King.
A new messenger came in and gave a report. His face looked like that of a soldier routed by the enemy's attack.
「REPORTING! T-THE GATE,,, THE GATE HAS ALREADY BEEN BREACHED!!」
「WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!」
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===A Certain Undead With Communication Disorder===
「FIRING SQUAD, READY!―FIREEE!」
The thing that was fired by the soldiers from on top of the rampart was a lump of iron spinning at an unbelievable speed.
Although those iron lumps rained down incessantly toward me, all they did was prickle my skin. They couldn't even penetrate my skin.
「HE'S… UNSCATHED?!」
「LIKE HELL COULD MERE BULLETS PIERCE THROUGH THE SKIN OF THE MONSTER WHO SURVIVED A DIRECT HIT FROM THE MAGIC CANNON!」
「OH NO?! THE GATE…!」
The thing that stood in front of me was a solid, metal gate.
The bulky, massive gates were shut tightly to prevent any intruders.
At my current speed, I would eventually crash against that gate.
But rather than slow down, I accelerated even faster than before.
…And crashed agaisnt the gate at my fastest speed.
「CALM DOWN!! OUR GATE IS THE MOST SOLID GATE IN THE WORLD! NOT EVEN THAT NO LIFE KING CAN DE―」
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!
The gate was blown away after I collided with it.
Those lumps of solid metals fluttered in the air, causing tremors as they landed from a height of more than twenty meters.
「「「IT WAS DESTROYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED?!」」」
As I passed through the castle gate, the ones who were shouting were the same soldiers as before.
Although they should have been able to avoid the falling gate that I sent flying, they just stood there, dumbfounded as they saw me send the gate flying.
「I-Impossible… the gate is…」
「SENT FLYING?!」
「D-DON'T LET HIM ENTER ANY FURTHER THAN THIS! REPEL HIM!」
Despite the orders from the man who seemed like the commander, none of his soldiers moved to execute his command.
「A-As if… we can stop that monster…」
「Repelling THAT… with WHAT?」
Rather, the soldiers lost their fighting spirit and started to retreat.
「Well then… the castle where the Empress resides… is that, huh.」
I looked at the enormous castle that stood right in the centre of the imperial capital, towering above all buildings.
With such a conspicuous castle, there was no way the Empress was gonna stay in another place aside from that one.
Maybe the female Holy Knight was also in there.
Even if she wasn't there, I would be able to gather information concerning her whereabouts.
Thus, I started running toward the castle.
「H-HE'S COMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!」
「「「HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!」」」
「D-DO NOT FALTER! SHOW HIM OUR PRIDE AS IMPERIAL SO―」
BWOOOSH!
「―EH?」
I jumped over their heads to escape from their encirclement.
After wandering around the winding main street, the castle finally came into sight.
It was straight ahead of me.
Maybe because they were evacuating the civilians, no one was wandering on the street. Thus, I could run as fast as I wanted.