Chapter 20: You Don’t Treat Old Folks Like That…

"The gigantic life-form that has appeared in the sky may, depending on its level of aggression, be classified as Threat Level A under the newly established evaluation standards! This is a situation requiring spacefaring warship intervention! Evacuate immediately!"

At Erika’s transmitted report, the three of us—Ririka, Natsumi, and I—looked at one another. An awkward silence settled over us.

"So a giant monster just suddenly showed up. You’ve got some idea what caused it, right?"

"Uh… kind of late to ask this, but… did we mess something up?"

"At the time, Ririka couldn’t hear very well and was having trouble, nya. This isn’t Ririka’s fault, nya."

Either way, there was no point in staying here. We took Rick—who had been freed from the vine restraints after Masato’s death—and made our way up from underground.

Passing through the temple’s bizarre hall and stepping outside, we looked up at the sky. Part of the star-filled night—where far too many stars twinkled almost ostentatiously—had been completely blotted out, as if a chunk had been carved away and replaced by a massive black shadow.

"A Great Demon Beast… what even is that thing…? How huge is it…? Back in the game, how were we supposed to fight something like that in the flesh?"

The words slipped out of me. It made the dragon we had fought at Dora Fortress seem trivial by comparison. Blending into the night sky made it hard to judge its exact size, but it had to be dozens of meters across.

"In the game, it would descend at fixed intervals within the barrier on the plains, nya! We’d climb up its face and punch its weak point—the eye, nya! While it’s flying, all you can do is endure while taking out the small fry it scatters around, nya!"

"Hahahahaha! Right now, I’m the one controlling it! I’m not going to conveniently bring it down to the ground just so it can be defeated like back when it was only a game!"

Following Ririka’s explanation, Marie—who had been hiding behind the soldiers guarding the temple—declared her cowardly strategy in Masato’s tone of voice. So that was his natural way of speaking… and he even sounded smug. After fleeing in disgrace when we beat him, the guy still had the nerve to act high and mighty.

"Looks like you want to get kicked again, nya!"

Ririka tried to dash forward, but the soldiers moved to shield Marie, surrounding us and blocking our path. Had someone—no, Masato—put something in their heads?

"Stand down! We don’t have time to deal with you right now, and they’re the villains here!"

They didn’t even listen. The soldiers drew their swords and slowly closed in. Something was definitely wrong.

"Be careful! Those people have been turned into undead!"

"Undead… you mean zombies!?"

"Not ‘you mean’—they’re zombies, nya! Corpses being controlled by magic, nya!"

The nerve of him. We had caused such a commotion underground, yet the soldiers outside hadn’t reacted at all. Don’t tell me they had already been turned into zombies and placed under Masato’s control from the moment we arrived at the temple.

"Marie was a warrior, right? Did Masato do this…?"

"No, probably Takumi-san…! Takumi-san is a level 200 necromancer! He must’ve been nearby too!"

No one had asked him directly, but Rick answered my question anyway.

"So he wasn’t just using multiple accounts—he had three. What do you mean ‘only two,’ you lying bastard. In that case, killing one more should be fine, right?"

"So he was running the guild master role with multiple accounts and staging everything himself, nya. That’s the worst, nya."

"Self-staging is a classic move for self-appointed moderators, but I never thought I’d see it done in real life… or rather, in the flesh."

"And we actually propped a guy like that up… pathetic."

The four of us each felt exasperation toward the self-righteous moderator lurking inside Masato, our anger reigniting all over again. Still, we had to break through this encirclement and stop him.

"Erika! Drop the armor and the shotgun! And give us a hand!"

"Roger."

A moment later, a container holding armor—and a white school-swimsuit-clad girl—dropped into the plaza before the temple. Plasma barrier discharges crackled as shards of shattered stone pavement were blasted into the air, sending several nearby zombie soldiers flying.

"Erika, start by eliminating the walking corpses around us."

"Understood. There have been cases in the Gamma K448 star system where corpses taken over by parasitic organisms attacked humans, but this appears to be a different phenomenon. I am detecting minute yet abnormal particle vibrations originating from inside the corpses."

As I issued orders to Erika and moved to enter the container with its hatch open, Rick called out to me.

"...H-hey, you… what exactly is that…?"

"Sorry, Rick-san. I’ve got a bit of a cheat myself. Keep it secret from everyone else."

With that, I stepped into the container. The poncho I had been wearing and my gear were stripped away, and the ground-combat armor was fitted piece by piece over my electromagnetic shield suit. The helmet’s HUD lit up, and the grip of a Francisca Mk14 semi-automatic shotgun was pressed into my right hand. The hatch opened.

I burst out of the container and immediately fired at a nearby zombie soldier. The buckshot from the space-marine-spec shotgun tore the sheet-metal armor on the soldier to shreds, and its excessive kinetic energy blasted away several more zombie soldiers behind him as well.

I felt bad for the soldiers who had been turned into zombies, but there was no time to lay each of them to rest carefully. They could complain to Masato in the afterlife—assuming even a third of their souls made it there.

As I continued blowing away clusters of zombie soldiers with the shotgun, Marie shouted at me.

"Damn it! What the hell are you!? Why is someone like you even in this world!?"

"If there’s a reason, I’d like to know it too."

Saying that, I unloaded buckshot into the zombie soldiers blocking Marie’s path, sending them flying. Terrified, Marie turned tail once again and ran, trying to escape. I moved to pursue her—only for something to fall from the sky directly in front of me, splattering onto the ground with a wet impact and blocking my way.

"Master, it appears that numerous objects have separated from the giant life-form above."

"Child Galms, nya! They’re the small monsters the main body scatters around, nya, but they’re pretty tough, nya!"

Ririka added that while fighting zombies herself, echoing Erika’s report.

The thing that had fallen stood up, slime dripping from its body. It spread its wings, its red eyes glowing as it let out a howl like a feral dog—or perhaps a wolf.

It looked like a wolf with wings growing from its back, but its hind legs bent backward like a bird’s, tipped with razor-sharp talons. Despite being called a "Child Galm," it was enormous—easily three to four meters tall.

I see. If this was a Child Galm, then the massive shape lurking above—blended into the dark night sky and difficult to make out—must share a similar form.

When Marie climbed onto its back, the Child Galm beat its wings and took off into the air.

"It flies too!?"

"It does fly, nya, but back in the game it never went that high, nya! It just hovered at a height where you could punch it, nya!"

Freed from the game’s constraints that required it to be defeatable by players, the monster carried Marie high into the sky.

"She’s getting away again! And those winged dogs are falling all over the place! We have to deal with the zombie people fast!"

As Natsumi spoke, he incinerated zombie soldiers with fire magic. The fact that he wasn’t using wide-area spells suggested his remaining MP was running low. The zombies were slow, true to form, but there were too many of them. At least they weren’t the fast-running kind you see in recent movies.

"Erika! There’s no end to them! Can you do something!?"

"Roger. I will do something. Everyone, please take cover."

At Erika’s immediate response to my vague order, we sensed danger and ducked low. From both of Erika’s palms, beams of red light—somewhere between lasers and heat rays—fired out. She spread her arms wide and swept the beams around her, mowing down the surrounding zombie soldiers in a wide arc.

"...You should’ve used that earlier."

"I did not receive instructions."

"Then shoot down the one that ran away, nya!"

"Recharge time is 180 seconds. Also, I am under no obligation to follow instructions from indigenous lifeforms."

How was I supposed to know she could do something like that without being told? Regardless, the zombie soldiers were gruesomely bisected, their upper and lower halves violently separated. Some still twitched—zombies being zombies—but they were no longer a threat.

The encirclement of zombie soldiers had collapsed, but throughout the city, more Child Galms split off from the main body and descended, rampaging everywhere. Despite it being night, NPC residents and adventurer players who noticed the disturbance spilled into the streets, fleeing in panic or attempting to fight back.

"Either way, we have to deal with that demon beast."

"The flight of the giant organism and its separated entities is likely caused by atmospheric pressure changes and lift generation associated with anomalous particle vibrations. While the effect on the main body is uncertain due to its size, the separated entities’ flight capabilities could likely be disrupted by an EMP generated by a high-altitude nuclear detonation."

"No. If magic stops working now, the people in the city won’t be able to defend themselves."

"Then I propose eliminating the main body with a direct strike using an Excalibur nuclear-warhead cruise missile."

"That’s even worse! You can’t use nukes over a city like this!"

I wanted to minimize damage to the city, but even as we argued, more Child Galms kept raining down. There was no restraint, no mercy, no discernible attack pattern.

"I don’t know how they’re using NPC assets, nya, but there has to be someone else controlling it somewhere, nya! Find that person, nya!"

"That’s it—good call, Ririka! Erika!"

For once, Ririka said something genuinely useful, and I immediately issued orders to Erika.

"There appear to be two humans located on the giant organism’s head. One of them shows no signs of life activity yet continues to move. Similar to the soldiers here, it appears the corpse is being manipulated."

"Did they turn that old man into an undead and make him summon the Great Demon Beast…?"

"How dare they do that to an elderly man… Erika! Shoot the one who isn’t a corpse with the Dragoon’s autocannon!"

That bastard never ran out of dirty tricks. Someone that vile didn’t deserve mercy.

I gave the order, but the response that came back wasn’t what I had hoped for—it was Erika’s urgent, strained voice.

"Please wait, Master! The surrounding separated entities have detected the Dragoon and are attaching themselves to it! I am responding with autocannons and intercept lasers, but there are too many—I cannot hold them off!"

I instinctively looked up at the sky. Where the Child Galms were clustering, the black shadow of the night flickered, revealing the dark-gray hull of the Dragoon. A spherical plasma barrier flashed into existence for an instant before vanishing. Flames burst from the left-wing engine where a Child Galm had driven its claws in.

Whether due to wild instinct or something else, monsters apparently weren’t very susceptible to stealth.

"Erika! Deploy both Crusaders now!"

"The hatches cannot be opened due to attached entities! Shields down! Left-wing repulsor engine damaged! At this rate, we will crash!"

"Self-destruct the Dragoon and drop the Crusaders!"

"Roger! Initiating Dragoon self-destruction!"

The Dragoon transport flared with a blinding flash, detonating in a storm of fire and debris along with the Child Galms clinging to it.

From the explosion, two walking tanks—the Crusaders—fell through the air, trailing flames and plasma discharge, and slammed into the ground in front of us. Both landed on one knee, apparently intact.

"Erika, temporarily grant Crusader control authority to Ririka and Natsumi. Support them."

"Master! That’s—!"

"These two will be fine. Ririka! Natsumi! Get on those things and protect the people of the city!"

Erika looked ready to object to my order, but I cut her off and called out to Ririka and Natsumi instead. When the two nodded and stepped forward, both Crusaders opened their cockpit hatches.

"Leave it to me, nya! Ririka hasn’t done any missions where walking tanks show up yet, but I saw how to pilot one in the online manual, nya!"

"I haven’t really been into robot stuff since G◯nd◯◯ O◯, so it’s not my specialty, but even I can pull this off! Time to spray and pray!"

Each of them said something distinctly worrying as they climbed into their Crusaders, and the hatches sealed shut.

"If Galactic Federation Headquarters finds out that Space Force equipment was entrusted to indigenous life-forms, this will not end with just a written report."

"That’s assuming something like that even exists anywhere in this world. Launch all four fighters from the Triad and have them provide cover. We’ll deal with the big one."

I issued my orders to Erika as she stood there with her hands on her hips, cheeks puffed out like she was scolding a child—an expression far too human for an AI—then turned to Rick, who was standing there in a daze.

"Rick-san! Call out to as many players in the city as you can and have them defend the temple so the gates don’t get destroyed! It’ll be easier for Ririka and Natsumi to protect everyone if they’re gathered together!"

"G-got it! I can at least do that much!"

As Rick took off at a run, I moved with Erika, using the enhanced boost jump of my ground-combat armor to leap across rooftops and climb onto the roof of what looked like the tallest building nearby.

Dawn felt like it should be close, yet the sky was still dark, a massive black shadow floating overhead with smaller shadows flitting around it. Looking down, I could see the two Crusaders in action: the one piloted by Ririka was cutting down Child Galms on the ground with its plasma blade, while the one piloted by Natsumi was mowing down airborne Child Galms with machine guns and plasma cannons.

From the direction of the castle, a large group of soldiers was emerging, apparently escorting civilians away. At their center was a highly exposed figure that looked suspiciously like Princess Knight Evangelin. At least those weren’t zombies this time.

"Master, GAF-4 Sword Breaker interceptor fighters have reached the target altitude. Commencing attack."

"The big one’s weak point should be its eyes. Aim there—or take out whoever’s riding on top."

"Roger."

Multiple explosions bloomed in the sky as missiles launched from the fighters that had taken off from the Triad detonated, but none of them reached the main body of the Galmgriff.

"The surrounding separated entities are acting as shields, intercepting the Sword Breakers’ attacks."

"Maybe they were already on guard once they realized we had modern weapons. Looks like his sharp instincts weren’t just a cheat. Pull the fighters back and have them support the ground forces."

"Understood. Shall we proceed with missile strikes? The target’s total length is approximately 240 feet. If it possesses abnormal vitality, it is unclear how effective conventional warheads will be."

I thought for a moment before answering.

"...Let’s use a Bahamut-class bow railgun. Can you punch through just the big one without causing damage on the ground—where people are?"

"It is possible, but to prevent ground impact, the vessel must descend into the atmosphere and fire parallel to the surface. Preparing a firing position will require time."

"That’s fine. Bring the Asterisk down. We’ll evacuate the people below until then."

"Roger. Bahamut-class space combat vessel Asterisk is beginning its descent. Please wait thirty—no, twenty minutes."

Hearing that, I leapt back down into the city’s main thoroughfare, where countless Child Galms were still rampaging.