The communication jamming device was massive and required a considerable amount of power to destroy. However, doing so would cause significant damage to the surrounding area. I wondered if there was a way to destroy only the communication jamming device, so I consulted Rafishal. He explained that we could stop its function just by destroying the core of the power unit inside. Nagisa and I were aiming for that.

As we moved forward, half-destroying enemy units one after another, more and more Magicraft gathered around us, making it never-ending. Nagisa seemed to feel the same and suggested:

“Yuta, I’ll handle the ones over here, so you go ahead and dive straight into the device!”

“Got it! Leave it to me!”

With those parting words, Arleo II took off, shaking off the Magicraft swarming around it.

As I flew, enemy Arrows tried to shoot down Arleo II, but all their attacks were repelled by the mysterious aura that envelops the machine during high-speed flight. It’s convenient, but even I, the pilot, don’t fully understand how it works.

I continued flying at high speed and, thanks to the distraction provided by Diatina, reached the communication jamming device with ease. I destroyed part of the piping with a magic energy shot to break in and then dived inside.

“Nagisa, how’s it going over there?”

“I’m fine, but it would help if you could finish quickly.”

From the sound of her voice, Nagisa seemed to have plenty of breathing room, so I figured she’d be okay even if I took a bit longer. But then I reconsidered. No, that won’t do. While Nagisa’s safety might not be in danger, I couldn’t ignore the increasing damage to the rebel army’s Magicraft. I needed to find and destroy the activation core as soon as possible.

I had no understanding of the internal structure of the communication jamming device, so I was just wandering around aimlessly, searching. Meanwhile, enemy Magicraft that had followed me inside continued to attack, so I had to fight them off as well.

After half-destroying dozens of them, I noticed something odd—a certain direction seemed to have a stronger defense. There must be something important there, something crucial to the device.

As expected, I found what appeared to be the core of the device. It was a huge, glowing sphere that pulsed with light, sometimes dimming, sometimes brightening. The enemy Magicraft were throwing themselves at me to protect it, but I sliced through their arms and legs, scattering them, and closed in on the core.

I fired several rounds of magic energy shots, and with one final, focused strike of my sword, I pierced the core. It sparked violently, letting out its last cries before shutting down completely.

Alright, mission accomplished. Just as I thought that, I received an urgent transmission from Nagisa.

“Y-Yuta, we’ve got trouble!!”

“What happened!?”

“A massive army is heading this way!”

I thought the rebel army we were already facing was huge enough, but when I actually saw it, I understood why Nagisa was so panicked.

“This is insane…”

The enemy Magicraft army advancing across the plains was too numerous to count. The sound of their march was like a thunderous rumble, a storm of noise that grew louder as they approached.

“Now’s not the time to be admiring them! If we try to fight that, we’ll run out of stamina!”

“Yeah, you’re right. We’ve completed our mission, so let’s get out of here.”

We immediately decided to retreat and took off, running with the massive army hot on our heels.