Magi Craft Meister

Magi Craft Meister 612

18 Further Progress Arc

18-32 Self-Defense

"One of the giant Golems in the Imperial Palace has suddenly started moving and is currently in the middle of a rampage. At this rate, there is a risk of it going out into the city."

The Minister of Magi Technology Degauss gave his response immediately upon hearing the news.

"Your Majesty, I have to go back to the Imperial Palace posthaste and think about what to do regarding this situation. …Sir Jin Nidou, please protect Her Majesty, I beg of you!"

After saying that, he ran downstairs without even giving Jin time to say anything back.

"Ah……"

As he looked down from the roof, Jin saw Degauss get on a horse and head back to the Imperial Palace as fast as possible. The distance was relatively short, and the burden on the horse wouldn't be too big,

"Jin…"

The Empress seemed terribly worried. Jin brought his hand to his head, thinking that his worst fears had become a reality.

"It was just as you said, Jin… If we had returned them to the basement immediately as you suggested, none of this would've happened."

"…Now is not the time to say such things. We need to think about what to do."

"Yeah, but…"

Jin gave Reiko instructions while giving the dispirited Empress a sidelong glance.

"Reiko, prepare the blimp."

"It's ready whenever you are."

"Good."

Hearing this, Jin looked back at the Empress.

"Your Majesty, let's go."

"Ah, yes."

"Your Majesty, I'm going too!"

The female knight who was escorting the Empress would also board the blimp.

"Elsa, you're in charge of the house while I'm out. Please take care of Hanna."

After saying that, Jin released the blimp's mooring cable.

The blimp then started to rise.

"Ah, I've been looking forward to riding this blimp, but I can't be happy about it, considering the circumstances…"

The dejected Empress muttered that while casting her eyes downward.

"Sir Jin, please don't put Her Majesty in danger, okay?"

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The female knight's warning was quickly met by Jin.

"I know. Even those giant Golems won't be able to get their hands on us up here unless they have some means to fly into the sky. …Look, there it is."

After a short while, the blimp appeared over the sky right above the Imperial Palace, at about 80 meters of altitude. The giant Golem's arms wouldn't be able to reach it.

"…What in the world!?"

The first image that came across Jin's eyes was that of seven of Marcus' "Goliaths" lying on the floor, all of them completely halted and extremely deformed. The other three, who were still operational, were having trouble moving properly.

"…How? How did the Goliaths end up broken like that?"

Jin was confused by the strange way in which the Goliaths had been broken down. But as soon as the eight Goliath fell, it all became crystal clear.

"That's… Engineering Magic!"

The answer came to Jin the moment he saw a familiar magic circle appear.

"…Magic amplification, huh?"

And that was what that Magi Formula he had found inside the giant Golems was for.

Since the Ether concentration in the area was rather low, the giant Golem ended up running out of mana, causing it to come to a sudden stop. However, this peace lasted only for a few seconds, and the remaining Goliaths proved to be unable to stop the giant Golem.

"This is bad… At this rate, it's going to break through the outer walls of the castle and go out into the city."

The Empress, who was watching the situation closely, was starting to fall into despair.

"…"

Of course, Jin had several options to stop this giant menace. However, all of them carried the risk of destroying the giant Golem to some extent.

This was something that Jin wanted to avoid. He knew that, if it were to break through the walls and go out into the city, he would have no choice but to destroy it in order to stop it, but while it was still in the courtyard, he wanted to bring it to a halt while damaging it as little as possible.

While he pondered, the remaining two Goliaths finally fell as well, and with them out of commision, there was no one left to stop the giant Golem's rampage.

"Can't you do something about it, Jin? Surely there must be something you can do… right?"

Hearing the Empress' sorrowful voice, Jin turned to Reiko.

"Reiko, can you stop that thing?"

"Yes, Father. Just say the word."

"Okay, I need you to keep it busy for at least 10 minutes. …And, if possible, try not to damage it too much."

"Understood."

Reiko climbed over the handrail of the blimp's gondola. Before she could jump, Jin called out to her.

"Of course, be careful not to get hurt."

"Yes, Father——"

She said those last few words after having already jumped down.

"Jin…"

The Empress was anxiously looking at the ground where Reiko had jumped off.

＊ ＊ ＊

Even Reiko could take some damage after jumping from an altitude of 80 meters. For that reason, as soon as she jumped down, Reiko used Gravity Magic to reduce her own mass to a hundredth of its original value.

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Although her fall speed was almost unchanged, her impact at landing would be proportional to her mass. In other words, by doing this, she was reducing the impact of her fall by one hundredth as well.

After having softened the already lowered impact of her fall by bending her knees, Reiko regained her original mass and went around the courtyard to try and intercept the giant Golem.

<New obstacle detected. Self-defense Level 2>

Seeing Reiko, the giant Golem immediately reacted, stopping its march and facing her.

(I have to make sure I don't destroy it… Then this is the only way.)

"Take this… 'Ether Jammer'!"

Reiko activated her built-in Ether Jammer. The giant Golem immediately stopped moving completely.

The Ether Jammer had the effect of putting all Ether within a certain range under the user's control and blocking the opponent's magic source. As a result, the giant Golem's own Ether Converter could no longer secure Ether to convert into Mana.

<Ether Shortage detected. Danger. Danger. Danger. Self-defense Level 5. Switching to last resort measures.>

Due to its huge build, the giant Golem still had a lot of mana stored in its body, which it would use in an attempt to take its last resort measures according to its self-defense program.

These measures would take some time to activate. On the surface, the giant Golem seemed to have been stopped for good, but inside of its body, those last resort measures had started to work.

＊ ＊ ＊

Jin took out a Magi Crystal that had all of the elemental attributes from his pocket, and started writing his Magi Formula into it.

"…Vibration… Generation… Control… Comparison… Resonance…"

The fact that he had already settled for an approximate Magi Sequence was a source for comfort.

"Lord Jin, what in the world are you doing…?"

The female knight saw Jin muttering while gripping the Magi Crystal tightly and tried to talk to him, but the Empress stopped her.

"…Shhh, Flora, don't get in Jin's way."

"Ah… Yes, Your Majesty."

The Empress sensed that, whatever Jin was doing, he was doing it to solve this situation.

After that, the two of them silently watched Jin work.

"…'Write-In'"

An intensely bright magic circle appeared for a brief moment, then it disappeared as if Jin's Magi Formula was sucked into the Magi Crystal.

"…I did it."

About eight minutes had passed after Reiko jumped off the blimp.

"Reiko, good job! Retreat for now!"

Although it came from a very high altitude, Reiko could still hear the voice of her esteemed father clearly.

In response to Jin's voice, Reiko canceled the Ether Jammer's effect and jumped out of the way.

<Ether supply restored. No longer in danger. Self-defense Level 0. Stopping last resort measures.>

However…

<Failure. Failure. Failure. Attempts to stop last resort measures were unsuccessful.>

Then, the giant Golem's armored plating began to glow red.

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