Chapter 73
“To start with, I really like Crown Guard. Right after I was officially judged to be an Awakened, the first job I ever got was as a prototype equipment researcher at Crown Guard.”
“Oh wow, so you know weapons well too?”
“You could say that.”
Malcolm Redington, director of the British Hunter Association’s Crisis Response Bureau. The older man I met again in the basement level 4 training room at the British Hunter Association headquarters gave off a slightly intimidating vibe. Not in a suit, but dressed a little loosely in techwear that held his arms and legs firmly in place.
“There are several Crown Guard weapons here. Use whichever ones you want, Miss Eve. I’ll only defend.”
“Still, is that okay?”
“Yes. If you can land even one proper attack on me, I’ll hand over the Crown Guard weapons.”
Uncle Malcolm picked up one cool-looking sword and one shield from the weapons lined up on the rack beside him and took them in hand. The moment magic flowed into the shield, it whirred—then split apart with a crack, releasing an energy barrier.
The sword also began absorbing magic and glowing red, exuding an ominous aura.
“I-I’m going to be attacked too..!?
“Haha, no. I won’t attack. Then it wouldn’t count.”
“Phew, that’s a relief.”
The space looked about the size of a soccer field, and the ceiling was fairly high too. I knew Uncle Malcolm was a powerful Hunter, but was it really overkill to expect him to dodge everything I threw at him within such a limited area?
“Ophelia, it’s okay if I use my ability, right?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Phew..! Got it!”
The rack was full of Crown Guard’s old-generation firearms, a bit dated but varied by type.
ㅡclatter....
“Ugh, so heavy..!”
I tried to pick up one that looked a little bigger, but as expected, it was a weapon made for Awakened whose physical abilities surpassed the human range, so the weight was absurdly heavy.
But that’s okay.
“Golem Creation.”
As I pressed the tip of my index finger against the gun and poured in magic, the giant firearm, as big as my entire body, instantly began to crumble and change shape with a grinding sound.
ㅡkrrrk..!!
“Nice.”
The Crown Guard weapon had transformed into a four-legged dog with a gun-barrel for a head.
“Huh, so you have an ability like that.”
“Hehe, I can do more than just one thing, you know?”
I was going to turn all the other guns on the rack into golems too, but then I remembered I’d have to turn them back later. So I settled for pouring magic into about three of them and turning them into moving automated turrets instead.
A total of three guns—a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, and a shotgun—had been transformed into dog forms.
ㅡWhat on earth kind of ability is that..?
ㅡThat’s completely a type I’ve never seen before.
I could hear murmurs all around. The gun-headed golem dogs pointed their muzzles at me and rubbed against my legs, and memories from long ago made my whole body go cold.
“Oh, you want me to pet you? Okay.”
ㅡpat pat
Maybe because I’d turned them into dogs, they seemed to like being petted. After I stroked the tops of their barrels a few times, they seemed satisfied and turned their gaze toward Uncle Malcolm.
“Then... I’ll begin.”
The training room has a slight height difference from the spectator seats, and when combat starts, magically reinforced glass rises up from below with a whirr, dividing the stands and the sparring ground like a partition.
The guns are strong enough that they might blast through the glass, but even if they do, I’m not liable.
With Uncle Malcolm raising his shield in front of him, the spar began.
ㅡwoooom
“Attack Uncle Malcolm as much as possible while protecting me. Put the shotgun in front, keep the sniper close to me, and let the assault rifle maintain a proper distance.”
ㅡkikikik..!
Since they were weapons born from the user’s magic, the gun-dogs took their positions and loaded rounds according to my command, and I could feel my magic being used.
“Don’t take too much of my magic. Okay?”
ㅡnod nod
After about thirty seconds of a slight standoff, Uncle Malcolm moved first. He charged forward, raising his shield while keeping guard against the shotgun dog that was up front.
ㅡBOOM!!
A huge firing sound rang out as buckshot blasted from its head, but it was blocked and neutralized by Uncle Malcolm’s shield. Right after that, the assault-rifle dog kept its distance and started circling him, spraying fire from all directions.
ㅡratatatata
“Good! Keep moving behind him from there! Make it impossible for him to block with the shield!!”
As the shotgun dog and the assault-rifle dog widened their angles and effectively set up a pincer attack, Uncle Malcolm poured far more magic into his shield, turning the square slab-like energy shield into a hemispherical dome shield, and instantly leaped in close to kick the shotgun dog’s jaw with a loud bang!
“Hooeek!!”
My sniper dog kept looking for openings and firing its sniper rifle from a distance, but once the energy shield turned into a dome, there were no gaps left.
“Sniper! Just keep shooting! Until the shield breaks!!”
ㅡBANG!!
Uncle Malcolm’s output was excellent, but that shield was still just a practice shield from an old-generation Crown Guard set. As the impacts kept piling up, cracks began to appear on it.
ㅡcrack..!
“Nowㅡ!!”
The assault dog relentlessly kept its distance and showered him with bullets, the shotgun dog stubbornly kept following from the very front even while taking a beating, and the sniper dog struck through the crack in the energy shield with a powerful shot.
ㅡCLANG!
As the shield shattered, what remained was just a single sturdy physical shield about the size of a human upper body.
“Hup..!”
ㅡSMASH!!
But with the energy shield gone, Uncle Malcolm no-look parried the assault dog’s bullet barrage coming from the side with the sword in his right hand, then instantly smashed the shotgun dog’s head with the heavy shield.
“Hooeek!!!!”
Taking the opening, the sniper dog fired at Uncle Malcolm, but he dodged it by flicking the bullet up into the air with a sweep of his sword.
“That’s cheating! Boo!!”
“Heh heh!”
After that, the assault-rifle dog was kicked in the side and sent out of bounds by Uncle Malcolm’s flying kick as he took advantage of a short reload window.
When the sniper dog fired, Uncle Malcolm swung his sword and pulled off a rainbow deflection, sending the bullet back the other way and straight into the sniper dog’s barrel, showing the miracle of bullet recycling.
“Waaah.”
“Is this the end, Eve?”
“I-I can still do more..?”
It didn’t matter anyway, because there were still plenty of weapons left. The practice weapons stocked in the training room were basically consumables: use them until they break, then replace them from the warehouse.
“Ophelia!! Throw me any weapon you want!!!”
After I waved both hands and bounced a few times at Ophelia, who was seated in the spectator stands behind me, Ophelia suddenly stormed into the arena clutching three or four guns in her hands.
“Huh, Ophelia? Is it okay for you to just come in like that?”
“I am, after all, a summon who protects the princess.”
“Oh, right. That’s true.”
These days it doesn’t really feel like that, so I keep forgetting. Then help me out when I’m playing Steal a Brainrot too. I got hit with bats a ton. They even stole my Cursed Blueberini and Octopushini!!
“Nice, Ophelia!”
“Princess, before that, please hand me those guns.”
“Ah.”
I used my ability to turn the guns Ophelia brought into golems and merge them for her.
“D-did it work..?”
“Yes, it seems to have worked well.”
Ophelia opened and closed her hands for a moment and nodded, while Uncle Malcolm, by the unwritten rule, wasn’t attacking during transformation time. Instead, he had finished recovering his energy shield.
“Princess, it may be dangerous, so please step back.”
“Ah, okay.”
“And.”
ㅡwhisper whisper
“Huh, really..?”
“That’s right.”
* * * * *
Amid the many people watching with bated breath, only Ophelia’s heels clicked-clacked through the arena. Watching that scene, Malcolm Redington casually struck up a conversation.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I thought that might be the case, but still. Ophelia is...”
Malcolm Redington didn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he raised his sword and shield and took his stance, and Ophelia tilted her head slightly and glanced back once at Eve standing behind her.
“Go, Ophelia..!”
Eve stood in place, swinging her fists around, and Ophelia nodded before summoning the firearm passed to her through Eve’s ability.
ㅡfzzzzzt..!!
“Hooeek..!!!”
Eve’s voice could be faintly heard beyond the noisy electronic crackle. At that instant, Malcolm’s magic surged sharply, and he leaped toward Ophelia in a flash.
Unlike Eve, whose own combat power was practically nonexistent, Ophelia’s physical abilities were clearly within the Awakened range. Malcolm had no need to hold back.
ㅡPAAAAANG!!!!
With a loud roar, a fierce magical projectile shot toward Malcolm. He concentrated the energy shield into a single point and built a powerful barrier, but one shot from Ophelia’s gun was enough to crack it in an instant.
The guns made into golems through Eve’s ability inherited the original abilities and showed a huge boost in power even with only a little magic stone. Since the guns had been absorbed into Ophelia, who was made from ultra-expensive magic stones, it wasn’t strange that the inherited gun functions had multiplied dozens of times over.
“This is bad..!”
Malcolm Redington, having thought they were similar to the quadruped gun golems Eve had made, flinched slightly at the unexpectedly powerful impact.
ㅡkrrk..!
In the meantime, Ophelia put away the giant sniper rifle and drew machine guns in both hands.
“Princess, permission to use magic.”
“P-permission granted!! Use it as much as you want, Opheliaㅡ!!”
“Thank you.”
Amid a whirlwind of hundreds of magic bullets per minute, as Malcolm Redington began gathering his magic in earnest, Ophelia signaled to Eve.
“Summonㅡ!!”
Eve’s clear voice rang out across the entire sparring area.
ㅡCRUNCH..!
“What in the world..?”
The Fenrir-form dog suddenly sprang out from behind Malcolm Redington and bit his shield.
ㅡwhiiish!!
Thud ㅡ !
With the shield neutralized, Suri’s Bird Strike came plunging down from the sky.
“Hup..!”
Barely blocking Suri’s Bird Strike with his blade, Malcolm Redington quickly swung his sword to cut off Suri’s wing, but.
“C-come back!!”
ㅡfwoosh..!
Suri returned immediately through the Recall skill the moment the attack ended.
Then, just as he tried to throw out a kick to shake off the dog that kept stubbornly biting at his shield.
ㅡPAAAAANG!!!
Along with the magic bullet fired from Ophelia’s sniper rifle, something enormous charged in from the side.
“Guhㅡ!”
ㅡCRASH!!!
Minyumi’s kick, using booster thrust, slammed into Malcolm Redington and sent his body flying out of bounds.
“Waaah!!! So coolㅡ!!!!”
Eve jumped up and down, pumping her fists as she reveled in victory. What Ophelia had told Eve before the real fight began was that Minyumi and Suri had entered Britain and were now within range of the Recall skill.
As they fell out of bounds, a cloud of dust billowed up. Once the bout ended and the medical staff rushed in, Eve’s expression started to fall.
* * * * *
“Uncle Malcolm..!”
I call him uncle, but his hair is already streaked with gray, so he’s practically a grandpa already. Even if it was a spar, to think five of us would gang up on an old man like that.
The kind of thing you sometimes see on the news—killing the opposing Awakened during a spar... and then getting sentenced to prison and all that....
“O-Ophelia..! What do we do..?”
“He’ll be fine.”
“Mm.”
But contrary to my worries, not long after, the old man walked out of the thick dust, brushing off his shoulders. His face even looked like it was saying, “Heh, this guy’s got some skills.”
“A-Are you okay..?”
“Haha, I’m fine. I didn’t think you’d be able to get the better of me even if you went all out, though.”
“Ehehe...”
The energy shield had deep bite marks from the dog’s teeth, and on closer inspection it looked like he had driven his sword into the ground to slow himself down even while being thrown by Minyumi’s jet kick. Since the sword had split in half, the other piece was stuck in the floor.
“Very good. At this level... it seems fine to use Crown Guard’s weapons.”
“Gasp..! Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Quest complete!
I defeated Uncle Malcolm, who had been an A+ rank frontline bruiser in his active days, and obtained magical equipment!