* * *
Whir, whir, whir, whir, whir, whir…!
A large number of flying tops were swarming towards Emi, who was running up the magical cable with all her might!
The flying tops, after circling around Emi for a while, observing her… finally launched their attack when they had enough numbers!
“CHUIIIIIIIIIIIIーーーN!!”
First, one of them flew towards Emi, menacingly spinning the circular saw deployed from its underside.
It was trying to slice Emi apart with its circular saw, while feinting with sharp turns, like a hummingbird!
For an ordinary person, it would be difficult to even follow the movement of the flying top with their eyes, but fortunately, Emi is hardly an ordinary person.
“…………”
Emi dodged the flying top’s charge, aimed at her neck, simply by bending forward slightly, without even looking at it.
“CHUIIIIIIIIIIIIーーーN!!”
“CHUIIIIIIIIIIIIーーーN!!”
“CHUIIIIIIIIIIIIーーーN!!”
But, of course, the flying tops’ attack didn’t end there!
One after another, the flying tops continued their assault, without giving her a break!
The next one aimed for Emi’s shoulder as she was bending down.
Emi dodged it by bending down even further.
And then, the next one aimed for her legs, so she placed both hands on the magical cable and jumped up using her arm strength!
And then, she tucked her knees to her chest and did a somersault in the air!
With this move, Emi was able to dodge the attacks of several more flying tops, but floating in the air meant exposing herself to an opening.
The flying tops were already anticipating her landing point and waiting for her.
Ready and waiting, spinning their circular saws!
“RAAAAAAAAAAHーーー!!”
But here, Emi went on the offensive!
With a shout, she pumped herself up, and shot out 【Black Tentacles】 from both her shoulders!
“CHUIGAH!?”
“CHU, CHUGAH!?”
“““CHUGAGA, CHUGAH!?”””
The ten ominous tentacles, their tips sharpened like spears, accurately pierced the flying tops, one after another!
““““““““““BOBOBOBOBOBOBOBOBOBOON!!!”””””””””””
Each flying top, pierced by the unexpected attack, exploded, and fell silent!
The propellers and circular saws, which had been spinning vigorously, now just dangled limply, making rattling sounds.
And then, with the broken flying tops hanging from the ends of her tentacles, Emi effortlessly landed on the magical cable.
And without losing any momentum, she resumed running at full speed!
“““CHUIIIIIIIIIIIIーーーN!!!”””
But there are still many flying tops remaining.
Dodging the swinging 【Black Tentacles】, several more flying tops started charging towards Emi!
Emi, realizing that with her current level of control, she couldn’t intercept the flying tops with her 【Black Tentacles】, instantly retracted them and held her fists in front of her!
“Rah!!”
“CHUGABOON!?”
“Rah!!”
“CHUGABOON!?”
“RAAAAAAAAAAH!!”
“““CHUGABOOBOON!?”””
And with her fists, she punched and destroyed the flying tops one after another!
But sadly, Emi only has two arms.
There’s a limit to the number of flying tops she can handle.
Engee, who was controlling them, seeing that, decided to crush the black-haired, black-eyed girl, Emi, with even greater numbers.
Even these flying tops are out-of-place artifacts, difficult to reproduce with the technology commonly available in modern Ardyst.
But he has to crush this girl here, even if it means using them as disposable weapons.
This was strongly insisted upon by Megzam, who knows the threat of Emi well, and Engee agreed.
““““““CHUIIIIIIIIIIIIーーーN!!””””””
Now, because of that, the number of flying tops charging towards Emi, with their circular saws whirring, was twice the number before.
She can’t handle this amount.
Megzam, glaring at the figure of Emi displayed on the screen of the ‘Soul Conqueror’ control room wall, grinned wickedly.
But!
If the number of enemies has doubled… she just has to double the number of arms!!
“RAAAAAAAAAAAHーーー!!”
Emi roared again, pumping herself up!
And what emerged from her shoulders this time were two arms.
【Black Arms】!
But they were smaller than usual.
She brought out the third and fourth arms, small and agile, and began to intercept the surrounding flying tops!
““““““CHUGABOOOOOBOON!?””””””
The flying tops were punched and crushed in an instant!
“Ggh… !?”
But, here.
As Emi was running along the magical cable, smoothly crushing the surrounding flying tops, something happened.
Emi, taking advantage of a brief pause in the flying tops’ attack, staggered and clutched her stomach with one hand.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…!
A loud growl echoed from there!
In other words, she’s reaching her limit from hunger!
At this rate, she’ll faint from dizziness before reaching the power source of ‘Soul Conqueror’!
“CHUIIIIIIIIIIIIーーーN!!”
One of the flying tops, seeing an opportunity, charged straight towards Emi.
This flying top, unlike the others, acting without regard for formation, is being controlled by Megzam.
For him, Emi is a nemesis who has stood in his way many times, a symbol of fear.
He wants to break this girl, kill her, by his own hand, no matter what.
Megzam harbored such strong feelings.
“…………!!”
Emi glared at Megzam’s flying top.
And then, she effortlessly caught it with both hands.
Megzam had launched this attack, judging that Emi, clutching her stomach, was suffering from some fatal ailment.
But that ailment… was hunger.
Her movement accuracy hasn’t been impaired that much yet.
Megzam’s complete miscalculation.
Now, what Emi did next.
First, she broke the captured flying top’s propeller.
And then, she tore off the circular saw like paper, and threw it away.
Now this flying top can neither escape nor rampage.
It can only tremble, as if in fear.
At this time, the display in the control room was showing Emi’s figure, captured by the camera built into the captured flying top.
Despite her black hair and black eyes, a combination despised in this world…
She’s beautiful, a girl so beautiful that one would normally be captivated by her.
But Emi’s eyes at this time were completely bloodshot.
And drool was dripping from her mouth.
She looked like…
…A predator.
The moment Megzam, his face pale with uncontrollable fear, thought that…
…The communication from the flying top was cut off.
The last thing this unit sent was an image of Emi, her mouth wide open.
In other words.
“T-This brat!?”
Megzam panicked!
<M-My ultra-compact fighter jet!?>
Engee panicked too!
“<She ate itーーー!?>”
…Well, of course they panicked!
Yes, as the two of them said, Emi was eating the flying top!
She bit off the metal with her incredibly strong teeth, chewed it into small pieces, and swallowed it with a gulp!
And Emi, after quickly consuming the flying top, rubbed her oil-stained mouth and… said!
“It’s not… inedible!”
“<That’s impossibleーーー!?>”
Hearing this voice, picked up by the microphone built into the flying top, Megzam and Engee screamed in the control room!
But she’s eating it, so it can’t be helped, right!
Machines… are food!!
——
Please note:
We strongly advise against dangerous actions such as ‘charging at an enemy’s aerial fortress by climbing cables’ or ‘eating weapons made of metal’.
Emi Rune is a fantasy creature with a special biology, and it’s impossible for us humans to imitate her actions.
We hope you’ll keep this in mind and continue to enjoy this novel.
Thank you very much.