Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

While breathing heavily, she managed to stretch out her hand, grasped the hilt of the giant sword, and supported her body to stand up again.

Using "holy healing" to repair her body, and when her arm regained consciousness, Lunicia once again picked up the giant sword and rushed to other places where the battle was going on.

……

…………

........................

—Dang! Dang! Dang!

The dark green light was like a ghost, appearing all around from time to time, and then disappearing without a trace. Even so, Ella was still able to accurately grasp the moment when the strange spiritual weapon appeared, and accurately block it with the lavender thin blade in her hand, so as not to suffer any harm.

However, this also made it difficult for her to devote more energy to dealing with the "Arbitrator" and Leah Efayeret.

Whenever she wanted to pick up the sword again and chase the "Arbitrator", the dark green spiritual weapon would emerge from the darkness and besiege Ella together with the plasma blade in Leia's hand. And every time Ella entangled with the spiritual weapon, the "Arbitrator" would use the remaining "Conqueror Marduk" to bombard Ella, plowing the forest, dividing the land, and forcing Ella to put a greater distance between herself and the "Arbitrator".

Although the combination of "Curse of the Sword" and "Cruel Spell" greatly improved Ella's mobility, allowing her to hold on as tightly as possible and prevent Leah from really distanced from her, if this continued, the "Arbiter" would sooner or later be able to completely get rid of Ella's pursuit and leave the battlefield - although "Cruel Spell" could directly teleport Ella to the "Arbiter", if the "Arbiter" could create a large enough distance between itself and Ella at one time, the "Cruel Spell" would no longer be usable, unless Ella once again brought the two sides within a certain range. However, by then, the "Arbiter" would inevitably maximize the output of the "Strike Gust Component", preventing Ella from getting this opportunity.

The goal of Ella, Lunicia, and Ashetherin is to "capture the 'Arbiter'", but the goal of the "Arbiter" is to "scout the Great Forest of Lafkai". As long as they can escape successfully, it will be a defeat for Lunicia and a victory for the "Arbiter". Above this, no matter how small the price paid by Lunicia and her group is, or how great the loss of the "Arbiter" himself is, it is meaningless.

This couldn't help but make Ella anxious.

Buzz——————!

The terrifying buzzing sound once again echoed in the deep forest. The dazzling white light that could temporarily blind a person tore through the trees and the darkness, and opened the ancient curtain, but failed to tear open Ella's body. She once again disintegrated into purple butterflies all over the sky, and then those purple butterflies gathered around the side of the "Arbitrator", intending to swing the sword down once again.

However, the green glow is lingering there.

"Well……!"

Puff—a slight and short sound came from Ella's shoulder. The "Tomahawk" opened its "mouthparts", bit Ella's shoulder tightly with the part covered with dark green fangs, fell down, and then nailed her body firmly to the ground.

Dust flew everywhere, and Ella was already lying on the ground, unable to move.

And the Arbiter doesn't look like he's going to give up this opportunity.

Reducing the output of the "Assault Gust Component", the nozzles on the black thrusters on her legs gradually closed, retracting the tail flames, allowing the "Arbitrator" to gradually lower her body. She raised her knees and then stepped on Ella's lower abdomen.

Nourishes—

The leather armor had been torn in the battle, and the residual heat from the tail flame quickly burned the exposed flesh. The burning pain and the bloody marks on her shoulder did not make Ella scream. On the contrary, she just gasped heavily, her eyes were blurred, and sweat kept rolling down her forehead, as if the pain had burned her nerves.

She wanted to swing her sword, but the bite on her shoulder made it difficult for her to move.

——Do you want to do that?

It was like someone was leaning over her ear, biting her earlobe, and whispering softly.

Her eyes became hazy for a moment, as if they had lost focus, and then became clear again in the next moment. The pink-haired girl smiled self-deprecatingly, concentrated her magic power, focused her attention, and prepared to untie the shackles that bound her.

——We must win, we must win.

In this way, even you can become more valuable.

——We have to win and not lose, so...

In this case, even if she had been indifferent and didn't pay too much attention to me before, she would definitely look at me more, definitely...

——So, if I can win...

It doesn't matter even if I sell my soul.

Just a little bit more and the barrel of the cannon would flash with the light of destruction again, just a little bit more and the chains wrapped around the sword would break completely. The next moment would be the decisive moment, and one of the two would inevitably face defeat. Would it be "Conqueror Marduk" blowing away half of Ella Heper's body, or would the two long swords cut off all of Leah Ephraet's limbs? The result was still unknown.

Whether it was the mechanical girl or the Demon Blade Contractor, they were all extremely focused at this moment, focused to the point of selflessness, and selflessness would cause them to subconsciously ignore other things around them.

“Aila——————————!!!”

An incredibly passionate voice came from the other side of the forest.

The next moment, destruction did not come, and the magic sword did not come out. The "Arbitrator" subconsciously turned his head towards the direction of the sound, and was then kicked hard in the face by the Holy Knight!

"Well……!"

Before he could even utter an exclamation, a pure white sword slashed towards him. Thanks to the computing power brought by the high-performance differential engine, the "Arbitrator" was able to raise his arm to deflect the sword in the first moment, and at the cost of half his arm, he finally avoided the fate of being cut in two by the slanting sword.

However, she was not the only one who seized the opportunity.

Ella Heper also picked up the sword again.

……

…………

........................

"Thank you for your help. The situation just now was really critical..."

In the uncomfortable silence, Roy felt no fear, only embarrassment.

The blood-stirring tide brought by the battle had not yet dissipated, but the enemy that he, as a war priest, could fight with force no longer existed. The Mummy Lord, who was originally shrouded in a decaying aura and seemed invincible like a mythical creature like a dragon, now lay silently in front of him, filled with a strange sense of contradiction.

Even Roy himself would not have thought that the girl in front of him, a girl who was almost a heretic according to the policies of the Glorious Divine Court, could display such terrifying combat power.

Under the siege of Roy and Ashetherin, the Mummy Lord was able to fight back evenly at first. However, soon after Ashetherin became immune to several necromancy spells and necromancy abilities, causing the Mummy Lord's resource allocation to become unbalanced and even collapse, it was nailed to the ground by Ashetherin's arrows at an extremely fast speed, and its head was blown into a ball of dust, which then flew away in the wind of the forest.

Strictly speaking, the Mummy Lord Colettes Xiuheberil is still not dead, as evidenced by its torso still wriggling on the ground, but it is obvious that it has no ability to move for the time being.

In order to ease the embarrassment in his heart, Roy tried to talk to this girl he had never heard of.

"..."

Ashlee had no intention of answering.

She just raised the crossbow in her hand and shot two more arrows at the Mummy Lord. Then she walked away without saying a word, heading in a direction that was completely unknown to Roy von Ivanov.

"Hey, hey, where are you going? Wait for me--"

This made Roy even more embarrassed. He could only shout and speed up to catch up. It seemed that Ashlee completely ignored the existence of her ally. She immediately activated the jets on her legs and flew towards Lunicea at a very fast speed. This forced Roy to run as fast as he could to avoid being left behind.

By the time Ashlee arrived at her destination, Lunisia had basically finished dealing with everything.

"Ah, Ash. Welcome back?"

Before Ashtherin could answer, she saw something on the ground.

To be precise... it was the "Arbitrator" Leah Efayeret, who was tied up, missing one arm and one leg, and whose main gun had been removed.

"Gu...Kill me!"

"So I won't kill you..."

"Ashe is back. Luna, what are you doing?"

After responding in a strange way, Ashlee pointed at the struggling "Arbitrator".

"I just wanted to get some information and find where Sister Sestine is...but this girl named Leah refused to say a single useful word."

"Absolutely! Absolutely! There's no way I'll tell you! I won't tell you a single word about Sister Lusa!"

"So who is Lusa?"

Lunicia held her arms helplessly, looking very troubled.

As for Ella Hepper, she was leaning in Lunicia's arms with her eyes closed, enjoying the meticulous care of Holy Healer. Although it seemed that her injuries had been almost healed, she still chose to pretend to be dead, which could be called shameless. Of course, she herself would not care about such evaluation at all.

Unable to resist, she reached out and poked the Arbitrator's smooth cheek, but was nearly bitten. Lunicia had no choice but to give up the idea.

"In short, who Lusa is has nothing to do with us. We just want to know where Sesteen Peranxetine is now and what she is doing. Just tell us about it."

"No way!" Leah Efayet almost jumped up from the ground. "She is the top person in charge here. I won't be stupid enough to tell you anything about her!"

"Um, really?"

"Really? I've already sent out a distress signal. Soon my sister will command the army to surround you! Clean your neck and wait!"

"Really? You can try again."

Ashlee also squatted beside the Arbitrator and stared at her from a very close distance. That golden gaze made her feel uncomfortable.

"W-what?"

"A distress signal. You can try again."

"If you let me try I will... eh?"

Although she said so, it was obvious that Leia couldn't help but try to send a distress signal again, and then she immediately realized that something was wrong.

"The signal of the prayer here has been blocked by Ashe. From now on, no matter what I do to you, no one will hear it, and no one will come to you, okay?"

“Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…”

Farther away, Mr. Roy von Ivanov wisely turned his face to the side, turning a blind eye and a deaf ear, pretending that nothing had happened in front of him, no matter what the strange girls did.

Chapter 19: The Betrayer's Dinner (Part 1)

"Mummy Lord, Elite Puppet——and the eldest son of the Ivanov family? It's really lively here today."

"Ms. Luna is absolutely right."

"So don't call me Luna-sama... Anyway, is there anything special about this forest?"

Lunicia, Ella, and Roy sat around the campfire, separated by a distance. Although there was nothing unpleasant in the conversation, it was obvious that neither side intended to get too close to each other. This had nothing to do with Lunicia's own thoughts, but was the result of Ella's deliberate arrangement.

As for Ashetherin - she was now sitting side by side with the Arbitrator, their heads pressed together, with half a data cable inserted into the back of each neck.

Ashlee concluded that as long as the underlying logic did not change and the superiors did not send new orders, no matter how hard she tried, the puppet would never reveal any information. This was the difference between a living thing and a machine. That was why, instead of asking Leah Efayret pointlessly, it was better to ask the countless, tiny gears in her head.

Now, Ashetherin's consciousness is roaming in the spiritual network formed by the meshing of the gears etched with prayer letters, wandering at the bottom of the mechanical girl's mind, looking for the encrypted and locked memory.

"No."

Roy spread his hands. It was obvious that he didn't have much idea about the current situation.

"If I must say, there is a fortress stronghold in this forest, which is a good place to observe the flow of magic power. However, other than that, although the interior of this forest is a blind spot that is easily missed, there is nothing special about it... Not only that, even the function of being an observation point has become dispensable after occupying several other strongholds."

"It's optional..."

"So, why did Mr. Roy come here?"

Ella's choice of words, gestures and tone of voice were impeccable in terms of etiquette, but she exuded a sense of alienation in her bones. This attitude made Roy feel helpless, and he had no choice but to shrug his shoulders.

"I don't have any plans. I'm just going to retake one of the several captured bases and see if I can detect the movements of those traitors. That's all."

Who knew there were only undead here, he added.

"...Hmm...something doesn't feel right."

"Ms. Luna is right."

"Coletus Shuheberil, why is the demon general of the Shuheberil family here? I know that this is very wrong..."

Roy looked very distressed and shook his head, but Ella immediately denied it.

"That's not the case. That's not the problem. Just imagine that this is just a base that is not very valuable, at least not of decisive significance. That's what you said, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"So, in Twek, are there other strongholds that are more strategically important and more worthy of attention than the Great Forest of Lafkai? If so, I hope you can give a brief description."

Roy was stunned for a moment, thought for a moment, and then replied: "It should be... No, there are indeed quite a few. Including the base in the Rafkai Great Forest, there are five bases in the entire Twek area with the same function, which can conduct magic observation and launch direct projection attacks on the capital city. Currently, all of them are under the control of those rebels. In addition, there are seven important locations such as the main food route and the canal gate. Half of them are occupied, and the other half are in a stalemate. As far as I know... this is the case."

“It’s explained in great detail.”

"Thanks for the compliment. So?"

"So?" Lunicia also chimed in.

"You also fought the Mummy Lord."

"No."

"What do you think?"

"I couldn't beat it. In the end, that lady over there shot it into a sieve. I definitely couldn't beat it."

"In short, it's very strong."

"Very strong."

“It’s not dead yet.”

"He's not dead yet? It seems like he's not dead."

Roy then remembered that when he and Ashlee sneaked over here, the Mummy Lord was still shaking on the ground. Although it had lost its head, it didn't seem to be too much of a hindrance.