Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 196: The Heist Begins
“Dazzling…!”
“Ugh!”
“Whew!?”
Blinding flashes of light burst in front of them, and the men of Avalushi groaned, their vision taken by the sudden explosion. Since they had just descended from their cockpits and were casually eating lunch, the surprise attack was highly effective.
About half of those on break who were facing the flash bombs had their vision temporarily stolen. Liliene had chosen this time around midday specifically because it was when the crew rotated shifts and took their lunch break.
“While guarding Liliene, secure the three units in front first!”
Elis, who was the first to leap out from the vehicle Isamu was in, ran toward Felix and the others coming out of the second vehicle and called out to them.
“Understood!”
Felix and Laurel responded curtly as they ran toward Liliene, giving instructions to Tiramisu as they did.
“Tiramisu, follow and protect Greg!”
“Got it!”
“Liliene, we’re going to hold down that cockpit, please initialize it!”
Felix, now with Liliene, pointed to the three cockpits lined up together.
“Understood!”
Nodding, Liliene rushed toward the cockpits with Felix and the others.
The group led by Felix dashed forward, slashing their lightning swords at only the enemies blocking their path.
Boom!
“Whew!”
“Ugh!”
Those unlucky enough to be in their way screamed in agony before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
“What the hell?!”
“What’s going on?!”
The ones blinded by the flash began to sense the abnormal tension in the air, squinting and trying to grasp what was happening.
Meanwhile, those who had escaped the flash by turning away or looking down gradually regained their senses. As their minds snapped back into focus, they quickly started to grasp the situation.
“Enemy attack!!”
“The prisoners have escaped!!”
Panic swept through the camp like a hornet’s nest being disturbed, throwing everything into chaos.
“They’ve noticed us.”
Isamu remarked.
“With all this movement, that was inevitable. Still, we’ve managed to disable a few of them so far, so I’d say we’re doing well.”
Samuel replied, watching the battlefield from a slight distance behind Isamu.
Franboise and Gable were positioned to guard the front and back.
“Until we’ve secured the units in front, please provide magic support. After that, I expect their magic giants will be deployed, so I’ll need you to help delay them.”
“Very well… Though, truth be told, I’d love to wreak some havoc with one of their magic giants myself. I’ll save that for later.”
Samuel let out a slight grunt of dissatisfaction, causing Isamu to grimace.
“Alright! I’ll deactivate them in order, so register them as we go!”
“Understood!”
Liliene quickly reached the nearest control seat and began resetting the mana passes.
“Miss, what are you doing?! No way…!!”
A few members of Avalushi, who had been nearby, hurried over with drawn swords. As they saw Liliene enter the control seat, they finally started to grasp the situation.
“She’s betrayed us!!”
“Damn it! The young lady has turned traitor!!”
“Watch out! She’s going to reset the mana pass!!”
The realization of the grim situation caused them to raise their voices in alarm.
“You speak of betrayal so easily… Yet you, who joined an invasion war driven by your desire for self-glory, are the real traitors here, aren’t you?”
Felix calmly declared, glaring at the Avalushi members who were rushing toward them, accusing Liliene of being a traitor.
“What?! You think you know us?! Stop running your mouth!!”
The Avalushi members, struck in a sore spot, exploded in anger. However, they knew that recklessly charging in would only result in defeat at the hands of the knights, so they kept their weapons raised but maintained their distance.
“Alright, the reset is complete. Who’s going to pilot it?”
As the tense standoff continued, Liliene poked her head out of the control seat after finishing the reset.
“Greg, you take the controls! The knights can handle themselves even without machines!”
“Ho ho ho, understood!”
With that, Greg swapped places with Liliene and entered the control seat.
Watching from the side, Liliene moved to the second control seat.
“Next, Elis! And lastly, Tiramisu! Tiramisu, make sure you don’t forget that we’ve got allies here, alright?!”
“Got it!”
“Of course!”
Both of them responded quickly to Felix’s instructions and made their way to the control seats.
In about three minutes, the mana pass re-registration for all three control seats was complete. The three magic giant golems, which had been standing idle, slowly rose to their feet.
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“What?! They’ve activated the magic giant golems?!”
The Avalushi members were shocked at the sight. After all, these golems had been kept secret for many years, so their reaction was understandable.
“Damn it! Defend the control seats!”
“Hurry up and activate ours!!”
Unable to face the three golems in their current form, the Avalushi members fell back, reinforcing the defense around their remaining control seats. Meanwhile, their own magic giant golems—four of them—began to stand up.
“They’re coming! Marcella-san and Memphio-san, move to the front! Greg, please fall back for now! I’ll mark the targets!”
Seeing the enemy golems activate, Felix issued orders while retreating toward the control seats.
Following his command, the three newly activated golems fell back, and two golems stationed next to the magic vehicles stepped forward to take their place.
“Kneel down! I’m marking them!”
Isamu shouted at the retreating golems as he and Gable rushed over. In Isamu’s hand was a small, metallic, hemisphere-shaped object. It was about the size of half a softball.
Once the golem knelt, Isamu placed the metal hemisphere on its flattened head and channeled magic into it.
“Alright, it’s attached!”
Isamu shouted as he pressed down on the object for a few seconds while infusing it with magic. Just as he said, the metallic hemisphere was securely attached to the top of the golem’s head.
“Activating now!”
With those words, Isamu touched a magic stone embedded in the hemisphere, and the device emitted a low hum as it activated, changing color.
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“Activation confirmed! Moving to the next one!”
“Here!”
After seeing the hemisphere turn crimson, Isamu took another metal hemisphere from Gable and attached it to the second golem’s head in the same manner. After doing the same for the third golem, Isamu called out to the frontlines.
“Felix, installation complete!”
“Roger! Elis, stay here and guard the magic vehicles! Tiramisu and Greg, advance to the frontlines!”
Following Felix’s instructions, the two golems charged forward to the frontlines.
“That should reduce the chances of friendly fire.”
Samuel spoke to Isamu after observing the entire process.
“Yes. The golems look almost identical, and without voices, friendly fire was a real concern… I’m glad we could prevent that.”
Isamu responded, turning to face Samuel.
“To think there was such a use for the Metal Leech…”
“I just happened to stumble upon it by chance.”
Samuel muttered as he gazed up at the head of Elis’ golem standing guard nearby.
“What I just attached to the top of our heads is an identification magic tool hastily created using Metal Reach during our movement. It’s already equipped on the previously captured machines.
The principle is very simple. By channeling magic power of light, it changes color. It continuously channels a set amount of magic from the light magic stone. Since it’s meant to distinguish friend from foe, any paint or marking would have worked, but unfortunately, we didn’t have anything convenient with us during the move.
We had gathered a large amount of Metal Reach material from the ruins, and we had a decent supply loaded as repair parts for the magic vehicle’s dampers, so I used that. Its characteristic of becoming adhesive when softened by magic power worked well for this application.
Even without additional processing, it stands out, but when we channel light magic through it, the color changes and it emits a faint glow. We turned it into a magic tool to increase visibility, considering the possibility of night battles.
By the way, personally, I would have loved to make it flash on the shoulder, like some industrial robots for police use, since we could make it glow red, but I gave up because it seemed fragile.
“Now, the real challenge starts from here.”
“Indeed. We may be evenly matched with four versus four, but we can’t predict how it’ll turn out…”
“Yes. Statistically, we might have the edge in magic pass strength, but we’re still inexperienced in piloting these golem s.”
“True. Before reinforcements arrive from beyond the wall, I’d like to either take down or capture at least one of them…”
“They know that too, which is why they haven’t advanced.”
Isamu and Samuel contemplated as they provided sporadic magic support, careful not to hit their own side.
The enemy’s cockpit was well-guarded by escorts, the enemy’s magic giant golem, and the person whose golem we had captured, making it difficult to break through. The Avalushi warriors may not be as skilled in close combat as knights, but when it comes to battles involving magic giant golems, it’s a different story.
Although we had a team of elites with high magic pass stats, we couldn’t match the Avalushi, who had trained with golems since childhood. If we could neutralize even one magic giant golem, we could use that gap to go on the offensive, but the skill gap and the Avalushi’s defensive stance caused the battle to reach a stalemate.
“Nyhafu!”
Suddenly, Orihime let out a short cry, jumped off Isamu’s shoulder, and ran toward Felix.
“Nya, Nya!”
Without hesitation, Orihime leaped onto Felix’s head, who was leading the battle from the frontlines.
“Huh, Orihime-sensei!?”
Felix’s voice cracked as the cat gently patted his head, as if telling him to calm down.
“Meooow!”
Orihime then let out a loud, resonant call, more powerful than usual.
“What’s that?”
“A cat? Whose cat is that?”
Though they were used to seeing cats, the Avalushi warriors, who had never encountered Orihime before, were wide-eyed with surprise.
“Ah! Thank you, Sensei! Marcella, Greg-san, target the marked one! Tiramisu, Memphio, provide support!”
Felix quickly issued commands, having understood Orihime’s actions. Hearing his orders, Marcella and Greg’s machines closed in rapidly on the black-shouldered machine on the right flank, while Tiramisu and Memphio machines moved to guard them. The enemy quickly retaliated with a spear thrust, but unlike their previous continuous strikes, this time the movement stalled after just one strike.
Not missing the opportunity, Marcella’s machine swiftly knocked the spear away, and Greg’s machine grappled the enemy’s magic giant golem, pinning it to the ground with a loud thud. At that moment, a white cat jumped out from one of the cockpits.
“Elis, secure that cockpit! Samuel-sama, provide magical support!”
Isamu immediately shouted orders, and Elis golem, which had been guarding the magic vehicle, charged forward. At the same time, three spears of water appeared three meters above Samuel’s head, descending on the three men guarding the white cat’s cockpit.
“Waaah!”
“Ugh!”
“Guh!”
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One of them managed to dodge, but the other two were struck directly, letting out frog-like groans as they were lightly blown away. Though the water attack dealt significant damage, it wasn’t enough to cause serious injuries.”
“Liliene-san, Laurel-san, Gable-san, please take care of it!”
“Leave it to me.”
“You got it!”
“Understood.”
The three of them moved toward the cockpit. The men who were guarding the adjacent cockpit tried to retaliate, but Elis’ golem stepped in, preventing them from interfering.
Liliene quickly disabled the magic control device, and once the pilot regained consciousness, Laurel pulled him out of the cockpit, while Gable restrained him. Liliene then reset the mana pass, and Laurel took control.
“Greg-san, it’s safe to let go now!”
Hearing Felix’s voice, Greg released his hold, and the restrained golem slowly stood up. It picked up the spear it had dropped and swung it a few times before rejoining the battle.
With this, the frontline became five machines versus three. Including Elis’ machine guarding the cockpit, it was now six against three, shifting the tide of the battle in Isamu and his team’s favor.
“Meooow!”
Once again, Orihime let out a long cry.
Just like before, the black-shouldered machine, marked to signify its partnership with a cat, stopped moving, and its cockpit was taken over. This time, it was Gable, who had charged in with Laurel earlier, that took control.
The two remaining Avalushi, realizing their disadvantage, gave up on fighting. After retrieving their cockpits, they retreated to the wall Samuel had created.
In that brief moment, Isamu and his team quickly reformed their formation, preparing for the second round of the battle that was sure to follow.