Chapter 179: Mecha! The Aqua!
"Everyone, please look over here!"
In the noisy, chaotic guild, Miss Luna shouted at the top of her lungs. Her voice was a little small, and the other receptionists had to weave through the crowd to gradually quieten them down.
Then, a portion of the adventurers helped push the bar tables to the side, setting up a space that resembled a temporary conference room.
This atmosphere was truly extraordinary.
How should one put it? There was a very urgent feeling, which also meant that the Destroyer was just that bad.
Satou Kazuma was lost in thought.
Then, Luna called out to the crowd, "To everyone who has come, the emergency strategy meeting will now begin! Please take your seats!"
Following her instructions, Kobayashi and the others, like the other adventurers, sat down.
"Just how many people are here?" Kazuma couldn't help but ask in a low voice. It was unclear if he was marveling or asking someone.
However, Kobayashi gave him an accurate number.
"—Two hundred and ninety-six people."
The guild hall was very large, but it still felt crowded.
Sitting at the tables, the faces of the other adventurers could be seen clearly. He could even see Mitsurugi Kyouya not far away.
Likewise, he had also seen Kobayashi and the others.
No, he was staring straight at Aqua, who was sitting next to Kobayashi, so bored she was playing with the water in her cup.
Clap, clap, clap!
Miss Luna clapped her hands, attracting the attention of the still-whispering adventurers, and then said loudly, "Well then, first, I will explain the current situation! Er... first of all, is there anyone who needs me to start by explaining what the Mobile Fortress Destroyer is?"
Hearing her say this, several adventurers, including Kazuma, raised their hands. Kazuma then looked at Kobayashi in surprise, as if wondering why he hadn't raised his hand.
Seeing this, Luna nodded and began her explanation.
"The so-called Mobile Fortress Destroyer is a super-large golem. It was originally a weapon built by the magic-technology great nation, Nois, to fight against the Demon King's army... blah, blah, blah."
What she said was all basic information. On top of that, the Destroyer was truly famous, and almost all the adventurers had an "I already knew that" look on their faces, nodding frequently.
What was particularly worth mentioning was its huge body and its attack speed.
If one were to be stepped on by its eight surprisingly fast legs, even a large monster would be crushed into meat paste.
Then, a special magic technology was used to build its body, which constantly expanded a powerful magic barrier.
Therefore, magic attacks were completely ineffective!
As she explained, the expressions of the adventurers, whether they had known or were just finding out, subtly became uglier and uglier.
It was probably because they were gradually realizing just how reckless it was to want to challenge such a tricky golem.
But now, they had no chance to back down.
After a brief silence, an even more heated uproar arose as the adventurers began to voice their opinions.
A-ranked adventurer in archer gear was the first to speak. "Magic is ineffective, so we can only use physical attacks. But if we get close, we'll be crushed. So that only leaves attack methods like arrows or catapults."
"But a golem made of magic metal will just deflect arrows. And a catapult's speed and accuracy are very poor. Given the Destroyer's speed, I'm afraid it won't be of much use."
The one who refuted him was a chubby noble. Beside him was a petite, delicately-featured male mage.
It was the noble who had taken Kazuma as his personal tailor.
It seemed not all nobles were so bad.
But that didn't change the fact that they were currently helpless against the Destroyer. Especially when Luna dropped another bombshell on them.
"Due to the Destroyer's astonishing speed, there is almost no place on this continent that it has not yet ravaged. Its eight spider-like legs can traverse any harsh terrain. To date, it is a mobile fortress that tramples both humans and monsters alike without discrimination. That is the origin of the name 'Destroyer'.
When it approaches, the only recognized countermeasure is to abandon the town and rebuild it after it has passed. You could say it is treated as a natural disaster."
The adventurers, who had been chattering away just now, were now all silent.
After scanning the room, Luna said seriously, "Currently, the Destroyer is to the northwest of this town, heading straight for us... And so, please give us your opinions!"
What opinions could they give?
Just lie flat and wait for death.
No one spoke, but this was the meaning on all their faces.
Even Kazuma was the same.
At this time, a certain adventurer raised his hand and said, "Excuse me, what about that magic-technology great nation, Nois? The country that built the Destroyer... shouldn't they have a way to create something to rival it? Also, they might know its weakness?"
"It was destroyed. When the Destroyer went out of control, the first country it destroyed was that one."
Luna's words made the expressions of some of the adventurers turn even uglier. She then urged, "Are there any other opinions?"
This time, it was Dust who raised his hand. "To deal with that thing, how about a giant trap? Kobayashi made a giant sinkhole on the plain before. The depth there... even the Destroyer..."
"It's been tried. Someone once used magic to temporarily dig a large pit, and the Destroyer did successfully fall in. But its mobility is no small matter. Its eight legs nimbly jumped out of the hole. The original plan to cover the exit with rocks couldn't even be attempted in time," Luna refuted again.
The scene instantly fell into a dead silence.
"Any other opinions?"
Her question made the others subconsciously shrink their shoulders. Although other ideas were proposed later, such as using ropes or other tools to force their way in, or building giant barricades, they were all refuted by Luna with the examples that it was too fast, or that it would just go around the barricades and turn back to destroy the town, which sent the scene back into silence.
There were no more ideas. No ideas at all.
What in the world is going on? Why would such a strong enemy appear in a beginner town?
Everyone was silent. They had already lost their confidence.
We should have just run away earlier.
Many were already thinking of retreating.
It's unknown if it was because he was disgusted by this unsuccessful meeting, but Taylor, who was sitting at the side, suddenly said, "Hey! Kobayashi, Kazuma! You two have such quick minds. Do you have any good ideas?"
"Er..."
Kazuma had a disgusted look on his face. He was very annoyed that this difficult problem had suddenly been thrown to him. Besides, he was just a low-level adventurer. Even if they asked him, it would be useless.
There was no helping it.
He very wisely sought help from others. "Kobayashi-senpai, do you have any good ideas? Miss RyuZU! If we ask Miss RyuZU, we can definitely solve it, right!"
"...What do you think RyuZU is? Dora-Ryu? Unfortunately, she has no way to solve this problem either."
He retorted, shooting him a look.
Actually, on the way back from Wiz's shop, he had asked her if there was a way to solve it, and had even told her the Destroyer's weakness—the Sunstone core—and asked if she could destroy it or steal it.
And the answer he got was—no.
Her ability was to enter imaginary time, but that didn't mean she was invincible. Her body was fragile. Just as she couldn't touch magma, she also couldn't touch the extremely hot Sunstone.
So she couldn't help this time either.
He sighed. "If we still had the magic crystals, I could have thought of something. But now they've all been wasted by a certain loli, so I have no way either."
The ability of the Teigu [Shambhala] was teleportation. Its hidden trump card was to teleport a certain thing or person to another dimension. But such a useful Teigu had one drawback: it consumed a large amount of energy each time it was used. And it was also related to the distance and the size of the object being teleported. The bigger and farther, the more energy it consumed.
One could imagine how ridiculous the amount of energy needed to teleport the Destroyer would be. Not to mention, he had used a lot of energy in the final battle in the world of Unbreakable Machine-Doll.
On top of that, with Megumin's wastefulness, he hadn't even had a chance to fully charge the Teigu.
"Megu-min—!"
Hearing him say this, Kazuma's angry gaze turned to her, only to see the loli turn her head away and whistle, pretending it had nothing to do with her.
This girl...!
He was furious, but he was in no mood to scold her now. Because there was something more important at hand.
"What do we do, senpai?"
"Mmm... no matter what, we have to go to the Guild first," he replied after thinking.
Although the arrival of the Destroyer had caught him unprepared, no matter what, running away was not the right choice.
Not for him, nor for Darkness.
"...By the way, where's Darkness?" He looked around and found that the perverted knight of the party was missing.
Don't tell me she's already gone to the Guild?
"...Sorry, I was too slow." Darkness's figure appeared on the stairs of the second floor. When she saw him and Kazuma, she said, "Mmm? What's wrong? Hurry up and get ready. With Kobayashi's personality, he'll definitely go to the Guild, right?"
At this moment, she was wearing heavy armor that none of them had ever seen before. In addition to her usual pure white armor, she was also wearing a heavy cape woven from chain mail, and even her left gauntlet was fitted with a detachable shield.
It was just that she wasn't wearing a heavy helmet. This was probably the last shred of stubbornness she had as a female knight.
As expected, she would not run. After all, she was the young lady of the great noble Dustiness family. How could she abandon the people and flee alone?
Kazuma was also infected. It was just that he mistook it for the "way of the knight" and howled at Aqua and Megumin, "Hey! You two, take a good look! We've been living in this mansion, in this town, for so long! Don't you have any feelings for it? Quick! Get ready to go to the Guild!"
"...Kazuma, you're a little too hot-blooded today. The light in the depths of your eyes is a little too bright. And... we've only lived in this mansion for a month. You're the one who's reluctant to part with it."
Aqua had seen right through his true thoughts. As expected of a goddess, her retorts are sharp.
After getting ready, the party members arrived at the Guild.
As soon as they entered, Dust raised his hand and called out, "Yo! Kobayashi! You really came! I knew you would!"
"Isn't that a given? I'm an adventurer," he said, high-fiving him. Kazuma did the same.
They were companions who had gone to the succubus shop together. Although they often dug pits for each other and slung mud, at critical moments, they were companions who trusted each other.
Keith, Taylor, Lynn... all of Dust's party members were here.
Not only that, but looking around the entire guild again, various adventurers had all appeared here with their best equipment.
The aura emanating from them was quite powerful.
Well, well. The strong adventurers you don't usually see have all been flushed out by the Destroyer.
...And so, after the atmosphere was just right.
"To everyone who has come, thank you for answering the Guild's call! Next, let's begin discussing how to deal with the Mobile Fortress Destroyer!"
At Luna's call, the numerous adventurers rolled up their sleeves. It seemed the opportunity to make a name for themselves had arrived!
(End of Chapter)