295 Elf Village Defense and Offense Battle ⑤

Demon Lord's Perspective

"Pathetic."

The voice, unpleasant beyond measure, came from a speaker placed somewhere.

"You are nothing more than that. I only guard against Guriestedis. I prepared as if facing a true god. Did you truly believe you could defeat me in earnest? That is why you remain forever a mere girl."

Unusually verbose. Perhaps it is merely my imagination.

Or perhaps it is simply pleasing.

"Still, we have shared years. To hold back would be discourteous. I believe you merit being slain with full force. I have even considered using this Gloria Type Ω, crafted specifically for Guriestedis, in your case."

The speaker's voice spoke the assessment dispassionately—unpleasant, yet neutral.

Before me stood a mechanical weapon, poised as if looking down upon me.

"Profound. A long-standing association concludes today. The exterior will soon be resolved. Farewell, my greatest failure."

Then, the mechanical weapon swung its blade downward toward me.

☆

The time shifts slightly backward.

I parted ways with Shiro and descended the endless slope alone.

A passage leading downward into the underground.

Potimas awaits ahead.

At the bottom of this slope lay a vast space resembling a warehouse.

Likely a storage area for the robots Shiro had dismantled above ground.

Not merely stored—maintenance and repairs were conducted here as well. Various machines were scattered about.

"Good of you to come."

Suddenly, a voice echoed from nowhere.

Echoing through the sealed space, the source of the voice remained indistinct.

Yet even with the distorted resonance, I could not mistake its origin.

“Potimas.”

“Typical.”

Potimas replied with feigned boredom.

At the same moment, a thunderous sound erupted behind me.

Turning, I saw the passage I had descended through sealed by a heavy metal door.

“Foolish. Did you not suspect it was a trap?”

As Potimas’s contemptuous words reached me, strength drained from my body.

The power that had filled me from head to toe vanished—dissipating like mist.

Better to say it was being erased.

Magic Suppression Field.

Likely spread throughout this entire warehouse, it was suppressing my status.

With my status erased and skills disabled, I could only exert physical strength as my appearance suggested.

I did not expect you to so easily walk into the trap. One would normally suspect a ruse when the path is displayed so openly on enemy soil. After all, just a girl. No—just an insect.

From deep within the warehouse, several robots emerge—same models seen on the surface.

Surrounded by the barrier, my strength nullified, they aim their barrels at me.

A dull end. We’ve shared years together. At least allow you a painless passing.

The barrels fire simultaneously.

I am struck by a rain of bullets from all directions—there is no way I can survive this!

I leap upward, flip mid-air, plant my feet on the ceiling.

Kick off the ceiling, deliver a gravity-assisted spinning kick to one robot.

The robot’s armor crumples under the impact, crushed beyond recognition.

“Hmph.”

Potimas speaks, voice tinged with something resembling approval.

The voice carries an unmistakable sense of ease.

"You don't understand."

Thus, declaring to shatter that ease.

"I came here to make you despair. What would be the quickest way? Breaking through every trap you set—then standing boldly before you."

"Ha. Quite the bold claim."

"Enjoy your dwindling life while you can. I'll crush every machine and trap you've built—then stand before your core. When that moment comes, let your face turn pale. Beg for your life."

Potimas hears my declaration and emits a low chuckle through the speaker.

"If you can, then try, girl."

Before the words finish, the robots surrounding him raise their weapons in unison.

The moment I leapt from the ground, a bullet struck the spot where I had just been standing.

Ah, well. The situation remains unfavorable.

Combat here, without a barrier, is disadvantageous—my status effects barely function.

Pretending otherwise won't change the fact that victory is impossible.

Magical interference barrier.

It temporarily cuts off even the system’s influence—a barrier the most troublesome for living beings in this world.

Without the status effects sustained by the system, most beings in this world can only perform at their apparent level—or below.

As Potimas said, in my case, I’m barely stronger than a child.

My body stopped developing at the stage of a human teenager, that’s all.

I could complain about why I didn’t grow a little more.

My physique is slender. No muscle development.

In this world, status values are calculated through magical augmentation and innate physical capabilities.

In my case, most of my status stems from magical augmentation. My strength is negligible in comparison to my overall value.

What I’m trying to say is this: without magical augmentation due to the barrier’s effects, I’m in serious trouble.

Does Potimas think I’m pondering something like that?

It was predictable. I should have prepared a countermeasure.

The magical interference barrier has flaws. It does not inhibit magic within the body.

Thus, if I intentionally activate magic internally, it will not be suppressed.

I have practiced internal enhancement magic with Shiro, so that combat effectiveness within the magical interference barrier matches that of the system's internal state.

A technique distinct from skills—magic itself.

Through this, I can now manually activate status-based enhancements that I previously relied on entirely through the system.

Even though activation is inhibited, the energy that forms my status remains unchanged within me.

Therefore, I can learn to utilize it without dependence on the system.

As a result, while magic requiring external manifestation cannot be used within the barrier, basic physical capabilities now function at nearly the same level as inside the system.

Physical attack power: approximately 90,000. Physical defense power: approximately 90,000. Speed: approximately 90,000. My combat capability.

Even a robot of lower dragonkind level would not be a match.

I can eliminate them all at once.

I turned it into scrap.

Then, another robot emerged from within.

The newly appeared robot seemed distinct from the previous ones, possessing a notably striking appearance.

A humanoid robot with an excessively angular form and slender limbs.

Approximately three meters in length—neither particularly large nor small.

"That is my trump card. Should you defeat it, I shall offer my unreserved praise."

"Ah, so..."

I clenched my fist.

No matter what comes, I will crush it.

"Though I doubt you could even face it head-on."

I ignored Potimas's jest and took a step forward.

I should have stepped forward.

A dull impact struck my head, followed by a slow, spreading pain.

"What...?"

I did not understand what had occurred.

Only that I was lying on the ground.

But I did not understand why I was lying on the ground.

I tried to rise, but my body had no strength. Not even a single finger would move.

"Pathetic."

And from the speaker, Potimas's voice echoed, as if mocking me.