Editing Amaryllis in the Ice Country:Chapter 10 (section)

===Part O===

“Why is it attacking us!?”

“I don’t know either! Probably a defensive mechanism!”

“A defensive mechanism!?”

“We’re deemed as enemies! Like the masters who were charred black!”

“Enemies…”

I recall the ‘footage’ I saw. The military robots mercilessly killing those that are escaping, the burning horizon covered with corpses. Back then, the robots massacred those escaping to the Snow White and killed them all. Even after a hundred years, ‘this one’ is still obeying that order?

<strong>“Lady Amaryllis…!”</strong>

Götz’s voice rings through the wireless. I can see him at a mound slightly further away.

<strong>“Surely we will be wiped out if this continues..!”</strong>

“Wait, I’ll give the instructions now…!”

I look around to affirm the situation. At this point, there’s Viscaria and fifteen other children hiding with me under the mound, while Götz and another six are there, followed by Eisbahn and another nine children further away.

—What do I do…!?

The military robot stands still before the generator, and if we approach, surely we’ll be hit by that laser from before. Once we get out from this mound, there’s nothing to shield us, so there’s no place to hide.

—But the time…

There’s only a minute left for the Cradle, and if we continue to hide, we’ll end up with a freezing death.

I continue to seek a strategy, while Viscaria next to me is tapping at the panel intensively with her feelers. An upright model of that military robot is spinning on the screen, and the words describing its characteristics are crammed on it.

“Does it have any weaknesses…!?”

“I’m looking for them now!”

I fold my arms tightly, and Daisy looks at me worriedly. The children behind her are all looking teary, huddling together. The ice on the Cradles’ surfaces have melted, and the water droplets are dripping like sweat.

—Got to think of something…

While I’m racking my brain.

“Third strike!”

Viscaria yells. We hurriedly get down.

The light again illuminates the world. The light seems to be prompting something as it hits a nearby pile of dust, and a large amount of dirt rain down. The terrified children are shrieking in fear.

“F-310 approaching!”

The situation has become direr by the moment.

“Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven…!”

—Approaching…!?

I see the robot drag its massive body towards us in a languid manner. Even after a hundred years of Ice Age, its eyes remain sharp as ever.

—We’ll get killed!

There’s no reason needed. The bare killing intent is such a terrifying thing.

—Wh-what do I do!?

On one side, we have a military robot decked with heavy armor, and on the other side, we have common civilian robots; excluding the children, we have only four combatants. The enemy has a long-distance laser, and we have nothing, not even a device to fly with.

—But we can’t get away.

First, it’s impossible to run away while carrying the heavy Cradles. If we do so, our batteries will be depleted, and we’ll be unable to move.

“Thirty meters more!”

The robots have approached us, and the children are hugging me firmly.

—Got to figure out something to divert his focus!

“Listen up, everyone! I’ll be bait! Take this chance to escape, children!”

I convey my thoughts to everyone through the wireless, only to be refuted by Eisbahn immediately.

<i>“What nonsense are you saying now!? You’re going to be burned to crisp once you get out there!”</i>

“But there’s nothing else we can do!”

<i>“Calm down! We can figure out something from his attacks!”</i>

With a calm tone, he says,

<i>“That guy’s unable to grasp our exact locations! If it could, we would have been burned to crisp on its first shot! Its hearing installation and heat sensors may have been destroyed, just capturing enemies with its visual installation!!”</i>

“So, what do you mean!?”

<i>“Too troublesome to explain in detail! I’ll show you proof!”</i>

From his hiding spot, Eisbahn throws out a piece of shattered ice. The ice rolls on the ground, and suddenly, it’s covered by light; the laser shaves off the place the ice lands on.

<i>“You see that?”</i>

Clear as day.

<i>“That guy attacks anything that moves immediately.”</i>