Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume3 Phase05 (section)

===Part 3===

“H-here he comes, Ayato!!”

“This may be a common trait among the Four Lords.” Ayato grinned. “They are the eternal strongest with all the strength that comes with the title. So when a problem becomes too much to think about, they resort to brute force. Fire Lord Blasthogg repeatedly used his breath to attack the sky city’s airport to assist the Demon Lord and Water Lord Fleurelisia challenged the Predator Island to a direct battle. Restraint isn’t their strong suit.”

“(Ugh. And that same trait leads mother to fall in love at the drop of a hat.)”

“?”

For some reason, Teleria looked away and muttered something under her breath.

Escalrain was charging straight toward this tower. He likely intended to knock down everything that was interfering with his meteorological disasters. He was furious after belatedly realizing his deck of cards was being secretly counteracted and spied on by the other side.

Using his full firepower right from the start was definitely the right decision here. Holding back and slowly working his way from his weakest moves would be inefficient in the extreme. Unless the physical changes themselves presented a risk of reducing his lifespan, he didn’t need to worry about preserving his strength since his safety was assured as soon as he killed the enemy before his eyes here.

But life could be unfair and the right decision didn’t always lead to success.

Never assume you can defeat a Sorcery Hacker using the standard tactics.

“Just like I hoped he would. Miss Henrietta!!”

“I swear I will fulfill my task.”

The straitlaced Striker drew her bolt-action carbine from her hip. She pulled back the cocking lever to load the first round and aimed it straight up as if preparing for a gun salute.

And she gave a roar in time with the bright red muzzle flash.

“Buff: Primary Ex Massive!!”

The empty cartridge fell to the floor, its gold coloration fading like a withering flower.

Henrietta stepped up onto the window frame and jumped out into the air. She didn’t hesitate to drop down onto the back of the giant horse trying to destroy the tower at a lower level. She had been so afraid to hang into the tower’s wall, but her excitement over challenging this enemy had won out. She really was a warrior through and through.

Ayato’s group was hit by a tremor that made it feel like the world itself was shaking.

Calling the massive Four Lord to them was all well and good, but they had used the tower itself as bait. Ayato considered a few possibilities for what he could hack to get them to the neighboring tower.

“Coach, our tower is falling again.”

Just then, something shook the air outside the window. The buzzing sound came from a dragonfly sorcery device measuring 5 esoule<ref>Approximately 6 meters.</ref> long.

A familiar voice played from the speaker at its mouth.

“This is Planetary Probe Prototype 8. Hop on quick if you want a ride.”

“You’re testing it here? The atmospheric composition and conditions on another planet would be entirely different, so this will never tell you if it could fly there.”

The Academy Towers were supposedly protected by a complex maze of wind, but the collapse of the one tower and its connecting walkways must have provided some freedom to fly. Taking advantage of your own mistakes wasn’t just the Sorcery Hacker motto – it was the standard for all areas of research.

Ayato smiled bitterly at the Rocket Club’s words as he hopped on.

The dragonfly shape meant he had to cling to the long, skinny body running down the center. Instead of hanging down by his hands, he rode it like it was a witch’s broom.

“How bad is the damage?”

“You think anyone’s going outside with all this going on? Most everyone’s trembling in their trailers, so don’t worry about them. Oh, but come to think of it, the Hiking Club went running for the surrounding mountains and received minor injuries from rubble. I don’t know why. Maybe they just panicked.”

“I bet they’ve dug a hole in the mountain and built an unauthorized shelter. One of the Four Lords going on a rampage has got to have those doomsday preppers jumping for joy and gloating ‘told you so’.”

“If our rocket development had progressed some more, I’d be fleeing to the moon in the sky right about now. Guess I should thank those assholes on the Council for getting in our way so often.”

After Teleria and Mamilis followed after Ayato, the mana tower tilted too far to support its own weight and collapsed straight down.

“I can’t help but notice we aren’t gaining any height. Is this no more than a weird-looking glider?” asked Ayato.

“Oh, shut up. It was designed to get aerial photographs of empty craters. It wasn’t meant to carry three whole people. So where should I drop you off: another tower or the ground?”

“The window of another tower. We can’t possibly win this down on the open ground.”

Explosive booms erupted directly below them.

Henrietta was using her entire body to swing her bolt-action carbine with axe bayonet. She was slamming the weapon into the Four Lord’s back with all the might of her repeated magic buffs.

She used the simple sharp point.

But since it was no more than physical damage, no magical tricks could negate it.

Escalrain, Lord of the Skies, was clearly slowing. His four hooves stood on the ground instead of the air. As the ruler of the skies, standing on the ground may have been the greatest humiliation of all.

The wind roared.

He twisted his giant body to twist the air around in counterattack.

But none of it hit Henrietta as she ran every which way atop the giant horse’s back. A horse lacked a hand to scratch his own back and he could not twist his head around to bite at it either. If he could not shake off whatever was on his back, then that acted as a blind spot for him. The more effort he put into it, the more momentum Henrietta poured into swinging her thick axe blade into his unguarded back.

It didn’t look like he intended to use his wings.

That showed hesitation on his part.

Even if they could reach his back, what would happen if his wings – his greatest symbol – were attacked in the same way as his back? The wounds would be like the slightest crease on the edge of a card, but what if that robbed him of his ability to weave the winds and he could never use it the same way again?

Thus, the hesitation.

Or maybe it was fear.

Even the Four Lords were filthy living creatures.

Henrietta was buffing her strength with magic, but the bayonet axe she swung down was a purely physical attack. That prevented even a Four Lord from negating the damage caused by the thick blade. This human rebellion was only possible because she had inherited all the martial arts techniques passed down from before sorcery guns were common and she had trained in them day in and day out.

Sparks flew and powerful shockwaves scattered. But this was not a dance of magic with its own color and light. It was all the result of the physical damage that buffed Henrietta kept pouring into Escalrain.

“That’s incredible, coach,” muttered Mamilis while staring down at it.

“It is. But this isn’t over yet.”

They entered a 44th floor window to reach the Control Science Unmanned Sorcery Device Research Tower’s Grade E zone.

No sooner were they inside than more hail blew horizontally against the tower. It was probably meant to knock Henrietta from Escalrain’s back, but it also smashed up the dragonfly, knocking it from the sky outside the window.

“Henrietta!!”

Fist-sized hail was not enough to instantly kill a human, but when it was falling too thickly to dodge out of the way, the damage would add up. Ayato located a boiler system’s steam pipe in a nearby wall and stabbed it with his Linkage Plug sword. Controlling that hot steam would let him divert and dissipate the meteorological attacks.

However…

“Ah!!” shrieked Dark Elf Mamilis.

Escalrain violently swung his four wings while pinned to the ground, smashing them into the lower levels of the tower Ayato’s group was in. That was enough to start its collapse.

“Hang on for now. Move to the next tower only after this one hits it and stops!!’

“Ayato!!”

Ayato couldn’t answer Teleria’s shout.

He rolled right on out the window and away from the tilting tower.