Page 113
...However, the people who were ready to withstand the impact and defend did not wait for the third ice spear.
Instead, the shaking of the earth was becoming more and more obvious. From the sound, it was not the fierce and swift attack just now, but more like a stream of bison approaching, or like a group of tanks rolling over.
Kong's perception of the sharp hostility gradually faded, and the monster throwing the ice spear seemed to have disappeared out of thin air. It seemed that the exaggerated attack could not be released at any time. After two failed sniper attacks, it chose to lie dormant, or it changed its mind and felt that a sneak attack would not be able to take him and others down.
——But the approaching flood of malice was equally distributed to every human present, and Bronya was right.
……
"...Yes, that's it... Bronya, go with them - you must... Ugh!!"
[You haven’t fully accepted us, otherwise you would have gained more power than this. You will still degenerate and return to your weak human identity——]
"You said that Bronya would be the 'mother' of the new world... I want to leave this opportunity to her... instead of getting rid of her... I can continue to help you as the Great Guardian..."
[But because of your hesitation, the child got mixed up with the outsiders. She will soon find out and question you.]
"Then I will bring her to you and let her become the 'mother' of the new world herself—"
[I hope so... The main city is too far away from us, so we can only use a rift to release interference. If you hadn't failed, we could have skipped the expulsion step.]
"...No...I can't invite revenge from the heavens...I have to ensure...that as many Belobergs as possible enter the new world...This is part of the agreement between you and me. If only a few people reach the new world...everything will be in vain."
[We have already given you the answer. The fleet does not exist - that is "exploration". They are powerless to reverse everything in this world, but Cocolia, our promise is still valid. You insist on letting more people experience the beauty of the new world, so continue to control your army and force those nosy nameless guests to leave this dying world -]
Amid the chorus-like sounds, the iceman melted quickly.
Because her figure was hidden among the buildings, no Iron Guard could see her true form clearly. They only saw the sight of the ice spear flying out and the flash that illuminated the sky. The wet marks on the ground seemed to prove something, but when the large force arrived following the shock wave of the explosion, what they saw was a familiar face standing there with a gun, and the corpses of the Rift Creatures that were turning to ashes on the ground.
[It’s coming soon, it’s coming soon. As long as the new world comes, even the nameless guest can’t stop us. 】
The sound faded away, and as the Iron Guards shouted, Kokolia shot a Rift Creature through the chest and threw it to the side of the street.
"Great Guardian!! What was that explosion just now!?"
"...I have slain a powerful Riftbreaker - now, let me deal with the remaining enemies."
The doubt and gloom in the blonde's eyes were replaced by determination.
"A large number of monsters have emerged from the north and are invading the city, sir!"
The conscientious officers tried to shrink the defense line toward the main urban area.
"It's okay. The guards of Castle K will take care of them. Now, follow me to fight back. No one will be left alive!"
"...Yes! Lady Cocolia!"
The Iron Guards lined up in front of her. They didn't know why Cocolia would leave the main force to fight against the Rift alone, but their trust in her and their belief in her protection made these Iron Guards go forward without hesitation without hesitation.
Even though people have many complaints about her frontline guidance that involves many sacrifices, it is undeniable that she is a strong enough leader, and the Beloberg people really appreciate her.
"My Lord, the remnants of the Rift around here have been almost cleared. It's time for us to—"
"Well, go and join the guards and wipe out all those who invade the administrative district. This will be a great victory, Iron Guards." Cocolia raised his head and finally agreed to the officer's request to return to defend.
The area had been almost cleared, and the monsters that had escaped had basically rushed into the square to have fun. After a period of excitement, the Iron Guards who had followed Cocolia deep into the deepest depths didn't kill many of the afterimages of the Rift. After a brief moment of emptiness, they suddenly realized that the area near the administrative district was probably in a terrible state.
But soon their worry was replaced by fear.
With a loud roar like a giant whale leaping out of the sea, spreading from the bottom of the fortress support, the group of people saw a scene that they would never forget in their lives.
A huge ship, with its secondary guns on both sides firing at the same time, flew over the administrative district. The blue particles that gushed out fell to the ground of the square, erasing large tracts of earth and rocks along with the moving shadows of the rift.
No living creature could survive under the high temperature, but this giant ship was not for Nanook to preach. She quickly glided from the main gate of the administrative district all the way to the sky above the old city, and the monster's turbulence was completely drowned by her flames and rain of bullets.
As if to overcome the shortcoming of the shooting depression angle, this retro yet trendy interstellar cruiser made a half-circle roll in the air with incredible maneuverability, greatly widening the firing angles of the anti-aircraft guns and secondary guns toward the ground below.
Wherever it passes, there is no protection, only destruction follows like a shadow - but it is indeed doing the work of protection. There is no doubt that the rift creatures it plows through will never be able to threaten the citizens of Beloberg.
After spinning round and round and pouring out its fury, the giant ship faced the direction of the cold wind outside Beloberg, raised its bow high, and the nozzle at the stern dragged a comet-like blazing light, as dazzling as when it came, passed through the shield of the barrier, soared into the sky, and slowly turned into a star in the gaze of the people on the earth, as if it would never come back.
"That is... 'Fleet'..."
The officer following Cocolia muttered about the rumors that were spreading wildly in the army.
But Cocolia did not immediately stop the chaos of the Iron Guards. In fact, she was also immersed in shock. She had to cover her forehead, as if to remove the impact it brought from her mind:
"...Development...Fleet...How could it be, did they...lieve me...Hmm..."
189. YaYa: Goodbye, mother, and my cowardice
"Pay attention to the bottom of those residues, Holhaiya, there may be living creatures from the Rift Valley!"
The dark green gale blew away the completely indistinguishable debris, revealing the glass-like crystals underneath. The originally flat road looked as if several new drainage ditches had been added to it, and it shone with an obsidian color. As to whether it was because of the molten component added to the corpse of the Rift Creation, or whether these stones could originally burn out a beautiful luster, no one cared.
In the melee, Kong Ben intended to slowly disconnect from the guards. It was true that they had temporary cooperation, but as long as the Great Guardian came out of the fortress, retreated from the front line, and brainwashed these guys again, the wavering guards might still besiege the train set - he didn't want to take that risk.
The precisely targeted ice spear strike and the rift tide that broke out right near the Goethe Hotel all suggested that Cocolia was using a series of means to weaken the senior military officers' awe of the train crew and was trying to replace the public's curiosity with hostility.
However, to his surprise, Bronya, who had just been a little distraught, actually regrouped and, in addition to commanding part of the Iron Guards, moved closer to them. Moreover, with the tacit consent of the officers on the administrative district's defense line, she took away a small group of guards to cover the train group as it slowly left the administrative district battlefield.
[Ace! Belfast has eliminated the most enemies! The exclusive MVP music "Blue Wind" is playing! ]
As the music that caused Sora to have phantom pain in his liver ended, Belfa's ship broke through the exosphere and reunited with the train.
The rift creatures that poured into the city were all wiped out. Although the square was in a mess, the casualties caused by these creatures were not significant, which was the only good news.
"Befa, how much energy did you use?"
"About a quarter, and there's more than half of the ammunition left."
"More than before... But at least it solved the immediate problem. You should get on the train and have a rest. I will bring people back to the train to rest soon."
"Yes, Commander."
After arranging Befa, Sora cast his gaze towards the guards who were looking around but always maintaining their formation and combat readiness - he felt a little troubled.
Unknowingly, a group of slightly confused guards gathered around Bronya, who was temporarily "demobilized". It seemed that there were about three or four hundred people.
They didn't know why the fleet suddenly appeared and destroyed the Rift Creatures that attacked their defenses, but they were sure that the fleet members were not as evil as the announcement said - if they attracted so many Rift Creatures just to destroy them for show and demonstrate the fleet's skills, the cost would be too high.
What's more, Bronya is here... Some Iron Guards were involved in the battle before they even received the information from Cburg about revoking Bronya's command. So after they dispersed from their respective command units, they all chose to gather around Bronya's flag.
Taking advantage of the chaotic situation at the junction of the entrance to the administrative district and the square, this large group of people was able to follow the billowing smoke left by the bombing of Belfa, leave the administrative district, and regroup near the station.
"The commander of the Royal Guards didn't stop me from taking these guards away..."
The dusty Bronya lowered the general flag, signaling the confused troops to take a break, and then moved towards Kong, with the determination in her eyes instantly dissipating.
After just half an hour of fighting, she felt exhausted as if she had fought all the battles she should have fought for the rest of her life.
At this time, the Great Guardian on the front line was still on his way back to support Fort K. All the garrison teams were attacked by the Rift. The command system was in chaos, which gave this small group of troops another opportunity to regain their lost ground.
...In fact, even if they did not leave secretly, or even enter Castle K, the guards who did not choose to go with Bronya would not intend to stop them.
After witnessing Befa's massacre and confirming that the fleet did have "ships", the Guards became more suspicious of Cocolia's orders.
Even among the elite troops she had selected... this force had seeds of doubt planted in their hearts, and barely met Sora's expectations.
He asked Befa to summon ships to carry out a large-scale bombing in the downtown area, not only to intimidate the locals, but also to expose Cocolia's lies. Unfortunately, looking at the map of the city with at least half of it red, Kong realized that the Great Guardian must have spread a lot of rumors in advance about the fleet guiding the Rift Creatures to attack the city, and might also use the traces of destruction to spread the news that the fleet attacked civilians and fled in fear of crime...
With her status, rumors will become the official attitude, and the remaining neutral punctuation marks are just a group of people who witnessed the train crew destroying the Rift with their own eyes, and they are still a minority.
In addition to the large yellow and red dots, there are a few scattered blue dots outside the city and distributed at the bottom of the layered map. Kong guessed that they might be Jeppard's followers, Sambo and his men.
At this point, Kong assumed that Cocolia had the power to influence the Rift, and might even be able to control the star core like himself. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain the sudden appearance of the Rift creature and its overly accurate search for the enemy - she had to recalculate her hand.
And according to the current development situation, if they don't change the local public opinion, even if they want to bypass Beloberg and secretly dispose of the star core, the other party will know in advance and obstruct them again.
Thinking of this, Kong glanced at Haiya helplessly - her bad mouth was always what she said.
After being glared at by Sora's complaining eyes, Haiya simply shook her tail and then tightened her tactical uniform.
The sealed material also made her tail uncomfortable. Apparently, Estelle and the design team she hired were not clear enough about the structure of the Quetzalcoatl's tail.
In addition, the battle just now damaged the large heater. After leaving the molten area, her body temperature began to drop again. She urged Kong, hoping that he would quickly comfort this local girl and return to the train to make long-term plans.
"...Bronya, these people you have gathered should be able to provide you with some protection, but we cannot take so many troops with us at once. Do you have a way to find a temporary base for them? We cannot let them be taken back by Cocolia and brainwashed."
Sora believed that after being betrayed by her mother, Bronya would be more aware of what she could and should do.
"...The monitoring system at the station has not yet been restored. We can requisition a batch of rail cars to take those who are following us out of the city... However, I'm not sure which guards know the truth..."
The silver-haired girl lowered her head.
"Jepard Landau's troops don't seem to be affected by Cocolia's lies. They are stationed in the snowfield south of the city. Oh, sorry, you should know more about it than I do... but I don't know where he went."
On the system's small map, the blue dots in that area are quite dense, and it is difficult to tell who the garrison officer is.
"You have contact with him? That's great news. He is one of the best soldiers and officers in Beloberg. My mother probably didn't do anything because she was afraid that if she controlled him, it would have too much influence in the army... I didn't receive any news of his detention until I left Kburg."
After pinching the badge to confirm for a while, Bronya breathed a sigh of relief: "...His signal is still there, with his garrison. We can go find him and join him."
...Is there any operation with a greater impact than having all the Grand Guardian's reserves taken away?
Sora wanted to make a joke, but after seeing Bronya's tired face, he decided not to use his inappropriate sense of humor.
"Besides him, I'm afraid you won't find anyone else who trusts the Nameless Guest as much as you do. Let's go."
"You mean... the nameless guest?"
"Well, we are 'pioneers' and 'fleet' people, there is no conflict. Since you are going to get to know the truth in the sky, there is no need for me to hide it from you."
Just as he was about to turn around, Sora saw Bronya stroking her chest and immediately reminded him:
"...By the way, remember to throw away your badge, Bronya. It may be able to locate us. After joining up with Jeppard's troops, you have to convince him to leave with us and start a new camp some distance away from the city."
"But……"
"Don't hesitate, Bronya. Only when you gather enough people will you be qualified to come back and question your mother why she caused this chaos. But everything is based on a premise, which is that you cannot be arrested."
Sora bluntly warned her: "Soon your people will become 'rebels' in Beloberg, and the charges will probably be for colluding with outsiders or something like that."
“Rebels… ah…??”
The little girl's initial thought was to delay and wait for her mother to change her mind. She was not yet ready to completely turn against Cocolia.
She was completely frightened when Kong said that.
"I have no intention of rebelling. I am only cooperating with the fleet... How can that be considered as rebellion—"
"According to my understanding, your mother may be using the star core and the rift to fulfill her ambitions. She can benefit from a large number of military and civilian casualties, or there are other collaborators who are asking her for a price. Considering that this kind of dirty deal has been going on for a long time... It is almost impossible for you to ask her to give up this path, unless..."
Kong paused. "Unless we forcibly control her, assassinate her, or overthrow her by exposing her conspiracy - but now we have no one in Castle K to cooperate with us, it seems... the only option left is to take people to the battlefield to see the truth."
"How can I use force against the Great Guardian - and I shouldn't let my comrades fight against each other!" Bronya was so frightened by Kong's overly rebellious remarks that goose bumps ran all the way up her spine to her neck.