BATTLE OR ALIVE
Chapter 26: Despair

At present, the condition of the kingdom of Athera is in turmoil of destruction which is a little more attacking them.

Now district A is busy with activities of people who are different than usual, many shops and houses are empty. Everyone is evacuating and moving their belongings to the refugee camp.

The guild is currently full of hired adventurers and also volunteered to face Scorpio. Inside was Lhava and his two women and there was Rin also joining the meeting.

Meeting about the plan to stop Scorpio, Marina has given orders for the guild to take part in the attack.

[The plan is, the adventurers will take on the experts in the attack after the witches finish destroying the barrier protecting Scorpio.

The witches were the ones who belonged to the group of witches proposed by Marina, their task was to make a huge magic attack to destroy the barrier of Scorpio.

And after the task of the magician is completed, then the adventurers will start to move. They will be tasked with destroying the legs of the Scorpio to make him unable to move. And only until that's the job for adventurers.

The rest is for the royal knights who will destroy the magic core of Scorpio after he is paralyzed.]

With the completion of the strategy, the meeting was dissolved.

(They're not here. I regret it when I admit it.)

Rin in his heart, he left the meeting place and intended to get out of the guild. But there is a great wall that gets in the way, immersed in his thoughts making Rin unconscious of the wall, he Lhava.

“Ah. Uh, it turns out Rin-sama.”

“Aduh. Hm, Lhava.”

Unaware of Lhava's existence, Rin is truly great. He perfectly hit Lhava.

Rin who saw what he hit was Lhava, immediately thought of Emma's words about the duel he and Jell had done. He wanted to know the details of their second meeting that the guild had kept secret from the public.

The shocked Lhava when Rin asked him about the duel made his face slightly moody, and he slightly made a smile on his face. He's like he's not the Lhava Rin knows.

“From your face it is, so is it true that you lost to him?”

“Ah, correct. I lost a landslide.”

Rin who listened to him directly from Lhava made him distrustful, he did not understand how Jell defeated Lhava even though he had trouble fighting him.

“Can you tell me all the details, I want to know.”

Rin pushed a bit by looking straight into Lhava's eyes. Lhava clearly did not want to tell her about the incident, and one of the Lhava women who noticed her discomfort stopped Rin.

“It's enough, I guess Lhava-sama doesn't want to shout about it.”

“It's okay, Samarima. I'll tell you all the details.”

“...., Alright, Lhava-sama.”

Samarima retreated and he followed one other woman letting Lhava and Rin both.

Lhava told Rin everything. Starting from Jell's seriousness in the duel, to the ‘SSS’ skill level that Jell unleashed when fighting him.

Listening to him Rin could not stop at all from believing. “None of my attacks hit it”, “dia was never serious against me”, and “dia put out a high-level skill, Explosion.” Lhava shouts everything.

After hearing Lhava's story, Rin leaves. He did not go towards Jell's inn, but he went towards the gate to follow the horde of adventurers who were ready to profit from the battle.

***

An hour had already passed after the guild meeting, the current Scorpio detected within 10 minutes he would be visible from the west.

And just as the calculations, very clearly visible, at the end of their vision, they could see a large black iron was moving closer.

Large iron chunks are scorpion-shaped, with many cannons on their bodies. This sight is a miracle to see the many people who want to fight against the Scorpio destructive fortress.

“Wah, huge. Look, Jell, that's huge. I wonder how these people were able to defeat him.”

“Nn, I also want to know that.”

Jell and Mai were at the gate of District A, they were far away from the group of witches who were preparing also at the gate.

There are so many knights and adventurers who will fight Scorpio, as it is their duty to protect their homeland to the very end, making Jell amazed by it.

“So, Emma. Do you want to help?”

“Nn! Want to. But if Onii-chan and Onee-chan don't come along, it's meaningless. So I better sit here with you guys.”

Rubbing his head, Jell smiled at the answer.

***

Scorpio is already within the reach of the witches, realizing that, Marina as the leader of the army gives a cue.

“Magician, get ready!”

With the cue it automatically made the witches make a skill. Their fastness is hardened, which makes Jell and others able to listen to it even from a long distance.

“The power we have, the sacrifice we give, to protect what we love, to destroy the enemy who is trying to take our home. We will destroy all who try to interfere, Laser Beam!”

Cast a spell, skill level ‘S’ launched with full power.

The laser glides at a speed of 50 km per second. His speed was extremely fast and instantly hit the Scorpio.

As discussed in the meeting, Scorpio has a protector that protects his original body from direct attacks, and how to destroy it only with high-level magic.

Laser Beam hits the target, with a long enough direct collision with Scorpio makes the witches fall from exhaustion. The laser continues to collide with the Scorpio for quite a while until the duration of the skill runs out.

And the results are amazing. As expected, the protector who protected Scorpio was successfully destroyed, and now it was the adventurers' turn to advance against the main enemy.

The adventurers hesitated to advance, it was of course to make people die in vain. The adventurers made a difficult face on their faces, they were frightened and did not believe that they could defeat the destructive fortress.

“Ah, I was disappointed to see their weak mentality. This way the kingdom will be destroyed, you see. Hey, stupid people, move or you're gonna die with that machine.”

Seeing the frightened adventurers made Mai to raise her voice. He mocked their weak mentality, when the witches had done their best and they could not do their duty properly. Really disappointing.

Jell noticed them, she was not as uncomfortable as Mai who was uncomfortable with their weakness, Jell seemed to just be silently watching. Jell was too relaxed for the current conditions.

Mai who noticed Jell's calm demeanor, made a smile.

(Fufu, when she's serious she looks really sweet. I wanted to tease her, but it didn't seem like the right time.

These people will die in the near future if they are unable to fight their fears, and I think it is natural because of their opponents like that.)

Mai in her buzz pitied the adventurers and for the people who were tired of arranging strategies for this attack.

“Hah, boring.”

The adventurers only stared at each other as Marina gave them a sign to advance.

Marina who saw their doubts raised a pulse on her head. Marina could not believe that there were still doubts in a battle like this, and she was startled by someone from the adventurers advancing while riding a horse.

“Come!”

He was the Lhava who by riding a horse he was running towards the battlefield. Using his sword he raised, he looked like an army commander.

Jell's face slightly reacted to seeing what Lhava was doing, he was very reckless for the war against Scorpio.

But he was not alone, his two women also followed him from behind. And not just the three of them, there was one more person who participated in the Lhava suicide attack, he was Rin.

Riding on the Jet Pack, Rin flies a rendang following Lhava from behind. Rin with a fearless face came forward while carrying his weapon in hand and there were some other items that he seemed to be carrying.

Finding the right distance between him and Scorpio, Rin stops in midair and shoots a bullet straight at the silent Scorpio.

After receiving an attack from the witches, Scorpio comes to a slight halt and has to make some emergency repairs. So as long as he is silent Rin plans to destroy him before he recovers.

Shooting a lot of bullets, Rin looks very focused on fighting him. It wasn't just the bullets he shot, there were times when he would throw some hand grenades he was carrying and some explosives.

Similar to Rin, Lhava also attacked with great force. He used the “Mege Sword” skill to crush Scorpio's legs. And also do not forget the two Lhava women who also participated in helping the attack.

The scenery shown by the four of them was incredible, Jell also had the ability to see them from here.

“Oh, that Lhava turned out not to be a coward.”

Noticing them, Mai gave her praise to Lhava because she did not run away.

The scenery they gave off was impressive, but it made no change at all in Jell's face from earlier flat watching the battle.

(Ah, they made a mistake. It's gonna end.)

The faces of the silent adventurers stared at the four of them fearlessly advancing to attack the Scorpio who was 10 times their size.

Scorpio is about 17 meters tall, with a body length from head to tail of about 25 meters. Scorpio has many parts in its body and has different functions. And not only that, Scorpio also has many skills that benefit him. And because of those things that make Mai's concern for them.

Whether it was because of the actions of the four people or perhaps because of their sense of spirit, the adventurers were making a fuss in their group.

They began to shout in spirit by taking up their respective weapons. Lifting it up high gives the impression of a viking group ready to invade.

(The sense of spirit is one of the unique parts of man. But, let's see, to what extent it survives.)

Jell continued to focus her gaze towards the adventurers and not on the four people holding Scorpio back.

The adventurers now rode their respective horses, and there were also those who did not ride horses due to the limitations of the kouta.

Running with a burning spirit in their souls, the adventurers forgot what and who they were fighting. The 17-meter-tall demolition fortress was still quietly repairing itself, with the condition making them try to defeat it before the repairs were completed.

Rin who saw the fighting spirit of the adventurers, made a smile on his face. He looked even more excited after seeing the help coming.

(With this, without him the plan would work. We will win!)

Rin believes in his victory, but he doesn't know what he's really up against. A mobile fortress that once wiped out a single country, cannot be underestimated.

“Eh, they're getting excited. But such enemies are also very troublesome, huh. I want to fight it.”

The silent Scorpio repairs itself from the inside, while the adventurers are trying to crush its legs, providing a special sight for those who are watching the battle.

Marina still made a difficult face, but the difficulty had already faded a little as she looked at the grandiose adventurers attacking.

(With this, we will definitely succeed!)

The attacking Rin does not spend all his time attacking at one point, he also notices next to which part of Scorpio has weak protection and becomes an easy target for him.

His face turned difficult as he still did not find any gaps in those thick black iron legs.

(It's weird, why isn't he moving at all? Though this was long enough to recover his strength to strike back. Why is he just silent.)

His attitude is still very calm even in very difficult conditions like this. Rin was still circling around and looking for all the gaps to make a heavy attack, but he still did not get it.

(Slow recovery, is he really recovering his strength to get up, or maybe?!)

His calm face like an ice princess was now turning pale. As if all the calmness was just an illusion, Rin was currently like a person who had seen something very terrible.

Jell noticed the change in her face and somehow she reacted to it.

“She noticed.”

“You're right.”

Jell said so and Mai answered him casually as she looked at them. If only anyone had seen the calm that these two people have, it would have been someone who said that they were both the ones who actually raised Scorpio from deep sleep.

Even Emma who was near them started to feel afraid because these two people were very calm and they also commented like they already knew what was going to happen.

***

While at BOA, there is one of many stories that Jell completed is defeating a giant robot. In the story, Jell must withstand his attacks along with many NPCs involved. And the scene he saw right now looked very similar to that of the mission.

(In BOA there is a mission to defeat a giant robot, the robot has many skills and the level reaches level 120.

In order to defeat him, I had to destroy the shield that protected him from physical attacks, and was followed up to destroy the weapon he used.

But doing that is not as easy as you think. The robot was very strong and intelligent, not only that he also had many skills. So, is that story the reason the mysterious man sent Scorpio here?)

Such thoughts filled Jell's head, Scorpio's attack was not a coincidence and of course Jell wouldn't think this was just a coincidence.

There is another party that moves Scorpio from behind the scenes, and if true there is no other figure other than the figure of the mysterious man they have met as the culprit.

There are possibilities that always occur in this world, and one of them is the presence of a traitor.

The sheer number of people who accidentally come into direct contact with them makes the mysterious man able to easily keep an eye on them.

***

Rin, who feels that something bad is happening, starts to take some distance from Scorpio. He flew two meters high from the height of Scorpio, and he noblely circled back around the fortress and found no peculiarities.

As if they were just attacking a robot carcass, Scorpio makes no movement at all.

But the worst happens instantly. A circle of glass in the head of Scorpio that forms the eyes, glows red.

Scorpio who had been silent did not sound like a wreck, now in it there was the sound of a very noisy machine.

The people who were there were shocked by what happened, when they saw Scorpio rise, they all fell silent.

Scorpio raised one leg and followed the other, he stood 17 meters tall.

Staring at the resurgent Scorpio, Marina's face turned pale. Not only that, the protector that protected Scorpio from a direct attack has also now recovered. That way, the physical attack now would have no effect on him anymore.

Rin makes a difficult face, he does not believe seeing that it turns out that Scorpio is repairing all his protectors. Now the plan compiled by Marina failed miserably.

The adventurers were still petrified looking at the Scorpio who was preparing to retaliate their attacks. But in contrast to Lhava, he shouted and resuscitated another adventurer.

Rin also tries to resuscitate them, while flying backwards towards the rear troops. Rin wanted to see Marina to ask for a follow-up.

“Onee-sama, what should we do now. He had fixed a protector capable of withstanding direct attacks. We must attack him again with magic to eliminate his protector.”

Rin calls Marina and gives a proposal to do, as she looks at the witches resting on the gate walls.

But, the answer Marina gave was not what Rin had expected. He lowered his face while firmly gripping his hand, able to see the blood flowing from his hand.

Rin who saw him did not believe, Marina is a very talented person. Other than her elder brother, Marina Lah was the second most intelligent and talented person she knew.

Marina is able to easily process difficult information and is able to provide an answer to a question that even adults have difficulty solving.

Marina since childhood has been taught various kinds of education. Starting from swordsmanship, basic knowledge, politics, and others. Therefore, Marina is the one who always provides information and strategy when the kingdom experiences war.

And of course as the youngest child, Rin greatly admired her older sister. But at this moment the older brother he had always admired was unable to solve his problem.

Marina fell in ruin. He did not believe that all the strategies he had thought through could be easily broken. They can't even find the weak spot of a Scorpio.

“It's all over, it's the end for Athera.”

Marina with the destruction she received, the mistake she made, easily said that. But, compared to Marina who fell, Rin now got up and left her place.

“You, where to go.”

Marina, who saw her sister leaving, asked her where she was going when the situation had gone awry. There is no hope, no hiding place, now Athera will become one with the land.

But the answer Rin gave was different to what he thought.

“I'll ask for help. There is still hope, and I believe it.”

His eyes opened wide to see Rin saying that to him. He always gets the best behavior more than his sister, and now he is even lectured in a sad condition like this.

Marina once again clutched her hand, she cried. Words like that don't change reality.

Asking for help to whom else, at a time when all the talented adventurers and knights alone were unable to handle it.

Rin's words did not make Marina's heart improve, but she fell into despair.

...

The conscious adventurers were now running around like an anthill that he had destroyed. They were running away from death which was right in their eyes, and not for Lhava.

Lhava with his horse running from Scorpio, he was terrified with cold sweat on his face. He does not believe that they will fail to destroy Scorpio's legs, now all he has to do is run.

Followed by his two women, they run away from a rising Scorpio who is ready to retaliate for their attacks.

The Scorpio who got up and saw the adventurers running around, did not let them just like that. With the cannon on his body, he fired a bullet that could finish off his enemy easily.

The adventurers who saw the attack that Scorpio was about to unleash, made them panic and run even faster. Unfortunately for those who do not wear horses, many of them have been shot and killed.

The rumble in the shot created a small explosion with a deadly arena attack. So even though the first attack went wrong, there was still a second explosion that followed.

The voices of the people could be heard all the way to where Marina was, seeing how brutally Scorpio slaughtered the adventurer, was enough to make him stop trying.

Shouts were everywhere, cries, despair were now filling the battle area. Rin can easily hear those voices, death is futile, making Rin face difficult. He was running around the wall towards the tower next to the gate.

Not only did the adventurers who fell into despair, now the people who saw the battle also did the same.

They ran and moved away from the gate. Many of them immediately moved and carried their belongings that they did not carry during the evacuation.

Rin who was running on the wall around by despair from all directions, to his right were adventurers who were screaming running from the dead, who were screaming, and to his left are many people who have resigned to a little more death befall them.

But it does not make Rin's run slow, he even faster to run towards the next tower. He did not use his Jet Pack, as it was a piece of equipment that he found troublesome, he had already let go of it since meeting Marina.

In this world in addition to using the Jet Pack as a means of transportation to fly, there are also several other tools. Most famously there are boots that can cast wind magic, which can make people fly as easily as walking on the ground.

But in this battle, Rin did not use it. He looked too lightly at his enemy using ordinary tools.

And for the weapon he used was also the same as the weapon he used against Jell, the weapon he used could be said to be quite strong, but still stronger than Lhava's sword.

Rin did not use any combat equipment from the kingdom. Whereas as a royal family, using equipment like the one he was wearing was the same as using trash.

For ordinary knights, they used their best equipment at the moment and were still unable to break through Scorpio's defenses.

(Error, I underestimated the enemy too much. Just because we're in such a big group, I got careless like this.)

Rin on her way, she berates herself for being too naive. And finally he arrived at the tower next to the gate.

And what was there was, Jell, Mai, and Emma who had been watching from there.

***

Rin arrived at the tower, she was exhausted with difficult breathing. Jell who was in the tower noticed his arrival, and looked at him asking if he needed to come here.

“Wah, princess. What do you need to come here?”

Rin, who is called by the name of the princess by Jell, irritates her. He scrunched his face, looking at Jell sharply he was standing in front of her.

Standing in front of him with his eyes directly. Of course Rin had to raise her head slightly because of their different height.

“Jell, please lend us your strength!”

Rin without further ado he immediately said the reason for his arrival, he suddenly lowered his head and said it made Jell surprised to see his attitude. Subduing his Head the same as when he asked Jell to participate in the competition, was now repeated in his memory.

“Suffering, yes.”

Jell who accepted such an attitude left from before him. He went away from Rin who was lowered his head and looked at the current state of the battle.

Getting an answer like that makes Rin face difficult.

The only hope he trusted, rejected his request. Rin from the beginning had indeed admitted the power of Jell which beyond the word normal, Jell was a very high figure through the clouds. Even she would admit it, that Jell was much stronger than her older brother.

And because of that trust, he made himself run as hard as he could to ask for help from the person he confessed to, but he was rejected in a painful way.

However, the determination in his heart was not broken. He got up and stood looking at Jell from the front once more, equalizing their gaze, he stared at Jell sharply.

Jell saw a very strong determination in the gaze Rin gave, but it did not affect Jell at all. Jell easily turned her face and stared at the battle field once more.

“Why?”

“Hm?”

Not getting an answer from showing her determination, Rin this time completely fell into despair. He had no idea who else he wanted to ask for help, only he was the only hope to save Athera from destruction.

“What was my attitude when it hurt you? Then I want to apologize, if my apology does not apply, I will give everything so that you forgive me.”

As if his determination was just a delusion, Rin was actually very desperate in dealing with all things. He can't do much to defeat Scorpio, and he has hurt Jell's feelings. He wants to repeat it again.

“Truly very sad, yes. You easily dumped us, and suddenly you came asking for help. You think you're who.”

Hearing those words was very piercing for Rin.

“You looked down like that and we helped you. But what the hell, you suddenly threw us away like stuff. You are so selfish.”

“I'm sorry! I'll grant you everything you ask, so I beg you. Only you, the only one who can help us.”

Saying her guilt Rin was unable to hold back her tears.

Jell looked at Rin intently, saying that she would grant all her requests, making Jell interested.

Approaching her slowly, Jell slightly made a pressure that Rin could clearly feel.

“Will grant all my requests, yes?”

Rin listened, she made a sharp look that she would hold her words earlier. With confidence and a strong determination he confirmed Jell's question.

Jell who got her answer instantly grinned, her grinning face suddenly gave Rin goosebumps. He did not see the Jell he knew, as if Jell had suddenly changed, at this moment Jell looked extremely evil with a terrifying smile.

Jell approaches her which makes Rin retreat from her place, Jell does not let her loose, she approaches Rin until she is cornered on the tower wall. Pushing him against the wall, Jell locked Rin's exit with his hand.

Rin who received such treatment was unable to control herself, her face suddenly flushed red.

Jell approached him even closer, his hand holding Rin's chin and Rin instinctively turned his gaze away. But Jell didn't let that, she violently turned their gaze over again, Jell's gaze very sharply piercing her eyes. With a small voice whispering in his ear, Jell said.

“Then I want your body.”

Hearing Jell's request made Rin blush even more, she was as red as an apple. But, seeing that Jell was interested and accepted her request, she would not let go. To get Jell to side with him, paying with the body was not a costly expense.

He replied to Jell with a very strong determination, as if his determination was as strong as a protective wall, he answered Jell.

“Good.”

In order to gain strength from her, Rin easily gives her anything even if she has to pay with her body. It was a very strong determination and such a person was very rare for Jell.

But, in contrast to what Rin expected, suddenly the atmosphere became very strange.

“Pfu, hahaha! What is it, did you see it, Mai. His face is very red.”

“Hahaha! I saw it, saw it very clearly.”

“Eh?”

“Yeah, you two. That's very excessive.”

Emma shook her head.

They laugh. Not an ordinary laugh, Jell and Mai laughed out loud. They laugh at Rin who seriously accepts Jell's request, thinking that his request will be rejected, given Rin's rude attitude.

“What..”

“Ah, sorry. Rin, I was just kidding. I was playing with Mai, because I lost she asked me to make you like that.”

“What..”

Rin lowered her head, a black aura appearing on her face.

“At first I refused tablets, but Mai forced it, so how else. So this is his fault.”

“Eh, why me. It's obvious you did it.”

Rin, who was ignored, made him give off a black aura that suddenly exploded from him, his face blackened. Taking a step, he forcefully struck Jell in the face, a crushing blow right on her cheek.

“That's a reply because you guys play people's feelings.”

Mai is shocked by Rin's movements earlier, and sees Jell falling down beside her. Emma who only noticed from earlier, only shook her head.

***