Mirei Shinohara suddenly felt a bit speechless. If she had known earlier that external attacks wouldn't cause the GMA Bomb to explode, she would have already used the power of the sun to attack the UFO directly.
Still, Potimas' answer wasn't completely useless. At the very least, she had gained an important piece of information.
At that moment, Potimas' voice rang out again.
"I've already given you both the method and the tool to enter the G-Fleet. Now, it's just a matter of which of you will use this cannon."
Trying to make himself appear more valuable, so Ariel wouldn't kill him in anger on the spot, Potimas quickly added:
"Oh, and of course I'll accompany you inside the G-Fleet. Only I know how to dismantle the bomb. Surely you don't want the world to be destroyed by the GMA Bomb, right?"
Hearing his words, Ariel—who had been on the verge of attacking—actually calmed down.
But his statement held no sway over Mirei and Shiraori. Their real plan was to locate the GMA Bomb, then detonate it, with Shiraori using Predator to consume the bomb in the final second before the explosion.
In other words, they didn't need any method of dismantling the bomb. To them, Potimas was already nothing more than a useless burden—and possibly an obstacle to their plan.
Exchanging a glance, Mirei and Shiraori made their decision. Without hesitation, Shiraori swung her massive reaper's scythe and cleaved straight through Potimas' head.
The suddenness of the act left Ariel and Dustin frozen in place, their faces utterly dumbfounded. But moments later, both of their expressions shifted drastically.
"W-what the hell did you just do, White?! Are you insane?!" Ariel rushed up to Shiraori, her voice filled with disbelief.
Dustin's breathing quickened as well. "Even if you wanted to kill him, you should've at least waited until he dealt with the bomb first! What are we supposed to do now? Without him, we can't resolve the GMA Bomb!"
Seeing Ariel clearly losing her composure, Mirei hurried forward, placing herself between them to block her.
"Relax, Demon Lord. I already told you, our knowledge of the G-Fleet isn't any less than Potimas'. Naturally, we also know how to handle the GMA Bomb."
At Mirei's words, Ariel blinked in surprise.
Before Ariel could speak again, Dustin quickly asked, "Are you certain you can deal with it?"
"Of course. We're not idiots. If we didn't have a way to resolve the bomb, why would we kill Potimas? We live in this world too. Its destruction wouldn't benefit us in the slightest. Don't you agree?"
Hearing her response, both Ariel and Dustin finally relaxed a little.
"In that case, good. Honestly, my patience with Potimas was nearly gone. White, you did well!"
Ariel even smiled, giving Shiraori a thumbs-up.
Shiraori didn't reply. She only offered a faint smile in return.
With the misunderstanding cleared, Mirei no longer bothered to stand in front of Shiraori. Instead, she flew toward the cannon.
As for Potimas' subordinate, he had already fled the moment his master was killed, using Space Magic to escape. Of course, this was only because Mirei didn't care enough to stop such a small fry—otherwise, he would never have had the chance to cast Space Magic.
Looking at the massive cannon several meters tall, Mirei instinctively used Appraisal on it.
The result instantly darkened her face.
"That bastard really had no good intentions. Killing him right away was definitely the right choice!"
"What's wrong?"
Hearing Mirei's angry tone, Ariel and Shiraori immediately came over. Dustin also looked on in confusion.
"This cannon has a problem!" Mirei pointed at the giant rocket launcher with her tail.
"A problem? You mean the cannon won't work?" Ariel asked in confusion.
Dustin, equally baffled, turned his gaze toward Mirei, while Shiraori simply cast her own Appraisal on the cannon.
Before long, Shiraori's expression also twisted in anger, her heart spewing curses at Potimas.
"The cannon works, but when it's fired, it causes an explosion just as powerful as the attack itself. That bastard Potimas was trying to trick one of us into dying with it."
The Appraisal had provided concrete damage values, so Mirei knew this launcher was strong enough to actually hurt her.
If she was careless, she could've been killed outright by its self-detonation.
The thought that she'd nearly been tricked into such a trap sent Mirei's hatred of Potimas soaring to new heights. In fact, she silently made up her mind: once she found Eriri, she would make sure Potimas was killed before leaving this world. Otherwise, she would never be able to rest easy.
After hearing Mirei's explanation, both Ariel and Dustin's faces soured. Of course, they were already well aware of Potimas' shamelessness, so his attempt at such a scheme didn't surprise them.
That didn't stop them from cursing him furiously in their hearts, though.
"So what now? Do we still use this cannon?" Ariel frowned at the massive weapon, clearly uncertain.
"Let's leave it aside for now. I'll see if there's another way to break through the G-Fleet's outer wall."
Mirei had already decided to rely on her solar power to attack the UFO. If even that couldn't create an opening, then they would have no choice but to risk using the launcher.
With that, she said no more and turned toward the sky, flying upward.
Before long, she reached the same altitude as the UFO. Without hesitation, she began gathering the power of the sun.
This time, she intended to use Solar Breath again—but unlike when she had fought the robot armies, this time she would compress the breath into as narrow a range as possible.
By shrinking the area of effect, the attack's penetration power would be greatly increased. And the more tightly compressed the solar energy, the stronger the destructive force.
Within seconds, she had condensed the sun's power to its utmost limit. Then, with a thunderous exhalation, she unleashed it.
From the ground, Shiraori, Ariel, and the others saw it as a dazzling golden beam pouring from Mirei's mouth, striking the UFO at unimaginable speed.
Even separated by thousands of meters, they could feel the scorching wave of heat blowing down from the sky.
A moment later, they saw the golden beam pierce straight through the UFO, emerging from its far side and vanishing into the distant horizon.
Their faces lit up with excitement. That attack had completely pierced the UFO's outer wall.
...
"Haaah…"
Looking at the two-meter-wide circular tunnel she had burned straight through the UFO's hull, Mirei let out a long, relieved breath.
This was her first time trying a compressed breath attack. It had been an experiment—but the result had exceeded her expectations.
She hadn't thought that condensing the breath to such a narrow range would boost its power to such an extent, directly punching a hole through the UFO.
Thankfully, her attack hadn't hit the GMA Bomb inside. Otherwise, she wouldn't have lived long enough to regret it.
No—if it had hit, she wouldn't even have had the chance to cry.
Right now, she could confidently say that even Gülied wouldn't have been able to take that breath head-on unscathed.
Of course, she knew the main reason for such destructive power was the sheer strength of solar energy itself. If she had tried to use her own internal energy to perform such a compressed breath, the results would've been far weaker.
Just as Mirei was preparing to return to the ground and call Shiraori to enter the UFO with her, a massive beam of light, tens of meters thick, suddenly erupted from the UFO.
The cannon blast illuminated the entire sky.
The light cannon fired at Mirei Shinohara at incredible speed. Fortunately, she was prepared. With a swift movement, she dodged out of the blast's path. If she hadn't, the attack would have likely left her gravely injured.
When she had first Appraised the UFO, she learned that it was equipped with a massively powerful main cannon—she just hadn't known where it was located.
That was why she had been on guard this whole time, anticipating a sudden strike.
Now, spotting the cannon's position, Mirei didn't give it another chance to fire. With one swift Solar Breath, she destroyed it.
This blast wasn't as powerful as her previous compressed breath. It only destroyed the main cannon without piercing the hull completely.
With the cannon neutralized, Mirei finally relaxed a little. The last major threat had been eliminated. Now, all that remained was to enter the UFO and find the GMA Bomb.
"Demon Lord, leave the task of handling the GMA Bomb inside the G-Fleet to me and White."
After landing, Mirei spoke directly to Ariel.
"Why? Wouldn't it be safer if we all went together? We don't know what other traps might be inside." Ariel looked confused.
"Don't worry. Whatever dangers there are, White and I can handle them. More importantly, we're the only ones who know how to deal with the GMA Bomb."
Ariel fell silent at that. After a few moments of thought, she nodded without hesitation.
"Alright. Then I'll leave it to you."
Truthfully, she was timid by nature. If not for the world's survival being at stake, she wouldn't have remained in such a dangerous place for this long. Since someone else was willing to shoulder the task, she was more than happy to step back.
Dustin had no objections either. He was fully aware of his own limits.
Other than possessing a Dominator skill that allowed him to retain memories after reincarnation, he was just an ordinary old man. He had never intended to meddle with the GMA Bomb directly.
With everything settled, Mirei and Shiraori took to the skies, flying toward the UFO together.
...
In the Elf Village, Potimas awakened once again in a new mechanical body, his expression dark as he glared in the UFO's direction.
He had considered many possibilities, but never once had he expected to be ambushed and killed by that half-human, half-spider girl who had stayed silent all along.
Now, both Mirei and Shiraori had earned his deep hatred.
But this time, he had no intention of heading there again. He knew that if he did, either Mirei or Shiraori would simply kill him again.
Besides, their willingness to destroy his body despite his last words showed they already knew a way to stop the GMA Bomb's explosion.
That meant he no longer had to worry about it threatening him. And even if the bomb truly did detonate, he was already prepared. He could always escape this world with his ecological ark, taking his true body with him.
...
From their initial Appraisal, Mirei and Shiraori had learned that the UFO was specifically designed to target dragons. If a dragon appeared before it, there was a high chance it would immediately deploy the GMA Bomb.
But oddly enough, the UFO seemed incapable of recognizing Mirei's species.
Even though she was a pure-blood dragon and had flown in front of it multiple times—attacking it, even—the UFO had yet to release the GMA Bomb.
In fact, for Mirei and Shiraori, it might have been better if the UFO had simply dropped the bomb. Then, they wouldn't need to search inside. They could simply wait outside and consume the bomb with Predator at the last moment before detonation.
That would have saved them the trouble of breaching the hull entirely.
Unfortunately, things weren't going to be that easy.
Once inside the UFO, Mirei and Shiraori immediately began making full use of Appraisal.
Guided by its results, they quickly located the chamber where the GMA Bomb was stored.
Of course, along the way they were inevitably intercepted by robots.
Not all of the machines had been deployed outside. Some remained within the UFO, tasked with repelling intruders.
But these robots posed no threat to Mirei and Shiraori. They easily destroyed every last one, clearing the way forward.
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