The movement of the King of Flies was sealed.
But this bondage wouldn't last long. The ropes that bound it were already stretching taut, snapping one by one, and the tree roots too were tearing apart in succession.
Swish!
The movement of the tentacles that sprang from its body became more violent. Dusk Bringar and Verdandi, who were fighting atop the monster's body and holding it down, both screamed and were thrown off.
'This is it!'
It was time to use the move I had prepared. I commanded,
"Operation Winter Calling, commence!"
Lilly immediately echoed the command.
"Winter Calling operation, commence!"
The alchemists activated the artifacts they had prepared in unison.
While devising a strategy to deal with the King of Flies, I decided not to get bogged down in too much detail.
Whether it was the lack of information on it, what distinctive patterns it had, I decided not to be distracted by such details.
Instead, I thought of a bigger overarching premise.
The King of Flies is, after all, a fly. Even its mutations fall within the category of pests.
What can fundamentally block the activity of pests? What is the biggest weakness of pests?
The answer I came up with was simple.
"'Winter'...!"
It's not insecticides, natural predators, or traps that definitely get rid of flies and stop them. It's winter. In the face of pouring snow and layers of frost, bugs die without being able to withstand it.
Operation Winter Calling was thus established.
Simply put- a tactic to smash them all at once with ice attributes!
"King Poseidon!"
Upon calling the name of the merfolk king, the waiting King of the Merfolk powerfully hurled his trident.
Thunk!
The trident lightly lodged into the King of Flies's body,
Swoosh!
A fierce stream of water surged from the trident. The summoned cold northern river water drenched the King of Flies's entire body.
"Lilly!"
"Yep! Target set!"
"Activate the artifact!"
Whirr!
Lilly and the alchemists activated the artifact they had prepared in unison.
Crackle!
The cold air aimed at the King of Flies struck its body directly, creating a whirlwind.
"This is...!"
The King of Flies, which had been producing boiling fly tentacles to break free from its restraints, exclaimed in a perplexed voice.
"Haha, indeed, such a method...!"
With the cold emission artifact, the output was forcibly amplified by dismantling the rest of the artifacts and connecting them with magic power circuits.
It was a crazy operation to discard more than half of the artifacts the front line possessed and invest in this one cold emission. But it was a do-or-die situation!
We had to bet everything on this one attack!
Crackle, crackle-
The King of Flies's outer surface froze over as it was directly hit by the runaway cold. The boiling tentacles also turned white and hardened, and the frozen flies fell off in droves.
The ice attribute is temporary.
Moreover, it's summer now. It can't maintain its effect for long.
We must finish it in one go...!
"Junior!"
"Yep! Everyone, combined magic-!"
Junior, pale-faced, relayed my command.
It would have been best to use Junior's ultimate move, but [Elemental Disassembly] had already been used several times today.
Using it more could kill Junior. Instead, she was assigned to this command.
Junior and the subordinate magicians prepared to assist each other by placing their hands on each other's shoulders.
Magic power was transferred to the few ice attribute magicians on the front line, and the blizzard formed in the sky settled above the King of Flies's head.
As it was hit by the snowstorm and turned white with frost, the King of Flies murmured as if it was enjoying it.
"To think you would bring winter in the middle of summer... I never imagined, Guardian of Humanity."
The King of Flies burst into a hearty laugh.
"But because it's summer... the freezing was just a little insufficient."
"...?!"
The King of Flies, not fully frozen, raised its arm and, forming a hand blade, struck down on its own two legs, frozen and bound.
Clang-!
The King of Flies's legs were cut off from the calves.
Since most of the restraints were concentrated on its lower body, the King of Flies was momentarily freed.
"What...!"
The King of Flies then exerted all its effort to regenerate its wings. The repaired wings vibrated vigorously, even though they were half-frozen, and its huge body began to rise.
"It's escaping the area!"
"No, we must stop it...!"
But the King of Flies managed to fly into the sky with its half-frozen body. Everyone sighed, and I shuddered.
Damn, we're running out of time...!
Then, right when the King of Flies was ascending- from the low-hanging clouds that had gathered from unleashing the blizzard, a mechanical sound echoed.
Roar...!
The next moment,
Whoosh-!
Cutting through the clouds, a massive airship suddenly appeared.
Stunned, I shouted the name of the ship.
"Alcatraz...?!"
The flagship symbolizing the Imperial airship fleet was in bad shape. Its exterior was completely burned, and the armor was damaged beyond recognition.
However, the emblem engraved on the armor below the bridge- a sword and rose- remained clear.
With a calm voice from the descending airship,
「The Imperial special duty ship Alcatraz. The main booster destroyed by the aftermath of blocking the combined magic, magic circuits melted, barrier lost, keel damaged... It's essentially retired.」
It was Captain McMillan.
「If it's destined to retire anyway, might as well dance one last grand dance.」
"..."
To McMillan, requesting permission for the last dance, I nodded.
"Please, Captain McMillan."
「Aye aye, Sir.」
The King of Flies, trying desperately to dodge the Alcatraz plunging from above, couldn't manage with its half-frozen body's mobility.
The prow of the Alcatraz, plunging from above to below, collided with the King of Flies's crown.
Boom-!
The King of Flies tried to continue ascending with its wings spread, while the Alcatraz tried to press down on it, spewing fierce flames from the thrusters at the back.
「To the enemy monster, this is the Alcatraz. The strongest ship of humanity and the greatest ship in the world. I believe we have enough reason to ask you to dance-」
McMillan murmured in a deep voice, teasingly, almost sensuously.
「Shall we dance?」
Whoosh-!
The boosters of the Alcatraz burst into flames.
It was far from a graceful dance, more like a brawl- but in the end, the Alcatraz was victorious.
The King of Flies's altitude slowly decreased, and it couldn't withstand any longer, eventually falling back down.
Crash...!
As if declaring victory from atop the fallen King of Flies, the Alcatraz spun around once amidst a shower of snow powder before it began to fall slowly out of the city, spewing flames and smoke not just from its thrusters but from the entire rear output section.
「Then, ladies and gentlemen, good luck.」
After leaving its last communication, the Alcatraz slid away toward the far side of the city.
There was no time to worry about that. I yelled,
"We must finish it now! Hannibal!"
"Yep!"
Hannibal and the spirit magicians, standing in front of the fallen King of Flies, prepared to enchant ice spirits.
"Everyone, charge with your weapons enchanted by spirits!"
The vanguard heroes clutched their weapons and charged at the King of Flies, and the spirit magicians temporarily imbued their weapons with ice spirits.
Swoosh!
Lucas and Kuilan were the first to charge. An ice spirit inhabited each of Lucas's twin swords, and Kuilan also wrapped one ice spirit around each fist.
Following them, Nobody, Zenis, Elize, Rosetta... various heroes charged forward, each receiving an ice spirit in their weapons.
"Charge!"
I too summoned an army of phantoms and ordered them to charge forward.
Crack! Crackle!
From beneath the King of Flies's frozen shell, tentacles made of flies urgently burst forth.
My heroes charged forward, cutting through these with their ice-enchanted weapons.
Climbing over the fallen body of the King of Flies, aiming for its heart.
Like a fuse burning down, it was gathering magic power in its chest center for self-destruction- and surely, its spirit core would be located there.
Crackle!
The resistance of the tentacles was fierce.
Even half-frozen, the tentacles made of flies swung violently, managing to pierce and knock down the charging heroes.
The heroes were injured and fell. My army of phantoms was also quickly annihilated.
But we do not stop.
"Winter...!"
I shouted from the rear of the heroes as we charged together.
"Show this pest the harshness of winter to its very bones!"
Nameless, having sliced through a giant tentacle, couldn't avoid the follow-up attack and was thrown off. Elize, who blocked a falling tentacle with her Sword Coffin, fell as her Sword Coffin shattered, dropping swords in her wake.
Heroes who picked up those swords fought desperately before falling one by one.
Zenis and Rosetta, who were fighting close to me as if to protect me, paved the way ahead before falling simultaneously, granting me a suit of holy power armor even as they fell.
"Your Majesty...!"
"Please succeed...!"
Instead of responding, I just nodded and looked forward.
Now, only Lucas and Kuilan remained before me.
Crackle!
Finally breaking through the field of tentacles, Lucas reached above the chest of the King of Flies, crossed his two swords in front of his chest, and,
"Haah...!"
Breathing out white breath, he hesitated not a moment to slash simultaneously with both swords.
Clang!
Lucas's twin swords, each carrying a Strike of Will, split the monster's chest with tremendous force.
The light emitted by Bestowed Sword and the darkness spewed by Excannibal exploded, etching a giant cross-shaped wound on the King of Flies's chest.
A barrier hidden inside the chest shell was revealed, and a clear crack formed on its surface.
"Kuilan!"
Lucas stepped aside, and Kuilan was already leaping into the air.
"Initial."
After taking a unique stance in mid-air, Kuilan, wrapped in dark-red magic power, plunged toward the ground.
"Breakheart Torrent!"
Accepting the curse of his ancestors, Kuilan's ultimate move, while in the same stance as his usual technique, yielded a much more violent result.
The first technique invented by the Wolf King Lunared, imbued with the first of his great techniques, slammed into the cross-shaped wound Lucas had made.
Boom!
The King of Flies's chest was torn open and simultaneously caved in.
Clang!
And the barrier surrounding it shattered like glass.
From the outer shell to the barrier, everything was blown away, revealing a blackly glistening spirit core at the very center of the monster's chest.
"Captain...!"
Stepping aside, Kuilan called out to me. I nodded as I charged and shouted,
"I transfer the ownership of all the heroes' summoned creatures to me! Do you agree?"
All the heroes who had charged at the King of Flies and fallen, bloodied, around us answered in unison.
"We agree!"
Naturally, summoned spirits are, in essence, summons.
And my ultimate technique, [The Foremost Flag], is specialized in controlling summons.
It can easily handle several hundred at once...!
Swoosh!
The ice spirits that had enchanted all the heroes' weapons now swirled toward me, wrapping around my flag.
The number of spirits swirling around my flag was too vast to count.
Even beyond the armor of holy power granted by Zenis and Rosetta, I could feel a terrifying chill. Without the holy power armor, I would have frozen to death right there.
"Ugh...!"
Despite the protection of the armor, I was so cold I felt like I would freeze to death any moment. My clenched teeth trembled.
Still, I ran.
This was the only strategy I could see now...!
"From this world of humans..."
Holding the flagpole, swirling with white snow powder summoned by the spirits, in both hands, I leaped up-
And plunged the flag down onto the spirit core of the monster.
"Begone, monster-!"
Crack!
The tip of the flagpole broke through the monster's spirit core and burrowed inside,
Clang!
The blackly glistening spirit core of the monster froze over instantly, turning stark white.