Chapter 471: Ideas (2/2)

“Ah, amazing! It doesn’t hurt anymore! Thanks.”

Though brief, Gloria bowed in gratitude like a knight would.

“Well then, we’ll be taking our leave. Take care on the rest of your journey.”

“Please convey my earnest thoughts to Lord Makina. Tell him I’d like to meet him one day.”

“Will do.”

Gloria and the soldiers reorganized their formation and saluted the Land Corps. Gloria’s command came soon after.

“Let’s go!”

Gloria and her party continued their march towards Doppa.

The eyes of the soldiers now glimmered with respect for their captain.

She had faced those monsters without taking a single step back in order to protect them.

As the party faded into the horizon, the Land Units returned home.

A little closer to Rakno, Pelican 1, which had a Warp Gate installed, was waiting a little away from the road.

And of course, Pelican 1 continued to watch over Gloria and the others until they safely reached Doppa.

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“Is Gloria safe?”

Jin and Elsa, who were following the battle through Laojun, let out a sigh of relief.

“The demon this time called herself ‘Alciel the Puppeteer’. Though she looks like a little girl, we’re not sure about her true age.”

“Right.”

“It’s too bad we couldn’t capture her. Still, we were able to get valuable, albeit incomplete, information on the transfer magic they use. I believe we were fortunate to encounter Alciel at this time.”

There is virtually no way to defend against transfer magic.

What if they used it to transfer to Hourai Island and destroy Laojun? That would be an immeasurable loss.

Also, the more information they could gather about the enemy, the better. Jin waited for Laojun’s explanation.

“First, the destination for transfer magic seems to be limited to places directly in line of sight and previously specified locations.”

That was the information obtained instantly via the “Inspection” used by Lands 12 through 15.

It was when Land 11 briefly interrupted the Magi Jammer in order to try to paralyze Alciel.

Laojun had instructed the Lands to obtain as much information as possible, and no matter how small, about the demons’ magic.

Because of that instruction, they used “Inspection” to see how the demon would react to 11’s “Paralyze”.

But as a result, instead of sensing the demon’s reaction, it sensed the flow of magical power that accompanied the activation of transfer magic.

“I see. So we would be safe to assume that there’s no need to worry about being attacked at Hourai Island for the time being?”

“That is correct, My Lord.”

It turned out that it couldn’t be used like a transfer machine. It appeared that transfer magic posed no real threat for the time being, but Jin wanted to make absolutely sure for peace of mind.

“I’ve been doing nothing but developing weapons so far, but maybe I should improve our defenses as well?”

“Are barriers useless now, Brother Jin?”

Hearing Jin’s muttering, Elsa asked him that question.

“Yeah. They’re not without their flaws.”

“Flaws?”

“Right. You know how there are Magic Barriers and Solid Barriers?”

“Yeah.”

“Basically, Magic Barriers don’t allow magical power to pass through, while Solid Barriers ward off fire, blunt forces, and swords.”

Jin’s conclusion was that in the same way that they blocked incoming attacks from the outside, they also blocked outgoing attacks.

“The only exception is when you use a magical tool like my bracelet to activate a spell at the same time that a ‘Barrier’ is deployed. Since it is perfectly synchronized, you can, for example, shoot a ‘Laser’ and disable the barrier just on the point where the attack should go through.”

However, normally, “Barrier” and any offensive spell would be generated separately, so if you have a barrier deployed, you wouldn’t be able to attack either.

“I wouldn’t be able to shoot a Magi Cannon or anything like that from inside a barrier.”

“Ah, right.”

“That’s why I think that barriers have room for improvement.”

“I see. That’s very clever of you, Brother Jin.”

“So I’m wondering if there are other ways to fend off attacks that could work better for us.”

A “Barrier” was one of many kinds of protective wards.

Jin then spoke of ideas such as wards that can absorb magic, wards that can reflect attacks, and wards that transfer the damage of an attack to a specified target.

“…Amazing. To come up with these great ideas… You’re a genius, Brother Jin!”

“Ah, no, these are all things I’ve seen somewhere else.”

After being complimented by Elsa, Jin confessed that he had seen those concepts in books.

Specifically, in manga and anime he had seen back in his homeworld.

“The people from your world are really impressive, Jin.”

“Yeah, some of them are incredibly creative.”

Jin reminisced about Japan, his country of origin, which was also home to possibly the most creative and delusional people to be found in his world.