I sent off the Demon King and, while I was at it, instructed the Puppet Taratects to act on their own judgment.
If I had to coordinate these guys' movements, I'd lose my own freedom to act.
Based on the robots I saw earlier, the Puppet Taratects alone should be able to handle them.
Well, I don't think those robots are their strongest forces, so it wouldn't be surprising if something nasty showed up.
The Puppet Taratects are as smart as anyone else, so if they sense real danger, they should pull back.
Indeed.
Go cause some disruption for me, would you?
While you do that, I'll do as I please.
That said, what should I do first?
My top priority would be securing the reincarnators.
So far, the reincarnators don't seem to be in any danger, but if I take them into custody, I can guarantee their safety more effectively.
My second option would be to continue whittling down the elves' fighting forces.
Just pick them off one by one as they come, robots included.
Honestly, that feels like the best approach to me.
Without the robots, the elves' conventional forces are at a level the Imperial Army and the Demon King's Army can handle together.
Without the robots, they're basically just ordinary humans with a bit of magical talent added on top.
Even accounting for their home-field advantage, if the Demon King's Army launched a surprise attack on the Imperial Army while they're engaged, the elves wouldn't stand a chance.
Besides, the Demon King's Army has the vampire girl, Oni-kun, and Mera.
Those three alone could run roughshod over them.
So, what I think is best is to eliminate their other forces — specifically, the robots hidden underground.
If I can take care of those, it's practically a victory.
As for the reincarnators, the Stomach Acid Sisters are there, so they should be fine left alone for a while.
Alright then, time to start the robot hunt!
The moment I thought that, patches of ground opened up all over the place, and a massive number of robots poured out from below.
A whole swarm of them.
Wait, what?
Are there... a lot?
There ARE a lot!
Just eyeballing it, there's definitely tens of thousands of them!
Oh boy.
So these weren't the elites after all — they were mass-produced general-purpose robots.
If you've got tens of thousands of robots with combat power rivaling Dragon-class creatures, that's a genuine threat to the inhabitants of this world.
The sheer force of numbers is terrifying.
And wouldn't you know it, a familiar old man is under attack from those robots.
Yup.
It's the old man from the Empire.
That old man is undoubtedly the strongest human in the Empire — no, he's so strong that counting from the top among humans is actually faster than counting from the bottom — but even he's at a disadvantage when facing robots with sub-Dragon-class combat power.
Hmm.
What should I do about this?
He is an acquaintance, but we're not exactly close, so do I really need to save him?
Eh, whatever.
I'm turning all the robots that show up into scrap metal anyway, so it's no trouble.
I cast a spell at the robots surrounding the old man.
This time, instead of the dark magic from before, I chose spatial magic.
The robots are swallowed into an alternate dimension, where my split bodies await to dismantle them.
While I'm at it, I munch on the robots' power source — the energy driving them.
It's valuable energy, so I'll collect it for my own use.
Apparently, I'm especially good at absorbing external energy.
Normally, you supposedly can't absorb ambient energy right away.
But since I can, I might as well.
The old man managed to take down one robot, but he's badly hurt in what was basically a mutual blow.
Since we've come this far, I might as well do this too.
I quickly administer treatment.
"Oh! You are...!! ...!!!!"
The old man was shouting something, but I ignored him and went to hunt the next robot.
Right.
I just remembered.
Once that old man starts talking, he goes on forever.
I don't have time to sit through one of his long stories right now.
So, ignoring him it is.
I've more or less cleared out the robots in the old man's vicinity, so he should be able to make it back on his own.
I systematically teleport every robot I spot into the alternate dimension.
Kusama-kun was being chased around by robots, so I rescued him.
There are also robots appearing near the Taratect swarm, but with the Queen there, they should be able to handle it, so I'll leave that for later.
While I was working hard to deal with the robot army, I stumbled upon the vampire girl and Oni-kun bullying Yamada-kun and his group.
What the hell are those two doing?
Yamada-kun is clutching his head and writhing on the ground.
Wait?
Isn't that... bad?
That's not normal writhing — what did the vampire girl and Oni-kun do to him?
And what's more, while I looked away for a moment, Natsume-kun is dead!
How did that happen!?
I was planning to beat him up later for what he did to sensei, but why is he dead!?
It seems like a lot of unexpected things are happening, so maybe I should go check on the situation.
I teleport to where the vampire girl and Oni-kun are.
There, zombies under the vampire girl's command are running amok, while Oshima-kun and Kuro are fighting desperately to protect Yamada-kun, who's collapsed and convulsing on the ground.
"
Yamada-kun groans as he spots me and calls out my name.
At the same time, he loses consciousness as if a string has been cut.
He doesn't seem to be dead, but given what I just saw, I can't let my guard down.
First, I need to check his condition and treat him.
Thinking that, I take a step forward — but someone stands in my way.
Shielding the fallen Yamada-kun behind him, thrusting his sword at me with a desperate expression — that's Oshima-kun.
Hmm.
He's actually trying to protect Yamada-kun, which I can understand, but when someone comes at you with a "you'll have to go through me" attitude, it's a bit of a problem.
I glance toward Kuro, who's standing right next to Oshima-kun, silently asking him to do something about this.
But Kuro completely ignores me.
Worse yet, he stands alongside Oshima-kun to block my path.
So Kuro is choosing to act not as Kuro, but as Hyalince in this situation?
Hmm, hmm.
If Kuro's taking that stance, does that mean Yamada-kun's condition isn't actually an emergency?
If that's the case, maybe there's no need to panic.
Either way, the first thing to do is beat up the ones responsible for this mess.
"My, my... is it just me, or is there a really bad aura coming off you, Master?"
It's not just you, Vampire Girl.
You're the one who did something stupid, aren't you?!
Come on, spit it out!
What did you do!?
"Don't make that accusing face at me. I didn't do anything, you know. Master, it's not very nice of you to automatically assume everything is my fault."
Liar!