Ellie tore apart the castle gate.
Just looking at this one sentence, doesn’t it sound incredibly impressive?
But the reality is a bit different.
It’s not just amazing; it’s an absolutely absurd feat that defies reason.
First, let’s talk about Camelot Castle.
The spiky roofs in Gothic style. A massive wall composed of three layers.
Among them, the most extravagant is the inner fortress, but the strongest is the outer wall that Ellie just demolished.
Just how sturdy is it that even Ellie is in shock, Benny is trembling, and the knights of Historia are in awe?
First, let’s talk about the material.
True to being a nation obsessed with combat, Camelot was constructed not with aesthetics in mind but as a combat stronghold.
Naturally, the materials used in the castle are anything but ordinary.
Amazingly, these crazy builders melted down solid black steel to construct the castle.
Heavy but incredibly durable, it possesses qualities that block a certain degree of aura and mana, giving it its own resistance.
While it’s not extremely rare, there’s always been a steady demand for such a material.
As a result, black steel is priced quite high… and they used solid blocks of it for the entire castle wall.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Camelot represents a significant portion of the entire stock of black steel on the Pan Continent.
Now that we know they used such remarkable metal, the next thing to figure out is just how thick the castle gate is.
Surprisingly, the height of the gate is about that of a typical three-story building, and its width could fit three double carriages side by side.
Not to mention, it doesn’t open sideways but moves up and down via pulleys.
This is a type of gate that could only exist in Historia, where aura exists and superhumans abound.
It might be a real struggle to open, but essentially, it has become like a solid chunk of black steel, making it even sturdier.
It was destroyed by Ellie’s One Punch, though.
Now, do you have a sense of how significant this was? To put it in a more modern Earth context, you could think of it as Ellie suddenly showing up in Gangnam and demolishing a high-rise building with a single punch.
KWA-BOOM!!
The deafening explosion echoed. The following shockwave was so fierce it was hard to keep one’s eyes open.
And then.
“The, the gate…!”
Not just broken but completely shattered, the black steel fragments scattered in all directions.
If even a single piece fell on a civilian area, it would be a disaster… fortunately, it seems Ellie still had enough power left after shattering the gate.
The debris shot high into the sky, far outside Camelot Castle.
BOOM! THUD! WHOOM!
The ground trembled just from the aftermath.
It seemed the thickness of the gate was about my height.
It’s a miracle that no one died from the earlier impact; what would be miraculous about that?
In that sense, it’s only natural for those who witnessed Ellie’s miracle (of physics) to freeze up like startled goats.
Countless knights, civilians, and even Benny stood there dumbfounded.
At the center, Ellie shook her white, smoke-breathing artificial arm and shook her head.
“No!”
“Yes, yes. I don’t know what you’re saying isn’t true, but it obviously isn’t if it’s not Ellie.”
“Jonah! What just happened to me?”
“Huh? Me? To Ellie tearing the wall? What should I do?”
“Ugh!”
No matter how I think about it, I feel like I’m the culprit, but with no solid evidence, Ellie just crinkled her brow.
It seems others around thought similarly; their fearful and astonished looks were directed at Ellie rather than me.
Feeling this, Ellie scanned the area for a moment and let out a deep sigh.
“Sigh… Jonah, just you wait.”
“As long as I can see Ellie, I’m always happy.”
With a smile, I answered, and Ellie roughly scratched her head as she moved past the debris of the gate into the castle.
Ellie, who was outside, came in.
Was that a trigger? The previously frozen knights of Historia started reacting frantically.
“Emergency! Super emergency!!!”
“Invasion! Sound the 0-level disaster alarm!”
“Call the commander! Bring the commander!”
Like mortals facing cosmic horror, the knights were all in a frenzy.
Watching the elite knights of the Pan Continent crumble into panic, my chest swelled with pride.
“Hmm. This formal greeting.”
“Jonah. Stop talking nonsense and stick close to Ellie. If you stray too far, you’ll be surrounded.”
“Oh crap. You’re right.”
Finally, freed from shock, Benny and I began our exploration of Camelot, following behind Ellie.
The knights donned thick armor all over their bodies. Each movement was incredibly efficient, like a professional killer.
Any typical opponent wouldn’t even be able to respond to their deft maneuvers.
But their basic specs were just too low. It was enough to deal with Ellie, let alone finish me off.
“Whoa!”
Utilizing haste boots, I pulled off a sudden acceleration. In the blink of an eye, I darted behind the opponent and delivered a sharp blow to the back of his neck.
THWACK!
The knight crumpled helplessly. Let’s see. I get the feeling he’s about the level of a two-story adventurer.
No matter how impressive their battle skills are, if the basic specs are this far apart, they’ll go down before they even get a chance to fight back.
“Oof!”
I pushed the collapsed knight aside so he wouldn’t get trampled and glanced around to see how others were faring.
The knights must have seen me as an easy target since they were rushing at me with the core knight level.
First was Benny. The knights coming for her were of a similar quality to the ones that charged at me.
However, the numbers were different. They organized themselves and attacked systematically, so it was only natural.
“Kill the sorcerer!”
“It’s fine to die from a punch! But I can’t die from a sorcerer’s spell!”
“Deputy Commander, what about dying to that monster?”
“…I suppose that would be somewhat glorious?”
I could sense their fear of Benny’s horrific magic, demonstrated by Ellie just a moment ago.
They weren’t just swinging their swords; they were mentally prepared for death.
It was truly a desperate resolve.
Of course, the effect was minimal.
“Melting snow. Clinging bones. Burning veins.”
– KERCHUNK!
A spell that looked grotesque. And indeed, that grotesque magic unfolded, pushing back the charging knights.
As their eyes met with the dripping eyeballs dropping from above, they started to scream in madness.
As one knight tripped, ensnared by a bone centipede, he was bound just as he hit the ground.
Some knights were covered in bubbling blood surging from the earth, hastily shedding their heated armor.
Benny cast stunning spells one after another that didn’t kill, but sure were shocking enough to deter any thoughts of getting back into the fight.
Seizing the moment when the knights were briefly unprotected, a Shadow with six tentacles, 66 legs, and 666 small eyes rushed in, knocking them all out cold.
“Wow. That looks a bit terrifying.”
I knew Benny’s full-powered magic was creepy. I also knew she was referred to as the Creepy Witch.
But it’s always stunning to see it firsthand.
In my mind, Benny was an unfortunate flat-chested girl wearing a witch hat and a dress.
I shook my head, hoping the recently felled knights wouldn’t have nightmares.
Lastly, I had to check on Ellie.
The knights charging at Ellie were of a different level entirely.
Qualitatively, they were adventurers of the fourth floor. They weren’t quite at the level of the Grim Reaper-fighter party I’d been with hours earlier, but they were definitely veterans who had recently mistaken me for a heretic.
Those who Ellie referred to as the knight captain level.
Their continuous emitting of aura while gripping their weapons and trying to launch a joint attack was quite overwhelming.
“Don’t interfere, clear out!”
With a growling voice followed by a kick.
KWA-BLAM!
The ground shook like a bomb had dropped. The knights tried hard to maintain their balance while charging in.
“Ugh.”
After taking Ellie’s real “little slap,” one by one they started flying off, crashing into the walls.
Just to clarify, it’s a real slap, not a real punch.
She was even using her actual arm, worried she might overdo it with her artificial arm.
“What is…?”
They must have been regarded as strong in their own right. But Ellie was just too overwhelming.
It was truly a bolt from the blue—a sudden apocalypse.
In the age of doom, those unprepared are destined to perish; it’s common sense.
Historia was experiencing an apocalypse at Ellie’s hands…!
Of course, they weren’t accepting their doom passively.
They made a few new attempts as well, but…
“That kid! Target the pink-haired boy! The way he dodges must mean there’s enough value in him as a hostage… Gak! Deputy Commander… why…!”
“Ugh! Even someone like that is the knight captain? Ignore what he just said! Fight honorably and die honorably!”
He was immediately attacked and ground into the dirt.
…Since Ellie told them not to cause fatalities, they’ll have to be treated.
As I passed by, I tossed a potion to the fallen knight. He was in tears for some reason, half from humiliation, half from gratitude, but that wasn’t really important.
What mattered was that the honorable charge from the knights guarding the inner castle just met its annihilation at Ellie’s hands.
Having witnessed Ellie dotingly knock on the castle gate, I bowed my head.
The knight captain, having just taken a potion after being beaten by her subordinates, was momentarily crouched in front of her.
She leaned in and whispered in his ear.
“Useless~ Useless~ Can’t even stop three of us, failed royal knight.”
“Wh-what…?”
“Apologize~ to your past self who’s toiled in training, say ‘I’m so sorry for soaking with sweat every day!’”
“…!”
His eyes were wide as saucers.
Seeing that, Ellie seemed to make up her mind, and with her artificial arm clenched into a fist, she nodded toward me.
“Jonah. Stop torturing that poor guy and come help me out.”
“Yes.”
Help means she wanted me to use Argetlam again, right?
I grinned as I invoked my power once more.
Vwooooom—
Ellie’s artificial arm started to shine with starlight. Then…
KWA-BOOM!
“Whoa!”
This is Meteor!
