The steel that had briefly withdrawn now sought a new direction.
The Metalum Empire had withdrawn its army from the Terra Empire.
They had been dealt a heavy blow by the Ignis Empire, too arrogant to consider what might come after, but as they rebuilt their collapsed defenses and ruined encampments, they planned for a stronger future.
In Oruka, the heart of Metalum, filled with steel and the sounds of machinery, a heavy vibration rang out.
The fourth-stage modification of the fortress located in Oruka had finally been completed.
Emperor Oruma toured the newly designed interior of the fortress with heavy steps.
The white-glowing metal walls had grown sturdier than before, and from the ceiling, transport devices that automatically carried cores were operating with precision.
“Our center has been forged anew.”
His voice was as hard as steel.
Immediately after the fortress underwent another stage of modification, Oruma ordered Kraso to modify the barracks as well.
Rumble, rumble, rumble……
The fourth-stage barracks had grown incomparably larger than the existing barracks.
Kraso and the steel assemblers once again busied themselves.
At last, Metalum’s barracks took on a majestic form.
Unlike the old barracks, which trained and modified Metalum’s citizens into soldiers, the current barracks seemed prepared to assemble something.
Oruma gave the order.
“Now summon it.”
“Understood.”
Agnon entered the barracks and operated the device.
Wooooong……
Soon, from deep within the underground barracks, an immense resonance began.
Countless iron plates and mechanical components meshed with one another, and amid a noise that shook the earth, a new troop type was born.
Clank, clank, whirrr…… clunk.
At last, it revealed itself.
“It is the Siege Colossus.”
Agnon spoke.
The retainers and soldiers gazed at the Siege Colossus in awe.
Its height nearly rivaled a fortress wall, and both arms were fitted with massive steel fists.
The fused metal plates moved as if alive, rotating with surprising flexibility.
Even passing citizens stopped in their tracks and fixed their eyes on the Siege Colossus.
“What is that?”
“A new troop type? It’s enormous.”
“It’s on a completely different level from ordinary soldiers. Something like that could do the work of five or six ordinary soldiers, couldn’t it?”
“Hey, the soldiers can hear you.”
Oruma, too, silently looked up at the Siege Colossus.
“It is Metalum’s new weapon.”
The Siege Colossus turned in place and looked around in every direction, awaiting its next command.
“With this much, the average Ignis wretches will be crushed and obliterated beneath the Siege Colossus’s feet.”
“Yes, that is so.”
Belkar replied.
“Of course, we must continue to exert ourselves. It has already been some time since Terra summoned Montanus, and Ignis is likewise known to have produced a fourth-stage troop type. We do not know when they will come again, so we must not cease our training.”
“Hm.”
Oruma’s eyes flashed.
“Good. As it happens, we have cut off our path to Terra. The time has come to focus once more on tempering ourselves from within. We must continue manufacturing Siege Colossi and strengthen our forces. Once we have a surplus of cores, we too will modify the fortress to its final stage.”
It was then.
Commander Karden approached Oruma and his retainers.
“Your Majesty, I have a report. They say Terra’s Montanus has fallen on the northeastern front.”
“What……?!”
The retainers stared at Karden for a moment in shock.
Oruma asked,
“That Yellow Dragon, Montanus, has fallen? So that was as far as it could go in the end. If it was the northeast, is that not where Aqua and Silva are located?”
“Yes, that is correct. It seems they managed to stop it after all.”
“Hm.”
Silence settled over the surroundings.
In truth, when Montanus had appeared, Oruma and his army had been advancing toward Silva, so they had had no time to pay attention to Montanus.
Oruma asked,
“I did not witness that Montanus with my own eyes, so I do not know its true nature well. I heard it could be summoned once the barracks were modified to the final stage. Is that correct?”
Karden replied,
“Yes, it is. Montanus, also called the Yellow Dragon, radiated a yellow light all over its body, and as a being born from Terra, it was made of soil and rock. Its size was incomparable even to the Siege Colossus standing here, and it is said that it roamed the world without obeying anyone’s commands.”
Oruma’s eyes narrowed.
“It did not obey commands?”
“That is correct. If Terramont had truly intended to attack Aqua or Silva, he would have ordered an attack at once. However, Montanus took a considerable amount of time to reach the northeastern region. Though that area was its destination, I understand it did not proceed straight there, but moved slowly while repeatedly advancing and stopping.”
After hearing Karden’s words, Belkar asked,
“A being with free will, moving on its own. Where did it ultimately fall?”
“At the border between Aqua and Silva, after being attacked simultaneously by both empires. It was just about to split the boundary between the two.”
Oruma turned his head toward Terra, located to his east, and said,
“Terra’s actions are truly impossible to understand. If it was a being born from Terra, would the situation not have changed had they sent it north immediately? The fact that they deliberately sent it far to the northeast and did not attack actively suggests that their purpose was not to invade Aqua with Montanus. Was it merely to seize Aqua’s core?”
Peron, who had remained quiet until then, cautiously spoke.
“They say that Aqua Core is now in Ignis’s hands.”
Oruma snapped his head toward him.
“What did you say? Terramont handed Aqua’s core over to Ignis?!”
“That is correct. I do not know the reason either. Ignis clearly invaded Terra recently, did they not? At the time, Terra did nothing, and we defended them in their stead. Yet now they have even provided cores to those wretches. This makes absolutely no sense.”
Oruma’s mind began to turn in complicated ways.
He spoke again.
“Did they begin to feel threatened once we vanished? Even so, I wonder whether Ignis will truly postpone aiming for the center. In any case, Terra is currently far from our concerns. What Terra does from now on is for them to decide. However……”
Oruma looked toward Terra with cold eyes and continued.
“On the other hand, we cannot help but be suspicious. Terra appears to be pretending not to move while quietly advancing its own plans. This time must have been no different. While we fought in their stead, they may have been trying to realize their own order in order to protect their center.”
At that moment, Chief Researcher Keldren of the laboratory approached them.
“Your Majesty, I have a report.”
“What is it?”
Keldren spoke in a forceful tone.
“We did it. The fusion of our metal core and Silva core has succeeded!”
“What? Fusion?”
“That is correct. You may see it now.”
Oruma and his retainers immediately moved.
“Very well. I will go at once.”
Inside a tank in the underground laboratory lay a large core of a form they had never seen before.
It was a solid object, blackened in places, yet overall tinged with blue.
Oruma asked,
“This is the fusion of a metal core and Silva’s core?”
“Yes, that is correct. Its name is the Bronze Core.”
“Bronze, you say……?”
“Yes. The wood attribute has altered our steel so that it can better adapt to the environment. It is also resistant to corrosion.”
Oruma fell into thought.
Because the energy of wood aided the energy of fire, bronze forces might not be of great help against Ignis.
On the other hand, the roots of trees dug into the earth.
Oruma instructed the researchers.
“Fuse the remaining Silva cores with metal cores and turn them all into Bronze Cores.”
The retainers flinched and looked at him.
It seemed different from the attitude he had shown just moments ago.
But no one spoke.
As Oruma left the laboratory with his retainers, Peron asked him,
“Your Majesty, was the original plan not to modify the fortress to its final stage? Why have you suddenly decided to produce Bronze Cores?”
He answered,
“The plan has not changed. I am merely keeping various possibilities in mind. There will surely come a time when they are useful.”
Kraso built a new barracks with the produced Bronze Cores.
A bronze barracks tinged with blue, different yet again from the crystal barracks.
Another color rarely seen within the Metalum Empire had appeared.
“Then, I shall begin.”
Agnon inserted a Bronze Core into the bronze barracks.
Soon, the barracks produced new soldiers.
The name of that troop type was none other than Bronze Infantry.
“What a truly unique color.”
Oruma murmured to himself.
The Bronze Infantry were distinctive not only in color, but also in appearance.
Copper wires entwined like vines wrapped around their blue bodies, and though they were metal, their blue glow evoked nature, as if they were alive.
Even with the newly appeared troop type before their eyes, the retainers exchanged glances.
They still did not understand Oruma’s intentions.
Oruma muttered to himself.
“Silva’s core…… There will be times when it proves useful.”
Peron asked him,
“Do you perhaps plan to produce more bronze forces in the future as well?”
Still looking at the Bronze Infantry that had appeared before him, Oruma answered,
“Not now, but before long, they will become forces absolutely necessary to us.”
Agnon, too, silently watched the Bronze Infantry, then, as a thought occurred to him, he abruptly looked at Oruma.
“Your Majesty, surely…… you do not intend to threaten Terra?”
Oruma turned to him and spoke impassively.
“I hope you do not misunderstand. I harbor no ill will or desire for revenge toward Terra. We, too, need to establish our own order in this world, do we not? I have already said it. There is no core in this world without use.”
Then he turned toward the fortress.
“Our plan remains unchanged. As before, we focus steadily on tempering and training ourselves. Once we do, we will become stronger. And of course, we will draw closer to the center as well.”
No one replied to his words.
Only, along with the sounds of machinery, the heart of Metalum began to move busily once more.
Montanus had fallen.
The world once again seemed to have escaped from chaos.
Terramont, emperor of the Terra Empire, also knew that the Aqua Empire and Silva Empire had defeated Montanus.
However, he was not particularly shaken.
As if he had already expected it—no, as if he had rather guided it to happen.
“The true beginning has come again.”
Terramont, seated in the underground fortress, opened his mouth.
He rose from his seat and walked out of the fortress.
Then he began to slowly look around in every direction.