Saga of Slime and Devil (Remake)

Vol 3 | Chapter 8 | By Iron...

The air seemed to swirl as the demon made a swift and rough landing onto the paved road below, dust flying into the air as attention was quickly brought to the demon girl whilst she brushed off her black and red uniform. The demon, Tanya, glanced up to study two semi-transparent sheets of magical energy, one curving up to form a dome over the city while the other made up one side of a rectangular pyramid.

Transcending Eye told her what they were, though she didn't need her Unique Skill in order to guess that they were restrictive barriers designed to weaken the residents of Tempest. While a mage's barrier could probably negate its effects, all but a few stronger mages would struggle to apply such a protective barrier if they were already under its effects. Should a mage from the outside form a barrier around themselves and walk inside, however, they would have little issue so long as their barrier could be maintained.

It was certainly a complicated problem to deal with, and judging by the large amounts of smoke emanating from the city itself, Tanya could tell that her nation certainly struggled to deal with it. As she approached the barrier, mages lining the road all knelt before her, most staring down in shame, unable to face their leader. Those who weren't were mostly streaked with tears, or wounded beyond physical capability, neither of which Tanya would comment on.

Tanya strode by them in silence, arms placed firmly behind her back as she marched forward, stopping next to a standing Weiss, whose arms were folded near the barrier's edge.

He quickly took notice of Tanya's presence, albeit mostly for show since he had likely noticed her approaching from kilometers away. He was Tanya's best-trained mage from both worlds, after all, and Tanya expected nothing less from a war veteran of his caliber. Weiss appeared to be analyzing the effects of the barrier, as without Tanya's own skill, Weiss was forced to rely on nothing but his own observations. He did have some skills like Thought Acceleration and a highly knowledgeable and analytical mind, but he wasn't Tanya.

Turning to Tanya, Weiss explained, "The barrier doesn't seem to affect humans. Or at least, it doesn't seem to affect me all that much. The magicule concentration is still dropping as we speak. It's made it a lot harder to cast formulas inside, sure, but unlike most of the monsters, I can still enter and leave without the need to protect myself against the barrier. Monsters and demihumans need to cast a full-body shield to resist the effects of the barrier. "

"That's by design." Tanya commented, "These barriers were made by humans to be used against monsters. We're magical lifeforms, we need magic to thrive. Cut it off, removing any magicules in the air and you've just turned all of them into sitting targets, at least in theory. No magic means no internal support, no internal support means no magical resistance. I take it that whatever offensive was launched here was repelled?"

Weiss made a nod, "Of course, Chancellor. The barrier technology that the Panzers are equipped with allowed them to slip past the barrier without issue, resulting in most of the fleeing opponents' ends. The problem, however, is that while they had plenty of power to repel the attack, most of them are running low by now."

Tanya sighed and commented, "They're magicule-based tanks, in a field that weakens magic, they're practically useless. Their barriers can allow them to negate the effects of the field, but then they need to drain more magicules to maintain that barrier, which only worsens the situation."

Weiss again nodded, confirming Tanya's speculation, "That's exactly what happened. We've had to pull out most of the tanks out of Tempest. Most of them are too low to engage in any prolonged battle. With our mages being needed at all times in case another ground attack or air raid comes, we can't afford to have them waste their magicules on refilling the tanks."

"Smart choice. Tanks are far stronger at repelling a land invasion, but while mages might not be as effective at repelling a land invasion, they're fully capable of repelling an aerial one. Tanks, on the other hand, would be left fully defenseless against an air raid. Right now, our mages are more valuable than our tanks."