As Chronoa was preoccupied with analyzing insectoid golems, Seraphina was feeling frustrated as her literal army of minions failed to find anything of note.
"I don't get it. How can half a dozen people search a room filled with enemies without finding a single one?"
With Chronoa keeping her discovery to herself, Seraphina was wholly unaware of the existence of the insectoid golems. A few of the cat-like Thieves in her employ had taken notice of them, but, as insects weren't exactly uncommon, they simply ignored them.
Unfortunately for Seraphina, most of the minions she sent out, while specializing in scouting, had very little sense in regards to magic. Had she deployed a few Mages, they may have been able to detect the subtle traces of magical energy contained within the golems. Instead, she had a ton of scantily clad Kunoichi and a number of petite, cat-like Thieves running about in search of treasure and traps.
Just as Seraphina was thinking about contacting Chronoa or asking Vahn for help, a much larger red dot appeared on the display she was observing. Out of curiosity, she ended up leaning forward and pressing the larger dot without thinking. When it immediately zoomed in to show a feed of the area in question, Seraphina couldn't help grimacing as she grumbled, "Seriously? All I needed to do was press one of the dots to see who it belonged to? How annoying..."
While groaning about something that would have been obvious to most people, Seraphina stared at the peculiar duo that had appeared on the display. Her common sense was somewhat distorted due to her origins as a Netherworld Succubus but even she could tell there was something strange about the inordinately large woman and the man cradled in her arms.
"A Seraphim? I thought 'Heaven' was located in the West...?"
Seeing the six wings framing the inordinately large woman's body, Seraphina mistook her for one of the Seraphim she had battled against during Heaven's attempts to purge her Netheworld from existence. They weren't nearly as powerful as Archangels, but they were still unbelievably annoying to deal with due to their ridiculous durability, insane regeneration, and powerful light magic.
"Well, whatever. It's not as though I, the Great and Powerful Lady Seraphina, haven't killed hundreds of Seraphim. Oh-hohohohohoho~."
Despite her words, Seraphina leaned back and made herself comfortable atop her personal Prinny before directing her army to intercept the newly arrived duo. She wasn't going to go out of her way to confront an enemy if she didn't have to. Rather, as the General of an Army, Seraphina believed it was only natural she sit back and give orders. If the opponent wanted to battle her, they would first need to prove themselves against her minions...s
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"You can set me down now, Gaia. Thank you."
Complying with her Master's orders, Gaia answered with a deep yet feminine, "Understood." before kneeling down and allowing the bespectacled man to stand on his own two feet.
Planting his oversized wrench into the ground, the man took a moment to dust himself off before reaching into his blue, panel-like Inventory to produced a large, ruby-red crystal.
Tossing said crystal onto the ground, lines reminiscent of circuitry spread out to produce a strange yet very obvious magic circle. Once the circle had been completed, the ground below began to stir before promptly transmuting into the shape of an adorable creature resembling a fennec fox. The only notable differences were that it had a large, ruby-red horn growing from its head and a body entirely comprised of minerals found within the defensive satellite's surface.
Bending down, the bespectacled Magus took a moment to caress the metallic creature's surface as he softly mused, "Hey there, Carb. Long time no see..."
While taking care to avoid cutting its Master with its incredibly sharp horn, Carb nuzzled against the bespectacled man's palm like an obedient housecat.
Adopting an affectionate smile, the bespectacled man was about to pick up his beloved companion when Gaia disrupted his reverie, stating, "Master Leshaad, the enemy approaches..." in her deep yet velvety tone.
Exhaling a sigh, the bespectacled man, Sean Leshaad, gave Carb one last caress before rising to his feet, donning his headphones, and grasping the handle of his giant wrench. He was a little surprised to see that his opponents were a trio of near-identical girls with petite frames, exposed midriffs, and cat-like features. The only notable differences between them were the colors of their hair, eyes, and clothes.
As Leshaad was observing the trio of Thiefs, the one in the lead, possessing a near-black outfit with pure white hair and red eyes, suddenly reached into her skintight tube top. Then, despite having A-Cup breasts and virtually no cleavage, she managed to withdraw an oversized bomb that was even larger than her head.
"What the-"
Before Leshaad could even finish his utterance, Gaia's body split open like a suit of armor before promptly closely around him. At the same time, the fennec-like Carb jumped into the air, a large barrier appearing between it and the now 10m wide bomb that was crashing towards them like a meteor.
*BOOM*
Accompanied by literal text spelling out the word boom, a massive explosion impacted the barrier generated by Carb. From the perspective of the people viewing from outside, it was like watching a nuclear warhead being set off from close range. Despite this, very little damage was done to Carb's barrier, the walls of metal Gaia had shaped, and the defensive satellite as a whole. Some even came to the conclusion that the explosion had done no damage whatsoever...
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Seeing the Master Thief she had purchased do next to no damage, Seraphina, for the first time in quite a while, regretted being stingy. It was actually possible for her to spend additional resources to drastically increase the parameters of her summoned minions. She could even purchase levels to further increase their capabilities, but, as per usual, she only purchased discounted, Level 1 minions.
Adding insult to injury, Gaia managed to defeat all three Thiefs with a simple wave of her hand. The Artificial Earth Spirit was able to manipulate metal and earth with remarkable ease, so, the moment the trio tried to flee, she sent a series of spear-like spikes through their bodies.
If observed through a Scouter, Gaia's Base Power Level would average around 3.5 billion. Compared to the true powerhouses in the Divine Realm, she still had quite a long way to go. Unfortunately, at least for Seraphina and her trio of Thiefs, the strongest among them only had a BP of 888 at Level 1. With enough funds, this could have been increased to around 480 million, and, while that might not be a lot compared to Gaia, there was such a thing as quantity over quality.
Understanding that her current army of minions was pretty much useless against an opponent like Gaia, Seraphina nearly bit through the nail of her left thumb as she promptly resummoned her Dark Assembly. For a brief moment, she seriously considered purchasing one of the Gods of Chaos or a Supreme Overlord Class minion. Instead, she hovered over the most powerful of the generic units, a feminine robot known as a Mecha Girl.
With Vahn effectively forcing her to familiarize herself with each of the generic units, Seraphina knew that Mecha Girls had the highest parameters and the greatest overall firepower. They might not be the best suited for fighting individual opponents, but, with their 'Full Strike Artillery System, they could cover entire battlefields with their missile barrage and laser cannons.
Having already made up her mind, Seraphina reached into her cleavage to pull out a rainbow-hued credit card that was actually a sub-dimensional storage device containing a planet-sized version of Das Rheingold. It was capable of generating a veritable mountain of magically enriched gold every twenty-four hours, so, unless she purchased hundreds of C-B-Rank Gifts every single day, Seraphina would never go broke.
Despite her incomparable wealth, Seraphina still hesitated before swiping her rainbow-hued credit card and confirming her purchase. Immediately thereafter, ten black and gold Mecha Girls known as War Ladies appeared before her. There were perfectly identical to each other, and, due to Seraphina maxing out the sliders for their Level and parameters, their respective Power Levels were just over 2 billion.
Though she was wholly unaware of the strength of each War Lady, Seraphina knew it would be a pain in the butt for even her to fight ten at once. She would ultimately emerge victoriously, but, due to their ridiculously defensive capabilities, War Ladies would continue fighting even after sustaining blows that would level planets.
Confident that the decuplets would be more than enough to deal with any current and future foes, a confident smile developed across Seraphina's face as she stood before the unblinking Mecha Girls and issued their orders...
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After extricating himself from the snug and warm interior of Gaia, Leshaad thanked her for worrying about him before a large blue panel a few meters overhead. From within, tens of thousands of ruby red crystals poured out before quickly spreading out like a deluge of exceptionally fine sand. Those in contact with the ground quickly formed into various types of insects while the larger crystals bore into the surface of the defensive satellite in search of better materials.
Less than a minute after Leshaad had released the crystals from his inventory, an army of animalistic and humanoid golems had surrounded him. This included a bulky, tank-like Earth Dragon that was more than 40m in length. Leshaad wasn't much of a close-range fighter, so, shortly after the tank-like dragon had taken shape, he exchanged a brief kiss with Gaia before entering the interior of his mobile command center, the Earth Dragon, Adamantoise.
While Leshaad was preparing his command and workstation, Gaia flew into the air in order to take charge of the massive army that was gradually taking shape around them. She was Leshaad's most powerful creation, and, as a result, his General.
"Proud warriors of the Earth Sage, heed my call! This planet is filled with people who have treated our brethren as little more than insects to be crushed. Let us demonstrate for them the fate that awaits all those who oppose Mother Nature and its majesty...!"
Though very few of Leshaad's creations were gifted with the capacity for speech, that didn't stop the army of golems from issuing low, high-pitched, and rumbling cries. Even the smallest insects flitted their wings or rubbed their legs together to produce a high-frequency, vibrational sound.
Satisfied with her army's response, Gaia shaped her right hand and forearm into a twisting lance before manifesting an ornate, multi-tier shield in her left. From her lower back, a segmented tail formed from earthen debris while two branch-like horns emerged from the sides of her head.
Aiming her lance at one of the temple-like entrances that led further into the defensive satellite, Gaia shouted, "Chaaaarge...!" in a commanding tone. The army of golems immediately complied with her orders, a furious war shout reminiscent of a rockslide echoing across the entire surface of the defensive satellite as the earthen automatons prepared charged into its depths.
Just as the first wave was prepared to make its descent, ten skyscraper-sized missiles emerged from over the horizon. Gaia immediately took notice of these, but, before she could even think to charge forward and destroy them, said missiles promptly splinted into tens of thousands of smaller, pencil-sized projectiles. It was a terrifying sight similar to a torrential downpour. However, due to the failed attack of the trio of Thiefs, Gaia wasn't too concerned.
She would, very quickly, come to regret this carelessness...
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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Gag Laws OP?','Seraphina is the biggest whale...','Complacency kills o_o...')