Vol 3 Chapter 3 (1/2)
The redacross a whitened sea surface
Roughly fifty th, its appearance would probably be best suiant lizard However, this creature was not just a gigantic reptile
A clearly har the dragon that huhly two decades—”Red” Basilisk
It was also the naendary monster recorded in ancient myths
It was extremely difficult for humans to approach Basilisk, but if they could witness this monster up close, anyone would probably hold their breath in response to its intie
As hunificent and resplendent in appearance
After all, Basilisk's body was covered with red-tinted scales of diaiant crystals shaped like stone pillars, giving off dazzling brilliance
Accordingly, its body weight seeround of salt The scene was al a small mountain move
Despitesteadily Without hesitation, neither sleeping nor resting, it gradually approached its destination
Finally, the world of white broke off, giving way to the navy-blue ocean However, as soon as Basilisk shot out red beams from its eyes, the wavy sea surface instantly turned into a desert of salt
This was precisely why Basilisk was feared The power known as ”petrification” in legends of the past
However, such a description was inaccurate, because the true nature of Basilisk's poas so else
While creating a road of salt on the sea, Basilisk moved forward, step by step
Nothing was capable of halting its advance At least, that was the way things were originally—
With a shudder of its body, Basilisk see and looked up into the sky
The monster's eyes, the bane of all creation, clearly captured what had appeared high in the sky, even beyond the range of its red beams of petrification
Then Basilisk instantly realized it was soerous to it—
Part 2
After Mitsuki and the girls left the hot spring in a hurry, I ilant ofwas about to be held, so I had to hurry back My terminal back in my cabin had probably received the same notification too
Unable to findroom, I felt nervous for a moment until I found them placed behind the shelves Firill probably hid the them
Hence, I hastily put on my clothes, returned to the shi+p and went directly to the conference room It looked like Iin the room
The flush on their faces fro therant scent
”—Nii-san, you are late”
Just as I was experiencing their after-bath aura, Mitsuki spoke to me from the side
”Oh, uh I was a bit occupied”
”Judging from the way you look Nii-san, you just had a bath too?”
Mitsuki asked while staring ateven longer than everyone else That combined with abundant stiirls'
”Y-Yeah, I happened to be showering, so I found out about the notification a bit later”
Concealing the wavering in lared atshi+nohed
”Hoo—Very well, let us assume that hat happened shi+nomiya-sensei has arrived too Nii-san, take your seat”
Hence, I sat down at Mitsuki's urging
After confir that everyone were seated, shi+nomiya-sensei stood in front of the whiteboard and started to talk
”—I was just notified by NIFL that they will carry out their long-planned operation at 0600 tos will be settled with almost complete certainty with this If their prediction proves to be correct, then there will be nothing left for us to do”
Hearing this, Lisa raised her hand and spoke
”From our standpoint, if NIFL were to defeat Basilisk, that would be fine and all But would things really go that smoothly?”
”Well, they see their claim Apart from detailed specifics of the operation, NIFL has provided us with all the latest data they have gathered and analyzed Let's take a look together now”
shi+no a rehts switched off and the screen displayed what seemed to be the data provided by NIFL
”According to this data, NIFL has not only identified Basilisk's power but also used various methods to corroborate If their operation was devised based on this data, reliability ought to be quite high”
”So they've identified Basilisk's power”
Hearing Firill's light whisper, shi+no a laser pointer on the data on the screen
”It has already coht that the true nature of the pheno”
Hearing shi+nomiya-sensei say that, a cla in front of me, Tia looked back and asked me quietly:
”Yuu, what is weathering?”
”Uh Take a huge rock for example If it's exposed to sun and rain constantly, it'll crack and break apart, becoes like that, which are caused by time”
Listening to our conversation, shi+noreement then continued:
”—Indeed, the cause of weathering is ti up time”
Speeding up time?
Although shi+nomiya-sensei said it so nonchalantly, wasn't that actually quite outrageous?
”By experi half-lives, NIFL observed the passage of hundreds to several tens of thousands of years in ht Although the range is quite wide, further analysis revealed that the effect depended on the duration of exposure Taking this factor into account, it is non that a single second of exposure results in fast forwarding two thousand years or so”
”T-Two thousand years huh”
Even Mitsuki's voice went hoarse
”Yes, a human would turn into bones or dust in an instant This is thecreatures We have tentatively nah scholars see about tachyons, the funda But now that the pheno, it is possible to devise countermeasures”
shi+nomiya-sensei shi+fted her laser pointer then proceeded to explain the NIFL's intended plan
”Time will affect all matter without exception But even so, there exists e easily Materials of that sort should be able to endure Basilisk's light to so this time is to drop a et”
The laser pointed at a photograph depicting the bomb's appearance Shaped like an upside-down cone, wide and flat, it resembled a top
”Just as all of you know, mithril is the hardest andshi+elds Through rigorous calculations regarding the durability of ned—the large-scale anti-Basilisk bomb, Mistilteinn”
Mistilteinn I recalled that it was a spear featured in Norse y, made from a parasitic plant, but that was not important If as said so far were true, then this weapon could almost certainly kill Basilisk No wonder NIFL was so confident
I raised my hand and asked shi+nomiya-sensei:
”What is the probability of success in your view, shi+nomiya-sensei?”
”—50, I guess Dragons are unknown beings and the data obtained so far cannot be guaranteed to be correct NIFL believes that there are no other options apart from this They seem to think that their operation will succeed, but I cannot share such optimism”
shi+noravely
”No other options? Since its power has been analyzed so thoroughly, there should be other ways”
”It can be said that there are no other methods precisely because its power has been analyzed Dropping a bo on a parabolic trajectory would have its kinetic energy weathered away the instant it is exposed to the red light In this regard, if gravity substitutes for propulsion, its effects will still persist despite the fast forwarding of ti projectile weaponry is also a crucial point, because NIFL's bea by the diamond scales”
After hearing this explanation, I definitely could not think of other methods But perhaps Mitsuki could She raised her hand and asked shi+nomiya-sensei
”What about land ht does not affect the ground surface very e to the land even after thousands of years If that is the case, as long as boround before hand”
”That has been tried already, but Basilisk will sweep everything in front of its direction of advance, which round to be free from the effects But with that, the explosion would be discovered before it reaches the ground surface and the explosion itself would end up getting fast forwarded by the light”
”The explosion itself will Then our plan needs to thoroughly revised too”
Mitsuki fell into deep thought with a troubled expression
On the Midgard side, our plan was to use the volcanic island as cover to launch our attacks, wiping out Basilisk together with the island But that was al landoes, offense is the best defense Basilisk's poas precisely that
”Fortunately, we still have time, so let's think of a new battle plan based on the data we have received this ti said, if NIFL were to defeat Basilisk for us, on't need to worry”
shi+noht in the room and retracted the screen
”assee at 0530 tomorrow NIFL will send a live feed of their operation to us They seeer to show off their power to us”
”0530”
Firill expressed overt resent up early
”Don't oversleep, okay? If anyone fails to show up at the appointed time, I will personally punch them awake”
After re us, shi+nos to discuss, Mitsuki also chased after shi+nomiya-sensei rapidly The other class their seats
Like everyone else, I alking to the door when I noticed Tia still sitting in her seat
”What's wrong, Tia? Meeting's over”
I went back and placed
”Are you scared?”
”Yeah After hearing about Basilisk, Tia suddenly started shaking”
Tia showed uneasiness on her face while looking up atin a feeble tone of voice
”Well, its power is quite outrageous, after all I can't believe it can fast forward time It's totally out of this world”
”If soets hit by the beam They'll turn into bones?”
Tia asked me with tears in her eyes
”It'd be lucky to have bones re”
”Tia absolutely don't want Yuu and everyone to die”
”Don't worry, we don't want to die either We'll fight without turning into bones shi+nomiya-sensei and Mitsuki will think of a plan to achieve that”
To reassure Tia, I gently stroked her head
Most likely, Tia finally beca detail information about Basilisk
”If only Tia could do so”
”Tia, you're doing your job just by being here”
”Yeah But if possible, Tia still wants to do more”
After listening to her, I thought for a while then suggested to her:
”In that case, it'll be very helpful to us if you cheer for us at criticalthat, chances of success will definitely rise for the operation”
”Really?”
”Yeah, because ill have better morale if so out more power than normal”
Hearing htened up
”Tia got it! Tia will cheer for everyone!”
”Good, but you'd better head back to your cabin and sleep earlier tonight Otherwise, you won't be able to get up tomorrow, you know?”
”Yes! Goodnight, Yuu!”
Tia nodded vigorously and got up from her seat
”Goodnight, Tia”
I s off
Part 3
The next athered at the bridge punctually
Perhaps because the transport shi+p was moored, I did not see e, the scenery consisted of a volcano's silhouette and a black sea surface with the starry sky as the background
The bridge had a largedifferent videos One of thenal Another showed a group of fierce-lookingin a row in a conference room
'Colonel shi+nomiya, watch carefully Witness the moment e of NIFL vanquishes Basilisk'
”Yes, I look forward to it, Major-General Dylan”
shi+no with Major-General Dylan, a elderlyfrom this, the people in the conference room shown on screen were the NIFL cadres involved in this operation
'Naturally, I hold high regard for your abilities in vanquishi+ng Kraken and Leviathan and driving off Hekatonkheir Nevertheless, we cannot rely on Ds in every case Now is the ti mankind's power!'
Major-General Dylan shouted loudly Si a dragon Surely, they wanted to erase their ion disasters
”Mm”
Seeing the NIFLpresence, Ren hid behind Ariella
”Ren, what's the matter?”
Feeling strange, I asked her Ariella smiled wryly and answered for her
”Oh, Ren isn't very used to adult men”
”I see Oh, then what about me?”
I was thinking I should feel bad if I had scared her in the past, so I asked
”Haha, Mononobe-kun, you're fine Ren said before that you feel like an older brother to her”
”—!? Mm! Mm~!”
Ren went red in the face and hammered her fists on Ariella's back
”Oh, it was a secret? Sorry sorry”
Ariella scratched her head and apologized Then Firill, whose upper body had been swaying in drowsiness the whole time, shook, then leaned over and said:
”Yes, I feel the same way too Is it because he's Mitsuki's older brother that this impression is reinforced?”
”Eh, but Mononobe is definitely the younger brother type!”
Iris objected at this point
”That is soree with Mononobe Yuu is not cut out to be an older brother”
”L-Lisa-san, you are being very rude! Nii-san is undoubtedly my older brother!”
Hearing Lisa say that, Mitsuki refute her
Major-General Dylan could apparently see as happening on our side He exhaled with an exasperated look
'Your subordinates are quite carefree'
”I am terribly sorry—Everyone, please be quiet”
Hearing shi+no, we all shut up
”Umm”
Tia's tiny voice was heard Timidly, she walked up to the monitor and stared at the men on the other side
'That pair of horns You are the one whose dragon ed color this time'
Major-General Dylan seemed to know about Tia and he spoke in a stiff tone of voice Tia's horns were reon's and were seen as inauspicious, perhaps
”Umm, Tia will cheer for everyone!”
However, Tia ignored the men's reactions and spoke as loud as she could
'C-Cheer?'
On the other side, slightly uneasiness was spreading
”Yes—Thank you for protecting Tia, Uncles! Tia will cheer for you all, so do your best!!”
The fierce-looking men were clearly shaken
'W-What a good girl' 'My daughter went through that kind of phase once—' 'Don't those horns look cute on closer examination?'
Whispering voices could be heard
Major-General Dylan was speechless for a while, but he coughed then said to Tia:
'Thank you for your ishes Leave it to Uncle'
I can't believe he called himself ”Uncle”
I stood there in shock, watching them converse, but Major-General Dylan resuasp
'You look like you have so to say, soldier'
”N-No, nothing of that sort”
Intimidated by a seasoned warrior's forceful aura, I frantically shook my head and denied
”Jeez, don't bully Yuu!”
'M-My apologies I will put ive me'
As soon as Tia got angry, the Major-General went into a fluster and his tone of voice changed He was alhter
Then Major-General Dylan's fierce voice could be heard froh to Mistilteinn's transport team immediately I will speak directly to their spirit'
Thus, we had a bit of interaction with NIFL and the operation was finally about to begin
'—Mistilteinn's ht that can be carried by four large transport aircrafts Since Basilisk's attack range is roughly 5000 m, ill drop from an altitude of 8000 m'
Major-General Dylan explained the operation to us
”Regarding the vertical drop, is it possible to hit the target froht?”
'Before it enters Basilisk's range, ill use fuel-injected thrusters to make ins, ill no longer have an effect because all excess energy will be ”weathered” away Pulled by gravity alone, Mistilteinn will fall straight down'
Major-General Dylan calmly answered shi+nomiya-sensei's question
”What about the possibility of Basilisk focusing on evasiveMistilteinn?”
'According to all data collected to date, Basilisk always halts and stopsto intercept whenever any object approaches it Chances of it co to escape are very low Even if it switches to evasive action at the last second, Mistilteinn is capable of ho is impossible'
Although Major-General Dylan sounded very confident, I could only find many flaws in the plan based on what I had heard so far If Basilisk took any unexpected action, the plan would very likely fail
However, even if the chances of success were alerated, this plan was definitely the most effective attack devised so far I hated to admit it but my mind was unable to come up with a better one
'Well then It is alether'
The conference roonal noise enlarged This screen had grown brighter than earlier I realized it was an ih in the sky extremely far away
A sh it only looked the size the of a pea, it was ure
Shown on the top left of the screen, the clock indicated the operation start time
There was no change in the ie, but Mistilteinn should have been dropped from 8000 m already
Everyone stared at the monitor with bated breaths
Just as soht flashed past The red flash extended froround all the way up to the sky Mistilteinn had probably entered Basilisk's range, 5000 m in the sky
However, the horrifying ti the top of the sky, then started to be pushed gradually towards the ground
Most likely, the descending Mistilteinn was blocking the red light Just as NIFL's data indicated, Mistilteinn could withstand ”weathering” froht
But then calamity struck
The narrow beairth, tearing through the pre-dawn sky
Then several seconds later, the glow that originally seeh the sky all at once
It was evidence that the obstacle blocking the light had vanished
'—Hey! What the hell happened!?'
Major-General Dylan's furious shot could be heard from the other side Then a subordinate appeared on screen
'Mistilteinn confirh in the air Operation failed, sir'
'What!? Didn't Mistilteinn use enough mithril to withstand the attack?'
'All we can say is that the weathering rate exceeded our predictions The observation and analysis teaiant eyeball'
'A new eyeball? Is that the reason why ”Catastrophe” powered up'
Major-General Dylan aze to us
'—Just as you all saw and heard, our power is apparently still insufficient against dragons'
”No Absolutely not Basilisk opening a previously unseen third eye is evidence that it was cornered”
Although shi+nomiya-sensei said that, Major-General Dylan shook his head with a wry smile
'Even so, itunless we defeat Basilisk This new eye—let's call it the third eye from now on—We will send the data over later Please use it to ensure the success of your operation'
”Thank you”
shi+noratitude Major-General Dylan nodded in acknowledgement then looked at Tia
”Uncle”
'Apologies, our strength was not enough even though you cheered for us'
”No, it's okay, Uncle, thank you!”
Hearing Tia thank him, Major-General Dylan smiled
'Good luck'
Communications were cut off after these words The screen turned black In contrast, the world outside thegradually brightened, because the sun was rising
I looked at everyone's face Although ere a little disappointed, irls' eyes
They all understood that it was our turn to enter the battlefield
I clenchedsun's bright rays, I turned hts to the imminent day of the decisive battle—
Part 4
Ever since NIFL's failed operation on that day, all semblance of a vacation vanished completely
The battle to protect Tia, laying our lives on the line, was approaching second by second
Using the data sent by Major-General Dylan, we devised a new plan Spending every day on pre-operation drills, we stopped having regular lessons
The new data regarding Basilisk was quite despairing
When the eye on its back opened, the range was roughly 10000 ht caused time to fast forward on the order of hundreds of millions of years
In light of that, shi+noly simple plan
Launching attacks capable of piercing diamond scales, with speed faster than it could react, froe—This hat the new plan was about
NIFL's beaard had Ds who met requirements
On a flat piece of unused land roughly a ten- nonstop today as well
”Well then, Ren-san, let us begin!”
”Mm”
Lisa sumnir
Irew in size with astounding speed, turning into a giant spear dozens of e that one could not even wrap their arms around it, but Lisa and Ren were able to hold the fictional arh touch
Fictional ar the shape of dark ination alone Furthermore, there was one fact, namely, dark matter had the property that it could be passed onto other Ds
Right now, Lisa was borrowing Ren's dark e her own fictional armament
However—
”Ah!?”
Lisa cried out in panic
The spear's outline suddenly distorted then as thoughinto the air, the fictional armament disappeared
Borrowed darkit was difficult and it would collapse like this iuard for adark matter from more than two people was impossible
When creating anti-dragon weaponry, I had borrowed dark matter from Mitsuki and Iris in the past, but in the actual process of transination but blueprints downloaded onto my brain Hence, I did not need to worry about suchother people's dark matter
But delicate control was required in the case of Lisa and Ren
”One more time!”
”Mm!”
Ren nodded in response to Lisa and they forain
The school curriculu on the transmission of dark matter However, this technique was definitely unstable even with daily practice Unless for exceptions like me, it would not be used in actual combat
Nevertheless, there was no alternative but to rely on this technique to perform the attack needed for this operation
—I had to work hard myself too
I stopped watching the
In this operation, I was not assigned a clear task Even if I wanted to attack using anti-dragon aret intercepted before the hit connected whereas Babel's supergravitational discontinuity probably could not be fired froe
If there was so ency For this purpose, I kept training ravitational matter
I raised fried—which had the appearance of an ornaravitational matter that had been adjusted to three different levels
”Half Gravity”
The bullet fired upwards turned into brightly glittering white particles, falling on hter
By covering ravitational ht by half This technique lasted a long duration and its effects could be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the transht be the most convenient transmutation to use
”Gravity Zero”
The next bullet was shot into the ground ten-odd ravitational low All the pebbles in its surroundings also floated upwards Then the sphere gradually shrank and when it disappeared, the floating pebbles fell down as well Although this technique could create a te in a specific range, hence there were difficulties in using it
”Antigravity”
The final bullet was trans off blindingly bright light like a camera's flash, it caused nearby objects to fly away radially
I had pretty much mastered the key principles, but I could probably control the Antigravity bullet better During the battle against Kili, while under Fafnir's control, I was using antigravitational ht now
Using the Antigravity bullet with directionality to repel gunfire, distorting space to block attacks—If possible, I wished to reach that level
The Fafnir that Major Loki had i for ons instead In the battle against Hekatonkheir last time, even when I was in a crisis, Fafnir still did not heed my calls The same would probably happen in the case of Basilisk
Precisely because of that, I ravitational matter even my normal state, otherwise it would be pointless
Since Siegfried disappeared after firing three shots' worth, I exhaled for now and looked aroundsufficient distance away, engaged in their own training
Mitsuki, Firill and Ariella were part of the support team to take action if the first attack wave failed They were practicing nonstop their task of protecting Lisa and Ren while switching to launch the second attack
Meanwhile, Iris was standing alone at a cliff on the edge of the clearing, raising her Caduceus towards the sea
Several buoys with red flags were floating on the sea, extending on a cord tied to large rock protruding out of the sea surface
”—O holy silver, explode!”
Iris caused silver explosions, destroying the buoys one by one She was carrying out sniping training Point blank explosions of ainst Basilisk
It was highly likely that lethal dae could be inflicted if she could aie
However, aiet to be within viehich ht as well Even if she could be positioned outside Basilisk's range, such a high-risk plan could not possibly be approved
Hence, Iris was in the saned task for now Even so, because this was the only thing in her ability, she was honing her skills like this
Currently, she had perfect ai as it ithin 200 ot Hence, aie was probably impossible no matter what
”O holy silver, explode!”
Just as I was thinking that, a buoy near the rock exploded Its location was probably close to 1000 m away
—No, if it's Iris, perhaps it ht be possible after all
I corrected ht
Iris always created explosions nothat special trait to offense, she had acquired a strong advantage unique to her and no one else
But what I wondered recently hether the true nature of Iris' powerelse?
For example, machines normally broke dohen used incorrectly Hence, perhaps Iris' ability wasexplosions because her e was incorrect?
If she used it correctly, perhaps soht result
But this was just baseless fantasy
Still, watching Iris working hard, I could not help but get this feeling
—Perhaps Irisination?
Maybe she noticed aze, Iris turned around and waved to me
”Mononobe! Did you see that just now?”
”Yeah, I saw it!”
Iris asked me loudly and I shouted back
—It's time I kept my promise to visit her room
No one could predict what ht happen on the battlefield Anyone could easily lose their life, myself and the others included
That was how things went on so-called battlefields One would surely regret not doing things when the chance was available
”Everyone! It's almost time for lunch!”
At thiswith her fictional ar the transround then ran towards me
”Yuu, Tia helped with lunch today!”
”Then I definitely have to try it I' forward to it”
”Yeah!”