Book 16 Chapter 36
Science VS Ability,
Ain's Technological Prowess is the Best in the World (5)
"What in the world happened…!"
Friede, who was flying on a broom, said blankly.
As Nils approached the coordinates of a specific Greta Vizer, the entire geography seemed to be changing bizarrely.
It wasn't just submerged in a swamp… it was a swamp, but that swamp was bubbling and boiling.
"Even though the Red Mountains region is hotter than other places, it wasn't this extreme. This isn't even near an active volcano…!"
Nils said.
"If Greta is using the entire area as a workshop… the heat emitted by that furnace might be affecting the surroundings."
As Link casually crossed such swamps in a few steps, Lin exclaimed in admiration.
"Do you just ignore everything? You're so cool! The [Strongest] body!"
"Link, Link, Link!"
"Lin, I can easily overcome this much too! If only my body returns to normal."
The heat grew so intense that the group soon had to take off their coats. Even then, sweat poured down due to the abnormal heat.
"Hey, you Sbal, can't you read the mood and get some work done? You're really dumb, incapable, and small, yet you're trying to grow into what?"
"Gyu, gyu-gyung gyu-gyu-gyut!"
"Did you forget you were a Balag when you were growing up? You're not growing now. Wanna die?"
"Gyung…"
At Lin's chiding, Sbal, with a sullen expression, wielded his power to bestow the grace of frost upon everyone, and the situation improved considerably.
'This is the southernmost tip of the Red Mountains… even if it's just the edge, the entire mountain range was once the red dragons' nest, so why establish a headquarters specifically here?'
Friede's eyes narrowed.
Was he thinking of the 'darkest under the lamp' effect? No, the risk was too great for that.
Was there some reason why the headquarters absolutely had to be built here?
"!"
At the mouth of the southernmost tip of the mountain range, there was originally a small town where the republic's goods for this area were concentrated. Its name was <Tilnas>.
But its state was strange.
The city's bricks and plaster were squishing and melting… making the entire city look like it was melting.
"Pipi, let's go. I need to check if there are any survivors."
Just then, Lin shouted.
"Wait!"
"?"
"Slowly, go carefully with each step."
This was because Link was running too excitedly thanks to Sbal's chill, making it impossible to read.
"!"
"!"
"!"
However, at that shout, the eyes of the group, who had stopped moving, soon widened.
"No way…!"
"Eek, what…?!"
"Something like that is possible…?"
Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu-gu… the city began to rise.
Scattering roars and mud everywhere, it pushed off the ground with 16 spider-like legs, raising its body.
Nils cried out in chilling surprise.
"The Super Mobile Fortress (超機動要塞), <Telaiser>! Did they make that city a component of the <Telaiser>!"
From the central part of the mobile fortress, which had been buried in the ground until now, long gun barrels rotated simultaneously, aiming at the group… and unleashed intense flashes of light in succession.
"Whoa-aaaaaat!"
That power was more appropriately called a light bullet (光彈) rather than an abyss, but how could such light be fired from such a mighty abyss!
"Or so I thought."
However, there was something that completely blocked those light bullets head-on: a curtain of water.
Osarian-style water barrier, 5-star.
Suchonmaek Hajin (水天脈河津).
It was one of the 10th Great Mage Huerk's spells, a secret art that used underground water veins as a catalyst to instantly gather an extreme amount of water and make it gush forth even in waterless places.
"They say it's a magic created for civilian relief in waterless places, but there's also this way to use it!"
Lin shouted in a voice filled with the joy of self-praise.
[Water blocking <Telaiser>'s concentrated fire?]
Instantly, Link ran, making the ground shake with each step.
Rista, who was standing on his shoulder, raised a huge blade on a kitchen knife instead of a Shirpein (the only knife that fit the size was a kitchen knife).
Link's fist, having leaped an abnormal height in a single jump with only leg power, plunged into the core of the super mobile fortress. The chains on his hand inflicted additional damage!
[Dangerous element approaching, close-range blockade activated.]
But what softly received that punch with a squishy feel… was a light force field! Rista aimed at the force field and swung a huge blade of magic power.
"Yaaaahhh!"
The blade cut through the force field, and seemed to reach the core beyond… but Rista's eyes opened wide.
'It's impossibly hard…!'
At that moment, one of the mobile fortress's 16 legs lashed out violently, striking Link's body.
"Link!!!"
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa… Link's body was slammed into the ground, cracks spread throughout the area, and dust surged up.
"Fight carefully! That's a weapon the <Ones Who Came> used in the Lizard Lord Extermination War! I don't know how they got it across the sea, though!"
Nils shouted as he charged the X-Blast Plasma Cannon. Friede clicked his tongue, "Tch."
'If it was that guy's magic back then, there's nothing stopping it from crossing space.'
As Friede mulled over memories of his arch-rival, Kiese finished assessing the enemy and decided on a strategy.
'So that's how it moves.'
Therefore, he split the enormous magic he had woven into Baekchang-gung Serwebon into three arrows.
He then unleashed a volley (掃射) of them.
Four shots straight ahead, four shots with a slightly raised angle, another four shots with a bit more elevation, and three more shots higher still… a total of sixteen shots were fired.
Simultaneous impact firing.
Simultaneously, arrows plunged into the ground where each leg of the mobile fortress stood, extending countless stems and roots to fix the legs to the ground.
[Abnormality, anomalous phenomenon detected.]
But the roots of the World Tree, which had never failed in a blockade until now… began to tear away with violent ripping sounds as <Telaiser> moved its legs!
'What an impossibly immense power!'
In the fierce battle of his comrades, dragon flames furiously poured from Friede's mouth, who recited Dracutos' incantation completely without a single omission.
Kwa-reureu-reureu-reureu-reureu…!
However, <Telaiser> was a weapon manufactured for the subjugation of Lizard Lord Naygalas. This meant it had to be capable of direct combat with lava, so its heat dissipation system was unparalleled.
"Crazy, none of it is working?"
Sub-cannons (副砲) moved from the central disk of <Telaiser>.
Too-doo-doo-doo-doo-doong…!
The sub-cannons were composed of rapid-fire guns; though their light bullets were smaller than those of the main cannon, they allowed for swift anti-air firing.
"Whoa, the priestess is dying!"
"You can't die, you can't, you can't."
As Friede spun violently in the air on his broom to dodge the projectiles, Link rose from among the debris.
"Link, are you really okay?"
Rista's body was unharmed because he had carefully wrapped her with both hands at the moment of the fall! What devotion!
"Link, Link, Link!"
Rista purely admired the power his body possessed.
'Whether it was the fortress's attack or the impact of the fall, he didn't defend with magic, and yet not a single bone is fractured? He's completely fine?'
His physical strength truly surpassed even a Payquarier. It was indeed the masterpiece of Greta Vizer and Nils Blantz, the successful creation 'Demon Slayer,' living up to its name.
"Alright, then let's go again! With vigor!"
"Link! Link!"
Link began to run, vigorously thumping his chest. Nils, who had been observing the situation from behind Suchonmaek Hajin's curtain, said.
"Lin, if we want to defeat that, we have no choice but to use our power."
"I already used mine."
"No, you haven't used it yet."
"I said I did?"
"Just like back then, fill me with that big, magnificent 'thing' you possess."
Lin's eyes gleamed with delight.
"That, 'thing'?"
"Yes, that's it!"
"Sir, 'that thing' has grown bigger and more magnificent over the past two years, so it might be a bit dangerous for Nils to receive it now? Your body might rupture!"
"Even better!"
"Really good?"
"Of course! Hahahahahahaha! That power will soon become my vigor!"
A wide-area eavesdropping device was installed on the bridge of the super mobile fortress, so this conversation was also reported to Allen Stracher, a member of Berater.
"Lord Nils must have gone mad since I last saw him. In that case, what we need to focus on isn't over there, but over here."
The super mobile fortress's main camera split into two.
One illuminated Link and Rista, who had previously launched threatening attacks, and the other zoomed in on Kiese and displayed him.
Friede and Pipi, who had posed no significant threat, suffered the humiliation of being relegated to sub-cameras!
"Hey, why aren't you looking at me!"
However, reactive cameras were fixed on Lin and Nils, set to display them on the main camera immediately if any unusual phenomena were detected.
"Kiese!"
Rista shouted. Rista and Kiese, by pure intuition (感), felt the mobile fortress's gaze intensely focused on them.
Lin was about to do something.
With Nils.
In that case, what they needed to do now was to perform a technique that would draw the most attention… a technique so grand it would make eyes turn!
Spacetime Annihilation (時空殲).
Thousand Nightingale Kill (千鶯殺).
Rista's was not Spacetime Annihilation, as his physique was incomplete and he lacked Shirpein; it was simply an ignorantly massive surge of sword energy, but for the purpose of drawing attention, nothing was more certain than this.
[Interception Protocol 64-1 activated.]
The telescopic lenses, serving as the super mobile fortress's eyes, emitted light.
A beam of light (光線) resolutely shot in a straight line (一直線) from the ground to the sky, incinerating (焚火) everything in its trajectory.
Rista's sword energy was easily intercepted, but Thousand Nightingale Kill was not.
Arrows pierced the light beam and struck the fortress's main body, breaking through its armor and extending roots inward!
[Heterogeneous danger detected: Internal depressurization and damaged area bulkhead isolation.]
Emergency lights flickered red inside, and at that moment Allen Stracher's concentration was briefly broken!
A deluge of water poured onto the mobile fortress.
An enormous amount of water, enough to thoroughly drench the entire fortress.
"Rune engraving alteration, changing Hajin (河津) to Maekjin (驀進)."
The 10th Great Mage Huerk had imbued his magic with the runes of Ha (河 - river) and Jin (津 - ford), granting water the property of being bound in one place for a long time.
He changed its fundamental nature.
For a surprise attack, he used the Maek (驀 - sudden) rune to transform the water's gentle flow into a torrent, and the Jin (進 - advance) rune to give it the property of advancing.
"Osarius Rosary Deployment."
Then, his left hand, firm yet elegant in its gesture, wove a form of power.
Along with dazzling beads of light dancing in the area.
Electro (電).
Field (場).
Cast (投).
Fall (落).
Flash (閃).
This was a 5-star lightning magic that would later become representative of Lin's great tales of valor.
It was still incomplete before the runes were properly arranged, but even its initial form possessed immense power.
"Secret Art, Thunder Field Bloodletting. First Bolt!"
Water dramatically increases electrical conductivity, so the combination of these two attributes in combat magic has always produced an exceptionally powerful flow of energy.
Pa-ji-ji-ji-ji-ji-jik…!
A thunderous shock, turning the sky black and white as it struck, crashed down upon the super mobile fortress <Telaiser>.
[Emergency, emergency, emergency. Fire outbreak in 462 sections, emergency firefighting protocol activated.]
The power, which would ordinarily have only struck the deck of that colossal fortress, seeped deep into its core along the moisture.
"Concentrate the defensive force field upwards!"
Following Allen Stracher's command, the mobile fortress's power was redirected from its offensive turrets to its defensive barrier systems.
A light barrier, a formidable ten layers thick, unfurled above the fortress, poised to block all attacks.
Lin's lips moved silently.
"Second Bolt."
However, the coordinates Lin indicated were not there.
It was himself!
More precisely, it was aimed at Nils, who stood beside him! The same lightning bolt that struck that ancient fortress with an absurd blow now crashed down!
What a mad suicide!
Was the future Great Mage so ordinary that he failed in coordinate calculation?!
However, the two were not caught in the electrocution.
The X-Blast Plasma Cannon, held high above Nils's head, absorbed all the lightning like a lightning rod.
"Charge rate 285%, 416%, 688%, 974%, 1,722%!!!"
The X-Blast Plasma Cannon was, in fact, Nils Blantz's shame.
Terwel, the Sun of the Azure Sky, famed for possessing the greatest military power among the <Ones Who Came>.
It was a gun barrel taken from Terwel's flagship, the 'Territos'.
The Territos floats on the sea near <Terbenople>, the largest city of the Northern Republic, the Blue City.
When the witches of the 'Blue Bloodline,' rulers of the city, invited Nils Blantz, the chief tinkerer, for the Territos's regular maintenance, he, in his youth and greed, well…
The Territos was said to have the ability to charge its gun barrels with Terwel's power and fire light bullets.
The X-Blast Plasma Cannon was precisely that: the smallest of those gun barrels, taken and modified into a portable weapon!
That gun barrel was now charged to 3,149% in an instant, thanks to collaboration with the genius boy!
"What tremendous power."
At Nils's compliment, Lin awkwardly rubbed under his nose.
"Ah, for [the Strongest Mage] himself, this much is only natural."
So immense was that light that the two figures were visible only as black silhouettes.
"As if…"
…the <Ones Who Came> had once again descended upon this land to scatter their light…
Nils swallowed the rest of his words, aimed the mobile fortress with his gun, and pulled the trigger.
A massive light… concentrated (集中) at a single point (一點) to be emitted.
If volume and area are reduced but mass remains the same, the impact force of the moving substance is directly proportional to its reduced size.
Pee-shoooooong…!
A golden light, fiercely scattering negative charges and incinerating even the moisture in the air.
Its trajectory was a straight line (一直線).
Its speed was lightning speed (雷速).
In short, 30% the speed of light.
The light, to put it in a word, pierced through the core of the super mobile fortress with truly 'insane' power and speed.
At an angle that precisely cut across the bridge.
[Undodgeable and undefendable… danger detected… quick response through manual operation of the control terminal… ■.]
Electricity crackled wildly at the entry and exit points, then it shuddered.
The secondary joints of its 16 legs broke one by one, and its massive main body crashed onto the ground, spreading cracks throughout the entire area.
The <Telaiser> was reportedly produced a total of 10 units in the mythical era to counter Gluttonous Duke (暴食公), one of the Lizard Lord's familiars, but all except one were destroyed.
This could be called the final end of the last remaining <Telaiser>.
"It wasn't just not destroyed; this thing was already half-destroyed when Greta Vizer pulled it out from deep within the sandstone."
Nils stood on its debris and said.
"Greta somehow restored it by pounding various artifacts of the <Ones Who Came> into it, so it couldn't perform like it used to, but since we've defeated this insane weapon… I really think we can defeat Greta if we're together."
Lin picked his nose with his pinky finger and said.
"Friede didn't do anything, so shouldn't you say 'the three of us' instead?"
"What, you little brat?!"
Friede, who was about to lash out and rush at Lin, suddenly felt something squishy underfoot… something that provoked an instinctive revulsion, and he stopped.
"Crazy! What is this…?"
It wasn't just one.
Scattered everywhere with a squelching liquid… they were human brains and cerebrospinal fluid.
"This must have been the power room. I wish you hadn't seen this."
Nils began to speak, his face cast in deep shadow.
"This is Greta's power extraction method, 'Brain in a Jar.' It's a way to shift the inevitably incurred cost of using the Abyss's power onto experimental subjects instead of the wielder."
Friede's fists and lips trembled, then he spoke in a low, somber voice.
"Lin, could you clear these remains with your magic… and gather the victims in one place?"
"It's annoying, why would I do that? Aren't they already as good as dead?"
"Just, please, do it."
Friede's expression as he said that was truly unprecedented, which startled Lin.
Because of this, he couldn't quip back as usual and simply did as he was asked.
Friede stacked the victims' brains on a pyre and cremated them (火葬), offering a prayer that mourned the lives and suffering of the dying and the dead.
'What in the world is this…'
Lin's eyebrows trembled.
Dean Atlante would wake earlier than anyone, breathe in the scent of dawn, and offer prayers.
But a light identical to that of the Dean, who would pray with hands respectfully clasped and knees humbly bent, was emanating from Friede.
'No matter how hard I try, I've never experienced this. What makes Rista and Friede different from me?'
When the sad prayer ended, Rista placed a small hand on Friede's shoulder.
"Let's go, Friede. Whatever the Adamantium-grade is doing, if they're controlling entry with weapons like this, it's clear they're doing even more cruel things inside as a matter of course."
Rista's quietly burning eyes turned towards the valley leading to the mountain pass.
"Let's go stop this kind of thing from ever happening again."