Chapter 479: Let's Get Sticky With It!!

The second Bahamut ship, Leviathan; its structure is, surprisingly enough, a pearl-type.
Essentially, the most important area is in the center, and just like how a core is coated over many long years to become a pearl, it's covered by multiple layers, or rather "Shell Layers." You could call it a Matryoshka-type.

So then, where exactly within this metallic whale with a giant Matryoshka structure are we exploring? Prepare to be amazed: it's on the inside of the whale-shaped shell.
According to "Isana," with the wisdom of the Divine Age, controlling gravity is mere child's play; the size of this Bahamut, which she claims was built by literally "carving out" the birthplace of Divine Age humanity (perhaps: Earth), could easily be called a single continent. She said it easily exceeded a thousand kilometers, but wasn't the width of Australia like four thousand kilometers or something like that?

Because of that, even if we were standing completely upside-down on the bottom of the Leviathan's hull, gravity control ensures we can move exactly as if we were on the ground. I already experienced that a little while ago, actually.

"Hmm... so basically, right now we're standing on the 'backside' of a giant hollow prop."

HAHAHA, no wonder there's a weird slope visible beyond the horizon. That's not a wall, that's the floor. Which means if we sprint across these thousands of kilometers and climb all the way up that path, heaven and earth will flip and we'll be standing on the ceiling.

"To get to the next Shell Layer, we have to defeat a boss monster located somewhere in this incredibly vast area and reach the transfer gate, right?"

"Sunraku, I couldn't quite wrap my head around it but... what exactly does that mean?"

"We find a guy who looks strong and beat the crap out of him, that's it."

"I see, very easy to understand."

For now, since this is the tutorial Shell Layer, the only thing we know is the information regarding the appearing monsters (including the boss).

"New-Generation Golems and Old-Model Golems, and the boss is a New-Generation Refitted Combat Golem......... what's with this Golem festival."

『In the First Shell Layer "Greeting Gate", in order to simply convey the wisdom of the past era, unmanned worker-droids that were employed as the primary labor force have been mainly Placed (Exhibited)! By the way, regarding the New-Generation Golems, they were created by adding our own unique interpretations while referencing the blueprints proposed by the developer of the Conquista Dolls, Dr. Andrew Jitterdoll!』

"Hey Saina, that walking jelly over there is apparently your relative."

"I see, certainly the merits of forming ninety percent of the physical body with a fluid capable of functioning as a solid cannot be ignored. However, this unit's (my) Intelligence is fluid and innovative; in other words, it can be said to be a self-evident truth that intellectually, this unit (I) is superior."

I see, it's certainly true that when comparing an NPC to a Mob, the superiority of their Intelligence... or rather, their AI, is important. But I don't know what material she's made of, though it's at least close to human skin... wait,

"Hey, your arms and legs are completely fixed."

"............Recommendation: Transplanting Eyeballs (Are your eyes just painted on?)."

"What was that, you bastard."

"The three Bahamut ships that vanished into the land, sea, and sky—the greatest strongholds of the Divine Age—are all at minimum Class IX Objects. Therefore, the moment their appearance was confirmed, the elite of the Conquista Dolls were assembled at the frontline bases."

"Seriously?"

Well, considering I let Saina go absolutely wild during the battle with Siegwurm, there's no point in trying to hide anything... I see, so the "true" contact with the Conquista Dolls was meant to happen immediately following the appearance of Bahamut.

"Because this unit (I) maintains a Link with the Contractor (Master), it is possible to conduct advanced reconnaissance within the Leviathan. For that reason, it is perfectly natural for a unit of the same model to transfer their equipment... "

"And if you were to put it bluntly?"

"A complete set of spare parts and combat equipment meant for Elma models, I Borrowed (Swiped) them."

I don't know which unit number it was, but a moment of silence for the Elma model whose equipment and spare parts were completely jacked───

Setting that aside,

"Sunraku! They've noticed us! What should we do? If we take this path it seems we can avoid combat, but..."

"Don't be stupid, Reconnaissance in Force (Beating them up) is the obvious answer here."

Considering the recommended level there doesn't seem to be any reason we'd lose, and Golem-type monsters are one of the few types immune to the effects of the Scars. At the very least, Divine Age-series Golems are frankly just robots, so if they recognize us as hostile they'll charge right at us.

That's right, even if it looks like some weird guy made out of jelly drink walking around in a humanoid shape, since the AI of a Super-Super-Super-Super-Super-Dreadnought ship gave its seal of approval, that thing is supposedly a New-Generation Golem? Worker-droid? Or whatever.

"Hmm... Eat shit, oraaaa!!"

"You threw your weapon!?"

No matter how much they've been reinforced, these two blades whose origins trace back to the Lake Swamp Daggers were born under a star destined for heavy abuse.
Due to the constraints of the "Great Deed," I was only able to upgrade one of them but... well, considering its capabilities were already complete at the stage of the Aspiring Blades of the Hero (Duxram), it's not a huge problem even if one side remains un-upgraded.

"Are you sure it's alright to throw it!? It gives off the aura of a tremendous masterpiece, though!!?"

"Yeah, this is the Final Blade of Aspiration's End With the Hero (Eska=Wallach). If I feel like it, I can even cut magic to pieces with it."

Apparently my subjugation of the Trainol Centipede was a much bigger deal than I thought, which is why Bilac presented this to me as a derivation of the Admiring Blade of the Outstanding Sword... well, to be completely honest it's gotten a little harder to use, but it feels like it gained more functions.

The halving of its durability is... well, it's a demerit I can ignore as long as I land critical hits, though it did make it a little weak in drawn-out fights.
In exchange, a magic-charging ability belonging to the same lineage as the Exile Cloth was added, but magic huh... is it finally time to learn it? Magic.

On top of that, it has resistance to magic, which is honestly huge. Whether it's ice or fire, as long as it's magic the damage to the sword is resisted, which means I can slash it without any hesitation.

"Let me just say that my real-life throwing skills are garbage, but in a game, I can even stick a dart into another dart if I try hard enough. Which means landing a throwing critical hit is easy...!!"

And so, the Final Blade of Aspiration's End With the Hero (Eska=Wallach), thrown like a javelin, pierced straight into the triangular prism-shaped machine buried in the chest of the Jelly Golem—a weak point so glaringly obvious I almost thought it was a fake-out.

Hmm, even factoring in that the average level of the monsters is 30, it pierced through way too easily... is it a magic-based type?

"Isana~ Isana~, tell me the details~."

『Yes yes yes! It is time for 'Isana' Navigation!! That unit over there, which just had its control unit blown right through in a single strike and ceased functioning, is the New-Generation Golem "Techno-Magi-Gelus," developed based on Dr. Andrew's theories!』

Techno and Magi and Gel, literally a name that represents its physical body.

『Fumu fumu, so the sword you just threw possesses the property of "repelling" mana particles. And it's not an external attachment but the efficacy of the material itself, huh... then it's only natural that a Techno-Magi-Gelus couldn't win; utilizing past Reflections, they do have resistance against external magical interference, but they are weak to internal combustion effects, after all.』

The drop is... ah, this gel huh. Ugh... well, it might be better than slug mucus or something but still.

『If you apply it, your resistance to magic will increase! Also, your epidermal cells will be slightly revitalized!』

So it's a cosmetic item; could I actually sell this?
Thinking about it like that, I'm starting to feel a familiar surge of desire......... yours truly is the type of guy who feels an indescribable sense of accomplishment when maxing out my total money, while simultaneously being the type who wants to fill his inventory all the way up to the carrying limit.

"Isana, the respawn point is that place that looks like a rest area we were at earlier, right?"

『YES YES! A bed designed using the finest scientific standpoints to guarantee a good night's sleep awaits you!』

"...Hey wait, Sunraku, for some reason I am feeling a terrible sense of deja vu."

A drop item made purely in the Divine Age? The rarity seems low, but there's only one thing to do.

"Kukukukuku...!!"

It's material hunting timeeeeee!!!

Author's Afterword
This is what makes Techno-Magi-Gelus-kun so amazing!

• The only thing defined as the "Techno-Magi-Gelus" is its core, meaning as long as the gel forming its body is supplied, it's practically invincible.

• If the gel is scattered while the core is still alive it won't turn into an item, so let's keep them half-dead and cover both people and the earth in jelly!! It's even better if it's cloudy white!! (Mysterious radio interference)