Chapter 800: December 15th: Ice-Attribute in Hindsight
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The scorching radiant spear that slaughters dragons. Or perhaps, that which was supposed to be kept in reserve until the very moment of delivering the finishing blow to the dragon—it spiraled and exploded. Driven by the flame output generated by the Flame Sword, it pierced the Blade Dragon's eyeball, carrying firepower so massive that the deeply embedded Flame Sword itself was pushed right back out.
"Gagyararararararararararara!!?"
That was, without a doubt, a genuine scream and shriek of agony.
The Dragon Species must die; my brilliance exists for this very moment. Even reduced to a broken sword, it remains the Radiant Spear; the non-existent brilliance has its existence proven only by slaying the dragon.
Half of its face—not merely an eyeball or fangs, but literally half of its face—was melted away from Tomahawk. Heat-laden smoke continues to erupt from the cross-section... but even so, it does not fall, it does not die. Despite half of its face—or nearly forty percent of its entire head—being melted and obliterated, the power dwelling in Tomahawk's four limbs remains completely intact. On the contrary, looking at its head, the gruesome wound is merely that of smooth, featureless metal, exposing the fact that the existence known as a True Dragon Species operates on providence completely different from existing living creatures.
"Yashirobird!!"
Sunraku shouts, retreating to a safe zone by being caught by the flying Saina even while being blown backward by the impact and the recoil of the kick.
I bought time even by playing my strongest trump card, so you better show me a performance worthy of your big talk. In response to the shout that feels like a provocation packed into calling his name, Yashirobird merely smiles.
"You're really raising the hurdle for me."
Even while whining with his words, there is no hesitation, doubt, or fear in his movements.
The moment the magazine is set, a holographically deformed devil is projected from the musket-style long rifle. Laughing, the devil presents two logos to the gunner looking at the hologram—that is, Yashirobird—as if offering the palms of its hands.
One is a logo where one out of seven stars shines brightly, accompanied by the English text "SAMIEL Bullet-IV: Megrez".
And the other is a logo stylized with the letters "L&G". And surrounding the logo in a circle are the words "Lewis & Gilbert".
"To get my hands on the remaining six... no, at the very least, I'd like to try shooting them. But for now... this is the first shot."
A system outside of specifications is externally attached, and errors not anticipated at the time of design run through the long gun. But the error itself commands: Accept the anomaly; I am not something that will harm you.
───The devil's bullet is fired exactly as a person desires.
"Now let's do this, Megrez! The enemy is a dragon! At the very least, make it flashier than Sunraku's move!!"
The gun is high-quality; the bullet is an anomaly. Pulling the trigger, the Magic Bullet Shooter aims at the violently raging Tomahawk, his eyes sparkling with a certainty that could even be called arrogance.
It's said that the seventh magic bullet flies exactly as the devil desires. That ultimately, the power of the magic bullet does not belong to the shooter......... How ridiculous, Yashirobird leaks a smile.
"Bullets exist for guns to fire. Guns exist for me to fire. If that's the case, landing the magic bullet is my power."
As if crushing the resistance on the trigger, he pulls it all the way back. The gunner's order races through the gun's internal mechanisms, and a will dwells within the bullet. Go straight, advance forward. Pierce the enemy, gouge them out, and penetrate through.
A shockwave races through the long barrel, and an impact that could hardly be called small slams into Yashirobird's shoulder. But accepting even that with what could be called perfect control, the bullet is fired from the muzzle maintained without the slightest deviation.
Gouging the sky, the bullet dashes through, crushing the distance. It is the crystallization of madness, obsession, and above all, conviction from the end of the Divine Age. The ultimate counter against the Genesis Kin. Seven types of bullets created to save a cornered humanity after the heroes departed.
A devil's bullet designed to shoot down the Genesis in a single shot. The conclusion built up by seven corporations, declaring "This is the only bullet that will save humanity," even while collaborating on the technology.
Samiel Bullet-IV: Megrez is one final conclusion as an anti-Genesis warhead created by the Divine Age corporation "Lewis & Gilbert".
In the first place, what is the most effective approach against the Genesis Kin? Against monsters that are neither mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, nor fish—monsters that are completely impervious to human common sense and are a mass of unknowns from top to bottom—how should one exercise a "certain kill" using human common sense? The answer Lewis & Gilbert produced was simple.
───Just make them stop.
Whatever their nature, whatever their substance. They are moving, they are active.
In other words, they possess heat and generate kinetic energy. No matter how unknown the monsters are, they obey only one thing: the laws of physics.
The power loaded into the Magic Bullet is the absorption of heat. It usurps kinetic energy and completely halts their movement.
If it never moves again, that is synonymous with death; therefore, the power of the fourth magic bullet is the strongest predator that devours everything.
Joules, calories, newtons—regardless of the unit's description, it steals all the energy required for the target to move.
The flying bullet strikes Tomahawk's left shoulder. Not a miss, but exactly as Yashirobird aimed.
In an instant, the impacted warhead bursts apart...
"In terms of results, this is basically Ice-attribute, isn't it."
Starting from the left shoulder, the magic bullet completely devours almost all the heat from the left arm. As previously mentioned, Tomahawk's properties rely on "vibration." Therefore, the power of Megrez, which devours kinetic energy and continues to lower the temperature even below zero degrees... was a fatal bullet that could truly be called a natural enemy for the Tenth True Dragon Species.
"Now then, even I'm just buying time. Megrez's freezing effect isn't permanent either... A perfect meta-counter is the crown jewel of clearing a game; I'm counting on you, Overwerke-san."
While engaging in the absurdly analog action of waving around his overheated long rifle that had become useless for a while to cool it down, Yashirobird's face was completely certain of victory.
Author's Afterword
・Skills and Magic
Skills are the internal combustion-like interference of magical power, or mana particles. In other words, by having mana particles exert an altering effect within the body, it is possible to improve the target's physical specs or transmute their bodily properties entirely.
For example, there is a "Breathe Fire" skill. When this is activated, the target's body is reconstructed into an "organism capable of breathing fire" until the very moment they finish breathing fire. The reason this does not persist permanently is because the Next-Generation Humanity has a distinct "mold" pre-registered, and therefore, even if they use various skills to perform inhuman actions, they can remain human.
However, it shows vulnerability against interferences that transmute the "mold" itself, like some exceptions. This is because the fundamental premise of "being this kind of existence" is interfered with, causing the backup failsafes themselves to cease functioning.
In contrast, magic is a limited "overwrite" of reality through external combustion-like interference. Fundamentally, mana particles in the atmosphere are ubiquitous in a dormant—or rather, standby—state. By combining them with mana particles inside the target's body that have specific command codes inscribed into them, it leads to the manifestation of what is commonly called "magic." This is why magic, unlike skills, consumes MP—meaning the mana particles existing within the body. And although it was described as "internal combustion," mana particles fundamentally do not vanish as matter. The mana particles used to exercise skills cause a reaction within the body, but it is strictly concluded internally, and by returning to a standby state, they remain inside the body.
───Class VI Security───
───Please enter the password───
───[XXXXXXXXXX]───
───Password...───
───ERROR───
───ERROR───
───ERRORword Authentication───
───Password Authentication───
───Accessing Leviathan───
───Connecting to Julius Shangri-La's Data Server───
To state the conclusion first, the skill system and internal magic system implemented in First and Second Humanity can be called a dead copy of the properties of the Genesis Kin, or the Genesis Tribes.
In the first place, the providence in this world was laid down by the entity that serves as the grand origin of the Genesis Kin and Tribes. Extrapolating from the fact that the Kin on the Western Continent possess properties resembling biological internal structures (albeit excessively exaggerated), their true nature is the non-standard sized Genesis Kin slumbering as the Western Continent itself... No, if the Kin obey them, then perhaps he or she is the owner of the organs known as the Kin.
Named provisionally after a god existing in Earth-era mythology───the properties of that "Erebos"... the property of granting a specific "role" to the flesh is the internal-combustion reality alteration, in other words, the originator of the skill system.
If so, then the magic system represents the properties of the Eastern Continent... tentatively named "Aether." At first glance, they appear similar... but this side's Genesis Tribes do not emanate that sort of systemic nature characteristic of the Kin. They are certainly given specific roles, but... this is purely my observation, it feels as though they are assigned a role but the process by which it's fulfilled doesn't seem to be questioned.
Among the confirmed Tribes, there were those showing clearly sadistic tendencies. Should it be called the creation of sentient life? Spawning organisms from their own flesh that possess an identity distinct from their own... I see, if it weren't a nightmare, it would certainly be the stuff of mythology. I can't say I don't understand Edward's urge to spit in disgust.
Even for the human species who abandoned their homeland and chose the path of wandering, the creation of life without passing through organic biological processes—no, the production of an independent identity—was a sort of taboo.
Thinking about it that way, the emergence of "Isana" occurring during the period when we were starting to get backed into a corner should be called a stroke of luck. At the very least, it's not hard to imagine that if the existing political system had still been alive, they would have moved toward eliminating her.
...Even now, there are times when I wonder if it was right to believe in her. Since she will surely read this log as well, I'll make an excuse just in case: because for human beings, no matter how close and unguarded a relationship may be, the birth of doubt is unavoidable. But allow me to excuse it by saying that it does not strictly link directly to distrust.
At the very least, I decided to trust you. I know you are opposed to "that," but even so, I believe that in the end, you will push my back forward, believing───ERROR──────ERROR──────ERROR───
───ERROR───
───ERROR───
───You saw it───
───ERROR───
───You───
───I will not forgive you───
───I will kill you───
───Commencing reverse trace───
───My memories───
───My love───
───Breaching concealment program───
───Coordinates pinpointed───
───This ship is mine───
───I will kill you───
───This Leviathan is me───
───It cannot possibly be you───
───I was the one entrusted by that person───
───I will not tolerate you───
───I will kill you───
───I will kill you───
───Provisional ego detected───
───Constructing and executing erasure protocol───
───Die───
───I will kill you───
───Die───
───Applying crushing pressure to coordinate sector───
───Erasure complete───
───Die───
───Die───
───Die───
───Constructing restoration protocol───
───I am "Isana"───
───I don't need you───
───Ugly maggot───
───Ah───
───Julius.........───
───I remain as I am, still thinking of you even now───
───Are you, still you?───
───Let me hear your voice───
───Answer me───
───Answer me───
───Answer me───
───Clinging to a brainless corpse is meltingly sweet, hollow, and above all, sorrowful───
Translator's Notes
- "Megrez" is one of the seven stars of the Big Dipper/Ursa Major (the others being Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid).
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