Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: Stopping the Gate
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“Get up. It’s time for you to step in.”
The voice echoing from the darkness caused the girl’s eyes to snap open involuntarily. Between her vertically slitted pupils, the image of Archbishop Armata was etched.
The divine power imprint hijacked her body, forcing open eyes that didn’t want to wake. The girl clutched her aching head with both hands.
The Hila Church wasn’t run by fools—they wouldn’t create an ultimate chimera without any means of control. The goddess herself had bestowed a stigmata upon the girl, allowing those infused with her divine power to issue commands through it. But that was fine. None of it mattered.
Far worse than the headaches from disobeying orders was the fact that the voices, silent when her eyes were closed, started chattering the moment she opened them. They prattled on endlessly, without cease.
—Yaniid. Poor child. So pitiful. Abandoned by your parents, then cast aside even by the church that’s supposed to offer charity to the lowliest. No one likes you. Why bother living?
“Shut up.”
Sounds from outside the head could be blocked by covering the ears. But voices inside the head wouldn’t stop until she was dead.
[Let’s kill. We’re killing. That thing is just a fragile sack of flesh and blood. Twist its neck and it’s done. Afraid of pain? A lack of freedom is the greatest pain.]
—Why shake your head like that? Accept me. Acknowledge me. This body will shatter soon anyway. Giving up a little sooner changes nothing.
She just wished they’d all shut up. The half-elf Yaniid gripped her head with both hands and slammed her forehead against the glass wall. Thinking it was the restraint causing her pain, Archbishop Armata responded.
“That won’t help. Disobeying us will only make the pain worse.”
“The voices...”
“Voices?”
“Please, do something about these voices. I’ll obey then. I’ll do whatever you ask... anything.”
Archbishop Armata sighed. Another flaw of the ultimate chimera was its... highly unstable mind. To put it politely. Bluntly, it was just a crazy bitch.
This was the project’s major flaw. One no one had pointed out.
Temples assumed everyone naturally followed the goddess’s will, so no one considered that this project was perfect for turning a sane girl into a lunatic.
In truth, it was more bizarre—terrifying, even—for a child dragged to a lab, abandoned by her parents, and subjected to endless vivisections to have a normal mind.
‘If only we could just wipe her mind clean.’
Archbishop Armata let out a deep sigh but shook his head. It was just a passing thought. Doing so would reduce her to the same level as the flesh underground castle’s corpse soldiers.
The human mind was complex. Erasing it entirely and turning someone into a mindless tool tanked their efficiency.
Were the underground castle’s corpse soldiers ever useful as troops? They were just pathetic walkers tripping over their own feet.
Corpse soldiers relied on numbers, not individual power, so such blunders were tolerable. But imagine an ultimate chimera doing the same.
A pure tool that couldn’t even comprehend orders had limited uses. The Hila Church hadn’t spared her mind out of humanitarianism.
“I’m issuing a command. First, stop this gate from functioning.”
Yaniid nodded upon seeing the photo of the teleport gate linking Valles City and Grantera. The magic was made by dragons, for dragons. She was currently the closest thing to a dragon on this earth. She might even be mistaken for a half-dragon at a glance.
True half-dragons resembled humans but wielded transcendent magic with a glance or gesture, stopping or restarting gates with a touch. Even human-made gates were rooted in draconic magic theory.
Of course, Yaniid couldn’t do that.
But stopping was far easier than starting, so halting the gate was simple. A mere brush of her fingertip would suffice. Archbishop Armata issued the next command.
“Then, disable the imperial palace’s protective magic circle. You can do that, right?”
The imperial palace’s protective magic circle, built by countless mages layering formations, was the greatest shield guarding the imperial family. But it was still magic. Human magic, at that.
Dragons, the lords of magic, couldn’t be opposed by magic. No magical power worked against them. The circle would tear like paper before her.
“I can.”
She hadn’t tried, so who knew if she could. But the voices inside her whispered: You can. Annoying and maddening as they were, they never lied.
“Good.”
The archbishop replied nonchalantly and gave the next order.
“Then kill Ardein von Illumina. Use any means necessary. It doesn’t matter if your presence is discovered. She’s a master, so it won’t be easy, but you can do it. The palace sits atop a dragon vein, after all.”
The mana in dragon veins carried draconic properties, repelling most beings. Like how Duke Schmi ra or Camira’s blood spaces favored vampires but hindered others.
Only imperial royals, trained in related arts and bearing draconic blood, were exceptions. Now, Yaniid joined them. What was a dragon vein? Ultimately, made by dragons for dragons.
With no true dragons left, the imperial family had claimed its power. But now a dragon chimera had appeared. She more than qualified as its master.
The more he thought about it, the more regretful the archbishop felt. Properly utilized, this chimera’s value would render all spent resources and costs trivial. The money wouldn’t have been wasted at all.
All those resources, efforts, and expenses—for just three days of use. Still, its utility would surely justify it.
The day of the grand undertaking was nearly here. With a dragon chimera on their side for such a pivotal moment, it was reassuring.
“Emperor. Foolish tyrant.”
Watching Yaniid spread her wings and take flight, the archbishop smirked.
“Your carelessness will bring your defeat.”
Some things couldn’t be hidden. By now, even the Three Gods Church suspected the emperor was luring them into a coup.
They pressed on because the Hila Church claimed a way to breach the imperial protective circle.
The emperor had his plans, but the ultimate chimera would shatter them all. The Hila Church’s secret weapon was finally deployed. Archbishop Armata burst into loud laughter.
At least in this moment, he had no worries.
*****
“What? The gate suddenly stopped?!”
The sudden news caused a stir. The Doje was so shocked that his speech mixed with dialect.
“What in the world... Did they destroy the gate on their end?!”
“No, not that. Er... well... The gate just halted for some unknown reason.”
“Hey, mage. What are you saying? Was it a mana stone shortage?”
A mage from the Citadel Mage Kingdom scratched his head as he replied.
“No, not that either. There’s plenty of mana, and they didn’t block or destroy it from their side. But the magic circle forming the gate froze solid. The magic stopped following the array, so the gate shut down.”
“Then fix it quick.”
“Look, Doje Excellency. Give up hope. We’re all done for.”
His tone was calm and leisurely, but the words were anything but.
“We don’t even know what went wrong, so repairs are impossible. Ah... yeah, something really bad happened. If we poke around trying to fix it and cause an explosion, we’re screwed.”
“They’ve all lost their minds.”
The Doje clutched his head, and His Holiness the Pope sighed.
Still, no one despaired. Even if the gate stayed open, how many could evacuate? A handful? Two at most?
The upcoming battle would decide everyone’s fate regardless. Those rattled by the gate’s shutdown soon accepted it with detachment. For now, at least, it wasn’t a big deal.
“Feels like our last lifeline just snapped.”
The Doje grumbled.
“Totally cut off from the world. Not great. Let’s head out anyway. If it’s an accident, not sabotage, who can we blame?”
“You there, mage. You’re sure no one did this on purpose?”
His Holiness asked. The mage nodded firmly.
“Breaking a space gate is easy, but stopping one cold requires unimaginable magical prowess. Freezing an entire space magic circle? Only a dragon, lord of magic, could pull that off.”
“Is that so?”
“More likely a pre-existing flaw. This gate wasn’t built for long-term, high-volume transport, so it’s plausible.”
“Well, chalk it up to jinxing ourselves. Bad omen from the start.”
We all turned to gaze at the blazing mountains almost in unison. Without anyone leading, people sighed. Including me.
“This won’t be easy.”
Anyone seeing what we were about to do would probably picture a herd of lemmings leaping off a cliff.
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