Chapter 420
Chapter 420
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 420
Chapter Title: In Heaven (2)
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As they entered the command headquarters and the iron door shut, the cheers from outside were cut off as if waking from a dream.
The lights on the corridor ceiling maintained only a minimal brightness, and soldiers stood guard at precise intervals along the path.
Armed with the Mecha Battle System Phase 1, they never once glanced at Shirone’s group. However, the intensity of their gazes was fearsome enough to pierce through walls.
'They're all elite soldiers.'
The Mecha race possessed neither superhuman bodies nor magical abilities, but they had the technology to compensate for both.
In war, victory was all that mattered, so it was best not to assume that their lack of personal might meant their military force was also weak.
The colonel led Shirone's group to an underground bunker.
The bunker's security systems were in no way inferior to those of the Association, and as the iron door opened, countless machines were in operation.
Technicians stared at monitors, their hands moving busily, while a man in a commander's cape watched over their work with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Commander, I have brought Shirone.”
At the colonel's words, the commander turned around.
He was a man in his late twenties with a long scar running from his temple down past his ear.
His thin lips were stubbornly closed, and behind his glasses, his eyes revealed a mix of cold reason and passion.
Crude, First Commander of the Rebel Army.
He was young, just as Kanya had said.
In war, especially one where defeat seemed imminent, age wasn't particularly important.
What the soldiers wanted was a commander who possessed both the valor to charge headfirst toward death and the tactical skill to save as many lives as possible.
Crude was a man who fit those conditions perfectly.
He was a genius pilot who had mastered everything about the maintenance, driving, and operation of the Titan—part of the Mecha Phase 3 Battle System—and a war hero of the Mecha race with a record of defeating a 2-Horned Mara.
“You're Shirone?”
Crude extended his hand to Shirone.
“A pleasure. I'm Crude, First Commander of the Rebel Army.”
“I'm Shirone.”
Crude carefully surveyed Shirone's group.
With his vast combat experience, he recognized the group's strength at a glance, yet his confident gaze did not waver.
But when he saw Plu, he momentarily reverted to the twenty-eight-year-old engineering student who had wrestled with machines his entire life, and his gaze lingered for a moment.
A woman with a petite frame and blue hair braided down to her waist—a sharp, no-nonsense type.
What he particularly liked was the look in her eyes. Among the group, she was the only one who seemed tense and ready.
Like a warrior woman heading to the battlefield for the first time.
But that was all.
Crude was also aware of the tales of Shirone, the Light of Sector 73, but the reality of war he had experienced was too grim to rely on something like a myth.
“Let's go somewhere quiet.”
Crude led them all to a strategy room deep inside the bunker.
Naturally, no tea was served, and he got straight to the point as soon as they were seated.
“I heard you wanted to see me?”
Seyn sat at the negotiating table as their representative.
“We're going to attack Heaven. We request the cooperation of the Rebel Command.”
“I refuse.”
Crude's reply was immediate.
“I heard about the friction with the battalion commander. Of course, a soldier whose spirit is broken is useless to us as well, but thinking about it rationally, there's no chance of winning if we go to war now. The idea that you can attack Heaven just because you subjugated a giant that lost its identity is nothing more than a delusion.”
Seyn readily nodded.
He had been worried after seeing the battalion commander steeped in defeatism, but the commander was, as expected, different.
“In other words, you haven't given up on the war.”
“I always leave room for a truce, or perhaps compromise. I can't send those who trust and follow me to a dog's death. But I doubt Heaven sees us as candidates for compromise. If we must fight, then we must win to survive.”
“And what if we had a strategy that could win?”
“Hmph. Nonsense.”
Hundreds of thousands of rebels, combining the existing heretics with citizens who had fled Heaven, had fought against Heaven, but the number of significant victories could be counted on one hand.
The combined forces of the Norr and the Mecha hadn't even managed to take down a 3-Horned Mara, let alone a common angel. What could a mere ten more humans possibly do?
“We will paralyze the Aegis System with a Tagis. That will allow us to infiltrate Heaven and engage in guerrilla warfare.”
Aegis, Heaven's core air defense system, was an impregnable shield that could determine intercept priorities using two hundred search methods and simultaneously attack seven thousand targets.
If they could penetrate it and enter unopposed, it would be a ray of hope for the rebels.
“Heheheh.”
Crude covered his face, his lungs shaking with laughter.
“I don't know where you heard the word 'Tagis,' but that is one of the technologies already lost to the Mecha.”
When Crude lowered his hand, he was no longer laughing.
“Think about it logically. There's no way the angels would just leave behind a technology that could paralyze Heaven's interceptor system. To revive the technology, you'd have to access the Akashic Records. But to do that, you first have to get past the Aegis System. Do you get it now? The order is backward, you idiot.”
Seyn leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs.
“What if... I told you I have that technology?”
“What?”
Crude's face went blank.
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“Just because a technology was lost in Heaven doesn't mean the same is true for the lands below. I spent twenty years wandering the world, researching everything about ancient weapons. And right now, the completely restored blueprints for the Tagis are in my head. Well? Is your brain starting to work now?”
Crude's eyes began to fill with confusion.
“If you're lying...”
“I can reproduce it right now. My memory doesn't forget. Since you're an engineer yourself, you'll be convinced once you see the schematics.”
'I see. So that's why he was on the Black Line...'
Shirone saw Seyn in a new light.
Ancient weapons were top-secret, regardless of the kingdom.
He had undertaken this dangerous work—where merely accessing the information was punishable by death—all for the sake of saving Miro.
“Hmm...”
Crude was now also confused.
Who in the world were these people? Why were they trying to do what hundreds of thousands of rebels could not?
'No, what's important is whether they can succeed.'
Even if they paralyzed Aegis and entered Heaven, angels, Maras, giants, and fairies would be waiting.
Defeating them and infiltrating all the way to Araboth, where Anke La resided, was like jumping into a fire while carrying gunpowder.
'Still, it's worth a shot. Even if there's only a one percent chance of success.'
Was this a miracle? Or was it the final struggle of a candle burning brightest just before it went out?
“There are... three conditions.”
It was more conditions than he'd expected, but Seyn actually felt a sense of trust. It was proof that Crude was approaching this plan realistically.
“Let's hear them.”
Crude said, counting on his fingers.
“First, use Shirone, the Light of Sector 73, to win over the Second Command. Even if we infiltrate Heaven, it'll be like throwing an egg against a rock if the Mecha and the Norr don't unite.”
“Makes sense. Next?”
“Second, even with the blueprints, a large-scale Tagis capable of affecting all of Heaven can't be built here. We'll need to borrow a factory on the mainland. Get their approval.”
Seyn recalled his first encounter with the rebels.
“The munitions community?”
“Yes. To be precise, it's a defense contractor called 'Yamaeng.' They're a new power that grew rapidly by taking advantage of Heaven's civil war, and they've monopolized weapons production by taking over all the military-industrial complexes. To the rebels, they're detestable bastards. But without borrowing their power, an all-out war with Heaven is impossible.”
“Alright. And the last condition?”
For the first time, Crude hesitated to state his proposal.
He didn't know how incredible Shirone's group was, but this was not something a single team could accomplish.
“To manufacture the Tagis, you'll probably need Black Elixir.”
“Black Elixir?”
“Most life forms in Heaven absorb the Life Stream flowing through the planet into their bodies and generate Elixirs. There are five types: Red, Green, Yellow, White, and finally, Black.”
“Does it have to be Black? As I understand it, there are techniques to bypass the need for a specific Elixir depending on the mix and ratio of ingredients.”
“Each type of Elixir produces a unique effect. Red governs heat, Green affects biochemical elements, Yellow changes the properties of energy, and White interferes with atmospheric elements. The rocks of Heaven are so durable they don't weather even after tens of thousands of years. That's why we need Elixirs, which are concentrations of the planet's power.”
Crude pointed toward the warehouse.
“For example, to smelt the metal for one Guroi, you'd need eight thousand Red Elixirs, but mixing in White Elixir significantly increases the efficiency of the heat reaction. Mixing White and Yellow can even generate electricity. In this way, Elixirs are the means by which everything in this world is made.”
Plu asked.
“Then what effect does the Black Elixir have?”
Crude glanced at Plu's face for a moment before turning his gaze to Seyn and answering.
“The Black Elixir, to put it simply, governs time.”
“Time? Is it something like magic?”
“No. To be precise, it reverses or accelerates irreversible phenomena. If you use a Black Elixir on a mixture of ink and water, it will separate back into ink and water. In the case of a burn, you can use Black and Green Elixirs to repair the cellular damage.”
“That's impossible...”
Shirone couldn't believe it.
It was a phenomenon that defied the laws of chemistry he had learned in school.
Julu asked.
“And acceleration?”
“It shortens reaction times. The Green Elixir is the basic element that makes up living things; by mixing a Black Elixir with it, you can cause mutations. I've heard that in some cases, it can produce the results of thousands of years of evolution.”
Gaold said.
“The Philosopher's Stone.”
Shirone had heard of it, too.
It wasn't a term commonly used in the field of magic, but it was a substance known to alchemists as the material of dreams.
A product of fantasy that could turn mere iron into gold or cure a patient with an incurable disease existed here in Heaven.
'No way... If that's the case?'
An incident came to Shirone's mind.
Previously, when Kanya's mother had become the subject of the Anecdote spell, a large glass sphere had filled with a black liquid.
A gruesome spell that melted a human, poured them into a giant's statue, and stamped out giants as if from a mold.
The reason it had felt all the more cruel was because it was a bizarre phenomenon that his mind simply could not comprehend.
A black liquid that melted and reconstructed living beings.
If such a thing were possible in this world, the Black Elixir, which defied chemical reactions, had to be involved.
Seyn understood Crude's intention.
“You're saying we need to use this Philosopher's Stone to shorten the production process of the Tagis, is that it?”
“Exactly. The Tagis can be made with conventional Elixirs. But the time it would take just to melt the rock, extract the metal, and smelt it would be enormous. I'll provide the equipment. Whether it's a Guroi or something else, you'll melt it all down with Black Elixir and process the metal needed for the Tagis. These are my three conditions.”
Armin asked.
“If we were to gather it by hunting, what are the odds?”
Crude shook his head.
“Zero percent. Black Elixir isn't produced in the bodies of living creatures. It's an element that can only be obtained from beings that have transcended the flow of time—in other words, the dead.”
If different creatures collected the planet's energy according to their nature, then given the anomalous properties of the Philosopher's Stone, this was entirely plausible.
“In the Erosion Valley, northwest of the mainland, there are undead creatures. But you'd be lucky to find one even after killing a thousand of them. In other words, the probability is less than 0.1 percent.”
Gaold said nonchalantly.
“Then what are you expecting us to do?”
“There is one place. A place where you can obtain Black Elixir with a 30 percent—no, a 50 percent probability.”
Seyn asked.
“And where is that?”
At this, Crude hesitated again.
But realizing he couldn't stop now that he'd started, he opened his eyes wide and spoke.
“The world of the dead, Niflheim.”