Chapter 289
Chapter 289
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 289
Chapter Title: S5. Stellaria of the Storm City ~Hope Slumbering Beneath the Ruins~ -2
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Can we win?
Against that Great Kaiju—a hundred meters tall, its entire body shrouded in ominous magical power.
"...Impossible. There's no way. Not unless it's someone on the level of a Magic Tower Master."
At Gordius's level of power—at least according to his knowledge—there was no method to land a meaningful blow on a Great Kaiju of that sheer mass. It was a monster that demanded a nation's full might to confront.
Civilization was strong. They were scrambling now due to the abrupt emergence, but combat readiness would soon follow. Armies would deploy. Bullets, missiles, bombs. Science's distilled violence would rain down.
So for any one person, the only option was to run.
Was this what they called luck? The magical power pouring from the Great Kaiju had spiked the atmospheric mana density to levels akin to his home world.
No more need to ration spells like before.
Gordius swiftly scanned his surroundings and soon spotted the helipad. A perfectly drawn circle with an H inside. An ideal shape to convert into a magic circle.
He erased the H and inscribed the array within. Then, with a brief incantation, he poured in mana and activated it.
"Golem Synthesis: Aerial Vessel."
Rumble rumble rumble—!!
The building's rooftop tore free, reshaping in seconds into a ferry-like form. A boat that sailed the skies. Gordius seized the flying craft and fled the Great Kaiju.
Thankfully, it didn't give chase.
Unlike its debut rampage—leveling every nearby structure in a frenzy of destruction—it now stood eerily still, arms limp at its sides.
"......"
The screams of civilization faded, along with the clamor of crumbling buildings.
In their place rose the wails of the buried and hidden. Pain, terror, despair, grief. Humanity's frailty left them only able to howl amid the sudden apocalypse.
The ground below was pandemonium.
"Mommy, Mommy! Where are you...?"
"My leg... my leg's pinned! Somebody help! My leg—!"
"Outta the way! Don't block the damn road, move it, you hear me?!"
Car horns blared. Alarms wailed from debris piles. Fleeing footsteps pounded in disordered chaos. Tripped legs, tumbling down stairs—collateral injuries piled up as people unwittingly harmed one another.
The mayhem was slaying even those fated to survive.
Gordius scowled and muttered.
"What a waste."
A pure loss. Battle with the Great Kaiju was inevitable. Casualties from sheer disorder alone? An absurd squandering.
It gnawed at him. Past memories flashed, needling his mind.
For his own safety, the smart play was to ignore it all and gun the throttle. But the pleas from below anchored his feet.
And he had the power to act.
"...Fine. Call it an investment. One of them might be important. Or useful down the line..."
He couldn't save everyone like some fairy tale. But clearing clogged roads, shoving aside blocking rubble, pointing out escape routes? That much was feasible.
He drew a deep breath and chanted, factoring in the materials' properties and shapes he'd studied. Maximizing escape from the Great Kaiju.
Grind. Grriiind!
The road parted left and right, broadening its span.
The earth softened like wet clay, elongating into slender paths for passage. The improvised routes hopped over shattered second-story windows or spanned roads above, weaving freely in height without clogging the old paths.
For the trapped and crushed beneath debris, he rendered sections gooey. A man with his leg pinned crawled free. A family clawed out from a building's innards.
A girl minus one arm burst from the rubble too. Spotting Gordius aloft as her savior, she dipped her head in gratitude.
Gordius offered no words. Instead, he soared to lead the exodus—a beacon. That's how men spoke.
The Golden Magic Tower's mage had given the dying city air to breathe.
Evacuation gained momentum. Lives fated for loss were spared. Gordius choked down the bloody lump rising in his throat and offered a faint smile.
Mana overuse backlash. With spare capacity, he'd have unleashed golems for guidance. But his vessel's durability wouldn't hold.
If only that beast stayed put for an hour...
Then.
Shurruk. Shuruuuruk.
Purple patterns vortexed across the Great Kaiju's skin. Simultaneously, intangible waves—discernible only to mages—radiated outward.
The pulse pierced matter, striking Gordius. His mind spun; an urge to approach the monster flooded his skull. A psychic assault!
Gordius triggered his drilled protocol. Temporary mental barrier up, then sequenced shields tailored to the attack type.
Without training, he'd have crumbled. But forged under a mad mage? This was spinal reflex.
"...Professor, thank you!"
Gratitude welled from his core. Head still swimming, but distance would mend it.
Relief was fleeting. A grim vision seared Gordius's thoughts.
This world's folk knew no magic, no mana. No psychic defenses. Even he, the expert trainee, reeled from the hypnosis pulse.
Civilians, defenseless and direct-hit...?
"Ah, aaaah..."
"Ugh..."
"You idiots, where're you going?! Lost your minds?!"
"Don't go back! Why're your eyes flipping like that...!"
Enthralled victims—pupils blown wide, reason fled—lurched toward the Great Kaiju. Gordius flung out his hand in desperation.
Seizing them short of the mark. Walls of soil to barricade. But the hypnotized clawed at barriers till nails splintered—as if their minds held room for naught else. Bound by earthen fists, they shrieked and thrashed.
Gordius blanched.
His hard-won evacuation progress? Erased to zero by one psychic lash. Save them? No. Impossible.
Don't bog down. Abandon them. Lips chewed raw, he urged the flying golem onward. Regressors haunted his sight, but no recourse.
Somehow, pockets of unaffected survivors persisted. Gordius clung to their escapes as faint comfort.
The military would arrive soon. Backed by modern might.
Surely toppling that "Calamity." Gordius held to that faith.