Chapter 79
Chapter 79
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: I Will Stand in the Heavens (3)
[Shortly after, at the US Department of Defense building. The Secretary of Defense's office.]
"The President has issued a special order."
As the US Secretary of Defense broached the subject with a grave expression, the faces of the others gathered in the office began to harden one by one.
"He told us to prepare a 'dropship'."
"What?"
"A dropship?"
"......Which kind?"
The Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force tilted their heads at the mention of "dropship".
"...You're not talking about that dropship that can pick up and move all of Illinois, right? Hahaha."
"You're joking, aren't you?"
"...If it's a plane that can transport the Master, that's not a huge issue."
The Secretary of the Air Force chuckled lightly.
"At least this time we won't have to scramble Air Force One without any procedures like last time. Heh."
"You're still holding onto that?"
"...I can't forget being hauled before Congress and getting chewed out. Luckily, the hearing-that-wasn't-a-hearing got halted right away when photos with the Master popped up on SNS. Anyway, a dropship?"
The Air Force Secretary smacked his lips and swiped through his smartphone as if browsing a list of cars he wanted to buy.
"Fighter jet? Transport ship? No, maybe launch an airship, even if it's outdated..."
"He said dropship. So it has to be some kind of aircraft at least..."
"...Um."
The youngest among those gathered in the office—who still looked to be in his mid-thirties—raised his hand.
"Mr. Secretary of Defense. Did the President say 'dropship' himself, or is it something the Master said that the President relayed?"
"The latter, Tower Secretary."
Tower Secretary.
It might sound a bit odd at first, but with the emergence of Towers and Hunters in the modern world, countries around the globe had established their own new agencies to deal with them.
"What's your take on it?"
"Considering the stories from the Hunters who returned from Panama... No, before that."
The Tower Secretary tapped his wristwatch.
"Do we have enough time for a meeting?"
"The President... ordered us to convene, figure out what kind of dropship the Master mentioned, report back within three hours, and prepare it ourselves."
"Then... isn't this urgent?"
"Yes."
"Wh-what?! Then we need to decide within at least an hour and issue orders to the units...!"
"We also have to consider air traffic control from the Master's location to the other Towers. Even if we do it in real-time...!"
"What if the Master sees the dropship we've prepared and says 'that's not it' or 'this isn't what I wanted'?"
Gulp.
As the secretaries swallowed hard, the Tower Secretary pulled out his smartphone and played a video.
🎥 VIDEO PLAYBACK "In the pipe, five by five."
"Huh?"
"What is that..."
"That's the dropship the Master is looking for. More precisely... you could call it the 'Boxer' dropship."
"Wh-what model is that?! Who the hell is this pilot called Boxer...!"
"It exists. Alright, everyone. Since you all seem at a loss, how about trusting me completely this time?"
The Tower Secretary pointed to the badge on his suit.
"Army, Navy, Air Force. Have each department select their best transport vessel within the next 30 minutes. Then, Mr. Secretary of Defense, you just report all three to the President."
"Shouldn't we pick just one...?"
"In the end, he'll ride all three. It's just a matter of order, to give the Master the 'diverse experience' as much as possible. One Overlord, one dropship, one shuttle."
"????"
The secretaries just rolled their eyes side to side at the Tower Secretary's words, but he looked at the Secretary of Defense with unwavering confidence.
"This isn't passing the buck to the President or the Master. If there's a pickier choice among the diverse options, the Master will just decide it himself."
"So you're saying..."
"I'll take responsibility. Trust me this once."
"Hm..."
The Secretary of Defense let out a short groan before saying,
"We'll leave it to the heavens which dropship from the Army, Air Force, or Navy the Master picks. Get on the line now. And prep them right away. Make sure they can sweep from the West Coast through the center, east, and south."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Is this some kind of inter-department pride contest too?"
"What're you meowing about?"
"Any plane would do for me, but now each department's recommending one."
"Then shouldn't it definitely be Air Force?"
Kiharu hopped into my arms in her cat form.
I swiped through the list the President had sent, holding it so Kiharu could see too.
"So basically..."
"Just decide the order. And... the linked 'operation' sounds pretty fun too."
Was it the flexibility of the new department and subordinates handling all Tower-related matters?
Or had they been thinking about something like this for a while and just seized the opportunity with a 'perfect timing'?
"Kiharu. Wanna take a look at this?"
"...Two out of the three transports are decoys?"
"It'll sow total chaos across the world."
I set down my smartphone, sat at the computer, and pulled up a map of the US on the monitor.
"We're currently in the northwest US. And the most convenient Towers to tackle right away are three."
The central US.
"Delicate Arch, Devil's Tower, and..."
"New York, the Statue of Liberty."
Were landmarks built on some kind of ley lines or something?
Or were S-Rank Towers erected on specific landmarks so the monsters pouring out could smash them, shocking and terrifying humanity?
There are common symbols of "America's collapse".
The Statue of Liberty destroyed by terrorism, or digging up land on a new planet only to find the torch-bearing goddess emerge.
Of course, it's not just America collapsing—it often symbolizes the whole world's, or humanity's, downfall—but whenever something happens to the Statue of Liberty, it usually means America's done for too.
Same here.
A Tower jutted up precisely from the torch of the Statue of Liberty.
That's New York, the US East Coast.
The other two were relatively close to our current location.
One was Delicate Arch in Utah.
The other, Devil's Tower in Wyoming.
I don't know much about the US, so I was just vaguely thinking "oh, that's where it is" while looking at the map, but these two S-Rank Towers were closer to each other than I expected.
Closer than the distance from Crater Lake National Park where I was to each Tower.
About 1,000 km apart.
Considering the flight distance from here would be around 2,000 km...
"Seriously, it's needlessly huge."
"Hey now."
It really was vast.
For someone whose longest trip was just Seoul to Busan on business, traveling these distances felt utterly alien.
Even riding Illinois from the Korean Peninsula across to the American continent felt that way—the Earth is seriously big.
Thinking about it that way made Korea seem pretty unique.
In the US, S-Rank Towers 1,000 km apart were the closest pair, but Korea had them crammed all over: Ganghwa Island, Jeju Island, Dokdo, and scattered across the peninsula.
It had the densest concentration of S-Rank Towers per land area.
But not anymore. Now, what they had to worry about was Babel floating in the sky.
'It's not just Babel, though.'
People's moods change between going into and coming out of the bathroom.
No one had any objections to me clearing the S-Rank Towers.
No one denied that "without the Master, Korea's S-Rank Towers wouldn't have been cleared".
Instead,
They started worrying about the S-Rank Towers next door.
What if Japan, China, Russia, or others couldn't clear the ones near the peninsula?
In fact, right now in China...
"Tch, whatever. Let's clear them first and worry later."
"Commander~ Unmanned choppers have arrived over Illinois. Ready to go now?"
"Yeah. All prepped."
Before worrying about elsewhere, handle the S-Rank Towers in the US first.
"The people?"
"Everyone's cleared out from here. The issue is..."
"So the ones who caught wind of me moving are gathering near the S-Rank Towers now."
"Yeah. Reporters from broadcast stations and streamers are already starting to cluster around Delicate Arch and Devil's Tower?"
"What have they been doing all this time?"
"They've been waiting."
Dry sent a file to my smartphone.
"They were cheering during the Golden Gate clearance, but after Panama Canal and this national park got hit simultaneously, the networks dispatched reporters right away."
"No way."
"Yup. Stationed nearby in advance. Whether it's a week or a year later, ready to capture the Master tackling the Tower live on camera."
"They're insane... No, sigh. They make it so hard to complain."
Even A-Rank Tower clearances draw instant crowds.
Broadcast stations naturally want the best footage possible, especially for S-Rank ones.
Even on YouTube, some YouTuber who set up a camera toward the lake in this national park to spot wildlife uploaded footage of Illinois being summoned.
That single video had already surpassed 1 billion views.
"...Let 'em film all they want."
As the videos spread and racked up billions of views.
"I am the world's dopamine. At last, I become the symbol of peace."
I came to realize the duty I bore and the responsibility for the power I wielded.
"Kiharu. Ready to fit in the backpack?"
"This body is prepared, but you're really going through with it?"
"Of course."
I boarded the helicopter and grabbed the suit prepped inside.
"Why do you think I asked for a dropship?"
The Tower.
It's floating in the sky anyway.
Though the entrance was at the very bottom, that didn't mean I had to climb up from the 'ground'.
"Skydiving from 10,000 km above the surface. Dropping in straight into the Tower without a parachute."
Elaine?
"I'll handle it."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Shortly after.
'Four' planes took off near Crater Lake.