Chapter 190
Chapter 190
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 190
Chapter Title: An Unconventional Launch
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If Luciano’s arrow, unassisted by the device, could reach from one end of the Union to the other, what about the one just now?
What would be the power of a ballista that borrowed a demon's magic? What would its range be?
Riding it completely might be a problem due to the weight, but…
‘What if I continuously create a Narrow Path to match that speed?’
I could use the ballista's arrow as a never-ending path.
‘Ah, if I increase the launch angle, I could even use the downward momentum.’
The method of long-distance travel using the Sky Stairs from Schwerin's Magic Tower could be applied here.
It was uncharted territory, but if done right, it might be possible to extend the travel distance through interaction.
He suddenly felt a sense of urgency.
When he felt he could do something, it usually worked out.
As he continued to mull it over…
“Sienna.”
Garcia suddenly called to her in a low voice.
“Yes, Commander.”
“We’ve rested enough. I’ve been holding you and Loan, the fastest in the Union, back for no reason. Go. I need you to check on Richa. I’ll follow shortly.”
Though he had forced a composed expression despite the intense pain, he was different now. It seemed his own helplessness, more than the physical agony, was what truly infuriated him.
Sienna looked at Garcia, his face contorted and unable to hide his agitation, and answered heavily.
“We’ll leave at once.”
Then she looked at Loan.
He seemed to be so engrossed in something that he hadn't heard Garcia's orders.
“Loan?”
“Oh, Senior…”
“Hm?”
After they stared at each other blankly for a moment, Loan asked cautiously.
“Could you give me just a moment?”
He was the one who had said every second counted. Why the change?
Loan's gaze shifted back to the demonic device.
“There’s something I want to try before we leave.”
“What is it?”
He figured it would be faster to test it than to explain.
Risking impoliteness, Loan took the black box and approached the device.
The dark magic of the device reacted to the box.
As if it were trying to find its lost head.
But Loan didn't allow it just yet.
He severed the connection with Convection, slightly diverting the approaching dark mana and guiding it into himself.
He was filtering the dark mana, preventing it from resonating with the black box.
When it came to drawing in and attuning power, Loan was superior.
His three circles and the necklace were fiercely pulling in mana.
Vwoooom?
After several rounds of this process, the purified mana was finally allowed to reach the black box.
The moment the invisible flow of mana passed from the device, through Loan, and into the black box…
“Uh…”
Sienna and Garcia also detected a change.
The dark, somewhat viscous-looking hide covering the device’s exterior seemed to vaporize, scattering into the air. It drifted toward Loan for a moment before vanishing completely.
And what remained was, unexpectedly, a smooth, pure white skeleton.
The late autumn light, entering from all directions, reflected off the device’s surface, filling the space.
For a moment, it created such a mystical feeling that everyone forgot the urgency of their situation.
“Huh?”
The strange phenomena didn't stop there.
Perhaps because the black box was refining and amplifying the mana Loan was drawing and using, the device’s appearance began to change as well.
Krrrrk?
Following the sound of bone grating against bone, the device expanded, becoming larger and more solid than before.
But due to its changed appearance, it no longer felt threatening at all.
Loan even smiled as he looked at it.
Sienna, who had been staring blankly between the device and Loan, couldn't hold back her question.
“Loan, what did you do? This was you, right?”
“Yes… It seems this black box can also refine and amplify. It’s helpful.”
She couldn't understand what he was saying, but it didn't matter.
For Sienna, the goal was more important than the process or the principle.
“What are you trying to do with that? Why all of a sudden?”
“I thought we might be able to use this.”
“This? How…”
Instead of answering, Loan tilted his head slightly downward.
Sienna’s gaze followed his to the ballista.
In that instant.
Memories of the Loan she had known since childhood—all the unbelievable, fantastical things he had done—flashed through Sienna's mind like a revolving lantern.
An absurd image followed.
“You… you… you’re going to fire this now?”
“Yes.”
“And after you fire it?”
“I’m going to ride it.”
An utterly ridiculous answer.
If it were the innocent fantasy of a child, she would have laughed it off, but Loan was well past that stage.
Moreover, he was the type of person who often made the absurd a reality.
“…”
When Sienna and Garcia said nothing more, Loan glanced at the now-stabilized, purified device, then used Convection to move the black box from his hands to the machine.
The box floated up and settled gently where the eagle's head had been.
However.
“Uh…”
He had thought it was finished when the device shed its skin and reinforced its white skeleton, but after giving it a head, nothing else happened.
Loan frowned, looking at the one part of the device that hadn't changed.
Luciano.
His corpse was still inside the device.
Was this the reason?
As Loan pondered, Garcia spoke to him.
“Normally, I would have dismissed this as a ridiculous story, but I doubt you’d be joking in a situation like this.”
Loan answered politely.
“No, sir. I want to get to Felsina as quickly as possible.”
“And you think this will make that possible.”
“But… it’s not working.”
“I suspect it’s because of that bastard.”
“Yes. I think so too.”
“Then doesn’t that mean someone has to get in there and take Luciano’s place?”
That's what Loan was thinking as well.
But he couldn't just ask someone to do it. The potential side effects and problems were unknown.
Besides, there was no one suitable for the task at the moment.
“So it seems.”
Without waiting for Loan’s reply, Garcia abruptly pushed himself up.
“Commander!”
Sienna called out urgently, but she couldn't stop him.
“Commander!”
“Don’t try to stop me. If someone has to stay, it should be me. My juniors are about to advance—no, fly—so isn’t it natural for their senior to be of use?”
“…”
“So…”
Garcia looked at Loan with bloodshot eyes and said.
“If it can save us time, I will do anything. Even if it costs me my life.”
The emotions he had been suppressing for the sake of his pride seemed to break through.
Loan and Sienna couldn't stop him.
They could only watch as he dragged his battered body toward the device.
“Kuhk…”
With a low groan, Garcia finally stood before the device, grabbed Luciano by the collar, and flung him back.
The tentacles attached to Luciano's body were ripped away, and the limp corpse flew backward, slamming into the ground.
Then Garcia’s large frame filled the empty space.
He practically had to cram himself in, but at that moment, the device’s interior reshaped itself to fit his body.
“So this was the right way after all.”
His wounds must have reopened in the process, as the area around him was stained crimson, yet he let out a hearty laugh.
He continued without losing momentum.
“What now? What do I need to do?”
Loan organized the hypothesis he had formed in his mind.
The device transforming as Garcia entered gave him more confidence.
“This device makes the impossible possible for humans. Metaphorically speaking, it’s like magic.”
“Even more so if we can ride it and fly.”
“To manifest magic, you need mana, a formula or incantation to make it possible, and an intent to connect them. In this case, if we consider the device itself the formula, then the intent is what’s missing.”
“Intent?”
“In magic, it’s a powerful desire or will for something to happen. I believe swordsmen go through a similar process when activating their aura.”
“So all I need is the desire to fire this ballista?”
Essentially, yes.
When Loan nodded, Garcia laughed softly again.
“At this moment, who could be more desperate than I am?”
Then, his eyes wide, he shouted.
His target was the device.
“Put me to the test! I must fire this arrow now!”
Loan was about to say, 'That's not how you're supposed to do it…' but stopped.
In that fleeting moment.
The device began to stir with magic, as if it were truly responding to Garcia's words.
But the ensuing development was even more unexpected.
From within the device, new tentacles shot out and pierced Garcia's body all over.
Startled, Loan and Sienna rushed forward, but Garcia waved them off with his dangling, broken fingers.
He caught his breath for a moment and then spoke.
“No, it’s fine. This isn’t bad. In fact, it’s good.”
His complexion had rapidly worsened, yet his voice was filled with vigor.
How that was possible was a mystery even to Loan. It was hard to tell if it was his personal willpower or a change brought on by his synergy with the device.
Garcia continued to roar.
“You’ve pierced my body, so what are you waiting for?! It’s still pathetically small. Is this all you’ve got?!”
Absurdly, the device began to change its shape once more in response.
As if they were no longer needed, the various arrow-launching mechanisms folded inward, shrinking its upper form while concentrating its size on the lower half.
Perhaps it was because he was thinking of firing a ballista to carry a person, or perhaps because he was burning with that very will.
The device's form began to reconfigure itself solely for that purpose.
A true transformation.
The arrow extended forward like a massive white pillar, and in place of wires to launch it, layers of tentacles supported its rear.
At that moment.
“Hyaaaaaaaah!”
As Garcia spat out a mouthful of blood and let out a fierce cry, the tentacles pulled back as far as they could, loading the massive arrow.
Garcia checked the position of the sun and turned the device in the direction of Felsina.
Loan, watching in a daze, spoke without thinking.
“Commander, it would be better to raise the angle a bit.”
The device then tilted back, adjusting its launch angle.
Grrr-chunk?
About forty-five degrees. A perfect angle.
“How’s this! Is this not enough to launch you into the sky?!”
Garcia shouted, his face pale.
“It’s more than enough. You’re truly amazing.”
Mindful of the commander's pride, Loan expressed only admiration and gratitude, without a hint of pity or concern.
Then he looked to see if there was anything else to prepare.
The black box was now completely fused to the device and couldn't be removed, but this was no time to worry about that.
All that was left was to get on and launch.
Deciding to leave the mid-air situation to his future self, Loan began to move.
“Loan.”
Sienna placed a hand lightly on Loan’s shoulder and spoke.
When he turned, he saw she had a completely stunned expression from watching him and Garcia work in bizarre harmony.
“Go on ahead. I’ll follow right behind you with the other seniors from the Responsibility Committee.”
She could have gone with him, but that would be like falling together.
Sienna felt a pang of guilt for entrusting such a crucial task to Loan, but at the same time, she was relieved that the one she could trust right now was him.
Loan didn't ask her to join him.
He ignored his senior's concerned gaze and said.
“I’ll go first… and I will protect Vice-Commander Richa.”
Garcia, veins bulging on his face as he poured all his strength into the taut tentacles, nodded and replied.
“Hold on tight.”
“Yes, sir.”
Following the commander's instruction, he wrapped the arrow in Convection—
And as Loan leaped up onto the massive arrow.
KWAAAAANG?!
The condensed mana exploded, and the device bucked violently.
Sienna, who had momentarily lost her balance, found her vision obscured by dust. When she waved it away, Loan was already gone from sight.