Episode 213
56. Mary Celeste (4)
It was dark. There was a thick darkness over the sea beyond.
The expedition departed early in the morning. Just a few minutes ago, the warm sun was shining, so it was never a matter of time.
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Mary Celeste.The magic emitted from the ships of the cursed ancient Artel had even eroded the sky.
“Crazy.”
Even Dalfner Leitubes, who had been living for over sixty years, had never seen anything like that.
It’s been decades since the Demon King was sealed away, and no war broke out on all continents.
For him, who was living in an era of peace, that was like a nightmare.
Even the archmage and former sage themselves have a hard time judging the odds.
“… … !!”
Dalfner wasn’t the only one reacting sensitively.
Yargon, a fourth-year student who was supposed to board the flagship and serve as Dalfner’s assistant, could not hide his nervousness.
Yargon is one of the most talented Ortana students currently enrolled.
Even the head of the Ortana Faculty, whose magic level was comparable to that of a full professor, was nervous as he swallowed dry saliva.
But even as each of them was worried and headed towards the unknown, there was someone who was just like a megalith, quietly preparing for battle.
He was the heir to the hero who looked at Mary Celeste with her silver hair fluttering.
Aidan Christopher.
He was standing on the player holding the staff Downstorm and the magic sword Laverantia, which are the remains of the old Weapon Master.
‘He is indeed the heir of a hero. There is no shaking.’
Dalfner couldn’t help but admire the momentum.
First of all, it is Ortana.
As he is the successor of the hero, he has magical skills comparable to Yargon, so he placed Aidan on the flagship.
I thought it was a really good choice.
The existence of a hero who is not afraid and stares straight at the target.
It will be enough to turn the fear of the companions into fighting spirit and courage.
However, contrary to the gaze of others, Aidan, who was the real party, was about to die.
‘driving me crazy.’
【Calm down and take a deep breath. Come on, whoops… … Huhui… … .]
Aidan followed Grundel’s voice from within and selected his breath.
The first large-scale expedition to experience is a naval warfare. What Aidan has experienced so far has been purely attacking dungeons.
It was the first expedition to urgently summon professors, deans, and students of the department to set out.
[And there is also Sanwoo-sama. It will be finished without a hitch.]
‘That’s right… … ?’
Aidan turned his head and looked at another ship ‘Moby Dick’ sailing on the left.
Baek San-woo, the leader of the hero.
Aidan was very dependent on him.
The magic sword I had in my hand right now and the divine spear, which had not yet been used due to low proficiency, would not have been obtained without Baeksanwoo.
Triston’s mementos scattered all over Paradise Island.
Aidan Christopher received various close-combat techniques from Baek San-woo while on vacation, while recovering the belongings of the lost hero.
Thanks to that, he had only been able to deal with the staff, but now he was able to use even a sword and a spear.
In particular, the magical sword Laverantia made it possible to respond to a certain extent even in close combat, which was Aidan’s only weakness.
As the successor of the Weapon Master, he has now achieved about the letter ‘we’ in his name.
‘It’s definitely calming down.’
Thinking that Baek San-woo and his companions were together, my pounding heart stopped like a ghost.
‘A hero’s guide… … Even now, there are many times when you are more like a hero than me.’
[A person who guides a hero must have the same skills and duties.]
Grundel’s form appeared trembling. A small phoenix flapped its wings violently.
【However, that doesn’t make Sanwoo a hero. Because there is only one hero, Aidan Christopher, you are the one.]
‘Of course I have to do my duty as a hero. To become a hope for all.’
Aidan folded her arms and looked at Mary Celeste.
A boat that makes you feel bad just looking at it.
The sky was getting darker and darker, and it was felt that the sea was being filled with alien magic.
‘That’s… … Ancient, corrupt Artel.’
It was the moment when Aidan was resolving.
flash!
A green halo rose from the other side of the ark.
It was Aidan who did not understand the situation at first.
“… … !!!”
In response to the rushing green light, Aidan immediately picked up the Downstorm and deployed defensive magic.
Key-Kwagwang!!
Overwhelming firepower poured over the protective shield that covered the entire fleet.
It was so strong that the entire ship was shaken by the shock wave generated as the shield broke.
“Hold it straight!”
“The first attack was blocked… … ! Get ready for the next attack!!!”
Using Dalfner’s squeezing voice as a signal.
The battle has begun.
* * *
Boom! pop!! Pyuuuuo-!!
As the battle began in earnest, Moby-Dick and Kantryser, who were at the forefront of the fleet, turned the hull as if splitting.
It was developed horizontally to form a powerful painting network.
Soon, as the angles were adjusted, fire continued to erupt from the cannons installed on the ship.
Even the cannons owned by the flagship Black Pearl have been torn off and additionally installed.
It was so loud that I couldn’t even hear the person next to me.
bang! Kwaang!!
A few shells that flew with great force hit Mary Celeste.
“Did you do it!?”
As always, someone pours out clichés.
“Ah, ah… … !! You’re fine!!”
As always, the ark in question was not even scratched.
I left the deck where the fierce battle was in full swing and entered the empty captain’s room.
I even checked the status window.
『Bug occurrence / Data error ERROR CODE: MISSING NO.』
『Bug occurrence / Data error ERROR CODE: MISSING NO.』
『Bug occurrence / Data error ERROR CODE: MISSING NO.』
[Bugs found: ????]
[Fixed bug: ????]
‘Also.’
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Missingno was right. It was close to certainty, but now it is confirmed without subtracting or pounding.“How about this… … .”
Seriously, so far, most of the eradication of Missingno has been solved by ‘handle it’ or ‘fix it yourself’.
The former was Heukrona’s magic golem.
The latter was the case with the Spirit Forest and the Demon King’s Pendant.
If so, there is no other way than to sink the ship, or to directly approach the ship and fix it.
I calmly looked through the bug list.
After all, there was no need to use the bug for a while after Amodea, so the tracking points were not overflowing and left unattended.
I did some sorting out last night, but I couldn’t come up with a clear strategy like I did back then.
I thought it would be better to prepare in advance before meeting properly.
‘Object Error? I don’t think this can be used at sea… … .’
‘There is only one time stop left. Keep this as a must.’
There was no naval warfare at Paradise Academia.
However, compared to what was happening on the island, it was true that the proportion was insufficient.
The biggest problem was that there were no bugs that were particularly useful at sea.
“Shit.”
I got nervous and turned off the status window. After all, is there really no answer other than hand-to-hand combat?
‘for a moment. There is no need for a ship to approach, right?’
I left the captain’s office and approached Lorna-senpai, who was quietly watching the battle.
“senior! Did you say how long is the senior teleport range? If only one person was moved, not the entire fleet!”
“One person? If that’s the case, is it possible to go up to several tens of kilometers? As long as you know the location coordinates.”
it was this
Senior Lorna was a kind of insurance to evacuate the entire expeditionary fleet if things went wrong.
The role of conserving mana as much as possible throughout the battle, and then dropping the entire fleet from the battlefield when something is not going well.
At least, if it was impossible to defeat it at sea, the troops had to face the final decisive battle on Chusler Island.
Even if all the personnel died here, even if Mary Celeste was defeated, they would not be able to prepare for the subsequent invasion of the Liberation Front.
No matter how many people sacrificed, it must be returned.
But what if there is only one? What if it were to be moved on the boat in front of you?
‘Enough is possible.’
It will be possible to modify the sewing machine without consuming the maximum amount of Lorna-senpai’s magical power.
“You may… … !! You want to go in there alone?”
“There is nothing that cannot be done. There is also a return order.”
I took out a small scroll I had in my pocket.
Coordinate Return Order.
If you register the coordinates in a place that is not far away, it was a very easy artifact that you can use teleport only once.
“Are you crazy?! Corrupted Artel doesn’t know what to do!”
Ronna, who was pretty sure what I was going to do, grabbed her wrist and shouted.
“Don’t worry about it either. You think I don’t know one of them?”
I calmly opened the status window and applied the bug that I had registered in my favorites a while ago.
『Bug occurrence / Recognition range error ERROR CODE: 083B』
“… … ? What did you do now?”
“Senior, let go of my hand.”
As Lorna-senpai carefully lifted her hand, I approached Irkan, who was leading the deck on the deck.
He approached almost right in front of him, and although he was staring at him, Irkan showed no reaction.
‘I still don’t know.’
I raised my arms high and even tried a bizarre dance.
Of course, Irkan still didn’t respond.
So did the others.
They passed by me, showing off my passionate dance moves as if my existence was invisible.
Only Rona-senpai looked at him with a disgusted expression.
I stopped my untimely frantic dance moves, then went back to her and said,
“I put a special twist on me. As you can see, no one cares about me except for the senior who recognized me clearly a little while ago.”
Awareness bug.
Whether it’s a monster or an NPC, it’s a bug that makes me unconscious.
Unless you are forced to recognize it by direct body contact or talking.
I am completely excluded from people’s gaze.
It was a bug that could be quite useful in stealth or stealth missions.
If you think about it, you might be able to use it like this.
‘Instead, like invisibility, the body does not disappear at all, but once recognized, it is impossible to hide from then on.’
In any case, it was perfect for fixing bugs at once.
“Really you… … .”
Lorna-senpai sighed and looked at Mary Celeste, who was getting closer and closer.
Despite the continuous bombardment, no damage was done.
I don’t know if it’s because of the special shield or because, as Ishtar said, ‘Sephirot’s Tree’ was used as the material for the hull.
Lorna-senpai must have noticed that the current attack was not meaningful.
“Okay. There seems to be no other way now.”
The tactic that Dean Dalfner spoke of was a long-distance repulsion using powerful magic bombardment.
If that doesn’t work out, though, you’ll have no choice but to force a close-range battle.
In order to minimize the damage to the students, first of all, it was mainly focused on long-distance combat.
A sensible strategy.
To the last, assuming that the opponent is not a sewing machine.
From my point of view, it was clear that the artillery containment would never end unless bugs were fixed.
They will withstand every attack with the remnants of an imperfect world.
“Then send it right now. Because everything is ready.”
“Okay. instead… … know? You have to be careful.”
After Lorna spoke in a worried voice, she placed her hand on my shoulder.
The sophisticated and pure mana flowing from her fingertips wrapped around my body in an instant.
“Teleportation.”
As soon as the chant ended, my consciousness and body were thrown out of space.