Editing Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 3 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 2===

After Mitsuki and the girls left the hot spring in a hurry, I made my way to the changing room while staying vigilant of my surroundings. An emergency meeting was about to be held, so I had to hurry back. My terminal back in my cabin had probably received the same notification too.

Unable to find my clothes in the changing room, I felt nervous for a moment until I found them placed behind the shelves. Firill probably hid them for me to prevent others from seeing them.

Hence, I hastily put on my clothes, returned to the ship and went directly to the conference room. It looked like I made it in time. Everyone was still chatting in the room.

The flush on their faces from the bath had not subsided yet, making them look especially sexy. I also seemed to be smelling a fragrant scent.

"—Nii-san, you are late."

Just as I was experiencing their after-bath aura, Mitsuki spoke to me from the side.

"Oh, uh... I was a bit occupied."

"Judging from the way you look Nii-san, you just had a bath too?"

Mitsuki asked while staring at my face. Thinking closely, I was soaked in the hot spring even longer than everyone else. That combined with abundant stimulation, my face was probably even redder than the girls'.

"Y-Yeah, I happened to be showering, so I found out about the notification a bit later."

Concealing the wavering in my heart, I explained myself. Mitsuki glared at me suspiciously but after seeing Shinomiya-sensei enter the conference room, she sighed.

"Hoo—Very well, let us assume that was what happened. Shinomiya-sensei has arrived too. Nii-san, take your seat."

Hence, I sat down at Mitsuki's urging.

After confirming that everyone were seated, Shinomiya-sensei stood in front of the whiteboard and started to talk.

"—I was just notified by NIFL that they will carry out their long-planned operation at 0600 tomorrow. They believe that things will be settled with almost complete certainty with this. If their prediction proves to be correct, then there will be nothing left for us to do."

Hearing this, Lisa raised her hand and spoke.

"From our standpoint, if NIFL were to defeat Basilisk, that would be fine and all... But would things really go that smoothly?"

"Well, they seem to have substantial grounds backing their claim. Apart from detailed specifics of the operation, NIFL has provided us with all the latest data they have gathered and analyzed. Let's take a look together now."

Shinomiya-sensei operated something resembling a remote, then a screen was lowered from the ceiling. The lights switched off and the screen displayed what seemed to be the data provided by NIFL.

"According to this data, NIFL has not only identified Basilisk's power but also used various methods to corroborate. If their operation was devised based on this data, reliability ought to be quite high."

"...So they've identified Basilisk's power."

Hearing Firill's light whisper, Shinomiya-sensei nodded in confirmation while using a laser pointer on the data on the screen.

"It has already come to light that the true nature of the phenomenon caused by Basilisk's red light is—Weathering."

Hearing Shinomiya-sensei say that, a clamor started in the room. But sitting in front of me, Tia looked back and asked me quietly:

"Yuu, what is weathering?"

"Uh... Take a huge rock for example. If it's exposed to sun and rain constantly, it'll crack and break apart, becoming smaller and smaller, right? Weathering refers to changes like that, which are caused by time."

Listening to our conversation, Shinomiya-sensei nodded firmly in agreement then continued:

"—Indeed, the cause of weathering is time. In other words, Basilisk attacks by speeding up time."

Speeding up... time?

Although Shinomiya-sensei said it so nonchalantly, wasn't that actually quite outrageous?

"By experimenting with different radioactive substances of varying half-lives, NIFL observed the passage of hundreds to several tens of thousands of years in materials that were exposed to the Basilisk's red light. Although the range is quite wide, further analysis revealed that the effect depended on the duration of exposure. Taking this factor into account, it is now known that a single second of exposure results in fast forwarding two thousand years or so."

"T-Two thousand years huh..."

Even Mitsuki's voice went hoarse.

"Yes, a human would turn into bones or dust in an instant. This is the most terrible attack for living creatures. We have tentatively named this power 'Catastrophe.' Although scholars seem to be hypothesizing something about tachyons, the fundamental mechanism still eludes understanding. But now that the phenomenon has been identified as weathering, it is possible to devise countermeasures."

Shinomiya-sensei shifted her laser pointer then proceeded to explain the NIFL's intended plan.

"Time will affect all matter without exception. But even so, there exists materials that do not change easily. Materials of that sort should be able to endure Basilisk's light to some extent. The method they are using this time is to drop a mithril-covered bomb vertically from the sky above the target."

The laser pointed at a photograph depicting the bomb's appearance. Shaped like an upside-down cone, wide and flat, it resembled a top.

"Just as all of you know, mithril is the hardest and most stable alloy, the best choice for making shields. Through rigorous calculations regarding the durability of mithril, a weapon capable of reaching Basilisk has been designed—the large-scale anti-Basilisk bomb, Mistilteinn."

Mistilteinn... I recalled that it was a spear featured in Norse mythology, made from a parasitic plant, but that was not important. If what was said so far were true, then this weapon could almost certainly kill Basilisk. No wonder NIFL was so confident.

I raised my hand and asked Shinomiya-sensei:

"What is the probability of success in your view, Shinomiya-sensei?"

"—50%, I guess. Dragons are unknown beings and the data obtained so far cannot be guaranteed to be correct. NIFL believes that there are no other options apart from this. They seem to think that their operation will succeed, but I cannot share such optimism."

Shinomiya-sensei shrugged and answered gravely.

"No other options...? Since its power has been analyzed so thoroughly, there should be other ways..."

"It can be said that there are no other methods precisely because its power has been analyzed. Dropping a bomb vertically was chosen because a ballistic missile flying on a parabolic trajectory would have its kinetic energy ''weathered'' away the instant it is exposed to the red light. In this regard, if gravity substitutes for propulsion, its effects will still persist despite the fast forwarding of time. And using projectile weaponry is also a crucial point, because NIFL's beam weaponry is useless due to scattering by the diamond scales."

After hearing this explanation, I definitely could not think of other methods. But perhaps Mitsuki could. She raised her hand and asked Shinomiya-sensei.

"What about land mines? According to precedent, the red light does not affect the ground surface very much, possibly because there is very little change to the land even after thousands of years. If that is the case, as long as bombs were installed underground before hand..."

"That has been tried already, but Basilisk will sweep everything in front of its direction of advance, which means that the land mines must be placed deep in the ground to be free from the effects. But with that, the explosion would be discovered before it reaches the ground surface and the explosion itself would end up getting fast forwarded by the light."

"The explosion itself will... Then our plan needs to thoroughly revised too."

Mitsuki fell into deep thought with a troubled expression.

On the Midgard side, our plan was to use the volcanic island as cover to launch our attacks, wiping out Basilisk together with the island. But that was almost no different from detonating landmines at Basilisk's feet. As the saying goes, offense is the best defense. Basilisk's power was precisely that.

"Fortunately, we still have time, so let's think of a new battle plan based on the data we have received this time. That being said, if NIFL were to defeat Basilisk for us, we won't need to worry."

Shinomiya spoke with a wry smile then switched on the light in the room and retracted the screen.

"Assemble at the bridge at 0530 tomorrow. NIFL will send a live feed of their operation to us. They seem quite eager to show off their power to us."

"0530..."

Firill expressed overt resentment in her tone. Perhaps she was not good at getting up early.

"Don't oversleep, okay? If anyone fails to show up at the appointed time, I will personally punch them awake."

After reminding us, Shinomiya-sensei left the conference room. Perhaps with things to discuss, Mitsuki also chased after Shinomiya-sensei rapidly. The other classmates chatted while leaving their seats.

Like everyone else, I was walking to the door when I noticed Tia still sitting in her seat.

"What's wrong, Tia? Meeting's over."

I went back and placed my hand on Tia's shoulder. I immediately felt minor trembling.

"...Are you scared?"

"Yeah... After hearing about Basilisk, Tia suddenly started shaking."

Tia showed uneasiness on her face while looking up at me, speaking in a feeble tone of voice.

"Well, its power is quite outrageous, after all. I can't believe it can fast forward time. It's totally out of this world."

"If someone gets hit by the beam... They'll turn into bones?"

Tia asked me with tears in her eyes.

"It'd be lucky to have bones remaining."

"Tia... absolutely don't want Yuu and everyone to die."

"Don't worry, we don't want to die either. We'll fight without turning into bones. Shinomiya-sensei and Mitsuki will think of a plan to achieve that."

To reassure Tia, I gently stroked her head.

Most likely, Tia finally became able to imagine concrete danger after hearing detail information about Basilisk.

"If only Tia could do something..."

"Tia, you're doing your job just by being here."

"Yeah... But if possible, Tia still wants to do more."

After listening to her, I thought for a while then suggested to her:

"In that case, it'll be very helpful to us if you cheer for us at critical moments. Just by doing that, chances of success will definitely rise for the operation."

"Really?"

"Yeah, because we will have better morale if someone cheers for us. With morale, we'll be able to bring out more power than normal."

Hearing me say that, Tia's face brightened up.

"Tia got it! Tia will cheer for everyone!"

"Good, but you'd better head back to your cabin and sleep earlier tonight. Otherwise, you won't be able to get up tomorrow, you know?"

"Yes! Goodnight, Yuu!"

Tia nodded vigorously and got up from her seat.

"Goodnight, Tia."

I smiled and answered while watching Tia racing off.