Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 3 Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Mistelteinn Falling from Heaven

Part 1

The red monster was moving across a whitened sea surface.

Roughly fifty meters in body length, its appearance would probably be best summed up as that of a giant lizard. However, this creature was not just a gigantic reptile.

A clearly harmful existence that humanity even feared to fight, while being the dragon that humanity had left alone for roughly two decades—"Red" Basilisk.

It was also the name of a legendary monster recorded in ancient myths.

It was extremely difficult for humans to approach Basilisk, but if they could witness this monster up close, anyone would probably hold their breath in response to its intimidating visage.

As humanity's foe, Basilisk was quite magnificent and resplendent in appearance.

After all, Basilisk's body was covered with red-tinted scales of diamond. Around its neck and on its back where giant crystals shaped like stone pillars, giving off dazzling brilliance.

Accordingly, its body weight seemed quite heavy. On every step, its feet sank into the ground of salt. The scene was almost like watching a small mountain move.

Despite moving slowly, Basilisk was undoubtedly moving steadily. Without hesitation, neither sleeping nor resting, it gradually approached its destination.

Finally, the world of white broke off, giving way to the navy-blue ocean. However, as soon as Basilisk shot out red beams from its eyes, the wavy sea surface instantly turned into a desert of salt.

This was precisely why Basilisk was feared. The power known as "petrification" in legends of the past.

However, such a description was inaccurate, because the true nature of Basilisk's power was something else.

While creating a road of salt on the sea, Basilisk moved forward, step by step.

Nothing was capable of halting its advance. At least, that was the way things were originally—

With a shudder of its body, Basilisk seemed to react to something and looked up into the sky.

The monster's eyes, the bane of all creation, clearly captured what had appeared high in the sky, even beyond the range of its red beams of petrification.

Then Basilisk instantly realized it was something dangerous to it—

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 esexy. 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 toughest 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, attack 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.

Part 3

The next morning, we the members of Brynhildr Class gathered at the bridge punctually.

Perhaps because the transport ship was moored, I did not see many crew. The sun still had yet to rise. From the bridge, the scenery consisted of a volcano's silhouette and a black sea surface with the starry sky as the background.

The bridge had a large monitor divided into several screens showing different videos. One of them showed a dark scene with noise in the signal. Another showed a group of fierce-looking men in military uniforms, standing in a row in a conference room.

'Colonel Shinomiya, watch carefully. Witness the moment when we of NIFL vanquishes Basilisk.'

"Yes, I look forward to it, Major-General Dylan."

Shinomiya-sensei was conversing with Major-General Dylan, a elderly man with a scar on his forehead. Judging from this, the people in the conference room shown on screen were the NIFL cadres involved in this operation.

'Naturally, I hold high regard for your abilities in vanquishing Kraken and Leviathan and driving off Hekatonkheir. Nevertheless, we cannot rely on Ds in every case. Now is the time when we need to defeat a dragon using mankind's power!'

Major-General Dylan shouted loudly. Simply stated, NIFL wanted the accomplishment of defeating a dragon. Surely, they wanted to erase their image as an agency for cleaning up after dragon disasters.

"Mm..."

Seeing the NIFL military officer speak with intimidating presence, Ren hid behind Ariella.

"Ren, what's the matter?"

Feeling strange, I asked her. Ariella smiled wryly and answered for her.

"Oh, Ren isn't very used to adult men."

"I see... Oh, then what about me?"

I was thinking I should feel bad if I had scared her in the past, so I asked.

"Haha, Mononobe-kun, you're fine. Ren said before that you feel like an older brother to her."

"—!? Mm! Mm~!"

Ren went red in the face and hammered her fists on Ariella's back.

"Oh, it was a secret? Sorry sorry."

Ariella scratched her head and apologized. Then Firill, whose upper body had been swaying in drowsiness the whole time, shook, then leaned over and said:

"...Yes, I feel the same way too. Is it because he's Mitsuki's older brother that this impression is reinforced?"

"Eh, but Mononobe is definitely the younger brother type!"

Iris objected at this point.

"That is something I agree with. Mononobe Yuu is not cut out to be an older brother."

"L-Lisa-san, you are being very rude! Nii-san is undoubtedly my older brother!"

Hearing Lisa say that, Mitsuki refute her.

Major-General Dylan could apparently see what was happening on our side. He exhaled with an exasperated look.

'...Your subordinates are quite carefree.'

"I am terribly sorry—Everyone, please be quiet."

Hearing Shinomiya-sensei's warning, we all shut up.

"Umm..."

Tia's tiny voice was heard. Timidly, she walked up to the monitor and stared at the men on the other side.

'That pair of horns... You are the one whose dragon mark changed color this time.'

Major-General Dylan seemed to know about Tia and he spoke in a stiff tone of voice. Tia's horns were reminiscent of a dragon's and were seen as inauspicious, perhaps.

"Umm, Tia will cheer for everyone!"

However, Tia ignored the men's reactions and spoke as loud as she could.

'C-Cheer?'

On the other side, slightly uneasiness was spreading.

"Yes—Thank you for protecting Tia, Uncles! Tia will cheer for you all, so do your best!!"

The fierce-looking men were clearly shaken.

'W-What a good girl.' 'My daughter went through that kind of phase once—' 'Don't those horns look cute on closer examination...?'

Whispering voices could be heard.

Major-General Dylan was speechless for a while, but he coughed then said to Tia:

'Thank you for your well wishes. Leave it to Uncle.'

...I can't believe he called himself "Uncle"...

I stood there in shock, watching them converse, but Major-General Dylan resumed a soldier's demeanor and glared at me, forcing me to gasp.

'You look like you have something to say, soldier.'

"...N-No, nothing of that sort."

Intimidated by a seasoned warrior's forceful aura, I frantically shook my head and denied.

"Jeez, don't bully Yuu!"

'M-My apologies. I will put my all into this operation. Pray forgive me.'

As soon as Tia got angry, the Major-General went into a fluster and his tone of voice changed. He was almost like a grandfather doting on a granddaughter.

Then Major-General Dylan's fierce voice could be heard from the other side: 'Hey—Patch me through to Mistilteinn's transport team immediately. I will speak directly to their spirit.'

Thus, we had a bit of interaction with NIFL and the operation was finally about to begin.

'—Mistilteinn's mithril barrier has been thickened to the maximum weight that can be carried by four large transport aircrafts. Since Basilisk's attack range is roughly 5000 m, we will drop from an altitude of 8000 m.'

Major-General Dylan explained the operation to us.

"Regarding the vertical drop, is it possible to hit the target from that height?"

'Before it enters Basilisk's range, we will use fuel-injected thrusters to make minor position adjustments. Once exposure to the red beam begins, wind will no longer have an effect because all excess energy will be "weathered" away. Pulled by gravity alone, Mistilteinn will fall straight down.'

Major-General Dylan calmly answered Shinomiya-sensei's question.

"What about the possibility of Basilisk focusing on evasive maneuvers instead of counterattacking Mistilteinn?"

'According to all data collected to date, Basilisk always halts and stops moving to intercept whenever any object approaches it. Chances of it committing to escape are very low. Even if it switches to evasive action at the last second, Mistilteinn is capable of homing to some extent. Given Basilisk's slow speed, fleeing is impossible.'

Although Major-General Dylan sounded very confident, I could only find many flaws in the plan based on what I had heard so far. If Basilisk took any unexpected action, the plan would very likely fail.

However, even if the chances of success were almost certainly exaggerated, this plan was definitely the most effective attack devised so far. I hated to admit it but my mind was unable to come up with a better one.

'Well then... It is almost time. We will observe Mistilteinn's outcome together.'

The conference room video feed shrank in size while the screen with signal noise enlarged. This screen had grown brighter than earlier. I realized it was an image of Basilisk, taken from high in the sky extremely far away.

A small black shadow appeared on the white horizon. Although it only looked the size the of a pea, it was most likely Basilisk's figure.

Shown on the top left of the screen, the clock indicated the operation start time.

There was no change in the image, but Mistilteinn should have been dropped from 8000 m already.

Everyone stared at the monitor with bated breaths.

Just as someone gulped audibly, a red light flashed past. The red flash extended from the ground all the way up to the sky. Mistilteinn had probably entered Basilisk's range, 5000 m in the sky.

However, the horrifying time-stealing glow stopped before reaching the top of the sky, then started to be pushed gradually towards the ground.

Most likely, the descending Mistilteinn was blocking the red light. Just as NIFL's data indicated, Mistilteinn could withstand "weathering" from the red light.

But then calamity struck.

The narrow beam of red light rapidly expanded, increasing several times in girth, tearing through the pre-dawn sky.

Then several seconds later, the glow that originally seemed to be pushed back shot straight through the sky all at once.

It was evidence that the obstacle blocking the light had vanished.

'—Hey! What the hell happened!?'

Major-General Dylan's furious shot could be heard from the other side. Then a subordinate appeared on screen.

'Mistilteinn confirmed to be destroyed at approximately 2000 m high in the air. Operation failed, sir.'

'What!? Didn't Mistilteinn use enough mithril to withstand the attack?'

'All we can say is that the weathering rate exceeded our predictions. The observation and analysis team reports that Basilisk's back opened up to reveal a giant eyeball.'

'A new eyeball? Is that the reason why "Catastrophe" powered up...'

Major-General Dylan muttered with a grave expression. He turned his gaze to us.

'—Just as you all saw and heard, our power is apparently still insufficient against dragons.'

"No... Absolutely not. Basilisk opening a previously unseen third eye is evidence that it was cornered."

Although Shinomiya-sensei said that, Major-General Dylan shook his head with a wry smile.

'Even so, it means nothing unless we defeat Basilisk. This new eye—let's call it the third eye from now on—We will send the data over later. Please use it to ensure the success of your operation.'

"Thank you."

Shinomiya-sensei bowed in gratitude. Major-General Dylan nodded in acknowledgement then looked at Tia.

"Uncle..."

'Apologies, our strength was not enough even though you cheered for us.'

"No, it's okay, Uncle, thank you!"

Hearing Tia thank him, Major-General Dylan smiled.

'...Good luck.'

Communications were cut off after these words. The screen turned black. In contrast, the world outside the window gradually brightened, because the sun was rising.

I looked at everyone's face. Although we were a little disappointed, more or less, I could see the light of resolve in the girls' eyes.

They all understood that it was our turn to enter the battlefield.

I clenched my fist and faced forward. Squinting from the rising sun's bright rays, I turned my thoughts to the imminent day of the decisive battle—

Part 6

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