Game Opportunities Become Reality Chapter 203
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Game Opportunities Become Reality Chapter 203
47. The Sea of Rondel (2)
Underwater exploration was nothing short of an infernal ordeal.
The search personnel, whose movements grew sluggish underwater, saw their combat ability plummet.
As if targeting them, monsters swarmed in from every direction.
With battles breaking out, the stench of blood spread, drawing in not just monsters but all sorts of marine life a veritable festival of hell unfolded.
Sensing the need for a countermeasure, I made a proposal to the Saintess and the Holy Son.
"Let's deploy the Heaven-Piercing Fortress."
"But the Heaven-Piercing Fortress can't submerge. Its buoyancy is too high it won't sink..."
The Heaven-Piercing Fortress is essentially a metal ball filled with air.
Meaning its structure makes it difficult to sink in water.
And rightly so the Heaven-Piercing Fortress was built for ground assault, not underwater exploration.
"If we increase its weight, it'll eventually sink."
"What?"
"I mean, we just need to build a weight-increasing device and attach it. And this device is relatively easy to make."
"Hmm..."
By simply increasing and decreasing weight, we could adjust the submersion depth.
"And if we set up an air curtain, water won't seep inside either. Granting it submersion capability is surprisingly simple."
The Saintess and Holy Son seemed to think my proposal had no major issues, and ultimately nodded.
"Alright. Let's give it a try."
Now wasn't the time to nitpick.
It was time to try anything.
And so, work began on modifying the Heaven-Piercing Fortresses of both the Duchy of Lawrence and the Holy See.
With the engineers of the Lawrence Mage Tower and the Holy See joining forces, the modification was completed in just 2 3 hours, and they began deploying them one by one.
With the Heaven-Piercing Fortresses deployed, exploration became considerably easier.
Weak monsters, of course, and aquatic creatures alike dared not rush in recklessly, and any that were being controlled or were simply brave got shot down by force cannon fire.
The cannons' range was greatly reduced underwater, forcing engagements at point-blank range, but since our goal was search, not combat, that was more than enough.
Thanks to that, the Saintess remarked we should have done this earlier, relieved at the smoother search, and continued looking for Ibril.
But that relief was short-lived.
"K-Kraken and Leviathan!"
With monsters capable of destroying the Heaven-Piercing Fortresses appearing, the expedition force was thrown into chaos.
"Search Vessel No. 3 is requesting permission to withdraw!"
"Damn it, withdraw!"
Enemies that couldn't be beaten no matter how we fought underwater.
In the end, the Holy Son gritted his teeth and ordered the withdrawal.
Afterward, we moved from sea to sea attempting searches, but the top-tier aquatic monsters that kept appearing meant even the Heaven-Piercing Fortress-based search yielded nothing.
"For a Kraken and a Leviathan to attack together that's unheard of."
"It feels like the entire ocean is rejecting us."
No solution was in sight.
Like being trapped in quicksand.
But this infuriating situation only stoked my fighting spirit.
"If monsters as strong as the Kraken and Leviathan appear, let's just subjugate them."
"What?"
"No matter how powerful they are, monsters are still monsters. They're not dragon-level, right?"
"But our combat power will be halved underwater."
"Then we'll assemble a force of those who can fight well even underwater. Let's gather the Grandmasters. Their Sword Aura works just fine underwater."
"Y-You're saying we should bring together all the continent's Grandmasters in one place to search for Saintess Ibril?"
"Why not? Her Excellency the Grand Duke Lawrence of our Rhinehearts Empire and King James can be considered free participants, and the Elysian Coalition will definitely join if only to clear its name. As for the rest in my opinion, neither the Bringham Empire nor the Chase Kingdom will be able to refuse a request from you two."
It was a crude method, but with six Grandmasters plus the Holy Son and Saintess, it was a lineup that could even attempt dragon hunting.
I'd talk to Blake as well, but he likely wouldn't want to involve himself in the Holy See's affairs.
"Haah..."
The proposal was mine, but I knew just how unprecedented it was.
It was an idea that even powers spanning the entire continent, like the Saintess and Holy Son, wouldn't have dared to conceive.
Grandmaster is a level that even the world's strongest nation, the Bringham Empire, would give up a duke's seat to secure without fail.
Truly people at the very pinnacle of power.
If they were to gather in one place, the King of the Walter Kingdom would hardly be able to sleep.
Because that would be a force capable of taking the Royal Palace and ending everything in one blow.
"I've never heard of monsters like the Kraken or Leviathan going on a party hunt. They're definitely connected to the group that kidnapped Reserve Saintess Ibril."
Holy Son Avis stroked his rough chin and gave a small nod.
"So you're saying those things might serve as a clue for the investigation?"
"Yes."
The Holy Son said he understood and rose from his seat.
The Saintess asked where he was going, and the Holy Son replied that there was no point wasting time.
"I'll go to the Bringham Empire and persuade them. You go to the Chase Kingdom."
More often than not, I end up proposing a plan and these two carry it out.
The saving grace was that these two weren't the type to be drunk on authority or act domineering.
The Saintess, as if she had no choice, immediately used teleportation to head to the Chase Kingdom.
Everyone seemed to agree that dragging out the kidnapping case wouldn't do any good, so they moved quickly.
In the meantime, I contacted Emperor Mikhail of the Rhinehearts Empire and requested King James's participation.
Emperor Mikhail readily accepted my request.
"I'm back."
But the Holy Son, who had been headed to the Bringham Empire, returned in less than an hour.
I was flustered, thinking he must have failed, but then I saw the two people following behind him and wore a surprised expression.
It was because Duke Raphael and Duke Francis, the two Grandmasters of the Bringham Empire, were with him.
"It's good to see you, both Dukes."
"Haha, good to see you as well."
"Good to see you."
I had once been on bad terms with Duke Francis, but now we had no particular feelings toward each other, and Duke Raphael seemed uncomfortable around me due to an incident involving his disciple.
But setting aside their feelings, I was curious how he had recruited them so easily, so I asked.
"I had agreed to settle in the Bringham Empire after retirement, but he said he'd reconsider if I refused this request."
"I-I see."
It was a glimpse into just how much Holy Son Avis worried about Ibril.
Following that, King James of our Rhinehearts Empire entered, and Grandmaster Jeriel Hielven of the Elysian Coalition who had become entangled with the church once more due to the kidnapping case also entered upon request.
Lastly, the Saintess brought Grand Duke Garsia of the Chase Kingdom, and so all of Rondel's publicly known Grandmasters gathered in one place.
It would have been even better if Blake were here, but unfortunately, he and the other Dark Elves disliked involving themselves in the Holy See's affairs.
-Crackle.
With as many as six Grandmasters gathered in one place, they subtly sized each other up, wary of one another.
As if to rein them in, the Saintess stepped forward and explained the current situation.
After hearing everything, the Grandmasters acknowledged our judgment.
"But if I may."
At that moment, Duke Francis of the Bringham Empire, who had been unusually quiet, cut in.
"How do you plan to divide the spoils?"
"Pardon?"
"The carcasses of the Kraken or Leviathan are extremely valuable, aren't they? Their bones and hide are the finest equipment materials, so let's make the distribution clear."
The Saintess search was one thing, but Duke Francis clearly wasn't willing to overlook the scraps to be gained there, and I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.
They weren't even considering the possibility of their own defeat.
Given the sheer power at hand, I could understand why.
* * *
"Did you really think I'd believe that?"
At the explanation from the mermaid who introduced herself as Ieria Nelson, Ibril glared at her with a fierce expression.
Ieria made a face like "Oh, hot!" and raised both hands, then grinned slyly and rose from her seat.
However, it wasn't long before the smile faded from her face and turned serious.
"You must already know, Saintess."
"Know what?"
"That among the demon worshipers we killed this time, there were those imbued with the power of a Demon King that doesn't exist in our demonic realm."
"...."
"Actually, haven't you known for a while? I've heard that the Black Mage captured by Grand Duke Lawrence in the Kingdom of Roberto was also such a case."
The church kills demon worshipers on sight.
Logically, it would be better to interrogate them before killing them, but the church maintains a mindset of absolutely never conversing with demon worshipers.
Instead, after killing demon worshipers, the bodies are moved to the Holy See for follow-up investigation, and it is an unknown fact that this process reveals the associated demon race.
Of course, since this isn't a secret known only to the Holy Son and Saintesses, there are plenty of holes for it to leak through, but the problem is that the existence of demon worshipers with unknown backers is the most secret of secrets even within the Holy See.
Because of this, doubt crept into Ibril's eyes, and Ieria accurately caught on to her feelings.
"That's enough. That much doubt is fine. I'm not asking you to believe me unconditionally. How could you deny the god you've believed in and followed all this time? Just be aware that demon worshipers with unknown backers are evidence that another world exists."
"Ridiculous."
"With this, I believe you understand why we've been acting the way we have. My words do add up, don't they? We're just fighting to survive."
Having finished her one-sided explanation, Ieria rose from her seat and handed her a subspace ring.
"There's food and daily necessities inside. Use them as you please."
Unlike the previous monsters, she was quite kind to Ibril.
And then, just as Ieria turned to leave this place
-Pwaaaah!
[Ieria!]
The Named Sea Serpent that had bitten Ibril's torso appeared.
Ieria raised a question at his seemingly urgent expression but wasn't too worried.
She believed there was no enemy that could threaten them.
But at the monster's next words, embarrassment crept onto Ieria's face.
[Croton and Skia have been taken down!]
"What? What do you mean?"
[Humans that fire swords wrapped in light they call them Grandmasters? There are so many of those Grandmasters! Croton and Skia were finished off in an instant!]
"...."
[For now, I've ordered the subordinates not to attack them. It seems things won't go like before.]
Croton and Skia referred to their main combat forces, the Kraken and the Leviathan.
If those two were taken down in an instant, his claim that their enemies might be multiple Grandmasters could very well be true.
"If they're Grandmasters, each one is no different from a kingdom's king, yet to think they'd gather such beings in one place."
Because of this, Ieria's expression grew extremely grave, and at that, Ibril, who had been sitting quietly, let out a faint laugh.
"Who do you think you're dealing with?"
"This excessive method doesn't suit the church."
"Right, it must be His Highness the King, Grand Duke Lawrence. You can never be his match."
Somehow, she seemed to feel a sense of pride in Adrian's existence.
Even so, Ieria twisted her lips upward and spoke leisurely.
"You seem to have gotten too carried away. But when they come close, we run; when they come close, we run. This sea is vast. If we decide to hide you, you might never be found for the rest of your life."
But she thought to herself.
"Will things really flow the way they intend?"
"You're underestimating His Highness the King, Grand Duke Lawrence, far too much."
At Ibril's remark, Ieria's lips twitched.
"If it comes down to it, I'll just kill you and be done with it. Karat, if this woman resists, kill her."
[Will do.]
Having given that order to the Sea Serpent, Ieria left the area.
It was a situation where she could die at any moment, yet for some reason, Ibril's expression was perfectly calm.
This was an attitude made possible by her boundless trust in one person.
* * *
"Haha, to think we'd get Leviathan hide and Kraken hide like this."
"Ohh? Really."
Since the monster byproducts obtained from their first hunt were so valuable, the middle-aged Swordsmen, who took great interest in new weapon materials, were laughing and chatting among themselves, dividing up "mine" and "yours."
Inside the flagship sky fortress, a butchering party was underway.
It seemed the byproducts from the monsters obtained in their first hunt were so valuable that the middle-aged swordsmen, who had a keen interest in new weapon materials, were laughing and chatting among themselves, dividing up "mine" and "yours."
Whatever happened to their earlier standoff? Except for the female Grandmasters Arcia and the elf Jeriel, the remaining four middle-aged men had completely become friends.
At this rate, those four old men are going to end up meeting on a regular basis.
Thanks to that, the atmosphere at the expedition headquarters had turned into a pub.
Saintess Sylvester furrowed her brow with a look of disdain, but the Holy Son Avis, who was the eldest in appearance even if he looked young, seemed secretly eager to join in.
"Ahem. Excuse me, seniors. You mustn't forget that our purpose here is reconnaissance."
In the end, I stepped in among them.
But at my remark, the Grandmasters responded like this.
"We're not much help outside of combat."
"Haha, when it's time to fight, we'll fight for sure, so don't worry."
They were four men acting without a clue, as if they couldn't see the Saintess's face, filled with worry and concern for Ibril.
With a sigh, the Saintess approached me.
"The sea monsters aren't attacking. It seems they've set their course toward escape."
"That's what I figured."
"Is there no way?"
I'd hoped the fleeing sea monsters might give away their headquarters, but we hadn't found any meaningful clues.
It seemed they must have built up a fairly complex reporting system.
"Actually, there is something I've been weighing in terms of feasibility."
"What is it?"
The Saintess widened her eyes, urging me on, and I revealed a rather outlandish plan to her.