Volume 3 Chapter 3 - The Silver Girl and the Plan of Darkness Part 3
“Barrett!”
Mio released a bullet of flame against the monster that was approaching.
But…the force of the flame was weak. ‘zee zee’ Mio’s breath was becoming rough.
(Why can’t I defeat this small fry with one attack!?)
…The oxygen was thinning.
The place called the underground was not an airtight place. But just as she understood from the damp and humid air that this place, by no means, have good ventilation.
For a flame to burn fiercely it needed oxygen. The more Mio used her flame magic in this place, the more her neck felt choked.
“Mio-oneesan, please don’t force yourself!”
Lotte stood in front of Mio where she served as the vanguard.
While firing a volley of gatling bullets, she chanted even more spells.
“I reached out my hand toward the height of Babel, becoming the ruler of people! In accordance with my life, O thunder, swirled into spiral in my hand! Electromagnetic Assault SpearBlitzkrieg!!”
That was a magic that was used for the first time in a real battle, Prometheus’ level 4 magic.
Lotte’s left hand was already equipped with an electromagnetic iron gauntlet that was created from her level 3 magic, [Collider Field]. That iron gauntlet was enveloped with light, and she called even more supplement units to equip on her body.
It was a long lance that was almost twice as tall as Lotte.
“Prometheus…ChargeSchub!!”
Having her lance ready, Lotte charged into the group of monsters.
The electric current that was produced by the gauntlet was flowing into the lance, Lotte transformed into a meteor of lightning.
Everything that was standing in the way was pierced in one go, electrocuted, and turned into ash.
Lotte rushed in a straight line, she arrived up to the backside of the monsters' swarm after a struggle.
“Prometheus, ReapSchneiden!”
When Lotte commanded, the spearhead part transformed, a blade was equipped there.
Transforming from [lance] to [naginata] , Lotte swung it from the back of the monsters' swarm.
The storm of electric blade blew violently, sweeping up the swarm of monsters.
Lotte who was armed with the extensive ranged attack from the new magic she learned was a demon of annihilation.
“…Sorry Lotte, I keep holding you back.”
Mio was hanging her head down while her breath still hadn’t come back.
“It’s only because I am perfectly suited to purge away the small fry enemies desu. Moreover, this place’s environment is not suited for flame magic after all desu…”
Lotte’s encouragement was accurate, but Mio was not comforted with that and she kept her head hung down with no sign of looking up. Mio was also still hung up from the fight with Beatrix where she was not useful.
“…Even though I also want to be useful for Kazu-nii, I only keep holding you all back…”
Through the telepathy magic, Lotte could perceive the feelings of Mio.
An uneasy feeling was spreading completely in the surface of Mio’s heart like a dark sea.
Because of the feelings of powerlessness against herself, a cold wind of self-denial was blowing inside her.
“It’s scary…I keep exposing such a disgraceful sight in front of Kazu-nii like this…”
Mio, who was usually full of confidence in herself was whispering weakly.
The small-statured Lotte tiptoed lightly and hugged Mio, she was tapping Mio’s back lightly.
“Kazuki-oniisan is not someone calculating who will decide to like or hate you from whether you are useful in battle or not, right desu? We are not supposed to be people that Kazuki-oniisan gathered for the purpose of creating a strong party desu. We are connected with Kazuki-oniisan by a Bond, people who gathered because we love each other desu. That’s why we can become a strong party desu.”
“…I know, that kind of thing is obvious. Because I have been together with Kazu-nii for a long time. But…exposing an unsightly appearance when I want to show my good points still made me uneasy…”
“We are comrades who help each other, so let’s do this with the right person in the right place. I will kick around all the small fry. Mio-oneesan just preserve your strength, please launch a large shot to the boss opponent. Come on, please cheer up. Please cheer up~”
Against Mio who talked with a sulking tone, Lotte put on a joking air and clapped Mio’s back.
“…Uuu, don’t get cheeky even though you're younger than me.”
Mio who had a sulky expression on stretched apart Lotte’s cheeks with a ‘munyu’.
“Please stop~”
Even with her cheeks stretched apart, Lotte still raised a happy voice.
“Lotte, thank you. …About Lotte, I like you somewhat.”
“I love Mio-oneesan so much desu! Then if Mio-oneesan has already regrouped your feelings, let’s go forward desu!”
“There are Demon Beasts, this place is being turned into a Haunted Ground isn’t it? But, if that’s true then I wonder why this Haunted Ground is not spreading.”
Both of them were going forward, while slipping through the traps at times, Mio suddenly felt a doubt.
“Haunted Ground is something that spread rapidly, that’s why if left alone it would encroach onto the Magic Division’s ground, isn’t that right? But the border line of this Haunted Ground is located perfectly in the middle of the stairs descending to this underground.”
“When Mio-oneesan says it, that’s true isn’t it desu?”
“It is controlled by someone’s hand. …The Haunted Ground is not spreading anymore than this. The Haunted Ground is maintained at the appropriate size. In other words the Demon Beasts extermination is being carried out periodically, I wonder. Seeing it carefully, the concrete walls and floors are worn-out, it doesn’t feel old and decaying, instead, it tells the frequency of the fights that were carried out here…”
There were a great number of cracks and signs of destruction on the pulsing concrete floors and walls that were turned into the Haunted Ground. Those signs were almost not found at all in the vicinity of the entrance, but the more they advanced the more it increased.
“To do such troublesome things this far, there must be a reason to preserve this place as a Haunted Ground. What in the world are they doing here?”
“…That answer, we don’t know if it might exist beyond this point desu.”
At the end of the passage, Mio and Lotte discovered a door. Thinking about how many traps there were starting from the trap hole, there was no doubt that a big secret was being hidden beyond this door.
“This is not an adamantite door is it desu?”
It seems it would be very hard to carry a super heavy adamantite until this far underground.
Then it would be simple to break this door. Lotte produced a lance in her left hand, then she screwed the spearhead into the keyhole―she entered her strength. The keyhole was easily smashed, the door opened with a loud sound.
There was a computer inside the room. From there, a lot of monitors.
In this fairly cramped room, the only notable thing around was that computer. In here, all the things that were performed in another place were reflected and regulated in the monitors, it seems this was the control room of this whole underground space.
No doubt that this computer was a large clue.
Though that was only if they could start it up.
“…Sage of Civilization Prometheus. If it’s you, then can you do something about this somehow?”
Toward Lotte’s call, the avatar of the young boy Prometheus appeared, “Ho-ho-, I say, I say” he wandered around the computer with a deep interest.
“This is a computer right? Vast electric signals are being inputted, calculated, outputted…hmm hmm I see, this is what is called a computer huh. How awesome. How revolutionary this is.”
“Prometheus, use my body, try to operate it please.”
Lotte sat on the computer’s desk while saying, Prometheus’s avatar disappeared.
And then Lotte’s arms moved by themselves. Lotte, who was being possessed by Prometheus had handed over partial control of her physical body.
Power was entered into the computer. The boot sequence scene was displayed in the monitors, but what was reflected in the monitor was something Mio had never seen before. It was not an OS that was used generally, it seems it used a special OS that operated an encryption of the data in the internal memory drive.
In short, even if they destroyed this computer and carried out only its memory device, it would be difficult to analyze the encrypted data. They had to break through the security using this place manually.
Both of Lotte’s arms became the arms of Prometheus, the fingers were running along the keyboard. It was their first time operating a keyboard, that’s why Prometheus’ keyboard strokes were clumsy.
However, his keyboard strokes were accurate.
“Prometheus, you can hack a computer?”
Towards the sage who was born in this world with the concept of civilization, Mio was being struck with admiration once again.
A Diva was hacking a computer…it sounds completely like a joke of a story yet…
“Well, somehow I’m using my feelings, or maybe you can say my sixth sense. Release that lock. And it’s open.”
Toward the special OS that was demanding a password, Prometheus was easily releasing the security.
“Oh ho, there is a game here, it’s minesweeper huh. Is it okay to try it a little? The record time of this computer’s owner is 57 seconds. I want to surpass it without fail.”
“You must not desu, please hurry.”
Lotte scolded Prometheus. Because these two’s conversation were carried out using only Lotte’s mouth and voice, it looked completely like a soliloquy.
“Not only for booting up the computer, to access the data inside…oh hoh, looks like it was protected with double layer password protection. Hahhahha, how impertinent. And, release.”
While the sage of the Greek Mythology laughed loudly, he operated the keyboard with his index fingers poking repeatedly.
His movements were those of a beginner, but he broke through the solid security mercilessly.
“Hmmmm, furthermore, to read this data thoroughly it seems we need something like a dedicated application. That application is not saved inside this computer, looks like it was carried in from the external. Yosh, how about I create that application starting from now?”
“…I don’t get what you are doing at all, but looks like nothing is impossible for you huh?”
“I cannot create that app from nothing you know? I’m only comprehending the surface of the data and reproducing the application.”
While Mio was being amazed at the side, Prometheus completed the improvised application with his clumsy typing.
“But I cannot understand why it only asked for password and application without using biometric confirmation. If it asked for that, then it’s all over even for me. …By any chance, perhaps the owner of this computer even has a plan to reconstruct his own body. It’s only a wild guess though, but I don’t know if there is any other reason.”
Reconstructing the body?
Was that kind of thing possible? If it was possible, then for what reason?
Suddenly, Mio was reminded of the moment when Kaya was hijacked by Loki and she shivered.
Surely, at that time Kaya’s body was reconstructed.
“Oh ho, I found an interesting thing.”
Prometheus punched the enter-key with noticeable strength ‘pachin’.
The monitors that were covering one part of the room’s wall surface were lighting up all at once.
It looks like the countless monitors were projecting various places in this underground labyrinth.
A certain terminal screen was showing a room where things that looked like culture fluid were lining up in great numbers, another screen was projecting a large hall that was spreading circularly like an arena.
―Inside that circular hall, were Kazuki and Koyuki!
“Prometheus! Can we reach that place!?”
Mio was shaking Prometheus (Lotte)’s shoulders energetically.
“I didn’t find any map of this underground labyrinth inside this computer. It seems the owner of this computer memorized all the structures of this underground labyrinth in his head so he didn’t need a map. To not have any necessity to share the information, it shows that the ones who use this underground labyrinth is most likely only one person. However, I found a data file of [experiment results]. Looking at the content, the accomplishments of the experiments were carried out at that place that looks like an arena, it seems the tests were using the Demon Beasts as the opponent.”
“Experiments? What kind of experiments? I guess we can understand it if we look at the data?”
The terminal screen was changing in rapidly because of Prometheus’ operating. Mio’s eyes couldn’t follow at all, but Prometheus should be able to naturally read those contents at high speed.
Prometheus’ words became cloudy at Mio’s question.
“That is…how should I say it, it’s an experiment that cannot be described using words at all.”
When Prometheus pushed the enter-key, an URD was ejected from the computer’s disk drive.
All the data of the computer was duplicated inside this high capacity memory device.
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