Chapter 243: Variable Creator
The fifth Apostle of the Angry One, Alma Alloy, looked down at the Rasdasil coast from an airship.
It was a risky move. The whirlwind of the Devil, Night Sky, had chased right up to the tail of the airship Alma was on, but soon distanced itself. If it wasn’t for the power of the Angry One concealing Alma's presence, the whirlwind would have engulfed her.
As an Apostle, she could have survived the whirlwind, but she, Alma thought, would no doubt turn into a poor state.
'It has happened as the Angry One willed.'
The Empire's coastal fortress had been completely destroyed. The way to the Rasdasil Ruins lay wide open. The fleet's bombardment had been launched toward the shore. To the south of the beach, the concrete emplacements, poured and stacked in several layers, were now unrecognizable. On top of them sat the Sky Castle. Now a massive hill had formed from the collapsed terrain, and upon it, buildings that had symbolized the history and civilization of the Union Kingdom turned to ruins.
Above the ruins, Night Sky's whirlwinds stirred as if lashing out in frustration.
'But the Devil doesn't move on emotion.'
Night Sky seemed to have realized that the Sky Castle contained interior structures that could absorb the impact. Though it wasn’t clear, it was possible that some precautions were necessary.
Normally, a large-scale aerial attack would have begun, but because of the whirlwinds created by Night Sky, the legions under the Sky Castle were unable to reveal themselves.
'Ankarde inside had said that most of the forces have withstood the fall of the Sky Castle. So far, things have gone as we expected.'
However, the whirlwind continued to excavate the ground as if searching for something hidden.
The legion trapped in the Sky Castle had to escape through narrow passages, so if their position were exposed, they could suffer tremendous damage.
'Besides, Ankarde is impatient. It wouldn't be surprising if they burst out at any moment. If only we could distract Night Sky's gaze, even for a moment...'
Alma turned toward the Union Kingdom's fleet. The Empire's fleet was engaged in close-range artillery combat. Without the support fire from the coastal fortress, the battle seemed nearly the same as it had been until now. The only difference was that the distance had closed and both sides had slowed down, allowing for more accurate fire and in turn resulting in severe damage to each other.
'The numbers are few, but has the tide of battle turned slightly to our favor? The Union Kingdom seems to be pushing back the Empire's warships.'
It had to be so. The Empire's warships had not only the Union Kingdom's warships as targets. The Empire's primary goal was the Union Kingdom's transport ships, and while targeting the distant transport vessels, the Empire's warships could be seen sinking from the closer Union Kingdom's main guns.
'If the transport fleet succeeds in docking at the coast this way...'
From close to the shore, Night Sky's power would begin to take effect, and significant damage would be inevitable, but no god could manage the entirety of several kilometers of coastline.
The Angry One had anticipated a twenty to thirty percent loss at the coast.
‘If that's the case, we could reach the Rasdasil Ruins with roughly double the number of our enemies.’
The path to the Rasdasil Ruins was set up with hastily fortified posts, and a considerable number of the Empire's forces were encamped, but with greater numbers and more equipment on the Union Kingdom’s side, it was a fight worth taking on. Moreover, the deeper they pushed into the ruins, the more they could avoid the cannon fire that harassed the Union Kingdom.
‘After that…’
What would follow was hard for Alma to predict accurately as well. The number of apostles already involved in command on both the Union Kingdom and the Empire's sides weren’t few, but there were still those who had not revealed themselves. It was impossible to consider every possibility.
Alma turned and said to the staff officers, "Move the transport fleet further to the north."
One of the staff officers asked, "But doing so would expose us more to the enemy battleship's bombardment from the north."
"That's true. But there are the Devil's whirlwinds to the south. It's better to face the enemy's battleships than have our army caught in the whirlwinds."
The staff officer immediately understood and relayed the message through a communication officer.
A sacrifice of such degree was acceptable if it meant gaining control of the expansive coastline by pushing the Empire’s fleet further north.
"Urgent news!"
As the communication officer came up to the bridge where the staff officers were, all eyes snapped to the communication officer.
The communication officer said, "The transport ships at the rear have been sunk."
At the entrance to the bridge, a staff officer said, "Did you come all the way up here just to tell us that?"
Another staff officer added, "The Pantheon has been guiding the enemy's cannon fire. It may seem odd, but attacks more precise than expected could happen."
The communication officer shook their head.
"That's not it. The sunk transport ships were at the very rear of the fleet, still out of reach of the enemy's artillery."
"They're being sunk? What's the exact number?"
"I..."
The communication officer hesitated before saying, "The distance is too far, and initially there was confusion among the other communication officers, so we don't have an exact number. All our airship fleets are currently engaged with the enemy's airship fleet, so there's no one to properly transmit information through signal flags."
Alma slightly furrowed her eyebrows.
Compared to the Empire, which used magic, signal flags could be considered primitive. The Union Kingdom was bridging the gap with their capabilities, but problems could still arise at critical moments.
Alma stepped in and said, "Turn the flagship around. I'll check it myself. What's the location, officer?"
Alma had also thought, like the staff officer, that the communication officer's mistake or a series of coincidental events were to blame.
The Empire's strategy was not to wage a war of annihilation between fleets but rather to somehow block the transport ships, so dividing the fleet to attack from the rear would be, in fact, a dangerous move.
'If there had been such forces, we would have noticed beforehand.'
However, Alma had to accept the possibility that her thinking could be wrong.
…Thud!
Without any warning, the spine of a Fiend-class battleship got bent and then split in two. Though no screams could be heard, the sight of the marines hurriedly preparing lifeboats in a panic could be seen.
And it was no isolated incident happening to one or two ships. The sinking ships were reserve battleships intended for unforeseen enemies, but the next in line were the transport ships. Particularly at risk were the transport ships at the rear, some of which were gigantic wooden vessels from a previous era, comparable to the current Divine Beast-class warships. According to the original plan, these ships were to enter Rasdasil after ensuring the coast was secure, but now the battleships meant to protect them were disappearing as well.
There was an even greater problem. The sentries couldn’t hide their confusion.
"The enemy battleships are nowhere to be seen!"
Alma was aware of this as well.
'Could they have fired from beyond the horizon? But no cannonballs were seen...?'
Alma called the Angry One at once.
The Angry One immediately exclaimed in the language of the gods.
-Fuck!
Although Alma did not know the exact meaning, she had heard the phrase several times before and knew it was an expression of anger.
The Angry One, Hegemonia, said.
-That's a submarine.
-A submarine...you say?
Hegemonia, ready to take a hit to her Faith points, explained.
-It's a ship capable of navigating underwater without sinking. It is completely sealed to prevent flooding and uses torpedoes that can be fired underwater to target and sink the underside of battleships.
-...Oh.
Alma understood two things at once. The Angry One seemed to have prior knowledge of technologies before they existed, and this too appeared to be one such piece of knowledge of the gods. The second realization was more bewildering. There was no readily available method of response with current technology.
Hegemonia said.
-...I will create a creature creation as a countermeasure.
-Alright.
-Suffer the losses if you must, but land as many troops on the coast as possible. That’s all.
With that, Hegemonia cut off the Whisper Conversation with Alma.
Even when the enemy's technological superiority meant that their own forces had no immediate technical countermeasures, a player, through the power of creation, could make it possible.
In The Lost World, overcoming such technological disparities through creations was common and normal, and naturally, there were template creations in existence to counter submarines. Hegemonia was able to figure out the technical level of the Empire's submarines and could create a counteracting creation in a matter of minutes.
‘...However.’
To do so, Faith points had to be used. Hegemonia considered the amount of Faith resources that would be produced through the war and the amount of Faith that would be consumed by this creation.
‘It will be a close call.’
With that, Hegemonia began assembling the appearance of the creation and added abilities. A secret weapon like submarines was manageable.
After all, Hegemonia herself had gathered troops within the Sky Castle. Such a strategy was common in battles of this scale. They were not elements that could completely turn the tide of war. Only those with inadequate skill would be thrown into disarray and fail to respond properly.
That was the situation. For now, everything was still okay. However, if such variables continued to accumulate, Hegemonia's second plan could fall apart.
‘For now, it’s still within the margin of error.’
But if another outlier arose, and problems began among the apostles themselves, the second plan could become unattainable.
Hegemonia completed the creation after meticulous observation.
However, Hegemonia also had an intuition that this wouldn’t be the last variable Nebula produced.
***
On the transport ship of the Union Kingdom, which was on the rolling seas, the coast of Rasdasil was visible in the distance.
This wooden transport ship had been a line-of-battle ship equipped with over a hundred cannons up until a few decades ago. But as times changed, the heavy armaments were stripped away, and it was refitted with steam engines and paddle wheels and repurposed as a transport ship. Being a large vessel that had once carried heavy war machinery, it had no issues fulfilling the role of a transport ship.
"There's a shadow under the water on the port side!"
The transport ship made a swift turn, tilting over dramatically.
The marines aboard, and even the army soldiers inside the ship who couldn't see the sight, were greatly buzzing. The presence of submarines firing unseen torpedoes and blowing up the underside of ships as they passed beneath felt like a supernatural phenomenon.
"The torpedoes are too fast! We can't evade them!"
"Everyone brace for impact!"
As the captain's voice filled with fear, in an instant, a massive tentacle emerged and grabbed the torpedo.
The tentacle hurled the torpedo, and as the torpedo drew a large arc through the air, it exploded upon re-entry into the sea surface due to the impact.
A voice came from beneath the water's surface.
-I am Viek, guardian of the Angry One. I shall stand against this treacherous technology beneath the waters, so let the transport ships advance.
Cheers erupted in response.
Viek had a spiral-shaped shell, and from outside that shell, numerous tentacles extended, resembling some kind of ammonite. The combination of tentacles capable of swift underwater movement and snagging torpedoes, along with a hard shell able to withstand torpedo attacks and ramming assaults, made it a favored creation template among the users of The Lost World as an anti-submarine force.
The Guardian Viek soared and rammed into the Empire’s submarine at the very front. Due to the lower level of technology, the submarine's bulkheads crumpled, allowing seawater to start seeping in. Compared to the current creaking technology, Viek, who moved flexibly and swiftly, could indeed be called a submarine hunter.
"Indeed, is it as Night Sky said?"
Although it was a faint voice, Viek's sensitive sonar organs, capable of detecting radio waves, picked up the words. Strangely, the voice came from below Viek, who had plunged deep into the sea to hunt for submarines.
-...Who is there?
"Oh, did it hear my voice? Anyway, it's just as Night Sky described. A hard shell and numerous tentacles. As expected.”
Before Viek could ask again, a bright light shone on Viek.
Viek, having a sensitive vision adapted for seeing in the dark, was temporarily blinded.
"...Here we go!"
Something surged from beneath the surface. It was what was commonly referred to as walking armor. Walking armor was a two-legged weapon, made of Doodooba rubber and magical mechanisms combined. Often found in ancient ruins and subsequently produced by the Empire and other nations in their own ways, this weapon had become one of the standard forces in the world despite not being as effective as tank-like forces. However, if the target was a massive creature creation, Abomination, or a fiend, it could counter with strong power and massive bladed weapons.
-But in the water...?
Viek, who had received a knowledge module known as General Knowledge 2.0 from Hegemonia, had never before encountered a walking armor underwater. Moreover, it was nearly nine meters tall, which was large for a machine, far bigger than the typical four meter walking armors.
Regaining sight belatedly, Viek tried to turn toward the walking armor, which was only faintly visible beyond the light.
At the center of the walking armor was a window made of glass, through which the cockpit was clearly visible. In that cockpit sat a Platy, Madman Toolbo.
"Take this! My fist!"
The drill on the left arm of the walking armor rotated and drilled into Viek's shell.
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