On the monitor of the Val Albus, the whale-shaped Over Gear stationed under the sea, the Ark was pictured stationed in the depths. Thanks to the probes we’d deployed inside it once before, we had a good idea of the rough structure of the vessel.
It was possible for us to infiltrate the Ark right away, but if we suddenly appeared right in the middle of the wicked devout, all of our work would be for naught.
First, we had to find a room where we could infiltrate without being spotted.
As the Ark’s name implied, it was a somewhat box-shaped ship. The bow of the ship was a little longer than the rear, where there were large engines on either side. When you looked at the whole thing, it looked a little like a big tissue box. I could see it looking like a spaceship as well.
It seemed possible to teleport into the warehouse they used to store any ores they excavated that the probe had found last time. From there, I could try to find where the wicked devout were located—specifically Indigo—and then we’d make our move and take him down.
If we were unlucky and it turned out Indigo wasn’t in the Ark, well, we’d have no choice but to retreat. Should we decide to try to defeat the devout that were present regardless, there was always the chance that Indigo could return in the middle of the battle, or someone in the ship would contact Indigo, and then they’d have every chance to escape again. If that happened, their security would only tighten; they’d never let their guard down again.
The most favorable outcome would be for Indigo to be working solo, all alone in a room somewhere. All we’d need to do in that situation was teleport to his room, neutralize his divinity, halt his movements with [Prison], and take him down in one swift strike.
Wait...I really sound like an assassin right now, don’t I? Though, given what we’re doing, maybe that’s pretty accurate...
The worst-case scenario would be if all of them were together in one place. Technically, we could quietly observe until they split up, but if the wicked devout that had been dispatched to Lassei returned during that time, we’d be done for. Even if it turned out they were all gathered, we’d have no choice but to brace ourselves and charge in.
“Father, it appears the battle in Lassei has begun. The Nereids and Kyklops are currently engaging,” Kuon reported, intently watching the monitor with the map of Lassei. If they’d started, it was time for us to start our own mission.
“Albus, be ready to attack at any time.”
“Affirmative.”
If we failed in our mission, the plan was to have Val Albus attack the Ark to give us a chance to escape. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that, though.
“Time to get this mission started. Spatial Translocation!”
The area around us distorted for a moment, and then suddenly we were teleported to a different location entirely. We’d successfully crossed the divinity barrier the wicked devout had set up and infiltrated the Ark.
The warehouse I’d teleported us to looked a little like a spacious gymnasium with the only light being the dim glow from the manastones. Boxes of ore were being loaded onto a conveyor belt and dropping down into a hole at the end.
They must have been transporting the ore they excavated from the seafloor somewhere for smelting. No one was around; the only sound filling the room was the whirring from the machinery.
“I do believe we can consider this a successful infiltration, I do.”
“You said you could detect the positions of the wicked devout from here, right?”
“Yep. [Search].”
At Yae and Hilde’s insistence, I activated a divine [Search]. Divinity spread out like a small ripple on the water’s surface, gradually widening and increasing its range. I managed to detect the locations of the wicked devout and the not-Gold gold crown, and came to the unfortunate realization that our worst-case scenario had occurred: they were all gathered in the same area. What was worse, there was one more devout than I had been expecting.
I could detect Indigo, the woman with the iron mask, the gold crown, and then the unfamiliar devout. In other words, we’d have to take them all on at once...
I told everyone what I had discovered.
“I think we can view this as a good thing, at least—the one who can teleport remained in the Ark, after all,” Hilde said.
“Indeed. The only problem now is that we need to decide who will take on the remaining enemies, we do. We know Yakumo will be facing that Indigo fellow, but...”
Hilde and Yae both dropped into thought, most likely trying to decide who would be best to match up with who. Even if we put [Prison] up, there was no guarantee that the other devout wouldn’t try to interfere with Yakumo and Indigo’s battle.
Since Yakumo had experience with the iron mask woman, I asked for her opinion on what we should expect.
“The woman with the iron mask uses a mace to deliver attacks that act like gravity magic. I think that may be her wicked vessel’s ability, so I doubt she’ll be too dangerous while Divinity Neutralization is active.”
Well, at least she didn’t sound impossible to deal with. The duos of Yae and Kuon and Hilde and Frei could deal with the other wicked devout, while I would take on the gold crown together with Steph and Gold. That felt like a good balance, right?
It didn’t help that I had no idea what would happen when the two gold crowns met. It was probably natural to assume that since they were the same unit, they’d have some kind of synchronization function. With Steph on my side, it would account for the possibility that Gold may end up losing control and turning against us.
I felt bad for Steph, but if things turned out that way, I fully intended to forcefully put a stop to Gold’s functions using [Cracking]. According to Doc Babylon, Gold should have something that acted as his black box. If that was a device to have him synchronize with the other gold crown, then...
It would be best that I be the one pit against him just so I could respond to whatever happened.
“Mother, we should take on that iron mask lady with the mace,” Frei said while pulling a large shield out of [Storage].
Hilde nodded at her daughter’s suggestion. “Good idea. I think that would be smart.”
Yae and Kuon would likely struggle with the mace’s gravity magic, so that was a good move. Even though the neutralization would be in effect, if they ended up too far away from Yakumo—the locus of the effect—the gravity magic would still work.
“Yakumo, do you have the sacred treasure ready?”
“Yes, father. I’m ready at any time.”
Yakumo had tied the transformed sacred treasure harpbow to her back with a tasuki sash. She had attached it to herself in a way where she could utilize the neutralization without using it as an actual weapon. It would have to be used to destroy Indigo’s wicked vessel, but until then, the divinity of the other two wicked devout needed to be sealed. If we could hurt the devout to some extent, or take away their weapons from them, we’d have this battle in the bag.