Turbulent Travels
Satou here. In fiction, as soon as heroes make it through one predicament, they often find themselves in another one. That can be fun to read or watch, but I’d definitely rather not live it for myself.
“Master! Something huge is coming from down below!”
Arisa whirled around from where she stood staring behind the airship.
It was on my radar, too: a level-45 monster called a many-winged centipede. The insectoid creature had some annoying-looking race-specific inherent skills like “Reflect Magic” and “Magicrystal Barrier.”
I had ignored it when I first noticed it on my map, since it was asleep and didn’t seem likely to attack us, but now it had chosen to show up at the last possible second.
Clearly, we were caught up in the midst of some Vistall Duchy drama, but the dissenters were running low on firepower.
All they had left were this many-winged centipede and the last lance beetle; the Elder Crow rider who’d been observing nearby was already starting to flee. I had placed a marker on him already, so I could track him down anytime.
One of the lifeboats had prematurely left the airship a little while before. As far as I could tell from my Space Magic spell Clairvoyance, though, it didn’t seem to be an abduction, so I left it alone.
“That thing looks like an anomalocaris. Is it a tamed monster, too?”
I peered out next to Arisa.
The monster that had crashed through the hunting manor in the forest and was heading our way really did look like an anomalocaris from a paleontology book, albeit with a bigger torso and insectoid wings.
“Want me to get ’im?”
“No, it can reflect magic, so…”
I’ll just take it down physically.
Before I could finish saying that, other mithril explorers started chants and sent all kinds of attack magic flying toward the many-winged centipede as it passed by the airship.
Most of the magic that hit its carapace bounced back toward the front deck and balcony, sending the explorers scurrying to dodge it.
“I guess it doesn’t go back toward the caster specifically.”
“Apparently not.”
We were able to continue having a casual conversation because Nana blocked the spells that bounced our way.
The flying centipede’s body seemed to bounce magic off at random rather than reflecting it, while its roundish bug-like wings neutralized and absorbed any magic that came their way.
Of course, it couldn’t deflect and neutralize an endless amount of magic attacks; my AR display showed me that it did take some amount of damage.
The many-winged centipede let out an irate-sounding screech and twisted around in front of the airship to face our way.
“Seems like greater attack magic should be able to break through. What do you want to do?”
“Hmm… I think I’ll pass.”
Arisa glanced over at Mia, who was almost done with her chant. A massive amount of energy was starting to surround the elf girl.
“It looks like Mia’s almost done with her chant anyway.”
No sooner did Arisa finish speaking than Mia’s spell was invoked.
“…… Create Garuda Fuureiou Souzou.”
A golden, bird-shaped pseudo-spirit appeared, shining and semi-transparent with a crown atop its head.
It was as powerful as the behemoth Miss Aaze once summoned.
“A golden beast?”
“No wait, a bird?”
“No… It must be one of the divine beasts that the high elves used in the age of mythology.”
The mithril explorers murmured in awe as Garuda appeared.
“Satou, magic.”
In response to Mia’s brief demand, I used Mana Transfer to restore Mia’s drained MP.
“Do it.”
On Mia’s command, the Garuda spread its wings and stopped in midair against the strong wind, transforming its wingtips and stretching them toward the centipede monster like something from a CGI film.
Dozens of golden feathers flicked out faster than the eye could follow, piercing straight through and shredding the many-winged centipede.
The giant insect squirmed its sinewy body to escape, but it couldn’t resist for long before it was torn to pieces.
Garuda’s golden feathers had cut right through the centipede’s magic-reflecting body and neutralizing wings alike as if they weren’t even there.
“Incredible…”
“So that’s the Summoning Magic that defeated a floormaster?”
The mithril explorers who were fighting on the balcony murmured in awe.
“Good work, Mia.”
“Mrrr.”
Mia seemed a little disappointed.
She probably asked me for more magic so she could use Garuda’s special attack “Tempest,” so she must have been disappointed that the enemy went down before she got a chance to use it.
But I would’ve most likely stopped her from doing that anyway, since “Tempest” is way too powerful and flashy.
“Send home?”
Mia watched as Garuda defeated the fleeing lance beetles and captured their riders, then looked at me questioningly.
“Sure, we’re done here.” I nodded.
There were no longer any red dots or tamed monsters on my radar.
All that was left was to capture the terrorists who tried to blow themselves up on the airship. I hadn’t had time to go deal with them before, so I had just stolen their magi bombs from a distance.
Of course, I had already restrained the higher-level knights on the rear deck who had the “Item Box” skill or who had attempted to mess with the machinery.
“Mew?”
“I hear a flute, sir.”
Tama’s and Pochi’s ears shot up straight.
My “Keen Hearing” skill wasn’t picking up on anything, though.
“Where from?” Arisa asked.
I guess she couldn’t hear it, either.
But before the pair could answer, there was a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass from ahead of us.
At the same time, a dark gray mass billowed outward on the other side of the front deck, followed by a wave of glass fragments flying toward us.
The only person who had been over there was the high official with the “Summoning Magic” skill.
I ran across the deck, heading for the bridge.
The official’s “Summoning Magic” skill level seemed low enough that I wasn’t expecting him to produce something so dangerous.
I jumped in through the freshly made hole in the glass ceiling of the bridge.
Countless tentacles unfurled around me as I dropped toward the bridge. I slashed away at them, trying to make sense of what was happening before I landed.
My AR display informed me that most of the equipment on the bridge was broken, and the majority of the crew except for the captain had sunk into a sea of blood.
On top of that, the glass wall surrounding the bridge had been more or less shattered, leaving only a frame that didn’t protect the bridge from being whipped by the powerful winds.
I heard the crewmen groaning amid the puddles of blood. It wasn’t too late to save them, then.
Shortly after I landed, the beastfolk girls dropped down behind me.
“Oopsie, sir.”
Tama supported Pochi before she could lose her balance.
Since the bridge that controlled the engines and propellers had been destroyed, the airship’s flight seemed to be slowly losing its stability.
“‘KARINA KIIIIIICK!’”
Lady Karina appeared to have come along as well, flying right into the writhing mass that had destroyed the bridge.
“Eeeeek!”
Unfortunately, she was snatched up in midair and held upside down by the tentacles.
Since her skirt had been wrapped up along with her, her underwear was safe from being exposed, but the sight was still decidedly risqué.
“Liza, destroy the tentacles. Tama, Pochi, please help Lady Karina.”
As I directed the beastfolk girls, I also used Healing Magic on the whole crew.
Some of them were near death, but luckily I managed to save them, although they were still unconscious from the blood loss.
While Karina was distracted, I used Magic Hand to move all the crewmen from the wreckage of the bridge to the other side of the corridor.
“Heeeave…”
“Hooo, sir.”
Tama and Pochi were doing their best to dig Karina out from what was now a mountain of tentacles.
“Master! Take a look at this.”
I turned toward Liza and saw that she had cut all the tentacles away. Beneath the pile of them was a bizarrely transformed human figure.
Though his features were no longer recognizable, my AR display informed me that it was the high official who used Summoning Magic.
At first I thought he’d been overpowered by a monster he summoned.
But I realized it was another story when I saw the ominous-looking magic tool embedded in his chest. Though it had broken open in the middle and lost its contents, the surface was the same color and texture as the tentacles.
It was evidently called a Demonic Heart. It had the conditions Rampage and Breakdown, most likely making it the source of all the tentacle madness.
“Heal hiiim?”
“He’s going to die, sir.”
Whoops, almost forgot.
I used Healing Magic to close the high official’s wounds.
Though it was enough to save his life, there was no spark of intelligence left in his eyes; he just lay convulsing and staring into space.
Well, he brought this on himself. I could probably let a medical institution take things from here.
“Goodness, that was dreadful.”
Drenched in viscous liquid, Karina wiped her face clean with a towel borrowed from Pochi.
Raka can’t protect her from getting dirty?
A bit confused, I used a scroll from Storage as a dummy while I cleaned her up with Everyday Magic.
“Master! Do you need backup?”
Arisa connected everyone with the Space Magic spell Tactical Talk.
“No, we’re—”
In the middle of my sentence, I felt the airship shake.
“Master! Tentacles popped up over here, too!”
Arisa shouted urgently.
“Nana, protect everyone! There should be a person at the heart of the tentacles. Be careful!”
“Yes, master.”
As I called out an order, I searched my map for Demonic Heart.
The devices showed up not only in the engine room, nobles’ room, and rear deck where the suicide bombers had been, but also on the observation deck near Arisa, and even in the fuel store and the base of the stabilizing fin.
The Demonic Heart on the observation deck was in the Rampage and Breakdown conditions, but the others seemed to be in relatively normal states. Most likely, the tentacles appeared when the devices broke down and entered the “Rampage” mode.
There were too many people and important airship parts in the way for me to destroy all the Demonic Hearts from where I stood using only magic or physical attacks.
The only one I could probably target from outside with a spell like Remote Arrow or Flexible Sword was the one on the observation deck. If I haphazardly attacked the ones near the stabilizing fin or the rear deck, I might end up destroying the airship in the process.
Besides, the Demonic Hearts were embedded in people’s bodies. If I tried to destroy them with a long-distance attack, there was a good chance I’d kill the host, too.
But maybe a nonlethal attack spell like Remote Stun…
ZHWOZHWOZHWOOOGZ.
I heard an awful, hacking howl behind me—from the direction of the observation deck, where Arisa and the others were.
Shortly afterward, a series of unpleasant tremors shook the floor.
I didn’t even need to look at my map information. The Demonic Hearts in the other five areas besides the observation deck must have started sprouting tentacles and rampaging.
They had beaten me to the punch.
Using a spell like Remote Stun probably wouldn’t be enough to stop them now.
“Master, there are tentacles near the wing now, too.”
“Master, tentacles have appeared at the rear of the airship as well, I report.”
I heard Lulu’s and Nana’s voices.
“Master, what are your orders?”
Liza looked at me intently.
Tama and Pochi stood on either side, gazing up at me as well.
Mentally, I quickly sorted through my priorities.
Arisa and the others should be fine. The Demonic Heart tentacles were only around level 30.
Baronet Jelil was in the noble visitors’ room, so he could probably handle that.
“Liza, take care of the engine room, please! Pochi and Tama, go with Liza! Once you’ve taken care of things there, head to the fuel stores.”
The beastfolk girls took off running with a quickly shouted response. Karina went with them, too. Since Raka was with her, though, she’d likely be all right.
Normally, I would have gone with them, but right now I had to take care of keeping the airship on track in place of the broken bridge.
Ideally, I was hoping we could still reach the airport in the royal capital, but at the very least I had to make sure the airship landed safely.
I tore away the broken console and pulled up the cables from within.
Then I took from Storage the development terminal I had used when I built the airship and connected the cables to it.
All I would be able to do was enter debug commands, but I might be able to make it work.
First, I checked if a PING signal would reach the engine room and steering circuits.
Got it.
The signal successfully connected with both.
“Engine room doooor?”
“Tentacles everywhere, sir.”
“We will begin the extermination now, master.”
The beastfolk girls seemed to have reached the engine room.
“Master, we beat the one over here. It looks like it was a lady-in-waiting who sprouted the tentacles. A scout who was on the observation deck said that one of the wives is missing—whoa!”
In the middle of Arisa’s report, a large tremor rocked the airship.
I heard the other kids shriek in surprise through Tactical Talk.
According to the information in my development terminal, three right-side propellers out of a total of six had gotten overcharged with excess magic power, while one had been cut off and had stopped working.
The airship leaned heavily to the left as it began to pick up speed.
At this rate, we would crash into the mountain up ahead on our left.
I tried to do an emergency shutdown on the propellers in overdrive, but there was no response.
Well, if I can’t do it the proper way, I’ll just have to use some tricks.
I decided to use the Space Magic spell Clairvoyance and the Practical Magic spell Magic Hand to look for the emergency brake devices attached to the propellers themselves.
Using my “Parallel Thoughts” skill to keep working with the development console, I activated Clairvoyance and saw the grim state of the engine room.
Of the four skypower engines, two of them had their coaxial wheels bent out of shape and were shooting sparks. The other two weren’t producing flames, but their rotations weren’t quite on track.
The Magic Furnace had taken significant damage, too; the red light at the center was flickering faintly.
Amid all the damage, though, the beastfolk girls had destroyed most of the tentacles in spite of the sideways motion of the airship.
“Master, up ahead! Look out!”
Arisa desperately shouted about the mountain up ahead.
I know.
I searched for the emergency brake mechanisms.
“They’re gone?!”
The propellers’ emergency brakes seemed to have been deliberately ripped off.
In fact, that was probably why the propellers were in overdrive in the first place.
I couldn’t just cut off the magic power supply cable, either, since doing so might break the Magic Furnace and other devices.
If I stop the furnace first—no. If I stopped the furnace, the skypower engines would stop working until I was able to restart it. And there was no proof that the nearly broken devices would start back up again at all.
Originally, the airship was designed so that it could make an emergency landing as long as one of the engines was intact, but I couldn’t take the chance of all of them stopping and the airship going down.
How about this, then?
I entered a command in the development console.
The airship sped up even more.
“Master, this is bad! Up ahead! Watch OUT!”
We drew close enough to the mountain to clearly see animals running away.
Just a little longer…
“Liza! Kick propeller Number 2 on the right!”
“Understood!”
The propeller sputtered and slowed down for just a moment.
Its speed should have picked back up in no time, and even if it was in worse shape than before, that was fine for now.
“GYAAAAAH!”
The airship abruptly swerved around the mountain as if pushed away by Arisa’s piercing scream.
There was a grating sound and tremors as the side of the airship scraped against the rocks and withered trees jutting from the side of the mountain.
For a moment, I felt like I could almost see the air density and flow.
I put my faith in that sense and pushed the airship along with the wind, managing to raise its altitude.
“I thought we were gonna diiiie!”
The blue sky opened up before my eyes.
I had managed to avoid crashing into the mountain by sending the left propellers into overdrive.
Unfortunately, that meant the airship was now rapidly gaining speed.
Whether it was because the propellers were taking up so much of the magic power supply, or because the skypower engines were on the verge of breaking, the airship kept jostling up and down like a plane that had hit turbulence.
Thanks to my “Parallel Thoughts” skill, I was able to keep conversing with Arisa and company over Tactical Talk, but that left me without enough resources to do magic at the same time. Hopefully, I could take care of things with the Magic Hand and Clairvoyance spells I had already activated.
“Master, shouldn’t we try to either gain altitude or lose speed?”
“Believe me, I’m trying.”
I would have adjusted these factors already if I could have.
“Are we out of control right now? Like, is this pretty bad?”
“Yeah, it’s not great at the moment.”
As I had concluded earlier, I would have to turn off the Magic Furnace to slow down the propellers, but that would result in the skypower engines stopping and the airship crashing to the ground.
At the moment, I was doing my best to use the dynamic lift flap on the stabilizer fin to raise our altitude.
Unlike an airplane’s wings, the airship’s wings were short and thin, so my adjustments probably wouldn’t do much.
“Master, if I use my Unique Skill, I can teleport all the passengers to the ground.”
“Absolutely not.”
If Arisa did that, her soul vessel might take damage, even with the protection of the soul shell garland.
“But if we don’t do something, everyone else will—”
“No. You’re more important to me than any of them.”
“Wha? O-oh my, hee-hee. That serious tone is making me blush…”
Arisa’s voice trembled with genuine emotion as she tried to laugh it off.
As usual, in spite of her typical attitude, she got embarrassed when she was on the receiving end of praise.
“Just trust your master and his cheats, okay?”
“Yes, of course.”
I put on a bit of a joking tone, and Arisa responded with relief.
“Mrrr.”
I heard a slightly annoyed grunt from Mia over Tactical Talk. I tried to reassure her by saying, “You’re important to me, too, Mia,” but she just angrily repeated, “Too?” Kids are so hard to deal with.
“All right, let’s see here. This really doesn’t look great.”
I scanned the development console and my AR’s map information, muttering to myself.
It might have seemed like we were doomed, but if I didn’t mind revealing all of my powers, I could save everyone at any moment.
All I would have to do is put the airship itself in Storage, and lower everyone to the ground with Magic Hand. However, given the number of passengers, I would probably have to let about a third of them drop into the lake we would soon be passing over.
I thought about using Magic Hand to lower the airship to safety, too, but that probably wouldn’t work. As useful as the spell was, the most it could produce was the strength of about sixty ordinary men.
It’d be another thing if I could use the advanced spell Magic Hand, but as things stood, I couldn’t possibly support the entire weight of the airship.
I thought about having Arisa use a Space Magic gate spell of some kind, too; however, it would be far too difficult to hold a gate open long enough for the unstable, nearly breaking airship to get through.
I doubt even Arisa could maintain a gate spell in a constantly changing position for more than a short time.
If only there were two of me, I could have one steer the ship and send the other to fix the machinery…
“No, there’s no use thinking about if-onlys.”
An emergency landing was probably the best way to ensure everyone’s safety after all.
But I would have to satisfy a few conditions to succeed:
• Lower the airship’s speed enough to land safely.
• Make sure there was enough of a runway-like space for the landing.
• Find a landing area that wouldn’t endanger anyone on the ground.
• Neutralize the four remaining Demonic Heart users before they caused any trouble.
Those first two were especially indispensable.
The third one was necessary as far as I was concerned, but wasn’t technically an absolute requirement.
And the last one would be fine regardless, but I wanted to minimize the risks as much as I could.
I mentally planned out the required steps and a path for the airship.
All while steering the unsteady craft, of course.
It certainly wasn’t easy, but I was able to keep it up well enough over a short time, I’d say.
But it would definitely be impossible to pull all this off by myself.
“Sorry, everyone, but I’m going to need your help.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Just say the word!”
Over Tactical Talk, the others all chimed in to agree with Arisa.
“There are four more of those tentacle things. Liza, Tama, and Pochi, you take care of the one in the fuel stores like we planned—”
“Dooone?”
“We just finished, sir!”
“The fuel stores are under control. We also healed the host enough to survive and restrained him.”
In spite of the turbulence and acceleration, the beastfolk girls had already carried out my initial instructions.
“Great job! Can you go to the rear deck next?”
“Of course, sir.”
Liza and the other beastfolk girls headed for the rear deck.
“Nana, grab Mia and come to the bridge! Mia, get ready to summon Garuda again, please!”
“Yes, master.”
“’Kay.”
I was planning to have Mia’s Garuda get rid of the tentacles crawling all over the stabilizer fin.
Huh?
There was nothing there anymore.
“Master, Lulu and I got rid of the one that was on that wing.”
My girls were on top of things, as always.
“A crow-looking thing picked it up as it fell. Should we shoot it down?”
The Elder Crow rider who I thought had fled had returned.
“No, you can leave that alone.”
I already had a marker on him.
“There are still some tentacle fragments on the wing. Can you have Mia’s Garuda get rid of any that seem like a problem?”
“Mrrr.”
Mia didn’t seem to appreciate her powerful Summoning Magic being used for cleanup.
I checked the remains with my still-active Clairvoyance spell. It looked like Arisa had used Space Magic to knock the tentacles off before Lulu blasted them away. They’d done a pretty great job, I had to say.
“Then could you and Lulu go to the noble visitors’ room, Arisa?”
“That VIP room?”
“Yeah, to back up Baronet Jelil so he’s not fighting on his own.”
“Okey-dokey! Let’s go, dear sister.”
According to my map information, Baronet Jelil was fighting to protect Duke Vistall and had gotten injured.
If I remembered right, he was in formal nobles’ wear without even a sword, so he was probably having a tough time.
“Master, some mithril explorers came along. What should we do?”
With a big enough group, they should have been able to defeat the tentacles without Arisa and Lulu.
“All right. Let them take care of things in the nobles’ room. You and Lulu heal the injured and guide passengers and crewmen to the multipurpose room at the rear of the ship, please.”
There were several multipurpose rooms on the airship, all of them equipped to neutralize impact from an emergency landing.
“Youuu got it!”
Arisa and Lulu jumped into action.
That should take care of the tentacles and evacuation for now; next, I had to try to guide the airship toward an area where it could land safely.
Hmm?
I noticed the rudder wasn’t turning very well.
The tentacles on the rear deck must have done some damage—it was like the tail fin was dragging.
There was also the aileron for stabilization, but since it was covered in tentacle remains and could only turn to the right, it wasn’t very useful.
But we should have been able to scrape through somehow.
“Master, I am here to help, I report.”
Nana jumped onto the bridge, expressionless but eager to offer her support.
Mia’s long pigtails were getting whipped into her face by the strong wind on the ruined bridge, impeding her spellcasting.
“Nana, stand next to me and use your Foundation Defense Wall, please.”
“Yes, master.”
A magic circle appeared on Nana’s brow, and she surrounded us with a transparent dome of protection.
Right away, Mia’s chant got steadier.
Evidently bored, Nana was tying Mia’s hair back from her face.
The airship bounced to one side, and Mia’s eyes filled with tears as she bit her tongue.
“Mrrr, start over.”
Mia started the chant over again.
Hmm?
The turning rudder was no longer responding at all.
“Master, we’ve disposed of the tentacles on the rear deck and restrained the person who was at the source of them.”
Liza gave a timely report.
“Liza, could you look out the window nearby and tell me what’s going on with the rudder?”
Changing the position of my already-invoked Clairvoyance spell was something of a pain. Since she was already on the scene, I asked Liza to check things out.
“Wobblyyy?”
“The top thingy is all broken and floppy, sir.”
Tama and Pochi reported in before Liza could respond.
Unfortunately, I didn’t quite understand their description, so in the end I had to change the Clairvoyance spell to look at it myself after all.
The rudder itself was intact, but the wire that controlled it had broken.
“I’ll have to fix it with Magic Hand—wait, it’s made from anti-magic material, huh…”
Since the wire and rudder were both made from magic-proof material, it would be difficult to interfere with them using Magic Hand.
While not totally impossible, it would be about as difficult as trying to grab a single strand of hair blowing in the wind while also keeping an eye on something else.
“We can do it, sir!”
“Aye-aye!”
Pochi and Tama scrambled up the rear deck’s maintenance ladder and along the frame that supported the rudder.
It was pretty reckless, even if I could theoretically catch them with Magic Hand, if it came to that.
“Liza, use a lifeline.”
“Understood.”
I told Liza where to find rope on the rear deck, and had her attach some to Tama and Pochi. As long as Liza held on to the other end, the pair should be safe.
Checking the area, I spotted Karina being blocked by her guardian maids.
They seemed to be arguing about something, but I couldn’t quite hear them.
When did her maids get to the rear deck anyway?
“I’m going to help, too!”
“N-no way!”
“Lady Karina, please stop.”
Pina and Erina tackled Karina to prevent her from running after Tama and Pochi.
“I was curious what they were saying, so I hooked up Madam Karina and company to the line, too.”
Arisa must have been checking on the deck with Clairvoyance, too, after hearing my conversation with the beastfolk girls over Tactical Talk, and had taken an interest in what was happening with Karina.
I couldn’t really use any more magic at the moment, so I sort of appreciated it.
“More importantly, master. Aren’t we going to either crash into the mountain on the right or scrape through the valley on the left and crush the village down there?”
Arisa pointed out that the airship’s altitude had lowered again.
The tremor that made Mia bite her tongue earlier must have been one of the engines blowing out.
That made our already low altitude drop even lower, and since the rudder wasn’t working, we had strayed from my intended path and were between a rock and a hard place like Arisa described.
“Sergeant Pochi, Sergeant Tama! I’m counting on you to fix the rudder!”
“Aye-aye!”
“Roger, sir!”
Both good responses.
Before their reverberations had fully faded, our airship plunged into a perilous pass.
“Master, careful on the right!”
Arisa was using the information she sensed with Space Magic to give me directions.
I appreciated the favor. Theoretically, I could get the same info from my map, but it was pretty tough to control the airship and assess the details on the map at the same time.
“Tama, roll up the wire by half an arm’s length.”
“Twiiirl!”
We shifted away from the rock face coming up on the right.
“Master, on the left next!”
“Pochi, unroll your wire by two arms’ lengths.”
“Swoosh, sir.”
The airship narrowly dodged a large tree branch jutting from the wall on our left.
But we had moved a bit too far away—now we were about to graze a rock jutting out on the lower right.
“Pochi, roll it back up half an arm’s length.”
“Waaah, sir!”
“Great, that’s perfect.”
We managed to dodge the rock.
The valley was alongside a river, making it incredibly rife with twists and turns.
Luckily, we were still able to avoid crashing thanks to Tama and Pochi’s frantic wire work steering the rudder.
“Master, up ahead!”
A bird around the size of a large motorcycle came flying toward the warped frame that was all that remained of the bridge.
“Bird strikes are dangerous, I declare!”
Activating her Foundation Flexible Shield and holding her trusty physical one, Nana defended Mia and me from the bird’s body slam and sent it flying behind us.
I heard some serious crashing and snapping, but it didn’t matter, since just about everything here had already been destroyed by tentacles.
“Master, this next bit’s gonna be tricky.”
Three massive trees blocked our path.
They were spaced out a bit to the front, but as far as I could tell with my “Telescopic Sight” skill, they might as well have been lined up right across our path. It would be all but impossible to weave around them with the giant airship.
“Lulu and I will see what we can do.”
As soon as Arisa spoke, red flames fired out of Lulu’s Fireburst Gun and hit the trunk of the tree on the left.
Moments later, Arisa used Fire Magic to snipe the middle tree and burn it to a crisp.
Arisa started a chant to take down the tree on the right, but Lulu hadn’t finished taking down the first tree yet.
The Fireburst Gun, which was intended for high-level monsters, had such high piercing power that it shot right through the trunk.
Just as Lulu managed to bring her tree down anyway, Arisa’s spell activated.
“Geh, sorry, I missed…”
The turbulence in the valley caused Arisa’s Fire Magic to go off target and fail to bring the tree down.
Lulu followed up with her Fireburst Gun, but considering how long it had taken her to bring down the first tree, her shot didn’t seem like it would land in time.
I couldn’t let Arisa use chantless Fire Magic in public, and Nana’s Foundation attacks were too short-ranged to reach. Mia’s chants kept getting interrupted; it would be a while before she could finish a spell.
If I used a minimal Fire Shot, maybe I could keep steering the airship at the same—
“Master, allow me.”
Liza stepped in front of me, her crimson hair rippling in the wind.
She must have noticed my peril and come running from the stern of the ship.
“O mana, feel my burning blood—”
Liza smoothly spun her beloved Magic Spear to face forward, and it rapidly began to glow red.
“—pass through my arm, and gather at my spearhead!”
Glittering red Spellblade formed at the tip of the spear.
The giant tree bore down on the airship.
Lulu’s bullets were still pelting the trunk, and some mithril explorers’ magic had begun to reach it as well.
But it still wasn’t enough.
“Come forth, Spellblade Shot!”
As Liza shouted, a massive ball of magic power shot forth from the spearhead and smashed into the trunk of the tree, leaving red light in its wake.
With that final push, the tree began to fall forward.
But it was a little too late.
“Oh sh—”
At this rate, the tree would pierce straight into the bridge.
“I will protect master, I declare.”
Nana readied her shield.
Given the speed of the airship, though, even she wouldn’t emerge unharmed from a collision with an enormous tree.
I used Magic Hand to grab the giant tree and put it in Storage, and almost immediately took it back out and put it in a position where it wouldn’t hit the airship.
Hopefully, the mass of the airship itself would block most people from noticing.
Even if they did see it, they would probably just assume it had gotten pulled downward somehow.
“Thank you, Liza.”
Liza humbly explained that she had left Karina in charge of Pochi’s and Tama’s lifelines.
“Looks like that big tree was the last major obstacle.”
As Arisa spoke, we made it clear of the valley, and the enormous field of lotuses where I was planning to make a soft emergency landing came into view up ahead.
“That’s not good…”
There was a small settlement in the middle of the field.
“Master!”
“I see it.”
We must have gotten off my planned course.
At our current height, we would destroy half the settlement.
With the help of my “Telescopic Sight” skill, I saw the people in the settlement looking up at us in fear.
Guess it’s all or nothing…
“GOOOOOO!”
I released the power limiter I’d been discreetly using on the Magic Furnace and turned it up to full throttle.
Overcharged past their limits with magic power, the skypower engines roared and pushed us up higher into the air.
The nose of the airship tilted up right in front of the villagers running around in a panic below.
We were close enough to see their faces in detail, but somehow we managed to clear the settlement without damaging anything but a watchtower.
“Oooof. I thought we were gonna—waaah!”
Before Arisa could finish her sigh of relief, the airship shook.
Two of the engines had broken under the strain.
A coaxial wheel bounced around the engine room and crashed into one of the propellers, finishing it off.
“I’m shutting down the Magic Furnace! All hands, prepare for impact!”
I took over the announcement equipment to warn the crew and passengers.
But even when I sent the emergency shutdown command to the Magic Furnace, it didn’t stop.
At this rate, we would scrape right through the lotus field and crash into the outer wall of the royal capital, causing massive casualties.
“I’ll handle it, though, of course.”
I reached for the Magic Furnace with Magic Hand and put all the fuel inside it into Storage.
Of course, I also broke the supply pipe from the fuel stores with the coaxial wheel that had caused the problem.
The propellers quickly burned through the last of the fuel and stopped moving.
Then I used commands to slow the last two engines to a stop.
Before I could relax, though, the bottom of the airship scraped against the surface of the field.
“Eeeeek!”
Lulu shrieked at the sudden impact.
I activated the air brakes and opened the emergency parachute on the rear.
The airship began to rapidly slow down.
Good, now we should be able to stop right in front of the wall—
There was a loud KA-THUNK from behind me, and the braking suddenly loosened.
“Parachute, looost?”
“Karina, be careful, sir.”
Tama and Pochi, who were clinging to the tail of the airship, reported that the parachute had broken off.
Karina seemed to have toppled off when it happened, but Tama and Pochi managed to catch her by the arms and keep her from falling. Besides, even if she had, Raka probably would’ve kept her from being too badly hurt.
“The royal capital’s up ahead. We’re going to crash!”
There was no time to spare to answer Arisa.
I was already using Magic Hand, the Earth Magic spell Binding Grass, and various Wind Magic spells to try to slow the airship down, but given its enormous size, the spells weren’t having much effect.
Arisa was using Space Magic spells like Deracinator and Dimension Pile to back me up, too.
Even if we couldn’t stop before hitting the wall, I wanted to make sure we did as little damage as possible to the royal capital, at least…
No, wait.
I wasn’t so determined to hide my powers that I was willing to risk serious casualties.
If I did that, I’d feel too guilty to enjoy sightseeing in the royal capital.
All right, time to get serious.
This might make my life as Satou more complicated, but I could always make a new disguise mask for everyday life and go sightseeing as “Suzuki” or something instead.
Feeling strangely relieved, I opened my menu.
“…… Create Garuda Fuureiou Souzou.”
I heard a spell being cast behind me and turned around.
The golden-winged pseudo-spirit Garuda had appeared.
In spite of all the turbulence forcing her to start her chant over repeatedly, Mia had finally managed to complete it in the nick of time.
Wiping her hair away from her sweat-soaked forehead, Mia pointed forward and gave a slightly longer command than usual.
“Garuda, stop the airship.”
Immediately, Garuda surrounded the airship with golden feathers, slowing down the airship even more effectively than the emergency parachute.
“Nice one, Mia!”
“Mm. Did it.”
Mia puffed up her chest proudly at Arisa’s praise over Tactical Talk.
But even with Garuda’s power to control the wind, the massive airship was still closing in fast on the royal capital.
The crunching sounds of the hull gouging through the ground had quieted, but they hadn’t stopped.
The alarm bells of the royal capital rang, and I saw some Wyvern Knights and a squadron of birdfolk fly into the air.
My map showed the people in the royal capital fleeing as they noticed the approaching airship.
“Stop, dammit!”
“Garuda, hurry.”
The wall got bigger and bigger in my view.
From the bridge, I could see the city beyond the wall.
“It’s too late!”
Arisa cried out in despair.
At this rate, the airship would hit the wall in a matter of seconds.
Are you okay with that?
I didn’t even need to ask myself that question.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Satou!”
“Master?”
I jumped off the bridge and landed in front of the airship as it skidded forward.
Reentering through a gash in the bottom of the hull, I grabbed the mainframe of the airship, which had been exposed by the rocks and earth—and was made of dragon bone.
“Here we go!”
I activated Skyrunning.
Strength surged through my legs, more powerfully than I’d ever felt before.
The Skyrunning foothold broke, but I just kept making more.
The dragon bone began to bend due to all the pressure on a single point.
It dug deep into my shoulders painfully.
But pain was no big deal!
“AAAAARGH!”
Letting out an uncharacteristic war cry, I pushed back against the airship even harder.
As I held on out of sheer stubbornness, the airship stopped shaking, and the rocks and dirt pelting my back gradually subsided.
A cheer went up from atop the wall.
At last, the airship seemed to have stopped safely.
I pulled away from the dragon bone, rubbing my reddened shoulder, and flopped down on the dirt that had piled up at the bottom of the hull.
Whew, I haven’t been this exhausted in a while.
> Title Acquired: Unlucky Passenger
> Title Acquired: Expert Pilot
> Title Acquired: Muscle Flexer
> Title Acquired: Peerless Strength
> Title Acquired: Alterer of Fate
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