17-43. Netherworld Invasion (3)
Satou here. I generally worked in a team at the company, but our team members usually had a varying degree of skill levels. And thus, you would find some who loathed teamwork and preferred to work alone, but if you persevere and raise them properly, they will grow into the pillars that support the team.
◇
『Farewell.』
『We shall await for good news at Realm of Gods.』
『And don’t you forget Parion!』
God Heraruon, Garleon and Zaikuon turned into lights and vanished with a dazzling flash.
Three gigantic mountain of salt remained in their places.
It’s probably the material that formed their bodies, but cleaning it up would be a pain so I secured them in Storage. It being a kind of holy relic, I’ll give it to any temple who wants.
–Now then.
In order to fix the rips between Netherworld and Human World, I need to cleanse Demon God of impurities, the source of this all.
To that end, I plan to go visit Netherworld.
If that doesn’t seem feasible, I might have to shelter the people and animals in human world in a sub-space before moving them to another world or planet. I loathe to make them discard their hometown though, so I’m keeping that plan as a last resort.
Just as I was about to get started, Core Two contacted me.
『Master Satou! A report from Core. The orbs are done, she said.』
『Already huh, pretty fast. Should I go to the dungeon?』
I had asked Phantasmal Labyrinth’s Dungeon Core to create [Self Status] [Skill Orbs] for all the girls, and it appeared she was done making them even though I made the request not too long ago.
『They’ve been delivered here, I’ve got them with me now.』
I bring Core Two along with the orbs to where I am with Unit Arrangement.
“Master Satou, here!”
“Thank you, Core Two.”
I distribute the orbs to the girls.
Since there was one extra, I gave it to the Core Two who looked curious.
“Nothing for me?”
The purple little girl whom I had partially forgotten asked, the look on her face was like she was being left out.
She’s getting restless when she watches Pochi and Tama about to use the orbs all smiles.
–Can’t be helped.
“You can use this.”
“Waii”
I gave her a [Skill Orb] from some surplus dead stock left in my Storage.
It’s just for Gathering skill anyway, should pose no problem.
“How do you use this?”
“You hold it up high up and then shout 『I’m gonna cease being human!』 out loud as you pour mana into it.”
<TLN: Or alternatively, “I reject my humanity!”>
Arisa teased the purple little girl with a famous line from a super masterpiece work of fiction.
“But I’m Demon God’s familiar, not a human?”
“That’s just how the law is.”
“That was close nodesu. Pochi almost broke the law nodesuyo.”
“Uy uy~”
Once Pochi and Tama who overheard Arisa’s and the purple little girl’s conversation went along with Arisa’s manga reference prank, the other girls also followed along and used the orb while bashfully said the line out loud.
As the unexpectedly enthusiastic princess and the shy Zena-san and lady Karina used their orbs, Hikaru, who got the reference, patched things up for Liza and Lulu who were still hesitant, “That manners of usage…”
“Arisa, mind giving a lecture on the skill’s usage and tricks?”
“OK, leave it to me.”
Now the girls should be able to cast magic chantlessly like me and Arisa.
Since the beastkin girls and lady Karina didn’t have magic skills, I handed them a set of Chant Orbs, Water Orbs, and Light Orbs for simple healing spells. Although I’m not sure they can memorize the spells, I write down some usable and easy to learn healing spells and pass them over nonetheless.
◇
“Okay then, I’m off.”
Now that the girls have powered up, I was going to depart for Netherworld to start the investigation.
“Hold it, Master.”
The worrywart Arisa warped in front of me.
“Sorry, Arisa. You have to let me go. Netherworld and Human World would fuse together at this rate.”
“No, not that. I’m not going to stop you anymore.”
Oh good. I don’t want to make her cry.
“But before that, let’s all have our fill!”
–Come again?
“I mean, there’s no telling when we can have our next meal.”
“…You’re right.”
Even speaking pessimistically, the situation at the boundary between Human World and Netherworld is not critical enough to have it broken down in one or two days. There’s plenty of time to eat.
And this might very well be our last supper.
I’ve got enough tact not to say that out loud though.
Besides this large spaceship is equipped with the latest auto magic cookery equipment, it can make most dishes in no time.
“Meat skewers combination platter~?”
“So many Hamburg Steak-sensei are gathered here nodesu!”
Tama and Pochi are on meat point like always.
Artificial gravity is active in the ship’s dining hall, so we can eat like normal here.
“Mushroom skewers and vegetable curry.”
“Master, Sera and I worked together on the curry so I inform.”
“Oh but I’m not proficient at cooking so I only did some cutting.”
Mia, Nana and Sera brought vegetable curry in.
Even though cutting and cooking can be done automatically, these girls have chosen to do it manually it seems.
“We have prawn and crab dishes here.”
“And of course tuna of all kinds too, Master.”
Liza and Lulu lined up big platters.
“Me, Hikaru-sama and Karina-sama made this soba together from dough as a lucky charm.”
“Ehehehe~, we made it long and thin.”
“I tossed it as hard as I could desuwa!”
Princess Sistina, Hikaru and lady Karina put three kinds of soba with different color each on the table.
I was wondering if the ship’s machine wasn’t up to their standard, but apparently they wanted to make it by hand since it was to be a lucky charm.
“Satou-san, I tried to make the mutton dish that’s usually served in Seryuu army deployment ceremony.”
Zena-san served an unusual dish.
Looks like she learned to make mutton cuisine from either her family house or the gate inn during her visit to Seryuu City back then.
Since this isn’t in the auto cookery menu, she must have cooked it together with Lulu in the kitchen the manual way.
Within the time afforded, I ate the food everyone kindly prepared with great relish.
I didn’t realize how hungry I was, I ended up eating surprisingly a lot.
“Now then, I’m off.”
After enjoying some after meal tea, I stood up as if to shake away any regret.
“What are you talking about, Master. We’re all going with you obviously!”
The girls voiced out their agreement to Arisa’s declaration.
Even the purple little girl and Core Two.
I tried to stop them from doing something so reckless, but they managed to convince me by pointing out god Karion’s Miasma Barrier installed in the spaceship.
Well, I suppose we need someone to watch over Nethergate’s vicinity.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
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“All members, on your seat, do not forget your seatbelt, so I announce.”
Nana who was sitting in the shell-shaped cockpit sent out a broadcast to everyone.
This ship’s seatbelt is unlike the one you see in cars, more like the stuff in a fighter craft with six point locks.
“All hands on seat confirmed, releasing gravity control.”
Right as Nana said that, a floating sensation enveloped everyone.
This would have been the scene where you see everyone’s hair floating around if it were anime or manga, but since we all have a full face helmet on, you can only see your own hair floating inside the helmet.
“Deploying Anti Miasma Barrier so I announce.”
“Miasma Barrier deployed.”
The spaceship gets reinforced by Miasma Barrier, but I’m still a bit worried.
We could deploy more barriers, or–.
“Zena-san, could you permeate 『Saint Prey』 into the Miasma Barrier?”
“Y-yes! I’ll do my best!”
An orange light pulsed over Zena-san’s body, [Saint Prey] Unique Skill from god Heraruon went and strengthened the ship’s [Miasma Barrier].
Figured as much.
This method is more effective than deploying multiple barriers.
“Deploying Anti Detection Shield so I announce.”
“Anti Detection system and Hermit Hide activate.”
Emerald light pulsed over Sera’s body, Unique Skill loaned by god Tenion, [Hermit Hide] conceals the large spaceship from humans and gods’ eyes.
“Master, all preparations complete so I report.”
Nana informed me the latest status with a familiar sounding phrase.
“Well then, let us be off.”
To prevent opening the mended seams in the World Boundary, I used Unit Arrangement to teleport the spaceship straight to the Nether Corridors.
“Warning~?”
“Dangerous level of miasma density nanodesu!”
“Master, the alarm has gone off.”
Whoa, it’s even denser than anticipated.
I pick [Miasma Barrier] on my magic list and invoke it.
I squeezed the range to cover the bridge and stacked several layers over just to be doubly sure.
Zena-san’s Unique Skill is still active as well, the bridge should be fine now.
Next, reinforcing barrier that covers the entire spaceship.
“Satou-san, should we stack more Miasma Barriers?”
“Yes, we should. Don’t forget to adjust the output of the Sacred Stone Furnace.”
I gave the okay to Zena-san to stack more barriers over the entire spaceship.
“Understood desuwa. Raka-san, if you’d please.”
『Umu, on it.』
“I’ll help too!”
Lady Karina instructed <<Intelligent Item>> Raka to adjust the Sacred Stone Furnace’s output. Core Two assisted them in the fine tuning.
After confirming the increased output, Zena-san adds more layers of Miasma Barrier over the spaceship.
“It seems we have problems inside the ship.”
“I have dispatched maintenance golems. Allow me to take care of it.”
Receiving Hikaru’s report, princess Sistina immediately gave orders to her subordinate golems to help with damage control.
The ship’s insides should be fine now.
I check the Map–.
“Deploying Detection System so I announce.”
“Nn, Sanctuary Guard.”
An indigo blue light overflowed out of Mia and permeated into the spaceship’s radars.
[Sanctuary Guard] Unique Skill loaned by god Urion reinforced the ship’s radar.
The ship’s sphere-shaped radar suddenly saw an explosive increase of silhouettes displayed on it.
Those appear to be stealth-Skilled demons lying in ambush.
The radar shows the same response as my Map, nothing for me to add.
“It’s choke full of hostiles.”
“A mere superiority in numbers. There’s nothing but lesser and mid-class demons.”
“Aye!”
“Yupyup yippie nanodesuyo.”
A flaming blue light swelled out of Liza’s body, stirring up other girls’ fighting spirits.
Looks like she’s unconsciously invoked god Garleon’s [Hero Heart] Unique Skill.
“Should we get ’em?”
I shake my head at Hikaru’s question.
“Doesn’t look like they know we’re here thanks to Sera-san’s power, let’s use this chance to blaze through the Dungeon Corridors.”
The fact that there is no greater demons among them must mean that these demons are here to scout the area and detect us instead of attacking.
“Yes Master, initiating sneaky sneak mode so I report.”
No no, this ship doesn’t have such mode, you know.
We held our breath as the ship skipped through Nether Corridors before finally arriving at Netherworld.
