Collapse, Showdown, the Spell for Crossing Worlds – Part 04

In an instant, the inactive circuit began to glow.

The four colors merged into a rainbow. What he drew was the magic circuit based on the Four Elementals Fusion Theory, designed to unlock the mana hidden within the elemental stones.

Dismissed as a questionable theory, it had been proven successful in rare cases. The low success rate was attributable to the extremely difficult conditions needed for the spell to activate. The four types of magical energy had to be perfectly balanced, even accounting for mana present in the air. But Hikaru was able to meet these conditions thanks to his high level of Mana Detection.

The light faded quickly since the stones were only small fragments. Hikaru then gathered the now inert stones and erased any trace of the circuit. The faint markings would be unrecognizable later.

“What did you just do?” Soaarunay rushed over as Hikaru was about to return.

“I told you, I used the leftover catalysts.”

“Why didn’t you use them earlier? If they had been used for the shield, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“I think the absorption device failed to absorb all the mana.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Well, it’s what happened, so there’s no point in complaining. Let’s focus on getting the Golems working and fixing the barriers.”

Soaarunay still seemed dissatisfied but said, “The magic diagram has been activated.”

“Good. Now we just need to deal with the monsters outside.”

Suddenly, Hikaru felt a strange sensation, as if the ground was sinking beneath him. The labyrinth was vibrating again.

“What did you do?!”

“I told you, we’re repairing the barriers. I chose the quickest method: sinking the labyrinth.”

“What?! You said you were going to activate the Golems!”

“The Golems can’t handle it. Would you have agreed if I told you we were sinking the labyrinth?”

He doubted it. If it were anyone else, Hikaru would have said, “Do whatever you want.” He didn’t care about the Saak family’s feud with the Man Gnomes, and as long as it didn’t lead to mass slaughter or chaos, he would have preferred to let them sort it out. But Soaarunay had been to Japan, adopted their technology, and returned.

The outdoor camera and screen displaying the view were her creations. Hikaru also suspected she was responsible for the labyrinth flying. Otherwise, there would have been more records of it being spotted in the skies. Yet Hikaru had never heard of such a thing. It was clear Soaarunay had developed it.

If he let her go now, who knows what she might do next.

“I guess I could just kill you,” Hikaru muttered.

“Wait, what?! Why would you say that? You should know about the depths of sorcery, its profoundness, its potential, its future!”

“I’m not stupid enough to hand a weapon to a madman.”

Hikaru drew a knife from his pocket, and Soaarunay started backing away.

“W-Wait, you’re not serious, are you?”

“I don’t trust people who don’t keep their word.”

“I’ll keep it! But that spell can’t be undone so easily. Besides, dispelling it will disrupt this world’s balance.”

“I’ll figure it out after you’re dead.”

Soaarunay just mentioned something intriguing, but Hikaru ignored her. She might be lying, and he wasn’t about to let her manipulate him any further.

“Just die quietly.”

“W-Wait! If you kill me, your friends will die too! Are you okay with that?!”

“What?”

The giant screen showed winged monsters descending upon the Four Eastern Stars and Paula. Nearby, the adventurers who had fled earlier were also fighting as they headed toward the Man Gnome village.

Selyse’s magic sword glowed as she cut through the monsters, but the adventurers were becoming a liability. When one of them was struck down, Sophie rushed to help. Meanwhile, the others scattered, only to be attacked by more creatures.

“See? At this distance, the labyrinth’s weaponry could hold them off. I could show you how to use it right now. But if you kill me, you’ll have to figure it out on your own.”

Hikaru’s blood boiled. Soaarunay even used her own desperate situation as leverage.

“Deploy the weaponry.”

“Do you promise not to harm me if I do?”

“Yeah, I promise.”

He had no intention of keeping that promise. And Soaarunay had no intention of keeping hers either.

“Really? Can you swear to it?”

“Of course. I’m the one who said, ‘I don’t trust people who don’t keep their word,’ remember?”

“Very well, then.”

Soaarunay relaxed and led Hikaru to an elevator. It took them outside the labyrinth, to the spot where the girls had earlier removed the magic catalysts from the turret.

The sun was rising, and the labyrinth was slowly sinking. At this rate, it would be underground in a few hours.

“There.”

Through the strong headwind blowing down from the mountains, Hikaru could see Selyse and the others battling the monsters. Winged dragons and chimeras with lion bodies, snake tails, and wings filled the sky. These were the original, normal-sized chimeras, different from the one they had fought in the labyrinth.

There were also monsters on the ground: a giant snake large enough to swallow a house whole, a herd of six-legged giant horses, and one-eyed giants.

“Tch. The effects of the soul energy are still lingering outside.”

Soaarunay crouched at a spot away from the elevator. She lifted a handle on the stone pavement, revealing a metal valve beneath.

“It’s stuck. You turn it,” she said.

“What is this?”

“Just do it, or your friends will die.”

You little…

Sensing no traps from the valve, Hikaru grabbed it. It was so cold it felt frozen, but he twisted it around.

With a rumbling sound, the nearby stone pavement rose, then collapsed to the sides with a thud. Hikaru instinctively covered his mouth against the thick cloud of dust.

“A cannon. No, a rifle?”

It was a long metal barrel with a scope attached on top. The box on the mount held several bullets, all covered in dust, but the beautiful golden color of the metal beneath remained untarnished. Pure gold, or close to it.

“What is this?”

“It was made by a researcher from the Saak family fifteen generations ago. Since sorcery doesn’t work properly due to soul energy, it can’t adjust for accuracy. But it should be enough to hold them off.”

“The scope is foggy.”

Hikaru looked through it and saw that while the lens was powerful, it wasn’t very precise; the distant mountains appeared blurred.

A gun is fundamentally a simple device. It has a barrel, and when the hammer strikes the primer of a bullet, it ignites the gunpowder, causing the gas to expand and propel the bullet out of the barrel. That’s all there is to it. A gun of this basic design could still fire even after hundreds of years.

“I doubt the bullets are still usable,” Hikaru said.

The problem was the gunpowder, which had become damp and caused the primers to fail.

“Just replace the magic stone, and we should be good.”

“What? You just said sorcery can’t be used because of soul energy.”

“A simple spell like an explosion to push something out wouldn’t be affected by soul energy. Hand over the bullets.”

Soaarunay took the bullets. They were quite large, about the size of a 500-milliliter bottle. It seemed more like a cannon than a rifle.

She opened the primer section of the bullet, which had turned a dull golden color from dust, and discarded the worn-out contents. She then replaced them with a magic stone from her pocket. Her movements were precise and practiced, like a true researcher.

“This is just for testing,” she said.

“All right.”

After loading the bullet into the chamber, Hikaru pulled the lever to secure it. Even though it was his first time seeing the weapon, it had the same mechanism as a common rifle back on Earth.

“I’ll ask just to be sure. Any chance it misfires?” Hikaru asked Soaarunay, but she had already moved about ten meters away.

“Whether you shoot or not is up to you!” She covered her ears and ducked.

Hikaru felt like this was more of a durability test than a proper test shot. Meanwhile, the Four Eastern Stars were struggling against their attackers.

“Fine.”

Hikaru peered through the scope and aimed at the dragon circling above. It was flying around the same spot.

The advantage of this rifle was that it could be mounted on a stand, which meant it didn’t need to be held with both hands. Handling a rifle of this size, which was about as large as a small bazooka, with just two hands would be impossible.

Hikaru pulled his face away from the scope, extended his arm as far as possible, and placed his finger on the trigger. He pressed his left hand against his left ear.

“Fire.”

The moment he pulled the trigger, there was a click.

A high-pitched whine followed, and the bullet was ejected. It sliced through the air, leaving a bright trail as it whizzed high above the flying dragon.

“Wow.”

The sound and impact were less than he’d expected, about 10% of what he had imagined. This weapon was definitely usable.

“Give me the next bullet!” Hikaru called out to Soaarunay.

I should be able to hit them.

He was sure of it.

The margin of error is smaller than expected. With my Projectile stat, I can hit the target, not just fire warning shots.