Chapter 14

The interior of the mystery facility was so quiet, you almost wondered if the

guards at the gate were only mannequins.

The downward staircase went on and on. Three, four landings passed, all

under weak lighting, and there was still no sign of the next floor. I listened very

carefully as we walked, but all I could hear was our footsteps.

Once we had descended a good three floors' worth, I asked a question that

had just popped into my head. "Hey, do you think they dug this out with

manpower alone…?"

Eolyne gave me a critical sidelong glance. "Do I have to answer that right

now?"

"W-well, no, you don't have to…"

"Fine, I'll tell you. When performing underground construction on this scale,

you'd normally use the dark excavation method."

"D-dark…?"

It took me a few moments to figure out what that meant. Dark elements,

when burst, expanded to devour other matter before blinking out of existence.

Bedrock deep in the ground would have an incredibly high priority level, so dark

elements probably couldn't do anything about that, but the soil would be very

low, by contrast. So if you generated a bunch of dark elements on the ground

and burst them all, you could dig without needing a shovel or heavy machinery,

and you didn't need to worry about all the excess soil, either.

"Ahhh, I get it…but isn't that kind of dangerous? Precise control over dark

elements requires a really high mastery of sacred arts, from what I remember."

"That's exactly right. We were only able to safely make use of this method

with the light permeation steel plate formula that…"

He paused in the middle of his sentence, then pointed ahead.

After so many landings on the stairs, we had finally come to an end with a

single door. At last we'd reached the next floor, but it felt like we'd descended

about five floors' worth of space.

Even with the ease of this dark excavation method, it was clearly a major bit

of construction. What was it that had to be located so deep underground?

Eolyne and I shared looks of determination, then nodded and snuck down the

remaining steps. Even right next to the door, it was utterly silent. I didn't see a

keyhole, so I grabbed the push-down handle and pulled opened the door about

two inches.

Through the crack, I could see a hallway of bare metal floor and walls

continuing onward. It was dark up close, but lighter farther down.

There were no people where I could see, so I opened the door more and

slipped into the corridor. The Night-Sky Blade and Blue Rose Sword plus my full

weight together did not cause a single creak in the floor. The iron plates must

have been very thick.

Like before, Eolyne took the lead, and I followed. Soon the source of light

ahead became clear. A part of the right wall was glass panes, and pale light was

shining through from the other side.

There was another door at the end of the corridor, but it had a control panel

on it, meaning it was an elevator, not more stairs. So that was the proper

means of access, and we'd taken the emergency staircase. The hallway was a

straight shot, so if someone came out of the elevator, there was nowhere to

hide. Eolyne would have to use that Hollow Incarnation again, but he still

looked pale to me. Maybe his weakness to sunlight was just one facet of a

general physical weakness.

That was one area where he differed from Eugeo, who looked fragile but was

actually extremely tough, I thought, watching the commander walk ahead of

me.

We made our way carefully down the hallway, which smelled faintly of iron,

until we reached the spot where the wall turned into a glass window. The

bottom three feet of the wall was still iron, so we ducked down behind it and

carefully lifted our heads to see out.

"...!!"

My eyes were drawn to a stunning sight that almost made me shout out loud.

On the other side of the glass was a shallow, rectangular room; the far wall

also had glass windows. Behind it was a space about the size of a gymnasium,

and in the center of that was something I found hard to believe.

Black scales, gleaming smoothly. A long, large, coiled body. A pointed tail and

a sharply angled wedge-shaped head.

It was a snake. But the size of it was unbelievable. Its body was so thick that

even two full-grown adults wouldn't be able to lift it. I couldn't easily guess its

length, but it had to be no less than seventy feet long. In length alone, it was

probably longer than the dragons the Integrity Knights once rode.

"…A Divine Beast…," Eolyne gasped, his voice trembling with fear and awe.

Divine Beasts. Massive creatures that in the distant past were said to have

inhabited various places in the human realm. In game terms, they would be

considered "named monsters." But the majority of them were purged by the

Integrity Knights on Administrator's orders so they could be turned into the

material for powerful weapons, or so I was told. From the ones I'd seen, Eldrie's

Frostscale Whip and Deusolbert's Conflagration Bow were both divine weapons

derived from these beasts.

"Y-you mean there are Divine Beasts in this age, too?" I asked without

thinking.

The young man running the Integrity Pilothood nodded. "Of course there are.

But all the Divine Beasts are fiercely protected by Stellar Law, and it's forbidden

to even enter their domains. To lock one up underground like this is truly the

act of a barbarian who spits in the eye of God…"

The god Eolyne spoke of was probably Stacia, the Goddess of Creation. It felt

very strange to think of this in relation to Asuna's beaming face, so all I could

summon by way of response was a flat, "Uh-huh."

A number of tubes in colors like red and green ran along the floor of the great

chamber, two of which traveled into the great serpent's mouth. The tubes were

connected to the body by means of giant, stake-like needles. Most likely, the

snake was not simply asleep but kept in a comatose state by some kind of

chemical running through the tubes.

I'd killed countless monsters in my time through various virtual worlds, so

maybe it wasn't my place to be outraged by this. But all the same, I clenched

my fists at the sight.

Eolyne brushed my shoulder then and drew my attention to the snake's head

by pointing. "Did you just see something…moving…?"

"Huh…?"

I squinted, staring closely at the snake's great head resting lifelessly on the

ground.

Yes, there was definitely something moving in the shadow created by the

enormous head. I couldn't make it out clearly because of the two layers of thick

glass, but it was squirming and writhing right before the serpent's snout. Could

it be…?

"Eo, do you think that's the black snake we were chasing?"

"Oh…I think you're right…but how did it get down here?"

His question was a good one. I pressed my cheek against the glass and looked

upward; the ceiling was metal plating just like the walls and floor, and in the

corner of the chamber, there was a slatted vent.

"If that's for air circulation, then it must go up to the roof of the structure," I

whispered.

Eolyne pressed his face against the glass to see. "Good point. So the place the

black snake was born was here…or maybe…"

He didn't finish that sentence, but I knew what he was thinking.

The "thing" that had given birth to the black snake was perhaps the comatose

Divine Beast itself. The people managing this facility were causing the Divine

Beast to give birth through some means, then implanting parasites into the

heads of the babies, feeding dark elements into their bellies, and turning them

into biological missiles.

The children of a Divine Beast would surely have high life stats, even as

newborns, and it wasn't outlandish for them to have the power of flight, either.

You didn't need to go through the effort of raising them, so they were perfect

for weapons—but even before the matter of Stellar Law, it was cruel

manipulation and utterly inhumane.

The baby snake was trying to wake its mother, poking at the mouth of the

great serpent with its tiny snout. But the parent was not budging in the least.

A closer look revealed that on the side of the great snake's head were three

eye sockets covered by dark-gray lids. The eyes underneath them would surely

be ruby red, just like the baby's. But unless we did something about the

chemicals being sent into its mouth, nobody could wake up the serpent.

"Eo…what do we do?"

The pilot commander did not reply at once. After a few seconds, he said with

frustration, "It galls me…but there's no way to save the Divine Beast and its

child right now. We know the location of the base, so the best course of action

would be to return to Cardina, report this to the Stellar Unification Council, and

send an official inspection to—"

He broke off. There was a faint metallic sound on the other side of the glass. I

turned to look through the window again and saw a thick door on the left wall

opening very slowly. Two figures emerged from the side chamber. They seemed

very squat, but only because they were wearing suits that completely covered

their bodies, like chemical protection suits from the real world.

The two walked right up to the Divine Beast. The suit in the front was carrying

a long metal stick in their right hand.

The baby snake was still desperately leaping around its mother's mouth and

hadn't noticed them yet. I sent a silent message to wake up and get away, but

of course it didn't hear me…

The suit in front pointed the metal stick at the juvenile snake. A plier-like tool

shot out from the tip and firmly grabbed the little snake's body.

The snake struggled as though it were on fire, but it could not escape the

steel pliers. The metal rod retracted to its original length, and the people in

protective suits lifted their captured quarry high, talking among themselves.

It was impossible to hear what they were saying thanks to the distance and

the glass. I gave Eolyne a look, crouch-walked farther down the hall, opened the

door to the room adjacent, and snuck into what seemed to be an observation

room for the Divine Beast.

From a speaker box placed high on the wall, I could hear very faint voices

talking. Both seemed to be men.

"…but it can't lay eggs on its own. The last stimulant was eight days ago, so it

should be another two weeks before the eggs it's carrying reach the bare

minimum size."

"Still, where did this juvenile come from, then? Did we miss it when collecting

eggs before, somehow?"

"That's hard to imagine, given the steps…but in any case, we've got to deal

with this— and fast. Should we prep the juvenile for guided combat again?"

"Nah, it's already past the size where we can outfit it. It's too large for the

insect to take over its brain entirely. Just gotta dispose of it."

Based on the gestures, that statement seemed to be from the man who

wasn't holding the metal tool. He opened a case attached to the belt of his suit

and pulled out a large syringe.

"Hold it down tight," he said to his partner, and removed the cap from the

syringe. Sensing danger, the baby snake struggled even harder, but the arms of

the pliers had a firm grip on its neck. There was no escape.

The man lowered the syringe toward it.

The sharp tip approached the snake's throat.

And then, just like that, the needle broke at the base, emitting a high-pitched

crack, and a split second later, the rest of the syringe crumbled to pieces, too.

"Whoa!!"

"Wh-what?!"

The men in protective suits jumped backward in alarm, and Eolyne and I both

gasped. We hid under the window, then shared silent looks. It was my

Incarnation that shattered the syringe itself, but the needle wasn't my doing,

and I couldn't imagine anyone other than the pilot commander could have done

that.

Are you sympathizing with it? he had asked me earlier, but I didn't have the

chance to point that out now. The little room—and probably the entire base,

for that matter—was suddenly full of screaming alarms.

I glanced down into the big room and saw that the men in the protective suits

had cast aside the broken syringe and plier rod and were rushing back through

the door in the left wall. The liberated baby snake wriggled under the head of

the comatose serpent. We'd saved the snake's life, but it was too early to

celebrate.

"That was bad…They detected the use of Incarnation," Eolyne whispered.

"Wh-what should we do? Run away?"

"No…It was only an instant that we used it, so they shouldn't have been able

to pinpoint our location. It's better to stay hidden in here than rush through the

base."

"B-but we're not safe here, eith—"

Before the words were entirely out of my mouth, there was a sound like

pressurized air being fired from out in the hallway. I crawled toward the

window next to the hallway and peered through. The floor readout on the

control panel next to the elevator was moving.

I headed back to my previous spot and said, "The guards are coming."

"Don't worry. I'll use Hollow Incarnation again," Eolyne replied. He grabbed

my left arm and pulled me close.

That left my head resting against the commander's right shoulder, which was

more than a small surprise, but he had his hand on my back, so I couldn't move

anyway.

That strange sensation came over me again. My flesh grew faint and

dispersed like mist. Even the feeling of contact with Eolyne's body became

indistinct, until I could not tell where I ended and began…

Abruptly, a painful chill shot through my dissipating mind.

In fact, it was not just a simple cold. If anything, it was like dark flame,

devouring all heat and light as it swirled…

I heard the door open behind us.

Turning my head just a bit, I tried to catch sight of the source of the chill

through my rippling vision.

Black leather boots, polished to a mirror shine, trod upon the steel floor,

cutting crisply through the blaring alarms.