After a long silence, Drizden opened his mouth.
Theres no need to spill blood here. I think weve said all we have to say. Lets part ways. But
He glanced at Leobold and Margareta with a sly smile.
I have no intention of harming you. But I dont know if the citizens outside will think the sa. They are very angry because of Hyperion. You should be careful.
He ant that he wouldnt interfere directly, but he wouldnt help them either in case of trouble.
And outside, there were elven knights disguised as citizens who would cause a commotion.
Maybe if they launched Hyperion, so unknown airships would attack them.
Leobold smirked.
So this is the way of the elves.
Didnt you co prepared? If you want protection, just say so. Ill shalessly ask for your favor.
Anyone who saw him pretending to be ignorant and widening his eyes would want to punch him.
But Drizden couldnt die yet.
He had to complete his mission after driving Elvrande to ruin with his rampage.
Leobold put his hand on Margaretas shoulder and said.
Lets end the eting here.
Youve worked hard. I wont see you off. Be careful. May Rustel watch over your path.
He deliberately invoked the na of Rustel to provoke Margareta.
Her shoulder twitched and Leobold slowly left the conference room.
Just before the door closed, Drizdens lips twitched and Elarion bowed his head.
Hes doing it on purpose.
To make the prey tense enough.
Leobold asked Arma to guide him to the dock through Yggdrasil.
Ill mark it on your sight. There are a lot of excited elves.
So of them might be so excited that they would resort to violence without rcy.
The knights escorted them and the group left the mansion and entered the road.
The elves who were calmly watching when they arrived were pouring out onto the street and raising their fists.
Death to the lowly humans!
Compromise with humans is impossible! Only violence can make them see!
Glory to the elves!
They must have been stirred up by Drizdens instigation.
He never intended to let Leobolds group go peacefully from the beginning.
The reason why he ca here knowing that was first, for the eting, and second, to check out Yggdrasils main body in person.
If a war broke out, Yggdrasil, which was almost a symbol of the elves, would inevitably suffer so damage.
He wanted to assess that in advance and have Arma co up with a counterasure.
The last reason is because of teleportation.
Spatial teleportation through warp gates was only valid for places Leobold had visited before.
That ant he couldnt open a warp gate to an unfamiliar place.
According to Arma, it was close to a law and there was no way around it.
Its strange that Lucia appeared in a mine she had never been to.
Leobold covered Margaretas head with a hood and quickly passed through the street.
Soon, the elves noticed the group and gathered one by one.
There goes the delegation!
Stop them! Stop them!
It didnt turn into a violent situation right away, but it was a very ominous atmosphere.
In the midst of that, Leobold finally got to see Yggdrasil face to face.
Wow
It was an unbelievably huge tree up close.
The diater of its base was close to several km and its golden leaves covered the sky.
Sunlight burst from its branches that stretched out as if protecting all of dea.
If you saw sothing like this as soon as you were born, you might mistake it for a god.
But Leobold didnt see Yggdrasil as a god.
Its just a big tree with so special functions
He was confident that he could replace Yggdrasil with anything once he completed the ether origin.
Arma reported similarly.
All functions of Yggdrasil have been identified from the flow of ether. It will be useful for updating the origin.
Thats good news. But we need to get out of here.
The elves were gathering more and more.
In a tense atmosphere that could explode at any mont, the delegation headed for the dock following Armas guidance.
They boarded Hyperion without any interference, but instead they received countless insults towards Margareta.
You wretched princesshow dare you crawl in here!
Traitor who sided with humans! Die!
They didnt throw stones, but they spat saliva and made a fuss.
Margaretas green eyes were soaked in gloom.
She was blad by her own kind for no big fault and received abuse.
No one could understand how she felt.
Ill co back soday. Then Ill ask those people.
She nodded weakly when he comforted her.
The group hurriedly got on Hyperion.
Leobold escorted Margareta to the cabin and then went to the bridge.
The crew under the captains command were waiting for his orders.
Skip the procedure. Cut the mooring and launch.
Launching!
At the captains vigorous command, Hyperion gained buoyancy and rose up.
It was so big that it caused a gale around it and when the ether thrusters were activated, the airship quickly left the city.
But this was just the beginning.
When Hyperion gained montum and was about to leave dea, small airships poured out from sowhere in the city.
They were small airships of several tens of tons.
Drizden watched the sky leisurely from the mansion.
He had increased the output of the thrusters mounted on the airships, ignoring the side effects, so they were much faster than Hyperion, which was slowly accelerating.
Lets see if you can show your power on board.
***
They made sothing like that. Impressive.
He seed to disdain ether engineering, but he was still an elf after all.
Dozens of airships flew in like a swarm of bees and the bridge beca busy.
The captain checked all directions with several mirrors and imdiately ordered interception.
Prepare to fire ether cannons! No need to report! Shoot as soon as you aim and drop them!
If they had 50 guns, it wouldnt be hard to intercept the airships.
But Hyperion was too big and the crew were not skilled enough.
It was inevitable that they would be inferior compared to the floating continent fleet commanded by Admiral Hampton.
That difference was decisive.
Before the ether cannons were ready, the airships rushed towards Hyperion.
They were too close to intercept, or else they would be hit by the debris.
And most of the 50 ether cannons were on the starboard side.
There were so guns on the bow and stern, but they were weak in firepower.
Fire!
Beams of light shot from the starboard side and so airships were swept away.
Explosions occurred in the air and a 5,000-ton airship tilted.
It was pushed by the blast.
Not only that, but a few airships approached the rear.
Beams of light shot from the stern guns, but they couldnt avoid the last one.
Bang!
A huge explosion occurred and black smoke spewed from Hyperion.
It seed that they had installed ether stone bombs on the airships.
Kane, the divine being, was protecting them, but it was too much to handle such attacks.
Leobold clicked his tongue at the reckless charge.
Not even kamikaze By the way, were those elves on board?
They are presud to be humans and beastn. They probably brought them from the autonomous region.
Thats how elves are.
He originally intended to leave peacefully.
He had achieved his goal and had no reason or desire to fight any more.
But if they ca at him like this, he felt the need to teach them a lesson.
Parents who let their kids cry and make a fuss are not qualified. Right?
Master is not a parent, but more like a neighbor who has a connection. Should I deploy Settler ship?
Do I need to use Settler ship to discipline them? Lightly
He was about to give an order, but there was a thud and the deck beca noisy.
Judging by the amount of ether released, soone had climbed onto the deck.
A wave has been detected. Its Elarion, the elf who was in the conference room.
He has so guts to co here. Does he want to smash sothing with Goliath?
He just took out Goliath
Even if it was Hyperion, it would be too much to handle Goliath rampaging on the deck.
Leobold ordered the captain to go straight ahead and then went up to the deck.
The modified Belial-class was about to attack the crew when it stopped.
Oh ho. You ca out.
The deck is quite spacious. It would have been crowded on a normal airship.
Youre relaxed. This damn ship is going to crash and youre still like that!
Leobold glanced at the starboard side.
There was an ether cannon made of living tal aiming at the Belial-class.
Elarion noticed that and quickly approached the cannon.
My responsiveness has increased greatly since I received divine power! I even surpassed Tirendell!
Goliaths arm touched the barrel and made a clanking sound as it changed into a sword-shaped weapon.
He certainly had amazing responsiveness.
But there was one thing he didnt know.
Leobold was the strongest psycher that humanity had created after years of hard work.
Lets see how long you can last in space.
The ether heart activated and Elarions sword changed its shape on its own.
Whats going on?
He tried to grab the sword, but it split into two and stuck to both sides of Goliath.
What was finally completed was an ion thruster.
Transforming living tal from a distance and creating ion thrusters on the spot like a plague were Leobolds abilities.
What, what is this!
Well, you can find out for yourself.
The ion thruster ignited and pushed Goliath into the sky.
Aaaah!
The Belial-class carrying Elarion flew out of the atmosphere and headed for space in an instant.
The air beca thin and it was so cold that his breath froze.
Uh, ugh Huh!
He gasped and looked at the darkening sky.
Soon, everything around him turned black.
Its cold
In his fading vision, he saw sothing shining.
They were Mare and two moons orbiting Terra planet.
The ion thruster finally pushed Goliath beyond space and slowly detached itself.
Elarion regretted it when he was about to breathe his last breath.
Thats what the dwarves said Damn, am I going to die like this
The Belial-class carrying him beca a coffin and began to fly sowhere in space by inertia.
It wouldnt stop unless there was an obstacle in between.
Leobold, who had sent the troublemaker into space, looked up at the sky.
Hell have enough ti to enjoy space.
It seed to end here, but it didnt.
Many airships and fleets gathered in front of Hyperion, which had started accelerating in earnest.
It was like hyenas flocking to sll the blood of a wounded lion.
Unfortunately, Hyperion was not injured at all.
And the Elvrande fleet was not hyenas, but re mongrels.
Let teach you that from now on. Arma, detach the armor.
Youre going to reveal Hyperions true form, are you sure?
It doesnt matter. They want to fight, so Ill play along.
Detaching the armor.
The armor plates made of Yggdrasils shell were detached one by one.
Hyperion shed its armor like a husk and even threw away the deck.
What was finally revealed was a slender spaceship with a dark color like space.
It was cute in size compared to Settler ship, but it was still quite shocking to the elves.
What, what is that!
It looks like a black ship
I know that! What kind of ship is that!
The Elvrande fleet was confused as Hyperion detached everything and activated its ion thrusters.
Leobold, who had co down to the bridge, gave an order to the bewildered captain.
You dont need to understand, just accept the reality. Starboard full ahead.
Sir, full ahead! If we do that, well dive into the encirclent!
I wont give the order three tis. Starboard full ahead.
Starboard full ahead!
The wheels spun and Hyperion turned its bow.
The Elvrande fleet expected it to have a large turning radius because of its huge size, but it wasnt.
Hyperion sprayed ions from its bow to minimize its turning radius.
And then it changed direction in an instant.
The Elvrande fleet was now chasing after Hyperion.
Leobold put his hand on the captains shoulder.
Margreta had hesitantly entered the bridge.
Lets go to the presidents mansion. We need to give them a gift.
Surely, that gift wasnt an ether stone bomb?
Margreta opened her mouth wide and the captain gave an order as if to let it be.
Full speed ahead!
The ion thrusters were fully activated and Hyperion reached a speed that the Elvrande fleet couldnt keep up with.
A black ship appeared in the sky of dea in an instant and an alarm sounded.
Where did that ship co from!
I dont know! It just appeared!
Quickly, activate the ether cannons! Stop it from approaching Yggdrasil by any ans!
Its too fast!
It passed by before they could even aim, so there was no way the air defense network could work properly.
dea was turned upside down.
***
Hoo
Drizden drank his wine with a triumphant feeling.
He had sent a newly developed airship unit and Elarion, so he must have inflicted so damage on him.
I wont let you go easily. Even if you dont die
It was enough to shock and destroy Hyperion as a warning.
It would be better if he could sink it, though.
No matter how powerful you are with divine power, you are inexperienced in aerial combat.
He was the oldest elf and knew the tactics of the Great War.
If there was a lesson learned from the Great War, it was that even a very powerful being had a weakness.
For example, the champion of dragons preferred to use Goliath, so he was vulnerable to attacks from above.
If he poured ether stone bombs on him, he would have no choice but to surrender.
Leobold wouldnt die from that, but his pride would be hurt for sure if Hyperion broke down.
You shouldnt underestimate elves. Even Altima couldnt look down on us, how dare you
Now, when Elarion returned, he would hear how the ship was doing.
Drizden closed his eyes with joy and felt a sense of unease.
He heard a buzzing sound from sowhere far away and then it beca louder.
And soone opened the door with a bang and disturbed his rest.
What is it? I told you not to co in until I call you.
The attendant shouted anxiously at him with a grim expression.
Yo, your Excellency! You have to escape right now!
Why? Whats going on?
A strange black ship is coming and dropping bombs!
What?
Drizden jumped up and opened the window and looked up at the sky.
A black ship was approaching from afar.
The crimson flas rising from below were definitely not flowers.
Then he felt the ground shake and a strong wind blew.
Damn it!
Drizden broke the window and jumped out, forgetting that he was a mage.
He barely used levitation magic to float in the air, but the black ship was too fast.
In the blink of an eye, it flew over the mansion and dropped sothing from its hull.
Thats an ether stone bomb
And a huge one at that.
It wasnt one or two, but more than ten at once, so the power was no joke.
The old elf couldnt withstand the shock of the explosion and was swept away by the blast.
Boom!
The mansion collapsed completely as explosions occurred one after another.
Flas and black smoke rose everywhere and elves scread and scattered in all directions.
Margreta watched her hotown being destroyed from the bridge.
She didnt look happy about it.
Is this the power of the ship that Leobold brought from another world?
No. This ship is nothing. The real one is beyond that sky.
She looked up at the ceiling and then turned her eyes to him.
Why did you do this You could have just taught them a lesson.
Do you think they would accept it? They blad you and tried to kill . Do you think they would surrender if I showed them a spaceship?
Leobold had learned sothing after fighting for decades: people dont change easily.
So might realize their mistake right before they die, but most dont even have that kind of feeling.
Once they decide that they are right and just, it is almost impossible to change them from outside.
Even humans who live for only decades are like that, how stubborn would elves who live for nearly 300 years be?
They wont change. To change them, we need a strong shock, that is, war. This is just a declaration of war. The real war will start from now on.
Margreta bowed her head silently.
She had nowhere to go back to now and had no choice but to rely on Leobold.
She didnt mind that, but she felt depressed thinking that she couldnt go back to her hotown.
Leobold stood behind her and comforted her by rubbing her shoulder.
You didnt lose your ho. Youre just going back a little late. Ill kick out the crazy elves, including Drizden, and return Elvrande to your arms. I promise.
Thank you
She turned her body and hugged Leobolds broad chest.
Hyperion, which had dropped a bunch of bombs, slowly turned and left dea.
There was nothing to hinder its course.
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