The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 266: [Boss Fight] Strikeout (8)

Chapter 266: [Boss Fight] Strikeout (8)

0% Vermel and Cecil were fighting a battle to the death against the Sea Dragon.

At first, the Sea Dragon was dominating. The Kaurelian mages seemed terrified before the might of the enormous Beast that controlled the wind and rain.

But after Vermel gave one advice to Cecil, the tide began to turn.

Before she knew it, Cecil, who hadn’t believed Vermel, had come to trust him. Every advice was right. If she stabbed where she was told to, the Sea Dragon retreated, and if she blocked where he said, they were able to minimize the damages.

It was maddeningly infuriating for the Sea Dragon.

I, a dragon, am struggling against these insects?

[...You, who are you.]

Leviathan asked Vermel directly.

“An ordinary elf.”

[Ordinary elf? Hah.]

The Sea Dragon huffed through his nose and unleashed a tidal wave. It was a tsunami of great proportions, but it could be easily broken up if one had the correct strategy.

“Pattern eight.”

Cecil’s eyes bled into ocean blue. White snowflakes bloomed at the tip of the staff she wielded. At the same time, the ferocious wave became frozen solid.

[Damn it.]

How long had this standoff been going for like this?

It must have been over an hour, at least. For that long, Leviathan hadn’t been able to advance.

The Sea Dragon had received orders from Spring Heaven to wipe out the World Tree. He had been ordered last time by Winter Heaven to cease the attack, but had ignored it in the end. There was just one reason why it did–Spring Heaven was stronger than Winter Heaven. As such, Leviathan had to prioritize Spring Heaven’s orders.

This was what Spring Heaven had said at the time.

─ If you cannot advance for some unavoidable reason, just stall for time.

Even so, just stall for time? Doing so would sink its dignity to the bottom of the ocean.

He might occupy the lowest seat, but he was still a member of the Great Nine Mechas. Leviathan opened his jaw and finished getting ready to fire his Breath.

“Huooooo!”

Simultaneously, all the Beasts on his scales shrieked.

“Pattern nine. I need you to destroy all the scales that I point to.”

Vermel pointed to Leviathan. That alone was insulting, but the magic bullets that Cecil was shooting were even more annoying.

[......!]

Fire bullets struck five vital points including his mouth. Dazed, oil sprayed from where he was going to fire Breath.

[You little...!]

Leviathan dove underwater to catch a breather. In the meanwhile, this sounded from above the waters–pattern four.

Now.

After saving up his energy, Leviathan leapt through the surface like a flying fish. He loaded the machine guns on his scales and fired them everywhere.

But all these were stopped by Cecil as well.

It was strange. They shouldn’t have been able to see even an inch ahead because of the fog, but all of his attacks were being blocked.

That elf is reading my movements.

Coming to that conclusion, Leviathan grit his teeth and contemplated a solution.

What should I do....

Just then, there was a radio call from Spring Heaven.

- That’s enough.

At the same time, the ocean fog rolled back and the rain sent by the Sea Dragon himself started to stop.

B-b-booom.

In the cloudless sky above, something gigantic appeared.

The Sea Dragon, the elves, stopped their fighting and lifted their heads.

“That’s....”

**I swung my staff at the spaghetti monster.

A strike swinging from the bottom up. The monster was moving faster than before, but it was no match for me.

It was thanks to Alice, the agent of the Elec Elemental King, who assisted me in combat by continuously supplying my body with mana. Thanks to that, I could continue my offensive in the time it would’ve taken me to smoke.

Craaack!

With every strike from my staff, the elements making up this thing changed.

It was due to the ‘splitting’ effect of Form Seven of the Eightfold Way.

Nuclear fission didn’t just mean the splitting of heavy elements. Any atomic nucleus could break the bonds with a medium of strong nuclear force and sufficiently large energy. For example, it was like breaking a light carbon into two lighter lithiums.

If this technique was used on uranium or plutonium, it would cause a nuclear explosion and everyone would be caught in it, but there were almost no such heavy elements in this monster’s body.

[Grrrk!]

I was running out of flesh to pound into; the work of splitting was coming to an end.

It used up a lot of mana, but this guy would split forever unless I did this. It wasn’t a Cataclysm for nothing. Anyway, I had to bash it over and over again until this thing split into just hydrogen and helium.

How long had I kept going like that?

[.......]

It was over.

The lanterns, the bones and flesh making up the thing.

Everything was broken down. Completely. Not from a chemical or biological perspective, but a physical one.

The battle against the Cataclysm Pasmo created ended anticlimactically.

“...I took it down.”

I said to Secuel. The Water King made a pleased face and gave the priests and mages a pointed look.

Their faces were still skeptical. A few bit down slightly on their lips, and others shook like a kitten in the rain.

I knew those expressions because I had seen them at Tilette: they were the eyes of one who feared or hated me.

The old me would’ve been disappointed by this sight and run away.

But not anymore.

I decided to come down from my place of judging the good and evil of humans and become a part of them. As such, I was determined to blend in with them here.

For only one reason.

It was to repay the ones who saw me for who I was.

“If you still can’t believe me after this, I am willing to die.”

I was ready to give my life up for that, and with that thought in mind, I pointed my staff at my throat.

“N-no...!”

“Don’t do it!”

“Are you crazy, sis?”

Freyr ran over and grabbed my leg, and Akasha tried to take my staff. Yufiel and Leninya turned pale in the face.

The priests began murmuring amongst themselves–why are the students acting like that, have they all been brainwashed, but wait, brainwashing when the King is watching? Don’t be ridiculous, etc.

In conclusion, their opinions turned in my favor, albeit by just a little.

“Good, not bad.”

Secuel clapped her hands in satisfaction.

“I understand the weight of your resolve. If this goes well, we’ll take you to the Fountain of Elementals. It will be a tough experience, but if you maintain a repentant attitude like now, you’ll be able to find what you want.”

What I want.

My only wish right now was Lotte’s revival.

So, it meant that Lotte could be saved if she could get to this place called ‘Fountain of Elementals’.

“I understand.”

With a nod, I ended the conversation.

The situation wasn’t over yet.

“Reporting!”

One of the scouts planted by the mages came running and delivered the news.

“The World Tree is, the World tree is......!”

“What is it?”

“The World Tree is burning...!”

Everyone including me was shocked by that. A few priests glared at me for a brief moment, but they turned away when I glared back.

This wasn’t me or Akasha.

“Tell us what happened exactly!”

“Th-that’s!”

The messenger paused and threw up food from their mouth.

Startled, the elves backed away. Akasha and I, on the other hand, sensed something was off and stepped forward.

Typical symptoms of vomiting, and face and arms that were burnt bright red.

It was unmistakable.

This was....

**The capital of Kaurelia, Märcherm.

What had appeared in that sky was a massive airship, the Demon Army’s largest aerial battleship that could carry enormous amounts of explosives.

Not just any battleship, but an intelligent aircraft that was capable of thinking and speaking for itself.

And that was ‘Castle Bravo’, Sextus of the Great Nine Mechas.

- Now.

Castle Bravo flew to the skies of Kaurelia in stealth mode, then came out of hiding and slowly revealed itself on Spring Heaven’s orders.

And the only reason for coming out of stealth when it could have maintained it longer was this:

To be a decoy.

- The World Tree looks like a giant green mushroom from a distance.

Spring Heaven said this jokingly to Sextus and gave the orders.

- The Sea Dragon and my immediate subordinate have stalled long enough. Now it is your turn. Keep the Elementals distracted until the Lodestone has been brought here.

[Comprehend. I fully understand.]

The intelligence of Castle Bravo was in the form of AI.

As such, most of the ship was automated and it meant that prepared protocols could be executed without delay when given the orders.

- You absolutely must get the attention of everyone including the Elemental Kings.

[Comprehend. I am sufficiently aware of this so do not worry.]

Castle Bravo began preparing to aggro the Elementals and elves as Pasmo said.

[Notice. Executing test drop of the atomic bomb.]

Yes.

The way to catch the attention of all intelligent beings in Kaurelia.

That was, to set fire to the World Tree.

[Confirm. Aiming at the target and dropping the bomb.]

Castle Bravo dropped a large chunk of iron with dull mechanical sounds, and soon after an air-shattering noise sounded from the below.

[Confirm. Connecting camera. Will then send the collected video data to base.]

There was an immediate reply.

- Report the exact damages.

The video data wasn’t sufficient. He had to know who died horrifically, how much damage there was to the World Tree.

[Report. Judging from the radius of the photosphere, the force of the bomb is between five and eight thousand tons of TNT. It has been confirmed that the explosion has caused the upper layer of the World Tree to ignite.]

- So report how many have died!

[Unknown. Exact death toll not available. However, it has been confirmed that the actual damages were only 12% of the expectation due to the anti-aircraft and fire barriers.]

- Then release something stronger. More, more, more!

[Comprehend. I understand. Using the remaining bombs in order according to Spring Heaven’s orders.]

And given that order, it was just as Castle Bravo was about to drop a 15kT bomb.