Vol. 13 - Chapter 783 - Preparation for Conquer Day #6 - What Lupto Left in her Wake

Another night flew by, and today marked the 6th day of the deadline.

The regular meeting with Allen's Army had come to an end, and from a glance, each party—Helmios's army, Admiral Galara's squad, and Allen's Army—had been shaping into a reliable force.

They now had 3 tactical warships, with preparation for the 4th already underway. The engineer's response was also firm, ensuring that deadline would be preserved.

With Kuwataro learning a new skill, Allen had been spending his time in its analysis, taking the training between Beast God and Shea, and Ten Heroic Beasts, as the testing ground.

In the sideline, he had been simultaneously acting on different tasks, ranging from upgrading his Creation Skill, attending regular meetings for the army, coordinating situations with the leaders of Five Continental Alliance, the analysis of God B's summon, and a reconnaissance of demon force's strength.

(Damn it, even the shark fin was seen through. It basically rendered even underground infiltration. No, there has to be some loophole somewhere.)

Allen's frustration leaked out. After the earlier destruction of «Nest» by demons using their sonar-esque magic tool, which Allen had placed to secure a teleportation spot, he had thought of attempting infiltration through underground.

The fish type summons of Allen had been graced by Merus, or perhaps it was Creation God, that allowed them to swim on the ground as if they're in water. So, after raising their growth level and enhancing their status, he had them swim into sea and then infiltrate into the ground, but they're found out, and destroyed through some sort of shockwave technique.

(I swear on my hundreds of thousands of Intelligence, I am going to break their defense.)

Following buffs from Roselina, Sophia and et cetera, Allen's intelligence had easily been in several hundreds of thousands of range. The primary reason was to hasten experience points for Creation Skill. Well, mana was also important there, but that's beside the point.

With an overwhelming intelligence, in this one status alone, he had gone beyond the realm of any human, and stepped into the territory of gods. He had been using it to the fullest, probing for the best strategy for them, like which was the better beginning point for them—from surface, underground, or from air.

Renewing his motivation, Allen once again prepared for brainstorming when Sophia approached him.

"Well, do you think you should take a break now, Allen-sama?"

Sophia had a concerned look on her face. Allen had spent the whole night investigating the Forgotten Continent, or analysing the new awakened skill «Selective Gaze». Sophia had been using her spirits to probe on Allen's condition, but the look of exhaustion now ran deeper on Allen to make it more obvious.

"Thank you for your concern, but I am fine. Huh? Woaaaah!! Amazing! The options just keep changing endlessly!!"

Though Allen appeared so absorbed in his task Sophia's voice didn't seem to have reached him enough.

"Um, err, Allen-sama?"

"Let it go for now, Sophia. You can tie him to bed for as long as you want once we have defeated Demon King. Instead, let's cheer Kurena and the rest on their training."

"U-understood."

Bearing a profound look that ran in contrast against his elementary school's kid appearance, Luck dissuaded Sophia from continuing any further.

After a night of examination, the new awakening skill was found to have utility in multiple ways.

For what the skill was worth, there was one aspect Allen saw as its flaw—the limitance of choices. There were only «Attack», «Defend», «Escape», or «Recover».

Taking a battle as an example, it was weird the choice would show 'Escape' when the opponent has no thoughts of escaping from the battle. Besides, 'Escape' could also be meant 'Retreat' from the battle or 'Dodge' in the battle.

The same situation was with 'Attack.' There were categories of attack like magic attack or physical attack. Now, the point stood who was the target. For instance, if the target was made clear to be a rearguard who didn't require defense, then a different choice would've been far better to determine the enemy's next move than just 'Defense.'

And, with thorough examination, Allen discovered the possibility of modification.

The choice screen could only have four options. This was definitive. The modification allowed the replacement of 'Attack' with 'Magic Attack,' 'Physical Attack,' 'Long-Range Attack,' 'Mid-Range Attack,' or 'Targeting X.' It was also possible to insert a skill name if its name was known. Consequently, the standard four choices was found to be replaceable by many more options, depending on what the situation in that moment requires, albeit the options still being limited to four.

(The list of choices can be expanded to be endless huh. By shuffling through them in the war, it should provide a significant advantage.)

[The Condition, and the Effect of Awakening Skill «Selective Gaze»]

1. It allowed the invoker to read the opponent's next move out of four options—attack, defend, retreat, or recover.

2. The options can be modified between 'Magic Attack,' 'Long-range Attack,' or 'Physical Attack' among many.

3. Selective Gaze takes upon different frame than Pursuit Gaze, Farsigh, or Appraisal Gaze.

4. A maximum of four targets can be seen at once.

5. It's possible to modify each target's choice list individually.

6. Changes all the abilities to 'Revised,' enhancing their effect by two-fold.

7. Increased agility by 100,000.

8. Increase the Evasion Rate within half-a-kilometer radius.

9. For the next hour, the list of choices can be modified many times.

10. One-day Cooldown.

Allen wrote the details he had analysed in grimoire. Though alongside, another thought crossed his mind.

(Hmm, I can't precisely put my finger on it, but... there's something about Lupto's groundwork. I can feel her insistence on it. It's like old golds are absolutely essential if I want to unlock the awakening skill of another S-rank. I presume then Leon would require assistance from an old god as well.)

Luvanka, Graham, and Kuwataro each had received assistance from old gods. Wind God Wiz might not have his former strength, but he was an old god nonetheless.

Sword God Sestavenus was an old god, existing since time antiquity. Then, unlocking Leon—S-rank God had require assistance of Light God Amenty and God of Arbitration Auxilion's divine artifact.

He had once inquired of Merus about the reason, albeit even the latter had no inkling. Was it because she thought Allen would get along with old gods? Atleast, this was how it appeared to Allen.

«I am back. So, they've begun their work on the 4th warship. With how the situation looks at a glance, we might not even need to wait for the deadline before the ships are already ready to sail in water.»

Just while Allen was contemplating, Leon returned back from Dock. With his arrival, Allen had a hint on what he ought to do next.

"Leon, help out Merus. I am going to visit Magic God."

«Mhm, understood.»

Leon hadn't even had enough moments since he returned back, and was immediately imposed another task. The latter, however, didn't seem to care much, unlike Merus.

After reminding them of their task, Allen teleported to the first floor of the pyramid's shared floor, the territory of Space-Time God and Magic God. He walked up to the floor transfer CUBE.

«Good day to you. Which floor would you like to move to?»

«The topmost floor—the research laboratory of Magic God.»

«Understood.»

A moment later, Allen basked in the radiance of geometrical patterns, and soon he found himself at his destination. Before him, he saw four dwarves circling around a test tube—it was so big even an adult could fit inside—while fiddling with touch panels. There was a mana core inside it.

"Is everyone prepared?"

"I believe we should increase the limit of mana infusion. It seems like the mana core can still withstand stress."

"It might give rise to shockwaves, though. Materials are given, but a mana shield must be prepared."

"If anymore mana is infused during connecting mana core with magic tool, we might be seeing shockwave bursting everything apart."

"But, this is such rare scenario to test out mana core. To see it front of me, and yet I can't test its full potential is just... unednurable."

The dwarves appeared pretty excited as they glanced through the measured data, and at the mana core floating in some kind of liquid inside test tube.

"...It appears everything is proceeding well, eh?"

"Oh my! If it's not Supreme Commander Allen!"

"I didn't notice you coming!"

"We're currently observing the threshold of mana infusion mana core can absorb!!"

"This is also an observation to check out the reaction of a magic tool connected to the magic core!"

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone. I would like to test their performance in training the day after tomorrow, so please see if it's ready by then. I presume Commander Larappa is somewhere inside?"

"Yes! Commander is inside!"

Promptly, the reply came from Larappa's subordinates.

Allen walked further inside the research laboratory, and found Larappa surrounded by her subordinate dwarves, Magic God, and Space-Time God.

(I see, the two gods are also helping out huh. It's truly great. Hmm?)

Suddenly, while everyone had been leaning over, Commander Larappa suddenly jumped to her feet, and jumped into Allen's field of view.

"I did it! It's activated! I am definitely a genius!!"

*Vrrrrrr*

"I knew you could do it, Commander!!"

"Wow, so amazing, Commander!!"

"You're definitely one of the best in the world, Commander!!"

There were several magic tools connected to pipes before Commander Larappa. Allen had just stepped inside when the magic tool suddenly activated, making a noise as if something was moving at rapid speed, and with their activation, a magic circle, several metres huge, appeared above it.

It appeared Commander Larappa had managed to activate some magic tool, and her subordinates immediately showered her with praises.

«It's amazing, truly, isn't it? Isiris-san.»

«Hihi. But, it also goes to show you're the best when it comes to the Space-Time System!!»

On the other hand, the two married gods laid out words of praise to each other.

«G-Good day to you. The connection to mana has been verif...ied....Initiating recovery of the designated teleportation point.......The record is found... There's one transfer point...»

"Woah, is the teleportation feature repaired?!"

Allen's reaction involuntarily came out when he finally figured out the situation.

Allen had sought Commander Larappa and her subordinate's assistance in activating the magic tool that demons had left behind, to make use of them, and develop the purpose of mana core.

"S-Supreme Chief Allen. You're here! You just came at the right time! Listen to me. Those demons folks are such a dolt to leave these valuable tools behind. Hehe, of course, with my genius, it was an easy task to learn about them!!"

Commander Larapped remarked triumphantly. Meanwhile, her subordinates, dwarves, gather around and create a human pyramid Allen recalled seeing during PE class in his previous life.

Larappa had casually leapt to the top of the dwarven pyramid, a broad grin stuck to her face as she proclaimed her victory, her hand raised high in a posture akin to statues.

(I see, so that's how it is. Now, the enemy's weapon is in our hands. There should be nothing impending our transfer now.)

So far, no infiltration attempt had been successful by summons. They're thoroughly dealt with, regardless if Allen tried from air or from ground. This made it impossible to set up «Nest». But with this discovery, Allen finally had a solution to their teleportation problem.

After taking a glance at Larappa's grin, Allen switched his gaze to the two gods. They'd been assisting Allen in his strategy.

"I am truly grateful for the assistance of you two."

«Come now, no need to stand on formality. So far, the teleportation feature has been activated, however I would require some more modification time to make sure demons shouldn't be able to interfere once again. As a matter of fact, we are much more grateful for your efforts. After all, as much as we had liked to, we can't personally move to save Lupto-sama.»

(I guess, that means they can only help indirectly.)

«I, I have also been helped by Lupto. It's because of her I figured out how to revive ancient magic.»

(Huh? Wait, because of Lupto?)

"Err, Lupto-sama did?"

"Yeah, it's certain we wouldn't have realised a way to revive ancient magic had Lupto-sama not suggested materials..."

"Commander, I would like to hear about this in detail, please."

"H-hey, wahh—Supreme Commander?!"

Larappa had been getting down from the dwarf pyramid slowly, making sure of the pyramid's security when Allen suddenly grabbed her by shoulders, eliciting a naturally bewildered reaction.

"Are you saying Lupto has had in reviving ancient magic?"

"I-I just said it. Lupto-sama suggested to us which materials would fit well, and then gave some advice on where to pick up from our current progress. In the several years since Lupto-sama ascended to First Angel, we had been constantly being helped by her. I can only imagine how hard it must be with her busy schedule."

«Truly, Lupto-sama's help has navigated my research to success.»

Allen couldn't ignore the revelation he had just heard. The fact that Lupto had a hand in bringing back the Ancient Magic, which now Cecil had been fervently practicising, must have its reason.

(It has been three years since Lupto ascended to the rank of First Angel. It appears there's some undercurrent we must figure out at all cost.)

"Well, I think we now have a concrete reason to push ourselves to save Lupto......"

Allen murmured, particularly to himself. He couldn't help but notice there's some reason why Lupto had gone down to help with ancient magic.

If there had been any doubts on waging a war against the Demon King, then it just provided another, and more concrete, reason why they mustn't back down even more. Albeit, new revelation also surges new questions within Allen's mind.