Chapter 1184 Aventrot, Lending to the God’s Elephant Part 2

Even if you were to give that person a benefit of the doubt, the voice that came out of the girl’s throat was definietely not the one that belonged to a little girl. Needless to say, both Reiji and the archer opened their eyes in pure astonishment hearing that. However, since Reiji was a returnee from the New Continent, he knew more or less what to expect. But it was the first time that he has ever experienced something like this in person, hence his astonishment.

A terrifyingly low-pitched girly voice…… Hearing the Professor asking that question, Sanraku started to whisper a barrage of excuses, visibly starting to sweat even though he was wearing a helmet and there was no way for others to be able to confirm that.

「Ahh…… I might actually have something to do with it, but I might actually not have anything to do with it…… Look, it’s a really complicated matter, so could we possibly leave it at that for now?」

「Hmm…… Well, if you say so. But, I have received a comment from someone who was in Thirdrema at the time and I just got the feeling that it was something pretty terrible.」

「No, you see, I don’t know about it being terrible, but……」

All of a sudden, archer noticed that Sanraku started manipulating the menu columns while exchanging trying to hold something akin to a conversation with the newly arrived. Perhaps he was trying to take out a particular item from the inside of his inventory or something like that?

「Alright then, Professor. Do you have a guess what is going to happen in a moment?」

「This is the first place in which the Players take a step when they are starting the game…… It’s the original spawn point. No, but that’s beside the point. There are mountains and cliffs…… That’s it.」

「Yeah, that’s right. Those are the only things in here as far as the eyes can see…… For the novice players it might be really bad, but in actuality this all the things that you need to naturally hinder the real-time progression and steer the players where you want them to go.」

What Sanraku grabbed from the void of his inventory was a gun…… No, that’s not it. It was a “gun-shaped device”. It had a grip and a trigger to be pulled, but no muzzle and the barrel in which a bullet could be placed.

Then, Sanraku raised the gun-shaped thing into the air and started speaking in a solemn voice, as if trying to grab a hold of one of the mysteries of the world itself.

「It started during the Era of the Gods, managed to survive all throughout the ancient times and continued on to live in the present. It doesn’t really matter where the Pioneers are going. But where could they possibly come from? I have heard it from Isana the Brave Fish! Your name is “Ivory Maiden”, or rather……!」

Sanraku pulled the trigger and there was an unpleasant clicking sound echoing through the air. At that moment, a large number of system windows were created around the gun-shaped device, and as soon as they started to converges, light was emitted from the gun-shaped device..

It was also at this moment that the new players started to understand that this was the exact reason why all the high-level players decided to gather here in the first place.

High-level players slowly started to understand just what the nature of the rumored “festival” was going to be here.

And the organizer of the “festival” declared the name out loud with unshaken conviction, like a great detective pointing his finger at the criminal mastermind.

「Your name is the Third Ship of the Bahamut Class…… BEHEMOTH!!!」

The earth started to sway, the mountains started to ring. Players and NPCs alike started trembling, almost to the point where they were about to fall to the ground. It was a perfectly natural reaction when faced with a sudden earthquake…… But this situation right here was not an earthquake.

There is no precise map of this world. However, in the Old Continent, where human activities have advanced to the extent that they form a country and unify the continent under their rule, there are some good maps that can give you a gist of this continent’s shape.

However, the current maps could not possibly hold the candle to the maps produced way in the past. And soon the current map would change its shape as well. All because of the changes that were undergoing around Firstia.

「What the……!?」

「All of the trees are gone……?」

「And the mountains are……!?」

「No, that’s not it! This is not the mountain!」

「Is this supposed to be some sort of an optical camouflage!?」

The uplifted mountains change their appearance as the humans gaze upon the spectacle that was happening right in front of their eyes. The overgrown trees also disappeared, reviling their true nature…… their job as the holographic camouflage was finally over. Now they were ready to show what they were hiding, revealing the steel colossus that was hidden behind the veil. And as the layer after layer was coming to light, the wisdom of the Era of the Gods was starting to come into light once more.

Human! Oh, my dear children! So, you have finally managed to find me! At long last!」

「…… LONG. IT HAS BEEN SO LONG. BUT AT THE SAME TIME, IT FEELS AS THOUGH ONLY A SHORT MOMENT HAD PASSED.」

No way! All of the players gathered watched in astonishment, not quite being able to believe what they were currently looking at.

The eastern side of Firstia…… Everyone though that it was a mountain range, the one in which there was no towns and no monsters, just a natural obstacle that the players would not be able to traverse on their own. But now it was plain to see that right there there was a huge beast made of steel and metal, lying there on its gigantic stomach, clinging to the continent’s surface.

「Is that…… Is that a freaking boar!?」

「No, it’s not a boar! See!? Some of its parts are still being buried in the ground…… Some sort of an elongated nose……?」

「Are you telling me that this thing is a god damned elephant!?」

POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was a loud mechanical roar echoing through the air, so different from the loud noise made by the Whale of the Gods back then.

And then there was a voice that resonated from the inside of the steel Elephant, speaking to all of the humans currently gathered in Firstia. Its words difficult to ignore.

「MY CHILDREN, SO BRAVE AND COURAGEOUS. SO, YOU HAVE FINALLY FOUND ME…… I AM THE INTERSTELLAR NAVIGATION BAHAMUT-CLASS ARCOLOGY VESSEL “BEHEMOTH”.」

A ridiculously huge propulsion booster tramples the ground just like a limb would. Paying it close attention you could see that it was actually hovering a few meters above the ground, not standing directly on it. It was the way it was designed by the Mother of All Humans, the way in which it would make it easier to traverse the continents in place of being able to cross the dark void of space. But it was something that no player would be able to possibly know. Besides, some of the players here were way too preoccupied with what was going on to even notice that the vessel was actually hovering in the first place.

Seeing such a surreal scene playing in front of their eyes, some players started to nervously whisper amongst themselves.

「I wonder if I’ll be able to obtain here only the information that I am looking for…… But fat chances for that to happen, huh?」

「MY NAME IS IVORY ELEPHANT. I AM THE GATEKEEPER TO THE WOMB AND CRADLE HOLDING THE WISDOM OF THE ERA OF THE GODS. I AM ALSO THE ONE WATCHING OVER THE PIONEERS, OVERLOOKING THEIR DEPARTURE AND AWAITING THEIR RETURN…… BUT NOW, THE TIME FOR HIDING IS OVER. NOW, MY DEAR CHILDREN…… NOW IS THE TIME TO STUDY HARD!!!」

Upon its awakening, the guardian beast of the wisdom of the gods welcomed its children with words filled with warm compassion.