Light of Arad: The First to Walk - Chapter 179



Only Noblemtl

179

Un Lionel put his face against the gunship’s window as if he was going to break it.

“Sir, you must not stand up during evasive flight!”

Despite the warnings of the Hwangdogun gunship pilot, Luck did not budge.

It was a natural thing.

This was because the direction Anton’s large body was facing outside the gunship’s window was clearly different than before.

“Really the direction… Anton….”

Anton’s head, which had been heading northeast until now, was now facing south-southwest.

How much distance should we keep in that direction?

In the distance ahead of the gunship’s cockpit, several ships could be seen, most notably the Noble Sky, the flagship of the Celestial Zodiac Army.

Although it was easy to observe from a high-altitude gunship, the actual distance between Anton and Noble Sky was by no means easy, and yet Yun could not relax.

“Are you sure you’re shooting breath?”

Because there’s no way Apostle Anton would attack with something like a body slam.

As soon as he is within a valid range, Anton will breathe fire.

At least then, it would be Anton who breathed fire instead of Anton who ate fire, and Luck could calculate how wide-ranging and how much damage that breath would cause.

“There was no mention of breath… but I guess that’s probably the case.”

“Oh my, how could this be……”

At Chili Shrimp’s remark, Yun bit his lower lip.

Vivi asked the troubled colonel quietly.

“Huh? But a cryoblast? A freezing beam? If you have that, why don’t you just shoot it at Anton’s breath? That side is fire, this side is ice! If it’s cold enough to cool down a volcano, it should be able to extinguish Anton’s fire.”

But luck shook its head.

He is the adjutant of Commander-in-Chief Jackter Eagleeye.

I already knew about the information and materials related to the cooling beam, as I had already received sufficient reports from Seven Shaz’s Nien Shiger and others.

“The Cooling Beam can only fire so many times. As you know, there is no additional energy that can be supplied from the Power Station. Furthermore, the cooling operation to cool the magma of the Black Volcano was not something that the Noble Sky could do alone. All the energy of the entire fleet here was concentrated into a single point on Anton’s volcano, and it was only possible once.”

“ah……”

That Vivi’s proposal was impossible to implement.

Sure, the Cooling Beam is powerful, but there’s no guarantee that it can stop Anton’s breath.

“……Even if you block the breath with a cold beam, the problem is that there is no way back. The black volcano is still boiling, so you won’t be able to catch Mateka, and you won’t be able to reach the heart inside Anton’s body.”

That was something that Jinseong could have predicted.

Even if we could gather the energy of the Noble Sky and the fleet in the Twilight Sea and block Anton’s breath just once? What would we do next?

It’s literally all about risking your life and using a disposable defense card once.

It only prevents you from dying from the breath. It only prevents you from melting away in an instant.

After that, Anton walks across the sea and crashes into the Noble Sky, and that’s the end of it.

In a situation where it is impossible to transport all personnel by gunship right away, the regular army of the Jiben Empire will suffer unspeakable damage.

The inside of the gunship became extremely quiet as everyone could picture what was to come.

Jinseong also didn’t have the energy to say anything.

He had to just bow his head, cover his head, and think about it over and over again.

‘Damn, I was so stupid. Forgetting the Tartans’ telepathic abilities… … That’s why the Tartans and the Ulu became one in the first place! That’s why Mateka appears as the final boss of Anton Reid!’

He was tormented by the guilt that all this had happened because of his own mistakes.

If only I had known that Mateka’s telepathic abilities were that great.

Or if Mateca knew about ‘Caloso’.

If I had just thought of one of the two, if I had just remembered one of the two, I would have been able to deal with it to some extent.

‘Rather, it was because of me that the pollution occurred. Anton, who should have continued on towards the Sea of ​​Twilight as usual, changed course, and it was all my fault. If anything were to happen by any chance… … .’

Gulp.

The true voice moved greatly.

What if the main characters are fatally injured or killed by the breath of Apostle Anton, who is targeting the Noble Sky right now?

Jackter Eagle Eye, Naen Siger, Un Lionel… … There are more than one or two targets to protect.

‘And if it’s before or after the cannon defense battle, Neville and Jurgen will probably come to the Noble Sky too.’

The ship called Noble Sky originally belonged to Neville Jurgen.

It is not surprising that he came to the Noble Sky after he had borrowed the Jurgen family’s ship to deal with Apostle Anton and had been allowed to convert it into a warship.

In addition to the characters listed, what would happen if Neville Jurgen were injured?

‘It will definitely have an impact. The main scenario going forward will be greatly shaken. Perhaps… … it will become a future stained with irreversible pollution.’

ends in failure.

The main scenario of the users, the ‘character adventurers’, and the possessed ones, the candidates for true adventurers and ‘candidates for the sharpened blade’ will collapse.

So what should we do then?

What are the possible methods? What is the best, most optimal option that Jinseong himself can choose right now?

“Mr. Jinsang, you’re having a bad habit again. What are you doing?”

“Uh, um? Yes?”

While Jinseong was thinking about that, Vivi’s voice was heard at the back of his head.

Jinseong slowly raised his head.

Vivi pushed up her glasses slightly and let out a playful sigh.

“Why are you trying to take responsibility for everything by yourself again?”

“That’s… no, rather than that-. Couldn’t the problem have been prevented in the first place-.”

“Oh, oh, oh! Why worry about something that’s already happened? Isn’t that right, Sister Chili?”

Bibi asked for Chili Shrimp’s consent by extending her index finger and making a left-right motion.

The red eyes of the chili shrimp, eyes that contained years that would be hard to believe belonged to a young girl, were fixed on Jinseong for a moment.

She said.

“……Vivi, you’re right. Now is not the time to be leisurely talking about how it couldn’t have been prevented. I’m sure Mr. Jinseong doesn’t have a clue as to ‘how it could have been prevented’, but rather than worrying about such arrogant and lofty things, shouldn’t we first find a solution?”

Prevention? Was such a thing even possible in the first place?

To the chili shrimp, this was something that could not be stopped.

Jinseong is reproaching himself? Blaming himself?

For Chili Shrimp, who has been through countless ‘Anton Jjol’ situations, that is the most arrogant thing to say.

It means that it is the same as ignoring everyone present here!

It was a blow to the truth.

It was also a consolation to Jinseong.

Vivi nodded her head sharply.

“That’s right, that’s right! I told you that Chili and I can communicate. It hasn’t happened yet. We haven’t even tried everything. Try&Error! I told you the Gongdol Mind like that, but you still don’t get it?”

Jinseong couldn’t help but chuckle at the light-hearted expression that didn’t fit the mood, and ended up letting out a small laugh.

“……What I told you back then was, ‘If it’s working properly, don’t touch it.’”

“That, that’s rule number one! This is rule number two!”

Vivi quickly extended another finger.

Even so, Jinseong and even the chili shrimp were embarrassed and just shook their heads.

“But Vivi, you understand the situation well, right? It’s not Try&Error. If there’s an Error this time, we’re all dead. We have to succeed in one Try.”

Does Vivi’s advice fit the current situation?

Chili Shrimp’s comments were sharp, but Vivi didn’t understand what she was saying.

“Huh? No, no, what I mean is I already tried Anton Raid and got an Error! So you’re saying I can try again after this failure?”

“That’s why. If Try fails at the point where Anton spits fire, it’s over-.”

“Why would that fail?”

“-what?”

Because she knew it all.

“Mr. Jinseong, are you sure?”

That Jinseong will definitely do it.

Even though both Chili Shrimp and Jinseong were dumbfounded, Vivi’s eyes were bright.

Even in this situation, even though Jinseong himself is wavering to this extent, does she still believe in Jinseong?

Something began to boil in Jinseong’s heart too.

It wasn’t a determination like, “I have to save the adventurer, I have to fix the pollution…”

“Ahem, I have to do it. If you trust me this much and I can’t do it, I’ll be screwed again. I can’t do that.”

He reacted playfully, but also to repay Vivi’s immense gratitude for her trust.

Swoosh, woosh, woosh-.

The pilot spoke as the gunship’s engine power was reduced.

“Colonel, we will be there shortly.”

“I understand. Adventurers and… Master Jinseong, please prepare as well.”

Now it was clearly visible to everyone’s naked eyes.

It was the sight of monsters ‘shooting out’ from the volcano on Anton’s back, falling all over the front and stern of the Noble Sky and causing a ruckus, and the Hwado Army blocking them.

* * *

The monsters were no match for the Noble Sky.

Among them, who were maintaining a precarious balance with just the Zodiac Army, there were those who jumped from the gunship.

“, , !”

“Chief San, Chief Bun, focus on defending the ship as much as possible! Vice-Chief Eche, focus on shooting with a focus on water-based attacks! Try to freeze and slow things down as much as possible! Deputy Ra, you should go with Vice-Chief Eche and protect the facilities first!”

With the combination of aggressive Vivi and defensive Chili Shrimp, the Noble Sky’s Zodiac Force quickly drove back Anton’s invasion force.

However, the soldiers of the Noble Sky were nowhere to be seen looking happy.

Jackter Eagle-Eye’s eyes were sparkling brighter than ever.

“How?”

“……The plan I can suggest is an evasive maneuver. There was also an opinion to block the breath by focusing the cooling beams together, but that was not a reasonable choice……”

Un Lionel had to keep his words vague.

Is there a method?

Jackter also had no choice but to scream as he was aware of the situation.

“……I see. So I have to get kicked out again. By that damn monster.”

“But it’s questionable whether we can avoid it. Even if we succeed in evading it once, there’s no guarantee that the entire fleet will be safe… and above all, if we assume that Anton is chasing us all the way, how far should we retreat? We can’t take that monster all the way to the capital, right? We’ve barely managed to rescue the princess.”

The one who intervened was Hiram Clough.

As the commander of the coastal defense force, it is a different military system from the regular Imperial Army.

It is probably thanks to this structure that Jackter can be rebutted without any age or class differences.

“Captain Hiram, would you mind telling me what to say?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s wrong.”

Jackter frowned for a moment at that blunt attitude, but Hiram just shrugged.

By the time Apostle Anton’s retreat had already directly and indirectly been eating away at the morale of the Noble Sky.

As expected, only one person took a step forward.

Jinseong said, catching his breath.

“I…will try to stop it.”

Hiram Clough looked at Jinseong blankly and asked.

“You’re probably thinking the same thing as me, right? You’re planning to cool down the volcano and then infiltrate it before Anton’s breath erupts…is that your plan?”

If you want to stop Anton, the only way is through special attacks.

An operation to have the best elements take to the skies in advance via gunship, cool down the volcano with a freezing beam before its breath is emitted, then go straight into the volcano, kill Mateka, and destroy Anton’s heart.

Hiram Claf seemed to have already made such a plan, but it was one of the Seven Shards, Naen Sigur, who quickly intervened.

“T, that’s, uh, impossible. Sorry to interrupt, but – aiming precisely at the moving Anton – uh, all ships have to shoot at the same time, and to hit the volcano precisely, Anton’s, uh, unless he stops moving…….”

Despite her hesitant speech, she probably has the most complete understanding of information related to the Freeze Beam.

Hiram frowned as he heard her words.

“Then what are you going to do, Naen Yang? That guy named Jinseong here must have had the same plan. Commander-in-Chief, Jinseong and I will infiltrate, so according to your decision-”

“Uh… no, that’s not what I was trying to say?”

Jinseong said with an awkward expression.

Hiram, who was trying to persuade Jackter to make a decision, was dumbfounded.

Jinseong continued speaking, feeling somehow relieved.

“As you said, I can’t take risks in uncertain situations. Rather, I would like you to shoot the cooling beam right after I move. Anton will most likely be still by then.”

When Jinseong does something, Anton will stop, so shoot the ice beam at that point?

Vivi asked.

“Then what are you going to do, Jinsang?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Jinseong.

Jinseong’s eyes, which had been catching his breath repeatedly, wavered for a moment.

But soon, with his eyes sparkling with color, the Dark Knight spoke.

“I have to stop it. With my breath. Me.”

Anton’s breath can be blocked.

When you breathe out your breath, Anton will definitely stop too.

That means you can shoot the Ice Beam right after blocking the breath!

“It seems like the zodiac sent a pure liar.”

Even if it wasn’t Hiram who shot down the silk, everyone shared similar thoughts.

Jinseong’s gaze turned towards the chili shrimp.

“Mr. Chili Shrimp.”

“Me, me? Why me? I can’t help with that. Whether Jinseong is some great person or not-”

Jinseong asked, interrupting the flustered Chili Shrimp.

“How did you do that whip?”

Because that was the only way Jinseong could think of.