Chapter 6 (1/2)

Chapter 6

Part 1

“…”

Wearing a prisoner’s uniforer in the room of a monastery

This feast should have been a wondrous treasure for a boy as only issued soap-like rations, but he had a reason to be less than thrilled

When Eric had brought the food, he had frowned too

“Don’t think about it too much It tastes fine and it’s nutritious”

“Yeah, but isn’t this made from those Draupnir bell crickets that attacked our maintenance base?”

“I said not to think about it! I was eating these things every day like it was nor here There’s nothing wrong with the ingredients, so just eat it!”

“Uot back?”

For some reason, Eric paled and looked away from Quenser

That hen Quenser noticed Eric looked like he had not been eating much lately

“Wait, what did you see? Be honest with me! Just tell me!!”

“You’re really better off not knowing …There orms and caterpillars too…”

“It’s not just one kind!? They’re ether!?”

If whole bell crickets had been skewered or fried, he ht have been able to build his resolve But he had no way to brace hi transforers and fries or hoas done It was a lot like the difference between the fear of being ordered to jump from a cliff with the bottom visible five meters down versus when it was too dark to see the bottom

“Also, well, this should be safe”

Eric pulled out a small bottle

A clear liquid sloshed around inside

“It’s whisky This brand is well-known a our men It’s nearly 120 proof, so I wouldn’t drink it all at once if I were you This is the kind of drink where you spend two hours nursing a single glass”

“…That isn’t so extract, is it?”

“Alcohol isor distilling it, so it should actually be redient I doubt there’s anything to worry about”

That said, they would not nor like this It would be distributed as a special event after a battle It was num Quenser was seriously conflicted over whether he could drink that

“Your interrogation will continue to yourself to eat to keep your strength up You said you don’t knohere Saint Skuld is, but not knowing is the ation Do you really not know or are you playing duure that out”

“Hey, Eric Do you think what Urd and Verdandi said is true? Ia serial killer who uses her battles to hide the bodies”

“I don’t know” Eric breathed a heavy sigh “I’ve heard the Pilot Elites are treated pretty well, but does it really go that far? …I want to trust that the world has some sense, but I did find it odd how persistent Saints Urd and Verdandi were about this”

Eric shut his h the solid wood door The Faith Organizationabout the Pilot Elites behind their back

Eric faced the door and said one last thing

“I don’t knohen you will be released, but bear with it for now Being a student should give you an advantage over a norive up hope”

The door opened and closed

Quenser took a deep breath now that he was alone

“Now, then”

He set aside the burger and fries problelanced toward the bottle of whisky But not to drink it He tore off a sleeve of his prisoner’s uniform, twisted it into a rod shape, and stuck it into the bottle Once the whisky had soaked into it, he used the electrodes of the fluorescent light to light it He now had a makeshi+ft alcohol lamp

He knew soernails torn off, had a truth serum injected into him, or had electrodes attached to his balls

Bya stone in the wall, a trapdoor opened

It would be a dangerous journey, but it was better than discovering his own masochistic tendencies in a small locked room

Part 2

It was the ht

TheHeivia, Skuld, and the others had stopped 10 kiloanization ines would have given them away

They were surrounded by a wasteland with nothing but baobab trees to be seen

The soldiers held their breath and aimed trumpet-like speakers toward the ets hear environazelle or buffalo footsteps, Heivia took the lead, veered far off the et

An early warning directional round

That parabolic device stood on a tripod and would pick up a cough from a kilometer away But at the sale Once the soldiers were behind it, they had nothing more to fear

While the environmental noises tricked the microphone, Heivia touched the plate-sized parabolic device froup and would forever have nothing to report

Heivia spoke into his radio a short distance away

“I’ve safely neutralized the Muninn parabolic microphone It’s all just like Skuld told us Come on in, everyone”

“Understood, Heivia We also have to worry about the Huginn up in the air, so be careful”

As the Legitih the darkness, they would occasionally aiht sky Those were the directional speakers that had fooled the parabolic microphone with environmental noises

They were targeting a toy-like drone that used six rotors to fly

It used a highly sensitive microphone to detect anyand footsteps by sending various environht at it

Heivia wiped sweat fro away like normal

“Is intelligence everything in war? Having Skuld with us has made all the difference”

“Don’t let your guard down,” said Skuld herself “You never knohat kind of pitfall awaits us at the whim of a God”

“But why are they so obsessed with using sound?”

“We made a ht tactic is?”

“Yeah By flashi+ng a strobe light several tihter than a ht adjuste analysis can’t keep up I think it’s even more effective if you switch back and forth between different wavelengths of light Man, did you ever fall for an old-fashi+oned trick”

“Even the s can be traumatic That’s why our unit prefers to rely on sound ht”

“Then I guess we’ll be giving the on smell next?”

As they slipped past soiant seesaw-like silhouettes ca devices for oil extraction, but they had likely been abandoned for some time They were all badly rusted

Heivia climbed onto one of the 10 meter seesaws to view their destination

The Faith Organization ht in front of them

A cathedral and round Tents thicker than circus tents had been set up in the gaps between the buildings Halogen lights htly in the darkness

After photographing it with his handheld device and sharing the information with the others, Skuld spoke up over the radio

“They would be holding a prisoner in the monastery, but the front door is made of thick bronze and on’t be able to force it open We either need to get our hands on an authorization key or blow it open with explosives”

“We can do that There’sto sneak in We have a rescue team, a power source team, and an escape route teae team that will take care of the Trinity Style Skuld, are you ready?”

“Of course”

Heivia cliiant seesaw and handed Skuld a brick-sized mass

He spoke to everyone for one final check

“Listen, no firing your guns Iyou do your houns If we’re discovered here, we’ll be completely outnumbered And if the Trinity Style joins in, we’re cohtered”

Even if the enemy had 100 soldiers out on patrol, there were still 900 in the base And they would all be ardo noticed and without firing a shot?

This was an unprecedented mission for them

“Got that? Then let’s work for the tax money they pay us”

Part 3

The Faith Organization was a union of different religious groups, so its countries’ laws tended to be based on religious rules

And during the raucous party in the maintenance base, the soldiers thanked their Gods that they had been born in a Norse Mythology country Their religion could be really picky about duels and fights, but the hurdles for food, drink, s, and hobbies were extre

“But you’re still drinking way too much, Hoover! This stuff is 116 proof, so at least water it down a little!”

“Iii’ot a Goddesh of victory on our shi+de, sho it’sh not like thoshe loshers’re gonna attack now…”

The first soldier clicked his tongue when he heard the other slurring his words As soon as he supported unsteady Hoover with his shoulder, the man vomited quite spectacularly

“Ubweh!!”

“Gross, you idiot! That’s not some telephone pole; it’s a historic relic!!”

“Huh? shi+t…that’sh odd… I didn’t think I’d had sho much to drink…”

“Well, you rong Hey, medical team! Where’s the tent with the cross on it!!?”

He practically had to drag Hoover away from their post and to the medical tent

Just tenbehind cover inside the Faith Organization maintenance base zone

The delinquent soldier held an assault rifle

But he had no interested in the lead bullets What mattered noas the makeshi+ft optional weapon attached near the muzzle

“This is Heivia The e I repeat, the e the drunk ones You can tell who’s drunk using thermo”

A weapon that reht sound like it usedmuch closer to home could pull it off

For example, far infrared beams or microwaves

When people were exposed to those, they would naturally start to feel hot But if the situation was not explained to the because infrared beams and uess as happening to them and people tended to accept whatever conclusion they reached

Was their head growing so hot because they did not like what their co?

Could they not sleep because of nerves?

Did their chest ache because they were feeling guilty after growing fond of their hostage?

An es that would destroy the ene-terest flaas hoildly its effects varied between individuals

However, that could be overcome in certain limited circumstances

For exaets were intoxicated fro liquor

“This is pretty aet drunk faster It’s a lot like taking a hot bath when you’re drunk I’h tech or low tech”

“Our food supply included boxes of whisky It was nearly 120 proof If they were serving that, this will knock out most of the soldiers”

“That’s great And it ht not be a bad idea to ‘borrow’ a bottle while I’m at it”

They had not been issued this equipment It was all handmade They had pulled some scrap froiven theanization, and the technical people like the old lady had discussed how to take advantage of that inforether

War was all about intelligence Heivia felt like as the worst of the acts only possible for a cultured person

“Anyway, it’s working”

“Then let’s continue with the plan”

The two of theroup split apart into a Heivia team and a Skuld team On the way, they used environmental noises from their directional speakers to neutralize the microphones they came across and used the emotional weapons attached to their rifles to speed up the soldiers’ intoxication until they vomited

Myonri, a feave a worried comment

“W-will this really work? Won’t it be useless against anyone who doesn’t drink?”

“The idiots around them will take care of that When one collapses, they need a second or third person to carry them away Check their body teet the guy next to them We’ll stick with this until they find any proof that we’re here”

Heivia’s groupout the Faith Organization soldiers without firing a single bullet or ht

“Power source team here Preparations complete”

“Sabotage tea trouble with our preparations But it looks like we’ll be able to get inside thefor the signal”

Heivia’s teaiant tent as they listened to the voices over the radio

They were already right in front of the monastery’s front entrance

The thick bronze door was locked with a simple bar on the inside, but that uard out front took a swig from an amber-colored bottle, they hit him with the microwaves of their emotional weapons and then ran toward the door

Heivia searched through the collapsed soldier’s clothes and clicked his tongue

“Rescue team here There’s no authorization key I repeat, there’s no authorization key Activate Plan B Let’s do this the fun way!!”

A moment later, the maintenance base zone’s poent out and the entire area was enveloped in darkness

Part 4

The dom soldiers had split into a few different teams

The power source team had had a simple job

Gas and electricity were not a guarantee in the enerators and largescale transforet They had stuffed thin plastic bags with iron sand and used ataller than they were That threw the bags 200-300radiators

Some were fried and some shorted out, but the effect was instantaneous

The entire area lost power and fell into darkness

While loading a new projectile in the giant slingshot, the soldiers shouted over the radio

“Power supply team here Blackout confirmed I repeat, blackout confirmed! But we can’t predict if or when they’ll switch over to backup power!! Be careful with your next actions!!”

“This is Heivia fro on the second wave!!”

“We already are!!”

The soldiers of the power supply teas toward the enemy maintenance base

But these were not loaded with iron sand

These were right on the borderline of violating some war treaties

As the Faith Organization soldiers wandered around in the blackout, they switched on the flashlights attached to the end of their rifles, but then they fell into further confusion

They could not see

As if they were surrounded by a thick fog at night, the powerful lights were reflected right in front of them, spread out, and were blocked by a white screen And they also detected a chemical smell

“Ugh, cough, cough!! What…!? A smokescreen…? Are we under attack!?”

They could not see anything

If they had been in eneht have been tempted to fire around wildly, but this was their own maintenance base and they would only kill their own allies They had no idea as attacking, from where, how many there were, where they were headed, or how far they had spread Pulling the trigger blindly would be a bad idea

Meanwhile, they heard a loud explosion

One soldier ht his radio to his mouth

“Guard tower! So at the monastery! I repeat…”

He trailed off when he started feeling dizzy

His legs greeak and he collapsed on the spot

He had a bad feeling about this

He kept wiping at his brow, but the sweat never stopped

“Is this not just a set your masks on! This is really bad!!”

After firing a grenade to destroy the bronze door, Heivia fired a few srenades inside White srew poor

It looked ias No mask was necessary

Heivia gave a quiet warning to Myonri and the rest of the rescue team

“No bullets”

But this was not newfound co like that

“Fire bullets at the the e because it speeds up their intoxication, but they’ll confuse it for poison gas with this smokescreen The more scared they are, the easier this is for us”

“Should we really be using these like this…?”

Myonri was concerned because smokescreens were classified as cheenerally used for communication or for defense, but if they were h to violate so harmless

At any rate, the darkness and sht in tays at once Heivia’s tea the monastery

Wouldn’t Heivia’s teah the smoke?

It would see

Some of the smokescreens developed for ereon That sort of technology was always advancing One smokescreen would successfully avoid a lock, so the next lock would work through that smokescreen Then a new smokescreen would be developed to defeat that lock, and so on and so forth

In other words, this sort of sh even though it blocked norht

Heivia’s group had used a s it to block the eneh

Thus, only the Faith Organization was confused

“Cough!! Ugh, what is this gas? Not even the …!?”

“Do we absorb it directly through our skin!? That’s just wrong! What happened to the war treaties!? Gebh!!”

“You idiot! Soet Kicker’s mask off of him! He’ll drown in his own vomit!!”

It was absolute pandeh, the eh the thick stone walls Hiding behind cover like norh to escape the induced nausea

After the majority passed out from intoxication, the few non-drinkers were held up by the assault rifles at close range After knocking them out with the stock, Heivia’s team used zip ties to bind their thumbs behind their back

Heivia clicked his tongue

“What is this? Is this both their barracks and where they hold the prisoners? Hey, Skuld! Do you knohich floor skinny boy ht be on!?”

“The detention barracks are on your left when you walk in,” said Skuld via radio “Prisoners should be held in the roo from the bottom”

“And? This is a five story building with more than twenty doors on each floor Do we have to break through 100 doors!?”

“We shouldn’t have any prisoners other than Quenser at the moment”

“Then is he on the left in the back of the first floor!?”

While scattering more harmless s their footsteps They arrived in front of the room in question

“Hey, pizza delivery!! We’re getting this door open before the pie gets cold, so get back from the door!!”

There was no response

Heivia wondered if the door was too thick for his voice to get through, but the ap below the door His voice had to have made it inside

He exchanged a displeased look with Myonri

“I hope it isn’t time for an unexpected adlib round after all this”

“But opening this door comes first no matter e do”

She was exactly right

He used the bottom of his military boot to kick open the wooden door

Part 5

Bright light returned to the Faith Organization maintenance base zone

It had taken about 7 minutes to switch to backup power

“Saint Urd, this way!”

The sexy Pilot Elite ran across the base while surrounded by several bodyguards The area was covered by a thick fog-like smokescreen and she could only see a few round, she would have tripped over the soldiers groaning on the ground She felt like she had been thrown into a bad dream

“What happened to Verdandi!?”

“She was left with the medical team because she felt dizzy and nauseous! She as weapon!!”

Urd immediately concluded that was not possible

If this sas weapon, its effects would not be so varied Urd and the others would have collapsed with everyone else, but she and her bodyguards were doing just fine And when she looked at that group for any traits in comuess as happening

Yes

Everyone here was a non-drinker

(Is this gas or so used to accelerate everyone’s intoxication from the whisky?)

If so, it was a baffling and highly uncertain method of attack

She could think of a few different technologies that could induce intoxication, but they would only be a viable plan if the ene plenty of alcohol If the Legitidom had approached all excited about their neeapon only to find everyone sober, they would have been easily defeated

How had they seen through this “habit”?

The obvious answer caused Urd to clench her teeth

“Skuld…!!”

“Saint Urd, please hurry to the maintenance bay! We can turn this around with the Norn’s sensors!!”

The soldiers were treating the Object like Cinderella’s fairy Godht to scold them when she made use of the clean war fairy tale

“How far along is the Norn’s maintenance?”

“That Second Generation is fa as it’s supplied with the appropriate nu will automatically repair it”

That was another fairy tale The Object was not actually that flexible, but Urd did not bother co that iument could destroy all that

Fortunately, the siant tent

The maintenance soldiers who had defended it with their lives saluted Urd

She used the elevator to reach the top of the Object and spoke to the bodyguards who had stayed with her this far

“Since Verdandi couldn’t join us, I will enter the Norn alone”

“Understood We will instruct the medical team to inform you of Saint Verdandi’s condition”

Urd passed through the spiraling tunnel to reach her personal cockpit She quickly sat down, belted herself in place, stuck a thick cable into her navel, and closed the tunnel’s barriers

(Now, then How much can I actually do?)

If she used the Norn’s sensors, she could deterh the thick sitianization

She would check everyone’s location for the ti She could rule out everyone collapsed fro If she had them all report in via radio, she could count everyone who failed to respond as an enemy

(Well, that’s probably about it)

She could not fire indiscriminately in theagainst her, but knohere the enemy ould still help

Her allies were collapsed froas

If she inforanization could bounce back She did not kno many enemies had infiltrated the base, but she doubted it was a full battalion of 1000

With that in an searching for the enemy