The passage made for dragons to come and go had to be altered so that humans could pass through it as well.
Easy to say, but in practice, there was no telling how long it would take.
So anyone with even the slightest magical knowledge had to be gathered up.
No, ordinary knowledge would be useless.
It would only get in the way.
They needed someone who, even if they could not keep up with Hio and Freyja’s perspective, could immediately understand their thoughts and divide up the work.
And, well, where would such a person be?
At least, there were none among the living, and only one ghost qualified.
Using even the transcendence skill, Dimensional Transfer, they brought Purnell to the Dragon Temple.
There had been a bit of a tussle in dragging out the ghost who had been holed up in the Magic Tower for years without ever coming out, though.
- This place is…… the Dragon Temple?
And yet, once brought out, look at him gaping in delight like this.
- What an immense scale. To think I would see with my own eyes the Dragon Temple that was passed down only in legends while I was alive.
“Not while you were alive, though, was it?”
- Hah…… Is this truly a building that has been left abandoned for over a thousand years? Oh! I see! The entire wall is imbued with magical power!
“For someone who was going to like it this much…….”
When they had gone to bring Purnell, he had thrown such a tantrum, saying he would die together with the Magic Tower and that if they were going, they could go alone.
It made one wonder whether that really was a ghost over a thousand years old.
- Hoho, if you had told me beforehand that we were going to the Dragon Temple, I would have followed you barefoot. Have you no sense at all, my friend? Hohoho.
Purnell might seem sloppy like this, but when it came to magical theory, he was at an extraordinary level.
After all, he had shut himself in the Magic Tower for years, devoting himself to theoretical research in every area he could access.
Even Hio, who wielded absolute comprehension based on his authority, still sought Purnell’s opinion.
Understanding something did not mean one could know theories unrelated to it, after all.
- Hmm…… So this is the place where the passage you spoke of is located.
The place where Freyja had found traces of the passage was inside the Red Dragon Temple, in a completely ordinary, empty corridor.
The reason she had suspected and searched such an ambiguous space was simple.
Because it was the only place inside the temple, still clean and orderly after a thousand years, that bore traces of battle.
No, rather than traces of battle, they were traces of a struggle.
There remained the mark of a dragon’s claw having raked across the temple just once.
As though it had suffered alone and thrashed about.
- To be honest, I cannot feel anything. I do not understand this talk of seeing through a dragon’s eyes and whatnot, either.
When speaking of magic, Purnell was always serious.
- So tell me what you saw. I shall offer my opinion as far as I am able……
But Freyja, having returned to the form of a light-green girl, was not.
Perhaps she found Purnell, who was staring into empty air and speaking solemnly, cute or fascinating.
She secretly approached him from behind and began kneading him.
“So cuuute!”
It seemed she had found him cute after all.
His tiny size, fitting snugly into her arms, and his pointlessly round, bright eyes.
- …….
Even though it was the body of a specter, Freyja, having become a complete dragon, could touch that body without difficulty, so that was not particularly surprising.
What was surprising, rather, was this.
- Um…… Great dragon, if you could perhaps release your hand……
Purnell was intimidated by Freyja.
“Cute!”
- ……I am grateful, but if you knead me too hard, my form may collapse……
It was strange that, having watched everything alongside Hio from when Freyja had been a fragment of a dragon until she entered Ariel’s main body, he would still be intimidated, but then again, he had lived in an era when dragons were not mere legends, so perhaps it made sense.
Imagine being someone from a generation that feared and revered dragons, and then having your own body caught in the hand of one.
It would be frightening.
“Mm. Sorry, ghost.”
- N-no, it is all right. Then, let us continue discussing the passage……
And so began the heated research on the passage by three mages…… no, one ghost, one god, and one dragon.
* * *
After Purnell joined them, the research quickly gained momentum.
Starting from a clue no larger than a fingernail, Freyja had single-handedly figured out how to open the passage.
After that, the three of them put their heads together and discovered quite a number of things.
For instance, hypotheses about what would happen if one passed through an unaltered passage with the body of an ordinary knight.
“First, we need to reduce the concealment on the passage. Unlike back then, we’re not infiltrating in secret.”
- That is true. Concealment is taking up too many patterns.
“We need to use the reduced pattern space to widen the passage. Shouldn’t we make it so that at least tens of thousands can cross in a single movement?”
“It’ll have to be at least that much. We need to increase its capacity.”
- Do not worry about that. Widening the entrance should solve it.
“Are you sure?”
- I am not sure.
They could devise many such hypotheses, but in the end, they could not be certain.
Because they could not conduct an experiment.
The moment they truly opened the passage, it would connect to the Abyss.
And the moment it connected, Kreutzwald would immediately notice as well.
Then the two worlds would be linked.
Just as this side would be able to cross into the Abyss, the Abyss would also be able to head toward this side.
Perhaps Kreutzwald already knew this and was waiting.
Just as the ancient dragons had been done in by the very passage they created, there was no guarantee Kreutzwald would not do the same.
He might not possess the power to wipe out all dragons in one stroke like the former Lord of the Abyss, but even so, it would be a power humanity had never experienced.
They had no choice but to remain cautious at all times.
- What good is it to present theories endlessly? We cannot be certain when we cannot actually test them.
“Not being able to try it out is a big problem.”
“What should we do?”
The research, which had been progressing quickly, slowed.
This would not do.
The Empire would be moving under the premise that the passage could be used.
The operation must already have been drafted, and the plan must have progressed considerably.
To meet the schedule, they had to find a method immediately.
“……There’s no helping it.”
Thanks to Purnell’s joining them, they had been able to devise numerous theories for alteration.
All that was needed was to verify them.
“It looks like we’re reaching our limit now, doesn’t it?”
When Hio slowly rose and asked, Purnell and Freyja nodded at the same time.
- I do not think anything more will come out.
“I can’t think of anything else either.”
The floor and walls of the temple, glowing with a faint red light, were packed full of the results they had produced thus far.
The crystallization of theories wrung out of their minds in a mere four days or so.
A massive magic circle completed from dozens of theories and hypotheses.
Every theory and hypothesis that could emerge had emerged.
Then it was time to use the card he had been saving.
「Authority - ‘Drisella’s Origin Breath’ is activating.」
The now-familiar sense of omnipotence wrapped around his body.
「You have acquired ‘Source of Mana.’」
「For the duration of the authority, you possess authority over mana.」
He handled the source of mana.
「You have acquired ‘Comprehension of Mana.’」
「For the duration of the authority, you possess comprehension of all phenomena caused by mana.」
He understood mana.
「You have understood ‘Drisella’s Breathing.’」
「For the duration of the authority, you can use ‘Drisella’s Breathing.’」
An authority that allowed him to hold infinite mana within his body through breathing.
“…….”
A gigantic magic circle, starting from the floor and filling the vast space densely.
The crystallization of the theory the three of them had created over four days.
Hio’s violet gaze swept over the space beneath his feet.
Then the figures of Freyja and Purnell, standing a little distance away, grew distant.
Even the walls of the temple, faintly glowing red, vanished into the far distance.
Only the magic circle engraved there slowly rose up and settled before Hio.
All that remained in the entire universe was the magic circle and the violet gaze of the absolute being examining it.
“……I see.”
That was enough.
To find and understand the problems and their solutions, simply looking was enough.
And so he took his eyes off the magic circle.
At the same time, his vision shifted rapidly, as though his soul were being sucked away.
The universe disappeared, and stars seemed to die as they flashed past, and before he knew it, he was back inside the Red Dragon Temple.
The magic circle that had seemed to float in midair was engraved on the walls and floor as if nothing had ever happened, and Purnell and Freyja, too, were still looking at Hio just as they had been.
- H-how is it? Did you find the problem?
Purnell asked urgently, while Freyja swallowed nervously.
Hio nodded to them.
「Authority - ‘Drisella’s Origin Breath’ is being canceled.」
Then he collapsed onto the floor just like that.
This was why he had saved the authority until the very end.
The terrible feeling of exhaustion that came after using the authority.
If it lasted long, it could continue for an entire day, and the research would not have proceeded properly.
After all, Hio’s rank was still insufficient for him to abuse Drisella’s authority.
Nor could he use the authority on empty air, without a specific target like a magic circle, and simply create an altered magic circle out of nothing.
Drisella’s authority was “comprehension,” not “creation.”
“……If you’re tired, just sit there. Don’t force yourself to get up.”
Legarda supported Hio as he tried to stand and spoke, but Hio shook his head to say he was fine.
“I found a few places that need to be corrected. We have to change them right away before I forget.”
- Then that means……
Everyone present, including Legarda, understood what those words meant.
And so, with expressions that grew even heavier,
they nodded a little more slowly, a little more gravely.
“The passage will be completed soon.”
Their encounter with Kreutzwald was not far off.
It meant the true war against the entire Abyss was beginning.
A war that might perhaps be their last.
* * *
A week had already passed since Vitalianus, who had gone to conquer the 73rd floor, suddenly returned with information that he had found the passage.
The plan they had been discussing day after day had now taken clear shape, and the troops promised by each nation had begun gathering toward the Empire.
At that point, did it not seem insufficient to call it an expeditionary force?
Thus emerged the name Continental Alliance.
Even though the Empire’s forces made up the vast majority, they willingly created the name Continental Alliance.
It was to give the other nations a plausible cause and a sense of pride.
There was also the intention of preventing them from keeping the Empire in check while a large portion of its main forces were gone, but in any case, it was a historic moment: the birth of the first massive legion known as the Continental Alliance.
Key figures from various nations began entering one after another, their banners symbolizing their countries fluttering high.
Sylvia, looking down on them from a high place in the imperial castle, murmured softly to herself.
“Still no contact?”
An answer came to that quiet voice.
It was Vitalianus.
“Will he not come soon? Please do not worry too much.”
Even at Vitalianus’s answer, Sylvia’s brow did not ease, as though she was still uneasy.
She was anxious.
After working tirelessly day and night, they had established the broad framework of the operation and even roughly finished the organization of the troops, yet the most important information had yet to arrive.
“Once the passage is completed, the mage will surely stop by here first.”
What if another variable had appeared and something had happened?
What if he was in danger?
More than anything else, that was what worried her.
“I know. If it’s Hio, of course he would. But I’m anxious because there’s still been no news……”
But as if to render that worry meaningless, a violet line appeared between Sylvia and Vitalianus.
The faces of the two, who knew what it was, brightened.
“Hio!”
Sure enough.
The one who appeared, cutting through the violet space, was Hio.
The Emperor’s office was considered spacious even within the imperial castle, yet black wings spread wide enough to fill it completely and still have room to spare.
Sylvia approached with a bright smile, but—
“We need to get ready and leave at once.”
The moment Hio appeared, he spoke with solemn resolve.
“To the deepest part of the Grandina Mountains.”
At the same time, Sylvia’s expression sank deeply.