episode_0675
by admin
“Anomalous entity I-988, Cathedral of Silence. This is the anomalous entity that caused my parents to die. I would like to ask you to destroy this anomalous entity.”
I suddenly wanted to take back what I said about it being bland.
It’s not that I was scared, I just thought it would be too much of a hassle.
‘You want me to handle this?’
How on earth do I destroy this?
Of course, if I unleash my full power, I can launch an attack with greater power than an average bomb.
Just like how we blew up the small bug nests in Nova Empire.
But aren’t these guys unaware of that?
They say there was no damage even after high-altitude bombing, so I don’t know what they think I, a mere humanoid abnormality, can do and why they’re asking me to do this.
Anyway, first of all, I expressed regret for being the abnormal entity that caused me to lose my parents.
Emily said calmly.
“There are many members of ECHO who have lost something precious to an abnormal entity. It’s hard to continue this kind of work with just a sense of duty. It’s not something special.”
‘Even though it’s nothing special, I think there’s a reason I asked you to do this…’
It felt like he grabbed the opportunity to take revenge as soon as it came.
Surely he wasn’t originally a Catholic but lost his parents in the Silent Cathedral incident and abandoned his faith?
I shook my head, shaking off the thoughts that were running wild.
These days, I’ve been experiencing so many unrealistic things that it’s become a daily occurrence for me to have these kinds of conspiracy theory-like thoughts.
I decided to focus on something a little more realistic.
“But even though I’m like this, I’m still a living, breathing creature. I wonder if I’ll just freeze in place after entering the Cathedral of Silence. Like other humans. I said I’d help ECHO, but I don’t plan on risking my life to help. Our relationship is a cooperative one, where we give and receive appropriate help.”
“The Cathedral of Silence stops and silences any living being that enters its influence. However, it is not an anomaly that directly affects time like the Time Compass. Rather… it is more correct to see it as a phenomenon where the body freezes in response to a mental attack by an anomaly.”
“Mental attack?”
“Yes. This is a conclusion based on the testimony of the sole survivor. He eventually went mad and died shortly after returning, but… according to his testimony at the time, this is a clear fact. The psychic attack of the Cathedral of Silence causes the body of a living being to stiffen and appear to be frozen, and this state continues until the subject ceases life activities and dies. ”
“That’s a power that reminds me of Medusa. Except she doesn’t turn to stone. Oh, is there Greek and Roman mythology here too?”
“Yes. And you have a special constitution that makes you immune to mental attacks from abnormal entities. Is it because you are also an abnormal entity?”
“… Well, that’s just because of my constitution.”
I thought it was a trait shared by all humanoid abnormalities, but it would have been a problem if they had done something to Scarlett.
Fortunately, Emily nodded and continued speaking, as if she understood my intention.
“If you don’t mind the psychic attacks, there’s another anomaly that you should be aware of in the Cathedral of Silence. It’s just silence. All sounds and vibrations within a 20km radius of the Cathedral disappear, and you enter a state of complete silence, where the surrounding sounds disappear.”
According to Emily, the silence is physically inexplicable, with no sounds of conversation, machinery, or even life-like movement within the eroded area.
“According to the survivors’ testimonies, it seems that they are experiencing auditory hallucinations because they can’t hear anything. It is presumed that they mainly hear sounds related to past memories or fears. If the condition worsens, they may also experience hallucinations. It is also believed that this is the cause of the survivor’s mental breakdown. That part depends on your mental power.”
From what I’ve heard, it seems that the higher-ups at ECHO, including Emily, have decided that I can operate freely within the influence of the Cathedral of Silence.
If you are not affected by psychic attacks, you will be less likely to suffer from auditory or visual hallucinations.
‘But acting freely and destroying an abnormal entity are two completely different things.’
“But do you really think I can destroy this strange entity called the Cathedral of Silence? Even bombing didn’t work.”
When I asked Emily that question, she answered calmly.
“The Cathedral of Silence is not the first anomalous entity to have immunity to physical attacks from the outside. Nor is it the first anomalous entity to threaten human survival by encroaching on a specific area. However, ECHO has successfully contained most of these entities so far.”
“How?”
Emily’s eyes sparkled at my question.
“Destroy the core of the abnormal entity right inside the abnormal entity, or at the center of the incident where the abnormal phenomenon occurred.”
The nucleus of the abnormal entity.
According to Emily, the core of the anomaly was a kind of weak point that existed in the super-large anomalies that resembled these buildings, or the kind that encroached on the area.
It was said that if you destroy or remove it and isolate it, such an abnormal entity will lose its power and disappear.
“But it was impossible to destroy the core of the Cathedral of Silence. Even with mental protection equipment, humans wouldn’t be able to last long if they entered and would be shut down, and the eroded area and the outside would be disconnected even if they used electronic devices, so they couldn’t work properly. At the very least, unless they could properly identify the location of the core, it was a difficult goal to achieve with just the power of the ECHO.”
“And then I showed up.”
“That’s right.”
I thought for a moment and then asked.
“Could there be a nuke in the Cathedral of Silence? ”
“If it doesn’t exist, that’s fine. Narrowing down the possibilities of dealing with the guy is also an achievement.”
Emily, who had said so, bowed her head to me, who had not yet accepted my request.
Bow-
“If we leave the Cathedral of Silence alone, there is no telling what will happen in the future. I know this is difficult, but please cooperate for the future of humanity.”
As she spoke, she manipulated her tablet to show similar cases.
An instance where an erosive anomaly that ECHO had been isolating suddenly expanded its erosion radius and extended its influence to nearby cities.
Although it was a little different from the Cathedral of Silence, it was clear that the erosion at that time had caused numerous casualties.
And then apply those results to the Cathedral of Silence to come up with a scenario that could happen if the guy suddenly starts acting up again.
The human and material damage that could occur under that hypothetical scenario would be difficult to properly estimate.
We are keeping watch and controlling the area around the Cathedral of Silence, but we also understand that if we leave it alone, it may suddenly appear in other cities or expand the area of its encroachment.
‘This makes it difficult to refuse.’
I scratched my head and accepted her request.
“Okay, fine. I’ll help you.”
“… … !”
Emily’s eyes opened wide, as if she had never thought that I would answer so coolly even after all the persuasion.
She kept nodding in thanks, but I raised my hand to stop her.
“But this is the only time I’ll be doing this annoying work. The offer I made in the first place was to help you with your work, not to do the work you couldn’t do. I also need to find a way to return to my original world.”
“Yes! I’ll keep that in mind!”
Emily smiled and left the isolation room, preparing to attack the Cathedral of Silence.
Unlike before, when he had a thorough image, seeing him running around in a hurry, it seems that he definitely did not like the abnormal entity called the Cathedral of Silence.
‘But I don’t think preparing will help much.’
Anyway, I’ll just go in alone to search for the nuke, and if I don’t find it, I’ll just go back, and if I find it, I’ll just blow it up and it’ll be over, right?
But my thoughts were proven wrong before that night passed.
“Okay! These are the anomalies that ECHO can support for this task!”
“… … .”
As she spoke, in front of her were piles of strangely shaped objects on the table.
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