Ch.270The Path to the Seraphim Floating Mountains (1)

“Circulatory and purification system check complete. All systems normal.”

“Sky Warden. Launching procedure initiated.”

Having completed all our tasks on the plains, we released the Sky Warden from its mooring tower.

With the upgrades complete, large pipes hung abundantly throughout the corridors and rooms, but they were nothing less than evidence of growth.

Soon, the Sky Warden, freed from its mooring tower, soared toward the sky again, and the 200 million workers who witnessed our departure cheered, blessing our journey.

Breaking through the smoke and fine dust, we ascended, accelerating to escape the zone of black clouds.

The world shone blue again, and we bid farewell to the world of massive factories and industrial complexes that had blackened and devoured the plains.

Farewell, plains. And when we meet again, may the flag of victory wave.

*

“Hmmmm… the air quality has improved.”

I took a deep breath, savoring the comfort of the upgrade.

Such clean air might be difficult to find even in nature, wouldn’t it?

Not all natural environments have lush forests after all…

“Can you really tell the difference? I don’t think anything’s changed…”

“You wouldn’t understand since you’re not an apostle. If I weren’t an apostle, I wouldn’t be able to tell either.”

“Right…”

Lucia scratched her head, then took a deep breath as if trying to distinguish the scent herself.

This continued for a full 10 minutes, ending only when an irritated Cassia, annoyed by the breathing sounds, smacked her on the head.

“My goodness, now even my sister is cracking my head. At this point, isn’t your head practically a public resource for our party?”

“What are you saying! Do you know how it feels to be hit by your younger sister?!”

“I don’t know, that’s why I can tease you, right?”

“Arrrgh!”

Lucia screamed, clutching her head, and Cassia put a bottle of alcohol to her sister’s lips, like a mother feeding a baby with a bottle.

Surprisingly, her tears stopped, and soon she began using both hands to hold the bottle instead of her head.

Good heavens, how far does the elves’ eccentricity extend?

“Did your mother produce alcohol instead of breast milk?”

“She said we were formula-fed.”

“Then the formula must have been soaked in alcohol.”

“What are you saying, really…”

I headed to the workshop, avoiding the fluttering Lucia.

It was where weapon development took place, essentially serving as the dwarf brothers’ quarters.

“Oh, boss. Been well?”

“Of course, Berkman. By the way, how are the things I requested coming along?”

“Well… we’re trying, but it seems we’ll need to increase the weight a bit.”

“The weight?”

“Yeah. Since it’s a liquid-based item, there’s a limit to how small we can make it.”

What they were developing was an incendiary grenade filled with combustible gel.

Unlike regular incendiary bombs, it used gel-state fuel that vaporizes at room temperature to prevent accidental fires. My subordinates could use flame weapons without hesitation because they were immune to fire thanks to my blessing.

Unlike oil, it wouldn’t spoil on its own, and since it slowly vaporized at room temperature, even if the contents leaked, the risk of explosion was very low unless vapor accumulated by bad luck.

Just as bombs need detonators to explode, I wanted to create a gel-type flame bomb.

“Then it can’t be helped. Is 1kg alright?”

“Of course. That’s more than enough to do the job.”

The process of bomb expert Berkman and pyromaniac Hawkman combining their skills to create explosive flames was beyond my comprehension.

I didn’t even know such a thing was possible in the first place.

“But boss, why did you suddenly assign us to develop these incendiary bombs? There are plenty of incendiary bombs on the market.”

“Our funds aren’t unlimited. If we keep using patented weapons, especially consumable ones like grenades, it would put a serious strain on our finances. So we need to establish means to produce these weapons ourselves. We have production facilities, and since the raw materials can be obtained anywhere, the cost will be much lower.”

“I see…”

While it was clear that the military as an organization was fundamentally a non-productive, consumptive group, that didn’t mean it engaged in no productive activities at all.

Just considering military research institutes alone, there must be over a thousand, meaning at least half of the technologies for killing enemies were researched by the military.

Moreover, our army had a significant advantage.

We were unaffected by climate.

This was because we followed the Apostle of the Sun, who symbolized light and heat. Since light and heat cause atmospheric circulation, ocean currents, and seasons, the troops under my command, as apostles of this great law, could be considered invincible to light and heat.

In fact, when I grabbed a soldier who was struggling because he didn’t want to burn to death, doused him in oil, and tried to set him on fire, not only did he not burn, but the fire wouldn’t even catch.

Just to be sure, I had him change clothes, then burned his oil-soaked clothes, which burst into flames, indicating that even the clothes they wore and the weapons they carried were invulnerable to heat.

I also tested their immunity to light using flash grenades. I bought flash grenades, put a soldier who was struggling because he didn’t want to go blind in a sealed room, and detonated them. The experimental results showed that while the loud noise made his ears ring, he reported no particular blinding effect.

Given that the cameras clearly recorded intense flashes filling the entire room, it was reasonable to conclude that the Sun-Apostle-Follower system had been directly transplanted into the military.

Similarly, I conducted experiments with radiation.

I obtained high-level radioactive waste for free from a nearby nuclear power plant, grabbed a soldier who was struggling because he didn’t want his flesh to melt off, fed him meals for about a week while observing him, and again, there was no effect.

Measurements showed that despite receiving over 1300 sieverts of radiation exposure throughout the week, he remained perfectly fine.

Considering that such a dose would cause instant death within 3 seconds for an ordinary person, this was truly an incredible blessing.

Growing even more curious, I experimented with chemical and biological weapons using soldiers who were struggling because they didn’t want to die from disease or have their lungs fill with fluid.

This also showed remarkably surprising results. The soldier who inhaled the virus coughed a bit but soon came out perfectly fine, while the soldier who inhaled poison gas complained about an ammonia smell (yes, that urine smell) in his mouth and exhibited the peculiar behavior of gargling twenty times a day.

“This is a full-on enhanced human unit.”

“It’s a rather peculiar enhancement. We know they’re invulnerable to light, heat, and other NBC weapons, but there’s no effect against impact and shock. They still die when shot with bullets and arrows or stabbed with swords and spears.”

“Still, how fortunate that we don’t need equipment like gas masks or NBC protective gear. Those things weigh at least 10kg. Soldiers already struggle with carrying enough ammunition due to the weight of their gear.”

“If you say so, this old man has nothing more to add.”

It was common for soldiers following apostles to receive blessings.

For example, Karyl’s soldiers reportedly receive the blessing of being able to ignore pain to fight until death, while Logos’s scribes receive the blessing of keen eyesight to discover even the most tattered books.

Looking closely, this blessing actually amounts to very little.

After all, wearing sealed protective gear would provide all the other blessings mentioned earlier.

Countries that claim to be wealthy pay attention to infantry equipment, so if power armor, the ultimate in infantry protection, were to emerge, no blessing, no matter how strong, would be of any use.

In a world where even pirates strut around in exoskeletons, wouldn’t a regular national army invest in enhanced exoskeletons?

Especially since what I’m facing isn’t just apostles, but secular rulers who will rush to kill me to maintain their power.

They would naturally possess wealth incomparable to mine, so I must prepare for that as well.

“War is coming, so we must prepare. The Seraphim Floating Mountains mark the end of this Yenisei continent. Faerun, Miriam, Meridia, and now Yenisei… the fourth continent is already ending.”

“Time flies, doesn’t it? Can you believe it’s almost 1203?”

“Damn… I thought feeling time pass too quickly was exclusive to old men…”

I smiled faintly and shook my head.

Even having become immortal, the sensation of aging never quite felt familiar.

If Simon could read my thoughts, I’d probably get hit on the head with his staff again.