This world is filled with Ether.
In addition, the composition of the ground, the mantle, and the core differs from Earth’s.
The mantle is of rock containing Magi Stones and Magi Crystals, and the core is of metals like Mithril and Adamantite.
Similarly to geomagnetism’s magnetic poles, magical poles generate lines of Magical Energy.
Since the magical north pole draws in Ether, when approaching the North Pole (magical north pole = magnetic north pole) the Magic Energy concentration in the air increases.
On the other hand, when going towards south the Ether gets thinner.
Consequently, devil beasts that use Magic Energy as sustenance inevitably gather near the North Pole.
By the way, the South Pole doesn’t draw in Ether towards itself.
Because the South Pole doesn’t have a magical pole. This is one of this world’s great mysteries.
For this reason, the area around the north pole is devil beasts’ territory, and the rest is human habitat.
However, because exceptions sometimes happen, one Sea Dragon left its den and swam south.
On the way the sea dragon preyed on a group of Death Serpents it saw. Half of the about 100-strong group ended up in its stomach.
The remaining Death Serpents went south in order to escape the Sea Dragon.
The Death Serpents swam around as if they owned the place in the sea that had no enemies because of the low Magic Energy concentration, and as soon as they found frail sea creatures that didn’t possess Magic Energy they immediately ate them.
However, that group of fifty-odd Death Serpents met a powerful foe near a certain unpopulated island, and faced a crushing defeat.
Majority of the Magic Energy from that scattered around to the sea and the skies.
The naturally impossible concentration of Magic Energy dissolved into the ocean, and flowed north with the currents.
And then, the stray Sea Dragon noticed it.
The Sea Dragon was attracted by the flowing Magic Energy, and restarted its journey south. It didn’t know that this would lead it to its own doom.
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A warm current flows around Hourai Island. It starts at around the equatorial region, brushes against the peninsula of Elias Kingdom, and then flows north in the sea Hourai and Kunlun islands are in.
In this current, a great deal of fish do their seasonal migration.
Right now, the Navy golem of Hourai Island, Marine-67 was onboard the triple-hull catamaran ‘Hydro-23’ fishing along with the maid golem Aqua-67.
(Marine-67, the fish are biting a lot today, aren’t they?)
(Yeah, how about freezei and drying these?)
(Sounds good. The master loves fish, after all.)
At that moment.
(Marine-67, did you feel that?)
(Uh-huh. Powerful Magic Energy. We should hurry and go back.)
Hydro-23 urgently turned back towards the southeast bay, with its Magi Water Jets on full throttle.
Avoiding the fish preserve in the southeast bay, they docked by the pier, and Marine-67 went to the research facility using a Warp Gate to deliver a report. Aqua-67 used the Warp Gate after gathering up all caught fish.
The magical intelligence Laozi that managed the island in Jin’s absence received the report, and immediately began handling it.
(Air Force, urgent dispatch. Sky-1 in command. Sky units from 2 to 10, protect the research facility’s airspace. Units from 11 to 50, patrol the sky above the reported point on alert state two, rest on standby.)
(Sky-1, roger that.)
(Navy, urgent dispatch. Marine-1, have Marines from 2 to 80 circling the ocean area north of Hourai Island. The rest on guard against a strike to the southeast bay.)
(Marine-1, roger that.)
(Army on alert status one. Land-1, have Land units from 2 to 10 defend the research facility and the mansion. Deploy the rest on the coastline from the north to the eastern side.)
(Land-1, roger that.)
(Soleil and Luna, along with Planetarium, Satella, as well as the number 100 golems, defend Kunlun Island.)
(Roger that.)
Laozi gave orders one after another. The military style wasn’t quite right because Jin’s knowledge used as the basis was incomplete.
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After two hours, Sky-45 detected the wake of a boat heading from north to south. Along with the nearby Sky-33 and 37 it descended, and identified that it was a devil beast like a huge dragon.
(Sky-45 reporting. Detected a huge dragon. It seems to be the main source of the Magic Energy. The dragon is carnivorous. It has been confirmed to prey on nearby fish.)
The information was sent through the ManaComs that were distributed to everyone the other day.
(Hourai Island, roger that. Send a picture too. Continue observing the target afterwards.)
(Sky-45, roger that.)
In addition, Sky-25, 48, 49, and 50 arrived. Now there wouldn’t be the slightest chance to overlook anything.
Sky-45 was took a picture with the Magic Eye it was fitted with to use in cartographing, and sent it to Laozi.
Laozi analyzed the picture received from Sky-45 and considered how to deal with it.
The target is a devil beast.
If left as it is, the likelihood is high that it will eat all the fish around Hourai Island.
The devil beast is carnivorous.
Conclusion. Immediate extermination upon it entering the sea area under Hourai Island’s control.
Supplement. For the master Jin, the raw materials should be secured.
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The Sea Dragon kept moving south at a speed of about 40 kilometers per hour. In course of it, it found the palce where the Magic Energy concentration was at its highest.
It was from land, but the dragon sensed an unbelievably large amount of Mana.
The Mana was leakage from the Magi Crystals stored on Hourai Island.
Only slightly changing its course, the Sea Dragon sped up and swam towards the source of the Mana.
After getting considerably closer to the source of the Magic Energy, the Sea Dragon noticed tiny sources of Magic Energy dotted around the sky above the sea.
It wasn’t as much as the Magic Energy it was heading towards, but it also wanted to fill its stomach with these and surfaced. At that time, from overhead a thin light descended.
It easily pierced the right hind leg of the Sea Dragon that not even the fangs of Death Serpents could wound.
＊ ＊ ＊
When the Sea Dragon entered the sea area 50 kilometers away from Hourai Island, it was clear that it was aiming towards the island.
Laozi ordered the attack.
First, Sky-25 who was flying just overhead fired a single [Laser]. It pierced the Sea Dragon’s right hind leg.
(Sky-25 reporting. [Laser] is effective on the enemy.)
(Hourai Island, roger that. Have the Air Force on the scene attack using [Laser]. However, to the best of your ability, aim at the head and chest which appear to be vital spots.)
(Sky-25, 29, 41, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, roger that.)
Then they simultaneously opened fire with the twin [Lasers] each of the nine Albatrosses had as air-to-ground ordnance.
The focused optical weapons like thin needles directly hit the panicked Sea Dragon that was about to escape into the sea.
11 [Laser] beams hit the head, 4 beams hit the chest, and one hit the tail.
The Sea Dragon’s life came to an end before it could understand what was happening. Not even blood flowed out.
(Sky-45 reporting. Target neutralized successfully. No damage was taken.)
(Hourai Island, roger that. Leave the dissection and the securing of the materials to the Navy that’s on site. Air Force, excluding units from Sky-41 to Sky-50, return to the island. Sky-41 to Sky-50, scout out whether or not there are additional anomalies in a 500-kilometer radius.)
(Roger that.)
(Army, call off alert state one and return.)
(Roger that.)
The Sea Dragon’s materials were put into the treasury. The horns, fangs, claws, scales, bone were for items using Magic Energy, and the flesh was an ingredient for tonics. The leather had a higher durability than that of a Sham Dragon’s.
(The blood has plenty of Magic Energy, so it should be stored in the cold in case it can be used for something.)
Laozi decided to preserve the the blood, almost none of which had poured out.
Later on, the membrane of the wings that were comparatively small for its large body would be put to use on Reiko, and once again her performance would increase.
In addition, the preserved blood would play an important part in the future, but that’s a story for the distant future.
Laozi evaluated his own response and was satisfied.
(I’m sure master will also be satisfied.)
Thus, Hourai Island’s managing magical intelligence Laozi’s first mission came to an end.