CH 89

༺ Airship (2) ༻

The bike landed on the deck of the airship as if diving from mid-air.

Boom!! Squeeaak―!!

Along with the incredibly rough landing noise, the tires etched deep skid marks on the deck, screaming with friction, then came to a halt. The process filled the air with the smell of burning rubber.

Everyone’s mouths dropped open. They couldn’t immediately decide how to react to the sudden arrival of this anomaly.

He was an unauthorized intruder on the airship where the princess was aboard, but considering the situation, they should think he came to rescue. However, how did he manage to approach the airship floating 1,000m up in the sky?

To those who didn’t know that Eon had revved up his bike to the maximum speed and used Oznia’s teleport to arrive, it seemed as if he had flown across the sky on his bike in an instant.

The crew of the airship, unsure of how to respond to the situation, turned their gaze to Elizabeth, the highest authority aboard.

As for Elizabeth, from the moment Eon appeared on his bike, she seemed to be frozen in place with her eyes wide in surprise.

“Instructor Eon…?”

This was unexpected. The fact that he appeared here.

No matter how great a hero of the seven continents he was, she never thought he would be able to reach this high in the sky. No matter how outstanding his abilities were, he couldn’t fly. It was a feat possible only for a Mage like the Crimson Sage who could soar this high.

Moreover, the airship was made with the empire’s cutting-edge technology, and there was a magic jamming field deployed around it. It was a fortress in the sky that even a grand Mage couldn’t approach recklessly.

To be honest, even if help came, she thought it would be from the knights or the Mage Corps on the ground, she never even imagined someone would fly directly towards the airship from such a height.

There was a world of difference in the level of concern between annihilating a terrorist organization and saving a student in the forest at night, and saving a princess facing an assassination threat.

Inevitably, the outside world would pay attention, and a situation might arise where he could no longer hide his identity. It could be perceived as his faction, which might antagonize the mastermind behind the assassination.

But Eon did just that, for a student he had not known for long.

In front of the person who came to save her, Elizabeth was more puzzled than relieved. Did he fully understand the situation? Was his arrival a decision made considering all these factors?

Why on earth?

Unlike the shocked Elizabeth, Eon spoke calmly, as he usually did. His attitude was no different from when he was teaching.

“You’re safe.”

That was something he said as a teacher, concerned for the safety of his student.

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, unsure of what response to give.

However, before Elizabeth could reply, there was a commotion on the deck.

It was the voice of Dr. Brown. The doctor, whose beard was even more singed than before, greeted Eon with a happy face.

“Well, who do we have here! So, you’ve come!”

“You’re here too, Doctor.”

“This ship is like a child that I personally built! Of course, I have to watch my child flying so powerfully!”

“It seems that your ‘child-like’ ship is about to explode again….”

“If it was according to my perfect calculations, there shouldn’t have been any explosions this time! Anyway, I’m grateful that you’ve come, but I don’t know what you can do in this situation!”

Eon quickly scanned the deck. At this very moment, the ship was gradually descending, and if it lost balance just a little, it seemed inevitable that it would fall to the ground like a bird losing its wings.

While looking around, his gaze momentarily rested on Alfred, the captain of the ship. Eon’s gaze briefly cooled as he looked at the captain, but he quickly turned his attention back to the doctor and asked a question.

“How’s the situation?”

“It’s bad! Very serious! The biggest problem is that the engine is completely out of order, cutting off the ship’s power. The flames have grown stronger than before, making it impossible to enter, and even if we try to repair the engine, the ship will fall before we can!”

“Hmm….”

Eon seemed to make a decision after a moment of thought and strode towards the engine room, filled with flames. At his reckless act, Dr. Brown shouted in surprise.

“Are you out of your mind!? If you go in there with your bare body, you’ll be charred! And what can you, without any mechanical knowledge, do there?”

“Isn’t it just necessary for power to be supplied to the ship?”

“What, what did you say…?”

There was no need to enter the engine room through the door. Due to the explosion, about half of the deck was ripped off, so one could clearly see the engine burning in the middle of the airship from the deck.

Eon leaped into the flames without hesitation. It was too quick to stop him.

People who were watching gasped in horror, but they did not hear the agonizing screams of being burned that they expected.

The instructors’ uniforms at the academy, like the students’, could withstand a certain level of fire, but they definitely did not provide enough protection to preserve life in such flames. Despite this, Eon walked forward through the flames, unaffected.

Ignoring the destroyed engine, Eon approached the turbine connected to the engine. And he firmly grabbed the turbine, which had turned red by the flames.

Sizzle!

The sound of the gloves being scorched was heard as he gripped the red-hot turbine. But Eon, undeterred, forcefully pushed the turbine with his bare hands.

Creak, squeak-!

Since the engine was stopped, an automatic lock was applied to the turbine. But so strong was his strength that the lock was entirely torn away, and the turbine slowly began to turn.

Everyone watching this were so surprised that their mouths fell open. Dr. Brown also muttered in a voice mixed with bewilderment and astonishment.

“My goodness… Is that really human strength?”

“Doctor. Is that such a difficult task? If you had explained the procedure, I could also-“

“That’s a part weighing several tons, Miss Katarina. Could you move that with your bare hands?”

“S, several tons? That’s….”

She could have done it. For a very brief moment. If she concentrated all her mana into a body strengthening spell to amplify her strength, it might be possible.

But at the same time, maintain a magical shield to protect herself from the flames, and while maintaining mana for strength amplification, continue to turn that heavy part weighing several tons?

Even Katarina, who was at the Master Class, couldn’t do such a thing. And yet, the man before her eyes was doing it, and there was no sign of him using a body strengthening spell.

Who on earth was that man? The princess had called him an instructor, but the man was showing something that an ordinary instructor could never do.

Whirr!!

The speed at which Eon turned the turbine got faster and faster. Accordingly, acceleration began to be applied to the rotation of the turbine. Each time the mountainous force pushed the turbine, the rough shaking of the airship’s hull began to stabilize as the turbine turned heatedly.

The crew of the airship cheered.

“We did it! We’re alive!”

“You fools! It’s not over yet! Do you think everything is resolved because the power is back? It wouldn’t be strange if this ship blew up with the engine at any moment! As soon as we land in the safest place possible, we need to abandon the ship!”

“Ah, understood! Doctor!”

Following Dr. Brown’s instructions, the crew began to prepare for landing. Fortunately, the cockpit and other essential parts were not destroyed, so the airship began to descend slowly, looking for a suitable empty space, while belching out dark smoke.

Dr. Brown turned to the side with an embarrassed expression and spoke.

“Oh dear, I apologize. I didn’t mean to overstep your authority as the captain.”

“It’s alright. Don’t you know more about this ship than a mere captain?”

Colonel Alfred nodded his head heavily in response.

“Anyway, this is a big deal.”

“Yes, it’s definitely a big deal. I’m not sure if my beloved airship can continue to be produced, with such an incident occurring on parade day….”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

It was indeed a statement characteristic of Dr. Brown, a famously eccentric engineer, to worry about the airship rather than the princess’s safety. However, Alfred paid no attention to it and continued speaking.

“I didn’t expect Malevolent Star to interfere. I wanted to avoid direct action as much as possible.”

“Huh?”

Before Dr. Brown could understand the meaning of his words, Colonel Alfred drew his sword.

Blue mana erupted violently from his body, and he began to sprint towards Elizabeth like an arrow. Traces of mana lingered behind him.

“You bastard! How dare you…!”

Katarina responded belatedly to his attack. She quickly drew her sword and stood in front of Colonel Alfred, but she couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at the deep blue sword aura that was emanating from his sword.

Clang!

She hastily pulled up her sword to counter. Thus, she was able to avoid being cut in half in one shot, but due to allowing a surprise attack, she was inevitably pushed back greatly.

This was Alfred’s strategy. Now, there was no one to stop him from reaching the princess.

“Your Highness!”

What Elizabeth saw when she turned her eyes was her escort being flung away in an instant.

“Sto-“

She opened her mouth to cast a spell, but it was already too close. It was clear that Alfred’s sword would strike at Elizabeth’s neck before the word could be properly formed.

‘Ah….’

For a brief moment, she felt an unavoidable death.

At that moment. Something shot towards him faster than Alfred’s sword. It was a long, blood-crimson spear, like a thorn.

Alfred instinctively swung his sword to fend off the attack aimed accurately at his heart, but the immense force contained in the spear only slightly altered its trajectory.

Thud!!

“Argh!!”

The spear pierced Alfred’s shoulder and stuck in the wall behind him. Alfred, pinned to the deck, opened his mouth wide and let out a scream of horrific pain.

Alfred’s gaze painfully followed the direction from where the spear had come.

There stood Eon, with his arm outstretched.

Staring at him with a cold look.