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ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 475 Part 1

ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 475: Epilogue – We Step Onto That Land Once Again Part 1

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「UGH……」

And just like that, Akitsu Akane’s body started to shake tremendously.

In the next moment, her whole body was covered in what seemed to be clouds of thick black smoke, and after that finally subsided, what was left in the place of a dragon woman was a female ninja wearing a fox mask alongside a dog-sized Black Dragon.

「Oh, is it…… Is it over now? It is, right?」

「SEEMS THAT WAY TO ME. HMPH…… WHY ARE YOU LOOKING SO DISAPPOINTED? WE JUST WENT BACK TO BEING HOW WE USED TO BE IN THE FIRST PLACE. YOU ARE YOURSELF, AND I AM MYSELF, THE GREAT NOIRLIND. AND THAT’S HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE.」

「Yeah, I guess that you are right……」

After the long, maybe even too long of a decisive battle, some of the player fell onto the ground on the spot, and others just stood there, expecting more surprises to come their way. Either of those stances spoke volumes: everyone in here was severely exhausted.

Meanwhile, at the same time:

「Sanraku! Where are you! Come out, come out! Wherever you are!」

「Oh!? Sanraku-kun, someone seems to be calling out to you!?」

「Ahh! Won’t you look at that! We have a Magical Girl-looking woman dashing towards here at a truly astonishing speed!」

「My, oh my……! It seems to be one of our people! And just look at that look in her eyes! It’s so happy and so scary at the same time……!」

It should also be only natural that now that the battle with Siegwurm was finally over, the attention of everyone gathered in here would be directed towards the giant steel whale that appeared all of a sudden at the very end of the battle.

After all, that thing was huge. Way too huge! The best comparison that could be made here was that this thing was even making the Skull Azuchi Castle look fairly small in comparison. And that’s something.

The New World Research Vessel is also pretty huge, but trying to compare it to the steel whale is like trying to compare a luxurious cruise liner to a small fishing boat or a makeshift raft.

If something of this sheer size would try to rise from the seabed, it would not even be that much of a surprise if it caused a huge tsunami to happen. But strangely enough, the only thing that happened here was a slight increase in waves size, there was not a single tsunami to be seen around here…… And was that the players’ imagination, or was the giant steel whale coming closer towards the beach? Because with every passing second it was filling more and more of the players’ point of view.

「Whoa, amazing……」

Was that perhaps a sigh of admiration for the sheer size and structure of the steel giant? Or maybe for Sanraku himself for being able to call on such a thing in the time of need?

Akitsu Akane started to walk towards the steel giant, but then she also realized that there was someone who was walking towards her, or more specifically, towards Noirlind. And that woman was well—known to Akitsu Akane.

「Ah…… Umm…… E-Miria—san?」

「Yeah, that’s right. And if you don’t mind, I would like to talk about this…… I would like to have a little talk with Noirling over there.」

Oh no, this is bad. At that moment Akitsu Akane realized that Noirlind might not actually be that out of the woods yet.

If you wanted a comparison here, E-Miria here right now was like a trader who just came to pick up the right pig for the slaughter. Or a cook trying to place a fish onto the cutting board right before he would chop its head right off. Or like an executioner dragging the convict towards the gallows……!!

Akitsu Akane was desperately trying to think of something to say here that would at least buy Noirlind some time to escape. However, she was unable to do that. The words would just not come together. Because deep down inside, Akitsu Akane understood that E-Miria’s anger was entirely justified.

「Ummm, this is…… Ahhh, you see……」

「…… WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?」

「This is going to be a turning point…… So please, apologize.」

「…………」

There was no longer any words that Akitsu Akane could have potentially said to E-Miria. And that is why the one with whom the woman wanted to talk to was Noirlind and no one else in here.

And the tension hanging between the two was so great and intense that it seemed to have created a wholly different space on the battlefield, one that differs tremendously from the one filled with cheers of celebration after the defeat of Siegwurm.

But finally, after a moment of tense silence Noirlind decided to open up his mouth, and……

「–––––– WHAT UTTER NONSENSE.」

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「Hello! Hello there! It’s so nice to finally be able to meet all of you! And since the opportunity presents itself, please allow me to introduce myself again! My name is Isana, the Brave Fish! Although my AI Unit is of the Irregular type, I assure you that I am still one of the greatest Artificial Intelligence Units produced to date! Why, you may ask? Because the one to design me was none other than the chief researcher and engineer of all of the Leviathan—Class vessels out there! For the longest time, under the orders of the former Leviathan Units Deputy Commander Julius Shangri-La I have been conducting the necessary recovery operations as well as the fluctuations in the mana particles in the overworld from approximately twenty thousand miles under the sea level. And wouldn’t you know it! We have finally managed to achieve our goal with this observation! And it only took us about thirty one million two hundred fifty five thousand three hundred hours, thirty five minutes and twenty three seconds! I have used to observe the surface of the world with a drone in my spare time, but this is the first time since forever that I am able to witness the genuine sunrise on my main monitor like that! Thank you for that! Truly, thank you from the bottom of my heart! Ah, so I see from the look of things that the civilizational advancement level of the current next-generation human beings is being placed at around seven or so, huh? This will also mean that my systems will now switch into Legacy Mode, which means that some parts of my database are going to be artificially restricted to access. Most terribly sorry about that! But, fear not! Being able to access this Leviathan-Class vessel means more or less that you are going to gain much wisdom from that! How much!? Well, you see…… Huh? What’s that? …… Huh? Y—You do have the INVENTORY with you? W-What am I supposed to do now!? Since you have obtained it, it means more or less that you can master it! And if you have mastered it, it means that your civilization level is going to be upped by at least three of four……!」

「Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!!! WHOA THERE!!! Stop! Please, for the love of fuck! Could you just…… Just hold your horses for a second out there?」

「Huh? Ahh! Oh my, most terribly sorry for that! Sometimes I just happen to forget myself in my excitement……」

Normally, such a torrent of words would cause my overworked brain to overheat or downright shut itself down on me. However, since those are some pretty extraordinary circumstances, those words actually kick my brain into work mode once more.

「Okay, so…… I guess that we need to talk more about stuff and all that jazz, but we might as well do it on board, or inside of you…… You do have a place like that in there where we can talk, right?」

「YES! Why, oh YES! What you see here is actually only the very first layer of the Legacy Mode: Refurbished Leviathan Labyrinth’s First Layer: “The Gateway”! From now on, you will have to proceed through the gateway and into the innermost layer “Wisdom”……」

「Do you happen to have some places where you can rest? Some sort of save room? Save points? Anything like that?」