Regretting his own leniency, Jin prepared for the sortie.
After much deliberation, he decided to tell Elsa on Kunlun Island that Reinhard had been kidnapped. He knew that depending on how the coming battle unfolded, he might not be able to make it back in time for their lunch the next day.
Jin explained the situation to her now, figuring that she would only worry more if she were unable to reach him later.
"Unifilar... Even Rai-nii..." Elsa’s voice sounded dejected over the line. "Jin-nii, please save Rai-nii."
"Yeah, leave it to me. I'm heading out now."
After ending the call, Jin continued his preparations.
He decided to include the VTOL aircraft Falcon 1 through 3 in the mission, as they were all flight-ready. They were piloted by Sky 11, 12, and 13 of the Air Force golems.
"Well, looking at it this way, our means of transportation are still lacking."
Jin felt that their current methods for reaching a site quickly in an emergency were insufficient.
"Do I need supersonic aircraft? No, even better..."
He thought back to the Warp Gate malfunctions. When a person was teleported without a receiving gate, there was no telling where they would end up—but if that could be controlled, it would change everything.
Once the preparations were complete, Jin boarded Falcon 1 and departed from Hourai Island.
Accompanying him on Falcon 1 were Reiko and ten Secret Mobile Units (SP) assigned to his personal protection. Reiko had made sure to bring her railgun, and the aircraft was also equipped with a small, portable Warp Gate.
Falcon 2 carried the Army golems, specifically Land 41 through 60.
On Falcon 3, as a precaution, he had loaded the Navy golem Marine 5 and suspended the Hydro 5 craft from the fuselage. This was based on a suggestion from Anne, who had accounted for the possibility of a naval approach via the great Azul River.
The three Falcons roared through the night sky at their maximum speed—approximately 600 kilometers per hour. It was a staggering velocity for aircraft of that size.
"Once the aircraft carrier is finished, we should station it in the Western Sea. It would be faster to travel that far by jumping to it via Warp Gate."
While he was deeply concerned about Reinhard, there was nothing more he could do until they arrived. Jin spent the flight identifying their current logistical gaps and brainstorming ways to improve them.
"That's right. Reiko."
"Yes, Father."
"I want to ask you something. Regarding those Warp Gate malfunctions... do you think they can be controlled?"
Reiko had been flung across the world multiple times by Warp Gate malfunctions while searching for him. Jin hoped to find a hint in her experiences.
"Yes. Regarding the malfunctions, there was no directionality to them. I never sensed any regularity in the destinations."
"I see..." Jin murmured, a bit disappointed.
"However, there is one phenomenon that caught my attention."
"What is it?"
"Yes. There seems to be a correlation between the amount of mana consumed by the Warp Gate and the distance between the laboratory and the destination."
According to Reiko's impressions, the more mana that was consumed during the surge, the further she seemed to be sent.
"I was not able to measure it accurately at the time, but the locations identified through our current surveying—the mountain north of Kaina Village, the forest on the outskirts of Blue Land, and Port Rock—are all at nearly identical distances from the source."
This was an incredible breakthrough. If the distance could be controlled through mana consumption, then the only remaining variable was direction.
A Warp Gate was a magic tool that connected space between two points. Jin understood that the receiving end acted as little more than a beacon; the sending side performed almost all the heavy lifting.
"Which means, if I can specify the destination coordinates without needing a physical device on the other end..."
For over an hour until they reached Dali, Jin remained absorbed in those calculations.
"Father, we will be over Dali shortly."
"Oh, right."
Jin cut short his musings and returned to the present. It was night here as well, and everything was pitch black to his human eyes.
"Falcon 1, deactivate stealth. Reiko, scan the ground. Is there anything unusual?"
Jin instructed Reiko to use her superior vision to search for anything suspicious while he donned his reinforced suit and helmet.
"Nothing of note so far."
Unfortunately, she found no immediate traces of their quarry.
"Damn, were we too late after all?"
Jin racked his brain for a way to track Reinhard. If he knew Reinhard's magic pattern, he could use Hourai Island's detectors to find him, but he didn't have a sample on hand.
"There's no mana residue left in the Guild card case he gave me, either..."
Then, a thought struck him. He contacted the Secret Mobile Units stationed in Dali: Sage and Cosmos.
"Yes, Chief. This is Sage."
"Good. Listen, is there anything in the area that might still hold Reinhard's mana signature? Anything we can use to track him?"
The reply came instantly. "Yes. The destroyed Schwarzritter is here."
"What!?"
Jin was stunned. According to the report, the knight was lying in the ruins of the estate with its limbs torn off.
"An opponent capable of dismantling the Schwarzritter like that..."
This enemy was on an entirely different level of power compared to any golem they had faced before.
"Never mind that for now. Can you bring the Schwarzritter to us?"
"Yes. If the two of us overlap our stealth fields while carrying it, we should be able to transport it undetected."
"Alright, hurry. The rendezvous point is..."
Jin set the meeting point about ten kilometers north of Dali along the Azul River. Naturally, the Falcons would be operating under stealth during the landing.
The spot was close enough to see the walls of the Celuroa Kingdom across the water, yet there were no settlements nearby. Jin wondered what kind of defensive strategy left such a gap, but he didn't have time to dwell on it.
Less than ten minutes after Falcon 1 touched down, Sage and Cosmos arrived. Their speed was impressive.
"Good work, Sage, Cosmos."
"Chief, we are deeply sorry for failing to protect Master Reinhard."
As the two apologized immediately upon arrival, Jin waved them off.
"Don't worry about that now. More importantly, let's see... The Schwarzritter... This is brutal..."
Its limbs had been ripped away with such force that it had suffered a massive mana leak, forcing the machine to stand still.
"But the control core should be fine," Jin muttered as he extracted the core from the Schwarzritter's chest. "Alright, this will have more than enough data to isolate Reinhard's magic pattern. Sage, take this core and jump back to Hourai Island using the gate on Falcon 1. Give it to Laozi and have him pinpoint Reinhard's location. Based on the timing, he shouldn't be very far from Dali yet."
"Understood."
Sage took the control core and stepped through the Warp Gate, vanishing toward Hourai Island.
Now, Jin simply had to wait for Laozi’s report. As he waited, his mind continued to work.
"I should install magic detectors on the Falcons and Raptors as well."
Then he realized something else.
"Right. To improve the accuracy of our triangulation, I should have detectors not just on Hourai Island, but also on Kunlun Island and the new aircraft carrier. The greater the distance between our sensors, the better the accuracy."
Equipping the Falcons, which were capable of hovering in place, would be a massive tactical advantage.
While he was lost in thought, Laozi contacted him.
"That was fast. Did you find him?"
"Yes, My Lord. Lord Reinhard's mana signature was quite strong, making it easy to isolate."
It also helped that Laozi was becoming increasingly proficient at the process.
"The location?"
"Yes. He is approximately ten kilometers due north of your current position, right along the riverbank."
"Understood. Good work."
Almost as soon as the transmission ended, Sage returned through the gate. She held a simple map in her hand.
"Chief, I have a rough map from Laozi."
"Good work, Sage. Alright, Falcon 2 and 3—descend!"
The two aircraft dropped out of the sky while still under stealth. Unlike conventional jet engines, the Magi Jet Engines were silent. While they kicked up some dust, the rocky terrain helped mask their arrival.
Even if someone noticed the disturbance, the landing would be so brief that the aircraft would be gone before any patrols could arrive.
"Land 41 through 60, move in by land. Sage and Cosmos, go with them. Deploy Hydro 5. Me, Reiko, and Marine 5 will take the river. Falcon 1 through 3 will provide aerial support."
"Understood!"
It was a total encirclement operation from land, sea, and air. Preparations were finished in three minutes. Jin and Reiko boarded Hydro 5, and the three Falcons ascended back into the clouds.
"All units, move out!"
At Jin's command, the Land units began their sprint. Once they neared the enemy's location, Sage and Cosmos would use their stealth to scout ahead and help set the perimeter.
Jin sped up the Azul River on Hydro 5, piloted by Marine 5. He didn't care about being seen anymore.
"Unifilar... I'm going to make you regret this."
The man named Purcell, the self-proclaimed 8th branch manager, hadn't known much. He was a small fry—a man who had bought his way into a title. The organization wasn't foolish enough to share high-level secrets with a nouveau riche climber like him.
Jin was determined to capture someone this time who actually knew something worth hearing.
Hydro 5 sliced across the river at 50 kilometers per hour, roughly 27 knots. The Army golems kept pace on the shore, dashing through the night.
The ten-kilometer distance was closed in just over ten minutes. Their target was now directly ahead.
It was an old, abandoned watchtower that had once belonged to the Celuroa Kingdom.