"Almost all of the equipment is offline."
"Yeah. It looks like they didn't even try to fix it. Or perhaps they couldn't."
The survey using the Peeper continued.
"What is that... moving? This Magi Machine is..."
Even for Jin, it was difficult to achieve a full analysis through observation via the Peeper alone.
"I have found a management magi-brain."
"What!?"
At last, they had discovered a significant source of information.
However...
"It's damaged."
"Ah... what a pity."
The cause was unknown, but its control core was chipped.
"Still, we should be able to read information from it, even if only in fragments. Let's have the Cosmos squad conduct an investigation."
"That sounds for the best."
Since there appeared to be no immediate threat, the mission shifted from observation via the Peeper to a direct investigation by the Cosmos squad.
＊ ＊ ＊
Ten golems clad in powered suits—Cosmos 591 through 600—deployed.
Within minutes, they traveled from the Vulcan to the surface of the sphere.
[Search for an entry route.]
[Acknowledged.]
An entrance was located in minutes, thanks to support from the Vulcan's Peeper. The device had also confirmed that there were no visible traps or obstacles inside.
The Cosmos squad entered through an emergency hatch without incident. The section functioned as an airlock, revealing that the sphere's interior was maintained at a pressure of 0.8 atmospheres.
[The gas composition seems to be high in nitrogen.]
[It might be to protect the metal components.]
The metal used was chrome vanadium steel. Jin noted that this belonged to a different lineage than the Disaster, which utilized nickel chrome molybdenum steel.
The ten Cosmos units advanced toward the interior, keeping a tactical distance from one another while remaining vigilant and observing their surroundings.
[This is rare.]
Cosmos 595 pointed toward a material warehouse they discovered along the way. Stored inside was a material they were seeing for the first time in a Hale-type base—what appeared to be biological material. However, it had completely desiccated over the long centuries.
[It looks like some kind of dragon leather.]
They took a sample just in case.
Continuing further, they found the hallways partitioned by bulkheads designed to maintain airtightness. They were not locked and opened easily by hand, so the squad faced no difficulty moving through the facility.
[It seems we are entering a vital facility from here.]
The size of the bulkhead ahead was clearly different. It was also unlocked, making passage easy, but the door was three times thicker than any they had encountered so far.
[Umu, there are Magi Machines here. They seem to be broken, though.]
[The nature of the damage is mysterious.]
Cosmos 597 and 598 examined a nearby Magi Machine.
[The purpose is unknown, but the energy system... the mana driver is damaged.]
And such broken Magi Machines were not limited to a single unit.
[This one as well.]
[The same here.]
Every Magi Machine they found suffered from a damaged mana driver.
Though they took several detours for verification, the Cosmos squad eventually located the ether transporters. There were five units in total.
[These also have their energy systems... their mana drivers damaged,] Cosmos 593 reported.
Finally, Cosmos 594 found their objective.
[The management magi-brain is here!]
[Good.]
Cosmos 591 and 592 began the analysis.
[Hmm... as expected, the control core is cracked.]
The cause remained unknown, but there was no doubt that this was why the unit had ceased functioning.
After removing the broken control core, Cosmos 591 decided to first attempt a Read Info spell.
Read Info was a form of Craft Magic. Unlike Trans Info, it did not transfer knowledge but simply read it. Unless the user possessed massive processing power like Laojun, the readout occurred in a near-instantaneous flash, making it largely useless for ordinary people.
"This is...?"
However, the information processing capabilities of the Cosmos squad were more than sufficient. Glancing at the magi-formula, commands, and information text that surged through the connection, Cosmos 591 learned of past events—if only partially.
＊ ＊ ＊
"My Lord, an important report has come in."
"Yeah, let's hear it."
"Yes. While it is difficult to specify an exact date, the facility under investigation ceased operations approximately 300 years ago."
"300 years ago..."
Jin realized that meant it was roughly the time of the Great Magic War.
"Yes. I believe it is exactly as you imagine."
The Great Magic War happened 300 years ago. And when it came to external factors that could affect free ether, that pointed to the Ether Stampede.
"Are you saying the Ether Stampede reached all the way out here!?"
"Yes, My Lord. It is the only conceivable explanation."
"But, how exactly..."
The Ether Stampede was, in essence, magic that caused free ether to be consumed in a very short span of time.
"Can its effects really travel all the way here through an ether transporter?"
"I cannot say for certain."
"Hmm..."
The Ether Stampede was strategic-grade magic that used mana lines with a specific wavelength and waveform to convert free ether into light. During the process, mana was also decomposed back into free ether, making it fatal for life forms with high dependency on it.
Jin wondered if this could truly destroy the mana driver of a distant relay base.
"I can see two potential problems. First, would an Ether Stampede actually break a mana driver?"
During the small-scale Ether Stampede triggered by the Failure in the demon territory, Anne had been nearby and was simply forced to Stand Still.
"And the other point is whether the influence can reach such a distant location."
He didn't think it was possible for even mana waves to be transferred that far.
Jin and Laojun both fell into deep thought.
"The Ether Stampede converts free ether into light. Normally, it wouldn't cause destructive effects, but what if the concentration of free ether was higher than normal?"
What if an Ether Stampede occurred in a place with 1,000 times the normal concentration of free ether? Even 'light' that would normally be harmless might exert destructive power if its intensity was increased a thousandfold.
As of now, that was the only possibility they could conceive.
"As for how the influence reached such a distant location, perhaps one of the Ether Stampede bombs was caught up in a transfer?"
"I see..."
The Failure had used silver balls to trigger Ether Stampedes. If one of those magic tools used during the Great Magic War had happened to get mixed in with transferred supplies...
"I suppose that's the only logical conclusion."
Jin let out a sigh.
The Ether Stampede was originally a magical technology developed by the Progenitors or their descendants. If that technology had come full circle to destroy this very facility...
"I can only call it causality..."
Jin let out another heavy sigh.