’Is there any way...’ Rorschach thought of collective Casting. "When we get close to the city, can we gather the Town Mages for a collective Casting? Use a large-scale Feather Fall Skill and Floating Skill to stabilize the crashing ship."

"That’s the plan on the ground, but it’s incredibly difficult. The Mages haven’t been trained in collective Casting, so success isn’t guaranteed. And if it fails..." The escort Mage’s face went pale as he thought of the emergency regulations—if the airship lost control and threatened a city or other important area, the various nations had the right to shoot it down in advance!

Saving it would be difficult; destroying it would be easy.

Even if he could escape with his life using his own Magic, he feared both the Guild and the Airship Association would blacklist him, ruining any chance of a future career.

They were now in a dilemma. If they let the airship plummet, it wouldn’t reach the urban area, but the accelerating fall from high altitude would leave the other passengers with no hope of survival.

If they chose to slow the descent, they would have a chance to cast the Feather Fall Skill on the passengers as they neared the ground, allowing them to land safely. But then the airship would crash into the city, and it would also risk being shot down as it approached.

’The Otherworld’s trolley problem, and I’m both on the trolley and on the tracks.’ Thankfully, Rorschach had the ability to protect himself and didn’t carry the burden of responsibility like the escort Mage, so he could calmly think of a countermeasure.

’There’s still a window of opportunity...’ All that mattered was slowing the descent before reaching the city. Rorschach stood inside the empty gasbag, its inner walls now covered in blue circuits. As the light flowed through them, they seemed to resonate with him.

’Wait... a resonance...’ Rorschach pushed the range of his Magic Control to its limit. The shimmering blue Potion seemed to have a natural affinity for him, similar to the Activated Earth Elements in the Earth Shaping Skill.

’In that case... Mapping!’ Following his will, Rorschach rearranged the circuits and Runes across the entire gasbag. The escort Mage stared, dumbfounded, at the Transformation occurring throughout the massive space. The young man in the Purple Robe before him was displaying an ability far beyond his comprehension. ’Controlling the Ether and circuits of an entire space... that’s the power of a Great Mage, isn’t it?’

Rorschach began altering the inner and outer walls simultaneously. The airship, especially its gasbag, was enormous and its mass was not to be underestimated. The Floating Skill had limits on the weight and altitude it could support, and the Feather Fall Skill was too weak to counteract the acceleration the airship was gaining from potential energy...

’In that case...’ Rorschach warped the Runes on the outer wall into a Magic Array for Rorschach’s Delaying Technique. If he hadn’t spent time studying and researching with Professor Poincaré, it would have been impossible to perform the on-the-spot calculations for the Topological Array.

While warping the entire circuit, he relied on his panel’s Magic Array conversion function to make constant adjustments. It was like using the panel to force his mind to multitask, and he replenished the consumed energy and internal Magic Power by pumping Ether into his body for stimulation.

The advantage of the Slowdown Skill over the other two spells was that its effect—the ability to alter momentum—was directly proportional to the Ethereal Amount consumed, allowing it to directly arrest the downward momentum.

The outer Magic Array was complete, and the acceleration was nearing a critical point, but it wasn’t enough. ’Just a little more...’ It seemed like only a little was left, but Rorschach knew his own condition would only decline from here. Falling short now meant it would just accelerate downward again later. He gritted his teeth and saw the last hydrogen balloon.

A bold idea took shape in his mind. He had originally planned to reconstruct the Feather Fall Skill on the inner wall, but the cost was too great. Instead, a Blue Light Barrier lit up on the inner wall.

"Mister Mage, do you know the principle behind a hot air balloon?"

...

Bart had specifically come to the capital’s airport to pick someone up, but he received an urgent mission: the Guild was summoning all Mages near the capital.

At the same time, the administrative body for Town Mages was also issuing a summons, leaving him no choice but to go.

’Bad luck...’ Bart accepted the mission along with the other Mages. But as he stared at the writing board, his eyes widened, and the words of the Guild official echoed in his ears:

"An airship from Valuva to Munich is out of control and is expected to crash in the city in half an hour. We need to attempt a rescue. If we fail..."

The official gave the order grimly, "For the safety of all the city’s residents, if the rescue fails, shoot it down immediately!"

Numbly, Bart followed the team to the outskirts of the city, positioning themselves along the projected flight path. They were now on top of a small hill, tasked with performing a collective Casting of a large-scale Floating Skill at the moment the airship was closest, to stop it from crashing.

’It’s an impossible mission. They planned to destroy the airship from the very beginning!’

Bart thought in anguish, his good friend Rorschach was on that airship! ’Has he learned any Flying Spells? That guy is strong on theory, but when it comes to practical application, he’s not even as good as me...’ Bart didn’t dare to imagine the worst-case scenario.

’If I have to watch my friend go down with the airship, or even participate in shooting it down myself, it would be too cruel a joke from the gods of fate!’

The transceiver used for communication by the interception squad suddenly received a signal. The core crystal vibrated as a message came through from the airship:

"Slowing for emergency landing. Cannot steer. Commencing emergency landing!" 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Then, they quickly witnessed an unforgettable scene—one that was rare and shocking even for Mages:

The burning airship skimmed low over the forest, the shriek of its deforming steel frame startling flocks of birds into flight. The Giant Beast descended slowly, flames contained within its body, while a blue fluorescence flickered amidst the firelight, maintaining its overall shape.

From the rear of its belly, passengers were ejected one by one. But these people had clearly been buffed by Magic; they flailed their limbs but descended slowly, landing steadily a moment later.

It was as if the Giant Beast was...

After emptying out most of the passengers, the Giant Beast, its frame now burning down to the bones, crashed headlong into the hillside where the Mages were positioned, coming to its final rest.

"Water! Quickly, put out the Fire!"

Fortunately, there were enough Mages standing on the hilltop. Countless Water Bombs struck the wreckage, and someone even summoned a raincloud, which unleashed a downpour that extinguished all the flames. At the same time, the Blue Light Barrier that had been supporting the entire gasbag structure dissipated.

Rorschach crawled out from the area that had been the center of the gasbag and saw Bart sprinting toward him at full speed. Rorschach was covered head to toe in ash, his purple Magic Robe rendered unrecognizable by the heat and dust. His staff, however, which he used as a support, was as bright as new.

"I knew you hadn’t learned any Flying Spells!"

The two shared a solid hug. Rorschach never would have expected those to be the first words from his friend upon their reunion after so long.

"I *do* know the Floating Skill and the Feather Fall Skill! Can’t you have a little faith in me?!"

...

「In the interrogation room.」

The escort Mage sat slumped and exhausted on a cold bench as two investigators questioned him:

"According to your recollection, the gasbags were sabotaged."

"Yes, I’ve already said this twice: a masked man was discovered by me while I was on duty as he was planting the last sabotage device. He then escaped without finishing the full deployment.

"Of the five gasbags, four were detonated. On one of them, only the first layer of the Protection Array activated. I had to cast a spell to contain the explosion, which allowed him to escape. Afterward, the Dwarf master closest to the gasbags came to help... and later, the propulsion system was locked down."

"Are you saying the saboteur took advantage of the empty engine room to move from the gasbags and lock the rudder? In other words, his original plan was just to cause an explosion and make the airship crash, and attacking Munich City was something he came up with on the fly after his initial plan was foiled?"

"I am only stating the facts as I saw them. I can neither confirm nor deny your deductions, sir. Oh, wait. What you and I see is not necessarily the truth."

"This uncooperative attitude will only work against you."

"The moment I get out of this hellhole, I’m resigning. Thanks to another Middle Level Mage, there were no casualties in this incident. That’s all I have to say."