These girls were among the weakest in the group, so this mission suited them best.
Almost immediately, Saten Ruiko responded.
Saten Ruiko: [I can't go!! QAQ!!!] [I'm already being watched. If I leave again, I might have to move permanently!]
Though she really wanted to participate, her current circumstances wouldn't allow it.
Seeing her message, Takumi was momentarily speechless but didn't push further.
Takumi: [Alright, what about the rest of you?]
Fujiwara Chika: [No problem!! I need the points for immigration anyway!]
Sagiri: [I'm in.]
Yuuki Asuna: [Me too.]
Katou Megumi: [Same here.]
Nakiri Alice: [Count me in!]
None of them objected, ready to go anytime.
Takumi: [Great, you'll take this mission. Now, the second one.] [The Campione world is impressive, but this time you might face real gods, not rogue ones.] [No idea if you'll gain Authority from defeating them.] [Anyone interested, speak up now.] [The third mission has no restrictionsthose not joining the second can go for the third.] [Decide for yourselves.]
Although the second mission also had a five-person limit, it was clearly more difficult. Weaker members were advised to skip it.
Izayoi: [Four of us are in. Need one more?]
He wanted to go for the third mission, but it would be crowded with big names. Better to secure the guaranteed reward.
As for the permanent world gate, he planned to give it to Takumi anyway.
Takumi: [Perfect. Just need one more.] [@Bronya @Akeno @Heita @Himeko?] [Up to you.]
Takumi tagged others who might be suitable.
Bronya decided to stick with Takumi for the safe reward.
Bronya: [I'll stay with you. Not going.]
Heita: [I'll go for the third mission.]
Himeko: [Me too.]
Akeno: [In that case, I'll go. I won't bring anyone along this timejust me.]
Campione world, huh? Akeno thought deeply.
Slaying gods to gain Authority? That was too good to pass up.
With some holy relics in hand, she might even drag down a god and claim their power.
Decision made!
Takumi: [Alright, it's settled.] [Everyone else, take the third mission and farm points.] [@Everyone, if you can't go, speak up soon.]
With so many points up for grabs, who wouldn't be interested?
Yu: [Not going...]
Takumi was immediately contradicted.
Yu wasn't interested at all. She had no pressing needs and was living just fine.
She didn't care about enhancing her powers.
Ais: [Still on expedition... can't go ???]
Ais was a bit frustrated. She was deep into her dungeon expedition and couldn't leave.
Matou Sakura: [Takumi-oniichan, can I go?]
Takumi: [Of course. Come along.]
If Sakura joined, she could at least farm some points and then immigrate.
Matou Sakura: [Alright, I'm going!]
With that, Sakura immediately signed up.
Only a few couldn't participate. After Takumi's message, everyone else got moving.
First Group: Katou Megumi, Asuna, Sagiri, Alice, Fujiwara Chika.
Second Group: Akeno, Izayoi, Black Rabbit, Asuka, Kasukabe Y.
Both teams registered successfully.
The first group should do fine. After training under Takumi, their strength had grown. In the Highschool of the Dead world, they'd clean up.
The second group could handle the Campione world. With Izayoi and Black Rabbit, they were solid. Asuka and Kasukabe were solid backups.
Meanwhile, the third group also began signing up: Takumi, Shiroyasha, Zhongli, Boros, Kaguya Houraisan, Heita, Himeko, Miori Shiba, Matou Sakura, Raiden Mei, Bronya, Suoh Mikoto.
Aside from Sakura and Bronya who were just farming points, this group was terrifyingly strong.
Even if it was unclear how many worlds were merging over there... they should be fine, right?
As long as it wasn't absurdlike a Dragon Ball world.
Takumi would refuse if that were the case.
Besides, the art style didn't matchit probably wasn't that.
Takumi: [OK, registration complete.] [So only Yu, Ruiko, and Ais can't go?]
Out of 25 members in the group, only three couldn't participate.
Had the number been lower, there'd be fewer able to take on these tasks.
Takumi had a hunchmaybe the recent open invitations were because of this.
More missions were coming.
They wouldn't be able to handle them with just the original members.
Ais: [Sigh... it's a shame!]
She really wanted to go.
But it just wasn't possible right now.
There would be more missions later.
If three dropped now, more would surely come.
Saten Ruiko: [I'll definitely go next time!]
Yu: [Stay safe, everyone!!]
Everyone was moving out. It was a rare sight.
Izayoi: [Signed up. Departing now!] [@Akeno, catch up with us.]
After posting in the chat, Izayoi departed with his team.
Since they were all together, they left as a group.
Only Akeno was on her own.
Katou Megumi's team also silently made their move.
Chapter 251: Take Over the Network Before the EMP Hits
The first and second groups departed directly for their mission worlds. Seeing this, Takumi and his team didn't hesitate either. They also chose to depart.
There was no indication of which world they were heading to, which made Takumi all the more curious. With that in mind, he decisively selected the mission and began traveling through the spatial passage to the designated world.
Everyone else did the same. After tying up loose ends, they all set off.
Takumi emerged in a vast plain. Not long after, a white-haired loli appeared beside himit was Shiroyasha.
"Nice to meet you," Shiroyasha greeted cheerfully, simultaneously observing Takumi.
Sensing the terrifying power emanating from him, she couldn't help but be impressed. This chat group was truly extraordinary. Takumi's strength alone would make him a formidable presence even in Little Garden.
If Takumi really visited Little Garden, his power would likely increase even further. The central authorities of Little Garden would never miss such an opportunitythey'd undoubtedly grant him a Divine Spirit status. That would make him one of their own, something highly beneficial for Little Garden.
Shiroyasha looked forward to it. Just what kind of chaos would Takumi cause if he entered Little Garden? He didn't seem like the type to play nice.
"Nice to meet you too, Shiroyasha," Takumi responded with a grin.
"I'm starting to really look forward to your arrival in Little Garden," she said after studying him for a while.
"I'll definitely come when I have the chance," Takumi replied without hesitation.
Soon after, the others began to arrive: Zhongli, Heita, Himeko, Miori Shiba, Kaguya Houraisan, Raiden Mei, Bronya, Suoh Mikoto, Boros, and lastly, Matou Sakura.
The moment Sakura arrived, she leapt into Takumi's arms.
"Takumi-oniichan!"
Takumi lifted her up.
"Everything okay over there? Your dad didn't give you any trouble, did he? I should've given you some spatial gear earlier so you could've brought your mom and sister too. You could've come straight to me."
He felt a twinge of regrethe'd completely forgotten about that and could've saved Sakura some points.
Sakura shook her head.
"No worries, Takumi-oniichan. I earned plenty of points this time, so I can immigrate now."
She was ecstatic. Not only could she finally move to Takumi's world, she might even have enough points left to strengthen herself.
"Here, take this," Takumi said, handing her a spatial bracelet. "Next time, use it to bring your mom and sister along. Just keep it on you and travel to my place."
Sakura's eyes lit up as she received the bracelet.
"This looks like wilderness," Zhongli remarked. "What should we do next?"
No one even knew what kind of world this was, so what now?
Everyone turned to Takumi.
After scanning the surroundings for a bit, Takumi spoke up.
"First, launch satellites. This world doesn't have any kind of network infrastructure."
"So this might be a world similar to Teyvat?" someone asked.
"There's plenty of magic in the air. Could be a magic-based world."
If it were a modern world, Takumi would have sensed the presence of a digital network immediately and tapped into it to gather information.
Everyone nodded.
Without delay, Takumi summoned several satellites and used spatial magic to launch them into orbit. Once the satellites were operational, he materialized a few laptops.
"Heita, Himeko, Bronyacome here. Start mapping this world using the satellites. Scan for human life signs. Let's see if there are any familiar figures."
"These computers have loads of anime databases. Use them to compare the detected data."
"The spatial structure of this world seems stable. Doesn't look like the fusion has started yet."
With that, Takumi got to work.
"We'll go explore other areas," said Zhongli. "We'll stay in touch via the group chat."
None of them were the type to sit around idle. They were heading out to get a sense of the world.
Shiroyasha nodded in agreement. She was extremely curious to see what the process of world fusion looked like. The collision of two worlds? That sounded fascinating.
Everyone began dividing tasks.
Shiroyasha, Zhongli, Boros, and Suoh Mikoto left to explore. Takumi manifested a house for the remaining group and started investigating the world's status.
Heita and Himeko took charge of operating the computers. Kaguya and Mei went off with Sakura. Meanwhile, Takumi focused on analyzing the spatial structure of this world.
Initially, his scan only confirmed that the worlds weren't merging yet. But upon closer inspection, his expression changed.
"Interesting... This world has a realm similar to a divine domain."
Everyone turned to look at him.
"You mean... there are gods here?" Heita asked, her eyes lighting up.
Even ordinary gods were still gods. Whether they were Celestial or Stellar, it was worth investigating.
"Yeah. There should be," Takumi confirmed. "I'll go check it out. You guys continue your investigation. Let me know if you find anything."
With that, he vanished.
Everyone blinked in surprise, but didn't dwell on it. They began thoroughly scanning the towns and cities via satellite.
Soon, the group chat buzzed with mission updates.
Fujiwara Chika: [We've arrived at our destination.] [Wow, this world is full of zombies!]
The world was in total collapse. Survivors were probably few and far between.
Takumi: [Just get them out. Have Prometheus scan for survivors ASAP while EMPs haven't been deployed yet.] [If you delay, it'll be too late.]
He hoped EMP attacks hadn't begun yet. If they acted quickly, they could locate and extract the survivors in time.
Chapter 252: Once You See This Goddess, You Know What World It Is
Fujiwara Chika saw that Takumi was also present and hurriedly tagged him in the chat.
Fujiwara Chika: [Requesting support!!] [I need a starfighter and a spatial storage item big enough to carry people.] [Totally forgot we didn't have those!!]
Katou Megumi felt a little baffled. They didn't have such things at hand, and having five people running around the entire world was far too troublesome. It felt a bit too rash. These points weren't going to be easy to earn.
Seeing Chika's message, Takumi chuckled but didn't refuse. Instead, he directly sent over a starfighter and various robots from his imaginary space.
After handling all of that, Takumi also asked Izayoi if his team needed any support.
Takumi: [@Izayoi, how's your side? Need backup?]
Izayoi replied right away.
Izayoi: [Send a few fast transport vehicles that can travel around the world.] [That's all I need.]
He really did need some support. Although he could sprint across long distances himself, Kasukabe You and Asuka definitely couldn't. So borrowing a few vehicles from Takumi made perfect sense.
Takumi: [Exclusive red packet for Izayoi.] [Here you go.] [Let me know if you need anything else. Our world hasn't started fusing yet.] [But I've discovered a divine realm.]
Takumi updated everyone on his status in the chat.
Shiroyasha: [You already got there? I found it too.]
Shiroyasha had also discovered the place and was about to speak up when she saw Takumi's message.
Takumi: [At the gate now!] [Photo]
He posted a picture of the scenery before him. It was just a simple-looking gate, but it radiated divine energy.
Shiroyasha: [Since you're there, I won't bother going.]
She had found something even more interesting and decided not to follow up.
Takumi, seeing that, didn't think much of it and walked right in.
Passing through the gate, he was greeted by layers of clouds. Above the clouds stood several buildings. Apparently, his entry alerted the gods, because in no time, a group of goddesses appeared before him.
"An outsider?"
Seeing Takumi, the goddesses were shocked. An outsider actually entered Heaven this way? The gate was mostly symbolicno one used it seriously. Yet someone had strolled right in.
Takumi was surprised as well when he looked at them. A bunch of goddesses, and none of them looked familiar. There were even angels approaching. But... no male gods?
"Greetings! I am a traveler from another world, here on a mission involving your realm."
Takumi smiled as he addressed them. Even though no one seemed familiar, he figured he might as well ask questions.
"H-Hello."
One of the goddesses stepped forward. She had long sky-blue hair and a wise, mature air about her. Takumi was oddly reminded of a certain useless goddess.
"Are you the leader of this divine realm?" he asked.
"Yes, I am the goddess of the seas. Is there anything we can assist you with?"
She could sense Takumi's power. If it came to a fight, even all of Heaven combined wouldn't stand a chance. So it was best to be cautious. But she was deeply confused. What kind of task would require someone this powerful to come here? Had some terrifying being invaded their world?
Everyone had the same thought and immediately tensed up. Takumi noticed their fear.
They seemed... a bit too nervous? Something about them felt off. Was this... some kind of eroge world?
Takumi couldn't help but wonder.
Just then, Herta called out to him in the group chat.
Herta: [Photo] [@Takumi, this goddess...]
Takumi looked at the photo sent from satellite surveillance. It showed a blue-haired "wise" goddess and a boy in a tracksuit walking through town. The boy wore an annoyed expression, dragging the protesting blue-haired goddess along.
Takumi instantly knew which world this was.
Takumi: [Got it. It's Konosuba.] [Damn it, Aqua!!] [No wonder these goddesses are so off. They're all cut from the same cloth!!]
