Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 170
Chapter Title: Extermination
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The moment he placed his hand on the essence, Arsen shuddered from a strange sensation.
It was the feeling of something flowing out from the essence and filling his body—a sensation he hadn't felt before due to passing out.
An energy closer to the origin than mana, difficult to define as magic power alone, filled his insides and altered his structure.
His muscles became denser and tougher, his skin more elastic, his bones harder.
Arsen unwittingly smiled as he felt his already powerful body growing even stronger.
"Captain?"
Arsen waved off Rino's anxious call.
"No, I'm fine..."
But in that moment, as he tried to respond, Arsen realized the situation wasn't fine at all.
He had felt like he'd absorbed enough power to reach his limit, yet energy was still flowing from the essence.
This surpassed the Plunderer Lord's by far.
'Why?'
The magic beast he'd just fought was powerful, but the Plunderer Lord had been no less so.
A monstrous entity dozens of meters tall, with intelligence and multiple special abilities.
Yet the power contained in their essences showed an overwhelming difference.
Feeling his hand go numb from overloaded mana, Arsen let out an involuntary groan.
"Urgh!"
The magic beast Arsen had slain was originally created by Yerika to extend her lifespan.
She had granted it the power to extract life force, remodeled it into an amorphous form for easier control, and placed it in a coma before dominating and fusing with it.
Then, using the beast's abilities, she had stolen life force from tens of thousands of humans to sustain her own life.
The reason Yerika had raged madly after awakening the beast was that once awakened, it couldn't be put back to sleep, and there was no way to create another—effectively ending her false immortality the moment it stirred.
In other words, this essence was a crystal formed from the residual remnants left by the dead humans—a tiny amount of mana accumulated.
While the life force had been used for Yerika's lifespan extension, the unused traces of mana had piled up from tens of thousands, reaching a level that far surpassed even a mighty lord's essence.
No single human could withstand it.
"Urk...!"
As Arsen grimaced and groaned, everyone gathered around him in worry.
"Captain!"
"W-What do we do? Should we force it off?"
"What if something bad happens?"
Even as he gritted his teeth against the pain, Arsen could see Eloise's face.
She had stepped back a pace from the others, anxiously biting her lip and fidgeting on her feet.
Seeing that calmed his heart a little.
Arsen kept a calm mind and pondered a solution.
'Stay calm, think clearly.'
He couldn't pull his hand away from the essence.
It was stuck fast, as if glued, due to the power still transferring.
Arsen focused his mind on the power flowing from the essence and tried to reverse the flow.
Gritting his teeth against the escalating pain climbing his arm and shoulder, he concentrated relentlessly.
'...Good, it's working.'
After some time—how much, he couldn't say—Arsen instinctively knew he could control the flow to some extent.
The relentless influx that had been trying to destroy his body began to slow.
If he pushed a bit more power back into the essence, the flow would zero out completely, and he could pull his hand free—that was his plan.
But at some point, the incoming flow shrank more than he'd anticipated.
The moment he realized he should stop, it had already halted entirely and begun reversing.
And as the tiniest fraction—the speck of unassimilated power pooled in his body—flowed back in,
The essence exploded.
"Ugh!"
"Eek!"
"Gah!"
Bazkal, Rino, and the other soldiers gathered around Arsen screamed in unison and collapsed on the spot.
The pure power bursting from the essence had shocked their bodies into paralysis.
Only Eloise, who had been standing a little farther back, was spared.
Seeing the essence explode, she rushed over and grabbed Arsen's arm.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Calm down. I'm fine. The others first."
A moment later, as Arsen checked on the fallen, he let out an involuntary exclamation of surprise.
Eloise right beside him did the same.
"This... no way?"
"Yeah."
The eyes of Arsen in his magic helmet—his knightly special sense—told him clearly.
Even double-checking to be sure, it was unmistakable.
All nine soldiers had awakened as knights.
"Did the essence induce the awakening?"
"Probably?"
Though Arsen didn't know it, their awakening as knights was nearly identical to his own.
Contact with vast mana—or similar power—shocking the latent sense awake.
A short while later, as the paralysis wore off, they slowly rose.
"Urgh, what is this?"
"Something feels weird..."
Arsen approached Bazkal first and extended a hand.
Thinking Arsen was just helping him up, Bazkal took it and stood—but when Arsen didn't let go, he asked with a puzzled look.
"Brother?"
"Grip as hard as you can."
Bazkal complied faithfully with Arsen's order, though his expression said he didn't understand.
He knew his strength couldn't crush Arsen's grip anyway.
Arsen nodded at the sensation from the tight grip.
"Impressive."
If Bazkal's previous strength had felt like a kindergartener's—maybe an elementary schooler's at best—now it was at least middle or high school level.
Not as dramatic as Arsen's full absorption of the Plunderer Lord's essence, but the physical enhancement was definite.
Considering Arsen had also absorbed essence and grown stronger this time, their growth was far from insignificant.
'Looks like Rino too.'
Watching the two stare blankly, Arsen smiled warmly.
A genuine smile rarely seen in front of others.
Not from some calculating joy that his subordinates had become knights and strengthened his forces.
Pure happiness that good fortune had come to comrades who'd shared life and death with him.
"Congratulations."
* * *
After explaining what had happened, they left the now no-longer-black Black Palace.
The main gate area was quite noisy. Screams of pain, groans, and shouts issuing orders filled the air.
But no sounds of battle. The fight with the Olmu was already over.
"Knight Arsen!"
"You've come!"
Timak, the leaders, and Elder Latis welcomed Arsen.
They all bore wounds great and small—even Latis, who should have only supported from the rear as a mage, had his arm bandaged. From the location, it looked like an arrow wound.
That alone hinted at how fierce the battle had been.
Arsen exchanged calm greetings before asking Timak,
"Is the battle over?"
"It's over. The mad bastards suddenly snapped out of it like waking from a dream and scattered fleeing in all directions. We chased and nearly wiped them out, so no worries for a while."
"I see. But the numbers..."
The raid force that had invaded the Olmu capital had dwindled significantly.
Less than half compared to when they first infiltrated.
Timak gave a wry smile and shook his head.
"Victories without sacrifice are rare. Against the Olmu king, this level of loss is as good as none."
Only then did Timak notice Arsen's soldiers following behind and widened his eyes.
"Wait, all of them are guardians...?"
"Yes. Fate brought it about."
Timak let out a hollow laugh at Arsen's nod.
"You say it so casually. Do surface dwellers become guardians easily?"
"Not easily, but these are people who've endured fierce adventures worthy of it."
Of course, it had been possible thanks to obtaining the essence and a great fortune in using it.
But no need to mention that, so Arsen changed the subject with a question to Timak.
"By the way, where's Knight Anun? Don't tell me...?"
"The surface guardian? As if such a valiant warrior would die—he's patrolling the surroundings on that flying contraption. Making sure the fleeing Olmu don't come back."
Just then, a subterranean warrior approached Timak and shouted.
"Old man Timak!"
"What is it?"
"A former slave here says the Olmu have a hatchery!"
"What?"
At those words, all eyes turned at once.
* * *
The Olmu reproductive structure resembled ants. A society of a tiny number of breeding males and females, plus sexless combatants.
Yerika had gathered every breeding Olmu female into the capital hatchery. Not a single one spared.
To directly control their numbers and prevent any 'wild Olmu' factions escaping her rule.
And now, with her dead and the capital fallen, that very method had become poison.
"Kill them all!"
"Don't leave a single one alive! Rip their bellies open!"
The humans storming the hatchery mercilessly slaughtered the defenseless female Olmu. With spears, swords, crossbows.
Watching the dying Olmu females, Arsen recalled the insect magic beast from Narvik.
The one reminiscent of a queen ant, so huge-bellied it could barely move.
Perhaps Yerika had extracted traits from that beast and injected them into the Olmu. Though doubtless not the only such magic beast.
"For now, this is their only official hatchery. Destroy this, kill everything inside, and the Olmu are done. Extinct."
Timak laughed cheerfully, confident of total extermination.
Arsen didn't raise moral questions about wiping out a species.
It would be rude to those who'd suffered under the Olmu for decades since birth.
"Now the main force is the issue. Per the intel, no great worry, but we don't have much solid info on them."
Timak nodded at Arsen's words.
"True... For now, we'll make the Olmu capital our stronghold. With thousands of humans who'd been enslaved here, their help will let us defend plenty. We'll use the spare parts here to build more arrow launchers."
Of course, they couldn't replicate artifacts to produce arrows for the launchers—no mage on Yerika's level.
But mass-producing arrows with the existing artifacts and stockpiling would overcome that weakness.
Place a few launchers at spots the Olmu could attack from, and the capital becomes impregnable.
The Olmu had neither winged mounts nor explosive javelins.
Then, like the Olmu had done, slowly expand territory and build power after securing the capital.
Amid talk of future prospects, Timak suddenly asked,
"Then, Knight Arsen, you plan to leave soon?"
"Yes. Rest a few days, then depart."
Timak extended a hand to the nodding Arsen.
Grasping it, Timak shook vigorously and said,
"You are truly the savior and hero of this underworld. Even after you return to the surface, songs of you will echo here. Of the Thunderclap Spear, Savior Arsen."
Arsen nearly shook his head in embarrassment but instead nodded simply.
Embarrassing to him, perhaps, but a fine tale to these people.
"I am honored."
"The honor is ours, to have fought alongside one like you. Wait just a bit—once we fully secure the capital, we'll prepare rewards worthy of your glory."