Chapter 50: Let's Have a Quick Spar
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 50: Let's Have a Quick Spar
It was a useless tail, with a meat yield so low it couldn't even be sold as livestock feed. From the perspective of a disassembly center, they were more than happy to have someone take it off their hands for free.
"Good luck, Muto."
"Yes, My Lady."
I settled into a corner of the indoor workshop with an Orc who held a license for operating mana cutters. The Cave Drake tail, freshly severed and still warm, lay on the table in all its imposing glory.
Even though it was just the tail, it was nearly two meters long. The thickest part was almost fifty centimeters wide, and even the tip was incredibly solid.
The Orc in charge of the processing was named Muto. He was an old Orc who had seen it all at this disassembly center. He had deep wrinkles around his eyes and a surprisingly gentle impression, which felt quite peculiar. It was rare to see an old Orc in the Labyrinth, mostly because they usually died before they could reach old age.
An Orc who grew old without dying was an Irregular Entity—someone like a Great Chieftain.
"Young Master, how would you like me to process this? Lady Theodora asked me to follow your directions."
"Oh, please don't call me 'Young Master.' I'm not that kind of person. For now, just process it into bite-sized pieces."
"Uh... bite-sized, you say? May I ask why...?"
"I'm going to eat it."
"Then... should I portion it out and pack it for you?"
"No, there's no need for that. I'm going to finish it all right here."
The things I stored through my skill didn't actually go into my stomach. Naturally, I wouldn't get full; as long as my jaw and esophagus could handle it, I could eat as much as I wanted.
"Just carve out the muscle and give it to me. I'll cut it up and eat it myself. You can just focus on the hide."
"I... I see."
The skin on the underside of the Cave Drake's tail was relatively soft, as is common with creatures like crocodiles or lizards. I used a knife to slice it down the middle, peeled back the hard scales, and placed the meat on the table after receiving a butchering knife.
While the mana cutter beside me hummed, slicing through the hard scales, I sat next to it, cutting the meat into manageable chunks, popping them into my mouth, and swallowing.
In between, I took the scales that had been cut to size, tossed them in one by one, and went back to the meat.
"Are you... not full yet?"
"Nope. It's just how my skill works."
Old Man Muto continued his work, steadily passing me the scales. I had swapped my throat for a Direwolf's esophagus, but it was still grueling work. A few times, the sharp scales nicked my throat, so I had to circulate Snowfield Troll blood to heal the wounds.
"Ah, cut the bones up too, please."
"Understood."
Since there were fewer scales than meat, that part ended relatively quickly. For the next two hours, I stared blankly into space, slicing muscle and swallowing. Eventually, the meat was gone, leaving only the thick tailbones.
The other workers nearby kept glancing over, murmuring in admiration. Their enthusiasm actually helped me pick up the pace.
Rubica, just you wait!
I finished off the tailbones and looked out the window to see the sky stained crimson. The other workers at the disassembly center seemed to be wrapping up for the day as well.
"Old Man Muto, thanks for the hard work."
"Ho ho... I've witnessed quite a rare sight today. Time truly flew by."
"I was worried you'd be bored, so I'm glad to hear that."
The tail was massive—two meters long and fifty centimeters thick at the base. I wondered what would happen once it sprouted from my own body; it had to weigh dozens of kilograms.
I didn't even need to see it to know how tough the hide was or how powerful the muscles were. A Drake's hide, saturated with mana, was said to have a durability rivaling top-tier materials, and the muscle fibers were on a whole different level of toughness compared to any meat I'd eaten so far.
My jaw felt incredibly sore. If I hadn't had the jaw muscles of an Ursus or a Direwolf Alpha, I probably wouldn't have finished it all today.
After seeing Old Man Muto off, I returned to the office where Theodora was. I found her lying on the sofa, tightly hugging her own tail.
"Oh, you're done?"
"Yeah. Finished every bit of it."
"That's incredible. Did it really all fit in your mouth?"
"Well, yeah. It all disappears once it hits my stomach."
"Then can you manifest it right now?"
"I can, but doing it here might be a bit much. It'd be better if we had a wide-open space."
"An open space..."
At my words, Theodora buried her face in her tail, deep in thought.
Hmm.
I should ask her to let me try that later.
* * *
"What is this place?"
"It's a training ground operated by the Lymain family. Most cities with a Great Labyrinth tend to have at least one of these."
After a thirty-minute carriage ride, we arrived at a place that looked like a sports field with a floor of packed earth. It was further out than the workshop, where land was cheaper—the kind of location where you could afford to have a large, empty lot.
"What's a Great Labyrinth?"
"...Are you an idiot?"
Theodora looked at me as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
As she had explained before, Labyrinths weren't exclusive to Calax. They didn't have a specific name, but they were scattered all over the world commonly referred to as the 'Surface,' and each Labyrinth varied in size.
Of course, the entrance to a Labyrinth was always an irregularly shaped portal, so you couldn't tell the size from the outside. The difference lay in the number of floors.
Small Labyrinths could have as few as three floors, and the monsters inside were usually weak.
Generally, any Labyrinth exceeding fifty floors was called a Great Labyrinth. Currently, there are eight Great Labyrinths on the Surface, including the one in Calax.
Among them, the Calax Great Labyrinth is known as one of the Three Great Labyrinths deemed impossible to fully conquer. The others are Hechituk's Great Labyrinth and Roanmarie's Great Labyrinth.
"How many floors does this Labyrinth have?"
"Ninety-one floors have been confirmed so far."
"That's impressive."
To the people of this world, a Labyrinth was no different from a treasury overflowing with precious resources. Plenty of people died in them, of course, but the potential gains were worth the risk.
Naturally, people gathered and infrastructure developed around these Labyrinths, eventually forming cities. The size of the city was usually directly proportional to the size of the Labyrinth. Calax was a relatively young Labyrinth, having appeared less than two hundred years ago.
Hechituk's history was said to be over eight hundred years old, and Roanmarie's was at least five hundred. Despite the long years, neither had been fully conquered.
"Could an incredibly strong person just conquer the whole thing?"
"Every Labyrinth has a different internal structure. Strong people will do well anywhere, of course, but each one requires different sets of skills."
"I see."
I wondered if the monsters were different in each Labyrinth too. If so, I wanted to see the creatures from the other ones.
"Enough talk. Now, show me your ability."
"Sure. Just in case, do you mind turning around for a second?"
"Why?"
"Last time I grew a tail, I ripped my pants. Let's avoid any awkwardness."
"Oh, right. Got it."
Theodora did as I asked and turned to face the other way. Since the tail was going to be huge, I lowered my trousers slightly just in case, took a deep breath, and concentrated on the base of my spine.
—Thump!
"Whoa."
"Are you okay? Can I look?"
"Hold on a second."
In an instant, a tail weighing dozens of kilograms burst forth. I nearly fell backward from the sudden weight, but I managed to brace myself using the tail. My pants were fine, and there didn't seem to be any issues. I pulled them back up, fixed my clothes, and called out to Theodora.
"No way...! It's real...?"
"Told you."
"Can you move it?"
"It's incredibly heavy. I think I need to make some adjustments."
About half of it was resting on the ground, so standing wasn't an issue, but dragging it around like this would make combat impossible. What I wanted was a light, agile, and powerful tail for battle, not just a massive hunk of flesh.
I sat on the ground for a moment and began restructuring the internal anatomy. My spine and the Drake's tailbone were different sizes, which caused issues with movement at the lumbar section.
I kept the Drake's bone but reduced its size to ensure a smooth connection with my lumbar vertebrae, then processed the rest of the Drake's bone to blend it into my spine for increased strength.
I removed the internal muscle fibers and replaced them with tendons to reduce volume while minimizing the loss of power. Then, I used the excess hide to cover the relatively weaker underside of the tail.
After reducing the weight by more than half while maintaining the length and ensuring the hide provided seamless protection, it finally felt usable.
"The tail got thinner...?"
"It was too much to use as it was."
This left me with a significant amount of the Drake's hard scales and muscle fibers. I could use the muscle anywhere, but I wondered where to put the remaining hide.
—Skritch!
"Hmm."
"Your arms...!"
"I had some Drake hide left over. This should be useful."
I distributed the remaining hide to cover both of my hands. The weight was substantial, but I still had plenty of Drake muscle and bone left. I reinforced the structural weaknesses and added the tendons I'd saved to increase my physical strength.
"Hup...!"
BOOM—!!
I swung my tail at a wooden training dummy standing at the edge of the arena. It didn't just break; it practically exploded into dust.
"Nice. The weight feels good too."
Most importantly, these scales were incredibly tough. As mana circulated through them, they took on a deep, dark black hue, unlike the bluish-gray color they had when the creature was a corpse. Even after striking the hard wood with full force, there wasn't a single scratch.
Just as Theodora said, while mana was circulating, the durability rivaled top-tier materials. The black scales wrapped around my hands like gauntlets were excellent as well. Beneath the Drake's scales was a very tough, thick leather, which allowed me to move my finger joints without any trouble.
Since I had plenty of scales left, I shifted their shape slightly.
"Oh."
I could even use them like sharp claws.
"Theodora, this is amazing."
"Y-yeah! It's incredible!"
The Drake's muscles also packed a punch. When I slammed my scale-covered fists together, sparks flew like clashing metal.
The tail was still quite heavy, but it didn't hinder my jumping. In fact, I could use the tail to push off the ground and jump even higher. I had no trouble leaping nearly ten meters into the air from a standstill.
"I feel like I could go hunt some monsters right now."
Theodora stood beside me, staring blankly.
"Theodora, want to warm up?"
"Huh?"
"You know how to fight, right?"
"Well, I mean..."
My whole body was itching for action. Maybe it was because my muscle quality had improved?
"Let's have a quick spar."