Chapter 68: Big and Beautiful (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 68: Big and Beautiful (2)
If you can't enter a dungeon because of the mana, you just have to suck all that mana out.
Of course, that was easier said than done. Even the Magic Department believed the most reliable method was to defeat the dungeon boss and destroy the dungeon core from the inside.
But if one could use a Demon King-brand Magic Sword, all those problems would be solved.
The problem was...
"How big is that thing going to get?"
It seemed the Dark Mages, those hardworking laborers of the RoFan world, had done their jobs exceptionally well.
The sword made of mana was growing much faster than the one I had seen yesterday in the Canine Tribe's village.
It grew so tall it reminded me of Jack and the Beanstalk.
It was reaching a size where, if one could climb it, they might actually reach the clouds.
“……”
“……”
“……”
At that, the gazes of three people, including Uncle Aeryun, landed on me.
Their expressions basically said, What the fuck is that?
“……”
I don't know either, fuck.
What is that thing? It’s starting to get scary.
"U-Um... Adam?"
It seemed Daisy, the wielder of the Magic Sword, felt the same way.
She looked at me with wildly trembling eyes, her gaze pleading for me to do something about this.
"Hmm."
Let's assess the situation calmly.
Sure, it started with plunging the sword into the sealed dungeon entrance to drain the dungeon's mana.
But as the absorbed mana gathered into the blade, she kept having to step back, and now...
“……”
Now, even for a trained martial artist like me, we had reached a distance where the entrance was no longer visible.
Now, how should we handle this?
According to the countermeasure Arang showed me, one could use compressed Aura to clash with it, making the consumption rate faster than the absorption rate.
But could I do that right now?
"I can't."
Even if I could, that was a job for the Sword Emperor.
Thus, I tried to leave the spot to go call the Sword Emperor, but...
"D-Don't abandon me?!"
Daisy, who had misunderstood something, moved her body.
With that one small movement, the sword wobbled slightly.
"Huh? Uh?"
"Watch out!"
Should I call it the butterfly effect?
It was just a tiny tremor from her movement, but it translated into a massive shift for the big and beautiful mana sword at the other end.
"You made me do this!"
"No, you said you wanted to help your friends."
"I-I didn't know it would turn out like this!"
Neither did I.
"D-Don't move! If you don't take responsibility, I don't know what I'll do!"
I never thought I'd live to see a Saintess threatening people, but unfortunately, what she held in her hands was a literal nuclear launch button.
The moment that thing went off—no, the moment she swung it the wrong way—the entire dungeon could collapse.
No matter how much of a protagonist Prince Ellen was, would he even survive that?
"Calm down."
I was just about to engage in negotiations to carefully calm her down.
"Huh? Uh?"
I thought Daisy’s trembling body was under more pressure, but upon closer inspection, the source of the shaking wasn't Daisy—it was the dungeon.
"I-It's open!"
Someone shouted. Flustered, Daisy pointed the tip of the sword, which had been touching the dungeon, toward the sky.
"Wow."
Everyone gasped in admiration.
Not just the swordsmen, but even the Fire Spammer from the Magic Department stood there with her jaw dropped at the sight of that grand, magnificent sword.
And that included...
“……”
“走……”
“……”
The RoFan male leads, who had just emerged from the dungeon.
No matter how thick the filters over their eyes were, they had just witnessed something that far exceeded any romantic delusion.
Even the world-class RoFan male leads couldn't maintain their usual composure this time.
*
"You want me to dissipate this with Aura?"
The big and beautiful mana sword, which had even defeated the male leads' rose-tinted filters, left even the great Sword Emperor flustered.
"Ho-ho. This is... well."
Indeed, the mana sword was at least five times larger than the one seen in the Canine Tribe's village.
It was difficult even to make the tip of the sword face forward.
Should we just bury the hilt in the ground and have the Sword Emperor beat it like a training dummy?
"Excuse me."
That was when Violet, who had been hiding until now, stepped forward and cautiously offered an opinion.
"For now, why don't we use what we have?"
"Student Violet, what do you mean by that?"
The speaker was McGregor, the Head Professor of the Magic Department, who had been racking his brain alongside the Sword Emperor on how to handle this.
"I heard the culprits behind this incident haven't been caught yet."
"That's true."
"They say the Rias Territory is dangerous, which limits the search. But wouldn't that be the same for the Dark Mages? No matter what tricks they use, it must be harder for them than for the people who have lived in Rias for a long time."
"I suppose so."
"But if they still haven't been found... unless they used Teleport to escape, isn't the answer obvious?"
Daisy's gaze shifted to one place.
It was the dungeon where the RoFan male leads and some of the Academy students had been trapped.
"Luring them into a trap and waiting for the enemy. It's the most basic of basics."
The battlefield where a mage truly shines is a fight within their own territory, where they've set up and prepared in advance.
Unlike swordsmen, whose battles are mostly decided by pure skill gaps, a well-prepared mage can often overcome an opponent two levels higher.
If it wasn't just any mage but a Dark Mage—and one who had created such a trap using a dungeon core—it was hard to even imagine what lay inside that dungeon.
Therefore...
"Let's just crush it."
"……?"
McGregor tilted his head at Violet's words.
He looked at the Sword Emperor as if asking what on earth she was talking about.
"Crush the dungeon?"
"Since all the mana from the dungeon core has been drained anyway, the dungeon is just an ordinary cave now, right?"
"Correct."
"And since it's involved with Dark Mages, it'll be hard to repurpose it anyway."
"That's also true."
"And we have an excellent demolition tool right here, don't we?"
At first, no one understood what she meant, but a moment later, everyone began to look at Daisy.
More accurately, they looked at the massive magic sword Daisy was holding.
It was so large and imposing that, from up close, one couldn't tell if it was a sword or a club...
"Let's just slam it down."
Just as one would bring down a flyswatter to crush a cockroach, Violet was suggesting they swat the Dark Mages.
*
The Dark Mages of Rias were, as Violet expected, hiding inside the dungeon.
The documents they had received from the worshiper of the Evil God—which were said to have been passed down by the Demon Tribe—had many suspicious points even to a Dark Mage's eyes.
However, they had tried it just in case, and since everything had been successful, they couldn't help but believe.
Because of that, they also believed in the reward they would receive upon success.
Those religious fanatics had made a promise on their own god, after all.
"A magic circle that can even control a dungeon boss! With this, Rias will fall into our hands!"
"Wooooo!"
The Dark Mages cheered at their leader's words.
Ordinary people wondered how anyone could live in a place like the Rias Territory.
But for a Dark Mage, there was no better place to live than Rias.
Because it was fundamentally dangerous, few people wandered around.
Thus, they rarely encountered their most dangerous natural enemy: 'humans.'
Not only that, but a mist full of Magi periodically flowed out from somewhere. While it made it difficult for ordinary people to use mana and occasionally caused internal injuries by clashing with their internal mana, for Dark Mages, it was like a natural elixir that raised their stage just by absorbing it.
The only problem was that wild animals, monsters, and suddenly appearing dungeons didn't give Dark Mages a pass; there was always the risk of dying if you were unlucky.
But even that would be solved with the magic circle the fanatics had taught them to control monsters. In fact, they would gain an infinite army.
And not just any army, but an army of powerful monsters from a place so dangerous it was called a Demonic Realm!
Thump! Thump! Thump!
That was why they were laughing even when the dungeon groaned.
They assumed the Academy brats had finally moved to defeat the dungeon boss.
The numerous traps and magic circles they had painstakingly prepared, along with monsters driven feral by frenzy magic, would block their path.
And even if they overcame those many trials, what awaited them was a dungeon boss further empowered by a reinforced dungeon core.
A reinforced Stone Golem stood waiting.
"We've added reinforcement upon reinforcement to an already sturdy Stone Golem. Unless it's Aura, mediocre Sword Energy won't even leave a scratch. And for the magic that could actually damage a Stone Golem, we've applied coatings and engraved magic circles that drastically increase magic resistance!"
Unless the Sword Emperor or the former Magic Tower Lord who came with them entered personally, they were certain that the skills of the Academy freshmen wouldn't be enough to defeat the reinforced Stone Golem.
They had worked hard.
They had proven their strength by surviving in a forbidden zone where even in the 'cursed land' of Rias, humans could not live.
Recognized for that strength, they had caught the eye of the Evil God worshipers and received various secret arts.
They had utilized them perfectly to bring their targets into their grasp.
Even then, they didn't let down their guard, assuming the worst-case scenarios to maximize their chances of victory.
Therefore, what they lacked was...
"Wait, it's still shaking?"
"...Did we make the traps too excessive?"
"Are you sure they haven't reached the center of the dungeon yet? Is there another monster besides the Stone Golem that can cause this kind of impact to the dungeon?"
"At this point, isn't it just an earthquake?"
They simply hadn't considered things that went beyond common sense—things that even the Dark Mages, no, even the fanatics who followed the Evil God, couldn't have imagined.
They hadn't imagined that a so-called Saintess would pull out one of the Evil God's weapons that the Goddess had sealed in ancient times.
Or that she would do something as crazy as sucking out every last drop of the dungeon core's mana with it.
Or that she would think to use that sucked-up mana to literally beat the dungeon into collapse.
It was simply that kind of story.
"T-This is strange."
"The earthquake seems to be getting stronger!"
"Dirt keeps falling. Is it okay to stay here?"
"Not yet! Do you know how much we've prepared here? We aren't the only ones here either. The Academy students are here too, so find those panicked brats and take them hostage!"
The Dark Mage leader, though flustered, was calmly assessing the situation and quickly issuing the next orders.
"Boss! The door is open! The Academy students have all escaped!"
"What?!"
Unfortunately, in the face of a natural disaster known as a RoFan heroine...
"Aaaargh!"
"The dungeon is collapsing!"
"Run!"
They were nothing more than mere mortals.