Chapter 79
Chapter 79
Ch. 79 .｡.:✧ The Clockwork City (6) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The Black Star Slayer.
The first to spread rumors about him was a mercenary named Cain.
He said, there was a mercenary who cleared Black Star Dungeons single-handedly, as easily as eating cold rice porridge.
At first, everyone treated Cain like a madman.
There was no way such a person could exist.
Even renowned Sword Masters and Archmages could lose their lives in a moment of carelessness in dungeons.
To say there was a person recklessly clearing dungeons with “Conquest Abandoned” ratings, boasting extreme difficulty among those…
It was nonsense.
But not long after that, news of Black Star Dungeon conquests spread throughout the southern continent, and this became an agenda item at the Mercenary Council.
Literally, Black Star Dungeons were being cleared inconsistently all over the southern continent.
At first, they wondered if the dungeons had been collectively weakened, but that wasn’t the case.
They had all been conquered by an anonymous conqueror.
The name given to this mysterious figure by the Mercenary Council, was none other than the Black Star Slayer.
After the existence of the Black Star Slayer was proven, Cain’s treatment changed 180 degrees.
He persistently claimed that he had seen the Black Star Slayer himself – a pale-faced girl who flashed a V-sign expressionlessly.
But through examination of monster corpses, it was revealed that the Black Star Slayer was an adult male who used a longsword.
After that, instead of being treated like a madman, Cain was treated like an idiot.
‘That’s him.’
A man who exuded pressure just by standing silently.
The Vice Captain sensed it.
The mysterious mercenary who only conquered Black Star Dungeons and then vanished without a trace.
The Black Star Slayer was this man right in front of him.
“Let’s fire one more shot just in case.”
“…Okay.”
Boom.
The girl casually stretched out her hand and shot another fireball into the tunnel.
Flames like a dragon’s breath shot out, instantly brightening the tunnel before it darkened again.
All that remained inside were completely shattered and melted fragments of clockwork dolls scattered about.
Nothing was moving.
At this, the mercenaries’ mouths fell open.
No matter how much mercenaries looked down on magic as something only noble scholars with glasses studied, this time they couldn’t help but tremble.
“Unit. Name.”
“Y-yes sir! Ophelia Knight Order! Vice Captain Tes!”
As the man turned around and muttered, the Vice Captain quickly answered, lowering his eyes at that cold gaze.
Though he had no obligation or reason to answer, his mouth moved on its own.
“Ophelia Knight Order?”
“It’s the new name given by the Third Princess of the Kingdom of Gallia after buying our mercenary group…”
“I thought I’d never heard of it before. That’s enough. Get out of this dungeon. You’re in the way.”
“Yes sir! We’ll do that!”
Bow.
The Vice Captain bowed deeply without hesitation.
None of the merecenaries felt ashamed about this, they all just followed the Vice Captain’s lead and bowed.
“Ah.”
The man who had turned to enter the tunnel stopped.
He turned his head slightly and parted his lips.
The Vice Captain and members all tensed up, swallowing hard as they focused on the man’s voice.
“I am not the Black Star Slayer.”
‘He’s definitely the Black Star Slayer.’
Anyone could see he was the Black Star Slayer.
The pale-skinned, silver-haired girl Cain had mentioned must have been this companion beside the Black Star Slayer.
This would somewhat clear Cain’s unjust treatment.
“And I saw how you all fought. You fought quite well.”
‘Is he saying we fought terribly?!’
The Vice Captain’s face turned pale.
It felt like he shouldn’t take it at face value.
The Black Star Slayer’s solemn voice sounded more like he was mocking and warning them.
“Keep striving to conquer Black Star Dungeons in the future.”
‘He’s telling us to never set foot in a Black Star Dungeon again!’
He understood.
It must have been so pathetic to see worthless ones like them recklessly enter Black Star Dungeons and die.
“We’ll keep it in mind!!!”
It was a warning and notice from the Black Star Slayer.
A warning that all Black Star Dungeons were his, and not to meddle with them, you incompetent fools.
The Vice Captain and members could only interpret it that way.
“Wow. We saw the real Black Star Slayer.”
“Did you see his face? You were the closest, Vice Captain.”
“No. I was looking down…”
“Us too…”
“Still, we’ve got a lifetime’s worth of drinking stories now.”
The mercenaries trudged out of the dungeon listlessly.
Though they had clearly failed to conquer the dungeon and been humiliated, strangely, they didn’t feel bad.
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‘They were more skilled than I expected.’
To be honest, I had looked down on them a bit, but seeing how calmly they responded to the unexpected situation changed my mind.
They were indeed worthy of being called elites.
In other words, they were too good to die here.
So I pulled them out with telekinesis and saved them.
In the process, I unavoidably exposed my face, but…
It didn’t seem like they all thought I was the Black Star Slayer.
The Black Star Slayer was known to be skilled with swords, it seemed.
I hadn’t even drawn my sword, and I didn’t forget to ask them to put effort into conquering Black Star Dungeons in the future.
Capable guys like that need to stir things up more and clear Black Star Dungeons.
That way I won’t have to work as hard.
Judging by their loud “We’ll keep it in mind!!!” response, they seemed to understand well.
Black Star Dungeon conquest attempts should become even more active from now on.
I was satisfied.
“Hey, bug! Are you alive?”
“I’m dead!!!”
The moment I shouted into the tunnel, the centipede nun emerged from behind a rock with tears glistening in her eyes.
A little while ago, to assess the situation inside the tunnel where the mercenaries had entered, I had the centipede nun divide and send in an avatar.
Thanks to that, we were able to realize there was an emergency inside.
Then after pulling all of the mercenaries out, I had Undecided fire fireballs…
It seemed the avatar left inside had died.
She should have dodged better.
“How could you fire when I was still inside!”
“It was just an avatar anyway.”
“Avatars hurt too! It hurts! And when an avatar dies, I get weaker! My body gets younger too!”
“Oh.”
The centipede nun wailed and screamed.
Come to think of it, she really had gotten a bit shorter.
She seemed even smaller than Undecided now.
‘If avatars keep dying indefinitely, does she keep getting younger? Until she becomes a newborn?’
I had such a question, but I decided to leave it as just a question.
“The tunnel’s clear now, so let’s move forward.”
“Are you insane? With those unidentified machines popping out, you want to keep going?”
The centipede nun was aghast.
As a monster herself, the centipede nun had no reason to fear monsters.
In other words, those clockwork dolls weren’t monsters.
‘Are they clockwork dolls abandoned long ago?’
The clockwork dolls that had briefly been popular, then mysteriously disappeared.
They should have been disposed of and ended their lives in incinerators…
For some reason, those discarded items were moving in this dungeon.
“It’s unsettling.”
“You’re risking your life because it’s unsettling?!”
“Come on. I won’t die.”
“Stop saying such ominous things!”
For all 12 rounds, I had thought there was no boss monster in this dungeon.
I hadn’t seen clockwork dolls like these either.
It meant there were still secrets hidden that I didn’t know about.
When things are unsettling, digging in is always the right answer.
That was how I found Kali in Elvenguard too.
I hated the idea of leaving it be for now, only to hear later that one of the Four Heavenly Kings was in this dungeon, and regretting it while beating the ground.
“Let’s set out now.”
“Yes. You said that earlier.”
“Right. Shall we go?”
“Why do you keep saying the same thing?”
“You need to take the lead for us to go.”
“What?! Am I some kind of spare life?”
“You actually are a spare life. You can make avatars. It’s right for you to create an avatar and have it take the lead.”
“What did you hear earlier?! I told you it hurts even when my avatars die? My ability isn’t creating illusions, it’s literally dividing a part of my body!”
The centipede nun protested, crying and sniffling, as if Undecided’s fireball had really hurt.
But even as she shouted angrily, her momentum gradually faded.
She probably knew too.
No matter how much she threw a tantrum, she would end up doing it anyway.
“Are you done whining? Then take the lead for now.”
“You bad guy! Abuser! Human rights violator!”
“What human rights does a monster have?”
“…Give up. It gets easier.”
“What do you know!!!”
In the end, though she grumbled, her body became limp and then split in two.
The main body sniffled and hid behind me, while the avatar trembled and moved forward.
She was going to do it anyway.
Her problem was that she exaggerated too much.
“U-um. What’s that?”
Just a few steps after entering the tunnel, the avatar in the lead stopped.
It pointed ahead, trembling.
“It’s a mechanical arm.”
“I-it’s not moving, right?”
“It’s not moving. Not moving.”
“H-hoeee. This is too scary…”
“What’s wrong with you? Did you eat something bad?”
“N-no… I’m always like this…”
But something seemed off about the avatar’s state.
It kept tearing up, with a sullen expression.
Looking at it this way, it seemed like a soft-hearted nun.
“It’s because of my trait. Divided avatars strongly exhibit one of my emotions. In this case, it’s fear.”
“O-of all things… Huuung… I’m scared…”
The centipede nun stood beside me, looking at the avatar with displeasure.
The difference was stark when seen like this.
The main body looked vicious, like a cunning thief hardened by the world’s trials, while the avatar looked like a tender-hearted girl that made you want to feed her, put her to bed, and pat her head.
So each avatar had such vastly different personalities.
I felt like I wanted to see the other personalities too.
“Oh…”
“Your gaze is lewd. As expected of a vulgar human.”
“What did I do?”
Anyway, if the avatar stayed in that state, our progress would be slow.
I was wondering if we should reabsorb it and create a new division, when
“Hey, avatar! Just transform into a centipede and go!”
“Okay… I’ll do that…”
“Is it less scary as a centipede?”
“In centipede form, our eyesight is terrible. If we can’t see anything, there’s nothing to be scared of.”
“…”
I didn’t know there was such a method.
The avatar quickly transformed into a giant centipede and scuttled forward through the tunnel.
It really did speed up.
‘What kind of boss monster could it be? I have no idea.’
It was a dungeon where undead-type monsters appeared.
So at first, I suspected it was the work of one of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Necromancer.
But seeing these clockwork dolls popping out, it couldn’t be the Necromancer.
He didn’t have the power to control machines.
So I couldn’t think of anything else.
‘That voice earlier. I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before.’
The mechanical voice that had come from inside the tunnel.
I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I had heard it somewhere.
There weren’t many female voices I knew…
Jill, Yulia, Yerina, Cornelia, Alicia, Mia…
Huh? Why does it seem like there are so many now?
“Hm?”
Clunk.
At that moment, something caught my foot.
I picked it up and looked at it under the all-purpose torch. It was a metal commemorative plaque.
-Commemorative Plaque for the Completion of the Clockwork City Clock Tower
-Construction Manager: Cern
The fact that this appeared meant we had reached the end of the tunnel.
It was something that served as a sort of signpost.
“We’re nearing the last room. The tunnel will end soon, so be prepared. We don’t know what might pop out.”
“…Okay.”
This place was originally where the old clock tower of the Clockwork City was located.
Under Cern’s leadership, the clock tower was successfully completed.
A grand completion ceremony was even held, attended by the mayor, but an accident occurred on the day of the completion ceremony.
The mechanism inside the clock tower malfunctioned, causing an unexplained major explosion.
That explosion caused the clock tower to collapse along with its foundation, disappearing down the cliff.
Many people, including the mayor, were injured, and that incident became the reason for Cern’s complete retirement.
“Hmm…?”
The narrow tunnel came to an end, and a wide room where bright light leaked in appeared.
I was a bit tense since I heard the boss had awakened, but…
“It’s empty?”
Somehow the interior was desolate.
There was just a large and beautiful dungeon core exposed in the center.
It matched exactly with what I had seen in previous rounds.
“It can’t end like this.”
“Ah, why are you being so anxious! Isn’t it good if it ends quietly! Hey, avatar! Go pull out that dungeon core! Let’s finish quickly and leave!”
“O-okay…”
This was supposed to be the last room.
If the boss wasn’t here, where could it be?
As I felt like I was going crazy from the uneasiness, the avatar, transformed back into a nun, trotted over and touched the dungeon core.
“Huh? Huuuh?!”
And at that moment, the entire dungeon shook violently with a thunderous roar.
It was an impact similar to when a dungeon collapsed.
An earthquake?
“Hoeeeeeee!!!”
“What the…”
Then the floor the avatar was standing on shook, and rose endlessly upward.
Something rose high, raising clouds of dust…
After a while, I finally realized.
“A clock tower…?”
What rose from underground was none other than a clock tower.
But where the clock face should have been, a giant eyeball was writhing.
“Hoeeee! Please let me down!!!”
The moment I made eye contact with that eyeball, chills ran down my entire body.
And then, I recognized the owner of this mechanical voice.
“Linda. It was you.”
I think I had figured out the identity of the boss.
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