91. Non-Ferrous Sword (3)
91. Non-Ferrous Sword (3)
- 1 -
Two forces clashed, tearing through the trapped mist and the fir trees that had held it captive.
Both sides wore glossy black carapaces, making them hard to tell apart at first glance, but on closer inspection, distinguishing traits emerged.
"Kyararak—!!"
"Kishyaak!!"
Most of those standing upright had bluish-gray carapace pieces dotted across their bodies like markings, as if they could seep into the mist itself,
while those crawling like beasts bore black or dark-blue body hair arranged in the same manner across their entire forms.
'It's like unit classification from a strategy game.'
Just as Libertas had thought. Or like a military unit.
"Kyaraak—!!"
A warrior with two pairs of legs and one pair of arms, each hand gripping a different weapon, charged headlong at the enemy before them.
Their speed was nothing short of immense.
Despite possessing legs that extended sideways from the torso, a structure that seemed utterly unsuited for charging in a straight line.
Kwajik!
"Kushit!!"
The charging warrior brought the axe in their right hand down upon the foe, and the enemy who had failed to notice the axe while engaging another opponent nearby was split in half, hastily pulling back their severed hindquarters as they screamed.
But the enemy didn't die from that alone.
"Die—!!"
The warrior, having learned this from experience, lunged forward thrusting the spear in their left hand.
Puhwak!
"Kuheok...!"
Immediately after, something tore through their flank, piercing their body clean through.
A demon beast twice the size of the one whose belly the warrior had just split open.
Kujik, kwajijik!!
A giant warrior raised one of the pairs of legs bracing the ground, along with two spears, and tore the enemy's body into four pieces.
"Do not fall back—!! Our king watches over her children!"
He bellowed, drenched in blood and slime.
A massive black body crawling across the floor on eight legs, crowned with a pale human torso—an imposing male warrior.
"Do not fall back—!!"
After encouraging his comrades and subordinates, the warrior tried to run rampant across the battlefield, clad in armor of the same color as his body and wielding two spears.
Peopeok, peopeopeopeok!!
"Khuheok..."
Until, moments later, countless enemy warriors charged and thrust their spears, ending his life instead.
A hollow conclusion that rendered his bold charge meaningless.
"Kill—!!"
"Kyaaaak!"
Such scenes were unfolding all across the battlefield.
On both sides indiscriminately.
- 2 -
The distance from where the carriage had stopped to this spot wasn't very far, yet the scene that revealed itself as the sounds gradually grew was extraordinarily violent.
Two factions, and the countless soldiers and warriors who composed those factions, charging without sparing their own lives.
This clearing in the forest, forcibly created, was filled with the sounds of blood and death that had been inaudible until just moments ago.
'Why couldn't I hear the sounds before... Ah.'
The reason became clear after a bit of thought.
The fir trees had been holding onto the water they needed in the form of mist, and so the sounds from this place hadn't even reached the location where I had been standing.
Both sound and smell ultimately required moving air to carry them, but this mist, restrained by the trees' mana, had barely been moving at all.
"How did you know? Neither sound nor smell should have leaked out."
Because of this, she couldn't help but wonder how Shue had managed to detect this place.
"Blood... I can detect the blood of living creatures."
"Karma (緣). So you possessed such an ability."
That meant Shue possessed an authority among her powers that even the system window hadn't grasped...
The list of topics to discuss with them had just grown a bit longer.
—Kyaaraak!!
—Kishyaak!!
She turned her head back to the battlefield.
Currently, the 'bluish-gray' side held the advantage in the battle.
Although the individual abilities they possessed were weaker compared to the 'black-blue' side, the 'bluish-gray' side was overwhelming in terms of numbers, organization, and venomous ferocity.
—Kyararak!!
—Killkillkillkillkill!
—Kya-kakak!
These creatures paid no mind whatsoever to who died beside or ahead of them, or even if their own arm or leg went flying.
Whether they appeared to be common soldiers or those serving as higher-ranking officers, they simply charged at the enemy with their eyes rolled back in madness.
If you observed the overall situation, they did adjust the forward and rear line strength to form battle formations, but aside from that, everyone was attacking as if they had all become berserkers.
—Kishyaaak!!
—Tear them apart!!!
That said, the opposing side wasn't much different in this regard.
They merely paled in comparison to the 'bluish-gray' side—the 'black-blue' side was just as relentless in charging without retreat.
They've truly lost their minds.
Whichever side it is, they follow their king as if she were their parent.
I wonder. Those ones are...
This seemed too intense to be called reverence and affection toward a parental figure—no matter how she looked at it, it was sheer fanaticism at the very least.
Whether Serha viewed things differently, or whether the meaning of 'mother' among the demon tribes and demon beasts simply differed from what she understood.
'Watching them fight, both sides seem to have their merits.'
Feeling increasingly persuaded toward the latter possibility, she continued to observe the battlefield, and before she knew it, all the fighting had ended.
It had already been in its final stages when they arrived, after all.
The losing side simply hadn't retreated even in that situation, so the battle had continued fiercely.
They're moving. Let's follow.
Okay.
A short while later, after the 'bluish-gray' side had devoured every corpse on the battlefield to dispose of them and began to move, she too started walking, following behind them.
Hold. Intruders.
It didn't take long for them to notice her presence.
She hadn't had any intention of hiding herself from the start, so it was only natural.
However, it also didn't take long for the expression of the creature that seemed to be the general of the bluish-gray demon beasts, who had been approaching with sharp eyes glaring this way, to stiffen.
What covered that face was horror.
'No way...'
Her gaze turned toward Serha, who followed half a step behind, then soon looked upon my face before stopping about ten paces ahead and bowing deeply from the waist.
A posture of complete prostration, as if I had seen it somewhere before.
'This unworthy one greets the Dungeon Queen.'
In the distance behind, the other soldiers also hesitated, then could be seen bowing in this direction.
One thing was certain.
That the Queen of the North, for whatever reason, might be keeping me at a distance, but had not yet turned hostile.
If that weren't the case, the general and her soldiers' backs would have been a bit straighter.
You are quick on the uptake.
"Thank you! ...May I... be so bold as to receive permission to voice a question?"
You may.
"If, perhaps..."
The general, having begun her first syllable, paused for a moment in that state.
It was a timidity you wouldn't believe from the one who had just been leading the frenzy-driven assault, but perhaps this behavior displayed outside of battle was her true nature.
Anyway, she certainly used a colloquial manner of speaking.
For a subordinate created by a wild demon beast, her reason was clear and her etiquette immaculate.
Swish.
"...For, for what purpose have you come here, to this coniferous forest..."
When I silently urged her on with the sound of my garments shifting, she finally spat out her question as if having a seizure.
Of course, I had only one answer.
I have come to meet your queen and speak with her directly.
"...Huu... I am deeply ashamed to say, but we must now move to another region and carry out different orders."
At that, she relaxed her shoulders in deep relief, then a moment later tensed up again and sought my understanding.
In a manner of speech that combined the etiquette of an old-fashioned retainer with something familiar I had seen back on Earth.
"Thus, while it would be proper for me to escort you personally, may I beg forgiveness for the discourtesy of instead assigning a guide to the Dungeon Queen?"
There will be no need for that. I came to observe how your kind fight.
"That... how do you mean?"
My words must have been truly unexpected. She had inadvertently broken her perfectly maintained bow without even realizing it.
Are you questioning my intentions?
"M-my apologies!"
She slammed her head back down the moment my next words fell upon her.
"However, as this is a matter between leaders, I humbly beg you to forgive this unworthy one for prioritizing loyalty to our queen...! Also..."
Also?
"If you were to visit another king's territory without first meeting the one you ought to meet earliest, it would be a mutual discourtesy and would surely cause faces to redden, so I hardly know where to put myself...!"
...Listening to her speak, it was a manner of speech that increasingly made one feel mentally unwell.
I didn't know if it was just this one, or if they were all like this.
Still, her loyalty was appreciable, and if the queen was not yet at a level of hostility toward me...
Very well. Understood.
It would be fine to have a conversation here first before visiting the other side.
You mean to say...?
Your counsel is commendable, so I shall set aside my intentions and meet with your master first.
"Ah, this unworthy one, how shall I express this vast, ocean-like gratitude I feel toward the Dungeon Queen..."
Be on your way.
"Yep!"
...She was more troublesome than dealing with an enemy.
That was the sentiment that arose as I watched the general salute and disappear.
- 3 -
Guided by the squad of demon beasts the general had assigned, she crossed the battlefield and arrived at a small cave carved beneath the mountain.
Its exterior closely resembled the early days of her own dungeon.
"This is the place. Will you permit us to cease our guidance here and return to the battlefield?"
Fine. You may go.
Truly a species that loved to stretch out their words.
Perhaps their nature of moving diligently without ever resting in normal times had been applied to this as well.
Impossible to know.
Please, enter.
She stepped inside the cave.
The first creature she encountered possessed a carapace exterior like the other demon beasts outside, but was a female who, no matter how you looked at her, did not resemble a warrior.
'The queen has been awaiting the guests.'
Unlike the general, she did not fully prostrate herself, but the handmaiden greeted us with a demure kneel and bow.
Though there had been no sign of the general sending a messenger ahead, she wore an expression and spoke words that made it seem as if she had clearly known of our arrival.
'So they have a means of long-distance communication. Pheromones, perhaps.'
Hello!
Unlike the heavily armored ones outside, this handmaiden had a single pair of legs, a head bearing huge, pure-black eyes and antennae, a humanoid upper body with two pairs of arms, and a slender, delicate form exposed as it was.
The first to approach her and speak was, naturally, my guide Serha.
Oh my. Lady Serha.
The handmaiden's face brightened radiantly upon discovering her.
They seemed to be acquainted with each other.
It's been so long since the last exchange meeting!
Hasn't it? And how fares your queen?
She has been exceedingly busy with official matters of late, but she remains in good health. Ah, I am told to invite you in. I shall guide you. O Dungeon Queen.
You may.
With words and actions that confirmed my suspicions, she turned her body slightly to point inward, then began leading the way the moment she heard my reply.
The cave, as I followed behind her...
'It's incredibly vast.'
It was so immaculately organized that it cleanly washed away any preconceptions I had about them.
Even at a glance, one could tell that nearly the entire interior of the mountain had been made their domain.
You use carapace even in places like this.
It is the wisdom of our queen.
So it appears.
The high walls of the cave and the pillars erected in between were all coated with a black substance similar to their own carapace.
It seemed meant to compensate for the strength of the weakened ground after excavating such a vast space.
'...Well, if it wasn't a fluid substance, its components wouldn't have been detected on the fir trees outside either.'
This way, Your Majesty.
As she surveyed their nest, which was essentially a dungeon, she discovered a peculiar means of transportation in the cavern's plaza.
Following the handmaiden's guidance, what she saw was a demon beast carrying what appeared to be enormous flower petals resembling karmic flowers on its back.
A demon beast so massive that, for a moment, she felt as if her body had shrunk tremendously like Alice's, and she had entered a much smaller world.
What an interesting creature.
This one guides visitors to the throne room further inside. This place is so very vast and tall, you see.
When she extended her hand toward the creature's face, it flinched back its neck as if momentarily frightened, then slowly extended it forward again.
The creature carefully rubbed its chin against her hand, as if recognizing that she bore no killing intent or fighting spirit.
Though its outward appearance was fearsome, in truth it was a demon beast of the purest nature.
It's quite rare to see this one open its heart to another species. It seems to have taken quite a liking to you, Dungeon Queen.
Is that so? I'm rather fond of it as well.
If you were to speak to the queen, she might just give you a friend such as this.
A rather intriguing prospect.
Had she not designed her dungeon as a mansion, she would have wanted to bring one in herself.
Chachachak!
Once the party climbed atop the creature, the giant demon beast began to traverse the cave at a speed faster than a carriage.
Despite its considerable bulk, the movement was eerily quiet and swift.
The driving force appeared to be its six pairs of legs—far thicker and more muscular than those of its smaller kin—which pressed against the floor in place of arms.
The leg strength was immense, allowing it to crawl without placing burden or vibration upon the ground.
A well-designed creature.
Cheok...
Thus crossing the cave, climbing what clearly appeared to be stairs leading to the royal chambers in an instant, they arrived before a great door.
Aside from the vibrations being slightly more pronounced than a carriage, it had been a comfortable ride.
'Your Majesty. The guests have arrived.'
—Show them in.
'Yes! I shall guide you. Your Majesty.'
The handmaiden... no, the woman she had assumed until now to be a handmaiden, headed without hesitation toward the inner door that the soldiers on either side had thrown open.
That was not the demeanor of a subordinate, no matter how you looked at it.
'Welcome, Dungeon Queen.'
Entering further inside, following behind her, there stood a single demon beast who proclaimed 'I am a knight' in her very bearing, apparent at a single glance.
Upon discovering us, the figure removed the helm she had been wearing, then with one hand pointing toward the opposite shoulder, greeted us with a silent bow.
'I am Orea. Queen of the Myrmekian Cleaver clan.'
Myrmekian.
Meaning she had an encounter with the queen who led the 'ant people'.