Chapter 90
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 90
The clamor from the mirror fragment died down for a moment.
Normally, it would be unthinkable for Swallow to be outside the dungeon like this. He could only roam so freely because the aftermath of his destruction of Riaze still lingered.
By next year, the humans would undoubtedly point their blades at the Primordial Core once more, as if nothing had happened. If the Empire showed any sign of weakness, the Kingdom Alliance would surely seize the opportunity. To the humans, the Primordial Core was a land of opportunity—a concentration of power where countless treasures and some of the 36 Lost Masterpieces lay dormant.
Before that, they had to restock it with monsters.
"What choice do I have? I'll just have to scrape together whatever I can find."
In any case, Swallow had no intention of helping with recruitment next year. Even if they had to fend off the human invasion and replace the fallen monsters, Rene and Patrick would handle it all by then. Right?
[...By the way, Master.]
As if to wake Swallow from his sweet dream of delegating work, Patrick's voice drifted in conspiratorially.
[Wasn't there something else in the envelope I sent, besides the mirror fragment?]
"...Huh?"
At Swallow's puzzled response, Rene and Melju searched the envelope. Stuck flat to the inside by a smear of sealing wax, a single sheet of parchment they hadn't noticed before came into view.
"It's information on monsters, Lord Swallow."
Every word, written in elegant script, was about monsters.
"...Did you write this, Patrick?" Rene asked, scanning the parchment.
When the reply [I did] came from beyond the mirror, Rene's expression suddenly turned sullen, and she hung her head.
Melju, who had been handed the parchment in the confusion, read the contents aloud. It was a list of monsters residing near Knecht.
These were monsters that didn't even appear on human subjugation requests.
[I have had my eye on them for some time. I've selected a variety—from monsters that are weak individually but strong in groups, to those that can use cave terrain to their advantage. Best of all, the Guardian Golem on that list isn't even considered a dungeon monster, nor is it a target for subjugation. You wouldn't find any information on it at the subjugation agency.]
Patrick rattled on endlessly, as if he had prepared a mountain of excuses.
The more he spoke, the louder the clattering of his jaw became, until it was louder than his actual voice.
Swallow listened for a while before something clicked.
"...For some time?"
[Ah.]
The connection cut.
No, Patrick had hung up.
* * *
In truth, simply obtaining a list of monsters was well within Patrick's capabilities.
Not only did Patrick have his own channels for acquiring human newspapers, but Hastin—no matter how far it had fallen—was still a human territory ruled by a proper Count.
There was no way he couldn't get his hands on a few dungeon subjugation requests.
"The enemy was inside all along."
He hadn't expected Patrick to lie with such a straight face, but then again, Patrick didn't have a face to keep straight in the first place.
Sending Swallow to Knecht had been Patrick's intention all along. The monsters Patrick had in mind were near Knecht. And…
"Isn't trust the most important thing between a lord and his vassal? When recruiting monsters, having the boss make a personal trip is the best way to inspire loyalty. I'm not doing this for myself, but for the good of the dungeon."
"I knew Patrick was abnormal, but I never imagined he'd come up with such an absurdly brilliant scheme."
Though Patrick always insisted he was the most normal one in the dungeon, in Swallow's eyes, he was the biggest lunatic of them all.
The guy was the real deal. He was on another level compared to those half-baked bastards who sweated even while wearing a mask. Patrick was the "realest of the real"—a guy who was literally shameless because he had no skin on his face to lose.
Riding on the back of the familiar Melju had summoned, Swallow cursed Patrick until he was sick of it, eventually shutting his mouth when even grumbling became too much of a chore. He lay sprawled out like a corpse, but when he finally lifted his head, he saw nothing but rocks in every direction.
To be precise, they had nearly reached a canyon in the rocky mountains.
"Our top priority for recruitment is the Guardian Golem that protects Knecht."
This supposedly dated back to the days before Knecht became a mercenary city. A massive horde of monsters from the Kingdom Alliance was said to have marched toward the Empire.
This rocky mountain lay directly in their path. Thousands of monsters had died, unable to cross it.
"As a result, the golem ended up protecting the humans of Knecht. Since they revere it as a guardian deity, there's no way it would be listed on a subjugation request."
However, golems have no ego. There was no way it had actually fought to protect humans.
It likely just deemed any monster crossing its path an intruder and attacked.
"They say that even if it's smashed to pieces, the stones instantly gather and regenerate. Isn't that the perfect monster for our dungeon?"
"You said it regenerates endlessly."
"If it's a 'Magic Crystal Golem,' then regeneration is certainly possible. As long as there's enough mana in its core—the magic crystal."
Regeneration wasn't the issue. However…
"There's no way a magic crystal with infinite mana exists."
There was only one possibility.
Something is endlessly supplying mana to the golem's magic crystal.
And considering the golem never moved beyond the confines of this rocky mountain...
"There can only be one explanation."
A massive mana vein must flow beneath this canyon. If the magic crystal wasn't inside the golem's body but buried in that vein, everything would make sense.
With the mana vein endlessly supplying power to the magic crystal, it was no wonder the golem appeared invincible.
They reached a flat clearing piled high with boulders, a veritable graveyard of stone.
As Swallow stepped inside, a scraping sound began to echo from the ground. It was the sound of stones resonating.
Soon, the massive boulders began to draw together as if magnetized, rapidly swelling in size.
The haphazardly assembled rocks scraped noisily against one another as they settled into place.
Its overwhelming size cast a shadow over the entire area.
"Looks like that's the one."
"Can a giant thing like that even fit inside a cave?"
"Even I can fit, so why not?"
"Indeed. At this scale, dealing with thousands of monsters would be child's play."
Having detected the intruders and fully formed, the golem slammed its two massive stone fists onto the ground.
CRASH!
The shockwave sent a tremor through their feet. The blast of wind whipped their hair back. His hair was blown back, exposing his forehead, but Swallow remained unbothered, watching the golem with an amused expression.
"Well, look at that. Patrick actually found a good one."
Instead of a roar, the earth shook violently as the golem raised its heavy fists and charged toward Swallow.
Thud, thud, thud. With every step the golem took, the entire mountain seemed to vibrate. Amidst the shaking, Melju raised her staff.
"They say the golem regenerates in seconds! We have to find and extract the magic crystal in that brief window. I'll bind its feet first...!"
Her staff glowed. But the golem was charging so fast that a binding spell erupting from the ground would likely miss.
I must freeze it first. Deciding this, Melju changed her incantation and began to cast an ice spell. At that exact moment, the golem swung its fist.
KABOOM!
The fist, carrying absurdly destructive power, slammed down where Swallow stood, threatening to collapse the very ground beneath him.
A shockwave rippled out.
For a moment, Melju held her breath.
And as if it were the most natural thing in the world—Swallow remained completely unfazed. All he had done was extend a single hand to block the fist.
Just as Swallow let out a yawn, cracks spiderwebbed across the golem's entire body. As Melju stared blankly at the crumbling shower of stones, Rene rolled up her sleeves and walked toward the golem, speaking in a nonchalant voice.
"Don't just stand there dazed, Melju. Hurry up and find the magic crystal."
"Next is the Cyclops."
"Chief, have you heard? They say that after yesterday's earthquake, the golem of the rocky mountain vanished without a trace."
"Wasn't it the strongest entity in the rocky mountains, untouched by humans and monsters alike? Did humans actually defeat it? Or was it another monster?"
"As far as I know, the humans didn't touch it—if anything, they practically worshipped it. But it doesn't seem like any monster capable of defeating that golem appeared, and there were no witnesses."
"Well, then who on earth could it be? It had to be the work of either humans or monsters."
"...Chief, I don't know if this is related, but there are rumors that the pack of silver wolves ruling the plateau above the canyon was also wiped out."
"Weren't they a formidable pack? They might have fled here after losing a territorial dispute with the Demon King's Army in the south, but each one was said to be a warrior stronger than an ogre..."
"Strange things are happening."
"We need to prepare as well."
"If what you say is true, doesn't that mean humans are behind the golem's disappearance?"
"That's just speculation."
"I just don't see a motive."
"Now is not the time for this. What if our dungeon is attacked next?"
"That is enough, everyone."
As opinions flew, the atmosphere grew heated. The murmuring giants inside the dungeon began to raise their voices. Before things could spiral out of control, the largest Cyclops—the dungeon boss—cut them off.
"The wolves showed themselves to humans multiple times. We, in contrast, have always remained hidden. Even if this is the humans' doing, there's no way they know the location of our dungeon."
"That's true, but..."
"You speak the truth."
"Still, it pays to be cautious. For the time being, I'm adjusting our hunting hours and the times we venture outside."
Having spoken, the boss raised his massive club. All the gathered one-eyed giants raised their clubs in unison. This was their method of voting; only those who agreed raised their clubs, and naturally, not a single giant kept theirs down.
"Until we gather more strength, we must lay low and bide our time. We must have our revenge on the humans, must we not?"
Following the boss's lead, everyone slammed their clubs onto the ground. The earth shook with heavy thuds. The reverberation, swallowing all other sound, was a collective roar hammered out by their clubs.
—It was only when a chillingly calm voice cut through the pounding that they realized a few uninvited guests had slipped in amidst the roar.
"You're being noisy."
Starting with the boss, who was the first to sense the presence, they stopped pounding one by one.
The other, less perceptive Cyclopes also stopped their pounding in confusion as the noise gradually died down.
Following the boss's gaze, everyone turned their heads toward the dungeon entrance. The approaching figures had walked straight in through the main entrance, clearly having no intention of hiding.
The Cyclopes widened their single eyes and stared at the uninvited guests.
At first glance, they looked human. However, the aura they exuded was far from ordinary, prompting the boss to adjust his grip on his weapon.
A small black beast, two small kids beside it, a fairly large familiar behind them—and a man who looked like a corpse, sprawled on its back.
"...Who are you?"
"It seems Rene will have to calm everyone down before we can talk."
Completely ignoring the Cyclops's question, Rene, who was leading the way, offered a bright smile.
She then lifted the hem of her skirt and drew six blades from her garter.
In the next instant, six giant figures collapsed to the ground.
* * *
"Next up, the Yaksha. I understand they're monsters who crossed the sea from the continent beyond the beast kingdom of Rium, but to be honest, I don't know much else."
"...Well, well. I had a feeling you'd come here too. We've already heard the rumors that the Cyclopes across the way were taken down."
"My, you're well-informed."
"There's a reason we've managed to survive without being discovered by humans. Our information network is second to none."
"Then you must already know why we're here."
"You want us to join your dungeon, right?"
Rene, sitting politely on the ground, smiled. The Yaksha laughed heartily, seemingly pleased with her reaction.
"We have no reason to refuse! After all, all things in creation are drawn to strength. We already know you're ridiculously strong. But we have one condition."
"If it's about compensation, we can certainly offer a reasonable amount."
"It's not about that."
The Yaksha pushed off the ground and stood up, veins bulging on his forearms.
"You're from the Great Evil Cave, the 'Primordial Core,' right?"
Strength was the measure of all things—that was the Yaksha's creed. To pledge their loyalty, they had to witness a level of power they could respect with their own eyes.
Rene also stood up slowly, as if she had caught on. The leader of the Yakshas spoke boisterously.
"Come at me with everything you've got. We need to know just how strong our new boss is, don't we?"
"I like you guys. Rene loves motivated talent."