Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Mage Hunt (4)
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No matter how much of a mind-controlled monster it was, it still knew when its life was in danger. It was obvious what would happen if the battle dragged on like this.
- Keeik, kieeeek!
- Kuwooooh!
The monster horde retreated toward the rocky mountain all at once. As soon as the fortress entrance opened with a rumble, they shoved their way inside. Even as the entrance resealed itself, they showed no signs of stopping. In the end, one slow goblin got caught in the crevice and was crushed flat.
- Jiiik!
"......"
Kadim slowly loosened up his body.
After rampaging once, his bloodlust was subsiding. There was no need to rush anyway, since he knew the fortress code. He decided to retrieve his weapon, refresh his buffs, and then enter the underground fortress.
He pulled out the vial containing the pure demon's blood. He'd thought its effects would have weakened from decay, but the 'Agility Boost' buff hit just as strongly as when he'd first obtained it. Or perhaps his body had grown from the successive battles, allowing even a weak buff to produce such results.
There was only one chunk of pure demon blood left. Holding back his disgust at the fishy stench and rotten flavor, he chewed and swallowed it. Feeling the bloodlust surge through his nerves once more, he approached the fortress entrance.
But when he got right up to it, he couldn't help but be taken aback.
"Orgo, Al, Mesric."
"Orgo, Al, Mesric."
"......Orgo, Al, Mesric."
Even after saying the correct code, the entrance didn't open.
Kadim furrowed his brow. His memory couldn't be wrong. It had been 300 years in the game's timeline since he'd last been here, but to him, it felt like only a few years had passed.
'What the hell? Did they change the code?'
The group that had occupied this place before was just a band of ignorant bandits who couldn't touch anything. But not now. His opponent was a mage. They might have tampered with the magical code at the entrance.
Still, upon second thought, it didn't seem like a big problem. Kadim knew another code that always guaranteed a solution.
'The troll's mace...... there it is.'
He dragged over the mace used by the troll whose head had been smashed by his axe. The mace head alone weighed over several dozen kilograms, but the demonic blood-amplified strength handled it with ease.
――― Bang! Bang! Bang!
With each mighty swing crashing down, vibrations and thunderous roars erupted...
――― Bang! Bang! Bang!
Even without any magical countermeasures, cracks began to spiderweb across the rock...
――― Bang! Kwa-gang, kwarr-rung!
......until it finally shattered completely, revealing the hidden fortress entrance.
'Yeah, nothing beats a code this reliable.'
Kadim smirked crookedly and tossed the club to the ground. Goblin remnants from the one crushed in the gap earlier dangled like spiderwebs at the entrance. He swung his sword to clear them away and stepped into the dim passage.
All problems could be solved with force. If there was a problem force couldn't solve, it just meant there wasn't enough force. It was a simple, useful truth he'd learned in his first playthrough.
Now it was time to teach that truth to the mage.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!! That bastard, what the hell is he!!!"
Lemtan's aide, a high-ranking mage of the Magic Tower, and master of mind-control magic—Ymir Demil—was uncharacteristically raging. His pale skin was flushed beet red, and angry wrinkles creased the gentle eyes behind his glasses.
Scouting had revealed that the barbarian was the one who'd killed the twin gorge trolls. He'd also learned the barbarian was working with the commissioner. He'd been waiting for a chance to eliminate him covertly, so when the man came here on his own, he'd been thrilled. When he'd unleashed the prepared monsters, he'd expected the guy to be torn to shreds, not even bones left.
But his expectations had been spectacularly wrong.
It wasn't even a close fight. The monsters he'd sent couldn't land a single scratch before being massacred. And there were enough to overrun a small town in a single night! Seeing so many candles in the alcove go out brought involuntary sighs.
On top of that, the barbarian had smashed the rock with brute force and invaded the fortress. To Ymir's eyes, he no longer looked human. He seemed more like a heavenly punishment or natural disaster wearing human skin.
'Goddamn it, he couldn't have picked up a monster like that off the street...... The commissioner must have finally called in reinforcements from the council. Those bastards praised the Magic Tower as their only shield of alliance to our faces, but behind our backs, they were raising ridiculous forces like this......'
Kadim's prowess was overwhelmingly dominant for a lone warrior unaffiliated with any faction. So Ymir mistakenly assumed he was some secret weapon hidden by the Delutana council.
His guess was wrong, but it hit the mark on his goal. The extermination of the monsters—and his own neck. That made Ymir's task clear.
'If this place is exposed, the Magic Tower's position becomes extremely precarious. I have to kill that guy and shut him up, no matter what. Even if it means using every monster locked underground......'
Fortunately, this fortress was an ideal spot for annihilating intruders.
The passages twisted darkly like an ant colony, so confusing that newcomers could never tell where to go or what awaited. They'd wander aimlessly and end up in dead ends. Traps and hidden passages lurked everywhere. Surround, ambush, lure into traps, overwhelm with numbers—even the greatest warrior couldn't hold out.
"[Lerian, En, Sadiun, Gordos......]"
⟨ Mind Link ⟩
Concentrating his mind, he chanted the incantation. The alcove candles flickered, a stuffy energy welled in his chest, and his mind linked with the underground monsters. Ymir summoned all remaining monsters here.
- Jiiik, jiiik......
- Krurrrr......
- Guuk, guuk......
Ratmen with rat heads, blade wolves with glowing blue eyes, bear owls with ruffled neck frills...... Night-eyed, agile monsters climbed the steep stairs. Enough to kill even the strongest, fastest foe.
Ymir confidently unleashed the monsters into the fortress.
And once again, he faced a completely unexpected result.
"......Hm?"
No sooner had he deployed them than the monsters started getting picked off one by one.
Blade wolves charging head-on were shredded, bear owls flanking from the sides were torn apart. Ratmen ambushing from secret passages were counter-ambushed through other secret passages. Linked minds severed in droves, alcove candles snuffing out like before a storm.
The barbarian deftly avoided traps, navigated secret passages freely, and butchered the monsters. Then he systematically hit the fortress's key points, turning them into sieves.
As if...... he had a map of the fortress in his head.
"Heh, hehehe, hahahaha......"
Faced with the unbelievable reality, Ymir let out a dazed, hollow laugh.
Mosquito's blade sank into the ratman's abdomen. The vampiric sword greedily slurped up the blood, healing its master's wounds. The pain in his overworked muscles eased somewhat. Minor scratches from claws and teeth vanished.
Kadim silently flicked the blood from the blade and yanked the axe from the rat head's forehead. Then he entered the room ahead.
What he saw was piles of rotting meat heaped like a skull mound.
Some parts were blackened, others still faintly red. Amid the foul stench, a familiar smell mingled. Kadim's brow twitched faintly. He approached and inspected the meat piles.
It was mixed in. Among the meat chunks.
Long hair and fingers, torn cloth scraps and tanned face skin, blunt teeth and bone fragments, twisted earlobes and earrings.
"......"
At least dozens had been killed, judging by the bare minimum. Some corpses had rotted fully, others quite recent. The missing scribe who'd left a letter was probably mixed in here somewhere.
'I thought he was just collecting monsters, so why kill humans? Experiment materials? Magic sacrifices?'
Mages drew magic circles and offered sacrifices for spells beyond their power. But Kadim had never seen humans used as sacrifices. Enhancing mana with life force wasn't the 'spirits'' way.
This method of offering living sacrifices resembled not the spirits, but...
"......!"
No time to ponder. Sensing a presence behind him, Kadim immediately hurled his axe.
Pa-ra-ra-ra-rack - !
Splut - crack!
"Hup!"
Ymir Demil gasped in terror.
Blood and brains splattered his face, but he'd barely avoided the axe blade's razor edge. Thanks to positioning a bear owl as a meat shield beforehand. Kadim clicked his tongue. Mages were best silenced before they could speak.
- Guwoong, guwoong......
- Guuuwoong......
Beyond the approaching bear owl pack, the mage's figure appeared. Thick glasses, red robe, iron chains draped over his shoulders. Ordinary appearance, but he carried an alien scent. Definitely different from the mage 300 years ago.
Unable to handle it with monsters alone, he'd come personally. The mage wiped blood from his face and spat in fury.
"How rude, you cur! Attacking before I've even finished speaking!"
"Wasn't trying to kill you. Just thought I'd smash your lower jaw so you couldn't flap your mouth."
"......"
Furious eyes turned on him. Kadim subtly gripped his dagger hilt, then released it. He'd considered throwing it since the axe missed, but talking productively with someone hellfire-roasted seemed pointless.
The mage barely reined in his emotions. He cleaned his glasses, straightened his robes, and continued calmly.
"You probably know already, but I am Ymir Demil, aide to Lemtana and Conjurer-rank mage of the Magic Tower. What is your name, barbarian?"
"......"
"......Not going to say? Fine, doesn't matter. Anyway...... We both have things to say and ask, I imagine. How about this? We take turns asking one question and answering one. I swear on Remillion to answer truthfully."
"I refuse. Better to cut out your tongue first, then I ask all the questions."
The demonic blood buff was fading by the second. No reason to play along with stalling. Kadim raised Mosquito and charged ferociously.
"Y-You bastard! Block him!"
- Guwoong!
- Guuuwoong!
The bear owls puffed their neck frills to block the way. Infamous for keen dynamic vision and strength, but already proven no match for the barbarian.
Kwa - jik!
- Guwek!
Kadim thrust into the charging bear owl's eye socket with his momentum. A death cry erupted as the ruptured eyeball's sclera burst out the back hole. The one diving at his side got its chest crushed upward by his elbow. The slab-like pectorals caved in, ribs shattering inside.
- Guuuuwoong!
- Guwok, guwek!
Ducking low left to evade sharp claws, he stabbed its gut with the sword tip and surged forward. The weight bowled over the ones behind. Clearing the lead one's corpse, he whirled his blade like a gale, severing the fallen ones' necks. Thick neck muscles parted like tofu, lush frills soaked crimson.
From afar, the mage chanted. Even if it ruined productive talk, that had to be stopped. Kadim stomped a bear owl's shoulder, leaped acrobatically, and hurled his dagger.
But the chains on the mage's shoulder unraveled on their own, deflecting the fiery projectile.
Hwaruruk, ka-gang - !
Kadim clicked his tongue. Damn, those chains were a magic tool. Ymir seemed startled by the fire for a moment but soon smirked triumphantly and finished the chant.
"[......Rondone, Altisaren!]"
⟨ Mind Domination ⟩
Dark afterimages rose from his fingertips. They wavered like chimney smoke, crossed the bear owls, and rushed at Kadim.
But Kadim didn't bother dodging. He now knew what this magic was. He simply let it possess his body.
Sruruk, gulp, whooosh......
As expected, it didn't last.
No sooner had it entered than it surged back and dissipated into the air like dawn mist. The magic had no effect on Kadim whatsoever.
Ymir's eyes bulged, his gaze trembling.
"Wha, why......? How can mind-control magic not work at all......?"
"......"
Kadim curled his lips.
Because he currently had the 'Mental Attack Immunity' buff.
He tossed aside the empty vial of pure demon blood and charged at the mage once more.