Chapter 183
Chapter 183
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 183
Chapter Title: 55. Xerxes (4)
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9.
Puuu!
El Pam wasn’t all that surprised when he spotted the mammoth herd.
In fact, he felt relieved.
‘This much is no problem.’
He could handle them with his current skills, without needing to play any trump cards.
That left him with just one concern at that moment.
‘All that’s left is the core.’
How to normalize the core?
El Pam considered two options on that front.
Repair the core, or destroy it.
And he was leaning heavily toward destruction.
The core was undoubtedly a crucial item that kept Crise afloat in the sky.
‘But it’s not functioning properly anyway.’
Right now, though, that core was tormenting Crise’s giants instead.
The giants of Crise couldn’t even step outside; they were isolated, awaiting death.
In such a situation, there was no reason to leave the core intact any longer.
‘Xerxes has to die here.’
Decisively, El Pam had personally experienced just how many adventurers Xerxes would kill in the future.
It meant the core had to be destroyed, even if it meant crashing Crise.
Of course, if there was a way to restore it properly, El Pam would gladly do so.
But from his perspective, lacking the technical knowledge, it was far more likely he wouldn’t find a method.
That had been the case.
‘This?’
But after felling all the mammoths, the main core—that massive round stone—now had a foreign device attached to it.
The moment he saw it, El Pam’s expression hardened.
It meant someone had deliberately sabotaged the core.
‘Black Mage followers.’
And in the Maple World, the only ones who would do such a thing were them.
Moreover, this wasn’t just any incident.
‘Over a hundred years ago.’
Heavenly Crise had hidden itself from the Maple World a hundred years prior, which meant the Black Mage’s followers had tampered with it back then too.
‘Maybe.’
At this point, El Pam considered one possibility.
‘It might be related to the Mystic Gate.’
The Mystic Gate was an extraordinarily special existence even in Maple World history.
Monsters thought vanished from the Maple World beyond it still lingered.
It was a world where Maple World common sense didn’t apply.
‘Like turning livestock into monsters.’
And what had happened in Heavenly Crise now seemed similar.
Of course, it might not be.
It could be entirely separate.
The Black Mage’s followers had done all sorts of things for his resurrection.
But El Pam couldn’t just brush it off.
‘If it can strike a blow against them.’
Even the tiniest clue was incredibly precious to him.
Naturally, El Pam recovered the device from the core.
It was that important, and he planned to explain it in detail to his companions.
“The mano’s gotten bigger?”
But the moment he saw the enlarged mano, El Pam had to set the device aside for a bit.
It wasn’t just simple surprise.
“Wow, amazing. It can grow now? It’s almost elephant-sized. Hey! Mano! What happened?”
“This is no ordinary matter.”
“Huh?”
Leaving the astonished Dibo behind, El Pam approached the enlarged mano directly.
“Mano.”
Kyuu?
“Can you shrink back down?”
Kyuu!
The moment El Pam asked after approaching, Mano shrank right down.
Seeing that, El Pam’s expression grew even graver.
That was when Dibo caught up and spoke.
“Hey, Boss? What’s wrong?”
“It’s no ordinary matter.”
“Oh, you mean it got bigger? Yeah, that’s no ordinary thing.”
Dibo dismissed Mano’s gigantification as just something surprising, but El Pam explained.
“Snail pet abilities are twofold. One is finding items, the other is storing them. At that size, it means it can hold an enormous quantity of items.”
“Huh?”
Why he was surprised.
“And now Mano can shrink even in that state.”
“Oh!”
Only after that explanation did Dibo mirror El Pam’s expression.
His other companions did the same.
‘This ability defies logic.’
For adventurers, nothing was more headache-inducing than logistics.
From food to items!
Especially in the Mystic Gate era, the more you had, the higher your survival odds.
Yet the amount you could carry at once was severely limited.
Throwing luggage into the Mystic Gate just meant it wouldn’t reach the other side.
You could only bring what you personally carried.
But Mano’s gigantification solved that problem perfectly.
‘This I didn’t expect.’
Naturally, El Pam hadn’t even imagined Mano possessed such an ability.
That was when he realized.
‘One thing’s clear.’
El Pam spotted it.
‘It ate Xerxes’ horns.’
The shrunken Mano—and beneath it, Xerxes’ corpse was missing its two horns.
Either way, one thing was certain.
‘All my strategies just changed.’
Mano’s gigantification could upend every tactic and strategy El Pam had built as the Last Adventurer.
Of course, for the better.
‘The ultimate spec-up has arrived.’
For El Pam, it was worth more than several legendary-grade items.
That was when they approached the pondering El Pam party.
“Um, over there.”
Michael’s party. The moment he saw them, El Pam halted his thoughts.
‘For now.’
He had just one thing to do right now.
‘Head back.’
10.
“Elder, Michael and the adventurers have returned.”
Titan Elder showed no particular reaction upon hearing that.
“Tch.”
Just a short click of the tongue.
“Michael’s wasted his time again.”
He held zero expectations for Michael.
A bunch of young giants who’d never even seen the Colosseum would just catch a few monsters and flee—that was it.
So he wasn’t worried either.
Michael and his group lacked the ability to venture into dangerous places.
“Elder.”
Thus, Titan Elder had no intention of scolding Michael as he approached this time.
Whatever he said, he’d just say good work and be done.
“The core has been normalized.”
“Good work.”
Even as he uttered those planned words, Titan Elder didn’t sense anything off yet.
“Elder.”
Even seeing Michael still standing there.
“Good work.”
“The core is back to normal. We can go outside Crise now.”
“Good work. You did well.”
At this point, Titan Elder just felt a bit annoyed.
Of course, he soon sensed something amiss, and the moment he did, his expression changed.
“W-what did you say?”
Only then did proper conversation begin, and Michael explained everything to Titan Elder.
What had happened in the Colosseum.
“El Pam here solved everything.”
And how El Pam had performed.
Of course, upon hearing the explanation, Titan Elder didn’t believe it. He couldn’t possibly.
A hundred years!
How could he believe that a party of adventurers who’d arrived just days ago—a mere five-person party—had accomplished what renowned giant warriors couldn’t in that endless time?
But the doubt didn’t last long.
“Go verify it.”
Confirming the truth didn’t take much time.
“My god.”
And the moment he confirmed it was real, Titan Elder’s reaction was none other than fainting.
Literally.
Thud!
“E-Elder!”
Titan Elder passed out on the spot.
It was no surprise.
For him and all the giants of Heavenly Crise, what had just happened was that shocking.
That was why.
“S-sorry. Let’s talk details after we sort out the situation.”
From the giants’ perspective, El Pam’s party were veritable saviors, but they couldn’t entertain them right away.
“Please wait just a moment.”
Of course, it just meant they needed time; the giants had no intention of slighting El Pam’s party.
They were prepared to give them everything they could offer.
“Michael! You escort them!”
In the meantime, as they sorted things out, Michaela was assigned to El Pam’s party.
“Yes! I’ll serve them with everything I’ve got!”
And Michaela had no intention of refusing.
Thus, Michaela became their escort.
“Is it really true?”
She was visibly excited too.
“You really fixed the core?”
Dibo grinned at her question.
“If our boss says he’ll do it, he does. He’s never failed to deliver on a promise so far.”
“Amazing!”
Michaela kept marveling.
“Ah! Sorry, I’m so shocked. Everyone’s out of sorts right now.”
Regaining her composure, Michaela said.
“So, if you need anything, just say the word.”
She’d serve them to the best of her ability—anything at all.
El Pam answered her offer.
“I need your glasses.”
“Huh?”
Michaela tilted her head at the request.
“Boss?”
Dibo and all the companions tilted theirs too.
Of course, they knew.
The reason they’d come here was none other than to obtain Michaela’s glasses.
But at this point, it wasn’t some grand item. They could have it anytime.
“That’s reward enough for this job.”
Yet El Pam demanded only that for this monumental feat.
“Boss!”
They couldn’t help but be stunned.
“We’re not ripping out the family pillar or anything, but this is too much, right? We gotta get proper compensation before we go.”
“Yeah, we did the work. Taking just a pair of glasses? Come on?”
Dibo and Miner were beyond surprise—they couldn’t accept this reward.
“Right, Kiri?”
“We just did what needed doing. Demanding payment isn’t knightly conduct.”
Kiri was a bit different.
“Above all, we gained pride. That’s enough.”
True to the Cygnus Knights, she was fully satisfied with having saved the giants.
So Dibo and Miner turned to Ralph.
Surely he’d agree most vehemently.
“Ralph, you think so too, right?”
Ralph, of all people—more obsessed with money than anyone—wouldn’t accept such meager reward.
“The glasses seem sufficient.”
“What?”
But Ralph was satisfied, against all expectations.
“Sufficient?”
“Quite sufficient.”
Of course, it wasn’t that Ralph had suddenly transcended material desires.
“There doesn’t seem to be much more we could get anyway.”
“Nothing?”
On the contrary, Ralph was more calculating than anyone.
“Think about it. They’ve been cut off from the outside for a hundred years. They can’t have anything worthwhile. No point forcing compensation then. Better to leave them owing us a debt. Think: once the giants resume activity, how much money will they make? Letting it ride like this is the real profit.”
Ruthlessly so.
Dibo and Miner could only gape at Ralph’s words.
“And even if we get rewards, it’ll be later. Time is gold to us right now—more than anything.”
But their expressions shifted upon hearing that.
“By now, something might’ve already gone down in the abandoned mine. Better to head out and assess the situation than waste time on mediocre rewards.”
It rang true.
“Ralph’s right.”
El Pam agreed—no need for further words; it was the perfect answer.
No one objected now.
“We grab the glasses now and head straight to Elnas Market.”