Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: The Lever's Might
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Rakrak looked at Jaol.
"Why do you think that?"
Jaol held up one finger.
"First, the god won't just stand by and watch us in danger. If we fight, the god will surely help you, Chief."
"Right, I trust the god too. But that's no ordinary drake. From the way it shakes the earth even in its sleep, even if the god possesses my body, we'll have to fight on even terms."
Sung-un was surprised by Rakrak's accurate judgment, but he was more interested in Jaol's opinion.
Sung-un quickly checked Jaol's stats.
'The Mediator class means she's trusted in the tribe. I knew it, but her intelligence is higher than Rakrak's. And it's still rising. The most intriguing is the special stat, Intuition?'
It was a stat that hadn't been visible until recently.
It must have been newly created due to her recent experiences.
Jaol said,
"I and the other warriors are here too."
"I know you warriors are strong. But you won't be much help against a monster like that."
Jaol shook her head.
"Chief, do you remember what the Blacksmith did to heat the metal before we left the hill?"
"Hm..."
Rakrak could imitate the actions, but he didn't understand the exact intent and effects of those processes.
As the leader of the tribe, there was no need for him to learn the Blacksmith's skills when he already had a Blacksmith who knew how to forge metal.
With civilization developing and division of labor emerging, that was more befitting of a tribal leader.
'But Jaol isn't wrong either.'
Sung-un waited with interest for Jaol's next words.
"You know that to keep the embers alive, you need to blow air into them."
"That's right."
"Until now, we've blown with our mouths, waved our palms, or fanned with large tree bark to keep the embers going. But the Blacksmith used a different method."
"Ah, that 'bellows' thing."
Jaol nodded.
"I asked the Blacksmith to let me try it, and it blew in far more air than before, and it was easier too. Why do you think that is?"
"Using a tool lets you produce greater force with less effort?"
"Exactly."
"But we don't have bellows or such tools. That tool took the artisan a long time to figure out and make."
"We don't need something that precise."
"Then?"
"The monster we have to face is sleeping down at the base of this steep slope, and we're up top. We're just like the Blacksmith sitting in front of the furnace. If we prepare and act, we can forge the metal."
Rakrak and the warriors didn't fully understand from those words alone, but Jaol followed up with a concrete idea.
Rakrak and the warriors nodded in agreement and voiced their approval.
Sung-un felt the same.
Sung-un used a miracle to summon a single blue butterfly in front of Rakrak.
'This should get the point across.'
A blue butterfly suddenly appeared in the wasteland, out of season, and the warriors looked puzzled.
Rakrak stared blankly at the butterfly's wings for a moment before his eyes lit up.
Rakrak grinned.
"The god approves too. Jaol, let's do it your way."
The mountainside was steep and rugged.
Taking the ancient scarab coiled at the base as reference, it was a roughly 70-degree incline.
That meant when Rakrak and the warriors fought the ancient scarab, they'd have to clash head-on with no room to maneuver, like ants trapped in an antlion pit.
On the other hand, the massive ancient scarab had countless legs and could likely climb even steeper slopes with ease.
'But no one except Rakrak will get close to the ancient scarab, so it doesn't matter.
According to the plan, Rakrak would only approach at the moment they severed the scarab's breath.'
Rakrak stood atop the ridgeline overlooking the ancient scarab.
"This rock, that one, and that one—will those do?"
"Each is half the size of the thing. That should be plenty."
Jaol nodded.
Warriors were positioned next to the three rocks Rakrak pointed out.
The warriors weren't empty-handed.
They had fetched the few tall trees around and held them whole.
'Roll the stones to crush it flat.'
It was a truly simple plan.
But it required imagination.
'Even Rakrak only thought of charging in and severing its breath directly when it came to fighting.'
Jaol was different.
Jaol didn't know how to express it precisely, but she was actively internalizing the concept of moving great things with small force through her own knowledge.
To Sung-un, systematizing that knowledge made it worthy of being called 'physics.'
'Using mass and kinetic energy, potential energy, and the principle of the lever.'
That didn't mean Jaol had suddenly become a physicist.
'But just as the Blacksmith's techniques influenced Jaol's intuition, one event can affect multiple individuals.'
Rakrak said,
"Begin."
At his words, Jaol raised her arm to signal.
The warriors wedged logs under the rocks atop the ridgeline and pulled tight.
They didn't move right away.
Jaol said in a low voice,
"Sync your breathing. When I raise my hand, pull. When I lower it, let the rock shake."
Jaol set the rhythm, and the rock's shaking gradually grew.
Soon, one rock toppled completely.
'Now it's my turn.'
Ideally, all three rocks would crush the ancient scarab at once.
Sung-un possessed Rakrak.
Sung-un=Rakrak shoved the second rock, which was just about to roll, with immense strength to send it over, then pushed with all his might on the largest third rock that wouldn't budge.
"It's rolling!"
At Sung-un=Rakrak's shout, and the massive roar shaking the mountainside as the rocks tumbled, the ancient scarab lifted its head.
The ancient scarab seemed not to grasp what was happening at first.
But it swiftly raised its body.
'But it's not a smart creature.'
If it were smart, it might have dodged.
But the ancient scarab saw the oncoming boulders not as danger, but as challengers.
The ancient scarab charged the first rock, and its head smashed into the boulder rolling at brutal speed.
-Kyaoooo!
As the ancient scarab roared in savage pain, the second rock bounced up from the slope and slammed into its midsection.
Not only the ruins atop the scarab, but its waist itself was completely crushed.
Yet the ancient scarab's vitality seemed robust.
The ancient scarab sensed the remaining rock coming straight at it and tried to twist its body.
'Not happening.'
Sung-un=Rakrak gripped the spear shaft.
Then, like a triple jump, he leaped from the ridgeline.
Sung-un=Rakrak flew over three hundred meters, twisting in midair to hurl the spear.
-Boom!
The spear tip, shot like an arrow, pierced the ancient scarab's exoskeleton as it tried to rise and pinned it down.
A small wound by surface area alone, but it was enough to bind its movements in that instant.
'No need to finish it off.'
The third rock struck the ancient scarab's head directly.
Rakrak sent a warrior to gather the tribe.
Seeing the massive monster dead, the tribe cheered for Rakrak, the warriors, and the 'Great Beetle God.'
Sung-un converted the increased faith resource into food via miracles.
The important part wasn't the increased faith.
Sung-un's divinity level hadn't changed. From this point, leveling slowed, and experience gains were modest.
'But I wanted to catch it for this at least.'
A god's greatest ability is, after all, to 'create' things.
Just as Sung-un, with his bug subdomain, could create grubs to feed the lizardmen to their fill, each god could create resources fitting their domain by expending faith.
But to create 'things that don't exist in the world,' equally rare materials were needed.
'That's where essences come in.'
Such essences could be obtained by defeating powerful beings like spirits or abominations left behind by gods who had abandoned the setting, or even higher-tier monstrosities.
And with these essences, one could create 'creatures.'
A god's creatures could grow, and at higher stages, gain classes like 'apostle' or 'avatar' to act as strategic weapons carrying out the god's will, while also serving as faith generators that spread the god's renown just by existing.
'No maintenance costs early on, so no rush to make one.'
There was a specific timing for creating creatures, even with resources ready.
For now, aiding Rakrak and the tribe with faith resources came first, but Sung-un knew the 'creature creation' program supported in Lost World worked here too, so he kept it displayed in the corner of his vision.
'Plenty of time, so I can take it easy.'
As Sung-un pondered ideas for his first creature, an unexpected message appeared.
Rakrak cut off a tip of the ancient scarab's leg, put it in his mouth, then spat it out.
"Tasteless. Can't eat it."
"Let's make a fire pit and try boiling or roasting it."
"Hm..."
Rakrak had little expectation, but it seemed better than doing nothing.
"Do that."
Rakrak said so and walked up the ancient scarab's body.
Many lizardmen had gathered around the ancient scarab and were buzzing, but they kept their distance, fearing the terrifying being might still be alive.
Jaol, not knowing much about this behemoth either, thought caution was needed.
"It's dangerous, Chief."
"It's dead. The god knows it, so it must be."
"Hm... that's true too."
"Before we killed it, I saw something on top of it. But it must've been crushed under the rocks. Broken."
Rakrak muttered upon seeing the shattered altar at the scarab's waist.
Jaol smiled.
"You hunted it but feel disappointed with no spoils?"
Rakrak had to admit it.
They'd slain the monster blocking the tribe's path and raised the god's renown again, which was harvest enough, but it still felt lacking.
"Didn't expect it to taste this bad."
"Don't worry. Different 'cooking' might change that."
"Hm."
"And the shell is tough. We could peel it off and take it—might be useful."
"That's good."
Jaol strode up beside Rakrak.
"Rakrak."
"Yeah?"
"Let's continue our conversation."
"Hm?"
"I'm curious about your answer to my question."
"What was it?"
"About a mate."
Rakrak coughed awkwardly and looked away.
In the direction his gaze turned, he saw the shattered altar under the rocks, and within it, something gleaming in the sunset light.
"What's that?"
"Don't change the subject."
"No, there's something there."
Only after Rakrak pointed did Jaol see it too.
Jaol ordered the warriors to use the lever principle, just like with the rocks, to extract the object from the altar fragments.
It was dented from the impact, but it was a golden tablet.
Rakrak picked up the golden tablet.
"Jaol, what is this?"
Rakrak thought the intricate, winding patterns of rules filling the tablet were strange.