Chapter 95
Chapter 95
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: Under the Mountain
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A few days ago, asking the Dwarf Lord for the magic armor needed by the Guardian Knight Order fell into the same context. It doesn't take long to make.
Of course, it's a downgrade on the level of pheasant to chicken—no, whale to anchovy.
Hoo....
So, is this the only hidden card I've prepared?
Of course not.
Otherworld monsters spew poison with various effects.
Whether in the form of gas, direct injection via stinger, or an aura that exerts influence just by being nearby.
That's why I've planned a tech tree to create Immunity Knights—knights who can withstand all kinds of debuffs.
On top of that, leveraging the connections of the Arch Wizard Trombone, I've prepared a tech tree to bring in the Albius Kingdom's magic corps from the neighboring country and refit them into a gate-specialized magic unit.
But creating an Immunity Knight Order still takes time, same as always.
Even for a gate-specialized magic unit, who knows how many years it'll take to train them in sync. I've never actually done it.
Come to think of it, that bomb mine that popped out during the eclipse gate....
That bomb mine had Trombone's face attached to it, right?
What the hell was that about?
Ugh.
Just imagining it feels like a hole drilling through my stomach. Anyway, I have no choice but to pass on any tech trees involving that old man.
In this way, I've made many preparations to reduce the opportunity cost of my own growth a bit and instead cultivate a powerful mass army.
The funny thing is, once the 10th round actually started, I ended up acquiring personal enhancement abilities like the lich's mana crystal or ancient species cores that weren't in the plan.
Thanks to that, in the end, I seemed likely to grow stronger than planned, and I thought I could still build a powerful army as per the original plan.
But now, there's no powerful army.
One year left.
In that short time, the most I can manage is the Guardian Knight Order I've entrusted to Kyle?
So now, it's really just me.
I thought I had to somehow grow stronger than planned to cover all the pressure focused on the 5th wave....
"Uwooooh!"
"Another swarm coming! Charge!"
"Die! Die, you earthworms!"
"Groar! One smashed!"
"Push together! Don't fall back!"
Our little bears are fighting so well!
The Ancient Bear battle unfolding before my eyes melts away all my pains and worries like snow in spring.
Can't make a powerful elite army because there's only a year left?
So what? I can just make use of these Ancient Bears instead!
Their combat prowess far exceeded my imagination.
And it's not like they look strong just because the enemies are weak.
The earthworms in question—even the most common worker worms—are about five meters in size, comparable to Babdal, the chieftain of the Ancient Bears.
They look like a mole crossed with a shrew. In terms of sheer hideousness, they could hold their own against any otherworld beast.
And they're not just big with no substance underneath. Especially their shells—they're incredibly tough. Dabi picked up a broken shard and said it's comparable to mid-grade magic armor.
Yet with one swipe of a bear's front paw, that sturdy armor shatters into pieces!
"Your Highness, did you perhaps cast holy magic on the Ancient Bears without me knowing?"
Dabi asked in a low voice. I shook my head, raising my empty palm.
"Not at all. Haven't given them a single buff."
"Indeed.... Truly a born warrior race. I didn't expect them to fight this well."
Dabi stuck out his tongue in admiration. And these guys aren't just strong and full of spirit.
The place we're in now is a tunnel leading deep underground.
Given the earthworms' massive size, the tunnel's scale is beyond imagination. The Ancient Bears match the width and height of the tunnel, forming ranks of fifteen or twenty and deploying various formations with seasoned skill.
"Combat worms! Combat worms! Everyone, prepare!"
At that moment, Babdal at the front shouted, and the bears' formation quickly reassembled.
It's hard to see from the back, but.... Did the rough T-shape turn into a V?
And charging straight into the V's indented center from the front is something huge.
A combat worm.
Bigger than regular earthworms, with sharply protruding front claws—a monster.
In terms of sheer intimidation from its appearance, it's almost berserker-class. If not for lacking bio-armor, it'd be on par.
Among the bears, the only one that could match it in size is Chieftain Babdal.
But Babdal dodged a direct clash, slipping to one arm of the V, while the rest of the bears formed a scrum, instantly surrounding the combat worm's body.
Shhhshshsh!
The combat worm twisted its entire body, emitting a bizarre sound.
Its sharp front claws drew short arcs, slashing at the bears' bodies.
But before it could do more, the clinging bears left no space at all.
"Groar! Don't let go!"
"Slashed! Ngh! But I can hold!"
"Crush with our bodies! Just a bit more!"
"Hold! Hold longer!"
Right then, Babdal, who had circled to one end of the formation, swung a massive blade from behind the worm.
Crack!
With that blow, the giant combat worm's body split in half from the tail.
Splurt!
Earthworm-specific blue blood sprayed everywhere, dyeing the bears' fur blue. I pushed forward the light magic orbs I'd floated around and shouted.
"Everyone okay? Isn't that too much blood on you?"
Earthworm blood emits cold when it touches air and freezes. Babdal shook off the ice chunks on his body roughly and yelled.
"I'm fine! Any injured!"
"Chieftain! I'm out!"
"Me too!"
The two bears handling the combat worm's front claws fell back, and two reserve bears from behind stepped up to fill the gap.
"Good! Advance again!"
"Groooar!"
With fierce roars, the charge toward the deeper tunnel began. I stayed back for now, checking the wounds of the injured bears catching their breath....
Ugh, holy shit.
Look at that shoulder split open. My arm could fit in there with room to spare. Gotta heal both quickly.
"This looks painful. Hang on a sec. Healing! Pain Killer!"
"Groan...."
"Hmm.... Huh? Human? Did you just do something?"
What's this guy babbling about? Of course I cast recovery magic.
"This is recovery magic. The wounds will heal soon, so bear with it."
"No, I just felt the pain lessen."
"Pain?"
"Yeah. Did you cast pain-relief magic? No need for that."
What? No need for painkillers?
"Why?"
I asked with wide eyes, and the bear on the left with the worse wound shook his head.
"Pain like this is nothing. Makes it better, actually. Stirs the fighting spirit. Groar!"
"Groar! Same here!"
The bear on the right raised his wounded arm in agreement. Ugh, that must hurt. These guys have some real grit.
A human with injuries this bad would be combat-ineffective. Lucky not to die from shock.
"You guys are really tough. Not much bleeding from the wounds either."
"Our wounds auto-clot. Still, thanks to you, it's better faster. Thanks, human."
He rubbed his cheek against my face with an innocent grin. At the same time, Babdal's faint shout echoed from the vanguard ahead.
"Frost worms! Everyone, line up single file!"
Frost worms? What's that?
Wondering what was up, Dabi and I hurried forward. A vast space the size of the Emperor's central plaza unfolded, with the bears clustered in the center.
And poking their heads out from all sides: blue-shelled earthworms I'd never seen before.
The moment I entered the plaza, they began blasting wind toward the bears.
Fwoooooosh!
Frost breath.
No other way to describe the technique.
Ice blades crystallized within the breath poured out, sweeping toward the bears.
"Everyone, behind me!"
The largest Babdal swelled up at the front.
A dozen or so Ancient Bears lined up single file behind him, bracing against each other.
Fwoooooosh!
"Ngh...."
Breaths from three directions concentrated on Babdal alone.
Ugh.
Is he okay like that? His whole body is freezing over?
"Chieftain! You good? Formation's buckling!"
"Pha! I'm fine!"
Babdal shook ice off his face and shouted.
"My armor's tough! Disperse and attack on my signal! Three! Two! One!"
Right then, the endless frost breath from the ice worms stopped.
Simultaneously, the bears hidden behind scattered left and right like a picture, charging the enemies.
Whoa, cool. Such perfect coordination in this chaos.
How much practice do they do normally for moves like that? Or is it just an Ancient Bear racial trait?
Crack!
Crack!
Craaaack!
The charging bears smashed the ice worms' frontal shells in an instant.
The ice worms, with only their upper bodies through wall holes, spewed blue liquid through the shattered pieces and died on the spot.
Yeah. This is it.
I have to bring these guys into the war against the otherworld no matter what.
With just 100—no, 50—Ancient Bears, I'd never miss the long-lost Lightning Bomb Knights!
"Ancient Bears have incredible resistance. And it's way colder up ahead."
Dabi said in admiration. Resistance? Isn't that a weird thing to be surprised about?
Come to think of it, Dabi's lips have turned blue....
"Your face okay? Cold?"
"Aren't you cold, Your Highness?"
Dabi looked down at me with a curious expression instead.
"Now that you mention it, Your Highness isn't even wearing magic armor. Clothes aren't thick either. How are you enduring this cold? Magic?"
"I haven't used any magic. And it's not that cold, right? Unless it's where the frost worms' breath hit ahead.... Huh?"
But my breath is turning white?
Unnoticed, the tunnel's internal temperature has dropped below freezing. From Dabi's reaction, it's pretty severe.
"I'm not cold at all.... Is this the core's doing?"
"The Ancient Bear core, you mean?"
"Yeah. Seems it boosts cold resistance too."
Otherwise, the difference wouldn't be this stark. This core is seriously top-tier.
The ancient seal core I ate before boosted overall magic resistance. This ancient bear core seems to specifically add cold resistance on top.
"Groar! More coming up!"
Then, new earthworms surged up from the passage below the plaza. Babdal and his subordinates handled them skillfully, roaring.
"Groooaaar! No queen here, so we go deeper! Today, we kill the earthworm queen and end this war! Everyone, charge!"
"Groooaaar!"
Not just the front line but the reserves in the back roared together and dashed toward the passage.
But at that moment.
"....?"
Something weird appeared in my right eye.
On the wall of the dim passage the bears were heading into, a rainbow-colored flow suddenly flickered rapidly.
Like a living thing. Or mana flow.
What is that? It was just a normal wall moments ago?
But the flow grew stronger, and I reflexively activated life detection magic.
And I found it.
A monster ascending from far down the passage.
An enormous mass of life, incomparable to anything so far, escorted by dozens of small earthworms.
Its life force so overwhelming that flows spread to everywhere it touched.
Such an absurd creature existed? In this world I've regressed to ten times?
"Dodge!"
I shouted reflexively, but the Ancient Bears sped up instead.
"This smell! The queen!"
Babdal's eyes were rolled back.
"My father's enemy! Clan enemy! I'm back! After 300 years!"
At the same time, dozens of smaller (still much bigger than humans) earthworms climbed up.
"Escort worms! Everyone to positions!"
As the other bears spread like waves for immediate response, Babdal alone leaped toward the finally revealed queen.
"Groar!"
Babdal's roar shook the entire underground plaza.
At the same time, as he swung down the elf lord's sword with immense momentum.
Crack!
The queen crossed her two pincers to block the attack.
Creeeak....
Cracks formed on the pincers, visible even from afar.
But as if unbothered, the queen flicked her pincers forward, sending Babdal's massive body flying to the plaza's center.
Boom!
"Guh...."
Babdal collapsed and didn't rise. Was that what I just saw? Dozens of shockwaves bursting from the pincers as she flicked?